Founder of the Social Media Escape Club
50 years old.
25 years since I started Buzzgrinder (music blog).
20 years since I had a full time job.
18 years since I started Noisecreep (for AOL Music).
15 years since I started Skull Toaster (metal trivia).
10 years of Metal Bandcamp Gift Club (buying albums for strangers).
10 years since I started running.
8 years since I started working with MNRK Music Group.
5 years of Social Media Escape Club.
Tom Williams from the band Stray From The Path:
No-one gives a fuck about first-week numbers anymore, anyway. People care more about finding the record at your merch desk for the first time and buying it right then. I clearly remember asking (our label, SharpTone Records), ‘Why do people pre-order records?’ and being met with a minute of silence.
Love this from Jen Mayer of Makeist.
I’m not looking for a job. I’m not waiting to be hired. I’m not leaving it to luck.
I’m making the connections. I’m connecting the dots.
I am actively and intentionally creating my calling: a career I never want to retire from, and a life I don’t need a vacation from.
This is the work: building Makeist into something that’s not just a business, but a life.
Here’s to not looking for a job in 2026.
My friend and her dad hiked here earlier in the day. Hours later, he called and said he lost his glasses, so we went looking for them before it got too dark. We didn’t find them, but we got in a good walk at least.
Love this from Henrik Karlsson’s “Advice for a friend who wants to start a blog:”
Your contradictions are an asset. You’re a lover of classical English architecture and you’re also a dirty little punk—expressing both at the same time is more interesting than sharing just cute pictures of English gardens or just wild trashy stuff. The more you incorporate everything that you love and that comes easily for you, your interests, your sense of humor, your grammatical tics, etc, the more your style emerges.
This quote from Bobby Lee sums it up:
“Let’s talk about Theo’s podcast. What TV shows do better numbers than his podcast? Not many.”
Theo’s shows get lots of views on YouTube, and probably at a fraction of the cost of most big name TV shows. I mean, it doesn’t matter if that’s good or bad, it’s just the way it is. The gatekeepers used to be the TV networks, but now it’s the YouTube algorithm. Build an audience, though, and you’re good. Like Bobby Lee goes on to say, when asked to play a part in a TV show:
“Two days, $1,500 a day… agents and managers take 40%… with taxes I come away with a couple hundred bucks. I’ll just do my thing.”
This concept is easy to dismiss, to think that only people with millions of subscribers / views can do this.
Like everyone chasing 1,000 True Fans, try thinking of how to manage 100, or 10, or even one person who likes / shares / reaches out and say they like your work.
We all start somewhere.
From Carly Valancy, a quote from American theatre and opera director Anne Bogart:
Anne Bogart says, a good omen is “a moment when the world seems to answer you back. It is not a guarantee of success, but a charged sign that your attention, your desire, and the circumstances have aligned in a way that invites you to proceed – more awake, more responsible, and more brave.”
From Patrick Rhone:
“I have come to believe that the best and most cost effective technology upgrade that one can make is to themselves. I’m not talking cyborg implants here. I’m speaking about knowledge. That is, increasing your skill, aptitude, and understanding when it comes to any device, application, or tool.”
Years ago when I used to read all the bicycle magazines, it was hard to miss all the talk about saving weight. How new technology was shaving ounces off of stems, handlebars, seats!
All this shaving cost hundreds of dollars, of course. Lighter bikes and components costs thousands of dollars more than their heavier counterparts.
But I’ll never forget when someone wrote that it was easier and cheaper to lose 10lbs than shave 10lbs from your bike.
Woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. After clearing off the deck and stairs, had to get out and take some photos.
Once the snow stops, “the boys come out to play” as my neighbor said.
Olivia Rafferty briefly met Ilan Kelman, a Professor of Disasters and Health at UCL, after her talk about Pop Music and Geology. They met recently:
When I sat down with Ilan, I asked him: “what is the one thing related to your research that you wish the wider public knew?” and he said, “there is no such thing as a ‘natural disaster.’ There is just nature.”
Listen to Olivia’s music right here:
