Hi, welcome aboard Starship Casual.

Thank you so much for signing up. Before we get started, I’d like to introduce you to some of the types of posts you’ll see here. Of course in a lot of cases posts will be self-contained and self-explanatory, i.e. stories, songs, pictures, voice messages (see below for an example), etc. 

Rememories

This section is where I’ll be sharing, you got it, memories. Wait, “Aren’t these just stories?,” you ask. Well, yes, as memories are relayed to the world outside of ourselves, they often take the shape of stories.

But the distinction I’m going to attempt to make here between “Rememories'' and plain old storytelling will be in the effort to reflect the way memories really work internally. As thoughts to ourselves, our memories are often incomplete, fragmented, vague and dreamlike. So I’ll be trying to get at some of these reflections using concise language, leaning heavily on my own sense of the event rather than the embellished version I might concoct to communicate a clearer picture. I’m looking for the essence of these thoughts. 

The “Rememories” I’ll share are heavily influenced by my understanding (or lack thereof) of Haiku, the writing of David Markson (whose quadric The Notecard Novels has been a longtime companion, and one that I’ll very likely share more about later) and my son Spencer’s Observations newsletter. All of these inspirations combined have formed my reminiscing into short dreamlike paragraphs that I find very satisfying to compose, and I hope you will find them entertaining. Of course, in some cases these posts will be jumping-off points for further investigations. Maybe you’d like to hear more about one of these “Rememories”, let me know.

Dear Jeffy (Go Ask Susie)

This is my advice column. From time to time I’ll dig through the old mail bag for clients’ missives soliciting advice. Once I’ve found an intriguing question, I’ll do my best to steer said client in a positive direction. And then I’ll go ask my wife Susie what she thinks. Thus, a guaranteed genuine quality sage advice product will be imparted. While also hopefully sidestepping the inevitable legal issues. (We really would like to avoid activating Starship Casual Legal.)

I Love…

This section is pretty obviously about things I love. But it’s also about reminding myself to share the things I love and to always be on the lookout for more stuff to love. I believe that learning to love something is worthwhile. And learning implies an effort is needed. Not just to move your heart from hate to love but to push forward with smaller steps from an established love towards a deeper love. 

Spending more time with your affections requires some conscious effort and humility. I’ll be looking for that in myself here. Because the more time I spend with the open and loving side of who I am, I find less time for spite and judgement. It also forms mental habits that help spare myself from a lot of needlessly withering internal criticism. Anyway, a lotta stuff to love out there (and in here). I’m going to do my best to shine a light.

I Hate…

It’s easy to hate. So I’ll try not to overindulge here and I’m going to limit myself to only the worthiest of scorn. The worst of the worst. But like love, I do believe it’s worthwhile to hate. Don’t you think we’d have a tough time motivating ourselves to be better without being able to identify that which we wish not to be? I know I’d be lost without my ability to despise. 

Of course, what comes along with any strong emotion is a responsibility to understand, or at least to try to understand, what it is exactly that we’re hating. For me other people’s music is pretty hard to hate unconditionally. It’s all pretty sacred. So when I hear myself say “I hate so-and-so’s new record” I always feel like I should be able to back up that opinion with some deeper look. More often than not I come to the conclusion that it wasn’t made for “me”, or (even more shameful to admit), I discover that I’m actually a little jealous of something (i.e great review, cool looking, um… all kinds of things can make what someone else has look pretty darn sweet). And if you aren’t careful, those comparisons to your own shit can cloud up your earballs so bad it’s almost impossible to be a fair judge. 

All of that is just a round-about way of saying “I hate…” most likely won’t feature any scathing takedowns of other people’s art. The Sackler family on the other hand … yeah. I fucking hate them.

GEAR TALKIN’™️

Some people really like to talk about “gear”. Like us! Here on the Starship Cazzzh, we talk about that particular topic all the time. We also happen to have a ton of gear to talk about. So, for the people curious about the junk we use to make music with, this section is for you. It’s where our tools will be discussed. It’s the spot we’re going to devote to talkin’ about amps and guitars and microphones and whatnot…

You know, gear. This is where we say stuff about that stuff.

Voice Messages AKA This Is Your Captain Speaking

Chit-Chat Check-In

These posts will be mostly presented as audio files. In most cases it’ll be just me giving you a little update (i.e. where I am, how things are going, etc.) I hope to also have some Chit-Chat Check-In with other people I’m around (i.e. bandmates, friends, family, strangers — and hopefully the occasional check-in will be with some of you Starship Casual clients, too.)

OxO, Jeffy