Hey, all! It’s July, in the middle of an epically hot summer, and I wanted to add some good news to the maelstrom of tragedy and horror.
Before I get into my news, though, I need to announce that I am going to be changing this blog to have some content—at least one post a month from now on—exclusively for paid subscribers. If you want to read all of my blog, you can sign up for either $5/month or $53/year.
First, I am a radio DJ again! CHIRP Radio 107.1FM Chicago, also available at chirpradio.org and on the CHIRP Radio app, is a community radio station based in Chicago, and on Wednesday mornings at 9am-12pm CST, I am now playing music over the airwaves, as well as doing some sub shifts for other on air DJs.
CHIRP is live and local independent radio, and I have so much fun playing a variety of music to fit its Eclectic format. I’d love it if you tuned in and listened! Requests are welcome as well.
Second, I am indulging in my playful, creative side by taking an Artist’s Way class! Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity is changing my life, however imperfectly I do the actions.
As part of that experience, I am going on “artist’s dates,” one of the primary tools of the Artist’s Way program of creative recovery. The other night I sang a very hard song to sing in my range, Tim McGraw’s 2004 country smash “Life Like You Were Dying,” at karaoke night at a country bar in Chicago. I have not had that much fun singing karaoke in years—maybe singing in general.
Third, I am reading a lot more than I usually have in years past, including Danyel Smith’s Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop, Michael McCreary’s Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic: A Comedian’s Guide to Life on the Spectrum, and Daphne A. Brooks’s Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, as well as The Artist’s Way. I hope to once again read at least 25 books this year. Some of this is for a project on music books of the last decade.
Fourth, I am pitching my writing to multiple new or relatively new places for me, including NPR Music! I am looking forward to hopefully hearing back on how I can work for them. I am also looking for additional work in other areas.
I look forward to connecting with more of you, and I look forward to what is to come in my life. I hope you join me for exclusive content every month to pay to subscribe to my blog.