Excellent article on this outstandingly stupid war on Iran

This post is a set of my observations on the current war in Iran and my thoughts on the broader strategic implications. I am not, of course, an expert on the region nor do I have access to any special information, so I am going to treat that all with a high degree of uncertainty. But I am a scholar of military history with a fair bit of training and experience in thinking about strategic problems, ancient and modern; it is this ‘guy that analyzes strategy’ focus that I want to bring to this.

It is in fact possible to display astounding military skill and yet, due to strategic incoherence, not accomplish anything.

This is one more reason why you shouldn’t elect stupid, inexperienced, criminal con-men to be President of the United States. This country is going to learn a tough lesson in the next couple of years, it seems. (Let’s set a reminder to revisit this prediction in a year and see how we’re doing.)

Of course the war, while quickly becoming an expensive, self-inflicted wound for the United States has also been disastrous for Iran. I said this at the top but I’ll say it again: the Iranian regime is odious. You will note also I have not called this war ‘unprovoked’ – the Iranian regime has been provoking the United States and Israel via its proxies almost non-stop for decades. That said, it is the Iranian people who will suffer the most from this war and they had no choice in the matter. They tried to reject this regime earlier this year and many were killed for it. But I think it is fair to say this war has been a tragedy for the Iranian people and a catastrophe for the Iranian regime. And you may then ask, here at the end: if I am saying that Iran is being hammered, that they are suffering huge costs, how can I also be suggesting that the United States is on some level losing? And the answer is simple: it is not possible for two sides to both win a war. But it is absolutely possible for both sides to lose; mutual ruin is an option. Every actor involved in this war – the United States, Iran, arguably Israel, the Gulf states, the rest of the energy-using world – is on net poorer, more vulnerable, more resource-precarious as a result. In short, please understand this entire 7,000+ word post as one primal scream issued into the avoid at the careless, unnecessary folly of the decision to launch an ill-considered war without considering the obvious, nearly inevitable negative outcomes which would occur unless the initial strikes somehow managed to pull the inside straight-flush. They did not and now we are all living trapped in the consequences. Maybe the war will be over tomorrow. The consequences will last a lot longer.

March heat wave and rising gas prices means my Honda Shadow Phantom is getting more use. Looks like I’ll be riding it more as I don’t think gasoline is getting cheaper anytime soon.

This latest post from Eric Nuzum (The Audio Insurgent) hit the nail on the head. Worth a read and a follow.

The lines between job descriptions for people who work in media (audio & video podcasting, video production, social media marketing) are blurring and in a lot of cases, seem to have been removed altogether.

What do you want to be when you grow up? An audio producer…or a podcast producer? For a few years, we’ve been able to think these are the same thing, but I think we’ve reached a point where they are no longer the same job. We’ve expanded the definition of a podcast so broadly that the label now precedes the format. And once that happens, the job of making one changes too. When I think of an audio producer, I think of someone working in an audio-first medium—radio, podcasts, audiobooks—focused on intimacy, narrative, and craft. The work is about what happens in the listener’s head. A podcast producer, increasingly, is…something else (or, at least…something more). The job spans audio, video, and social platforms. It is as much about packaging, distribution, and growth as it is about making the thing itself. Spend five minutes looking at podcast job descriptions right now and this becomes obvious. Video isn’t a bonus skill anymore. It’s table stakes.

Personally, I love that more people are producing video for podcasts, but it’s added complexity and time consuming work and there are limits to what one person can accomplish in a day and a week. 4k video files are massive and SSD drives have skyrocketed in price (thanks AI, real nice). And I don’t know if there’s much demand for zoom recording style video podcasts (someone else who’s paying attention to the numbers would have to clarify). And all that before you get into short-form content vs long-form content and what works for different platforms and audiences…

But if I’m honest about my own consumption habits, it’s still 5-10 audio only podcast episodes a week, anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours an episode.

Am I an outlier here? Did I find the optimal format for consumption or I am just turning into one of those “back in my day we read the newspaper” old men? Still a lot of questions to explore.

#podcasting

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Got a good question from an musician yesterday: “We’re focusing on building community outside of [online platform]. Who else is doing the same? What’s actually working?”

My answer in 2026: Get as many people to join a text list or email list as possible.

Kit.com (https://kit.com/) is free for email lists with up to 10k subscribers, I use use Laylo (https://laylo.com/) for my band’s text list but you could also just setup a Google Form and track things in a spreadsheet (that’s how I’m running our new street team). Speaking of street teams, people love feeling like they are a part of something. You probably have some friends or fans who would love to help you hang up flyers or posters in exchange for a tshirt or a guest list spot for a show.

Try to think of ways to incentivize people to sign up for the lists. Maybe a free sticker or a song download or 10% off merch or something like that. Print a QR code on a piece of paper that links to the sign up page and keep it on your merch table to make it easy for people to join. Those contacts are more valuable & reliable than social media followers in the long run (but of course also stay active on those platforms if you can).

The important thing is that you can directly contact your audience members that are in a specific location when you have a show coming up there, or all of them at once if you have a general announcement to make (new music, merch, video, etc).

Make sure to use BandsInTown and SongKick and add info about your live shows there.

You should also run your own website - when someone searches your name, you want that to show up.

Did I miss anything? Let me know if you have any tips you’d add or send me your questions: Get in Touch

#audiencegrowth #buildingcommunity #musictips #independentcreatorsplaybook

There’s someone out there in the world right now making a podcast about a very specific topic that you love but never expected to hear other people nerd out about.



There’s thousands of smart people sharing their valuable knowledge for free (or a small fee).

There’s also hundreds of thousands of active shows, and it’s not always easy to find the shows you’ll love the most. It’s gonna take work.

You can’t rely on an algorithm to do that work for you, but maybe this list will help you get started. You can also browse the podcast charts by category in Apple or Spotify, that’s a good way to find new shows to check out too.

Here’s the podcasts I’m subscribed to as of 2026, in alphabetical order. I’ll add a star next to my favorites.

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Acquired

Website: acquired.fm Status: 🟢 Active

Deep-dive “conversational audiobooks” on the stories and strategies behind the world’s greatest companies. Hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal spend hours unpacking a single company — its history, business model, and competitive position. Episodes are long but extraordinarily well-researched.

Recommended if: You want to understand how great businesses actually work, not just the headlines.

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Adventure Film Academy Show

Website: adventurefilmshow.transistor.fm Status: 🟡 Uncertain

Interviews and craft discussions for filmmakers working in adventure, outdoor, and action sports cinematography. A niche but useful resource for anyone trying to build a career shooting in the field.

Recommended if: You’re a filmmaker or aspiring cinematographer interested in the outdoor/adventure space. Really, you should just follow Levi Allen.

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Big Technology Podcast

Website: bigtechnology.com/podcast Status: 🟢 Active

Alex Kantrowitz interviews the people building and shaping the tech industry — founders, executives, journalists, and researchers. Thoughtful conversations that go beyond hype to examine the real dynamics of tech power and culture.

Recommended if: You follow tech news and want deeper context from the people involved. I like this show a lot, but it’s turned into a show about AI lately which is starting to annoy me.

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⭐️ Channels with Peter Kafka

Website: vox.com Status: 🟢 Active

Peter Kafka covers media, technology, and the business of entertainment. Guests include media executives, journalists, and analysts. Smart, sometimes contrarian takes on where the media industry is heading.

Recommended if: You work in or follow the media and entertainment industries and want thoughtful insights.

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Conversations with Tyler

Website: conversationswithtyler.com Status: 🟢 Active

Economist Tyler Cowen interviews intellectuals, artists, scientists, and thinkers with relentlessly curious and unpredictable questions. No small talk, no fluff — just ideas. One of the genuinely great interview podcasts.

Recommended if: You love ideas and want conversations that actually challenge you.

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Creator Science

Website: podcast.creatorscience.com Status: 🟢 Active

Jay Clouse interviews successful creators to reverse-engineer how they built their audiences and businesses. Practical, systems-focused, and one of the better resources for anyone serious about the creator economy.

Recommended if: You’re a creator or aspiring creator who wants to learn from others who’ve done it.

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⭐️ Decoder with Nilay Patel

Website: theverge.com/decoder Status: 🟢 Active

Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas – and other problems. Verge Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policy makers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.

Recommended if: You’re interested in how tech companies are actually run and why leaders make the choices they do.

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⭐️ Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Website: thedeeplife.com Status: 🟢 Active

Cal Newport (author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity) answers listener questions and discusses his philosophy of doing fewer things better. Practical and philosophical in equal measure.

Recommended if: You struggle with distraction and want a principled framework for more focused work.

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⭐️ Dithering

Website: dithering.fm Status: 🟢 Active (publishes 3x/week, paid)

A short, subscriber-only podcast with Ben Thompson (Stratechery) and John Gruber (Daring Fireball) discussing tech news three times a week. Each episode is exactly 15 minutes. No ads, no fluff.

Recommended if: You follow Apple and tech closely and want two of the sharpest analysts riffing regularly.

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⭐️ DRUM with Mike & Eddy

Website: drum.buzzsprout.com Status: 🟢 Active

Two drummers discussing the craft, gear, industry, and culture of drumming. Warm and conversational — feels like listening to two serious musicians talk shop.

Recommended if: You’re a drummer or a music enthusiast interested in the drumming world.

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EconTalk

Website: econtalk.org Status: 🟢 Active

Russ Roberts has been interviewing economists, philosophers, historians, and thinkers weekly for nearly two decades. One of the most intellectually generous podcasts in existence — Roberts genuinely engages with ideas he disagrees with.

Recommended if: You want to understand economics, human behavior, and ideas through long-form conversation.

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Exponent

Website: exponent.fm Status: 🔴 Inactive

Ben Thompson and James Allworth discussed the intersection of tech strategy, media, and society. The archive is a masterclass in applying Stratechery-style analysis to big tech questions. No new episodes since late 2022.

Recommended if: You enjoy Ben Thompson’s writing — the back catalog is worth working through even if it’s no longer active.

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⭐️ Hard Fork

Website: nytimes.com/hard-fork Status: 🟢 Active

New York Times reporters Kevin Roose and Casey Newton cover the most important and weird tech stories of the week. Genuinely fun while still being substantive — a rare combination in tech journalism.

Recommended if: You want to stay current on tech news with some levity and good analysis.

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The Futur with Chris Do

Website: thefutur.com Status: 🟢 Active

Chris Do interviews designers, entrepreneurs, and creatives about the business and craft of creative work. Especially strong on the business side — pricing, client relationships, positioning — that most design education ignores.

Recommended if: You’re a designer or creative professional who wants to build a sustainable business.

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The Mastering Show

Website: themasteringshow.com Status: 🟢 Active

Interviews and deep dives on audio mastering — the often-misunderstood final stage of music production. Guests include mastering engineers, producers, and technical experts. A specialized but excellent resource.

Recommended if: You’re an audio engineer, producer, or musician serious about the final stage of your recordings.

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The Modern Drummer Podcast

Website: moderndrummer.com Status: 🟢 Active

The podcast companion to the legendary drumming magazine. In-depth interviews with professional drummers across all genres.

Recommended if: You’re a drummer who wants to hear from the best players in the world.

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My .4 Cents

Website: shows.acast.com/my-point-… Status: 🟢 Active

This is what musicians need to know about the music business today. Every Tuesday, music marketers Matt Bacon, Dustin Boyer, Jesse Cannon, and Andrew Southworth break down what’s changed in music marketing and the music business, as well as what’s currently changing in the industry. You’ll be surprised what they disagree about!

Recommended if: You’re interested in learning more about the music business.

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No Film School Podcast

Website: nofilmschool.com Status: 🟢 Active

The podcast arm of the No Film School media brand, covering filmmaking craft, gear, industry news, and the business of making movies and video content. Essential listening for independent filmmakers.

Recommended if: You’re a filmmaker or video creator who wants to stay current on tools, techniques, and the industry.

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NPR Music

Website: npr.org/music Status: 🟢 Active

NPR’s music coverage spans interviews, reviews, and the beloved Tiny Desk Concert series. A broad, eclectic, and consistently high-quality view of music across all genres.

Recommended if: You want thoughtful music coverage that goes beyond the mainstream.

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Off Camera with Sam Jones

Website: offcamera.com Status: 🔴 Inactive

Long-form, intimate conversations with film and television actors about craft, career, and creative life. Sam Jones is an unusually empathetic interviewer who draws out genuine reflection.

Recommended if: You’re interested in acting and the interior life of creative careers — the back catalog is substantial and worth exploring.

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On the Media

Website: wnyc.org/on-the-media Status: 🟢 Active

WNYC’s weekly examination of how news is made, how media shapes public understanding, and the forces that influence journalism. One of the most important media criticism shows in American public radio.

Recommended if: You want to be a more informed news consumer and understand how the media actually works.

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On with Kara Swisher

Website: vox.com/on-with-kara-swisher Status: 🟢 Active

Kara Swisher’s interview show covering tech, power, and politics. She’s one of the few journalists that major tech figures both respect and fear, which makes for unusually candid conversations.

Recommended if: You want accountability journalism applied to the most powerful people in tech.

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The Parnas Perspective

Website: aaronparnas.substack.com (you can find the podcast on all major platforms) Status: 🟢 Active

Thoughtful commentary and interviews on current events, politics, and culture.

Recommended if: You want an independent voice engaging seriously with the news.

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⭐️ Pivot

Website: vox.com/pivot Status: 🟢 Active

Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway debate the week in tech, business, and politics. Their disagreements are as valuable as their agreements — two smart people who genuinely spar.

Recommended if: You want to hear two strong personalities work through the big tech and business stories of the week.

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Planet Money

Website: npr.org/planetmoney Status: 🟢 Active

NPR’s economics and business show that makes complex economic ideas genuinely accessible and entertaining. One of the most consistently creative shows in all of podcasting.

Recommended if: You want to understand economics without feeling like you’re in a lecture.

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Podcast Perspectives

Website: listen.podglomerate.com/show/podc… Status: 🟢 Active

Industry coverage and analysis for podcast creators and professionals. Covers trends, business models, and the evolving podcasting landscape.

Recommended if: You create or work in podcasting and want to follow the industry.

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Podnews Weekly Review

Website: podnews.net Status: 🟢 Active

James Cridland’s weekly roundup of the most important news and developments in podcasting. The definitive industry newsletter also has an excellent podcast companion.

Recommended if: You’re in podcasting and want a reliable weekly briefing on the industry.

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Prof G Markets

Website: profgmedia.com Status: 🟢 Active

Scott Galloway and Ed Elson break down the week’s biggest business and financial stories. Accessible financial analysis with Galloway’s characteristic bluntness.

Recommended if: You want to understand markets and business news without needing a finance background.

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Rad History

Website: art19.com/shows/rad… Status: 🟢 Active

Deep dives into the history of music — artists, movements, albums, and cultural moments that shaped popular music. Recent episodes have explored bands like The Smiths.

Recommended if: You love music and want to understand the history behind the artists and records you love.

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Radiolab

Website: radiolab.org Status: 🟢 Active

One of public radio’s most creative and beloved shows. Radiolab uses sound design, storytelling, and science journalism to explore big questions about the world. A genuine landmark in the medium.

Recommended if: You want to be surprised and moved by stories about science, philosophy, and human experience.

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Rational Security

Website: lawfaremedia.org Status: 🟢 Active

Lawfare’s national security roundtable with Scott Anderson, Quinta Jurecic, and colleagues. Sober, expert analysis of law, national security, and the intersection of the two — without the hot takes.

Recommended if: You follow national security, law, or foreign policy and want analysis from genuine experts.

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Revolution.Social

Website: revolution.social Status: 🟢 Active

Covers the decentralized web, federated social networks, and the future of online community. Particularly strong on Mastodon, ActivityPub, and the alternatives-to-Big-Tech space.

Recommended if: You’re interested in decentralized social media and what a different internet could look like.

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Roderick on the Line

Website: www.merlinmann.com/roderick/ Status: 🟢 Active

John Roderick and Merlin Mann have a weekly conversation that defies easy description — part confessional, part comedy, part cultural criticism. One of the original “two guys talking” podcasts, and still one of the best.

Recommended if: You appreciate meandering, honest conversation between two genuinely funny and thoughtful people.

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⭐️ Sharp China with Bill Bishop

Website: stratechery.com (Stratechery Plus) Status: 🟢 Active

Bill Bishop of the Sinocism newsletter and Ben Thompson discuss China — its politics, economy, technology, and relationship with the West. Essential listening for anyone trying to understand one of the most consequential geopolitical relationships of our time.

Recommended if: You follow China, geopolitics, or tech and want rigorous analysis beyond the headlines.

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⭐️ Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

Website: stratechery.com (Stratechery Plus) Status: 🟢 Active

Ben Thompson and Andrew Sharp discuss the week’s most important tech stories through the lens of Stratechery’s analytical framework. A great companion to Thompson’s writing.

Recommended if: You’re a Stratechery reader who wants more frequent, conversational takes from Thompson.

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Song Exploder

Website: songexploder.net Status: 🟢 Active

Musicians take apart their songs piece by piece and explain how and why they made every decision. One of the most elegant podcast formats ever devised. Each episode is short, focused, and illuminating.

Recommended if: You love music and want to understand the creative decisions behind songs you love.

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⭐️ Stratechery

Website: stratechery.com Status: 🟢 Active

Ben Thompson’s written analysis has an audio companion — longer interviews and discussions that extend his newsletter’s ideas. The podcast is the best entry point if you prefer listening to reading.

Recommended if: You want the sharpest framework-driven analysis of tech strategy available anywhere.

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Syntax — Tasty Web Development Treats

Website: syntax.fm Status: 🟢 Active

Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski cover web development — JavaScript, CSS, frameworks, tools, and developer career advice. One of the most popular and consistently useful dev podcasts. Approachable without being dumbed down.

Recommended if: You’re a web developer or learning web development and want to stay current on the ecosystem.

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⭐️ Tape Notes

Website: linktr.ee/tapenotes Status: 🟢 Active

In-depth conversations with musicians and producers about the making of specific albums and songs. Similar in spirit to Song Exploder but longer and more conversational.

Recommended if: You’re a musician, producer, or passionate music listener who wants to go deep on the creative process.

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Tape Op Podcast

Website: tapeop.com Status: 🟡 Uncertain

The podcast companion to Tape Op, the beloved free magazine for recording musicians and audio engineers. Features interviews with producers, engineers, and musicians about the art and craft of recording.

Recommended if: You’re into recording, production, and the culture around making records.

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The Talk Show with John Gruber

Website: daringfireball.net Status: 🟢 Active

John Gruber of Daring Fireball talks Apple, tech, culture, and whatever else comes up, usually with a guest. One of the foundational Apple-focused podcasts — long, unhurried, and opinionated.

Recommended if: You follow Apple closely and want the perspective of one of its most thoughtful long-term observers. 

## The Trap Set with Joe Wong Website: www.thetrapset.net Status: 🟡 Uncertain

Long-form interviews with drummers — not just about drumming, but about life, creativity, addiction, struggle, and what it means to be a musician. Joe Wong is an exceptional interviewer.

Recommended if: You’re a drummer or deeply interested in the human side of a musician’s life.

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Twenty Thousand Hertz

Website: 20k.org Status: 🟡 Uncertain

Beautifully produced stories about the sounds that shape our world — from the history of the Wilhelm Scream to how silence is engineered. Hosted by Dallas Taylor.

Recommended if: You’re interested in audio, sound design, or just want a beautifully made podcast about something you’ve never thought about.

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⭐️ The Vergecast

Website: theverge.com/the-vergecast Status: 🟢 Active (2026)

The Verge’s flagship podcast covers the week’s biggest technology stories with the publication’s signature mix of news, opinion, and cultural commentary. A reliable weekly companion for tech news.

Recommended if: You want a fun, well-produced weekly tech news show from one of the best tech publications.

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Texas friends, got some great live shows coming up with Kolton Moore & the Clever Few in the next couple months. Would love to see you there!

• Armadillo Den Austin, March 14 (free show)
• Granada Theater Dallas, April 17
• Armadillo Palace Houston, April 18
• Blue Light Live Lubbock, April 23 & 24

More info and tickets available here: bnds.us/nntewr

My first Critical Mass bike ride - Fort Worth, Texas. February 27, 2026.

Riding around the city with total strangers is super fun. Raising awareness for the need for safe biking and walking paths in cities is icing on the cake.

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It’s 2026. Social media channels are flooded. Everyone’s talking about how you have to be making video to be relevant, but that’s challenging, expensive, and time consuming for audio first creators or writers. Most people probably won’t discover you from your long form content, even if it’s well produced, focused to your audience, and valuable. Your audience is likely spread across multiple online platforms that have different rules and algorithms and nuances. Some of the people that might love your show might not even be spending much time online. How do you reach these people, keep, and grow an audience?

I’ve been studying this challenge since 2012. From my perspective, there’s three different types of content you need to get good at making to be successful at podcasting:

1. Content for people who have no idea who you are.

There’s a whole world of people who don’t know you or what you’re doing (look at that photo of NYC if you don’t believe me, and that’s just one of the big cities in the U.S.).

You get in front of new potential friends and fans through: Short video clips. Photos & Memes. In-Person meetups and events. Comment sections online. Word of mouth. Real life physical marketing (flyers, cards, billboards, stickers, etc).

This content needs to make people aware of who you are and what you’re trying to do, and invite them to join you on the journey.

2. Content for people who are familiar with some of your work or have heard your name before, but who aren’t following closely.

If you show up consistently for awhile and make stuff that’s interesting or valuable, people start to become more aware of you and familiar with your work. They might watch your video clips. They might listen to a full episode if they think it’s worth their time. They might follow you on social media platforms or sign up for your email address.

At this stage, your goal for content is to get them to become hardcore fans and deliver something interesting to them regularly through their preferred delivery method. It’s probably going to be similar to what you create for the people who don’t know anything about you.

3. Content for your hardcore engaged fans.

These people love what you’re doing and support you. They’ll purchase products or subscriptions. They’ll buy tickets to live events and invite their friends. They’ll listen to almost everything you publish and might even recommend you to their friends and networks. They want to know more. They want behind the scenes. They want exclusive stuff, things to make them feel like they’re part of the tribe.

The challenge for podcast or content producers is how to create all three types of content with the budget you have, and how to do it sustainably. It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot to keep up with. It’s time consuming. This is where having a good team with a broad skill-set really makes a difference.

Anyways, that’s what I’ve been thinking about lately! If you’re looking for help with your show, I’ve got availability for one or two more clients. I’d love to chat and see how I can help. You can book a call with me here.

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Thanks for reading,

Aaron Dowd

Fort Worth, TX

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Manchester Orchestra at the Southside Ballroom in Dallas Texas, November 19, 2024. I had no idea it would be the last time I got to see Tim play live.

The news of the death of Manchester Orchestra’s drummer Tim Very last week hit me pretty hard. I first saw Manchester Orchestra play live with their original drummer Jeremiah Edmond when they opened for Brand New at the Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth in 2007. I’d never heard of them before and I was blown away by the songs from their first album (I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child), especially “Where Have You Been?”. I was a fan for life after that. I still wish I had some photos from that show.

Tim Very replaced Jeremiah as the band’s drummer a few years later, and while it took me a couple albums to fully appreciate the change (I really loved Jeremiah’s drumming in that band), Tim made incredible music with the band, and was a perfect fit for their music. Steady, heavy, and tasteful drumming depending on what the song needed. I loved played along to all their records and many of his parts frequently tripped me up, his ease of playing hiding the complexity and skill of what he was doing with his drums.

Here’s the official statement from the band on his death:

The entire Manchester Orchestra family has been devastated by the sudden passing of our brother, Timothy Very. The most beloved human being any of us were lucky enough to know in this life. We’ve all been dreading sharing this news as we are all still in absolute disbelief.

Tim was instantly likable and interacted with everyone he met with kindness and warmth. His laugh was infectious and he immediately made people feel invited and encouraged. His humor and energy were the very foundation that held together the entire MO universe. Strangers quickly became friends and friends became family.

He had an undeniable light that was only matched by his dedication and love for the craft that he was clearly put on earth to do. No words can ever do him justice. Please know, if you are someone who loved Tim, he loved you too.

The only thing that Tim loved more than creating music was being with his family. You’d be pressed to find a more joyful dad.

We love you Tim, thank you for loving us. You are a force of positivity that will be a constant presence in the rest of our days.

Tim was only 2 years older than me. Of course I’ve always been aware of my own mortality, but it’s made me reflective this week about how quickly time passes and how soon we’ll all be gone. It’s an easy thing to get sad about, but I think using the awareness for focus and gratitude is a better response.

There’s always going to be things to work on and fret about, but there’s also so much to be grateful for. I’ve been thinking about how lucky I’ve been so far to get to live out so many of my dreams and reach so many of the goals I set as a teenager and young adult. I’m feeling thankful for everything I’ve been a part of so far, and I’m thankful for all my friends who have been there with me.

While I hope we all get many more decades to go on adventures and enjoy life, I don’t want to wait to appreciate where I am and where we are right now.



Every once in awhile, stop to take a moment and ask yourself and your friends, “dude, how fucking cool is it that we get to do this?”. Because it really is.

Thanks for reading.

Aaron Dowd

Fort Worth, Texas

Saturday, February 21, 2026

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Hello dear reader! It’s been a busy few weeks for me! Hope you’ve been doing well.

After heading up to Stillwater Oklahoma to play a show with Kolton Moore & the Clever Few at the Tumbleweed Dance Hall on February 6, we headed down to Austin to play at the Sagebrush February 7th. Kolton and Ryan and I stayed in Austin a few extra days to record a few songs at Jonathan Tyler’s home studio.

I was planning to head home Tuesday afternoon, but I got a call Tuesday morning from my friend Lucas Cote, lead singer of the band Laredo. He had an emergency situation and needed my help.

Side note: Lucas and I started the band Laredo in Granbury back in 2021, but I haven’t been the primary drummer for a couple years since I was working full time for Chartable / Spotify and playing a lot with Kolton Moore & the Clever Few.

Anyways, Lucas told me that they were on their way up to Baltimore to play three arena shows opening for Treaty Oak Revival (a west Texas rock band that has been selling out huge venues recently), but their drummer Tony’s wife was going into labor and he had to fly back to Dallas. He asked me if I was free that weekend and if I could fly up to Baltimore to possibly fill in for Tony and play the shows Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. He said there was a chance that Tony could make it back in time for the show, but I really didn’t mind either way—it would be less stressful for me if Tony made it back in time to play the shows, then I’d just be able to film the shows and enjoy the ride.

Naturally I said yes, I’d love to fly up to Baltimore to join them for the shows, and I drove home from Austin to Fort Worth Tuesday night, bought a ticket for a flight to Baltimore the next morning, practiced the set list a few times, and packed my bag. I arrived at the airbnb in Baltimore just a few minutes before the band did Wednesday evening.

The rest of the photos in this post were taken by Austin Marc Graf.

The next few days were a wild ride. Tony ended up catching a flight from Dallas to Baltimore around the same time I did, so he ended up playing the shows. That was fine with me, since they had practiced together as a band and had the set down, and I would have been going into the shows not having practiced the set with them at all. I was just happy to be there and set up my cameras and film everything and celebrate the band’s success.

The shows were incredible: Three sold out nights in arenas in Baltimore MD, Charleston WV, and Columbia SC. The crowds were stoked for all three bands and having a great time. The boys even let me play the last song of the set the last two nights which was super fun for me.

It was an unforgettable weekend for sure. We made so many new friends and great memories, and I’m so thankful for the Treaty Oak crew for giving the Band Laredo the opportunity to be a part of that weekend.

All in all, I ended up shooting about 300 gbs of video and photos, and got the front of house audio recording from the sound guys to use for the videos. I’m excited to see what comes next for these guys!

Thanks for reading.

Aaron Dowd

Fort Worth, Texas

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Read More Blog Posts

Recording new music and filming and shooting photos with Jonathan Tyler & friends at his studio in Austin Texas was so sick. AI could never.

Write about the future you want

There’s a lot that’s not going well; politics, tech bubbles, the economy, and so on. I spend most of my day reading angry tweets and blog posts. There’s a lot to be upset about, so that’s understandable. But in the interest of fostering better discourse, I’d like to offer a challenge that I think the world desperately needs right now: It’s cheap and easy to complain and say “[Thing] is bad”, but it’s also free to share what you think would be better.

I’ve always appreciated Dave’s insights, and he hit the target with this blog post. It’s easy to look around and yell “this sucks”. Articulating ways to improve something is harder but helps create change.

Hey friends! Hope you’re having a good day so far, wherever you are.

Since the last update, I’ve watched most of the Christmas movies I wanted to watch (Bad Santa, Home Alone, Elf, Christmas Vacation, and Die Hard), installed a new GPU in my gaming PC (an open box RTX 3060 that I got from Best Buy for $250), and spent a little too much time thinking about social media.

I wrote a couple of pages about social media and after some internal debate, I’ve decided to share it in this update, just because I wanted these updates to include the real shit I’m living in real time. I love writing polished articles too, but there’s something about just dumping thoughts on a page and doing minimal editing that has always appealed to me. So here you go.

Thoughts on Social Media

Right now, I’m struggling with feeling motivated to spend any energy on personal social media. The core of why I’m not motivated is that I’m not convinced the value generated is worth the time and energy invested. There’s a lot to unpack there but I’ll save that for another time.

The key questions I’m thinking about are:

Q: How do I best use these platforms to reach people and drive attention to things I think are worthy of attention?

A: TBD

Q: How do I reach people and get their attention off of the digital platforms? (What are real life methods for connecting with people and building community and fandoms, in other words.)

A: TBD

Q. What should I be spending time on instead of social media?

A: TBD

Q: What are the outcomes I want to get from social media?

A: Connect with interesting, inspiring people who are doing cool work. Get more work opportunities (playing drums, building companies, traveling, teaching, working on podcasts, helping bands, producing video).

Q: What turns me off about social media?

A: The focus on creating mindless entertainment for views / engagement. I’m not a fan of algorithmic feeds (that’s ok! Don’t use them). The focus of the companies on getting people addicted to using their platform with dopamine hits, date mining, surveillance capitalism, and profiting off of controversial content / ragebait.

Q: How do I want to use these platforms, and what are some rules I should follow?

A: Create stuff that meaningful to me to share with other people. Tell compelling stories. Sharing things I create. Highlight stuff I think is great. Create meaningful videos. Learn in public.

Q: How much time should I be spending on social media every week?

If I treat it as a necessary part of my job, how much time and attention am I willing to invest?

Let’s say 5 hours a week. What does that look like in practice? • 3 hours producing content • 1 hour posting / updating • 1 hour replying

Something I need to remember: I don’t have to keep coming up with new content every time I need to post something. You can stretch out the content calendar by reposting stuff older than 6 months.

Q: What kind of content resonates with me? What do I want to make and share?

I think this is the core question. A lack of clarity on the answer to this question makes everything so much harder to execute on. If I get clear on what I want to make, how I’m going to make it, and how long it’s going to take, the actual execution will be much less tiring or frustrating.

A: Tutorials—What’s something you do that you are familiar now, but used to be hard? Write a How-To guide. Make a video explaining it. Expect to spend 4-8 hours for an evergreen video that you can repost every 6 months.

A: Live performances—Mix a show, sync to drum cam. Pull 5-10 short clips of the best parts of songs. Add captions, do coloring. Expect to spend 4 hours for 2 months of content.

A: Practice videos—Make a playlist of songs you like to play along with. Record into a Logic Project with the song and a short section of your drums. Mix and sync audio to video in Final Cut. Batch this once a week. Do 5-10 songs. Expect to spend 4-8 hours for 2 months of content.

A: Great photography—As you take photos, group the best ones into collections. Write a short story to go with each.

Recap

Writing this out has helped me get some clarity on the topic of social media. Since I do think it’s one of the tools I need to use and master to progress my career and grow an audience for my band (and people I’m working with), it’s worth treating as a skill to develop and something I do for work, even when I’m not in the mood. But I also want to be careful to avoid falling into the time consuming traps that are presented by these platforms—endless feeds and mindless entertainment.

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That’s all for this week. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Aaron Dowd

Sunday, December 21, 2025

Fort Worth, TX

What’s up friends! Another exciting week here in Fort Worth, Texas.

Ok it’s actually been pretty chill. But that’s great cause I’ve had time to think and reflect on everything that’s been going on, and what I want to do next. Clarity! Underrated in these fast times. I’ll spare you the boring details, but I will recommend taking time to reflect if you’re feeling a little bit overwhelmed with everything you got going on.

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What I’m Reading & Watching This Week, or RECOMMENDATIONS:

🔗 Jesse Cannon Drops Epic 4 Hour Video on How to Build a Fanbase

A free full course on the step by step way you grow a music fanbase to millions of fans.

If you’re not familiar with Jesse Cannon’s work, this is a good video to start. It’s so good. So, so good. I’m almost done with a first watch, and I plan to rewatch it several times to let all the good advice soak in.

I started following Jesse back in 2012 or 2013 after I came across his book “Get More Fans” (which is still one of the greatest collections of good ideas and tips for musicians I’ve ever seen). In fact I wrote him a long email back then, pitching him on the idea of starting a podcast (pretty cringy now that I’m re-reading it 😂). Of course podcasting was already on his radar, but he was kind enough to humor me and even grab lunch with me in Brooklyn the first time I visited NYC in 2018.

Anyways, Jesse is a gem and one of the smartest guys out there sharing what he’s learned about music production and marketing. You’d be an idiot to not watch this video at least once. And you should probably watch it twice, take notes, and sign up for his newsletter.

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🔗 AI Enshittification Continues

You ever sign up for a service and then immediately hit a road block because of a poorly implemented AI system? Ugggghhhh.

That happened to me last week when I tried to upload a song to Musixmatch (a service that is supposed to help you get time-synced lyrics to show up in the social media apps when someone uses the song in a video or story).

We’ve reviewed the issue you described and can confirm that what you encountered appears to be a random error within the AI sync feature. This can sometimes happen due to the way the AI processes certain audio files.

What the fuck, bro? Fix your shitty AI app.

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It’s best for everyone that I stick to this rule.

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Ok that’s all I have time for this week. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend/week,

Aaron Dowd

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Fort Worth, TX

Hey friends! Hope you’ve been well.

I’ve been staying busy with video editing and managing behind-the-scenes band work, but I wanted to write a quick update for you. 
I’ve got a new goal to do one of these updates every week. This one is just gonna be a blog post, but I aim to start making vlog updates too (cause I like them and miss doing them). So you know you can always check back and get updates, and I can spend less time on social media platforms (more on that in a minute).

1 . What Do We Call This Thing?

I’ve been struggling with a name/title for my work for awhile. What do I call this? What do I call my YouTube channel? I used to be “The Podcast Dude”, but I’ve been mostly working with tech startups and my band for the past 8 years or so, so that name doesn’t really fit anymore…

How do you find a title for everything you’re doing when you’re playing drums and helping manage and grow a band but also helping people make video podcasts, but also doing photography and writing and design and more? Seems impossible. Or maybe I’m overthinking again.

I was listening to one of my favorite writers (Ben Thompson, Stratechery) on the drive home from picking up band merch in Denton this week, and he was talking about what Americans used to do well, better than anyone else, back when we were working on sending rockets to the moon and other big projects like that — explore & grow.



Explore & Grow.

That was perfect, I thought. It encapsulates my ethos and overall goals for my life better than anything I’ve heard before, so I’m gonna steal it and use it.

I’ve always loved exploring and growing, so this is an invitation to you to join me in the journey (if it sounds like a good time). We’re gonna explore the world. We’re gonna explore music and what it means to be someone who creates music and art in 2025 and beyond. We’re gonna study and learn and grow from the experiences and stories and books and lessons that other people share.



Explore & Grow. I like it. Let’s roll with it.

2 . Changing Focus - Less “Social Media”, More Long-Form Writing & Video

We’re overstimulated by screens, social media, constant notifications, the 24-hour news cycle, doomscrolling—this just floods our brains with cortisol, which is adrenaline, and then it perpetuates anxious thinking. — Sleep Dreams - Wired Magazine, Jan 2026


Social media doesn’t feel social anymore. It doesn’t feel like platforms like Instagram and TikTok are optimizing for connecting people. Seems like they were designed (or redesigned) to keep everyone scrolling and watching short form videos and ads. I don’t feel good about it anymore, and it’s a black hole that sucks time & attention. If it was just stuff from the people I choose to follow, that would be fine, but all the apps are constantly trying to put shit I don’t want to watch in front of me.

I do like keeping up with friends, and writing and making videos and sharing updates with you all, so my plan is to share an update once a week via an email newsletter and my website, and post a video version to YouTube as well.

My goal is to stay off of the social media platforms as much as possible the rest of the time. They just take more of my time and attention than I’d like and it feels like doing free work for those corporations.

I’d rather spend my energy intentionally, writing and filming and sharing something substantial once a week instead of giving away fragments of my time and attention multiple times every day.

Wish me luck. :)

3 . Recommendations (What’s Good?)

Stuff I’ve been enjoying lately.

Watch - Bugonia (Movie)

Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.

Strong contender for best movie I’ve seen this year. Must watch. 
 After this and Poor Things, director Yorgos Lanthimos has shot to the top of my list of favorite filmmakers.

Watch - Pluribus (TV)

From the guy who brought you Breaking Bad, this one is a little hard to describe. It’s science fiction, but not really what you’d expect. My favorite thing about it is the questions it asks about what it means to be an individual that is also part of a larger collective, and if the decisions we make in the pursuit of happiness actually lead to the best outcomes for ourselves and others.

There’s also a ton of dark comedy and moments that had me howling with laughter. The pacing feels uneven at times, but overall I’ve enjoyed and think it’s worth watching for the philosophical questions at least.

Listen - “Head is Like a Sinking Stone” - Tigers Jaw

I’ve been a Tigers Jaw fan since 2009 (I think?) or so, when I saw a recommendation from Eric Solomon on Twitter. 

I love all their albums, but my favorite to date was their collaboration with Will Yip for their 2017 album “Spin”. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I hype up Will Yip every chance I get.



If you’ve been living under a rock or are new to this genre of music:

William Yip is a Grammy nominated American record producer, audio engineer, songwriter and musician. Yip is an owner of Studio 4 Recording in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Yip is also the owner of Memory Music, an independent record label that he launched in June 2015, that features projects worked on at Studio 4.

Yip’s partial discography includes producing, engineering, mixing, and mastering recordings for artists such as Lauryn Hill, Panic! at the Disco, Circa Survive, Code Orange, Anthony Green, Blacklisted, Title Fight, Turnstile, The Wonder Years, The Disco Biscuits, King Sunny Adé, The Fray, Keane, Balance and Composure, Superheaven, mewithoutYou, and Movements.

If I remember correctly, I first became aware of Will’s work when I heard Balance & Composure’s 2013 album “The Things We Think We’re Missing”. It was so perfectly recorded, mixed and mastered, and sounded absolutely incredible. Ear candy. The perfect drug. Etc.

I’ve heard a lot of great records in my years, but that one was a standout, so I had to find out who was involved with making it. And that’s how I found out about Will Yip and his work. I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Every time I hear that a band I like is working with him, I shout “YES” and jump in the air and do a fist pump in celebration. He’s that good.



That new Turnstile record? Yeah, that was him. (The band rules too, obviously, but he just has a way of elevating every band that comes into his studio to record.)



Anyways, back to Tigers Jaw — when I saw that they had a new single out and listened, I knew right away that they were working with Will again. And that makes me incredibly fucking happy.



So yeah, go listen to that new Tigers Jaw song, and presave the album.

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Ok that’s it for this week, be good to each other and I’ll see y’all next time.


Aaron Dowd

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Fort Worth, TX

Before tour, you make lots of plans for what you’ll do: How many places you’ll visit, how many people you’ll talk to, how many social media posts you’ll make, how many videos you’ll make.

Then you get on tour, and reality sets in. Putting on shows is hard work, so it’s tough to get as much sleep as you need. You take care of the basics (showering, eating, laundry, setting up for shows, playing shows, tearing down and loading out after shows), and realize you don’t have as much time or energy as you thought you would. So you take care of some essentials (sending emails about the upcoming shows, thanking people on socials for coming, moving photos and videos to the external hard drive, etc), and all of a sudden the day is over and you accomplished maybe 50% of your to-do list.

That’s just like life, I think. I’ve always been a little envious of people who seem to be ok with just sitting and relaxing. That was never my way, though. I get bored after too long. I’ve always dreamed of exploring, building things, seeing the world, experiencing as much as I can in the time I have between birth and death. I’m trying to get better about living in the moment and not thinking too long about all the things I want to do.

NYC Walkabout October 23, 2025

We got to play our first ever show in NYC last week at Mercury Lounge! It was an amazing show and I’ve got some pictures from our photographer Brian to share of that, but first, here’s some that I took the following day when we had a day off to spend walking around the city.

We caught a fun street show in Times Square, got a pretty good slice of pizza, walked around Central Park for a bit, saw the new Louis Vuitton building, and then I broke from the group to go on a side quest to get spicy dan dan noodles at Very Fresh Noodles, bought a super cool blue velvet overshirt at Marine Layer, got a coffee at Do Not Feed Alligators, rode the subway down to the Financial District and then rode a bike up along the water to Chinatown to meet up with the boys for dinner at Uncle Lou’s. Then we all caught a bus back to where our tour bus was parked in Secaucus NJ.

Overall, just a super fun day in the city.

You Should Feed the Bots

A week ago, I set up an infinite nonsense crawler trap – now it makes up 99% of my server’s traffic. What surprised me is that feeding scrapers garbage is the cheapest and easiest thing I could do.

Really excited to be back on the road! I meant to post about this sooner, but I’ve been working my ass off for the past couple of months getting everything ready for this tour and our album release. But now we’re on the road!

As I’m writing this, it’s 9:05 PM and I’m sitting in the green room at Richmond Music Hall in Richmond, VA. It’s our first time ever playing in Richmond! So far the tour has been really fun, we’ve played shows in Birmingham, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Charlotte. Tonight is Richmond, tomorrow night is Washington DC, and then we’re on to Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Michigan next week.

I’m also trying something new this tour: Being almost completely sober. Besides a couple small beers during a late morning walk at Anakeesta in Gatlinburg on a day off, and a couple small glasses of wine, I haven’t been drinking since the start of September. And I have to say, it’s made a world of difference for my mood and my energy. I’ve felt for awhile that I needed to stop drinking, so I’m glad I finally cut alcohol out almost completely. I wake up feeling rested every day, the work feels easier, and just feel way better overall. I haven’t weighed myself recently, but I think I’m dropping a few pounds too. In short, it feels amazing!

I still feel incredibly grateful to be able to have the opportunity to tour and play shows, and I’m hoping to write up an article with some helpful advice and things I’ve learned about it soon.

But that’s all for now!

Visit www.koltonmoore.com to see upcoming shows!

Hey y’all! My band is back with a new full length album. Recorded earlier this year in Memphis Tennessee with Grammy-winning producer Matt Ross-Spang, A Place That I Call Home is our 6th full length album, and our best work yet.

Check it out if you’re a fan of Americana, Rock & Roll, & Texas Country: It’s a blend of our favorite music with our own unique flavors added. I’d recommend it for fellow fans of: Wilco, Dawes, Whiskey Myers, Turnpike Troubadours, Brent Cobb, Bright Eyes, Band of Horses, Modest Mouse, Manchester Orchestra, Big Thief, Pinegrove, etc.

Link: The Case Against Social Media is Stronger Than You Think

A long read, but important for understanding the depth of the negative consequences of the proliferation of social media use in recent years.

That negative content spreads especially far online makes sense given some well-established properties of human psychology. Humans exhibit a broad-based psychological negativity bias as well a range of more specific attentional biases toward negative stimuli. This is because, like other organisms, we have evolved to be uniquely attuned to signals suggestive of danger. As a result, when given the opportunity to cycle through a variegated soup of thousands of digital signals daily, we tend to fixate on and amplify the most distressing ones.

This dynamic creates very strong incentives to prey on our negative emotions. Successful ‘attentional entrepreneurs’ online not only enjoy attention’s more immediate benefits like status or influence, but are often paid by platforms in proportion to the ad revenue they generate. In that case, if certain kinds of content reliably accrue the most attention, there are very strong incentives online to produce that content en masse.

That is exactly what has happened in recent years with sensationalized and excessively negative political content. The last decade and a half has seen the rise of a new class of political influencers who, empowered by social media’s unique incentive environment, have come to exert near-symphonic control over the fear, anger, and tribalism of large sectors of the American public. The phrase “political influencer” calls to mind names like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, but I mean it to refer to any content creator, pundit, journalist, or even politician with an active online presence oriented around the production of political content—so perhaps hundreds of thousands of users with followings of varying sizes. Critically, this group is not a random selection from social media’s overall user base, but skews wealthier and more educated, meaning its greater online influence is likely matched by greater offline influence as well.

Despite accounting for only a small slice of the online population, this new influencer class is coming to dominate the market for political communication. In the process, it is transforming America’s perception of itself, which, since America is a social entity constituted in part by its self-perceptions, just amounts to saying it is transforming America.

Lnk: Vintage Macintosh Programming Book Library

Nick R. was generous enough to send me his entire vintage Mac programming library to be destructively scanned and shared with the community. We’ve added a few of our own for a pretty huge collection (over 150) of vintage Mac programming related books. Enjoy! Thanks Nick!

This is super cool. I really should carve out some time in my schedule to work through these books.

I was born in 1985 and the Macintosh was the first computer I ever used, so that era of computing has a special place in my heart. While I switched to using Windows PCs in the 90’s and 2000’s, I switched back to the Mac to learn web and graphic design and audio production in 2008 and I’ve been a Mac nerd ever since.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of visiting Oregon. Good people, great food, beautiful landscapes, home of many of my favorite bands. And I finally got to drive along the Oregon Trail, from Pendleton to The Dalles (in the dark so I couldn’t see much except the lights and their reflections on the Columbia river and the ghostly outlines of the bluffs in the faint moonlight, but it was still a cool moment to a kid who always wondered what it’d be like to follow that path). Thanks to everyone who made this weekend possible!

Photos taken this weekend were on the disposable film camera lens and 85mm 1.8 on the Sony A7C, and then a few on my iPhone 16 Pro.

#wheatstock #wheatstock2025 #helixoregon #tourlife #travelphotos #koltonmooreandthecleverfew #kmtcf

Good morning friends, it’s Wednesday, August 13, 2025. The weather is 82 degrees outside and cloudy, and I am relaxing at home in Fort Worth, Texas.

#behindthescenes

We are warmed up and ready for the show this weekend. Our bass player Matt is traveling this week so we had to rehearse without him, and man we missed that low end.

I’m pleased to share that the 6.5x14 Pearl Free-Floating Brass snare drum I bought from Chicago Music Store in downtown Tuscon AZ during our recent July tour sounds incredible, just as I hoped it would.

I’m looking forward to the weekend trip up to Oregon this weekend. Any chance to get away from the Texas heat is always welcome.

Thanks for reading,

Aaron

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