The same 3 or 4 lessons, over and over
Welcome to Hella Immaculate, I love you. Please consider forwarding this email to one friend and/or joining my Patreon. You’ll keep me alive, which has historically been an issue for me, and enable me to make more things you enjoy.
I got on TikTok (@thisisdavemaher). That it. Send newsletter.
I’m posting daily in January as part of some quantitative New Year’s resolutions, and it boggles my mind how easily I slip into a marketing mindset I detest. I’ve accepted the necessity of self-promo as an independent artist, and I know the way to do it and not feel gross is to follow what feels best for me. But this week I’ve found myself squeezing my brain to pulp thinking about niches and tactics and how I’m perceived and how to get the biggest numbers quickest.
It’s a constant struggle to remember the 3 or 4 lessons you spend your life cycling in and out of knowing. Writing can be a form of exorcism, so I’m unleashing the marketing mindset on your inboxes now. Let these words fly past you and out the window.
Yesterday, I hit 20 followers on TikTok and decided to make a video honoring this unthinkable milestone, in which I said 20 followers was the goal, claimed victory, and begged no one else to follow me. Since then, I’ve gained (still very few) followers faster than ever. Go figure.
Got a response to something here? Want to join my weekly workshops for storytelling or kickstarting your creative practice? Reply or comment, and I’ll hit you back.
THIS IS MY PODCAST, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE
Visual artist Bianca Diaz and I talked about whiteness, the personalities of buildings, and the comfort she wants her work to provide. Bianca illustrated See You Soon, a new children’s book by abolitionist organizer and bestselling author Mariame Kaba!
MOOD BOARD
I’m a bit beaten down this week between the marketing mindset, a few bad diabetes days, and being in full-on lockdown again because of omicron while the CDC director is saying it’s “really encouraging news” the majority of vaccinated people who die from COVID have comorbidities. Nothing says “back to normal” like forcing a smile and dismissing disabled lives.
Let’s donate to Chicago Quarantine Funds to help workers in need! I gave $10 via Cash App ($ChiQuarantineFunds). Can you match or double me? Let me know, and I’ll report our total next week.
MAY I PLAY YOU A SOUND?
It’s the playlist sampler of last week’s roundup of things I liked or loved in 2021! (Let me know if you need an Apple Music link instead of Spotify.)
I put some notes about how I organized the playlist in the Spotify description, but feel free to ignore them and shuffle your ass off. I genuinely hope you find something you didn’t know you’d like, and there’s some real weird stuff buried in there (hello, Bendik Giske!).
I realize people follow me for candid confessions and mischievous confrontation, and it can be hard to sell them on the ambient and experimental jazz I sometimes recommend. But it’s fun to imagine Hella Immaculate’s combo of existential angst and shimmering noodle music landing right in someone’s taste wheelhouse.
Always shimmer,
DM