2023: The Greatest Year Of My Life

Live life right now.

My 10 favorite moments of 2023

1. Interviewing AHJ of The Strokes, drinking his boutique style seltzers in the studio while the episode premiered on FM radio in NYC. Quotes from the interview were featured in a few major online publications including NME and Consequence Of Sound. 

2. San Francisco for almost an entire month. Couchsurfing with a stranger that has become a good friend and going on a road / camping trip to Big Sur with someone I met in a hostel years prior.

3. Riot Fest Chicago. Being assigned to cover this music festival as press was amazing! I got to see so many great artists from The Postal Service, Foo Fighters, Death Grips, the list goes on and on.

4. Las Vegas friends wedding, running a half marathon in the desert at night time and placing 13/160 runners. Going to Death Valley National Park with the newly weds two days later.

5. Pete Davidson run in. Meeting the former SNL star, him putting me on his guest list, getting a free cryotherapy session before the show. The photo of him and I was featured on WMAR ABC2 News and had over 10k reactions, it was wild.

 Continued at the end of this blog.

January

This year, I discovered Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes has a new seltzer company. I messaged the company on IG to sample the drinks and give a product review on my podcast. They accepted my request and sent me two boxes of the boutique style beverages. I loved it and the flavors were amazing. I requested to interview AHJ after sampling the beverages, no reply. I sent a voice message as a follow up to emphasis my love for the beverages and AHJ as a person. Shortly afterwards, he agreed to do it. I couldn't believe it.... I had just setup an interview w/ one of the members of my favorite bands of all time and such an influential artists of many within the past two decades. I interviewed AHJ for close to two hours via Zoom. We really hit it off and everything felt so natural speaking together. I text 89.9FM WKCR NYC about scheduling the episode to premiere it on New York City radio and requested to be in the studio for the airing and my wish was granted. WHAT A TRIP!

I biked to the China bus, hoped on, and a few hours later, I was in NYC for the first time since living there in 2021 with my ex girlfriend. I felt so many emotions of bittersweet feelings towards my past life, returning to a place I called home with someone I loved. I ate at Marty's V Burger as soon as I arrived and allowed for the waves of reflection to pass by one last time. I biked through Central Park, up to HI NYC to stay at a place I knew too well. I know this place because I worked for Hosteling International for a few years, had been featured in a few publications for my work with the hostel, and had stayed at many HI's across the country (including Alaska and Hawaii) for free for the many years of services I provided the organization. That being said, I showed up, they recognized my contributions, and they comped my stay. I made my way to WKCR's studio, as for the airing of my episode was only a few hours away. I met with the GM of the station, he gave me a tour and I connected with a couple of the other content contributors and provided my feedback as the senior volunteer content advisor that I had a role in from two years ago. 

The time had come, my episode with AHJ was premiering live. As I was sitting in the broadcast room, I cracked open my last two Jetway Seltzers to celebrate the occasion. Hearing my conversation live, being broadcasted to a large audience was a surreal moment for me, but made me feel like maybe the whole NY move was actually worth it. I finally had my moment, I was so happy and just like that, a hobby I sorta randomly stumbled into had become such a big moment in my life. The next day, it was raining, I sat in the hostel, uploaded the interview to most streaming platforms, and shared it all over the internet. I received several of messages from strangers thanking me for doing the interview. One person reached out and said "Thank you for this! I have a reason to live!" and I was sent other messages similar to this. After a day of endless rain, I decide to take the train down to Time Square. I'm standing there thinking to myself what is next for me, it was a really deep moment of self reflection that I didn't have am answer to. So I decided to catch the bus back to Baltimore. On my way back my other favorite band, I've seen like 20 times live, We Are Scientists released a music video for their song "Turn It Up" that day. The video was shot in different parts of Manhattan that I had been around all day. The video was to promote their album release show the next day in Brooklyn. I got back to my apartment from the bus ride and the whole time, I thought about asking the bus driver to turn around. Instead, I took the bus to NY the next morning and that was one of the best decisions ever. 

I met up with my friend Aaron Pfenning (Chairlift) and we met up with Chris U. (Editors) for drinks at Star Bar Brooklyn. We rolled out after a few drinks and met up with Mike P. (Oxford Collapse), Drew (Beverly), Simon (MGMT), and a few others to watch We Are Scientists album release show together. It was amazing and just when I thought this couldn't get any better, Dev (Blood Orange) was right next to me. A man I knew from my early twenties, that I hadn't talked to in years, it was a full circle moment. The day after, I biked from BK to Manhattan, and downloaded Couchsurfing. I haven't used this app in many years, but frequently did in my early twenties to stay with strangers to go explore NY and do casting calls. I found a host that was a cool person from Central America that lived in the top of a high rise in a fancy building a block from Time Square. We had a delicious dinner together, talked about travel, and I explored several of attractions in NY including The Vessel and The High Line. It was such an incredible trip and that I'm so glad I came back for.

A few days later, I was notified that my interview on The Shaky Experience podcast featured Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes had been quoted in NME, Consequence Of Sound, Far Out Magazine, and a few other major online publications. This was everything to me, the feeling I had getting recognized for my interview was one of the top moments of my life. I read those publications a lot growing up to learn about music news and to be a feature in these outlets was truly everything to me.

Here is my interview w/ AHJ of The Strokes 

Highlights:

The Shaky Experience (band) played True Vine Records (store). We played a killer set, debuting new songs, a lot of people came out and the opener Outside Smoke sounded fantastic as well.  We had a ziplock bag filled with my body hair, a jar of CAH Clamonaise, The Shaky Experience magnets, and a QR code that probably led to our music. 

During a 30 hour fast of me not eating, I biked 20+ miles on the NCR trail with one of my best friend's Eric. It was dark outside with just our headlights on the way back, lots of fun to challenge my endurance.

Hiked Oregon Ridge with a friend that was doing marketing for a famous YouTuber. He convinced me to join the team and do marketing with them. I won't reveal who it is, but it was short lived. Working with internet celebrities and their strange personas is weird yet kind of comical. 

My anniversary of winning The Price Is Right till my contract with CBS is up is only one more year away. Plans when my contract is up to be revealed at the end of this blog.

Thom, Caro, and I watched WWE's Royal Rumble at Jimmy's Famous Seafood which low key was hilarious af and a throwback to our youth of watching wrestling lol.

I ordered some NFC tag reader bracelet's for Thom and I that featured our band's links for anyone that wanted to check us out especially after the crowds we were pulling in during our sets at The Depot this month. We received lots of scans, I love these things. 

 1.1.23 - Banana wall. After a night of drinks and laughter with some of my best friends. I woke up in our friend's living room to just about all the walls smeared in rotten banana. Fortunately, I wasn't the culprit, but I know who was... I have blurry evidence on my phone of my friend Chris dropping a banana on our friend Stephen's face in about two hours into the New Year, before we all passed out. Later in the first day of the year, I got a DIY haircut, walked along the water, and hung out with a friend, all good vibes.

February

Thom had his birthday party at his house. Everyone came out, we all celebrated and got loud together. We had a bonfire in the back and got pretty wasted by the end of the night. The next morning, we drove to Havre De Grace State Theater as for we were one of the featured artists for a music festival happening there. It was freezing cold, but it was warm and beautiful inside. We played a loud, fun, high energy set and had a lot of people come up to us afterwards which scanned our NFC tags. It was all good vibes and a great experience. 

Highlights:

I interviewed Ducktails (ex Real Estate) on his birthday. This was super cool getting to hear his story after being publicly canceled by a few online publications. He's a great guy and I definitely encourage anyone to hear his side of the story. I love his music and also highly recommend checking out all of his albums too, they're very good.

I saw Vinyl Williams live (John Williams grandson / Star Wars music composer). Him and I had a drink together before his set time and it felt like he was reading my mind. He is definitely a psychic or some type of medium, he truly has a special power. We talked about our mom's passing and projects we were both working on including him telling me about an astrology app he's working on. I previously interviewed him and was on the same lineup as him at UMS 18', so it was cool to catch up. His set was so extremely good live. I HIGHLY recommend seeing him live if he's near by a town you are, do it!

My friend Eric and I hiked Gunpowder Falls. A few days later, my friend Mac and I ran 10 miles together through Gunpowder Falls. Have to keep the endurance up and miles going! 

I started seeing a girl from Israel that was temporarily living in the US. We had a lot of fun together even if it was short lived due to her Visa expiring soon.

I purchased tickets to SF for March and posted a public trip on Couchsurfing which a guy named Drew replied. Big story on that next month. 

I DM'd Cards Against Humanity (CAH) last year about doing an ad read for their new expansion pack that came in a jar called Clamonaise, that was 100% editable. They sent me shirts, hoodies, a hat, and some other stuff. They must've kept my email after that and they reached out to me about piloting a new deck for an incentive. I agreed, they sent the new deck, and I invited friends over to play it while filming us. I purchased beer and food and we all had a blast. The video is hilarious, but unfortunately, I can't send it due to an agreement I have with CAH.

March

Bixby Creek Bridge has been on my bucket list of places to visit in my lifetime since Death Cab For Cutie released the track "Bixby Canyon Bridge" in 2008. I remember 18 year old me looking at photos of the destination that inspired such a great song and thinking this is a place of true serenity. I reached out to my friend Shelby that had just moved to Sacramento, CA. She said she was down for the trip, so I booked my flight, but arrived a couple of days early before Shelby started her vacation from work. I decided to take Drew, the CS host that reached out to me offering me a place to stay. 

I flew into San Francisco, took the train to his neighborhood, and arrived at his place around 11pm ish, right before he had work doing a set of overnight shifts. As soon as we met, we had an instant connect of good friends that hadn't seen each other in years. It was kinda crazy because I definitely didn't expect to show up so late in the night on the other side of the country and vibe so well with a stranger, but we did. He went to work, I went to sleep, the next morning he made us breakfast, slept, and I went to explore SF.

I started by walking around the sunset neighborhood to Grand View Park. This park had stunning views that overlooked the city and felt like the perfect place. I immediately got the feeling that I wanted to move to SF just by my first destination of exploring. I continued my journey by exploring the Mosaic Stairway and shortly to follow that I saw a Waymo car which was super fascinating me. I have a lot of interest towards innovation and technology. Waymo cars are self driving car sharing services that people can order in SF, but there's a waitlist due to it still being so new (Comma AI cars are cooler). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get one, but I saw them all over the city and it was definitely interesting. Drew woke up and drove us around all the sites in SF including Golden Gate Bridge, Palace Of Fine Arts, Pier 39, and Twin Peaks. We bonded a lot and it was honestly the most generous thing to do to show me around. I'm so grateful for Drew and my experience with him in SF. 

The next morning, Shelby drove from Sac to SF and picked me up for an adventure of a lifetime. We drove down to New Brighton Beach State Park. Got delicious food, snacks, etc. We played games and hung out at the beach. It was a super cool beach and park, there are massively huge rocks and cliffs along the sand. Next day, we drove to Santa Cruz, I worked from a really nice cafe with lots of cool plants. Afterwards, we biked around downtown SC and it was awesome. It's a beautiful small town with great beaches that we enjoyed. Lots of thrifting, stopped at a couple of random shops, and adventuring. We walked along the beach to a rocky pier that had a warning sign next to a lighthouse that became a big joke the rest of the trip. We then walked along a section of a beach that was behind a bunch of boulders that you truly had to be stealth like to get through and we did. It was some government pipes that we ended up sitting on to avoid getting wet from the tide. Across from us was a green colored rollercoaster that had the sunset peaking through it. The moment was very magical, such a great experience in my life.

The time had come for Bixby Creek Bridge, and it was objectively one of the top 3 most beautiful scenic drives I've ever done. The PCH and nature along the road is so incredible and I can't say enough good things about it. We listened to the song Bixby Canyon Bridge followed by the song Big Sur by Ben Gibbard and we arrived. It was the most perfect moment, everything in terms of a scenery was there right in front of me. I was blown away, I just couldn't believe I was standing there and it overlooked Big Sur and man, it was beautiful. We drove all along the park and did a hike together and every view, no matter where you looked was stunning. We arrived at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park later that day, setup a fire, and had drinks, made food, it was the best. Unfortunately, Shelby got very sick and we had to leave the next afternoon. I did get to explore the park somewhat before that which was neat, but I was definitely more concerned for my friend's health. 

We drove back, stopped for lunch, and ate at Fort Ord Dunes State Park, such a cool spot. Finally arrived back to Sacramento and crashed out. The next few days, I spent exploring Sac, went and saw Unknown Mortal Orchestra live for free, I got sick, and hung out with Shelby's dogs a few extra days. Shelby was feeding squirrels outside my bedroom window which was quite a funny and fun memory when I was feeling ill. Eventually, I started feeling better and made my way back to SF, on my bus ride back I passed hills that looked like the Window's 94' screensaver, someone told me that's where the photo was taken, unsure if that's true, but definitely interesting. I decided to go back to hangout with Drew some more after he invited me back to go to a concert to see Betty Who together which was super awesome, very great live performance btw. Within the rest of my trip, I had a fling with someone I'd met at a local venue and she invited me to stay at her ginormous apartment as long as I wanted. I bounced back and forth from her place to Drew's and honestly thought, I may just start looking at apartments and move here. 

I spent my days working remote from Twitter's HQ's cafe. I tried going up an elevator to explore and was stopped by a super muscular ginger guy with glasses. Drew and I went to the beach a couple more times, I found a stick that said "Kate's stick and had her phone number on it" which I text informing her I found her stick, she replied and told me to toss it back, haha! The night before I left SF to go back to Bmore, the girl I was seeing and I hung out at Grand View Park at night, one last time. It was magic and I'm very grateful for my trip. I could go into so much more detail of the entire experience in California, but most importantly thank you Drew. He is truly the best and I can't say enough good things him and thanks for hosting me.

Highlights:

303 Magazine. quoted my interview with AHJ from earlier this year. It was surprising it came out a couple months later, but still very cool.

My friend Insatiable High recording the new The Shaky Experience album's vocal and guitar parts. Unfortunately / fortunately I decided to rewrite a bunch of the album and those recordings won't be used. However, I did pay him.

I interviewed Alisha of The Naked and Famous, That was super awesome and easily one of my favorite guests I've had and interviews I've ever done. She's such a dope person, I highly recommend checking it out.

Very early March, I met with a group of transplants by suggesting a hike in a group chat at North Point State Park. It was two guys and a girl that didn't know each other. We went to Key Brewing in Dundalk afterwards (my hometown), got dinner at an extremely good empanada place called Francesca's. The girl L. and I were hitting it off and started dating shortly afterwards. She wore my clothes, we accidentally sat in The Couples Corner at a comedy show, got heckled, it quite funny. IKEA dates, cold hikes, bicycling, vibing. She was from Europe and we watched German movies played entirely by puppets, very creepy, but cool. We ended things at Rocky Point Park, very chilly, beautiful park, one last time, enjoying each others company before I flew out to SF. Very much a "Karen Loves Kate" by Lone (available of Spotify) type of vibe of a relationship. Coincidentally, the other of the two guys and her started dating which I'm very happy to hear, both are great people. 

April

4.29.23 - I played Petworth Porch Fest which was featured in the Washington Post. Thom couldn't do the show so my friend Shawn (Shy Lust) asked to play for my band. We practiced a few times and it sounded amazing. Unfortunately, the festival got rescheduled and he couldn't do the makeup date so I played a solo set. A LOT of people came out for my set, it was a very large abundance. I made parody, silly QR codes that featured flyers that led to this blog which features all my links and other content I make. The festival was a blast, and I felt I did great. Afterwards, I had food and drinks with the hosts and other bands which was so much fun and a great networking opportunity. I ended my night with a dinner with my friend Tally's then we went back to his place and watched a VICE doc. on visiting North Korea.  I love performing in front of people so this is definitely this month's highlight for me. 

Aftermath, someone made a Craigslist: Missed Connections DC about me. I did mention it a few times during my set and it said M,C on my flyer. We chatted a bit, but didn't meet up. I'm done bouncing back and forth to DC, the suit and tie vibes aren't for me and Baltimore is so much cooler! Plus, chatting with a stranger was still cool.

Side note: during my band's practice with Shawn, we went to a block party and I made a new friend. He's a contestant on Jeopardy and I told him about my win on The Price Is Right. I'll be having him on as a guest on a reboot of my old side podcast CaC next year, stay tuned for that.

Highlights:

When I got back to Baltimore from SF, I met a girl A. we hung out till 5am on a wild adventure of day / night fling. What am I, 21?!? The next morning, I met a random stranger from Reddit and went for a hungover hike at Black Rock Mountain, incredible views even if I was exhausted starting out.

My best friend Mike Wolf moved back to town. First thing we did was walk around the woods at night and caught up. It was spooky, but cool, lots of reflection of our past together. We did a lot together when he got back - went to New Japan Pro Wrestling in DC, AEW in Baltimore and somehow ended up at the hotel some of the wrestlers were staying at by accident, and listened to a lot of Elvis, Linkin Park, Fozzy, and other older ish tunes, very silly, fun vibes. 

Mailed out a bunch of postcards from my trip from SF/Big Sur to friends  Highly recommend, sending out postcards, it's a very valuable, timeless thing to do. 

Hiked Old Rag mountain with one of my childhood friends, Danny. It was such an epic hike and took about 6 hours to complete the whole thing. Afterwards, we went back to his place and looked at our old year books from high school which is something I've never done before. Quite a funny thing to recap on.

Messaged Billy of Fire Fest on Twitter, he replied. He sent me his email, we were setting up to do an interview. His assistant called me to tell me he charges to do interviews, apparently... the rates were very pricey, so the interview never happened. That's all I can really say on that, hmmm. 

May

I DM'd two beverage companies, SkinTe and Rowdy Mermaid on IG. I requested both companies to send me samples of their products in the mail for me to review on my show and they did. Now, I just needed an awesome guest to interview to share my reviews of these products on afterwards. I looked around and saw Simone Giertz was recently on Lex Fridman's podcast so I reached out to her out of curiosity from her experience being on his show. Plus I've been a fan for many years of her malfunctioning robots and other inventions she's made in the past. I will say it was nice to have her on and meet, but ultimately a little bit of a different direction of the narratives than I hoped we would speek about on the show. Plus fans of her on Reddit grilled me for such a "bad interview". You be the judge. However, again I'm grateful for her time and think her projects are cool and wish her the best. The night of the premiere of the episode on WKCR, I had a few drinks with a friend and we tuned into the episode from my apartment on Radio.Garden. My friend asked who I think my target audience is and in the most joking way I replied all the taxi drivers in NYC. It kinda makes sense considering they work in their car and probably have the radio on while working. Therefore, I feel it very well could be and part of me wonders if I should test this theory by getting in several of taxis in NYC and see if they recognize my voice lol.

Other notes about journalism stuff this month - I put in an order of 100 stickers that feature a QR code to my podcast and at the bottom it reads "Your new favorite podcast". I also reached out to a handful of music festivals about covering their festival as press and Pitchfork Music Festival got back to me and offered me a full weekend press pass. More on that, later in this blog. 

Highlights:

I received a text from DoorDash notifying me that an order had been put in under my name. I looked up the order and it turned out to be a Pad Thai place in Washington Heights in Manhattan. I only knew one person that lived in that neighborhood. I called DoorDash asking what was the name on the account, they weren't allowed to disclose that. I said the name that I expected who it could be and they said yes, that's who put in the order under your name. Moments later, I received a text and photo from a random number, it was the deliver guy notifying he was out front with a picture of mine and my ex girlfriend LJ's door that I lived with in NYC. I hadn't spoken with her since our breakup and my departure out of New York, but I wanted to know why my name was tied into the account and request for it to be removed and hopefully to not have any of my credit info in the account either. I contact Leah for the first time in over a year, it was weird. She apologized, it was a mistaken. I kinda reflected on our life there together and thought about everything we did in 2021, it was a lot like a lot. Honestly, that year was one of the best years of my life, but also so extremely intense all of the time. I wrote an entire EP about it which can be listened to here. Life is strange sometimes, things happen, glad we got to send a few emails back and forth, even more glad to have my name and other info removed from the account.

Admo Porchfest, I played it last year. This year, I helped my friend's Insatiable High get on the lineup and their porch host was Matt Lesko. How is that real!?!? Matt provided lots of free snacks and drinks. He gave me a tour of his condo which was very spunky and neat. He had a wall that had the original Looney Tunes intro design and of course he was wearing his famous ? suit. My friend Zack and I hung out with him for a few hours from watching music together, talking about our projects, giving us tips how he made it, and we even got to use his bathroom. Matt is a very nice guy and I'm really grateful for this experience. 

Guest listed to a Sofar Sounds Baltimore show. My friends in Old Eastern performed and they did a fantastic job. Hung out with a big group of my best friends, byob, good vibes. 

New shoes came in! My 4th pair of New Balance Rebel V.2, I'm obsessed with this model, they are the absolute best. Last year was my first time running 1000 miles in one year and I sincerely feel these shoes were one of the main reasons I was able to do it. 

Skateboarded with a friend for the first time in like a decade, almost broke my body in half, but dang that was fun. Young me would be kicking myself especially my adolescent attitude to skate or die forever. Very funny to think about. Same friend and I went to the Orioles vs Rangers game a week later. Funny enough, the O's got swept by the Rangers in the postseason months later and ultimately won the World Series this year too. So we got to see the champs before they became the champs basically. Go O's still though! 

Went to Philly, biked around, hung out with friends. Cards Against Humanity sent me another test deck friends and I played again at my house. I started listing to How I Built This podcast. VICE, Hinge, Instagram, and Lyft's episodes were particularly very good imo. Got laid off at my remote job on June 24th and didn't have another job for a few months later, honestly loved the freedom for the summer. Not into metal, but went to Baltimore Metal Fest with my friend Kyle and that was a fun time, plus the people watching was very good. Hiked Gunpowder with my friend Eric, very long hike, ended at a huge waterfall, great memory. Got scooped by a specialist for the first in many years because my GI disease had been causing me serious health issues recently, so I got most gluten and have been feeling significantly better, MW and I went to see AEW four pillars in Bmore.

My poem "Verbal Escalation" was featured in Bourgeon Magazine. 

June

I read that Maryland was getting a big lineup of nostalgic bands coming to town for Let's Go Music Festival so I decided to shoot them an email for a press pass and they granted my wish. I rented a car via Turo and made my way to the festival. I got my weekend press pass as soon as I got there and headed straight to the VIP lounge for drinks and Hors d'oeuvres. The festival had a heavy county people influence, but ultimately it was a lot of fun. The people watching from couples matching wearing 311 football style jerseys to the "There was vodka here" stickers, and American flag fold up chairs was amazing. Here's my thoughts on the festival

Weekend reviews and rating:

Filter (frontman is ex NIN) - best performance of the weekend. Richard Patrick was born to perform and be a rockstar. Him playing "Can't You Trip Like I Do" felt really good to see live, especially considering I used to listen to that on Comcast: Music Choice often. He had a very solid backing band, his original members probably left decades ago I'd imagine and that's not a dig. It's a testament to how good Richie is and the value of the band being able to perform songs people still love. 9/10

Collective Soul - Very good! The front man is eccentric and fun. Who doesn't like to sing to their song "Shine" aka my best friend, Thom's goto karaoke song. Hearing "Heavy" live and "The World I Know" as well. Lots of 90's classics. The singer invited a lot of people on stage at one point to dance with him while performing songs, it was dope. Thanks Thom for re introducing me to them. 8/10

Live - "Let's show them how it's done boys" - the vocalist to the rest of his band, that quote by him was so funny to me for some reason. I just can't take this guy serious... Yes, he has a few nostalgic hits that are ear worms, but ultimately he is just so strange. "My dad used to call me a freak, so that's the name of this next song", funny, but weird. I enjoyed seeing the hits performed live. 4/10

We Are Scientists - saw them for the 100th time. I hung out with Chris backstage before they went on which was neat. They played a lot of tunes from their new album, good vibes. I particular like "Human Resources" 7/10

Lit - that band is riding the wave of fame dating back to the late 90's and early 00's and good for them. They were able to get the crowd moving and singing along. They ended their set with "My Own Worst Enemy" and it was cool seeing that live for sure. Does anyone that grew up in those decades not know that song? Doubtful. 8/10

The Airborne Toxic Event - they blew me away with their performance of "Sometime Around Midnight". I honestly didn't know who they were and thought the set was alight, but when they played that, I felt some of the pain he was conveying through the lyrics of the song. Well done Airborne. 4/10

Silversun Pickups - I think they were my favorite band for a few weeks in like 2005 or something like that. They were way better than I anticipated by a long shot. That guy still has it and good on him for spreading out the hits in the set list enough to play a not so familiar song to one we all know. The female in the band surprised me when she performed lead vocals for a song or two, that was awesome and should happen way more. Great performance! 7/10

Cold War Kids - I never thought they would be anything except that one song "Hang Me Up To Dry", but I was wrong and am glad I am. They have several of hits and spread them out throughout the set list really well. I saw them years ago in Denver and they were great, so to see them again with such a solid performance I'm here for it. They're song "Miracle Mile" is my favorite and they played it live, great job guys. 8/10

311 - I watched the first song and left. Hard pass, if I wanted to hear their crappy reggae nonsense, I'd watch 50 First States starring Adam Sandler. 2/10

Festival recap over...

HF pt 1 

After leaving the festival, later that night I met up with my date from a week earlier. I spent the night, we started seeing other more often, it was a cool time. We had a byob park date hangout at the Washington Monument, I had to hop on a LetsBMore time bank video call to help out with my responsibilities as a board member while playing with her dog and enjoying drinks in the park. We went to the Harpers Ferry and stayed at the hostel there in a private room. I met the GM, Brandt and he is absolutely amazing, I have a lot of love for him. The hostel was owned by the organization I worked with and shut down due to financial issues via the pandemic. Fortunately, it was purchased and acquired by the Potomac Council which I've known about since 2013. Very happy to see that hostel up and going. While there we went to HF Brewery, tubing down the Potomac River, and hung out by a fire pit with a bunch of Appalachian Trail hikers, it was so cool!

After getting back from HF, my best friend Mike and our friend Yan all went out to Holy Frijoles for pinball night and it was such a blast. These two guys make me laugh so much. Grateful.

Highlights:

Went to WTMD First Thursdays in the park with my friends Jz and Jp. I printed out flyers with QR codes that led to my blog post with all my links including my podcast. I saw a feel people throughout the night scan the code.

Wax Poetics quoted my interview w/ Psychic Mirrors. My interview was featured on their website and in their print magazine. 

I interviewed Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat). This interview was really fun for me because of loved HHH growing up and listened to several of their songs on repeat. He told lots of crazy fun stories including one about going on stage with Steve Aoki to perform a song. Another very good listen.

I emailed Domino Records to setup an interview w/ Panda Bear. I emailed back and forth with them for many months and we're still trying to get it going. Noah is a very busy guy.

XRay FM's GM and I talked on the phone for over an hour about me contributing my content to their radio station. Exclaim! Magazine express interest in quoting some of my future interviews. Wax Poetics quoted in their physical print magazine and on their website of my interview with Psychic Mirrors. 

I forwarded an email from BARCS animal shelter to Baltimore Mayor Scott and all city council members. The email detailed an emergency the shelter is experiencing with an overflow of animals. My hope was to use their local influence to get more people to adopt pets asap. I commented on a BARCS post on IG tagging the Mayor in the post, double dog daring him to share the post to his IG story and he did.

I hosted a Couchsurfer from Indonesia, very high maintenance, but good guy. Happy to have helped someone traveling to my city with a free place to stay. I met another girl through the app, we connected, went to a comedy show, sneaked into a hotel swimming pool, hung out till 4am. I wrote a song about the experience called "Locals Banter" that is featured on a spoken word EP that I released later this year.

Two Orioles games with a group of friends this month, one including one of my favorite local bands Strawberry Sleepover. Both games were very good times.

July

Pitch Fork Music Festival granted me weekend press passes to cover their music festival in Chicago. I purchased my flight, messaged CS hosts and found one of the most eccentric ones I could have possibly found. Lee, a 60+ year old man, that had tons of energy, more than me and I'm 33. We went on a super fast paced bike ride from his house in the Bricktown neighborhood to ride to Andersonville for dinner, window shopped, than biked to Lincoln Square. I have history with L,S neighborhood, dating back to 2015 when I was the drunkest of my entire life with my girlfriend at the time's brother that lived in that neighborhood that took me along to a German Beer Fest, followed by Half Acre brewery tour, very early the next morning, don't remind me! 

We returned back to Lee's, crashed out. The next day, we biked easily close to 30 miles, exploring the city. He took me through Lincoln Park, Navy Pier, North Avenue Beach (aka Concrete Beach with very unique ladders that go into the lake), and all over downtown. I ended the night by going to the Laughing Factory which was hilarious and a very good time to check out.The next day, I went to Oak Park to meet my two other hosts, being Lee had a two night max for his surfers. The new hosts took me to a free concert to see the CSO at Jay Prtizker Pavilion in Millennium Park. That was a nice, peaceful time to hangout and get to know my hosts during a good concert. We got dinner, explored, and ended my night. 

Day after, I stayed at HI Chicago and they comped my stay for all the work I previously did for the organization. I hung out at the hostel, caught up with the staff, got dinner, drinks, etc. and made my way to meet with a new friend at Ohio Street Beach. I saw a girl in dress clothes, walk into a handicap porta potty and came out in her bathing suit with her clothes and shoes in her hands. She put her items in a yellow dry bag, rolled it up and claimed to be swimming to work. I couldn't not believe what I had just witnessed, but that was so unusual and cool. 

Friday -  was at Pitchfork Music Festival. I watched Grace Ives, Axel Bowman, Ric Wilson, Nation Of Language, The Smile (Thom Yorke of Radiohead)., A, B was the best set imo. He had great dancey, electronic music, and a guy playing flute during parts of his set. I'm not a Radiohead fan, but seeing Thom Yorke live was super cool too, very ghoulish, spooky, weird vibes, and overall I enjoyed it. I hung out at the press tent for awhile, enjoying free pizza and socializing with other journalists / reporters including Pitchfork editorial. 

Saturday - I went for Panda Bear, but his set and a few other sets got rained out. I did get to see him setup and waived high to him. Little did he know, him and I have an interview setup later this year. Unfortunately, due to the rain out a lot of sets were missed. I walked around the fest once it started back up. Free Waterloo sparkling water and Jorts for charity stood out to me the most. There was an artist interview VIP stage, with free food and drinks that I very much enjoyed. Alvvays did an interview, Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead / The Smile), and many others. This was a relaxing time, free heart shaped sunglasses, beanbag chairs for people to sit on, it was nice. As I was walking to the next music set, a guy stopped me and said I like your shirt! I was wearing one of my Claimonaise shirts that CAH sent me that I was mentioning in this blogpost earlier. He then told me, he used to work for Cards Against Humanity and we talked for awhile after that. He later revealed he was "the spirit of Black Friday" for one of my favorite marketing campaigns of all time, CAH 99% of Sale. If you know me, I have probably showed this to you before because I am absolutely obsessed with this website / stunt. It was super cool to meet him and we started following each other on socials. 

I watched King Krule's set, very angsty, but good. Perfume Genius had a good set, kinda reminded me on Scott of STP, but less poppy. He ended his set with the song "Queen" which is by far his best song. Alvvays went on after that, they're good and definitely have good hits. The singer announced her next song "Very Online Guy", and then said to the crowd "Reveal Yourselves" which was very funny and I laughed at that for a good bit. Although, they were good and I played the same lineup as her during UMS 2018. She came off kinda robotic and sorta cynical during parts of the show and frankly her artist interview too, but again still good. Caught some of Weyes Blood, didn't care for her music, but she is extremely pretty, wow. Big Thief ended the show, and I didn't like it at all. I get it's for a certain type of crowd, but I truly didn't feel it at all, just nothing was there for me. I do like Buck Meek's solo song "Joe By The Book", he's the guitarist of B,T, but really that's it for that band for me. Hey, it's not a dig, I just don't like their sound personally. Charolette Adigery closed out the dance stage and she did pretty good, I did enjoy that.

Sunday - I was suppose to go to the fest for the last day, but JPEG Mafia was the only thing I was interesting in seeing so instead I flew to Denver, CO. 

Buscabulla, one of my current favorite bands' manager put me on their guest list that night to see them at The Bluebird Theater and they absolutely SLAYED! They are so extremely good live and their recordings are just as good too. I want to encourage you, reader... check out their songs "NTE, Le Fiebre, Vamono, Manda Fuego" and let me know what you think (seriously, do it). After their set, I hung out with the band, exchanged phone numbers with the lead guy to do an interview down the road and snapped photos together, it was the best. 

That night I stayed with another CS host Jaime. She was the best, we had lots of solid conversations of freedom and travel, A couple of days later, I stayed with a guy named Chad and his gf and they were super fun. We biked to Wash Park and played volleyball. Hung out in their hot tub and went partying hard one night. I stayed with my friends Amos and Sam and we hit up an open mic, hiked Lookout Mountain, made dinner, did DIY haircuts, etc. 

The primary purpose of me going back to Denver, other than to catch up with my friends was to cover The UMS 2023 as press. I got to bring my friends James, Hunter, and Amos with me as well which was a blast. There was over 200+ bands and so much happened, so much to see, It was an incredible time. The highlights were seeing Colfax Speed Queen, Mux Mool, and Com Truise all of them were fantastic live and I can't say enough good things about those sets in particular. Saturday night, I went to one of my favorite things in the entire world, Weird Touch. It's a goth, disco, dance party that has a neon red sign that says Weird Today, Weird Tomorrow. The party is hosted by my friend Fancy Matthew and he absolutely delivers every time.

Other highlights included: going to Rocky Mountain NPS with my 3rd CS host of the trip. Making a new friend during the festival, Lyndsay, she's the best. Fancy Matthew DJ sets during the Santa Fe art walk and S Broadway walk. Drinks with James, Sam, and Amos at Don's Tavern to end out my trip. 

There is so many more details about this trip, but the months must continue!! 

Highlights: 

This month, I saw Tagabow live with my friend Zack, This band is so good and doesn't face the crowd when they perform live, but instead face the stage. It's very strange, but in the coolest way. Mike and I had a very wonderful relaxing day eating pizza together at North Point State Park. Later that night, we watched Taking Back Sunday from across Pier 6 which was a very nostalgic and fun time. 

Teakoe sent me a bunch of beverages to review on my show after my interview with the co-founder of Sofar Sounds, Rafe Offer. 

I interviewed Alan Everhart (Wildhoney / Le Pain). We talked about his huge record mix up with Lana Del Ray's album Born To Die that was featured in every major music publication. The story is crazy... check it out. 

HF Trips pt 2 

Went to Harper's Ferry again, but this time with my friend Eric. We stayed at HF Hostel and had such an amazing trip!! We went tubing, my tube inflated and I got stuck on a boulder in the middle of some fast currents in the Potomac River. A girl that worked for the city of HF saved me about 20 minutes later, after a few failed attempts of Eric trying to float back to me to share a tube together haha. The girl brought me a brand new tube and we floated back just fine. It was such an adrenaline pumping moment, but low key kind of loved it. We hiked to the top of the main mountain of HF the next day (4th of July) and when we came back to the hostel the employees announced a blunt rolling competition which was hilarious to witness. I don't smoke and was only a spectator, but wow... that was something to see. After the competition ended there was a dab competition of who could hold in their tab the longest. Such an absurdly, ridiculous yet fun time to watch. 

Followed by that, there was bbq for all of the guests including veggie options for me, There was music and fireworks and so much going on, it was truly one of my favorite times from this year. Later that night, Eric left to meet up with his gf in Baltimore and I stayed. I decided to hang around the next few days at the hostel to hike and enjoy the town. I biked 20+ miles to the the next closest town to get groceries. It was a huge trail in the woods I biked on and was a blast to do! Brandt the GM ended up picking me up because I ended up getting a flat tire and when we arrived back to the hostel, it was dark. He suggested we hop in the river and look at stars, so we hiked down the cliff with flashlights and that's what we did. It was truly a remarkable time that I absolutely loved. The next day, I caught the 6am train from HF to DC to Bmore and just a few hours later, I went to WTMD First Thursdays to see Michigander headline with friends and it concluded such an amazing time. 

August

Pete Davidson randomly came into my life. I was going for a run and while passing through Fells Point, I saw P,D in person. I stopped and asked him if I could snap a photo with him. He agreed, we talked for a few minutes about my podcast and what he was doing in town, and it was kind of a funny experience. I'm not too familiar with Pete's work, but I do know a little bit of his SNL stuff and know he's very popular right now. I posted the photo on the Baltimore Subreddit and shortly after that ABC's WMAR Channel 2 News shared the photo on their website and all of their socials. The photo had over 10k engagements and over 500+ shares. I started receiving messages from people I hadn't talked to in years, saying "You're famous", "James, what's going on? I saw the photo of you and Pete", "You know Pete!?" stuff like that. My closest friends started receiving messages asking about me. It was strange, but pretty cool. The next day, I was notified I was on the guest list to Pete's show at The Lyric featuring him, Jordan Rock (Chris Rocks son), and Mike V. comedy. Before I went to the show, I was given a free session to cryotherapy at Restore Hyper Wellness so I enjoyed that, then made my way to go see Pete. I went to get my pass for the evening and the lady at the box office said she recognized me from the news, absurd, right? Shortly after, I went in and saw Pete's performance, it was so good. His first joke / story of the night was about "a runner came up to me while I waiting for my ride out front of my hotel, I didn't know I had stalkers here too". Amazing, grateful, such a cool experience! 

Highlights: 

Flew back from Denver with a layover in Milwaukee which was neat because I've only driven through Wisconsin once so exploring the airport was kinda cool. 

I hosted another Couchsurfer at my apartment. He was a cool New Yorker, we went and got Matthew's Pizza, he loved it. I showed him around the city, good vibes. 

Sunny Day Real Estate played Baltimore Soundstage and I was on the press list to review their concert. It was super good. I was in love with this band when I was 16 years old, had all their albums, and knew just about all their lyrics. They put on a very, very good performance. I met their drummer. William Goldsmith (ex Foo Fighters drummer) around the corner from the venue before the show and we talked about setting up an interview, it was really neat. My friend Zach and my friend Ana was there too, we all hung out, good times. 

Sofar Sounds Baltimore put me on their guest list. I took a ferry across the harbor's water to go to this show. My good friends in Old Eastern played, it was a solid time as well, in a fancy high rise in Port Covington neighborhood. 

I interviewed Sofar Sounds founder Rafe Offer. 

The Shaky Experience played Risers Music Festival in Washington, DC. The girl from Eternal Summers was the headliner. I found a new drummer for TSE via Reddit, Charlie Dessinger. We played a killer set, a lot of people came up to us afterwards. It was a very fun experience, we got paid, and there was free drinks and dinner for us afterwards. 

I DM'd Dave of Dirty Projectors and he said he was interested in doing an interview. I emailed his agent and he put me on the guest list for Dave's show the following month for his solo tour. Interview is still in the works of being setup, Dave is a very busy guy.

September 

Riot Fest offered me passes for the whole weekend at their festival and I decided to go! I flew back to Chicago after being there earlier this summer to cover Pitchfork Music Festival. So many things happened while I was in there this time, but the run down is I stayed with a CS host in Wicker Park, explored, went to Stan's Donuts and it delicious, and a bunch more exploring of the city till the festival started. Day of Riot I stayed with a new host, Barron. He was very much quite a character. He lived by himself, his living room was scrapped and completely turned into a huge painting studio. He had just ended a clinical trial and bought expensive cakes to celebrate. I previous did trials, so we bonded over that and he shared his cakes with me, it was lovely. 

I went to Riot on Friday and here's my reviews.

Hawthorne Heights - I would never pay to see these guys, but good for them for still touring and playing in front of huge crowds at a major music festival. The singer said "we want to be the Grateful Dead of emo bands and play forever". Honestly, even if they are dorks, I get it and I feel that in a sense, but for my own music and creative outlets. 5/10

Quicksand - the founders of hardcore or something like that I think? The singer Walter looked good for his age, happy, loud, intense. Hearing their song "Dine Alone" was super cool, their bassist Sergio looks like he's doing just fine since his bad words about Deftones allegedly kicking him out. Good set. 5/10

The Breeds - I watched them perform "Cannonball". Cool, I feel like that song has been in hundreds of television commercials. It was the only song I needed to see live and it was the only one I did see live, I'm good, that's a wrap! N/A

Say Anything - Very much not the style of music I listen to, but good set. I kinda vaguely remember hearing a few of those songs in passing. Their singer Max is extremely polarizing, he needs to have his own tv show or something. That guy osseous in talent, I think highly of him, even if it's not music I'd listen to. 6.5/10

Tegan and Sarah - the best set at the festival all weekend, the absolute best. They were so absurdly good live, like wow! The banter was incredible, the way the set was curated with hits and the new songs. I enjoyed many of their songs throughout their set "I Just Can't Grow Up" very good opener. "Closure" was a super amazing ending, people were going wild for that song, beautiful. 10/10

Foo Fighters - Shut up and play the hits, I feel like is the vibe Dave has now. He still has a little bit of stage banter, but ultimately he's older and just wants to make big money now while playing on stage with his friends and that's what he does. Speaking of friends, Dave gave a shout out to all his band members and their current / previous projects. Good on him for doing that especially the shout to Nate fka Sunny Day Real Estate's bassist, to me that was a very admirable thing of Dave to do. It was also cool seeing them with their new drummer Josh Freeze since FF's drummer Taylor Hawkins passed away. RIP. The hits were great live and those hits are truly timeless, too bad he hasn't been able to write a hit again since since 2007, don't believe me? Look at their set list, compare it to their albums and @ me later lol! 7/10

Partying and shenanigans ensued the rest of the evening. Onto the next day, I got Barron a guest pass, we did byob drinks before going in, got pretty drunk...

Corey Feldman - hilarious. I couldn't stop yelling his name, crazy silly to see him perform. He has a very "bad boy" type of vibe he projects. It's interesting and I would recommend seeing him once if you can. I was pretty drunk immediately, the beers they sell at the festival are drunk. He had backup dancers and was dressed eccentric. 6/10

Viagra Boys - I thought they were super boring. They have a lot of hype and had an extremely huge crowd, but I didn't feel it at all. It feels like some guys on stage that really go out of the way to let people know they're "punk", good for you I guess? They played their song "Sports" which was probably the best part, idk. 2/10

Death Grips - second best of the night! Show up on stage, say nothing, play songs, leave. Loud, futuristic noise, wild vibes man. I absolutely loved it and they played so many of their hits too, which I was honestly surprised. They have a no care type of attitude about everything so to watch them play the hits was crazy especially my favorite song of theirs "Annie Bonnie" which was super cool to see live. Bucket list item checked off, DG! 10/10

Death Cab For Cutie - very cool to see them play "Transatlanticism" in full live. Ben is so polarizing, undecided if it's in a good or bad type of way to be honest. However, he still very talented and played a very great album. It was great to hear the songs live, but it definitely felt like a shut up and play the hits vibe. They obviously played the title track of the album as well, wow... that was a powerful song / moment. I watched strangers hug each other, it was an sentimental moment of beauty. 8/10

Queen Of The Stone Age - Josh is so good! He is a rock'n roll legend and somehow can make the crowd erupt at any time during his set. The whole set was great, but hearing the hits was special to me as well. I absolutely loved it. 8/10

The Postal Service - legendary. Unfortunately, they were on during the same time as ICP which would have been so cool to see live as well. How has TPS been able to release only one album and only play one tour per decade for the anniversary of the album and have massive crowds? I guess because they deliver on their shows, the songs are very good, and yeah, they're just awesome. Plus... "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" and "Such Great Heights" live is pretty next level. I'm not going to lie, futuristic, and good feels during the whole set. I met a girl Rachel throughout the festival and we had a few moments together during this set. 10/10

Ended up going out very late with my host Barron and that was interesting. Crazy partying vibe all night, such a vibe man. The next morning, I was EXHAUSTED! I only slept for a few hours and couldn't get back to sleep. I rushed to the festival after a rain delay and saw my first set.

Cults - remember them? They had that song "Go Outside". I never got the appeal of that song, but know a lot of bands that know them so I figured I'd give it a shot and they were really good. The front woman has a great voice and tbh, it felt like they more so belonged at Pitchfork than Riot Fest. They closed their set with "Always Forever" which is the perfect depiction of an indie song imo. I'd definitely recommend checking them out if you're reading this, especially their songs "Gilded Lilly" and "I Took Your Picture". 9/10.

The lineup for today was not too appealing to me for the rest of the day. I actually took a mini nap inside of a bus that they had parked inside of the festival. I woke up and honestly didn't know who was playing next so I walked around to find out...

AFI - you know, I don't really know much about them at all. I know they were like emo, but goth, and I sorta categorize them as The Joker, before the movie was even thought of, that probably doesn't make sense to many. Anyway, believe it or not, they were a lot better than I anticipated by a long shot. Davey Havoc the frontman, lives and dies by the sword of his persona which is cool, I like the theatrics of that, good on them for spacing out the hits in their set list. I recognized a few of the songs and it was a better performance than I want to even admit. 7/10

The Mars Volta - Cedric got old and fat. He's the singer, I never got the hype of why people love them so much. The one thing I will say is they do know how to hype themselves very well with an attitude of no one is as cool us, it's kinda gross tbh. From what I've read previously, Cedric is extremely difficult to work with and the band has had a variety of problems over the years and I could kind of even see it during their performance. Although, I have a lot of negative things to say about their set, they were decently good. It is a unique style and has a lot of influence in a sound that isn't mainstream that they made accessible for larger crowds so I will give them credit for that. 5/10

The Cure - ummm, what can I say about Robert and co. He's unique I guess... I feel The Cure is just front man Robert Smith trying to get over some trauma from almost 5 decades ago through his band's music. People love them and they are obviously huge for a reason, but I personally don't feel it. I left midway through the set. If you love The Cure, good on you, it's just not for me. 3/10

I passed out so hard this night, stayed in Chicago one more day, but with a new host. I walked around all the touristy stuff downtown. Ate a big lunch South of Millennium Park, walked along the water front by the park, and just walked with gratitude of being alive and having such a great trip. I'm very grateful for this trip, it was truly a lot of fun and so much happened, but onto the next months.

Side note: I did have a big layover in the huge Atlanta airport and listened to Cults album "Offering" on repeat, very good listen.

Highlights:

Very last minute, I decided to go on a weekend trip to Philly. I read one of my favs Kip Berman (The Natvral / The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart) was having his record release show at a record shop there. I posted a public trip on Couchsurfing and received a message from a girl. She offered me a place to stay, so I took her up on the offer and made my way to Philly. I biked to Fish Town, we met up, went to El Bar had an absolute BLAST together. A lot of teasing, silly banter, running around town, it was great, we connected very well. Went back, crashed out and the next day, her and I explored S Philly. We went to Penn's Port Beer Boutique and Moon Arrow gift shop, two of my favorite places in the city. We got some drinks and BYOB'd while laying in Washington Park together. I can't emphasize enough how incredible of a moment this was, a real good hangout feeling. Unfortunately, she had to work and I biked 20+. miles to go to Kip's release show and I made it! Him and caught up, he played such a good set, and even played his Pain's version of "Free Falling" by Tom Petty which people went wild for that we're watching him. Biked back, my host and I went to Tattooed Mom's for drinks, good times. Next day, she left, I stayed at her spot and slept in. I biked to Cherry Creek Pier afterwards and just sat and enjoyed being back to my home of last year for a bit. 

After math: Kip (The Natvral / The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart) and I did an interview together which you can listen to in the link above. 

Deep Tan messaged. I haven't heard from them in awhile, so that was nice.

I was generously gifted Ravens tickets very close to the field.

WTMD's First Thursday featured Nation Of Language, I watched that. I chatted with their managed and we're setting up an interview. Later that night, I went and saw The All American Rejects perform the Ravens kick off party. They did way better than I expected they would, super nostalgic after, but good none the less. 

It took me forever to make the decision, but somehow I decided to move back to Denver, CO. I'm not sure what flipped the switch because my life in Baltimore was as perfect as it could have possibly have been. I absolutely loved my life in Baltimore, things were very good. I think, maybe the awareness of memento mori - remember I will die and I want as many experiences as I possibly can so I moved back by the Washington Park neighborhood. I did a focus group earlier this month, got paid $200 for my opinions and used the money for my ticket to move back to Denver. Easy money, very helpful for airline expense. Southwest allows 4 bags when flying, so that's all I brought, 1 bag was my guitar haha. 

I purchased a Cameo of a kid playing as Eric Cartman for my compadre James' birthday. We have sent each other a handful of Cameo's over the years so this fun to keep the tradition going. 

Went to the Orioles 100th win game with a friend! That was truly special, I'm an Orioles fan lifer. 

Fox News interviewed me about a house that caught on fire, that I reported to 911. Very random, but it was kinda neat and I very much stressed during the live interview for Baltimore City government officials to reach out to those effected by the fire. 

Artscape is Baltimore biggest weekend every year! This year, DJ Peewee (Anderson Paak. headlined) which I got to see live. and it was great. I have booked a show during Artscape weekend every year since 2013. I booked my EP release show for my new album "Heartthrob Collection V.2". The show was at The Hargrove which is a new venue in Charles Village. My friends Luke Boardman, Brendan Clarke, Pelvis Presley (me), and Sarah Marie Hughes played too. All my closest friends came out Eric, Tally, Kyle, Zack from DC, and Kristine from Hawaii happened to be in town so she came too. It was such a perfect moment in my life that I'm so grateful for. I love my friends and to be surrounded by them made me so happy. 

October

Flew to Las Vegas for my friends Andy and Claire's wedding. Unfortunately, my flight had a huge delay so I was compensated $500 in flight credits and $25 for a food voucher. I made it into Vegas the next day and met up with everyone at Ellis Island, had drinks, watched people gamble, good people watching. The next morning, we watched the solar eclipse from outside of our hotel. We were lent glasses so we didn't go blind from looking at the sun, it was so cool! A couple hours later we went to Sure Thing Chapel, and a lady Elvis impersonator married my two Philly friends. It was awesome and I'm very happy for them, big congrats! 

I went back home to the hotel to rest because I signed up for the Twilight Race Series Half Marathon in Red Rocks Canyon, about 30 minutes outside of Vegas. The climate was very much dirt, desert, and canyons everyone. The race started at sunset, meaning I ran the race in the dark and there were no lights on the road we were running on. Fortunately, everyone was forced to bring or buy a reflective vest to run the event and I misread and thought headlamps would be given out as well which they weren't! I ran with my iPhone's flashlight to see where I was going. The scenery was gorgeous, but the elevation and trail was intense. Running up and down canyons is no joke! At first I started listening to music, but quickly decided I needed to concentrate to see where I was going. I ran as fast I could up and down those peaks because I wanted to finish asap, being I couldn't see much and also wanted to get back to the wedding celebration. After a crazy run of big elevation gaps, I finished. I came in 13th place out of 160 runners and 45 of those runners either dropped out during the race or didn't finished in time. Honestly, I don't blame them either, it was a crazy journey. As soon as I got through the finish line with the time of 1:51:49 I collapsed to my hands and knees and had someone check in on me. I was fine, but it felt great to stop for a few minutes. I got up, hydrated, snap photos with other runners, and noticed the back of my left leg was covered in blood. I scratched my leg a lot due to it being so dry and didn't notice the cuts. Grateful for the race, glad to have done it.

I came back to Vegas, showered at the hotel, went to the convenient store, got a tallboy IPA and shotgunned it in the Battle Bots parking lot. I walked into Ellis Island and everyone was there and maybe surprised I was standing. They all asked "how are you doing?" I replied "drunk as shit, let's party". We partied the rest of the night, good vibes. The next couple of days we explored the Vegas Strip and other spots around town. 

A group of us took a car and drove it to Death Valley National Park aka the hottest place on Earth. The park was beautiful, but damn it was hot and I did get a little cranky. I highly recommend bringing water for anyone that goes to this park. We ate one of the only restaurants in the park, got drinks, drank them at the fire we built, and stayed in a fancy tent the park has set up. The stars were incredible and hanging out with friends at a NPS is super cool. We exited the park because 3 of us had to get back to our homes for work the next day. We drove two hours to the closest town to pickup our rental car we booked, but it ended up that they overbooked the rental cars and didn't have anything from us. We checked other rental car spots and there was nothing available. So I ended up paying $410 for my new friend Dan to drive us back, it was crazy because we were on a huge time crunch. I'm very grateful for Dan offered to drive and fortunately, we made it back just time and I caught my flight. I can't express enough gratitude for his help with that. Although, the trip ended with a little bit of crap, overall it was a super amazing experience that I'm so grateful for and I love Andy and Claire and am happy to see two good friends get married especially at such a cool destination wedding. 

Highlights: 

I celebrated my 17 year anniversary of being vegetarian. Last year, was half my life, now we're just at bonus years. Thanks to my high school girlfriend, Crystal for encouraging me to do it. Truly one of the best decisions of my life. 

Ran into Orioles legend Jim Palmer in downtown Baltimore, the day before I left to move back to Denver. It was perfect timing too being the O's had just secured their postseason spot. We talked about our excitement for the O's winning record, the Baltimore Bullets NBA basketball team (you read right, Bmore used to have a basketball team), and briefly about my podcast too of course. 

Denver 

As mentioned earlier, somehow I made up my mind and moved back to Denver on October 3rd. Here's some of my highlights since being back:

I got picked to do a focus group and it ended up being overbooked so I was selected randomly out of a group was sent home with $200 to do absolutely nothing except show up. I got into another focus group a week later where I did end up giving my opinion on a topic I legally can't reveal, but did up donating a good portion of the $200 I earned from that to two animal shelters.

Speaking of easy money, I did a brand ambassador job for Barstool Sports where I took photos of people with their own personal phones in front of a mural at the Nuggets opening day game. The Chainsmokers performed and Shaq was there too which I saw both while there. I was paid $367 just to stand around and hangout with random, nice people all day. Plus, I made new friends, hung out with my old friend Tobias who was also working the mural, and got a ton of free food from some of the food trucks at the event. 

Since we're talking about sports now... My friend Nick had an extra ticket to the Broncos vs Packers football game and I got to go for free! It was my first time at the stadium and getting to watch Russell Wilson and Sean Payton on the same team in person to beat the Packers was sweet. 

Joined a couple of running groups. Fleet Feet at Banded Oak Brewery (which is where my UMS 18' set was ;). And Blackbird Pub run, there was a raffle, I made a new friend and told them they picked the lucky date and would win this super fancy REI backpack thing and they did. I honestly had no idea that was true, but that it might make them more excited and they did. They thanked me a bunch for absolutely nothing, I guess words of encouragement, maybe? Immediately afterwards, I saw my friends Gila Teen perform at Skylark Lounge. Their song "Danger Brain" is very good, you should listen to it.

My friend James A. giving me back my banana colored bike the first day I moved back. I love this bike and am grateful to have it as my commuter being back. My best friend Mike moved here a month before I moved back here. We met up for his birthday and walked around Confluence Park with his dog. My friend Amos lended me his expensive projector which I've been watching football, funny videos, and playing Patatap on it. 

Went to one of the best comedy shows of my life by The Flea Market comedy which I thought was an actual flea market at one of my favorite places in the city of Denver (Forest Room 5), but instead turned out to be hilarious comedy group based in Denver. I performed an improv jam a week later at Chaos Bloom comedy theater which was solid.

My friend Fancy Matthew (Weird Touch), my favorite DJ in Colorado hosted / DJ'd a Halloween party which I went and my costume was just writing Book on my Face (msg me if you get it), very fun experience, highly recommend checking his stuff out on IG. I also watched him DJ a fancy art gallery that had free cocktails and snacks. And he DJ'd inside of his beautiful boutique FM Clothing which has free drinks in it as well. All very fun times, absolutely love it. 

November

Vinyl Williams played Larimer Lounge and I got put on the guest list to see the show. I love VW, him and I were chatting a bunch via text before he came to town, then when he arrived, we hung out before and after the show as well. Most importantly, he absolutely rocked the show, he did so good live. His music is super trippy and fun. He has fantastic visuals projecting while performing live and the vibe is always so good whenever he plays. Plus, little fun fact. I previously interviewed him and his grandfather is John Williams - the music composer for Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, etc. That night, I met someone new at the concert K., her and I hung out at VW's after party till it closed (which was at my favorite spot in town Pon Pon). K. and I stayed in touch, started connecting more, and vaguely planned a loosely organized trip together. 

Fortunately, the trip was the day after a weird happenstance above my apartment unit. Ismael Perez an online influencer was staying above my apartment, which is a weird Airbnb setup. Anyway, one of his followers knocked several of times on my building's front door so I went to answer it and she told me about the event which I was unfamiliar with. I looked up the event and it turned out to be kind of cult like. It was a $180 event where people were coming to see Ismael in the Airbnb upstairs, get their book signed by him, and hear his magical words wisdom I guess? I have no idea, but it definitely seemed unique. I watched a part of the livestream which was broadcasted to his thousands of followers from the upstairs of my apartment. Again, quite unique and seemed like a lot of lonely seniors from what I could tell, but again this is just my opinion, maybe it's super legit, I don't know. I met him and his "marketing guy" (camera man) shortly afterwards... interesting people, honestly super strange and I was creeped out and I was standing close to the door the whole time. So after an usual day, the next day K. picked me up and we headed to our loosely planned trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We drove down to Zapata Falls to camp out for the night. Our campsite was in an empty field surrounded by huge snowy mountains and a vacant helicopter pad. It was freezing cold, we setup a fire, listened to music, and danced around The next morning, our tent and all of the equipment was frozen. We waited till the sun cleared the fog over the mountains and t to melt everything. We drove a few minutes down the road afterwards to Great Sand Dunes National Park. This park has monstrous hills of sand and we hiked it for a good couple of hours, laying in the sand and watching people diy sled down big hills. It was a super cool moment, the scenery feels like nowhere else and has a very special charm to it. We darted down to Santa Fe, New Mexico afterwards and damn, it felt so good to be back there. Santa Fe is one of my all time favorite places to be, the Adobe sand style homes are so beautiful, and the city just has this unique charm, it's hard to describe.

Checked into our hostel which was $50 a night for a private room with our own bathroom, surreal. We went to the IAIA Museum, got dinner at Ying Yang Cafe, and had drinks at The Matador. Next day, went to another museum, explored Santa Fe's Farmers Market, met a super cool guy named Echo which gave us solid recommendations and a girl named Kate from Baltimore that told us about our next destinations: Iconik Coffee and Whiskey+ Clay which i met the owner of Kimmy and she provided super awesome recommendations, also from Maryland. I got K. and I guest list passes to Meow Wolf, we explored the original one and that was a blast. Ended our night by going to the coolest place in Santa Fe, El Rey Court. I can't recommend this place enough, truly the best bar and gift shop, very highly recommend it. Later that, went back to our room / dancing / hangout / slept. Next morning, La Mama coffee shop, another very cool place. 

Made it back to Denver the day before Thanksgiving and I hosted / played my last ever set as Pelvis Presley that night at Skylark Lounge with bands I had previously played with back in 2017 when I lived in the Mile High City then. It was a goodbye show to my moniker PP and a reunion of old friends The Black Gloves, Blameshells, and Circadian Melodies. I headlined, my set probably could have went better had I not have woken up at 5:30am earlier that day. drank more water and less free beer in the green room. However, it was still cool, I'm still grateful for the bands and everyone that came out, and I threw my electric guitar away that I got in 2012 in the dumpster. The reason I did this was a goodbye to my past and looking ahead at my new stage life and setup in the future. It truly felt like it needed to be that way to me to feel fulfillment and to close this chapter of my life for good. This trip and show from the people, places, and things in it were the absolute best and I am so thankful for all of it. 

Highlights:

Andrew Yang Retweeted my Tweet and started following me on X (Twitter). My Tweet was about wishing he would have been won the race especially because of AI taking storm and causing a lot of job loss. AY is my hero so this was super cool to be acknowledged by him again, since the last time I met him in NYC in 2021. 

I was put on the guest list to see We Are Scientists at Globe Hall. I caught up with Chris (bassist) and Keith (drummer), it was nice talking with them. My third time seeing them this year and a fun time connecting with a band I deeply admired musically and comedically. 

I interviewed Donzii this month. Their song "Disco Rosie" is so good, check it out. They've opened for New Order, had a song featured in Pretty Little Liars, and are now working with Chris Coady (HUGE music producer) on their next album. 

Went to Seedlings Film Festival to support my friend Jesse Lockwood that performed at the festival and had a movie he played a role in featured at the fest too. Watched the Ravens game with dozens of fans at a local Ravens bar in Denver. Have been thrifting at my all time favorite thrift store, Deja Blue. Attended an art gallery opening at The Understudy which is managed by my pal Annie. Watched the Day Of The Dead parade in the Santa Fe neighborhood, very very awesome parade, super cool floats and costumes. 

I ran over 600 miles in 99 runs this year (more to come). 

December

12/05 - my 34th birthday. K and I went to Rocky Mountain NPS. It was such a wonderful birthday trip. We hiked Bear Lake in a mass amount of snow, but it was so worth it. Hung out in the gift shop's basement afterwards that hosts a beautiful vintage theater that featured a video recapping the history of the park. Afterwards, we made our way to the hotel, got Pad Thai at a restaurant, and went to the Stanley hotel to explore where The Shinning was filmed. We had drinks at the hotel, good vibes, lots of tension. 

We went back to the hotel, had a few drinks and made a parody porn video in the hot tub and surrounding areas. It was absolutely absurd and very raunchy. A fake engagement video was to follow that on the roof deck area by a led heart. Lots more of goofing around was so ensue after that. The next day, we drove around Blackhawk Mountain. Stopped in and explored the shops, and vibed out in the town. It was a very solid birthday trip that I'm incredible to have had. 

I headlined a show, 4 days before my birthday at 700K Club. head slug, Huntyr Moon (Gila Teen), and 21st Century Romantic (Clockwork Beast) played too. The turnout was amazing and it was one of my best performances this year imo. later on I hung out with an old friend I hadn't seen in years, got drinks with another friend after that, partied till 4am+, it was absurdity in the best way possible.

Miscellaneous:

303 Magazine offered me a job as a music writer aka one of the biggest publications in the state of Colorado. I sent several of friends on Venmo .03 cents on Christmas to celebrate my new job. I caught up with my old friend Joey, that I met a few years via my bike accident and shortly after we became very good friends, ran a race together in SLC, solid linking up. Watched a DJ set featuring the local legend himself Shanon Von Kelly at Banshee House which was great. Hiked Reynolds Park Trailhead with my previous radio GM at Met Radio. Was put on the guest list to see They Are Gutting A Body Of Water and damn, they are so good live, absolutely blew me away. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott started following me on X (Twitter) which is kinda funny. Guest listed and saw the amazing Colfax Speed Queen a couple of days before the year's end. I started working on a new logo for The Shaky Experience podcast. Ran with Fleet Feet runners and biked with Denver Cruiser Ride, all good vibes. Busy, busy! 

I ran 658 miles in 108 runs this year. In 2022, I ran 1002 miles in 155. I'm glad to have focused on other things this year. Although, I ran a thousand miles, I'm more proud of this year because I felt more focused on goals that mattered to me outside of running.  

My 10 favorite moments of 2023 (continued)

6. The Underground Music Showcase Denver! Getting 3 of my best Denver friends passes to the festival to attend my favorite annual festival was amazing.

7. Artscape Party - I hosted a show at The Hargrove / played my EP release show featuring 3 other artists I've performed with over the years and all my best Baltimore friends came out, this moment was extremely special to me. 

8. Harpers Ferry hostel 4th of July week / end. Going tubing down the Potomac River, hiking a part of the AT,  hanging out with the travelers and the GM was the best.

9. Santa Fe, NM / Great Sand Dunes NPS road trip with a stranger (someone I had met about 10 days before). Truly an awesome moment, exploring, and what better way to get to know someone than driving in a car together to another state. 

10. Pitchfork Music Festival. Getting assigned to cover such a legendary festival, hanging out in the press tent with other journalist. Biking big miles to explore Chicago with my Couchsurfing host. It was epic.

My Life Tips - 

Daily Gratitude List - I update this thing every single day in my iPhone's notepad. DO THIS!!! Please I am asking you to do this. It will help you feel a lot better and have reflection of your life. 

A Progress Report - Update this thing as much as you can! Seriously... YOU will see results. If you keep your goals in mind, it will dissolve and you will likely forget about them. Type them down, look at them daily. Write pros and cons lists of what you want and it absolutely can come true.

Couchsurfing - Want to travel, but have very limited amount of money? Create a Couchsurfing account. You meet travelers, you can stay with them for free, you can host them, the experiences are priceless in my opinion. I saved so much money and was able to travel a lot more because of generous hosts on Couchsurfers. Btw... it's not JUST hosting or be hosted, it's also RECOMMENDATIONS BY LOCALS PER TOWN. There's forums of peoples opinions, road trip groups, it has so much to offer. 

Stop applying to jobs on Indeed - I hear this so much because everyone is looking for a job. Here's the secret, it's oversaturated with people looking for jobs. Guess what? The 20 + employers you "applied" to are looking for 1 person and you're probably up against hundreds to thousands of applicants. What can you do if you're reading this? Go to ChatGPT type in what does X job description do (i.e your previous jobs), update your resume with what you feel is most congruent with you and start cold emailing employers within your field. I cold emailed over 100 employers this year because I knew competition is tough and I wanted a remote job so I waited it out and dozens got back to me and I landed a great job. 

Journal - FREE WRITE (type), do this... whatever interest you, write it down. If it interests you, it'll make you happy, right? So why aren't you more focused on that? This is for YOUR EYES ONLY, so you could literally type whatever you want, whatever you're feeling, it doesn't matter. Sure, it doesn't give you the same hits of dopamine as social media does, but this is a place. for your most authentic self. I have an absurd amount of notes from lyrics, to journal entries of things I'm feeling, to tips on how to build better conversations, trial and error. Be your best self now, tomorrow might not come and people won't remember what you accomplished. They remember how you treated them and others around you. 

Need extra money? - Apply online to be apart of focus groups that pay for your opinion. I made close to $1000 this year in focus group money, literally just to give my opinions on topics of things I already consume. Apply to work Brand Ambassador jobs - I worked the Denver Nuggets home opening game, snapping photos of fans in front of murals. I made $367.00 to have fun with fans, eat free food, make new BA friends, and watch The Chainsmokers perform live and Shaq do commentary of the game.

Bring a reusable water bottle everywhere you go - hydrate. Do I need to say more? My personal favorite is Nalgene bottles and I typically put a carabiner on mine to clip to my backpack or whatever I'm carrying. 

Compost - I don't know why this gets mixed reviews, unless you're lazy, but you should compost. It's good for the environment, it saves room in your trash bag, it's easy to do. I put all my food scraps in a plastic bag in my fridge and when it's full, I walk it over to a community garden and drop it off in a compost bin and I feel better for doing that. Super simple. Don't know where to drop off your compost? ShareWaste is a great website for that.

Get involved by running a blog, podcast, Twitch stream, whatever it is! I cold message kombocha companies, tea, and other random products to let me do ad reads for them on my show. In fact, this year Skinte, Rowdy Mernaid, Funny Water, Jetway Seltzers, Cards Against Humanity, Teakoe, Mezcal Bars, and a few others all sent me FREE products in the mail to review on my show. I love it, it's great, it's free, try it out. 

Favorite music releases from this year!

My top 10 releases in order. 

1. Ducktails - Dealer

- This is objectively the best song to come out this year for me. The heavy guitar, goth vibe, sexy dancey style. The repetition, everything about it is good. The songs "Forever" and "Turnpike Caroline" are also very good in this album too.

2. Parallelephants - Akira's Song

- The best ambient song ever! It's like being in an Andy Warhol art gallery while on psychedelics with your beautiful boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever by your side. Thomie is a genius, but please go back to your original sound from "Supply" or just continue releasing songs like this!  

3. The Drums - Better

- The textbook definition of an original, great indie song. The guitar riffs are fun, easy, melodic, and the lyrics are relatable. The "Oooohs" in the song are catchy, it's just a very, very good indie song. The other song on this album, "Be Gentle" is a very, very close runner up, but I'm going with "Better" for now. 

4. Slim Guerilla - Better Luck Next Time

- SG rhythm man is truly the best rapper in the world in my opinion. He delivers so hard and this song is a perfect example of that The line "A couple of real deal killers" is so fire, I truly feel this song.  SG has a playlist on Spotify curated by me of his best songs and they are good, good, like really good. I.e "Can't Blame Us". Kirby this one's for you! 

5. Tycho - Time To Run 

- Simplistic, user friendly vibes. A calm, yet productive feeling when listening to this song. Tycho is one of the greatest of all time. ISO50 is a legend and I am grateful Scott ever started making musiic.

6. Beirut - Hadsel 

- You know, it's not my favorite album by Beirut, but this song is in my top 10. The reason is because I truly love Zack and think him making music is a blessing regardless of if it's his best work or not. He brings a much different sound to the indie mainstream world that opens ears and minds to new things so this is going on this list. This is a really good song btw and the best on the album. I love Beirut forever for his contribution to the music world.

7. Beach House - Holiday House

- Goosebumps type of song. The synth played is so beautiful and such a bittersweet feeling of memories and love. The opening line "Drive all night to the holiday house" reminds me of driving from Bailey, CO to New Orleans with MW in 2012. It really spoke to an old memory for me. 

8. We Are Scientists - Dispense With Sentiment 

- The feeling I got when taking the bus back and forth to NYC in January, gave me goosebumps aswell and this song accompanied that feeling deeply. It was like a perfect depiction of how I felt about my relationship with my ex gf LJ and seeing them for the album release show (featuring this song), surrounded by members of all the bands I grew up listening to was everything to me.

9. Donzii - Disco Rosie

- Such a fun dancy song, it feels like another world in terms of the lyrics.The single cover art is super. beautiful, I absolutely love it. This song is great!

10. Animal Collective -Magicians From Baltimore 

- "Call me when you get back to Baltimore" is the opening line. This song is spooky, weird, and fun. It has layers of what I want in an AC song and what made them so great to begin with. AC are all time legends. Thank you for existing. 

Songs that didn't come out this year, but I played on repeat an unhealthy amount of times:

Dirty Projectors - Not Having Found and I Will Truck. Truly A LOT for both songs!!! 

Cults - Gildid Lilly 

Tegan and Sara - I Can't Grow Up

The Polarity - Son Of A Beach

Matchbox Twenty - Push

Other random content I've enjoyed - 

One Bite Pizza Reviews - Dave is amazing!

Barstool Radio - the goats on-air always make me laugh 

JRE podcast - the guests are objectively incredible.

WrestleTalk - I'm a nerd, I know... Don't remind me lol

How I Built This - Hinge episode and VICE episode blew my mind

Pardon My Take - Big Cat is so dope, I love that guy so much

Let's Go Podcast - TB12 is so inspiring, sets such a great example

The Daily Stoic - How Ryan is able to deliver every episode is a mystery to me. So good! 

Richard and Sal - I die of laughter every time, it's timeless to me.

A stick I found and called while I was in SF this year.

 

James, who did you interview this year? 

Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), Ducktails (ex Real Estate), Alisa Xayalith (The Naked and Famous), Simone Giertz, Alan Everhart (Le Pain / Wildhoney), Rafe Offer (Sofar Sounds cofounder), The Natvral (The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart), Donzii 

People I had interviews setup with or talked with for awhile that had to reschedule - Panda Bear, Pussy Riot, Nation Of Language, Buscabulla, Sunny Day Real Estate, Billy Fire Fest, Joe Exotic, Dave of Dirty Projectors.

The first 4 interviews premiered on 89.8FM WKRC NYC, the rest aired on 97.3FM WRIR Richmond. All of my interviews can be streamed here 

Music 

The Shaky Experience

Pelvis Presley

NFTs 

Sacred White Shell Mountain

 Thank you for reading! 

 If you have any questions, feedback, or just want to say hi! Reach out to me:

 Instagram: @jamesrichardlane

 Twitter: @jameslanee