Curious what notable personalities in the scene think was great this year? So is TGEFM! So we reached out to some of our favorite luminaries ranging from musicians, label personnel, and more for their “Best of 2023” lists. Now, listen: TGEFM is not a taskmistress. Contributors can write these out however they want. So if it doesn’t actually look or read like a list… and sometimes it really is just a list with no other observations! Who cares?
Sweet Cheetah Publicity is a small, boutique PR endeavor started by American journalist Tim Anderl 11 years ago. Although it confuses people, including him most days, he provides pro-bono in exchange for charitable giving PR work to friends and referrals. To date, Anderl says that SCPR has helped to raise over $100K in donations to charitable organizations.
Anderl lives in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, with his seven-year-old son Oliver, and a two-year-old mixed breed rescue dog named Duncan (named after a protagonist from the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful).
If you’d like to peruse Sweet Cheetah’s work in ’23, check out this playlist: . If you’d like a playlist encompassing 11 years of SCPR collaborators, check this out.
Anderl continues to be a contributor to New Noise Magazine and Ghettoblaster Magazine, in addition to having an unrelated day job since 1998.
The 1984 Draft
In 2023, I was blessed to see some amazing performances, but a few standout as highlights. The first was The 1984 Draft’s Best Friends Forever album release show. In addition to the band performing their sophomore release from front to back, they were joined by both stellar local artists (Paige Beller, Abiyah, Time Is Now, Josh Goldman from The Raging Nathans, etc.). The second act of the double-headliner The Draft curated was Josh Caterer of The Smoking Popes, who was joined by The 1984 Draft vocalist for an Elvis Costello cover following a fantastic set of Popes hits. The 1984 Draft also ensured that everyone was appropriately lubricated by teaming with a Dayton-based brewery for a keg of The 84 Draft beer, which I heard was good. I’ve preferred their partnership with Twisted River coffee roaster in the 1984 Drip.
Being a “Peter Pan Punk Rocker”
What’s a “Peter Pan Punk Rocker” you ask? Well, I guess for me it’s just someone who is 47 and hasn’t quiet quit wanting to go to shows, be in the orbit of musically gifted, awesome people, and put in a little work to prove that the DIY, punk ethics they picked up in youth still matter to them in some form or fashion.
Age, capitalism, and egotism are true killers, the cryptonite of the Peter Pan Punk Rocker. At the risk of alienating myself and SCPR artists from some people I’d love to be champions of our Sweet Cheetah cohort, I see music journalists trending towards writing books about major label artists, producing Substacks, podcasting about nostalgia trends, chasing click bait stories, etc. It both saddens and infuriates me more often than it inspires me. I guess that’s part of the reason I jumped on the opportunity to do this for TGEFM –they’re real ones in my mind’s eye.
But, it has renewed my appetite to find, nurture, and be thankful for the thankless — those that continue to wave that DIY flag, put in the work, and champion bands who aren’t represented by a high-dollar publicist. There are still these people out there, far more than I even know about I’m sure. They are the ones that keep me from quiet quitting.
The Cure
Despite an aggravating experience with Ticketmaster, I was able to pick up three lawn tickets to see The Cure in Cleveland. However, when the day came for the show, it poured rain, temperatures didn’t push past 60 degrees, and lightning hit the pavilion forcing an evacuation of the lawn shortly after The Twilight Sad‘s opening set. My girlfriend, her niece and I cut our losses, soaked head to toe and defeated, retiring to our hotel room instead of sheltering in a Blossom bathroom through the pause. The Cure, apparently, came on to deliver an incredible performance.
Thankfully, my friend Scott called me while I was on the way home from Cleveland and invited me to see them a few days later in Michigan, and making my heart return to its normal size and shape. The Cure was at the top of their game, delivering three sets of absolute magic.
Raising a Seven-Year-Old
I’m an older father who wasn’t sure if I’d ever have a child while my peers raised children in their 20s and 30s. Then, roughly nine years ago now, I received the scariest and coolest news of my life, that I’d be a father myself.
My son, Oliver, and I have always been tight. He’s a hyper-active, smart, stubborn, verbose, and hilarious kid who simultaneously is way different than I am, and reminds me so much of myself. For instance, he favors basketball over soccer, hip hop over punk rock, and excels at math over reading. Should I call 1-88-45MAURY to prove I’m not the father? Then, he tolerates my insistence that we listen to ABC News each morning and engages often about what he hears, values kindness as a characteristic of people he meets, loves John Hughes films and musicals (especially Sing Street), and reminds me often that “shit” and “wiener” are his favorite cusswords (same).
Saying No
Setting appropriate boundaries is something I’ve never been great at. I’ve stayed in toxic work environments, relationships, friendships way past the point that any really rational or sane person would for years. Frankly, I have a fear of being disliked, severe imposter syndrome, and don’t have an appropriate respect for my value as a employee, partner, contributor, or friend. Well, this year I decided to start implementing small steps towards boundaries in all facets of my life. It still feels really awkward to tell someone “no” when they ask me for something that would clearly be an imposition on my time, boundaries, mental health, etc. But, in most cases, people have been receptive to my truth, which has shocked the parts of my brain that convince me I’m not worthy.
Sleep
I’ve put some real rigor into ensuring that I get 8 hours of sleep each night. It is incredible how different my energy levels are now that I’m getting appropriate rest. I do have to caveat that I don’t get the greatest rest when my son, whom I share 50/50 custody of, stays here. Without fail he sneaks into my room at some point in the night and one of three scenarios follows: 1) he spends the night trying to put his feet down the back of my boxers or PJs to warm them, but more often just ends up kicking me in the back all night; 2) he sleeps right on top of me and his body heat attempts to burn me alive, earning him the nickname “baby burn unit”; 3) He decides to sleep perpendicular to me in the bed, ensuring my large frame has less than a twin bed’s worth of space in a king-sized bed, and earning him the other nickname, “baby bed hog.”
Starting a Record Label
I wasn’t intending to start a record label in 2023. I’d seen my brother do it a couple of decades earlier with his Bettawreckonize Media and watched him subsequently call it quits after a handful of really great releases that were largely unsung (Southeast Engine, 8-Bit Revival, The Kyle Sowashes, etc.).
I’m also not naive to the amount of work associated with doing what is best for a release. Why wouldn’t there be significant work on the backend after a band poured their heart, souls, talents, time, energy, finances into something? There’s art, distribution, publicity, not to mention significant attention to be paid to pressing and shipping a physical item.
Earlier this year I heard a trio from Nashville on my friend Peter’s The Book of Very Very Bad Things Podcast and dove into the rabbit hole of their significant back catalog, which hit all my synapses in the right ways. When I finally met Palm Ghosts, I knew I’d met kindred spirits. We quickly made plans to release their cover of Ned’s Atomic Dustbin to benefit their friend’s charity, Be The Big Spoon. The band also mentioned that they were sitting on and shopping an unreleased album. To date, I’ve listened to the album well in excess of 100 times. It is one of my favorite records ever. I knew I had to help them “shop” the release and started to reach out to every label I knew on even the most casual basis.
This is where it gets interesting…several of my favorite people heard and really wrestled with whether to put out the album. I really love and appreciate them for this. Sadly, they ultimately passed, mostly for financial reasons or because of being overwhelmed with other standing commitments. Others heard the album, saw the past press, and responded that “the band’s aesthetic isn’t right.” And this is where I got pissed, and the fire sparked in my soul. What does that mean? They don’t wear the right clothes, move in the preferred musical circles, have the right social media presence? This is a band that plays 60-100 shows a year…I’ve been a fan of new wave, post-punk, new romantic, darkwave, goth music since before I was officially a teenager (aka the ’80s).The truth is that I’m just a fluffy, life-long music fan, hoping to use my talents to help my friends. My aesthetic isn’t “right” either…
So, after over half a year of rejections to my solicitations, and far longer, I’m sure, on the band’s part, I finally offered to put the record out myself. I reached out to David at Engineer Records to see if he’d be interested in releasing the record in the UK, and was overjoyed when he heard the goodness that I heard and agreed immediately, especially considering his considerable catalog. This gave me the confidence to circle back to a couple of early, interested parties, Andy from Poptek and Andy from Sell The Heart. Both came in with vigor, immediately offering their talents to support the release. And in November, Sweet Cheetah Records release our -001, Palm Ghost’s I Love You, Burn In Hell LP.
Weight Training
What is your existential fear? For me it is leaving my seven-year-old son without a father. So, as I find myself very quickly pushing towards 50, and having gained considerable weight during the pandemic and resulting day job telework situation (no thanks to Door Dash), I decided to hire a trainer. During our orientation call he asked what I thought my current fitness level was and I just responded, “You’ve seen those 0.0 [parody of 26.2 marathon miles] stickers on the back of cars, right?” As it turns out, I can do a 40 minute strength training routine without cheating or hurting myself as long as somebody is watching and guiding me. So, I’ve been doing that for five solid months now. The results, I have noticeable biceps for the first time in my life, and I don’t suffer from back pain nearly as much as I did before this routine. I’m still fat, but I think there’s probably real muscle under this fluff, so that’s bragable I guess.
Wu-Tang Clan
In February, my girlfriend (who is an awesome partner, mom, and insane gift giver) called to confess that she’d already purchased my birthday present, tickets to see Wu-Tang Clan in October the day before my 47th. Wu alternated sets with Nas following an opening sets by DJ Scratch of EPMD fame, and De La Soul, with Talib Kweli standing in for Trugoy The Dove. Wu, well they were simply nothing to F with. And their sets included songs from solo albums by Genius GZA, Method Man, Old Dirty Bastard (performed by Young Dirty Bastard) and more.
Not to be ignored, Raekwon did some serious heavy lifting and proved to be my favorite member of the Clan for this performance. What a great way to celebrate hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.
You
If you are reading this, I appreciate that so much. I’ve worked a 40+ hour a week day job unrelated to music post-college for approximately 25 years. I’ve also had the opportunity to write about music (outside of my offical, bill-paying career) for amazing editors at a variety of publications, from Alternative Press to Ghettoblaster Magazine and New Noise Magazine, and others for 28 years. For the last 11 years, I’ve been blessed to carve out, and curate a little community of my friends and referrals to continue to push my friends’ art and hard work into the world as a “publicist.”
Working with some of my heroes, like Rid of Me, Brainiac, Jawbox, Fred Macherino of Taking Back Sunday and Say Anything, Jay Demko of Lincoln, Chris Broach of Braid and SNST, Justin Pearson of Deaf Club, Scott Padden of Pilot to Gunner, Chamberlain, etc. has been a dream come true, and something I certainly I never imagined happening. Having more unsung bands message me that since they’ve worked with SCPR they’ve seen record numbers in streaming, or attention from publications they really love, has been rewarding beyond my wildest dreams.
Thanks so much to TGEFM for this incredible opportunity. They do an awesome job of bringing great music to the masses, and I couldn’t be more blessed that they’ve taken note of the work I’m doing and invited me to do this.
