saving for later. enjoying my quick preview.

Yup, still loving this series from Caleb Gamman

I recently pointed out a new show called Devalued that launched on the We Own This Town network and I'm stoked to announce the first episode is out now and it's a doozy! Damon Krukowski has been making music for decades in the form of Galaxie 500, Magic Hour and Damon & Naomi. His experience with major labels, indie labels, streaming services, the media and all things music industry is invaluable. He regularly writes about all these topics in his newsletter Dada Drummer Almanach (which I highly suggest subscribing to).

He sat down with the Devalued hosts to talk about all those things and his involvement with the Union of Musicians & Allied Workers that pushes to create a more level playing field for artists and workers. Spoiler alert but creating that level playing field really is a political issue and it's one that we can all be involved in to help achieve.

It's a fantastic chat that is applicable well beyond just people involved in the music industry. Do give it a listen and subscribe to the show!

described to me as part Pinback, part Self - a helluva intriguing mixture.

A clever use of ligatures to automatically censor swearing.

This weekend I learned how real this event actually is.

Announced a new podcast on the We Own This Town network today. Devalued with Mike & Caroline is a new series that will tackle the hard questions around the collision of art and commerce. The teaser, embedded above, gives a nice overview of the topics that they're looking to explore.

Below is a note from the titular hosts - Mike and Caroline but I suggest you just go ahead and subscribe; the first episode is a real doozy. Get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Overcast or anywhere you listen.

Welcome to Devalued with Mike and Caroline; the place where we talk about art and money and how creative people are navigating the ever changing landscape to make a living for their work.

We started this podcast because as two creative people, we wanted to have the conversation in public that every creative person is having in private: How do I make it? What is ‘making it?’ Why bother creating anything at all? What is my work worth? Should I let the rest of the world define the value of my work?

This series is all about exploring these questions. Our intention is to give you a Roadmap, a Guide, and some encouragement to continue to live a creative life through open-hearted conversation with incredible people.

We’re going to be interviewing all types of creative people and we’ll be talking about all types of issues that creative people face.

We hope that you’ll get something out of it. We’re excited to have you join us along this journey. Welcome to Devalued.

Don’t just memorize it, internalize it.

sometimes, occasionally, infrequently - the news is good.

Nerd humor but still humor. I chortled multiple times.

If you haven't heard the solo work of Frank LoCrasto, go check that out. Then hit up his band Kolumbo for a taste of their forthcoming album, Gung Ho. Tropical and funky.. delicious.

Zong's output is impressive to say the least but generally leans towards smaller EP's of conceptual sparks. Cartoon Funk is a delight but also a rather lengthy record. Def worth a listen.

Delightful insights

The cult favorite is coming to BBC in September. Not sure this show needs to exist in any form beyond the YouTube series but I’m optimistic that the creators kept control and keep it real weird.

Someone please expand this into a full music video. OR, if it exists already, steer me towards it.

Caught a tweet from a friend that said to check out Caleb Gamman, so I did. Now I'm passing that good advice along to you.

The latest video, "Artifice of Intelligence," is an enjoyable rant about the fear of technology overtaking humanity and how inane and unlikely that is to happen. Gamman is dry, whipsmart entertaining and plenty insightful.

The rest of the content on his channel is also a worthwhile watch but not quite as transparently commenting on technology or society. That stuff is in there, just not as openly. It's good. You should watch.

A bit savage but amusing.

pretty nifty changes here! I'm not a Safari Desktop user but I am an iPhone user, so I may have to give it a whirl.

the most impressive website you'll ever see for a typeface

Back in the mid 90s, there was a record store and venue in Nashville called Lucy's Record Shop. It was a small space in an area of town with not much around it. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it became a haven for the youth culture at the time to see local bands, pickup 7" records from indie artists and attracted a good deal of smaller (at the time) touring artists like Bikini Kill, Cat Power, They Might Be Giants, Brainiac, and more. One of the regulars at this space was Stacy Goldate, a budding filmmaker who took it upon herself to capture the happenings around her. The film she put together and released in 1996 was entitled Lucy Barks! and has not been available digitally until now.

I worked with Goldate to get a hi-res version of the film and set her up on VHX (now "Vimeo OTT") to make the film available to purchase or rent. All proceeds from the film will go to Oasis Center and Nashville Launch Pad; two orgs that embody Lucy's Record Shop mantra "“no racist, sexist, or homophobic shit tolerated."

This is certainly niche content as it really may only appear to people of a certain age that also happen to live in Nashville and also happened to care about the rock music scene of that time but it's still a fascinating watch. According to Mary Mancini, founder of Lucy's Record Shop, it's also one of the few pieces of media that exists that actually captures the space since digital cameras, smart phones and social media were not ubiquitous at the time.

Happy to have lent a hand in getting this out in the world and if you happen to fall into the niche audience for it, I hope you'll give it a watch. The embed above is a preview of the film - not quite a trailer, not quite an excerpt - but it gives you an idea of the kind of characters you'll encounter.