Whew. It’s been rough the past few weeks. You know the drill – life gets in the way, things get shuffled around, your 12 Months of Stuff project is the thing that gets pushed aside. Well I’m back on track and jumping in feet first to may’s project: Building a website. What’s the site gonna be? The plan is to use it in June’s month of stuff. For now, here’s a handy intro video.
For April’s Month of Stuff, I’m doing four drum covers – one per week. First up is “Bonfire” by Childish Gambino. I’ve been sitting on this cover for at least a few YEARS (yikes) and I’m glad to finally record it and get it up to kick off April’s Stuffly* endeavor. (* yes I made this word up.)
This song is dope. It’s got some rough language, so if that’s not your thing, you’ve been warned.
Let me know what you think! Have a song you think I should cover? Comment below, tweet, post on my wall, or comment on the YouTube video. Thanks for watching and remember, if you want to get to where you wanna be, it starts with that first step.
I’m super excited to announce that March’s project is Truth Tees – Meaningful, hand drawn designs on t-shirts, with a % of profits going to charity.
Truth Tees started as a ridiculous idea between friends. I took it and ran with it in 2008, making a made-to-order t-shirt storefront through Spreadshirt. The designs focused mostly on typography, and finishing the phrase “The Truth Is…”. I’m bringing back the brand for this (currently) one-off run with a hand drawn look, and designs that have a bit more meaning. I‘m going to run a 2 week Teespring campaign at the end of March. (That basically means if I don’t sell a set amount of shirts before the campaign is over, then they don’t get printed.)
Last week I posted a song explanation for “Get Over It” — the closer on my Young Professionals split EP — which deals with mental health issues, how people perceive them, and how people experience them. The design I created (which you can get a peek at in the video below) deals with feeling empowered to take control of your mental health issues instead of them taking control of you.
The most exciting part of this for me is that I found a truly awesome non-profit in the Chicago area to pair this design with. Erika’s Lighthouse. Their mission is to “educate communities about teen depression, eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness and empower teens to take charge of their mental health.” Super cool. Super necessary. Super important. Not only do they have programs to help teens get through their mental health issues, they also have programs to educate parents and friends on mental health issues too!
I’m going to try to get in touch with them directly to work closer with them on this campaign. But regardless of how that shakes out, if this campaign succeeds they are the ‘charity in residence’ (not an official term) so to speak, for this run of Truth Tees.
For the first two weeks of March, I’m going to focus on planning and trying to make sure the campaign gets off on the right foot. For the last two, I’ll run and promote the campaign. Stay tuned to the blog or my YouTube channel for more info soon.
Music is like, the best thing. I love listening to it, writing it, playing it, and submersing myself in all its beat-dropping, hook-singing, chord-strumming glory. It’s been almost 4 years since I released any music, so I’m proud to announce for February’s month of stuff, I’m releasing a split EP with my friend Brian Walker of A Day Without Love. Watch the video below for more info, and subscribe on YouTube for lyric videos, music videos, and more, all month long.
If you haven’t heard, I’m tackling a project per month for a year and calling it 12 Months of Stuff. Subscribe to my newsletter for monthly updates as well, and follow me on Twitter. Use the hash tag #12MonthsOfStuff to let me know the small steps you’re taking to get to where you want to be.
-Sam
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