See Ya Later
Well, it’s been a whole year. Twelve months of writing, recording, and releasing music under the Beautiful Idiots label. We launched two new artists - Roe’s Garden and the Corner Store. We got our other groups name on TV! Right there in the opening credits, season 3 episode 3: “Original songs by The New Hippies.” In total we released 34 songs. That’s something to be proud of, for sure. If I’m being honest though, most of this year was about learning how to deal with falling short of my expectations. It was a whole lot of troubleshooting, changing plans on the fly, trying to keep my spirits up when I felt like things weren’t going my way. I think a lot of that is reflected in this blog if you read through the year. And that’s ok. It’s just year one. Life is about taking the lessons, I think. IT’s about persevering, finding ways to continue on when you feel a little bit beaten down. It’s about learning how to see things in a new light. Sure, I wish more people would hear our music, and I struggled mightily trying to understand how to market effectively or build an audience, but if I’m going to make an honest assessment of myself, it’s not surprising that I had those struggles because those are never things that I considered my strengths. All the moments we were actually making music, filming our silly bits… pretty much all the time we spent creating, those were the moments that I loved.
So how do we move forward from here? Well, I originally said we were going to put out 50 songs this year. It doesn’t mean that the sixteen that didn’t come out are getting left on the cutting room floor. We’re still working on them for our next project. I’ll put it this way: I went to film school to learn how to make movies, but all these years later, I haven’t made any movies. It’s time for that to change. You might not hear new music from Roe’s Garden or The New Hippies or The Corner Store for a while, but don’t worry, we’re working on something.
As I said, this will be the last post I share here. At least for a little while. It’s not to say I’ll never share anything, but they might be few and far between, and I won’t be prioritizing them. I’ve got to really lock in on this next one. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. My wish for you is that you go fill up your glass with all the life you possibly can. Smile through it, and keep moving toward the things that set your heart on fire. Try to make a note of the moments that you feel really lit up and ask yourself what it was that made you feel that way. I’ll be looking forward to the reunion.
On December 29, 2022 I started this website and posted my first thought, titled “Beginnings.” This isn’t the ending, though. In the words of my grandma, “it’s not goodbye, it’s just see ya later.”
-J.P.