Slow. Slower. Slowest.
For the friends and well-wishers who have been wondering what, if anything, has been happening here at Blunt Farce – apologies for the lack of updates. There hasn’t been a lot of good news to share, so I opted for some radio silence while I just continued to work on, well, working.
Ideas, scripts, sound files, and equipment for the long-delayed podcast all continue to pile up on my desk and hard drive, but the continuing issue of $$ keeps me from launching it. In the meantime, I continue to do all the things that don’t cost money to keep the BF idea/concept alive and afloat. This takes the form of being much more active on Instagram, staying active on Facebook and exploring every new idea that sounds useful and reasonable, like creating a subscribable newsletter on a newish platform called SubStack. I also continue to gather what knowledge I can about Patreon and Libsyn and the trends/news in podcasting. ..and of course, I have my SoundCloud and youtube accounts standing by.
Sometimes it all feels like a rocket on the launchpad, ready for lift-off, but the control tower has halted the countdown. I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it can be.
If you’re reading this, thank you for your patience and your continued interest. In the meantime, you could always buy a T-Shirt here or here.
New Year Update
Greetings patient friends. I continue to battle strong financial headwinds and am still doing all that can be done to keep the Blunt Farce spirit alive. If anything, these ceaseless difficulties have only strengthened my resolve to have my neo-Dada-ist say in the world and to encourage like-minded people in their own creative endeavors.
The podcast materials are still accumulating on my hard drives: test scripts, sound beds and my ever-growing collection of found audio bits and recordings. Meanwhile, I’m still pushing our slightly subversive, but always positive, DIY, “Everyone can make SOMEthing – and should.” credo. The tools are out there. Everyone can try to create and conjure up something new. This could be a golden age for culture-jammers, iconoclasts and instigators of all stripes. If you’re reading this, you’re probably already aware that I’m doing what I can (for free) on social media to keep the creative juices flowing and to connect with as many artists and sub-culture-y folks around the world as I can… but if not, join me on:
New News and Old News.
Greetings all.
The first big news is that the “Buy Stuff” page on this site finally has some options!
Here is what has been happening:
We continue to search for new ways to finance our projects and ideas in an environment that is currently so fiscally difficult that even our most humble plans and ideas often seem out-of-reach. We have met and “gone down the road” a bit with a couple of potential sponsors, which is always a nice idea at first… until the “conditions” start rolling in; things like editorial restrictions and/or script pre-approval requirements etc. It is one thing to sell-out for big $$, but to have to potentially compromise an idea, even before it has really started to turn into something, for such small potatoes financial assistance, just isn’t worth it.
As we’ve mentioned in this space before: a Patreon page might make good sense, but only after we’ve launched the podcast and proven that we can create (and continue to consistently create) something of value for supporters. I don’t want people to have to “take our word for it.” I want them to be able to hear what we’re doing and then decide if it is something they want to support.
It might seem like we’re getting things a bit backward here, but we are starting to sell MERCH to support a project [specifically the Blunt Farce Podcast] that does not yet exist in the wild, although it does currently exist in the form of several test episodes on my hard drive. The idea is to give people something of value now (ie: a T-shirt) for their support now. Later? Who knows?
For now, nothing beats the low-overhead of Merch for Amazon. I do the designs THEY deal with the printing, shipping and most crucially: payments. Whether you trust me or not, you know purchases on AMAZON are always seamless and relatively safe.
So click over to the BUY STUFF page and check it all out.
Thank you !
Bud Fallbrook Lives !
Nothing like closing out a long, weird and often difficult year (for everyone) with some good news:
Bud Fallbrook Lives!!
Think of it as Bud 2.0. Starting in 2018 we’ll finally be cranking out regular episodes in a new format, with a new look, and with an actual distributor. A big thanks to our new partners who helped (with encouragement and with $) to resurrect Bud in his new form. … and an even bigger thanks to the many Bud fans who have been so supportive and who missed Bud.
More details to follow of course, but for now, enjoy your Holidays and enjoy (and share) the new clip:
…meanwhile, we’re still too broke to launch the podcast, but things are definitely looking up, so who knows what other good news 2018 will bring?
Stay Strong Everyone!
Be the weird you want to see in the world.
Please allow me to (re)introduce myself…
Had a (Skype) meeting with a potential sponsor earlier this week. After 15 minutes of introductions and linking him to some past work etc., I played some sample (still unreleased) episodes of the podcast for him. As I started laying out what the whole thing will be about going forward, he put the brakes on everything by saying:
“…but your name doesn’t match the content.“
At first thought it was an annoying comment: He has an Associates Degree in “Marketing” and, as far as I could tell, not much else by way of experience in actual creative work, but I am a professional, and I know how to take a “note.” …it also made me realize that maybe I haven’t explained it clearly enough to anyone, you included, so I’ve posted the quote that started it all.
I don’t think 17 words can really be called a “manifesto,” but it is certainly a good starting point, and at least the hint of an explanation to the why and what of the weird. The truth is, I’m still figuring out what I want it to be, and even then – I know it will likely morph into something else, into whatever it wants to be. All of it. Not just the podcast.
If I knew exactly what this was going to turn into, what would be the point of doing it?
…and yes, I know that is a tough sell to most potential sponsors. The key will be finding the person/company/organization who gets it, and isn’t afraid of a little unquantifiable grey area in their lives. Meanwhile, I’ve been researching everything from Patreon to Ebay, trying to figure out how to defray some costs.
Stay tuned & Stay Strong!
We are not dead. Just challenged.
It is looking more and more like 2017 is a wash. We continue to scrub the internet for under-used Public Domain audio, video and visual weirdness, work on the podcast (any aspects that only cost us time, not money) and continue to support our artistic friends in person, on the web and of course on twitter, but finances have been crushing lately and we will NOT set up a patreon page etc. until we have proven that we can make something artful, interesting and worthwhile to other people.
These are tough and tricky times for (nearly) everyone. We hope your creative endeavors are going well.
Stay Strong! Stay Strange!
BE the weird you want to see in the world.
March Something-ness
I know that, as usual, it looks like nothing much is happening Blunt Farce-wise, but I can promise you the wheels are still turning. Basically doing all I can that doesn’t cost $$ I don’t have. So that means experimenting and recording podcast episodes, learning some new skills and, of course, pulling together social media etc. …which brings me to the reason for today’s post.
While BF has had a twitter feed since Day One, it has been fairly dormant because it wasn’t the twitter name I really wanted… but now, thanks to some kindness and square dealing with a new friend (thanks Marcel!) I’m happy to say that I’ll now start focusing on getting twitter traction, so please – if you’re a tweeter, jump on board. Click the image below to jump to twitter.
