I’ve been reading about the making of the peace sign.
​While I love basking in the laziness of a winter evening, January’s bitter temperatures have limited my outdoor walks with the dog and he has left no stuffed animal toy unturned.
The month of January flew by and I have been keeping busy with plenty of projects. I’ve been indulging in lots of comfort food and books from my personal library.
I used to scour the Borders clearance section for discounted books on art and music. Over time, I’ve curated quite a little collection of coffee table books. It’s like I have my own little bookstore with an endless supply of coffee.

30 seconds is a long time.
​I recently finished up a video art collage project and boy, do my eyes hurt from staring at the screen for hours.
The best way I can explain my video editing process is there are multiple layers of video footage like a Crunch wrap Supreme collage. There’s a lot of stuff inside.
It’s such a thrill when people respond positively to my art. It just makes me want to keep creating magic.
Sometimes, I wish making art was like following a recipe.
If you serve a dish, you know immediately if it’s successful or not by how much is consumed.
If people love it, they ask you to make it again!

But unlike a recipe, I can’t always repeat the same process with my art.
I understand why some artists take their time to create a follow-up project, album or novel.
It took author, Harper Lee, over 50 years to write her second novel after To A Mockingbird. I can’t imagine the pressure of creating a new piece after writing such an impactful story with iconic character names that are still referenced to this day.
These lyrics from the song feel like how art is consumed by the audience. It’s nice but some may not necessarily like it.

​I’ve learned to let go of perfectionism and just serve up what I’ve created.
Unlike musician, Leonard Cohen, where I just learned had over 100 drafts of the song, Hallelujah.
I can’t keep a project in the creative oven for too long.
But damn, can you imagine that song any other way?! Maybe I should return to my perfectionist self.

Coffee and Cassettes
​As someone who grew up in the time of cafe culture, I’ve been craving the endless lingering in coffee shops, record stores and bookstores.
What I miss is the pleasant conversations that randomly took place in these spaces. A time when people would engage with each other, not their computer screens.
Currently, I’m creating a new mini-radio series called Coffee and Cassettes; a play on the wording coffee and cigarettes.
(Former smoker in the house. I am my father’s daughter.)
Coffee and Cassettes is a monthly radio episode that’s like Amoeba What’s In My Bag. The only difference is these conversations are with women and femme music enthusiasts. Whether they work in the industry or not, its about music sharing with playlists curated by the guests.
I’m having a ball chatting it up with music friends and discovering some new gems along the way!
The first episode drops later this month!

Happy Birthday to the Peace Sign
An artist creates feelings not products.
Art moves you and helps you express feelings that you don’t have the words for.
With all the heaviness going on in the news, I reached for one of my books titled Peace: 50 Years of Protest.
As someone who used to doodle the peace sign on my notebooks in school, I never really knew anything about the history of this little symbol.
The peace sign was created in February 1958, by graphic designer and textile designer, Gerald Holtom. It was part of the Nuclear Disarmament campaign that would become a universal symbol for all.
There’s much more meaning within the making of art.
You can read more about the making of the peace sign here.
I also particularly enjoyed this keynote by punk rock singer, Iggy Pop, about how music is not a product, it’s a feeling.

Let's Go Skate
A new episode of Electric Radio Club will air next week, a Valentine’s Day Special!
My Valentine’s Roller Skating Party episode last year was one of my top played episodes. Until the next episode drops, enjoy this playlist that includes tracks by Soul For Real, Robyn, The Bangles, The Cure, TLC, The Replacements, The Vaccines, The White Stripes and more!

​Is This Love Worth Pursuing?

Roy Orbison’s In Dreams is playing on the internet radio.
What a voice. It instantly transports me into a daydream, and I’m sure that if tested by science, it could make rocks move.
In that moment of Roy’s brief serenade, I dreamed what it would be like to have an audio producer.
It’s not that I don’t like audio producing and editing, it’s just sometimes it would be nice to have someone else do it for a change.

​Ground Control
This is not the first time I’ve (cough) shared about the technological woes I face while recording my radio show.
But here I sit hunched over and brow furrowed, scouring YouTube on how to troubleshoot sound issues, all the while thinking,
Why did I start a radio show?
Test.
Silence.
Why do technical glitches occur?
Is this really a reminder from the universe to not get too comfortable and to always be on top of my game?
Silence.
Even the dog could tell I was stressed.
He barked at me until I finally got up and stepped away from my desk.
Always trust the dog.
I poured myself a glass and watched an episode of The Sopranos with the dog curled up by my side.
It really took the edge off.

Remember the Reason

When it comes to acts of care, some people make soup or offer rides to airports in the early morning hours.
I make mixtapes.
I remember watching this David Bowie interview about advice to artists. He made a statement in the interview to always remember why you began a project.
When a problem occurs while working on a project, I have to remind myself of the spark that ignited the desire to even begin in the first place.
That is one of the reasons why I have a radio show. Electric Radio Club was born out of the love of making mixtapes and sharing music with others.

​​This week’s radio show playlist of Electric Radio Club, I based the track list around the spark of starting a project and remembering to keep going, even if there are technical glitches.
I included a track by Ron Gallo called Poor Traits of the Artist.
These lyrics stood out to me after my audio editing debacle.

​The answer is yes.

​Make Goosebumps

There’s all this talk about the movie, Song Sung Blue, starring Hugh Jackson and Kate Hudson. Little did I know, it is not about the musician, Neil Diamond. It’s about real-life artists.
I was intrigued and the Google Gods led me to a wonderful blog post by the director, Greg Kohs, who made the documentary Song Sung Blue, about a husband and wife duo who sing Neil Diamond songs.
Kohs shares in the essay that he passed up a million-dollar movie opportunity because the script didn’t align with the kind of films he wanted to direct.
Instead he created a documentary about these musicians, hoping it would help their career.
This essay is a real “page turner.” I kept thinking, Wait. What?! That happened!?! I couldn’t pry my eyes away from his words.​

​​After reading the roller coaster of an essay, I made it a point to watch the documentary later than evening.
It’s about the unexpected hardship, taking risks and incredible determination to be full time artists.
I’m curious how this documentary will be translated to the silver screen as it’s created by the same director of Hustle & Flow

​For Your Ears
The new episode of Electric Radio Club is inspired by the spark that inspires one to take creative and artistic action.
Whether that be making a movie, volunteering at an animal shelter or finding a cure for cancer, the playlist is themed around the reason why we begin a project or a task and to not use faith in it.
Listen here to the new episode of Electric Radio Club on Mixcloud. Reminder, it is free to listen and my radio show is Ad-Free. Filled with creative commentary and a great playlist.
Listen here.

​​If you love the episode track list, I’ve included it here on Qobuz and Spotify for you to save.
Use a different streaming service? Try Soundiiz to transfer playlists:)

I've included some more behind-the-themes video diaries as I prep for this week's episode of Electric Radio Club.

​Today it’s a stingingly cold and blustery day with gusts that cause my bird feeder to hang horizontally. But I’m in good spirits because I do not need to leave the house today. My dog is curled up by my side as I drink a day-old cup of expensive coffee while listening to a brilliant cover of Metallica’s The Unforgiven by Elisapie. It soundtracks the weather perfectly.

​​The holiday season moves at strange speeds. Between gatherings, shopping, prepping, wrapping, long lines and loafing, I know the holidays can be a hard time of year for many.
Hope you have been in good spirits and in good company.
Speaking of good spiritsWhile most reflect on the year, I’m far too excited about my future and happy to report that I have a new name for my newsletter. I’m calling it an upgrade!

​​Drum roll please.
My newsletter is now called The Radio Room!
I even made a trailer for it, I’m that excited!

​Why call it The Radio Room?

​I consider my newsletter a space to get inspired through song lyrics, art, movies, books, poems and culture.
I knew my newsletter needed a new name to reflect the hub of creative recommendations and personal essays I share with you.
You’ll get the same great, thoughtful essays and of course, updates on my art and radio projects, music playlists and creative recommendations.
Oh! And I’m also adding some new features for my paid subscribers.
Such as…..

• Behind-the-scenes video diaries
• Clips from recording the radio show
• Video notes about ideas for future shows and art projects

Here is an example of the kind of behind-the-scenes video footage I’ll be including in future newsletters.
I’m literally bringing you into The Radio Room where I record all my radio episodes.
In this clip, I’m talking about one of the resources that I’ll include in the first radio episode.
I’m so excited about the theme!

​In my art world,
​I’m working on some new video work, and well, I have a lot of work to do for future entry deadlines.
Sometimes I just need to play around and work on a completely different project to get the creative cogs turning.
I created this video collage inspired by snow.
In the Midwest, we have gotten plenty of winter weather and I thought about all the dimensions inside of a tiny snowflake. Also, I watched The Grinch with Jim Carrey and in the opening scene, Anthony Hopkins narrates the description of Whoville takes place inside a snowflake.
Some of the footage is of local neighborhoods at dawn and was captured on a snowy morning while driving to work a few years ago.
I’m criticizing my own work here as I think the video is very simple but I guess that’s a reflection of what I currently need during these winter months, something simple and sparkly.

​I’m excited about the newsletter name change. In time, you’ll eventually start seeing messages from The Radio Room in your inbox rather than my name.
Thank you for reading and supporting my work!
Can’t wait to share the next newsletter and playlist. It’s perfect for the new year.
​
Stay Inspired!
Joi