Give yourself another chance and trust the goodness in others

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Yesterday I decided to check my email while I was walking to work and there was an email with subject line that asked a great question, a question that I feel I need to contribute an answer to. “Do we need to talk about suicide?”, read an email/article that was published by Jason Calacanis, a tech entrepreneur and former journalist. Jason’s article focused on the pressures that company founders and entrepreneurs face, and how that pressure may lead to unfortunate outcomes. Jason’s question is a great question, it’s one that needs to be opened up to a much broader audience, rather than the relatively narrow niche of startup founders.

Over the past few weeks, the tech news sites have had a flurry articles about two prominent technologists that have committed suicide. Due to the nature of the small tech world that I live in, I happen to be friends-of-friends with both Jody Sherman (who passed way this week) and Aaron Swartz. Jason’s article also mentions a third person, Illya Zhitomirskiy, a guy who lived a few blocks from me and whom I had met at a party that a mutual friend invited me to. These three people are not just people I read about on the news and then forgot about, they’re people that have made very personal connections to friends that I care about. The articles about these suicides not only acted as a harsh reminder of suicide and its impact on my life, but also of the pain that it has now inflicted on my friends.

Working in technology is a highly competitive field, particularly startups and small companies that work hard everyday to make sure they exist and are relevant in the coming weeks and months ahead. Small companies don’t have the luxury of thinking in years or six-month plans, because there’s no guarantee that the funds required for such optimism will be available when you need it. This sort of pressure and reality results in many things that I love about startups, like not wasting time or working with people that are passionate about building amazing things today (not tomorrow, or next week), but it also results in a huge amount of pressure that is imposed on an individual, both externally and internally.

For some reason our culture revels in the failure of others. Sites like TMZ are basically Human Failblogs, and our tech news sites spend too much time speculating on and diving into the latest failure of CompanyX and the founders/CEO. The humiliation that inevitably comes with failure or mistakes is only compounded by the fact the everyone seems to be endlessly entertained by everyone else’s bullshit. Our culture needs to not just recognize the amazing wins and achievements of others, or laughing at the shortcomings of others, but it also needs to embrace the learning opportunities that come with mistakes and failures.

Failing gracefully is a skill that I hope to learn someday, as I absolutely hate failing at something. Failure in startups can lead you to the end of a company’s journey, a scene that features a Human Resources person handing out documents that you sign when you’re sitting in a room with all of your (now unemployed) friends, and the realization that the company and your hard work won’t exist tomorrow. The threat of failure is scary and intimidating, but it’s not the end, it just marks the start of your transition to the next chapter in your journey.

As cliche as it sounds, your life is a journey and a story. The lows that you experience help you appreciate and celebrate the highs in your jouney, and they also can prepare you and enable you to help others when they are experiencing their lows. Personally, I’m really good at convincing myself that my struggles and fears are unique to me, and that I’m just crazy and fucked up. My countermeasure to my negative thinking is to talk to others about how I’m feeling, the struggles or hardships that I’m encountering, so that I can get feedback and potentially have my feelings and concerns validated by others. I’ve found that it’s more than likely that my concerns and fears are valid, or if they aren’t, the person can help give me more perspective and change my thinking.

I’d like to encourage everyone to reach out to their friends and family when they’re feeling overwhelmed, as it will oftentimes help give you perspective and peace of mind. I know that this process can be scary to most people, since it involves making oneself vulnerable, exposing possible flaws and weaknesses to others. I’ve come to the personal decision that I accept the risks that are inherent to emotional vulnerability, because I feel that the risks involved with not opening up to others are risks that are just too high. The opportunities for growth, learning, and connection with others are much more attractive to me, and they help combat my fear of having my feelings hurt by someone.

Simply put: If someone isn’t able to help you when you need it, or able to listen to you when you need to talk, you probably can’t have that level of relationship with them(yet). But there are many others in your life, and even strangers, that will happily take you up on the opportunity to help you in your time of need. To trust someone in this way is taking a leap of faith, but that leap of faith will pay off.

I encourage everyone to open up and to try to help themselves and help others when they need it. Our conversations and experiences with others help us learn about ourselves, the world, and the goodness in people. Listen to others, share your stories, and I bet you will experience a greater connection to the world around you, and at the very least you can usually get a good hug out of it.

To end this blog post, I think I should include the story that I told that helped me connect with others in a new way, a process and experience that changed my perspective and helped me greatly. Here is my story about my father’s suicide, a story that I posted on Quora:

Read Quote of Sam Houston’s answer to Suicide: What does it feel like to have a parent commit suicide? on Quora


Saying goodbye to an adventurous 2012

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Closing the chapter on one of the most formative years in my life is a curious feeling. I’m nervous and excited for 2013 and what it will bring to me, and I’m thankful for what I learned and what I became in the year that has now passed. While there were some trying times in 2012, I think I’m in a much better place now.

When I went home to Ohio for the Christmas of 2011, I had a hard time grappling with the fact that my hometown no longer felt like “home”. I went to bars and met people that I’ve known for years, but there was a part of me that couldn’t fully relate to them, and I’m sure they couldn’t fully relate to me. At this point in my life, San Francisco is home for me and it is where I feel the most comfortable and relaxed. Today I returned from my week long trip to Ohio for Xmas 2012, and this year I was much more comfortable and OK with being home, as I now had a much better mindset from which to approach things. My time with my friends and family was much better this year, as I no longer was distracted by the overwhelming feelings of being in a place that once felt like “home”, a place that may now feel a bit strange.

I often refer to this year as the year that I had my quarter-life crisis. Since my birthday is on January 2nd, the year and my age are very closely intertwined. As a 24 year old this year, I had to learn to be comfortable and confident in my own skin and in my personality, and I had to become comfortable in my career. I wrote about this over the summer, where I talked about my career/job change at BandPage, and when I described “being real” and authentic. This year I fully embraced my independence, which meant defining myself independently of anyone else, any job, and any career path that I’m in. I learned a great deal about myself, I went after some goals, not the least of which was exercising more and taking up cycling, which resulted in a loss of over 30lbs in the past 6 months. As I took on and conquered new challenges, this year has been freeing and greatly rewarding for me, for which I’m also very thankful.

Golden Gate Bridge bike ride

My bike after a very foggy ride over the Golden Gate Bridge

In November I quit my contract at EA/Origin and decided to take a new job at Couchsurfing as their Community Manager. Relatively quickly after joining Origin, I realized that I’m not as comfortable working at big companies as I am at small startups. There are a lot of things you can and can’t do at big companies, there are lot of things you can and can’t say. Things are usually more defined for you at larger companies, and there are usually many more people involved and many more moving parts involved in pushing forward projects. Working at EA was a culture shock, after coming from the small startup, “just get shit done” environment at BandPage.

I started my new role at Couchsurfing on November 20th and it was like a breath of fresh air. Couchsurfing has a massive, deeply passionate and engaged community of well over five million members that have been couchsurfing for years. It’s worth mentioning that “Couchsurfing” has many different meanings in different contexts. Couchsurfing can mean the company that I work at, it can mean the actual act of Couchsurfing, and it can mean the website or mobile applications that the company develops. I feel very fortunate to be trusted by the company to help shepherd a community that is so passionate and emotionally invested, and the role has presented a lot of fun and interesting challenges.

Couchsurfing (the company) has a very flat organizational structure, one where open communication and suggestions are always welcome. Our CEO, Tony, deeply believes in working with the community and strongly influencing product development and iteration based on community feedback. I’ve never had an opportunity like this, to empower a community to have great impact on the products that it uses, and this is an extremely exciting opportunity for me. I’m very thankful that I took my friend (and now co-worker) up on her offer to get a beer and learn more about Couchsurfing, since it ultimately led me to interview for a job that I’m confident will be great for me personally and for Couchsurfing (in all contexts).

This year will be one of great importance to me, a year which was packed full of memories of great highs and some occasional lows. I turn 25 in roughly 36 hours and tonight I’ll be saying goodbye to an adventurous 2012. I hope 2013 will be as good to me as 2012 has been. Happy New Year’s – let’s make 2013 a year to remember and celebrate.

 

First day back

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Today (7/23/2012) was my first day back at EA, otherwise known as Electronic Arts. It also marks my first day back in the video game industry, after a nine month fling in the ever alluring music industry. I’m now a Community Manager for Origin, EA’s one year old digital store and PC Game download client. I’m working alongside J “OneLetter” Goldberg, who previously worked for Volition as the Community Manager for games like Red Faction: Guerrilla and Saints Row: The Third.

Being back in video games, and being back at EA (for the 3rd time)…it honestly all feels quite surreal. The closest analogy I can come up with is your first day back at school, after a long summer break.

As I waited for the shuttle down to EA’s main campus (EA Redwood Shores), I ran into several people that I knew and used to work with. As I walked around the campus and waited for my orientation, I saw several people that I knew and they welcomed me back to EA. It was all a reminder that I used to work for EA..I used to work in video games..and I know some people!

And then came the meetings, meetings with a bunch of new people, and the hazy feeling I had for about half of the day. That feeling that you get when you show up for your first class, or when you sit down at your desk after a long vacation from work. I had a hard time shifting gears, changing my mindset from what works for musicians to what could work for an international public company with over 9,000 employees. I had a tough time remembering community management tactics and strategies for the game industry, as well as remembering what I like to do in this space and what I’m really good at. I knew that I was good and that I had fun with all of these things…but I couldn’t put anything into words just yet.

But luckily it started to come back to me. I started to remember how things worked, remembered all of the great people that I’ve worked with and met in video games, and I started to get genuinely excited about what could be done and what we should do at Origin. That’s not to say that I wasn’t excited before, but now it felt a bit different.

Up until that point, it was hard for me to understand what had happened in the past month. It was only just over a week ago that I was working at a 40 person startup in downtown San Francisco, but now I’m working on the 5th floor of one building that is a part of a campus of four buildings with thousands of employees.

When I left video games last year I was a bit jaded about the whole industry. I was frustrated with where it was going, with some of the latest trends, and with where my career was headed. But now I’m excited again, excited to work with J and the other Community Managers and marketing and public relations folks across EA, to work with the EA.com and Origin teams, and to help shape the future of EA’s relationship with gamers.

The team wants to make an impact and do something a bit different. It’s not going to be easy, but I think we can do it.

Thanks to everyone that reached out to me over the past few weeks and gave me support and words of encouragement, and recently all of the words of congratulations. I’m very fortunate to have a lot of very supportive and friendly people (friends!) in my life.

I’m still going to do some music stuff for fun and outside of work, and I hope to continue to explore my writing on this blog and perhaps other blogs.

Thanks for coming along for the journey! :)

Being Real and overcoming the Attention Economy

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Last week I interviewed for a job and I met with several people, each of which I tried to describe the problem that I see everyone facing in the very near future. The problem I see is this: We’ve got too much stuff to read/listen to/watch and a limited time to do it all. This problem particularly affects people like me, because essentially my job is to come up with stuff that is interesting to people and to engage them on a variety of different social platforms. If no one gives a shit about what I’m saying or where I’m saying it, I’m just wasting time and money.

This past December I was grappling with a number of different concepts, with the main concept being “Realness”, as in “being real” or authentic to others. I decided that I wanted to “be real” with everyone around me and I only wanted to interact with people that were being real with me, since I feel that this is the way to get the most value out of life. If we all drop our acts and speak honestly with each other, I think we can connect with each other in a more meaningful way and get what we want from life.

And I think that’s what everyone is looking for, and that need will only increase over time. The fact is, so much of our world is Bullshit right now. We’ve got politicians constantly changing positions and distorting facts, companies totally destroying nations, environments and economies, and a growing amount of mistrust in the people and organizations around us. It’s quite sad, and I think the public cynicism and apathy that will come out of these trends could force us to change how we live our lives and do business with one another.

We’re also running into a problem where everyone is becoming increasingly addicted to the Internet (read that article, it’s well worth it!). You can’t have dinner or drinks with someone without constantly checking Facebook, your email, or Twitter for the latest information. We’re disengaging with the world right in front of us to keep connected to the world around us, but I think we’re missing the bigger picture and losing out on the great experiences of every day life. Our ever increasing thirst for more information and content has warped our attention spans and our ability to prioritize what’s really important, since everything seems important and deserving of immediate attention.

Meanwhile every company and product is trying to get your attention with new advertising and new ways to access even more information, but we just don’t have enough time to give. And if it’s all a bunch of bullshit anyways, who cares?

Some people call this problem the “Attention Economy“, where we only have a finite amount of time that we can devote to the content and information around us.

My hope is that there will be shift in the way we communicate with one another and a change in what people find important in their daily lives. We’ll need to reduce the amount of noise in our life, focus on the few channels/people/etc that we consume and communicate with on a daily basis, and a big factor in this decision making process will be the way that we’re communicated with. We need to be communicated with in a way that makes sense to us, with information or content that adds to our lives in a positive way or connects with us on an emotional or intellectual level. There will still be room for mindless entertainment and fun escapes, but I think we will collectively have to find more balance in our life and take power over our Internet and content addictions.

There are companies already trying to figure out what’s important to you and filtering out content based on those inferences. Most notably is Facebook, with its somewhat controversial “black box algorithm” called EdgeRank, which is used to decide what you see on your Facebook News Feed. As a user of Facebook, you only see a subset of the content from your friends, the bands and musicians you like, and the companies you’ve liked on Facebook. That’s why you typically only see the same people/things in your News Feed, and never see any content from that random person from high school (that you’re not really friends with anyways). But EdgeRank isn’t perfect, and it still doesn’t solve the problem that we’re facing with millions of Blogs, constantly updating twitter feeds, and the bombardment of advertising and messaging that we experience every day.

In my opinion, it’s very important that companies, brands, musicians & bands, and individuals keep these trends in mind. If we focus on giving as much value to the people around us by being real and authentic and creating something that addresses real needs and wants, we will find the customers, listeners, and friends that are most important. This may result in fewer “friends”, or a smaller customer base, but it will be a group of people that will give us real results. Those results could be an increase in money if we’re trying to monetize relationships, like a band does when it sells a new CD at a show, or it could result in tighter, more enriching relationships with the people around us.

If we don’t do this, you’re going to have a hard time finding success. Sure, there are companies and people out there that will find success by Bullshitting and not creating real value, but do you really want to be like those people? We have a very small amount of time on this Earth, and I’d rather not waste it acting like someone I’m not, or doing something I don’t believe in or think is worth it.

Over the past two months I’ve tried to be more Real through my writing, by opening up about parts of my life and being more vulnerable. It started when I shared for the first time publicly the story of how my father died, when I made a post on Quora that answered the question: “What does it feel like to have a parent commit suicide?“. The reactions were stunning and happened almost immediately, with friends and strangers reaching out saying that they were amazed I went through this tragedy and spoke so openly about it. I even had a phone call with my mom about it, where we talked about what each other experienced during those couple of days. That was the first time my mother and I ever talked in that depth about the day my father died.

Last month I decided to share my story of why I’m not at BandPage any more, and that too  received some great reactions from friends. All of a sudden I’m talking to friends about how I feel, the struggles that I’m going through and facing every day, and I’m also hearing about their daily struggles and concerns. I feel like I have a deeper connection and understanding of some of my friends, and I think they have a better understanding of me.

Recently I’ve noticed others sharing publicly and it has been quite inspiring. Two weeks ago Frank Ocean, a new hip hop artist, got a lot of attention when he announced that he was Gay. The announcement created a lot of controversy, but it also resulted in a lot of support and a better appreciation for the great strength and courage that it takes to be open about who you are in an environment that usually is not accepting of “alternative lifestyles”.

On the video game side of things, Jeff Green recently made a post about his battle with depression, a post that surprised a number of people and received a lot of support from the gaming community. It was great to see Jeff speak so honestly about his 25 year long struggle with depression, and even greater to see hundreds and thousands of people support him.

I truly hope that over time we will see that letting our guard down and opening up to others about the common struggles and challenges that we face daily, will result in a better world. You could probably argue that I’m naive in that Hope, but I’m afraid of the consequences of an increasingly cynical and jaded culture. I think it’s time that we decide that we’re done with the Bullshit, that we need to connect with each other and companies around us in more meaningful ways, so that we can collectively live a more meaningful and fulfilling life. I encourage you to give it a try, and I’m going to continue to try it myself too :)

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Sam

I realize the above could be seen as perhaps a bit naive or altruistic, but these are things I’ve had on my mind for a number of weeks and months. Hopefully you get something out of this, as I honestly just needed to get some of these concepts and points out of my head and onto virtual paper. Please let me know what you think!

Don’t worry, be happy

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Disclaimer: Below is a somewhat lengthy explanation of why I ended up leaving BandPage.  It’s a bit personal, but my hope is that it will help people understand where I’m coming from, and why what happened, happened.

When I announced two weeks ago that I am leaving BandPage, some people asked some good questions. Most notably, people asked “Why are you leaving so soon, even if you weren’t happy?” or “Why are you leaving, I thought you loved that job”. Both are good questions and they deserve a good answer, since otherwise it could look like I’m a flake and I’m just bailing from a company on a whim. As always, things are bit more complicated than that.

The last (almost) nine months at BandPage have been transformative for me, both professionally and personally. BandPage’s culture is built around being open, honest, direct, and caring about each other. It’s very friendly in that sense, while also being very serious and hardworking since the problems the company hopes to solve are huge and difficult tasks. This kind of atmosphere showed me what I felt was true, but have had a hard time finding: your work atmosphere should be friendly and supportive, while also working hard and accomplishing great things as a team .

It is through this culture and company that I’ve been fortunate to form great friendships that have similar approaches and philosophies. In the mix of all of this, I turned 24 and I’ve been thinking a lot more about what it means to be a male adult and being confident in who I am as a person, as a professional, and as a friend. Out of all of this, I’ve learned that I’m most comfortable when I’m open with others about who I am and what I’m thinking, when I’m being honest and caring, and when I’m doing something that makes me happy and that I’m passionate about. This has forced me to change my approach to the friends I choose to have, how I interact with people, and ultimately the jobs that I want to do.

Sometimes I need to stop and remind myself that I’m only 24, that I dropped out of college and started working at a startup when I was barely 20 years old. I skipped out on a lot of things, and I’m in the middle of pretty standard early 20 something stuff (the whole figuring yourself out thing), while still trying to have a successful career that’s now over four years in the making. I’ve got a lot to learn, a lot to figure out, and a lot of hard work to do. It’s important for me to remember where I’ve come from and how I got here, since it’s a bit different than most of my peers.

In the midst of figuring out “Who is Sam Houston, really?”, I’ve also had to adjust my view of who I am as a professional. For better or worse, I identified myself as a “Community Manager in the video game industry!” for the first three years of my career, since that’s what everyone came to know me as and what had become my personal brand. I had spoken on panels at video game conferences about it, I had launched websites and gained a bunch of Twitter followers because of it…it was who I saw myself as. When I left video games I had to reexamine all of that, since I was no longer in an industry where I had a name – I was now in the music and tech startup industry, where not many people knew me and I definitely had a ton of catching up to do in terms of knowledge and familiarity. It was a scary challenge.

A few months back I was asked to go through another change: transition from Community Manager at BandPage to Customer Support. I had my apprehensions, but I knew I cared about users and I’m good at making people happy, and I also really cared about the company and wanted to help out where I could. This change in roles threw my professional view of myself into even more chaos, since I now needed to adjust not only what my industry was, but also my job and my entire career path. I worked really hard to convince myself that this was the right choice, I bought some Customer Service books and tried to inform myself about what this new world was all about. I honestly wanted to rock the role and create a vision for customer support.

But ultimately..I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get excited about Customer Support, I couldn’t create a vision for ways to make support amazing and awesome for years to come, and I couldn’t enjoy my day to day tasks. This reality bummed me out, since I still loved my company and who I worked with, but I didn’t like my job at all. It’s way easier to hate your job AND hate the company. Not only was I going through disappointment with my new role, but I was also going through all of the personal stuff (and then some) that I mentioned earlier…and the end result was a very sad Me.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, I had a meeting with the exec team at BandPage, and in that meeting I talked about how unhappy I was. Out of this discussion we decided that since I was so unhappy, and since the company doesn’t have another role for me right now, that I should find something else outside of the company that would make me truly happy. It was the tough decision to make, but ultimately the right one, even if it does complicate things in the short term.

Luckily I’m now feeling much better about things since I have a better understanding of what makes me happy, who I am as a person and professional, and I’ve got ideas for what I want to do with my career. I’m much happier about life in general, and I’m excited about the future. I confidently know that I’m passionate about connecting with people and that my weapon of choice is the internet and online community tools like social media. I love telling stories, showing the human element of brands/companies/projects, and giving fans what they really want.

So now I just have to figure out how to do all of that, and I’ve been lucky enough to have many supportive peers, friends, and contacts that want to help me along the way. I’ve got some ideas that really excite me and I’m contacting companies and people that I’d like to work with. I’m very excited about the future and now it’s all about finding the path to making it happen :)

Keep Movin’ On

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It’s a shame that I haven’t updated my blog for the past 8 months, as I’ve done some really great things in that time. I’ve been a part of several BandPage feature launches, gone to SXSW 2012 and helped run and promote a 9 day music festival (that we ran ourselves and had 200+ bands…), I’ve met some amazing people along the way, and been more than fortunate to work with many of them every day. BandPage has become like a family to me, and showed me that you can build a company full of amazing people that are real, genuine, inspiring, honest, and caring.

But unfortunately, my time at BandPage is coming to an end soon. We recently decided that my needs and the company’s needs are not quite working out, and that I should try to find something that is a right fit for me. I still really like everyone at BandPage, and I’m leaving on good terms, but it just came down to the fact that the roles available at the company just aren’t the right match for me.

After SXSW, I started to transition into more of a Customer Support role. At first I thought I could do this, and do it well, and hopefully enjoy it. What I found is that I am good at helping people and making them happy, but I just don’t enjoy the challenges of customer support. It’s not creative enough for me, and I wasn’t inspired by customer support. It left me fairly upset and frustrated with my role, and ultimately lead to the decision that I should find something outside of BandPage.

I’ll still be at BandPage for a little while, to help make this transition a smooth one. I’m still on good terms with everyone, including the CEO (and friend) J Sider. I want to thank him and the rest of the BandPage crew for helping make my experience an awesome one, and ultimately being supportive to me when they learned I wasn’t happy any more.

So what’s next? I’m not sure.

What ultimately lead me to leave Playfish for BandPage was an opportunity in the music industry that I see, and I believe is still available today. In my opinion, the relationship that artists/bands have with their fans is sorely lacking, and could be improved upon greatly by using social media in smart ways. I think someone like me, a Community Manager, could be used to interact with fans, create and share content regularly, and make a stronger connection between the artist with the fanbase. And through this connection, there will even be ways to monetize the fans (in a fair way), because you’re creating great content and great experiences for fans.

BandPage is an extension of that. New companies like Shaker and Instagram are definitely a part of that, as are “old” companies like Twitter and Facebook. And media like Blogs, YouTube, and Photos will be key. But they need to be done all in concert with one another, with a strategy, and not left to the guitar techs or the band members (who often just do it when they have time).

My hope is that I can find a way to channel this passion and vision that I have for the future of the music industry into a new role. I’m going to need your help though, since this is something new for me. You can find me on Linkedin Here, and if you know of anything that you think would be interesting to me, please contact me on Linkedin (or Twitter or Facebook).

I want to change the music industry and give fans and bands the experience that they deserve. Hopefully I can find the opportunity to do that :)

 

A new, Musical Chapter in Life

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My life over the past few years has been quite the journey. Four years ago I was a 19 (almost 20) year old who was just about to start working at Best Buy for the Christmas season, and a few months later I moved to Boston to start at a tiny startup called gamerDNA. At gamerDNA I was the 8th employee and we worked from the CEO's kitchen table, grew to 20+, went through layoffs and lots of late nights, but created many great memories. Then for the past two years I've been living in San Francisco, working at various game companies, including Playfish for the past year, where I've been working with Facebook Game communities for The Sims and MONOPOLY. Life's been a fucking ride, man.
 

On Monday I announced that I was leaving Playfish and that I had accepted a Community Manager job at a small SF startup called RootMusic. This was the result of some soul searching, lots of hardwork, and it was a decision that frankly scared the shit out of me. At this point I'm pretty well connected in the video game industry, I've had the pleasure of working for some great companies with amazing people, and now I'm turning my back on all of that and starting fresh. Not only did I announce that I was leaving on Monday, but Tuesday was my last day at Playfish, and today was my first day at RootMusic. Intense, to say the least.

I'm extremely excited right now. It's currently 11pm, I got home just recently from my first day at work, and I'm honestly at a loss for words. I've got a huge amount of responsibility and a lot of people are looking to me to make some big decisions and be involved in many different projects. But this is what I've been looking for, I'll get to work at a music company that works with virtually every top Band/Musician in the industry, but also makes a product that a tiny high school garage band could use to great effect. The music industry is changing rapidly, and RootMusic will be there to lead the charge. To think that I've been fortunate enough to land a role at such a company just blows my mind, and I can't wait to spend many years with these great people and go onto this next chapter in my life journey.

This new job is going to be stressful, it's going to be really hard, and it's definitely going to be intense. But I'm really looking forward to a very rewarding experience, and I can't wait to make an impact on how Community Management is done in the music industry. This is very much like a dream job, a dream that I started to formulate recently as I prepared to meet Tom Delonge from Blink-182 and came up with a pitch to him/his manager for reasons they should hire me as their Social Media Manager. They didn't end up calling me back, but the important part was that it got my wheels turning in my head, and it got me to where I am today.

Today is a great day. I can't wait for tomorrow.

2011 – The year of Music

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In January I made a post about new New Year's Resolutions, and while I haven't done some of them, I can actually cross most of the resolutions of my list. The one resolution that I'm most excited about and feel like I've successfully kicked the shit out of is "Go to More Concerts".  This year I've gone to Coachella, Outside Lands, seen Best Coast/Wavves, went to a small Alkaline Trio show, and tomorrow I'll be seeing Blink-182 (from the pit!). Next week I'm going to another Blink-182 show down in Mountain View, and I'm even going to meet Tom Delonge, the guitarist for Blink-182. It's super surreal that I'll get to meet Tom, since he's some what of a hero of mine, so I'm very excited to finally meet him and hopefully tell him how much his bands mean to me. Later this month I'll be going to Treasure Island, a relatively large music festival in San Francisco.

Not to mention a new Blink-182 album came out this week, "Neighborhoods", which is their first album in eight years. I also got my first tattoo, which is a huge guitar that's the length of my left forearm.  2011 has been an amazing year for music and I'm super happy about that.

Coachella

Coachella was an amazing experience. Over three days, I saw some of my  favorite bands: The Strokes, Cut Copy, Arcade Fire, Best Coast, Jimmy Eat World, Kings of Leon, Mumford & Sons, and many more.  While having a great music experience, I also had an amazing human experience with some of the best people I know. I drove down to Coachella with a couple friends from San Francisco, and we stayed in a house together with two of our other friends from SF/Boston. The house had a pool and hot tub, grill, and a really nice kitchen & livingroom. Essentially we would go to awesome concerts all day, come back to a vacation home and hangout in the pool and chill out. It was such an awesome experience and I can't wait to do it again next year with the same group of people.

 

My Tattoo

On July 2nd I got my first tattoo: My dad's electric guitar that he named "Old Glory". Old Glory is the only guitar that I own that was my dad's, so it has a lot of sentimental value to me and it's something that I hope to keep a hold of forever. I decided to get the tattoo because I felt like this was one of the best ways to pay tribute to my dad, remember his talents and gift as an amazing musician, and symbolize my love for music and love for my dad – all at the same time. I'm very happy with and proud of my tattoo, and I know my dad would be too.

 

Outside Lands

In August I went to San Francisco's Outside Lands, a three day festival in Golden Gate Park. Not only is the music lineup stellar, but the park is a beautiful setting for a three day outdoor music fest. Joy Formidable (pictured) blew me away with their fantastic sound and fun stage presence, and Muse once against melted my face with one of the best performances I've ever seen. Arcade Fire, Phantogram, The Black Keys, Best Coast, and John Fogerty all put on great shows too.

Next Up?

Tomorrow I drive all the way up past Sacramento to see Blink-182 from the pit. I'm excited to see these guys live for the seventh time, and the first time in over two years. Then on Wednesday next week I'll see Blink in Mountain View, and meet Tom Delonge as a part of his 'Keep a Breast' fundraiser. I'm excited to get the chance to meet the guitarist/vocalist for my all-time favorite band, and I hope to get a minute to tell him how much his band means to me and how much they've changed/shaped my life.

I've got a couple more shows coming up…I'm seeing the Crocodiles and Dum Dum Girls in a few days, going to Treasure Island Music Festival in a couple weeks to see Death from Above 1979 and Cut Copy, and in November I'm going to see New Found Glory.  Tons of concerts!

All in all, I think I've spent at least a couple grand on music this year…but it has been money well spent. Music has transformed my life and has been a central pillar of my life since birth. I've started to think a lot more about music, the music industry, and I hope to work in the music industry some day. I think there is a huge opportunity to take what I do for game companies and bring that to a music company or band…and that has me very excited for the future of social media, community management, and above all else, music.

I’m speaking at PAX East this weekend!

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Hey everyone – just a quick update…

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to Boston to attend Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East 2011!  I can't wait to visit Boston again, see all my gamerDNA buddies, and see a PAX East that has been reborn to be bigger and better. I'm also going to be speaking on three different panels, each of them about Community Management and/or Social Media.

Here's the list – I hope you can make it out to one of them (or all!) and say hello!:

How Your Favorite Game Companies Use Facebook
Manticore Theatre

Friday, 8:00pm – 9:00pm

Like this. Like that. Facebook has taken the world by storm and has become a crucial platform for community managers and companies to help keep in touch with and grow their online communities. With the constant evolution of social media and Facebook in particular, you may not know some of the cool things happening on your favorite game studio's Facebook page. Join Collin Moore (Community Management Vet) as he moderates a discussion with community managers from across the game industry (Insomniac Games, Playfish/EA, Harmonix, and Robot Entertainment), about the importance of Facebook to game companies, and how pressing the "LIKE" button is just the beginning.

Panelists include: Collin Moore [Game Industry Vet], Sam Houston [Online Content Manager, Playfish - EA], John Drake [Manager of Communications and Special Projects, Harmonix], James Stevenson [Senior Community Manager, Insomniac Games], Justin Korthof [Community Manager, Robot Entertainment]

 

The Roads to Becoming a Community Manager (East Coast Version!)
Wyvern Theatre

Saturday, 4:30pm – 5:30pm

Based on the great feedback we received after this panel at PAX Prime, we've decided to do it again! East-Coast Style. You hear us on podcasts, see us in videos, read our blogs on websites, retweet us, argue with us on forums, and give us high fives at PAX. But have you ever wondered how we became community managers? From games journalism to forum moderation to public policy and QA, every road is different. Find out the random history of some of your favorite game studio community managers, and hear their advice on what skills and knowledge you’ll need to become one of gaming’s next-generation of community managers.

Panelists include: Alli Thresher [Community Moderator, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc], James Stevenson [Community Manager, Insomniac Games], Arne Meyer [Manager, Community, Naughty Dog], Sam Houston [Online Content Manager, Playfish, EA], Jennifer Kye [Company Blogger, Social Media Editor, Gameloft]

 

So I Still Have This Website…
Cat Theatre

Sunday, 3:00pm – 4:00pm

The community-focused panel from PAX Prime is making its way to the East Coast. You've spent the time and money building your community site, and now you're looking to take it to the next level. Maybe you want to get a job as a professional Community Manager, or maybe you're just looking for tips on how to get publishers and developers to pay more attention to your site. Whether you're just starting out, or have been running a site for years, this panel is the best place to get your questions answered. Together, these community managers have represented some of the biggest franchises, developers, and publishers in the game industry, and most of them started out just like you – running a fan site.

Panelists include: Justin Korthof [Community Manager, Robot Entertainment], James Stephenson [Senior Community Manager, Insomniac Games], Matthew Pruitt [FPS Community Manager, Electronic Arts], Sam Houston [Community Manager, Independent], Jessica Shea [Community Manager, 343 Industries]

 

Please stop by the panels if you can, I'd love to meet more gamer friends, and if you have any questions about Community/Social Media, I'd love to help you.  This is a total vacation for me and I can't wait to relax, walk around PAX, and try to experience the show as a gamer and not as a guy doing press interviews all day.  I also can't wait to see my gamerDNA buddies, as it has been over a year since I've seen most of them.

New Year’s Resolutions 2011

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A little late because of my trip to London, but these are my New Year's Resolutions (so far):

  • Get involved in charities or some sort of social good organizations (Gay Rights and some positive San Francisco organization)
  • Start going to the Gym and lose weight, eat healthier
  • Buy more groceries, cook more often, and bring lunch to work more often
  • Play my bass more and start playing in a group of some sort
  • Budget Money and start saving money
  • Take mini-vacations to Seattle, Boston, and other cities
  • Keep in touch with family and friends better/more (Dad's side, Cousins, talk to my sister and nephew/niece more, buddies from High School, etc)
  • Explore San Francisco more and the Bay Area in general (Berkeley especially)
  • Meet more people outside my friend group (people involved in design and advertising/marketing, other startups, other industries, etc)
  • Go to more concerts
  • Start decorating apartment more, especially with cool music stuff
  • Read More
  • Get ADHD Medicine – I used to take adderall and it helped me greatly
  • Stop Procrastinating so much – Most of this stuff, and things in every day life (Work, chores, etc) I could have done much earlier.  The time is now!
  • Play more games/complete more games