Saturday, October 31, 2009

Oct. 31st- The Starving Artist's Guide is Officially Launched

It's taken 3 years to create.
It's taken 1 year to write.
It took 10 days to edit.
10.31.09

The Starving Artist's Guide to New York City has officially launched.
To get a copy for $14, go to my book page.

You can check out the first 12 pages for free via that link.


Also:
For a limited time only, I'm putting the ebook up for only $5. This is great if you want to use the hundreds of weblinks in the book. This is a limited time only, and it will be going up to 9.99 at the end of the month.


It's been a journey.
It's been a labor of love.
Check it out today!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Rats in City Hall have learned to Speak!














He's thinking "You idiots wouldn't know what to do with all of the money in my pocket. You'd probably spend it on something stupid like actually fixing the subways instead of a private jet and more machine-gun toting policemen!!"


Hey folks,

I know this website is kinda getting national, even international, but I still like to focus on New York City. This November 4th, a very important election will be happening. While I don't claim to be either Republican or Democrat, the situation is as follows. Mike Bloomberg is running for his third term. He went behind the backs of the people and had a two term limit for mayor repealed. This is not only a blatant act of disrespect to the voters of New York City, but also to the Country. Imagine if George Bush did the same thing. People would be outraged. But as far as the media in NYC is concerned, it's almost expected of the mayor. We need to put it to a stop. New York City is a barometer for the country. If our rights are trampled here, so will the rest of the country's. It must end here. I'm not saying for you to vote for Thompson, but definetly vote against Bloomberg on principal alone. While the working class suffers, he's made 11 Billion dollars in the past five years. For a cynical and honest look at his track record, read this article.

While his campaign for a third term has cost a quarter of a billion dollars, 39,000 people in this city are homeless.

Enough is enough.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Exclusive Mp3 for Mailing List and Book Buyers

Hey folks,
I recently recorded an exclusive mp3 designed to maximize your creative output called The Creativity Builder Blueprints and it's available to everyone who signs up for the mailing list or buys my book, which will be available Oct. 31st. Yep. Thats right. 4 days and counting.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Starving Artist's Radio

Starving Artist's Radio this week features Josh Weinstein, Matthew Barber, Jacqueline Francis, and Zion Judah, and some CMJ darlings. He also dips his toes in the SwineFlu craze. It's easy to subscribe by clicking the big orange button to the right!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Swine Flu & The Starving Artist


Greetings fellow artists,

A lot of talk has been going on about the Swine Flu, which is currently dividing the country. Should I get the vaccine? Should I not? Is a cute little piggy like this one really to blame for the downfall of Western Civilization? Is this just payback for all the bacon we eat? Wherever you fall on the debate, it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to get the vaccine. Don't listen to the hype that's being driven by Dr. Oz or Oprah. Since this whole silly thing started, under 300 people have died, out of 300,000,000 in the U.S. All of them had underlying medical conditions. Every year, the normal flu kills over 11,000. This is a non-issue promoted by the powers that be that want your money. Duh. We're talking millions of doses of Swine Flu Vaccination that were created for a great price of $24.95! Get yours now!
This thing is bigger than the Beatles.
But don't buy the hype.
As someone who is sane and also works with children on a daily basis, I'm pretty sure I had this thing over the summer. It knocked me down, for sure. I was sick for a whole week, but I still was well enough to work 12 hour days in Central Park. I took it easy on the weekends, and I got over it fully within two weeks.
Since my bout of the old piggy flu, I've taken some precautions while working with my little booger-factory friends. I don't have the money to get sick and miss work, but I do have the money to prevent such illness with a few simple pickups at the local health store.
Here's my health manifesto. Use it if you like staying healthy.

Vitamin C--So you've heard how great this little orange tablet is, right? Well, the rumors are true. Everyone who gets their daily amount of Vitamin C will feel better both mentally and physically. There's the added psychosomatic feeling (ie. "I'm taking something for my health, so I must feel healthy!) and there's the science behind it. Vitamin C acts as a natural antioxident that will essentially find "free-radicals" in your body (viruses, germs, etc) and pounce on them. Then, your white blood cells pick 'em up. Get a bottle of Vitamin C at your local Health Food Store for under $20. If you're already sick, SUPER DOSE YOURSELF. This means take a butt-load. It's safe to take a lot. Just read the label.
Vitamin D--Get some of this for the winter. Your body makes this on it's own by being out in the sun. If you suffer from seasonal anxiety disorder, this is a helpful supplement. It acts as an antioxidant and essentially a natural antibiotic.
A Healthy Diet--As much as I like Doritos, I do my best to not eat them. This goes for pretty much everything in that category. I limit myself to one "sweet" a day, usually something on the run to the next place I have to be. My main diet consists of a good amount of veggies like lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, onions, eggs, cheese, and a small amount of meat. I also love pizza, especially in Brooklyn. You can get a lot of the taste of sweets out of good fruit, like apples, kiwis, grapes, and the like. Do your body a favor and stop feeding it the sweets it doesn't need and start giving it the good stuff I just mentioned. As someone who was 20 pounds overweight on a bad diet, I can now say that I'm at a healthier weight level with my new diet. And I feel a lot better too!
Green Tea--After my mandatory two cups of coffee to wake up in the morning, I stop drinking it for the rest of the day. Tea is usually my supplement for the rest of the day. It's good for you, cheap, and feels good. Again, the whole anti-oxidants thing.
A Full Night of Sleep--This means at least 8 hours a night. You can usually skip a few hours if you gotta do a gig or show or whatever, but definitely catch up the following weekend.
Positive Mental Attitude--Even if you do get sick, your mindset does a lot to affect your day. Sniffles are never, ever fun. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun while having the sniffles. Try to catch yourself having negative thoughts and think of something you love. It really works!

It's much easier to prevent these things by taking the steps outlined above. It really is just about doing it, not just thinking about doing it.
Alright, that being said, I gotta keep plugging along on the book, which will be out on Halloween!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Voice Of the Voiceless


The debate on health care has been raging on for decades, and it seems like it's reaching a peak these days. I even touch on this topic in The Starving Artist's Guide to New York City, available Oct. 31st, 2009 at Amazon.com. Can you get cheap health care in New York City? In short, Yes we can.
Though I don't know all of the ins and outs of the current plan being passed by Congress, I do know that health care should be one of the rights we have as tax paying citizens. Even the pigs and cows you eat for dinner get free antibiotics, so why shouldn't I?

For everyone that doesn't have health insurance--listen to this NPR clip...it seemed to speak to exactly the situation that I face as a "starving artist."


When you're done with that, take some action by clicking this link. This website, freelancersunion.org has the motto "working for the radical notion of fairness." The link above is a way to contact your senator and your house representative. With enough people clogging their inboxes, the message will be heard. Take the power back.

Another great thing about freelancer's union is that they offer healthcare. Word.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

A&R discussion

Starving Artist Podcast Special Edition
Alright folks,

So I slipped away for a four day vacation/writing intensive in order to finish up the book this weekend. So while I won't be able to put up a cast this Sunday, you can take a listen to the "special edition" which is actually the cdbaby podcast dedicated to A&R. This podcast rocks and can be found at www.cdbabypodcast.com
The book is coming along well. Next weekend, I'm headed down to Washington D.C., so I probably won't be able to do one next weekend either, so it looks like I'll probably do a special edition right before the book comes out on Oct. 31st!

For now, enjoy the one I posted above.

much love,
Johnny S.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

One Humdinger of a deal.




As I write this post, a large cumulus cloud is floating lazily past my window. I just tried a sip of my newest homebrew, entitled "Silverback Stout" to see if it's ready to bottle. It is. This is some serious magical alchemy, folks. I threw in a bar of dark Belgian Chocolate, and I'm planning to add some gorilla coffee to pull it to the next level. I designed the label for it today as well.
In other news, I am pushing hard to finish up the book, and I am editing a copy of it right now so that I can get it out on my Halloween Deadline. I've added a tremendous amount of resources, and I let a co-worker read it for about half an hour yesterday. Her response-- "I wish I could pay you just for reading this! It's fire. It's absolute fire."
High praise for someone who just got to read, like, a short bit of it. But nonetheless, I hope it comes out and everyone gets a copy. I'll certainly be promoting it some more in the coming weeks with different tidbits of information. The website has been fairly quiet for a few weeks due to sheer dedication to getting this book done. I have to say, if you follow just a few of my tips in this book, you'll save yourself hundreds (if not even thousands) of dollars a year. But the proof is in the pudding. You'll see the goods come Oct. 31st.
I ended up getting my round trip tickets for Thanksgiving and Christmas back up to Albany last night. A normal bus-ticket is about $33- For Christmas, I'm making the round trip(that's right, home and back) for a grand total of $2.50. That's in peak holiday transit, with a normal schedule(ie. I'm not getting into Albany at 4:30 on Christmas Morning) How am I doing it? Read the book to find out!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Starving Artist Radio

Starving Artist Radio


Check it out! I'm a bit under the weather thanks to dealing with 5 year olds every day (or as I call them, booger factories), so this is Johnny Lite on this episode of Starving Artist Radio. Check out some great tunes by Adriano Aponte, Erin Hill, Brash, Matt Simons and De Vries!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

An Official Announcement! The Book Cover!



Here it is, folks, the realization of a small dream I had in November of 2007.

Starving Artist's Guide Mixtape Vol. 1!!!

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Contact me at StarvingArtistsGuide((AT))gmail(DOT)com