No, seriously.

Okay, so let’s back up a bit. As of last May, I joined on with the fine folks at crowdSPRING. As one half of the customer service team, it’s been my job to handle every manner of problem, query, gripe and even the occasion “thanks!” Oh, how I love those.

The transition from self-contained writer-guy to problem solver was a bit rocky (okay I sucked at it). But with a lot of practice and an amazing amount of coaching and patience from the rest of the team, I found myself being able to steer my writing skills into new territory for me- how do you switch hats from helping a new buyer post a project to assisting a creative with a bug they’ve encountered?

The most important part, to me at least, is making sure you never lose your sense of humor and empathy. We’ve all had terrible customer service experiences and as the guy who is now serving the customers, well, how does that saying go: “How can I help you?”

Oh right, TV. Last week, NBC came to our offices to speak with cS’s co-founder Mike Samson about small businesses’ reaction to initiatives laid out in Obama’s State of the Union Address. That said, the piece was pretty interesting-  a fact only enhanced by a cameo from the devilishly handsomegent in the red Kid Dynamite t-shirt.

• Making sure the event paperwork submitted properly to the client
• Writing event summaries for the web
• Fielding questions and concerns from the client, should they arise
• Prepping and sending post event reports after the events

While not the most glamorous portion of my job, it did teach me the nuts and blots of proper work flow, client relations and content management. Likewise, it was a good daily exercise to flex my writing muscle.

The real fun came when we were initially building out The Farm site. Suddenly I had a mountain of different tasks in front of me. All the bands need bios. All the labels need bios. Market managers, culture section, event section? All in need of content.

Did I deliver? Of course.

It’s always interesting to watch something like this turn into this:

hey ma! i'm on the interwebs!

But wait there’s more!

I did staff bios!

Don’t forget checking eblasts for accuracy!

Fun fact: they were accurate.

As you can tell from looking at this site, a lot of my stuff has been under the banner of this Camel program. Speaking for myself, I feel that as this program tried to discover what it was and where it belonged within the company, so did I. A bit cliched, I know, but true.

I mean, I went from an office manager position to a client contact to content manager and copywriter. And honestly, I loved them all. Okay not office manager, but three out of four ain’t bad.

Before I walk away from the Camel stuff for good on this site, I’ll leave you with this particular piece. I was asked to capture the essence of the program, what we meant to fans and what we meant to bands.

To that end, it’s a pretty ambitious undertaking under watchful eyes. I did it, I nailed it, I’m immensely proud of it. Here’s the sheet submitted (and approved) by the client.

As The Farm program began to gain some steam, we got a really exciting opportunity: design a gatefold ad for the 40th Anniversary issue of Rolling Stone.

As the lone copywriter at our agency, I jumped at the chance to be a part of this. Rolling Stone shaped a lot of my early writing and also played no small role in my early music education.

After going through three first rounds of creative, I was happy to see that my ideas made it far enough to get subsequently shot down. No worries though, after half a gazillion rounds of revisions from the client, I was beyond stoked to see the ad reach fruition.

Check it out: The Farm Rolling Stone Ad

Some of the earliest headway I made in getting my writing out there was by prepping selling sheets for a small North Carolina independent outfit, Forsaken Recordings. Along with brainstorming and a little promoting,  I was given the chance to make one sheets for future releases.

As these were bands and projects I cared about as a music fan, this is one of my favorite tasks. You’ve got a few boxes and a limited amount of space to show why this band is different and why the reader should care. I know a lot of folks gripe about the use of the same stable of adjectives used on these selling sheets…I consider it a challenge worth accepting.

Click here for One Sheets!

“The blank sounds of (insert reference band) coupled with the adjective of (insert other reference band) fuel the (blank blankety blank blank) of band you’re writing about. For fans of (list other bands as needed).”

So while it’s only a few paragraphs, I wanted to do something a little different. In Searching For Signals instance I wanted to tell a story, while with The Pullman Strike I chose to hone in on the storytelling aspect. En Serenade evoked a certain feeling in my gut, as good music tends to, so I went with that.

Click on each link below the band logo for their respective bios.

The Pullman Strike

En Serenade

Searching For Signals

Things like this are always a small challenge, and I can be slow to start on them (I try and listen to the band in all sorts of moods to try and best capture the feel of them). The feedback I get from the bands always makes it worth it. Oh, and the free merch. Gotta love free merch.

Writing for a program centered around indie rock was a blast. Writing for a program centered around indie rock for a client was an entirely different story.

Each quarter, the task of generating content for an ambitious client newsletter fell squarely on my shoulders. This included introducing market managers, cultural forecasting and updates on the program. Difficult? Eh, kinda. Projects like this taught me how to switch from creative to corporate and all points in between.

Check it out: Newsletter Sample!

Here we go…The Farm CD mailers.

There were two of these bad boys, and I can say with the utmost certainty they consumed a good deal of my time working with Camel.

In trying to describe the scope of my work on this project, I could easily fall into some rambling diatribe and lose sight of where I’m going with this. So here’s some bullet points!

• Helping to manage incoming contracts? Check.
• Helping to secure artists from Victory Records? Yes sir.
• Writing all the copy to be featured in the CD booklets? Verily!

That’s the short list of my role in these pieces. Mailed out to Camel smokers nationwide and followed up by a series of five-market tours, it was our most ambitious undertaking.

I invite you to take a look at some of the bios and print I wrote.

Samples From The Farm CD Compilation Mailer

Ta da!

After a sobering wake-up call, I quickly abandoned the idea of joining the Billionaire Boy’s Club and went with the more popular “what am I doing with my life?” scenario.

In between flip flopping and fence sitting, I decided I should join my collegiate newspaper. I was okay around a keyboard and hey, they were looking for an entertainment writer.

Here’s the part where I tell you about what a rich and rewarding experience it was. How it shifted the gears in my life and made me want to write for a living. A “growing up and getting it together” montage, without the inspirational 80′s soundtrack.

If success is measured by how many times you appear in a college newspaper with your pants around your ankles, I’m a walking motivational poster.

look at me ma! top of the world!

Without further ado, here’s my earliest printed work. I’m proud of what I learned there and even prouder of the folks who let me take insane risks with their paper to hone my voice and skills.

An interview with Thrice bassist Eddie Beckenridge. A personal favorite of mine.

A movie review of “The Cat In The Hat.” Written entirely in rhymes. A crowd pleaser for certain.

Feature articles with Snapcase, The A.K.A.’s. Work should not be this much fun.

Trying to explain the indie scene and ethos to a rube is tough. Trying to explain the indie scene and ethos along with how corporate sponsorship can be successfully integrated without compromising the artist’s authenticity to a rube is like trying to describe the taste of purple.

My mission, should I choose to accept it: gather musicians, promoters, venue owners, tastemakers and assorted talking heads of the indie world from Chicago, Austin and New York. In the course of three days, travel to three cities and interview these folks for a video to be shown to the higher-ups at R.J. Reynolds.

I can say that in the course of burgeoning career, this has been one of my proudest moments. I was given complete ownership of this project. From nailing down interviews to determining the voice and vibe of the video to music selection, I was on it.

But curation and content means nothing without a guy behind the camera. So my sincerest thanks goes to the always-awesome Francis Almeda at Almeda Grill for bringing this whole thing to life.

An insane amount of work in an insanely short amount of time, I could not have asked for a better experience.

Part 1

Part 2

Gearing up for the 2008 Cubs season, my agency was commissioned by  G. Heileman Brewing Co. to do a series of ads and commemorative Cubs cans.

If you squint hard enough at the ad above, you can see yours truly walking by the friendly confines of Wrigley Field (all tattoos were photoshopped off to appeal to the finer sensibilities of Old Style).

this guy!

One day at the office I was approached by a fellow coworker about whether or not I’d like to do a radio spot for Old Style. Granted, I’ve never once been on terrestrial radio, never mind an actual advertisement.

But a learning experience is a learning experience. “Totally!” was the answer.

So with a quick walk down the block and a few dry runs through a script, I became Josh from Springfield.

An awesome experience to be certain, I never did quite get used to hearing myself extol the virtues of the Horseshoe sandwich in between pitching changes.

Click to listen: Old Style 2008 Radio Spot