Hello again // Welcome back
An update on what I've been up to and what's coming for Living Room NYC
Hello again.
I’m entering my Saturn return soon, and since it’s in Aries in my 3rd house, I figure it’s the perfect time to resurrect this comms channel for Living Room NYC. I use this language in particular because, while this Substack hasn’t been active, LRNYC has.
For starters, I hosted a pop-up wine bar in the backyard of Brooklyn Film Camera. I called it Vinyl Tasting because we had vinyl DJs and a wine tasting… yeah. Not my most creative work.
People had a blast though.
Last October, I started a new event series underneath the LRNYC umbrella called Archival Research Society.
The concept is simple: show and tell for creatives interested in visuals, music, art, history, and more. We come to share references, inspiration, and anything we have been creatively nerding out on.
Our first meeting had folks bring vintage magazines, art books, and other ephemera to share.
For the second meeting, I wanted to experiment a bit so I invited my friend Ian Edgar to guest speak and we covered his prior work as part of Eclectic Method, a trio of live video remix DJs.
Recording of Meeting 2 below:
Our third meeting was a lecture hosted by Society member Taylor Blackwell exploring the similarities between Vincent Van Gogh and Keith Haring. A very fun lecture.
In January, my life took a bit of a turn… The week of New Years, on the drive back to NYC, my sister and I got in a car accident and totaled our car (we are fine, thank you). My birthday also occurred a couple weeks later and I flew my friend out to DJ with me at a Taiwanese restaurant in East Williamsburg (or Bushwick if you’re a local).
I posted a clip of one of my blends and it went kind of viral on TikTok:
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In case you wanted to see the full DJ set (it’s quite fun and you won’t get tired of people watching in the background), you can watch it here:
Okay… Enough about my life. Let’s get into what this year brings for us.
The community has spoken: more Archival Research Society meetups are to come this year. I am hoping to organize a small meetup at my studio by the end of this month, and from March onwards, we have some very fun guest speakers—photographers, art curators, designers, and more.
ARS has been the most invigorating project I’ve cooked up to date. To put it simply, I get to nerd out on random creative topics I like and learn about more from others. It’s not a Society that’s pretentious, but you do have to show up and earn your place. Friction is a buzzword that’s entered the chat recently, and I’ve been slowly integrating it into both my personal life and my creative expression.
To me, friction is about effort. Taste cannot be developed easily. Perspective that is formed via the algorithm is like yelling in a tunnel and expecting to hear Vivaldi. You will learn nothing and accomplish nothing if you rely on algorithms and mass appeal ‘tastemakers’ to tell you what you should think is cool. The best discoveries come from crate digging. It’s not a singular action. It’s a mindset.
Other than Archival Research Society, I have been a bit indecisive on which direction to lean into with LRNYC. Specifically the media output. In the past, I have experimented with a radio show-style podcast (see here), and have interviewed creatives and founders. Playing the ‘content game’ is exhausting, especially as someone who subscribes to like 100 Substacks and listens to at least one podcast episode a day. I’m tired, and I’m sure you are too.
With that said, I won’t commit to a regular publishing cadence (for now), except to promote upcoming events. If you are not in NYC, I will aim to record said events and make it feel as immersive as I can so that you are not missing out. Maybe once in a while I’ll publish a normal newsletter with a guest or a topic or something normal on Substack. This is my truth, and I’m saying it aloud.
LFG! I love what you’re building with LRNYC and can’t wait to see what you cook up next :)