Something I'm not very good at, and something that you guys continually do such a good job at and I'm always impressed by, is placing an album within the time that it was released. A couple Obama references today, mentions of late-'00s feel, pondering about life then and how it's changed since, these are all pretty important components of St. Lucia, I think. Good work, everybody.
Really happy to have Batts with us this week (especially with his role in the start of Film Club overlapping with his RC week). I liked the quotation marks around "for fun" in his first album, because we don't know if it's "for fun" like a synonym for "not paid," or "for fun" like "ha ha this actually isn't fun at all." And how quickly we forget about Huey Lewis. Poor Huey.
As the people who normally review and don't need to be forced at gunpoint to do so, maybe you can give me advice on this. I'm thinking about presenting the list of album we're covering this summer to every single PoYB Contributor and saying "pick one." They pick one, I pick one for them, and then everyone does the final album at the end of the summer. Force people at figurative gunpoint to write three album reviews over three months, and giving them way more than one week to listen and prepare. Do you think this would work or would it be a catastrophic waste of time to pester 50+ people about shit they're never gonna do?
Here's the summer schedule, starting the day before Memorial Day
New Dawn by Marshall Allen A Boy Named Goo by Goo Goo Dolls Punk by Young Thug Sunny Day Real Estate by Sunny Day Real Estate For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) by Japanese Breakfast Face Value by Phil Collins Freewave Lucifer fck by Of Montreal Sun Coming Down by Ought Balloonerism by Mac Miller Valtari by Sigur Ros The Young and the Hopeless by Good Charlotte The Doors by the Doors Shaq Diesel by Shaquille O'Neill Final album TBD
One album per month is an easy structure to follow and reasonable expectation. Reiterate that they can do them anytime before the deadline; you don’t need to wait until that week to review them.
To get more involvement, ask the people who aren’t reviewing albums what is stopping them. Their answers might help you see the barriers.
For example, if people stress about approaching different genres, letting them pick the album(s) they want to review might help them get started. If someone feels strapped for time with the other obligations in their life, giving guidance like “150 to 300 words are enough for a review; this is low pressure but really meaningful to me” might convince them. Or if someone doesn’t think they’re a good writer, saying that bullet points or even a voice note sent via text message you can transcribe would be enough. If people say they don’t know where to start, offering a list of prompts and saying they can pick one would help them get started.
Based on what I think about when listening, some prompts might be: 1. What was your first reaction to the album? Did it change after another listen? 2. What vibe does this album create? 3. Was there a song or lyric that really hit you? 4. Was there a musical moment that stood out to you? 5. Did the album remind you of another moment in your life? 6. Did anything happen this week that shaped how you approached this album? 7. What was your favorite song? Why? 8. Would you listen to it again? Why or why not?
I know you always say this, but reiterate that you’re not expecting anyone to do an in-depth analysis of an album. A quick reaction is enough.
I read Sunny's review first and though, "Cool someone else agrees about the 80's, and indie 00's combination." And then I read Zach's review and laughed out loud that someone else though of the widespread hope of the Obama-era.
It’s cool to see that there’s something of a general consensus around this album, but I find it a little funny how most of the reviews focus on the Obama-era-ness of this album, while mine and Joe’s reviews feel like they’re in conversation with each other about artistic intent.
This is great, Gloria. Thanks for typing this up. RC actually does have a "do you need help with writing" blog post linked at the top of every Sunday write-up. Here it is. I'd be curious about your thoughts on that. Do you think people don't use it because it's too long? Or because it's easier to say "I don't want to write" and not write than "I don't want to write but if I read this blog post maybe it'll help me out"? Both?
I think at this point, the majority of people in my life whom I'd be bothering about this know full well what I'm asking them to do, and clearly most people at this point choose NOT to do it. Which is fine. I'm wondering now what would happen if I said "You have to write three reviews this summer." I know most people still wouldn't care, but maybe a few more might!
I should probably move your eight-question list into that writing post though, as it would probably be more helpful than directing someone toward 2000 words about writing that they have to slog through.
Hell yeah dude. This is why I think when people tell me "I don't know what to write," they don't mean "I have no thoughts about it," but rather "I have too many thoughts about it." The key to unlocking this thing is understanding that you can pick one thought and hammer that home and no thoughts are wrong so it doesn't atter which thought you pick.
Embarrassingly, I never noticed that link in the Sunday post. I think it’s great, but I also think it’s for people who are already motivated to write
This is coming from the perspective of convincing people to do things in the setting of the nursing home. Whether it was getting staff to participate in vaccine clinics or residents/ family members to participate in satisfaction surveys, I found the only way to get participation was to make it as easy and simple as humanly possible.
I once read you have 30-50 words to hook a reader. Maybe consider adding a small paragraph and 3 to 4 prompts to the top of the Sunday email along with a link to that post directly in the email. Something too simple to ignore. Might be worth a shot?
12 comments:
Something I'm not very good at, and something that you guys continually do such a good job at and I'm always impressed by, is placing an album within the time that it was released. A couple Obama references today, mentions of late-'00s feel, pondering about life then and how it's changed since, these are all pretty important components of St. Lucia, I think. Good work, everybody.
Really happy to have Batts with us this week (especially with his role in the start of Film Club overlapping with his RC week). I liked the quotation marks around "for fun" in his first album, because we don't know if it's "for fun" like a synonym for "not paid," or "for fun" like "ha ha this actually isn't fun at all." And how quickly we forget about Huey Lewis. Poor Huey.
As the people who normally review and don't need to be forced at gunpoint to do so, maybe you can give me advice on this. I'm thinking about presenting the list of album we're covering this summer to every single PoYB Contributor and saying "pick one." They pick one, I pick one for them, and then everyone does the final album at the end of the summer. Force people at figurative gunpoint to write three album reviews over three months, and giving them way more than one week to listen and prepare. Do you think this would work or would it be a catastrophic waste of time to pester 50+ people about shit they're never gonna do?
Here's the summer schedule, starting the day before Memorial Day
New Dawn by Marshall Allen
A Boy Named Goo by Goo Goo Dolls
Punk by Young Thug
Sunny Day Real Estate by Sunny Day Real Estate
For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) by Japanese Breakfast
Face Value by Phil Collins
Freewave Lucifer fck by Of Montreal
Sun Coming Down by Ought
Balloonerism by Mac Miller
Valtari by Sigur Ros
The Young and the Hopeless by Good Charlotte
The Doors by the Doors
Shaq Diesel by Shaquille O'Neill
Final album TBD
One album per month is an easy structure to follow and reasonable expectation. Reiterate that they can do them anytime before the deadline; you don’t need to wait until that week to review them.
To get more involvement, ask the people who aren’t reviewing albums what is stopping them. Their answers might help you see the barriers.
For example, if people stress about approaching different genres, letting them pick the album(s) they want to review might help them get started. If someone feels strapped for time with the other obligations in their life, giving guidance like “150 to 300 words are enough for a review; this is low pressure but really meaningful to me” might convince them. Or if someone doesn’t think they’re a good writer, saying that bullet points or even a voice note sent via text message you can transcribe would be enough. If people say they don’t know where to start, offering a list of prompts and saying they can pick one would help them get started.
Based on what I think about when listening, some prompts might be:
1. What was your first reaction to the album? Did it change after another listen?
2. What vibe does this album create?
3. Was there a song or lyric that really hit you?
4. Was there a musical moment that stood out to you?
5. Did the album remind you of another moment in your life?
6. Did anything happen this week that shaped how you approached this album?
7. What was your favorite song? Why?
8. Would you listen to it again? Why or why not?
I know you always say this, but reiterate that you’re not expecting anyone to do an in-depth analysis of an album. A quick reaction is enough.
I read Sunny's review first and though, "Cool someone else agrees about the 80's, and indie 00's combination." And then I read Zach's review and laughed out loud that someone else though of the widespread hope of the Obama-era.
Haha, to be fair, the Huey Lewis review was a favor for Pat. I might have put a little more effort into this one…
It’s cool to see that there’s something of a general consensus around this album, but I find it a little funny how most of the reviews focus on the Obama-era-ness of this album, while mine and Joe’s reviews feel like they’re in conversation with each other about artistic intent.
This is great, Gloria. Thanks for typing this up. RC actually does have a "do you need help with writing" blog post linked at the top of every Sunday write-up. Here it is. I'd be curious about your thoughts on that. Do you think people don't use it because it's too long? Or because it's easier to say "I don't want to write" and not write than "I don't want to write but if I read this blog post maybe it'll help me out"? Both?
I think at this point, the majority of people in my life whom I'd be bothering about this know full well what I'm asking them to do, and clearly most people at this point choose NOT to do it. Which is fine. I'm wondering now what would happen if I said "You have to write three reviews this summer." I know most people still wouldn't care, but maybe a few more might!
I should probably move your eight-question list into that writing post though, as it would probably be more helpful than directing someone toward 2000 words about writing that they have to slog through.
Hell yeah dude. This is why I think when people tell me "I don't know what to write," they don't mean "I have no thoughts about it," but rather "I have too many thoughts about it." The key to unlocking this thing is understanding that you can pick one thought and hammer that home and no thoughts are wrong so it doesn't atter which thought you pick.
Embarrassingly, I never noticed that link in the Sunday post. I think it’s great, but I also think it’s for people who are already motivated to write
This is coming from the perspective of convincing people to do things in the setting of the nursing home. Whether it was getting staff to participate in vaccine clinics or residents/ family members to participate in satisfaction surveys, I found the only way to get participation was to make it as easy and simple as humanly possible.
I once read you have 30-50 words to hook a reader. Maybe consider adding a small paragraph and 3 to 4 prompts to the top of the Sunday email along with a link to that post directly in the email. Something too simple to ignore. Might be worth a shot?
Loving all the Obama references here, it's kind of magical to see us all on the same page.
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