I don't think I need to argue very hard to convince anyone that we're in the middle of a huge shift in the way creative types are making, promoting and delivering their art. The idea of "friends" has changed dramatically with the evolution of Facebook and other social networks. The scope of "community" has grown well beyond the reaches of what we would have imagined just a few years ago. It's conceivable that I could form a band, make a record and sell a thousand copies without ever leaving my house or even meeting my bandmates face to face. While I don't feel like there's anything inherently wrong with this, I do feel there's a better way.

When we get too comfortable with all of our music being digital and our mail being "e" and our friendships being virtual we miss out on something that a generation before us might not have ever recognized as special. But it is special. In this digital age, we seldom make things that can be touched and smelled. Things that, if ignored, collect dust. Things that require attention. Things that demand some sort of engagement. We miss out on these things and we call it progress or convenience. Well, I'm tired of being so progressively convenienced.

So I'm making a record and releasing it on vinyl like Elvis and Ray and Ella and Otis did. I am most certainly of the belief that vinyl sounds better and a record collection looks amazing on a shelf, but these things are nice little bonuses and are by no means the point. I'm releasing a single as a 45 because there's no shuffle button on a record player, and if you want to listen to the B side you're gonna have to get up and turn the record over. I'm doing it this way for the same reason I like to have original art hanging on my walls at home: because art deserves to be noticed.

And I'm asking for help because it seems to do this on my own would completely defeat the purpose. I'm tired of the DIY mentality - at least the side of it that's kept me in my kitchen, cooking for me and mine when there's a perfectly good grill in the courtyard outside. I'm inviting my community into this because I simply can't do it on my own. In other words: It's time to have a cookout, potluck style. Who's in?