I saw my first sighting of You Are Beautiful very close to the time that I first started this blog – over ten years ago, way back in 2002. It was a surprising encounter, and something that shifted me outside of my routine – a small bit of brightness that brought about a smile, unexpectedly.
In 2011, Brian launched a successful Kickstarter Project (raising over $15,000),
where he would be photographing and documenting his time in London (where he had gone to attend the International Journalism MA program at City University London). During the subsequent months, he documented his experiences and stories over at the project’s website: London and a Year.
It was fun spotting many folks, from back when we used to work in the Q101 offices at the Merchandise Mart. In addition to seeing a lot of EI folks (AJ, Mike, Brian, Sandra), it was a nice surprise to see so many familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in many, many years.
Between 1969–1972, Howard Smith recorded interviews with scores of rock stars and cultural icons. As a Village Voice columnist and radio personality on WPLJ FM, Smith sat down for revealing, personal conversations with Eric Clapton, Andy Warhol, Jim Morrison, Buckminster Fuller, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Hugh Hefner, to name just a few.
They’ve got an ambitious goal: $30,000 with a little under $6,000 pledged at the time of this blog post (with 19 days to go).
I’ll tell you this – I love the idea of Kickstarter, but haven’t really backed a ton of projects to date. Mostly, they’ve been projects started by friends that I wanted to support. But in this case, I wanted to put my money where my mouth is.
With the recent sale of WKQX (which most folks in Chicago know as Q101), my friend James had a brilliant idea: to write an oral history of the station. Having broadcast Alternative Rock on the Chicago airwaves since 1992, the station has played host to innumerable bands… and has been the source of what I can only imagine to be…
My friend and coworker James VanOsdol has just published a book! It’s entitled Off the Record Collection: Riffs, Rants and Writings About Rock. Here’s a blurb: Off the Record Collection compiles Chicago media personality/author James VanOsdol’s writings about rock and roll in its myriad forms, with special attention paid to classic rock, alt rock, and the dynamic Chicago music scene….
Brian’s Kickstarter Project, London and a Year, is in it’s final days. With the deadline nearing, he’s still trying to reach his goal to finance what I know will be an amazing book of photos and essays. To underscore his seriousness and to encourage others to contribute, if he meets his Kickstarter goal… he’s also pledged to donate $1,000 to…
My friend Brian has some big plans. He’s recently been accepted to City University London and come next September he will be living abroad, pursuing an International Journalism MA. Not content with just his studies, Brian has also decided to create a book that will be the culmination of a year’s worth of photographs and observations, while overseas. Entitled London…
For Jason Bitner (Found Magazine, Cassette From My Ex), it all began with the discovery of 18,000 photographs in the back of a local diner in LaPorte, Indiana. From there, he not only published a book… but he also successfully raised over $12,000 to fund a documentary film, focusing on LaPorte. And here’s a little bit of info: the editor…
My coworker Nick is working on publishing a book, and is using Kickstarter to raise up funds. The working title is “Cadence & Slang,” and the topic of the book centers on interaction design. In addition to updates on Kickstarter, he’s also got an official site up. It seems more and more folks are utilizing Kickstarter to fund their projects….
My friend Jason Bitner (co-founder of Found Magazine and the guy behind Cassette from My Ex) is working on a documentary. The documentary is based on Jason’s book, LaPorte, Indiana: a collection of photographs taken by local photographer Frank Pease. The amazing part of this story is that Jason first came across these photos (over 18,000 in total) in the…
My friend James continues to work on raising funds for his book, and is currently at 24% of his target goal. I recently read a post by James, referencing a statistic that listed a 94% success rate for Kickstarter Projects that manage to attain at least 25% of their fundraising. His project has been at 24% for a while, and…
My friend and co-worker James VanOsdol is raising money to fund his book, tentatively titled “Chicago Rocked!” In the 1990′s, James was on the airwaves at Chicago’s alternative station Q101, hosting a music radio show called “The Local Music Showcase” (later to be called “Local 101″). During that decade, he gathered together a ton of interviews, photos, clips, and stories……