Hello Friends, Family, and Fellow Travelers!
Fancy seeing you here. Welcome to… whatever the heck this is!
Now hold your horses… I know some of you might know me; but most of you might be wondering who the heck I am and what in the world am I up to with this.
So allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Brandon Smith. However, many of the homies have had this funny habit of assigning me all sorts of nicknames throughout the years, such as: B-Smitty, BC, B-DoggieDog, Dat Miata Bitch Who Mysteriously Rocked That Spiderman Bodysuit for Halloween Last Year..? oh, you remember me now?? Thought you might’ve!!
Let me somehow try to get into this without making it sound like my bio… I’m a dude from Houston, Texas; and my day in the life revolves around one simple thing: having a damn good time.
Sounds boring right? Quite the opposite, my friends.
Growing up, you could say that I recreationally dabbled in having a good time. Probably more than I should’ve. Whether it was through skateboarding with my friends everyday after school and creating skate videos, or deciding to learn the bass guitar after sitting on my stairs half-baked at age 15 watching Pearl Jam’s Unplugged, or geeking out to some Monty Python sketches… you name it. If it was fun times, I fucked with it. It just so happens that as I’ve ripened with old age, it’s become more of a full time job. Now I know the haters out there might view that as an excuse for slacking off; I digress. There’s a plethora (#bloggerlingo) of factors at play when actively engaging in having a good time. Factors that are internal, external, universal… hell, maybe even downright biblical!
Most importantly, it’s a machine that’s always in motion. It never stops! Dare I say that it’s… #alwayshappyhour?!?! *MIND BLOWN*GASP*MIC DROP*
Followers of mine, especially my mom, have probably become aware of that little tagline. I think it’s pretty cute. It’s an ethos that I believe is desperately missing in the world these days. You might disagree, and that’s okay (you’re delusional, and well… I suppose that’s okay too).
I mean let’s be real… if you aren’t having a good time, then you’re having a bad time…and bad time no good.
Cracking the barriers of logic on the first post? Incredible.
No, but seriously. Hi! How are ya? You still with me? Thank goodness!
Truly, this blog is dedicated to whoever might be reading this. This previous summer, I was in a pretty tough spot in my life. Lots of life changes with graduating college, getting dumped, leaving an incredible position and atmosphere at my college radio station, and just felt like I had little to no direction on what my next move was. I just felt stripped of everything that I thought defined who I was.
However, after a good friend of mine remembered seeing me at a show a few months prior with a camera in hand, she told me I should start bringing it to shows. A light bulb immediately lit up in my head and with my trusty-dusty camera purchased too easily with a credit card one drunken evening, I was welcomed into such a diverse and rad group of people. I started taking photos in a style dubbed by a dear friend as, “point and pray.” Entirely because I had no clue what the hell I was doing, but it worked and I felt like I was flexing a creative muscle that I never realized lived inside me. I not only fell in love with the whole art of photography, but with the scene I was capturing as well. I just found so much solace in the Houston music scene and as cheesy as it might sound; I felt like I was truly able to find myself again.
Since then, you might’ve seen me goofing around at one of the local shows, posting funny memes on Instagram, or crying to Drops of Jupiter at EQ Coffee House in the Heights. Wherever it may be, my camera has become one of the most essential items for me to carry around. And that, has paved the path to right here.
At the end of the day, you could call this whole project a variety of different things, and that’s because it truly is a variety of different things! This is a blog, an online magazine, a glorified finsta… you name it. But most importantly, it’s a glimpse into my life as I try to figure out how the heck to live it to the fullest. It’s a look into a growing music scene that is on the cusp of something supernova. It’s an invitation to indulge in the luxuries of having a good time; experiencing the world as it comes and truly appreciating, not only the picture painted in front of you, but the painter who painted it as well. We are gonna be talking about music and art made by insanely talented individuals. We are gonna showcase the importance of friends and a community. We are gonna be talking shit on places that use shitty tequila in their overpriced margs…
But best of all… We are gonna have a damn good time.
With that being said, I’m excited to have you along for the ride, homies. We might not always be grammatically correct, we might change some things up along the way, but you better believe that we are gonna keep rockin’.
So you in?.. I thought so. 🙂
Let’s get it. Welcome to the Margarita-verse.
#alwayshappyhour