Tag: navel-gazing

New Release Out Today: “Leftovers”

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My latest release, the EP Leftovers, is out today!  You can pick it up on my Bandcamp page for $5, or you can stream it on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and pretty much every other streaming service out there.

My favorite track on the release is “Futura (Magnum Opus III)“; it’s the longest electronic instrumental piece I’ve ever composed, and it’s languished on a hard drive for ten years.  Now it’s finally seeing the light of day.

The other three tracks are pieces I composed and/or arranged while working on Spooky Season and Spooky Season II: Rise of the Cryptids, but which didn’t fit the themes of those albums—thus this EP’s title!.  They include “Augmented Fifthality” (an experiment in augmented fifths); “Carousel” (a bouncy bit of classical composing); and “Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday Afternoon” (a laid-back little instrumental chorale).

I’d be honored if you gave these Leftovers a listen.

Giving Thanks… for Civilization VI

The Portly Politico3 Comments

Yours portly had a massive burst of productivity on a lazy, rainy Saturday early in November.  I buckled down and finished my lesson plans, quizzes, tests, study guides, exams, exam review guides, etc., for the rest of the semester.  I spent the following Sunday afternoon churning out blog posts, as I’m trying to get back ahead so I don’t have to worry about writing over Thanksgiving.

One upshot to all of that hustle is that I have a rare thing now:  free time in the evenings.  I’m always working a bit on something, and I have plenty of grading to keep me warm over Thanksgiving Break, but I’ve been slamming that stuff out, too.

That’s all to say that I’ve had way more time to play video games in the evenings, usually while watching horror movies.  The game that has dominated my time the past few weeks—and which has kept me up far too late on a number of occasions—is Civilization VI.

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Confessions of a Frustrated Creator

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Yours portly has to get something off of his massive, hairy chest:  I don’t think I’ve been delivering the best content lately.  Blogging daily is always going to be a game of quantity versus quality, but I feel as though I have been phoning it in more and more.

It’s my job to give you what you want, and I haven’t been doing that very well lately.  Quite frankly, though, I’m frustrated.

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Spotify Theft: Another Indie Musician’s Rant

The Portly Politico6 Comments

I’ve been using Spotify for years as both a listener and a musician, although I’m firmly in the Apple Music camp these days.  That dedication is only cemented further after Spotify’s latest announcement to changes to its streaming payments to musicians.

It seems that for tracks with fewer than 1000 plays per year, Spotify will take any unpaid streaming royalties for those tracks and redistribute them to major record labels (or, ostensibly, to all the other users on the platform who have tracks with 1000 plays or more).

That’s straight-up theft.  Spotify already pays abysmally low—something like $0.0011 per stream.  Put another way, a track has to be streamed about nine or ten times to make a penny.  I’m already not paid if a track is only streamed once in that particular time period, because Spotify doesn’t send royalties below $0.01.  I typically have about four or five monthly Spotify listeners (averaging seven at the time of writing—woot!), which comes out to a few cents every month—maybe.

“Well, Port, who cares?  You’re losing a few cents a year.”  That’s one to look at it.  The other, correct way is to view it as theft of my royalties for my music.  Stealing ten cents is still stealing—it doesn’t make it right.

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Hobblin’

The Portly Politico3 Comments

I head back to the orthopedist today for an update on my broken ankle.  If all goes well, I should be looking at another five weeks in a boot—no surgery, no cast.  Praise the Lord!

The ankle is already starting to do better.  I can get around reasonably well in the boot, and my speed is up.  I’m getting better at walking on crutches, and can even go around my house without the boot.

Still, it hurts.  It’s not excruciating, but it’s constant.  It’s rare that I get my foot and ankle comfortable, to where I don’t feel anything.  Certain movements or positions still send a sting of pain, but it’s nothing like last week, when one morning I couldn’t put on a pair of socks by myself, and had to concentrate on my breathing while my longsuffering neighbor put the sock gingerly over my foot.

But overall, I am very thankful.  It could have been way worse.

Also, Murphy seems to be enjoying the time I spend with my leg up on the couch:

Murphy dozing next to my broken ankle
Murphy being sweet

Here’s to hobblin’ for just a bit longer!

—TPP

Gig Day VIII: Tickling the Ivories

The Portly Politico6 Comments

Tonight, for the first time in awhile, I’ll be playing a solo gig at a local coffee shop in Darlington, South Carolina.  I’m looking forward to stretching out these stubby fingers and doing some soft rockin’.

Well, it won’t be entirely solo:  my buddy John will be joining me on a number of songs.  His gorgeous twelve-string guitar and his capable backing vocals add a great deal of depth and texture to my tunes, so I’m glad he’ll be joining me.

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Memorable Monday: Happy Labor Day [2023]!

The Portly Politico8 Comments

Another Labor Day—another day for eating hot dogs and chilling out around the house.  Other than some half-days and a professional development day, it’s the last holiday for yours portly until the insanely good Thanksgiving Break that I get now.

I’m on mild dog sitting duty for my neighbors, so I’m keeping it local this weekend.  I did quite a bit of driving (most of it floozy-related) in early-to-mid-August, so I’m looking forward to a little time at the house.

Looking back at prior year’s LD posts, it seems I did not make it to Florida as predicted last Labor Day.  It ended up being a weekend for some South Carolina-based adventures.

There are more adventures to come, just not this weekend.  This weekend is for the dogs—both canine and hot.

With that, here is “Memorable Monday: Happy Labor Day [2022]!“:

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September 2023 Bandcamp Friday; NEW RELEASE!

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Ah, yes, Bandcamp Friday has returned, which means I hope you will consider pitching in a few bucks to buy my music—or my second book!  After a long hiatus over the summer months, this celebration of indie musicians is back.

The first Friday of a bunch of months in 2023—February, March, April, May, August, September, October, November, and December—will feature this pro-indie music observance, a day on which Bandcamp waives its usual 15% commission on sales.

In other words, when you buy my music, almost 100% of it goes to me, instead of almost 85%.

To celebrate, I have a brand new release:  Spooky Season!  Spooky Season is a collection of seven new compositions with a spooky, autumnal vibe, perfect for pumpkin-spiced living and ghostly vibes.  These tracks won’t hit streaming platforms until October, but you can purchase them now via Bandcamp!

Spooky Season is just $5, and includes full scores and individual parts for every track—a $28 value!—plus a bonus track.  It’s also crammed with videos, handwritten manuscripts, and other goodies.

Currently, my entire discography of eleven releases is $18.39, a savings of 50%, which is not bad for eleven releases.  That’s $1.67 per release—not too shabby!  To purchase the full discography, click on any release, and you’ll see the option to purchase all of them.

You can also listen to a ton of my tunes on YouTube (and it’s free to subscribe!).

I’m also selling all of my paintings for $10, with free shipping in the United States, regardless of how many you purchase.  They’re one of kind, so once a painting is purchased, it’s gone.

I’ve also joined Society6, a website that lets artists upload their designs, which can they be printed onto all manner of products (like this throw pillow, or this duvet cover).  Why not get a bookbag with a mouthy droid on it?

I only get 10% of the sales made there, but some of the stuff looks really good—I really want these notebooks with my “Desert View” painting on it (now SOLD!).  Some of them are straight-up goofy, like this church doodle I made celebrating the presidential pardon of Roger Stone (the description for the piece is “Anger your friends with this doodle commemorating the presidential pardon of America’s most dapper political operative“).

I have a few new paintings in the works, and hope to be attending the South Carolina Bigfoot Festival to try to hawk some of my works.  We’ll see how that goes!

My first book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot, is $10 in paperback, and just $5 on Kindle.

My second and newest book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures, is $20 in paperback and $10 on Kindle.

Finally, after I finish Offensive Poems: With Pictures, my planned third book, I’ll be uploading those doodles to Society6 as well.  I have high hopes (perhaps naïvely) for this book, but we shall see.  The doodles are some of my best work—and in glorious color—and without notebook paper lines!

Thanks again for your support!

Happy Friday!

—TPP

Phone it in Friday XLII: An Appeal to Readers

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The following is an adaption of an e-mail I sent to paid subscribers on 1 August 2023.  I’m working hard to provide quality content on a daily basis, and am hoping to increase my subscribers.  There are real financial costs associated with maintaining The Portly Politico, and ad revenue does not come close to covering those costs.  Subscriptions are what keep the blog self-sustaining; without them, it would require a substantial financial outlay from yours portly to keep the blog going.

There is also a substantial amount of time that goes into maintaining the blog.  It takes hours each week to write, edit, and promote the blog and my related ventures.  Subscriptions certainly help financially, yes, but they also motivate me to keep going.  I want to provide a quality product in exchange for your hard-earned dollars.  It is difficult, at times, to churn out post after post, day after day.

As conservatives, we should support conservative creators.  The Left is eating our lunch in the culture wars (well, they were until everyone started waking up in the last couple of years) in large part because they support their own.  Maybe it’s not me you choose to support, but I would be humbled to receive your support.  Remember, Ben Shapiro, Turning Point, Dennis Prager, etc., etc., have plenty of resources already.

As the below e-mail/post relates, I am a good steward of the money sent my way.  I don’t blow it on fancy parties or glossy promos.  I use it to maintain the blog and to obtain necessary supplies, and occasionally to commission works from other creators for the blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read this appeal.  Even if you are not in a place to subscribe, please forward this message to others who might be interested.  Every little bit helps.

Regards,

TPP

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August 2023 Bandcamp Friday: Bandcamp Friday Returns!

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Well, here we are again:  another Bandcamp Friday, which means I hope you will consider pitching in a few bucks to buy my music—or my second book!  After a long hiatus over the summer months, this celebration of indie musicians is back.

The first Friday of a bunch of months in 2023—February, March, April, May, August, September, October, November, and December—will feature this pro-indie music observance, a day on which Bandcamp waives its usual 15% commission on sales.

In other words, when you buy my music, almost 100% of it goes to me, instead of almost 85%.

Currently, my entire discography of ten releases is $9.50, a savings of 45%, which is not bad for ten releases.  That’s $0.95 per release—not too shabby!  To purchase the full discography, click on any release, and you’ll see the option to purchase all of them.

You can also listen to a ton of my tunes on YouTube (and it’s free to subscribe!).

I’m also selling all of my paintings for $10, with free shipping in the United States, regardless of how many you purchase.  They’re one of kind, so once a painting is purchased, it’s gone.

I’ve also joined Society6, a website that lets artists upload their designs, which can they be printed onto all manner of products (like this throw pillow, or this duvet cover).  Why not get a bookbag with a mouthy droid on it?

I only get 10% of the sales made there, but some of the stuff looks really good—I really want these notebooks with my “Desert View” painting on it (now SOLD!).  Some of them are straight-up goofy, like this church doodle I made celebrating the presidential pardon of Roger Stone (the description for the piece is “Anger your friends with this doodle commemorating the presidential pardon of America’s most dapper political operative“).

I have a few new paintings from my highly unsuccessful foray into selling at the Lamar Egg Scramble, and I have two new doodles for just $5 each:  Robo Talk 23 No. 1 and No. 2.  I’m also working on quite a few more doodles for Society6, which will also end up here.

My first book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot, is $10 in paperback, and just $5 on Kindle.

My second and newest book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures, is $20 in paperback and $10 on Kindle.

Thanks again for your support!

Happy Friday!

—TPP