Veatch House

Author: christopher

  • I Did A Thing

    The Venmo confirmation for the deposit to have David J play my house.

    I’m not going to bury the lede. I’m having David J play my 55th birthday bash! (And by bash I mean it’ll be David and Erin and me. That’s it. Call me selfish, but I don’t want to share, and I don’t have to.)

    I first thought of this idea when I was on the verge of turning 50. I saw that David was playing some house shows and that his fee was reasonable. He had a guaranteed minimum, but the host could sell tickets. Or something. I don’t really remember. I do remember lamenting that I did not have a house big enough.

    Then it dawned on me that I could rent a space. I used to help book shows all the time in college. Big ones like U2 and New Kids on the Block and little ones like Fugazi and Hot Glue Gun and every band in-between. My motto back then was “anyone live.” I saw hundreds of bands and interviewed a slew of them for college radio.

    I probably helped put on 50 shows in the M-Shop. So Suddenly I thought, I’ll rent the place. I’ll get someone to do sound (Hi Chad), and for the night the M-Shop can be my living room.

    Then COVID-19 (as we called it then) hit. My dream, like many of my dreams, came crashing down and this idea faded.

    I’ve always had eclectic music tastes. I know most people say this and believe it, but I’m comfortable in so many genres. I’ve been into gothic, electronic, synth, experimental, industrial, big hair rock, metal, singer songwriter music, country, and I helped define “college rock” with three radio programs and writings on music.

    My tastes change, and my interests in various genres wax and wane, but one of the few constants has been my love for Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, Tones on Tail (yes, I know David wasn’t in this band), and David’s solo work. I was obsessed with Bauhaus in high school (as my then girlfriend could attest). I was obsessed with Bauhaus and Love & Rockets and David J in college (as my then girlfriend could attest). I even went to a halloween party dressed as one of the Bubblemen along with my friends Joe and Chad.

    Anyway, I’m no longer in a tiny duplex. We’re not in lockdown. And I wanted something good and decent in my life. I reached out to David.

    Erin and I still treat Covid (as we call it now) as something serious. Neither of us have had it. Neither of us want it. We mask in public. Erin is 100% work from home and I tried to minimize my in-person contact when I was at work. Things have changed in my working life (and I’m not ready to talk about that yet), and I’m currently “on leave.” I may or may not go back, but like I said, I’m not ready to talk about that yet.

    Since we’re part of the minority that is still “Covid cautious” I proposed a virtual show. I figured a few songs over FaceTime and it would be a scaled down version of what I’d been planning 6 years ago, but David quoted two prices. One for virtual and one for live in my living room. (I now have a living room.)

    I haven’t figured out all of the logistics yet, but I paid the deposit today. It’s going to be the three of us. This is surreal.

    I feel like I’m living the plot of the movie The Ballad of Wallis Island (but without the suitcase of money). My friend Marty says it’s more like the Diary of a Mad Millionaire episode of The Partridge Family. I don’t know, but I do know my inner 14 year old, inner 20 year old, and my middle-aged self are living the dream.

    Christopher

    p.s. I’ll probably delete this later or move it over to The Great House Project, but I wanted to write it and I didn’t know where to put it.

  • Veatch House

    The above is the main logo for Veatch House companies. Companies? Yes, companies. I don’t have time to explain it now, but I’m tired of being a niche human being. Everyone says, “Find your niche,” and I’ve never been that kind of person. My interests are varied, my skills are varied, so why limit myself artificially?

    I’ve spent 30 years solving the problems of very smart people. I’ve helped out writers and illustrators, accountants and administrators, photographers/videographers, librarians and archivists, marketers, graphic designers, advertisers, and just about anyone else you can come across in 13 years in publishing. I’ve assisted educators, researchers, lecturers, students, scientists, staff, and just about anyone you can come across in 13 years of working in higher education.

    I’ve learned a lot. I know a lot.

    You can’t find solutions for people without understanding what they want to accomplish, how they want to do it, and what difficulties they are facing getting to their goals. You can’t help the kind of people I’ve helped without learning.

    I’m not a photographer, but I’d put some of my photos up against people who claim to be. I’m not a videographer, but I can edit video. I’m not a graphic designer, but I like to think I can recognize bad design. After over a decade of solving problems in publishing, I like to think I know a thing or two. Often, the difference between myself and someone who does it for a living is time. I get there. It just takes me a really long time.

    I’m not suggesting I learned everything through osmosis. Often, in publishing, I took the same training as the people doing the actual work. It’s a lot easier to support software and people if you know them both.

    I also happen to like this stuff and not to be able to afford photographers, videographers, designers, illustrators, and marketers. It’s just myself (with the help of my partner Erin) to do everything I do. I sometimes hire out for freelance illustration (and once a video intro) and voice over work, but for the most part, if you see it, I made it. If you’re reading it, I wrote it.

    Anyway, I made the above logo. I probably put 40 hours total into it. I could have hired someone on Fiverr, talked one of the many graphic designers I know into doing it, or used AI.

    Oh, about AI. At some point I’ll write up my opinion on using AI for things like the above. At some point I’ll write up my ethics for AI. Let me just say that after 30 years in technology I’m not about to stop getting excited about something just because it threatens everything I do.