NHT Blog

Happy New Year, everyone.  And thank you so much for coming back week after week, month after month, year after year, to read the blog that gets posted on this site every Monday.  I’m equally grateful to everyone who listens to the “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast that has been coming out every Wednesday for what will be ten years next month.  In the case of both the blog and the podcast, I’ve never missed once in posting either one.  I say all that to make sure you know that I write the blog and record the podcast every week because you DO keep coming back to read and to listen, respectively.

Merry Christmas.  Yes, I’m writing a blog on December 25th.  I’m so grateful to everyone who reads these posts all year long, so it seems fitting that I uphold my end of the verbal contract to have yet another installment for you, even if it is arguably the biggest holiday of the year.

One week from today is Christmas.  You might not make a list anymore of gifts you’d like to receive, but you might very well communicate those wishes to potential buyers anyway.  Whether loved ones and/or friends make those purchases remains to be seen and then you’ll reevaluate what you still want.

Be careful, though.  This very easily becomes a time of year when you start to get jealous of what others have.  You also could fall into the trap of bemoaning the things you didn’t receive.  And from there, you sink yourself further into debt and depression.

A few nights ago I was asked, “When is your next trip?”  While I know that in late January I’ll be in Orlando to speak at Podfest Multimedia Expo, that’s more than a month off, so I simply said, “Nowhere right now.”

Okay, I know, the day after Thanksgiving is supposed to signal the start of the countdown to the biggest holiday of the year, but with all due respect for Black Friday, I think it’s fitting for my first blog of December and Christmas being exactly three weeks from today that I was introduced to a song that puts a nice bow on timing for this review.

“Christmas (I Think I’m Gonna Be Sad)” is the new holiday single from New York City-based rock singer-songwriter Dan Miraldi.  And I’m here to tell you that I like it.

When I meet someone who isn’t familiar with my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast and they, as a result, ask what it is, I tell them that I interview “guests who are having success in entertainment, primarily music.”  And from there one of the follow up questions I might get is, “Well, what do you mean ‘having success’?”

About the only thing that everybody in the world knew about was the pandemic.  A close second is (unfortunately) the Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Hamas wars going on.  And if you say, “What do you mean a close second?  Everyone knows about the wars!” then consider that there actually might be some people who don’t!  And that helps you with perspective on not assuming that everyone knows who you are and/or what you do.

Call it a bucket list or call it a target (hmm, maybe it’s the New Year’s resolution you make in less than two months), but there are some intimate rooms out there for indie music performers to aim to get booked in.  Whether you do it for an album release party or just for a high-profile performance spot, I’m here to encourage you to not be intimidated by the image that you’ve probably created due to their reputation.

I have personally been to each of these – in most cases, having a client perform there – so I speak from firsthand experience.

I went through it too.  In 2020 we all moved our entire lives inside.  Both “quarantined” and “shelter in place” became a regular part of our lexicon.  It almost makes you cringe now to hear those terms because we can only flash back to the worldwide shutdown and the negative memories that we connect to that time.

I’m not sure why but I’ve never celebrated the milestones for this weekly blog like I do with those that I hit for my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast.  It’s not that it’s the proverbial redheaded stepchild, but I guess it’s more of a put my head down and keep pressing forward type of mindset.  Perhaps I need to reevaluate as a 2024 New Year’s resolution since it’s now been more than nine years that I’ve been publishing something new here every week.