Joining Strange Love Live Productions and announcing we’ll be doing 30 hour day all over again

[HTML3]Howdy. Rick, here. I don’t usually do many “introspective” posts. But this seemed warranted. (Although, I’ve been hesitating to post this, because I keep thinking that Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal are going to realize the error of their ways. But given that they still haven’t said, “We were just joking,” I’m going to have to go ahead and run with this.)

In case you didn’t get the chance to tune into my appearance on Strange Love Live’s year end recap, I wanted to let you know that we had a couple of announcements.

First, I’ll be joining Strange Love Live Productions—the team behind the podcasts Strange Love Live, memePDX, and Crazy Talk as well as untold hours of event-based livestreaming interview awesomeness—as a producer and partner.

To be blunt, I’ve long been a fan—huge, huge fan—of the body of work that Cami and Dr. Normal have put together. And I have the utmost respect for what they’ve accomplished. Especially because our two paths—with Strange Love Live and Silicon Florist—have been running in parallel from the beginning. Getting the chance to join their team and learn from them is both an honor and one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.

But it’s the right thing to do.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that people whom you respect—who push you until you’re uncomfortable and encourage you to take risks—are the ones who help you grow. And that’s exactly what Cami and Dr. Normal do.

So this will be really good for me. And I can only hope to reciprocate.

What’s that mean for this here blog? You won’t notice much change around Silicon Florist. Some more Strange Love Live produced content—when applicable—will be popping up here, for sure. But the posts, memePDX, and all of that other jazz will remain exactly the same.

Same goes for the other SLL Production shows. We’ll be making some minor changes here and there. But nothing terribly jarring. The biggest change will likely be a change to the name of the production company. (I had one. They didn’t like. There’s drama already! WAHOO!)

Because, honestly—while we love all of our current shows and whatnot—what we’re most excited about are the other projects, shows, and events we’ve already begun to sketch out.

Oh yes. There’s more.

Which brings us to the second announcement.

One of the first projects we’re unveiling is the second rendition of 30 hour day, the livestreaming telethon we put together to raise money for charities in the Portland area. All told, the telethon brought in around $7000 for Free Geek, the Oregon Food Bank, and Toys for Tots, a couple of barrels of food, and at least one overflowing barrel of toys. Not to mention generating 30 consecutive hours of entertainment from awesome local artists for more than 70,000 people who tuned in to watch.

And, perhaps most importantly, it provided yet another reminder of the amazing community here in Portland—who rallied around the idea and made the show more than we had ever dreamed.

Not bad for roughly six weeks from concept to completion.

While it was a ton of work. It was also a ton of fun. And before it was over, Cami and I had already agreed that we had to do 30 hour day all over again. And now we can tell you when. We’re still working through the particulars, but we can tell you this: 30 hours. No sleep. All for charity. Again. July 2 and 3.

Mark your calendars. And stay tuned for more information as things start to fall into place.

And thank you, sincerely, to all of you who have supported the blogs, the shows, and the events we’ve worked to put together.

I’m a little biased, but I think this could be the beginning of something really, really cool.

Okay. Enough about me. Now, let’s get back to focusing on all of the awesome things the Portland Web, mobile, and open source community are doing in the new year.

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