Good News York by Growth Mode Content - From Rock Bands to Triathlons: Ulf Osterley's Multifaceted Journey | GNY 12

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

From Rock Bands to Triathlons: Ulf Osterley's Multifaceted JourneyIn this episode of Good News York, the host features Ulf Osterley, a remarkable individual known for his extensive involvement in Syracuse's music scene, education, and sports. Ulf shares insights from his diverse career, from running O Records and managing bands like Merit and Honor Bright to teaching music business at Syracuse University. He discusses his unique lifestyle living in an RV, his social media presence focusing on cycling and van life, and his dedication to mentoring new artists. The conversation delves into the evolution of the music industry, the importance of social media, and the challenges and rewards of pursuing one's passions. Olf's story is an inspiring testament to adaptability, perseverance, and the pursuit of multiple interests.00:00 Welcome to Good News York00:18 Introducing Matt and Ulf 00:47 Ulf's Journey in Syracuse02:22 The Birth of O Records04:12 Success Stories and Challenges04:51 The Impact of Taste of Syracuse06:26 Ulf's Early Influences and Career10:19 Teaching at Syracuse University13:14 The Role of a Team in Success35:09 Current Work with After Dark Presents43:31 The Evolution of Fame and Influence44:19 Navigating the Modern Music Industry45:06 The Power of Social Media for Artists46:02 Mentoring Rising Stars49:24 Living the RV Life53:38 Balancing Passions: Music, Cycling, and More01:16:30 The Future of the Music Industry01:18:45 Final Thoughts and Reflections

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for free today at RSS.com. Hey, welcome to Good News York. I am really excited. It's not just me. Matt is here. He's actually running, he's doing Danny's job today. Danny's homesick.

We love you, Danny. So Matt is doing host and producer today. So my God, are you ready for this task? I wear many hats and sometimes headphones. Mostly Syracuse hats. So we've got Matt here. I am joined by. a friend, I dare say,

and an amazing human being, Ulf, Austerly, who I should call you Mr. Syracuse at this point. You're so involved in so many things in Syracuse, and when this show started, and Matt was like, we got to, you know, when we start booking guests, you were genuinely one of the first three people I thought of,

and I'm so glad you're here, man. I'm honored. I'm glad that you thought of me, because I'm one of those people that, like, flies under the radar. A lot of people know me, but they don't see me. Yeah. You know, and so that's one of those things when I have a chance to step out and share some of the story and the path that I've walked.

I love to take advantage, you know? It's been an amazing path. And actually, I know what you mean, because if someone was to look you up, there's a lot to see. Your TikTok, all the endeavors you've been involved in, so you would think, this guy doesn't fly under the radar. He's everywhere. But there is a way to fly under, to be very present on social media, but also fly under the radar. are. It is a, it's attacked. You know, I work a lot, and so that means I'm not spending a lot of time out socializing, and that's part of it. And so, you know, when I'm out, it is because it's

a concert or because I'm at a hockey game or something that I'm working in some capacity. Sure. And so, you know, there's not a lot of that just downtime for me. No. And I don't know how there could be because, I mean, that's one of the main reasons I had you on was, dare I say, your resume is just outstanding. You've done so much for the Syracuse community, but I would say for the music business mostly and for education. When you and I met, for those of you at home,

when I met Al, I was in a band called the New York Rock, and Alf, you were the CEO of O Records, A-U-X. You had some amazing bands. It was Merit, Honor Bright, we were just talking about, and you had a stage at the Taste of Syracuse Festival and one of my favorite shows we ever got booked for, which I still thank you for. But on top of that,

you've also been a professor at Syracuse teaching, you know, music business, social media, and now you're involved in marketing. We're going to get to all of it, but I wanted to start with when we met and you were doing old records. How did that come about? Yeah, so, you know, I never planned on staying in Syracuse,

And that's the precursor to me getting into The Taste of Syracuse, getting into that stage that we had as part of the record label because I came to Syracuse for what I thought was going to be a one-year master's degree. I went to SUNY Cortland for my undergrad and I was a health science major. I worked in athletic training and it was nothing media related, but I was running the campus radio station, WSUC, down in SUNY Cortland. and my thought was nobody's going to hire somebody to work in the music business who has a health science degree so let me go get a master's degree

I'll go to Syracuse for one year in and out and the plan was go to New York and work for wind-up records and at the time they were just printing money they were just every rock band that was I was going to say wasn't that a lot of the vans warped tour bands? There were some of those yeah or maybe that was drive-thru

drive-thru was a lot of the bands But, you know, this label was just, it was a lot of rock bands, a lot of radio rock bands. And they were just making money. Yeah. And we graduated. I say we, because myself and my ex-wife were in the same master's class and we were both going to go to New York City. We graduated in August of 2001. Three weeks later, September 11th.

Oh, geez. And she was, I'm not going to New York. And I was like, okay, I get it. Right. You know, like nobody knew at that point. So I stayed in Syracuse and entered the PhD. program up at Syracuse University, took $6,000 in my student loan money and started a record label. That's awesome.

Because I didn't know what to do here. And I wanted to work in music. And so that was where things started. And as things grew, we knew that we had to have a presence in the live music community throughout Central New York. You know, Syracuse was home base. And that's where the taste of Syracuse came in, where we had this stage that at the time was a bigger stage than most of the bands have ever played on at that point in their career. And so, you know, we took up three lanes of a road right down in downtown Syracuse, Clinton Square. And in partnership with subcat recording studio, you know, we put on this stage that was

catered to central New York artists. And it was fantastic. I got to play that stage. And for those of you who are thinking, stage is a stage, that is not true. Stages come in all different sizes and shapes. I mean, there were times my band would get booked for a festival. And you would show up. And that stage was, remember the old trailers that, you know, the sides would come down?

It's just, you know what I mean? And that's fine. But your stage at Tastes of Syracuse was the quintessential, what you would see at, you know, a radio festival. It was huge. And you even provided RVs for the bands. We had the RVs. We had catering. You know, we had sponsors for the stage.

You know, it was what we wanted. wanted to do to elevate the experience for everybody. And I think that's sort of been a theme of my life is this stepping stone and being that stepping stone for a lot of people, like the bands that have come through. Some of them have gone on to do really big things. And, you know, I like to say that I was a part of that experience for them where they got to level up. And we wanted to give everyone that experience with this particular event. You know, Taste of Syracuse was bringing in over 100,000 people for the weekend. And when you would look across Clinton Square at that time, it was a sea of people. I mean, there was no space. We're down there eating and having some

beverages and enjoying the music. And to have bands from the area play to a crowd like that, we haven't seen a whole lot of that in the last decade. So, you know, it's something I would love to get back to at some point. But there's a huge cost in all of this. And so when the time is right, when the money's there, you know, we'll certainly get back in because Taste of Syracuse, you know, Galaxy Communications, Galaxy Media is a part of the taste. I think they own it. And that's the K-Rock radio station, which I worked for K-Rock for a couple years. So, you know, those relationships are still there. It's awesome, man. Yeah. And, I mean, that's just where most of this began, because now you have O records, you sign a couple bands, a merit and,

Honor Bright, right? Were those your two first two? They weren't the first two, but they were arguably the biggest two that we had. Merritt was the first. And, you know, I met Merritt because they were all Syracuse University students and some of them had just graduated somewhere in graduate school. And they came to me when I was working for the syndicate. Syndicate's a marketing company out of Weehawk in New Jersey, an agency now. They're pretty large, you know, they work with Taco Bell and the other big brands at the intersection of music and culture, really. And you know, I was handling all of Central New York for these major label artists that would come through. And the bassist from Merritt saw me at these shows and he was like, hey, you know, like, let's talk, let's talk. At that point, you know, so many bands had come up and said something like that. Of course. But I remember he wrote his email on a dollar bill because he knew that I was not going to throw that dollar bill away. And he said, let's get together. And we went out and grabbed some, uh, some pizza for lunch one day. And he's like, we want to do an EP. And at the,

that time. This is 2003. CDs were the dominant format. Sure. And I explained to him, recording an EP to release on CD is not financially worth it. You should do a record. Because at that point, you're selling a CD for $5

an EP, or you can go 10 or 15 if it's a, you know, a full length. Sure. So ultimately, we went and we recorded a record and that was at Subcat when they were in Skinny Atlas, New York. Like this was pre- their move to Syracuse and, you know, a tiny little basement studio.

But this was a record that ended up getting them satellite radio airplay, college radio. They were number one in New York and top 15 in Los Angeles. And they ended up touring East Coast and up into Canada and really made a name for themselves as this rock band. So that was the first one. Then I had a band for The Horizon that did really great in the MySpace days. Anorexic Beauty Queen was another one that came through. and Mike Watson is still playing music in Central New York today. And the bassist from that band went on to do just tremendous video work for bands like Manchester Orchestra and, you know, so many other big bands.

So that was where things started. Honor Bright was a great experience. You know, we took them from playing basement shows in Syracuse to Warb Tour, bamboozle. Ultimately, they played MTV when MTV was still playing music. Right. You know, they played Total Request Live. It was. Yeah.

TRL? TRL was like what you came home to, you know. And that was the early days of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and all the boy bands. Red leather outfit. Yeah, you know, like to play in Times Square in their studios with that band was great. And so still working with a few of those guys today. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

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about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at rs.com. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're in a podcast, chances are you have something

to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. Okay, you know, as they've gone on to new bands and it's been a wild ride with them. It's amazing. And so prior to O Records, though, you'd never run a record label, right?

So were you just flying by the seat of your pants? Like, you know, you get this record coming, you have these bands, and you're like, I'm just going to figure this shit out as I go. Where did you start learning kind of how the ins and outs of how a label should run? It was very much flying by the seat of my pants. That's awesome. You know, it's, you got to trust in yourself at some point. Sure.

I knew the business. I knew college radio. That was something where I grew up through the, the, W-SUC era and understood how the college radio stations impact the leveling up of bands, because you'd see bands test at college radio, and then from there, expand to commercial radio. And that doesn't really happen as much today, but back then, this is 25 years ago, 30 years ago, a very different era. And so I understood that side of the world.

I understood the booking side at a DIY level, and that's where the band started. and then you ultimately will need to level up and get yourself a team to surround you. That's right. But I was always reading about music. I was always a huge music fan. And, you know, when you surround yourself with those types of experiences, you do start to take your own notes and you see what works and what doesn't work. And, you know, I was very fortunate to have some mentors through, you know, the early days.

Frank Malfatano, who is in charge of the Syracuse Jazz Fest. Okay. I got to spend, you know, the, oh man, it must have been the 2001 Jazz Fest working with him and ultimately went on to be his assistant as he was the producer of the opening ceremonies for the Empire State Games that happened at the old Carrier Dome. And my job for that particular show day was to be the assistant for Ray Charles. Oh, wow. So, you know, hey, bud, here's your first gig.

First gig. Yes. And no pressure. It was like, okay, you're going to meet, you know, the limo at this corner of the dome. And I remember walking out there. And Ray Charles jumps out of the back and introduces himself, you know, extends an arm and we shake hands. And he locks his arm within mine. We walked down the stairs.

I was with him through the day. Had, you know, those experiences of, like Bob Costas was the MC. So I had to escort him from the green room. to the podium where he was doing the emceeing. And so those types of experiences really gave me that firsthand look at what a show looks like at a larger level. Sure. And it was more than just a show because these were the athletes as well. And sports and music, for me, that's an intersection that really has defined my life. And so I was thrilled to be a part of this. And that helped set things off. That was pre-O records, but certainly an insight to events that most

people don't get to see unless you're really deep in the business. That's outstanding. I can't even imagine like your first gig. And it's, I mean, Ray, I mean, look, there are famous artists out there. And then there are just those icons. And Ray Charles is one of those icons. I mean, what better way to learn than just throwing yourself into it and doing it? Now, where did your love for music come from?

Because I don't think you, you're not a musician, are you? No, I'm not a musician. And that's okay. I'm just asking. I'm not like you're not a musician, all right? No, no, but I get that. And I think that perspective is a really important point because there are musicians who end up working in the business and there are business folks who are not musicians who can be the voice of that musician when it comes to deals, when it comes to monetization, when it comes to promotion. And let the artist be the artist, let the business folks handle all the business.

That's right. And that team is what makes for a successful career. and you don't have to be musician. Now, I've been on stage. I've had a few chances to sing. I'm not a singer. That's all right. You can't do it all.

You know, you can't do it all. And you shouldn't. You should focus a little bit on, you know, what your strengths are. I knew my strength was never going to be as a performer. But I grew up listening to a lot of music. You know, I grew up actually for the first five years of my life, I was on the South Campus of Syracuse University when my dad was doing. graduate school. Oh, wow. And one of those early life experiences was some of his friends were in a

band from Germany, and they came to the States, and they were living out of our South Campus apartment while they were doing a Northeast tour. And I just remember always having music going. I remember the early days of taping songs off of radio and, you know, listening to, like, local music events, and then finally getting to the point where I could go to some of these larger shows. And I was actually just having this conversation with my son a couple days ago about those most influential concerts you've been to. And I have to think back to those early days when I was in high school, you know, going to Lollapalooza in 1994 or seeing nine-inch nails where Marilyn Manson's opening up. This is back at the Knickerbocker arena back when. Nickerbocker.

Yeah, in Albany. Albany, yeah, before it was the Pepsi. Absolutely. And those experiences really shaped my love for, you know, music. and those who were creating. And I knew that I wanted to be a part of that in some capacity. I didn't think it was going to be professionally. And that's why I was going to school for athletic training.

You know, like, we're not to tape and ankle, you know, fix somebody who gets, it's broken on the field. Which that, you know, that comes in handy too. We get hurt on the road when you're a band. Oh, for sure. You know, I mean, every, everything you can bring in when you're on the road. If someone's good at, you know, is a doctor, awesome. If someone knows how to cook, better, even better.

Now, when your dad was doing what he was doing, was he involved in music at all? Or was he just? He wasn't in music, but he was on the media side of things. So he was doing this doctorate in instructional technology is what it was called back then. And he ended up not finishing the graduate degree because of myself and my sister. Like, you had to put some food on the table and he took a job where he moved the whole family. to the Catskill Mountains. And I went to a school that was a public school,

but 30 people in your graduating class. And most of the students that were there, it was the same crew from sixth grade through your senior year. And at the time, he was doing what they call distance learning. Oh, yeah. It's like, you know, we can jump on our iPhone today.

It's Tuesday. Yeah, it's like we're looking at somebody who's halfway across the school. We had a distance learning classroom in our high school. And that was like, whoa, you know, like high tech shit. It was. And that's what he was doing.

That's cool. And so it was like you could offer these educational experiences for these really rural schools and you get one or two students from each of these schools. And now you're getting something that you're never going to get taught because just the number of people that you have to teach these classes is there. Right. And so it was a really cool experience to be around technology early, early computers. You know, we always were taking, um, uh, uh,

Even like film strips, you know, like these old archives of media and getting to work with them. Real to real players. And so those types of experiences, they were impactful early on. And so he was never in bands, but he loved music and still loves music. And that was a big part of this. And even my mom, she's, I credit her with introducing me to the band Korn. Hell yes. So, you know, you want to talk about.

Keep going. So music was always a big part of this. And I've got a younger sister, a younger brother. They were into music as well. It's a family affair. I mean, but who isn't into music, right? Well, I mean, yeah. It is funny to say, well, you're into music.

It's like, it's like saying, are you into air? I mean, how are you not into music? But you know what I mean? You're involved. You're immersed in it. It's a part of who you are. And obviously, from your family. Real quick about corn, though.

Corn was, I tell this story. see when I was growing up my father always kept raving about you you don't understand what it was like when the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan show and everything changed overnight and I'm like no I don't understand that but but I get it right I didn't realize that I my generation was going to get to experience a little bit of that with the Seattle invasion right because I remember I was watching deaf leopard and then all of a sudden MTV there's a guy in a cardigan screaming about smell you know it smells like teen spirit and I'm like what the fuck is this? this and that was overnight. But I also didn't realize as I was going in the 90s that I was going to be hearing things that were going to be changing music forever. And corn, on Fridays in our technology class, our teacher would allow us to, I'm going to date myself here, would allow us to bring in cassettes or CDs and play music. And so my buddy John, it was his day to bring in.

And he pops in this cassette and it was corn. and I'll never forget. I won't repeat what was said. It's a term we don't use anymore, but the name of the song was a derogatory term, and he's screaming it. But I remember I hear the bagpipes. Bagpipe.

And then, and then, and then, you know, Fieldy had that real loose bass with the clicking sound. And it's a sound I had never heard before, ever. And to this day, when someone talks about corn, I light up because it's one of the few bands

where I kind of experienced a little bit of what my dad, I mean, the Beatles will always be the Beatles, but I experienced what he, I finally understood what he meant, when I had heard something I had never heard before, and especially nowadays, it's hard to come by. But I just never forget thinking, yeah, this is heavy metal or new metal,

whatever they want to call it, but you know it's corn. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more.

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It's nice to have that iconic sound. It really is. You know, when you can lay out a career and have that first three seconds and you know that it's that band? Tool. Oh, Tools.

Tools another one. You know, Dave Matthews band's another one. You know it's them. And, you know, that's something I struggled with as an artist. And halfway through, I realized, you know, if I'm trying so hard, then I'm doing it wrong

because it should come natural. But, you know, with my music, it was, I drew from so many influences. My albums were very much like a smorgas board, but I never felt like it had a sound. And I always respected bands that could have a sound. And Corn, Corn not only did that, but they blew my lid off. Anyway, sorry. So you got old records, but now you're heavily involved in teaching at Syracuse University. How did that come about?

And I know you were teaching. You were full-time professor. You were teaching in the audio arts, in the College of Visual and Performing Arts for 20 years, and you led the board of directors for the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association. I mean, that's fascinating stuff. Yeah, you know, education obviously was a big part of my life as a student.

You know, I went through and did undergrad at Cortland, a master's degree at Syracuse, and then stuck around for a Ph.D. at Syracuse. And while I was taking the graduate classes, I started sitting in on some courses that were led by David Rezick, who for anyone in central New York, he started DMR booking. Oh, GMR. Okay. In a funny twist of, you know, how stories collide, that band that my dad had staying with us as a child on South Campus at Syracuse was being booked by DMR across New York State.

So, you know, it's incredible to see like where these collisions have happened. And so I was taking these classes and not even taking the classes, for credit because as a graduate student, I could not take an undergraduate class for credit, but I just wanted to soak in the experience. I didn't have a chance to really take music business classes. And that was something that I knew that I needed. And I just wanted to learn.

There's been a few professors that I've had over the years. And they've said, you're just like a sponge. You're never going to stop learning. And I was like, come on. I'm going to graduate. I'm going to be done. Like I don't want to another book. Oh, no, they were right.

Yeah. You know, like I'm still soaking everything in. And so teaching came about because I was finishing up my graduate work. And there was this new music business program that was starting called the Bandier program. It's named after Marty Bandier. And Marty Bandier is arguably the most powerful music publisher ever. He had the Beatles catalog. And Michael Jackson catalog.

Yeah, I was going to say the Michael Jackson. Yeah, millions of copyrights. And, you know, one of the biggest publishers that's out there. And so he was funding this program. and they were searching for a full-time faculty member. Now, at this point in my life, I had the experience with O Records on the label side. We had the live side that was happening with some of the Taste of Syracuse. And I booked for the New York State Fair on a smaller stage there for a little while.

I booked regional tours, East Coast tours, Canadian tours. That all was sort of the professional experience. And then you add in a PhD on top of that. and they had a search for the first full-time faculty member, and they brought somebody in from the UK, somebody from Nashville, and then somebody who was 200 yards down the road. And ultimately, I was given the opportunity to teach with this program.

And I started there in 2008, and I'd been teaching at the Newhouse School prior to that while I was finishing my doctorate. And so I was teaching general media classes, some media law, and ultimately jumped in and got to, to shape the curriculum for what is arguably the number one music business program in the world. Absolutely. That's amazing.

And you were also two national teacher of the year nominees for two years? My final two years of teaching. Yeah. You know, the International Entertainment Buyers Association, Aiba, they have their annual awards in Nashville. And for the final two years I was teaching, I was up for music business educator of the year. It's amazing. And yeah, it was nice to be honored. And the folks that wanted our friends.

And so, you know, maybe I'll get back into teaching. And maybe I'll try to go for one of those national awards. But I was just happy to be there. You know, I was happy to be recognized. And, you know, I feel like I put a lot of effort into what I was doing with these courses because of the fact I didn't have those. And because I didn't have those, I knew what I would have wanted when I was a student. So whether it was the undergraduate side with Bandier or the graduate side, which is audio arts, you know, or running a department or even working on the Mia board, you know, you see the experiences in the classroom. You see the professional experiences.

And then you see what you need to do to make sure that the students that are paying a lot of money to be there are getting what they need out of that experience. See, and that what are unique perspective you had? Because you could see it from both sides, literally. because you were living both sides. And that is so key. That's why I tell people, you know, during the pandemic, people were kind of switching gears. I had a lot of friends.

I'm thinking about owning a business. I'm thinking about doing this. And, you know, a lot of friends have come to me over the years and said, I think I'm going to open a bar. And it's like, well, okay, that's cool. What do you know about it? Well, I've drinking it. You know what I mean?

It's, you know, I worked in as a bartender and server for years. And had I decided for some reason to open a restaurant, bar. I would have been a leg up on on on on some people because being on the other you know working every position, uh, being immersed in that world goes such a long way. And I've been the customer. I've been the bartender. I've been having to cook in the kitchen. And so I felt like there's no better training or experience than than doing it first. And, uh, you know, and you were doing that. And I still try to do that. And I and sometimes I struggle. Sometimes I think. about, you know, do I take on too much? You know, is it better to be really focused and become

that true expert in one very specific thing or should I be really good at a lot of different things? And I've chose the latter, you know, I've got a lot of interests in life. And so I may not be the best, but I'm competent. You know, that's, you're very competent. And I think that's where you and I are very similar in that I have always had a lot of interests. And so, you know, know, when I was younger, actually when I had met you, it was, you know, I was bouncing between doing stand-up comedy and music, but I also had a local radio show. I knew that I liked to entertain and I liked to create, but I just couldn't find my place. And, but the important part was, and I struggled for so many years thinking, I'm wasting time doing this. I should be focusing

just on this. I should focus on the acting and comedy and not, no, I can't, and it drove me nuts. Whereas what I didn't realize is I was doing a little bit of all of it. And along the way, it's gotten me, it all works together. And I feel like that for you, too. Like, in other words, you know, you wanted to do music and management and marketing, but you also wanted, you loved education. And so you did all these different things, but they were all still tied together and came back full circle.

So I get that. It's like building the brick wall. Yeah. Every brick gets you a little bit higher, a little bit closer, a little bit further on in the process. And, you know, those bricks, if you see a brick wall, they're not always the same shade. No, they're not. And so, you know, but ultimately they help hold that structure together. And I think that's what my life has been, whether it's been sports, music, education, family, you know, all of that's really important to me.

And I think in every aspect, they all do weave together. Yeah, 100%. And, you know, have you ever found, I know I have big time, that, yeah, yeah. had this one goal throughout your life and you strive to get there. And then maybe it doesn't go the way you thought, but you end up there and you go, thank God, this didn't happen 10 years ago when I wanted it to. I would have sucked or I would have ruined it or it wouldn't have been, I wouldn't have been ready, I guess, have you ever found?

Yes. And I think that one goal, I can articulate that one goal. And it goes back to O Records. You know, the logo for O Records is based off of the periodic symbol for gold. That's right. That's right. And I always have wanted a gold record. And every one of the records that I've released has not gotten there, but I can look at my students and I can see what they've done.

You know, I did the very first music project with Drew Taggart of the chain smokers. No shit. You know, it was a summer project. It was like, let's get a song record. recorded, mixed, mastered, and released. And, you know, to see where the chain smokers have gone is incredible. I saw Clero. She came in.

I knew her when she was 15, you know, and she's gone on to tour the world and sell a ton of records. I've got students that were in audio arts that have gone on, worked in hip hop and been producing and writing for artists like Lil Wayne and Tusi Chapa. And, you know, you see those platinum plaques. amazing. You know, you see there were artists that we've had, we found in my A&R classes. And, you know, we were pitching

them to other labels and the labels weren't jumping. So one student said, I'm going to manage this band, you know, this group and they've gone on you know, this was Lewis the Child. And international success there. So, you know, it's been fortunate to have. You're listening to a podcast

right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month, if you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. have that network of students that have gone on with wild success,

and I can live through their experiences. And so maybe I haven't gotten the gold record, but I'm certainly as proud every time I see them pop up on my social media feeds with another success story. You know, and I know you're genuine because I explain this too, where, you know, anytime I've been in the studio with a producer, obviously my bandmates when you record and tour together

I tell people who aren't musicians like have you ever met somebody while you were on a road trip like you're thrown onto a road trip with someone you've never met by the end of that road trip you'll always be a little bit bonded to them because of that trip

unless it's horrendous and I just feel that way in music that when you're involved in a project like this I don't like to use the military as an example because out of respect for military, you know, it's very much different being on the front lines with somebody. But do you know what I mean when I say?

When you experience something so intimate and so special to you, and you share that, whether it's the producer or your manager or your booking agent, I feel like you're bonded for life. There's just a certain bond you'll always have. So I assume that when you see these bands

and artists you've worked with, you do feel a sense of pride, right? Oh, for sure. You're like, yeah, and not like, I did that, But like a, like you really like, yeah, man, we did it, you know? Yes, because there is that sense of a shared experience when you're on the road together. And anytime that you're spending significant time working towards a shared goal, that's where the bonds happen.

And I see this in sports as well. My son is a high level hockey player. I just going to bring that up. And, you know, the last couple days, I mean, Friday I flew to Miami and drove back from Miami with one of his teammates. And he's a teammate that lived here in Syracuse last year. They both went down to Florida to play this year. You know, that shared experience of those road trips. They were playing in Utica last year, you know,

road trips down I-90 to Utica for practice or for the games or the experience in Fort Myers. A big part of it. You know, all those summer teams that he played on. And now you can see, you know, this guy was drafted by this team and this one's playing, you know, D1 hockey somewhere else. And these guys are going D3. You know, it's amazing to see that. And we have a shared purpose, a shared. sense of accomplishment for being the scaffolding that surround these individuals who have unique

talents. You know, I'm not going to be the best hockey player. But I know that helping to fund that whole experience, helping to drive, helping to provide nutrition or additional coaching or, you know, additional ice time, every $400 hockey stick. Like, those things all add up. And if you don't have that support system, it gets really tough to get there. Same thing with music.

You know, you can have the greatest songs, but if you can't record them, then you're relying only on the road. That's right. You know, or you're great on the road, but, you know, maybe the merchandise isn't where it needs to be. Well, you're missing out on money there.

Oh, you don't understand music publishing. Your songs, you know, the lyrics and the music, there's a revenue stream there. We should tap into that. And so all these little things add up and the idea of scaffolding surrounding an artist or an athlete or an individual is something that I think we need to recognize that there needs to be that scaffolding because it's all a team game.

You are so right and I didn't know that and, you know, I tried so hard as the, the, when I was doing music, as the singer or the, they're like, oh, so you're the singer-gat player. I'm like, well, yeah, but I'm also the booking agent. I'm the treasurer. You know, I'm the label. And that's fine because I knew it all needed to be done. but what I didn't understand at the time is that leadership doesn't necessarily mean you do everything. Leadership knows you know means you know when to dole it out, you know, and I didn't have, other than my bandmates, I didn't really have a team around me. And if I could go back, I think that's the only thing I would change is really building a team around you because you're right.

I don't care how talented you are, whether it's sports or music or act, anything. It takes a team. We have a team here, you know. It's not like we shoot this and then we edit it and we put it out. We could do that, but we're better together. And we're better together. But it's true. It's so true. And I think, you know, that's one of those things that I'm experiencing now that I really relish. You know, I'm working with After Dark Presents. They're a concert promoter offices in Buffalo and Syracuse. And, you know, what I'm doing now is digital marketing. And I'm responsible for the advertising. I'm responsible for the, you know, email and SMS lists. I'm responsible for some of the social media. I do a lot of video production for them, editing. And so when you're

looking at that, there's a lot that's on my plate, but we've got a few incredible buyers. You know, they're the ones that are bringing the artist in. We've got somebody who's absolutely so detail-oriented, you know, in laying out the shows in terms of the ticket links and making sure everything is built properly and getting the marketing plans back to the teams that we're working with. And so There's this entire network that we have, and we're not in the same office, you know, but we're connected on Slack all the time. Yep. And everyone is absolutely at the highest level that they've been operating at ever, and they're continuing to improve. And so that team is really nice to be a part of.

And when we see shows that start to sell really well, you know that it's everyone firing on all cylinders. The buyer's made a great choice, you know, the venues are working well with. us and then you know I get to play some ads and really get creative in that sense because there's a whole science behind that as well that's amazing and again this is what I mean by it all comes full circle everything you did at old records is applying now so let's talk about that so you got old records you got your education you're teaching at S you now you step down from teaching and from the board and is this when you start working at after Dark Presents after Dark Presents by the way look it up on social media that is the is it would you call it the the music booking and

promotion? It's a booking agency. Booking agency. Like we are, we're a concert promoter. You know, we're booking, we're talent buying. We're promoting shows. And, you know, the, we work with the booking agencies that represent the artists. And so, you know, across the board, we're looking at shows in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany. And they've done some further out.

But those are the four core markets that we've got. And we've got something like 75 shows that are on sale right now. You know, as you're talking about that, I'm just, you just listed all the places and I realize geographically, that's got to be a little bit of a dream for you because it's probably very easy to route shows just along I-90, you know, and those are perfect markets to go Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica, Albany, and maybe even in between there, right? Yeah, depending on the size of the artist, absolutely. We definitely have some artists that are playing, you know, like an Albany and a Buffalo show or an Albany and a Syracuse show or some

that will play Buffalo, go finish, you know, at a leg of their tour, then come back and they'll play, you know, Rochester six months later. You know, you want to have enough space in between so that you don't, you know, compete against yourself. Right. But I think that there's a lot of opportunity when you look at these larger markets across New York State. And, you know, I love the I 90 tours. I think it's easy. And, you know, every developing artist should look at those markets and say, can I draw 50 people in Buffalo? Can I draw 50 people in Rochester? And go on down the line. And when you do that, you can start to build a sustainable way for you to tour because you don't have to spend money on hotels. No.

You can get back to your home and, you know, it's easier to put money in the bank. You know, when I was doing the thing, there was a term called a one-off. I don't know if it's still this way now. And I want to see if this, if it is the case. you know, in a market like Ithaca especially, for a long time, we would get artists like Nora Jones or big artists, BB King, the Gougu dolls, right? But they'd be on a Tuesday night, and I didn't think anything of it.

And then what I found is I heard there was a thing called a one-off and that we were in a market that was perfect for it because we're between Buffalo and New York City, where a band that's pretty big, would play the big markets on a Friday, a Saturday, maybe even a Thursday, right? And then in between, it wasn't on their schedule, but a booking agency such as yourself might say, hey, listen, you guys are in between New York and Buffalo. What about coming here Tuesday? And they would give you a discounted price because they weren't planning to play there on that day anyway. And was that how it worked?

And does it still kind of worked out? Still kind of works like that. Yeah, when you're looking at monetizing your music career. Yeah. The booking agent is the one. that's responsible for setting up all of the live shows. So if you're on a tour and, you know, you're traveling the country and you've got a show Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, that Wednesday is still going to cost you money. Sure. You still have your touring expenses. And so is there a way to get another show, even if it's not part of this larger package tour? So, yes, we see that happen all the time. And, you know, sometimes there's a little conversation that happens on social media with fans and they're like, well, why isn't, you know, the rest of the tour coming to this market?

Why is it only this one band? Which, very valid question to ask. And typically that is the case. You know, you've got a paused day, you know, an off day for the tour, but the bands don't want to have an off day. And so they'll book a show. And as concert promoters, we step in. And it's not always, you know, pricing, I think that's market dependent. You know, it's not higher, lower, you know, discounted or whatnot.

But, you know, you work it out based on the scenario that you're faced with at that time, you know, with size of the room. And, you know, so those facts. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners.

they're from and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. Just play into it. But yeah, the idea of doing this sort of one-off type show is a way to keep more money coming in. Those are some of the best shows as a fan to go see because they're usually in a more intimate venue that they're not, that they don't normally play in. or maybe they do, but still.

And sometimes you can hear it in the bands. They're like, especially in Ithaca, you know, they're like, this place is fucking awesome, man. Like, we didn't even know about this place. One thing, I will say, though, since the pandemic, I've noticed, like I've seen Tom Seguera, what's her name there? Geez, why am I blanking out? Blonde hair, Nikki Glazer,

comedian-wise, and some bands that are really big, and they're starting to come to Ithaca on a, Friday, and I'm starting to think that maybe since the pandemic, do you think artists are more apt to do smaller markets on weekends now because they just, they want to generate revenue and they'll play anywhere and anywhere, where they can? Wherever you can sell tickets is a great market to play. Yeah. And I think when you look at certain markets, and you, especially in the comedy world, because

that's a whole different world. It's a whole different world. People don't get that. It is amazing to see where the pandemic has really impacted comedy in a positive way. Yes, it has. You know, people are sitting and scrolling TikTok and all of a sudden you're starting to see the Matt Ripes of the world. And, you know, then those comedians are playing stadiums, basically. You know, the Kill Tony podcast.

Kill Tony. Success there. But then you have others like, you know, Gabriel Rutledge, you know, Jordan Jensen's of the world. You know, I actually know, I think they have really embraced social media. And that's leveling up what their draw is in these markets. And when you look at who's scrolling, college, right? College market, you got Cornell, you got Ethical. Absolutely.

Which goes back, again, to what you were saying earlier, you knew back in 03 or whatever it was that the college radio market was where it was at. And it's not the college radio market anymore, but that college market is still making and breaking people. Absolutely. And finding the right way to tap into that is always shifting. But when you get it, like you can lean it. Yeah. I mean, we're seeing now, especially on social media, you know, major artists leaking their music via fans that have larger accounts to test it.

Yeah. You know, is this song a hit? Are people using it? Are they talking all about it? If so, maybe that's going to, you know, be released sooner. Sure. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy what's going on because back in the day, you used, when we were growing up, it was like you found out what the new hot thing was. musically or movie-wise,

you either you saw it on TV, in print, like Rolling Stone Magazine, or on MTV, maybe on the radio. Now it's like the power is in with the people. The fans are finding what's hot, what's cool, and sharing things. And it's creating these weird pockets of fame. So like you're talking about these comedians,

like a Jordan Jensen or that are super famous, but they can still walk down the street in many places and nobody knows who they are, but, but they have a million fans that are, that are like hardcore fans. There's no, it's almost like there's no fringe anymore. It's like you're either a follower and a fan or you don't even know they exist. It's, it's crazy. And things are pivoting so much for someone who's teaching, when you were teaching music business and for someone that's working in the music business, how do you stay, I don't want to say relevant, you're always relevant. How do you stay up to date on what's,

going on and and and to to manage your bands in a way to say like your artists like hey look we need to do this now because this is what's going on. I threw a lot at you. Sorry. No, no. I breathe deeply because there's a very specific perspective that I have on all of this. And you know, I when I left teaching, I didn't jump right into After Dark Presents. I spent a year pretty much figuring out what I wanted to do next. And a lot of that was consulting. I was talking with a lot of artists on how to tell their story on social media. And at the time, it was quite literally 40 hours a week that I was spending on TikTok. Jesus. Which is a lot of time to spend on TikTok or any social platform. But you mean scroll or you mean posting?

Scrolling. All of posting. Responding to comments, researching the sounds that were starting to trend, getting into the analytics end of it, because I had artists primarily, some brands, some sports, but primarily musicians, coming to me and saying, you know, how do I grow? And there was one individual in particular, and I'll name drop him here, Brandon Wisham. He is going to be next in the country music world. I'm 100%. I will. I'm holding you to it.

I'm writing it down. Absolutely. And I will come back in a year. with him. And we could text him, you know. There you go. But he was somebody who, he was growing on socials. He was growing on TikTok.

It was playing live. Live streaming was huge for him. He'd grow his account to $100,000, $150,000. And then bully somebody in the comments, you know, bully somebody on live. And TikTok would ban him. And then he would grow it again, $120,000. And he'd get banned again. Grow it again, get banned again.

Finally, we sat down and we did a couple of Zoom sessions. And, you know, I took him through how to avoid them. how to do some filtering of comments, some moderation, where you can push the envelope and where you can't. And ultimately, you know, he is, he's in a good spot. I'll just put it back away. And, you know, he opened the big Bailey Zimmerman tour about six months ago. And, you know, he's got his first single that's officially out.

And things are happening there. And so it was really because of the way he could tell a story on social media that got him to that place. Now, had he not had those first couple accounts ban, where would he be? It would be to a million, two million followers? Very much could be. And, you know, it's important to recognize the power of social,

the power of owning a channel that you can direct the conversation. That's right. And we'll put a little asterisk there because you don't really own it the platform. I know what you mean. But you get to control what you put out there. And that's important for, anyone who needs or wants an audience. You know, Matt makes a great point.

He talks on social media about, you know, we hear all the time like, oh, social media. Every time I turn it on, it's just so negative. It's this and that. And then Matt always says, you are your algorithm, though. When you like videos that are political or are depressing, the algorithms are going to feed you that stuff. So we are our own algorithms, right? Matt, do you want to add on that? I'm sorry. No, you nailed it. I mean, it's what you put out in there, what it's trying to feed you back by nature of what algorithms do. You know, they want to send you more of what they think you want. So if they think you want to argue with people all day long, they will feed you the content that allows you to do that.

Yeah. That's why I think it's great that you were, you know, you were able to kind of mentor this artist. I mean, you may have, I want to say, saved his career. But I think you definitely stepped in at a time. I think someday he's going to go, wow, thank God, Ulf, kind of mentored me in that space because I could have really done some damage. You know, it was a short-term thing, and I'm happy to be that stepping stone. You know, he definitely has a team around him now, and I can't take credit for where he is, but I can take pride in the fact that he's doing what he's doing. Yeah. And, you know, I love that. And I had a master's program that I brought to Nashville. There's Syracuse University

had their online master's degree program and they do these excursions and these sort of four-day experiences in markets they came to me and said, can we do a Nashville trip and teach the music business of Nashville? And I was like, absolutely. And so I set that up

and I actually brought Brandon in as one of the guests at one of our evening functions and I said, you know, he's going to be next. And sure enough, you know, all signs are pointing that direction. You're just amazing. I want to pivot to the, the hockey with your son and obviously what you're doing now with the cycling and your TikTok.

So I could just talk to you about music all day. So I apologize. I keep going. But before we do move on, I have one, I just want to ask you this. I've had this. I want your perspective on this.

So back again, when I had my band, we stopped, we're not, we never really broke up. We were just done indefinitely in like 2018, I think it was. And,

but when we were on the road, we used to say like, why is, you kept hearing rock is dying or rock music is dead or the music business is dead and we would sit there and debate it all day and then my bass player darrell and i came up with this theory that at least this was at the time like when we were growing up our heroes were singers and guitar players and and um you know rock stars and part of the allure was that they were up there they were on tv or they were on stage saying or singing or singing about

the things that we wanted to and we couldn't. And I feel like maybe some of that is gone now because everybody has a camera and a microphone. Maybe there's no demand for that like, yeah, you know, fuck my parents, you know, fuck the government, right? Like, because I can just go and post about it or talk about it. And the second part of that is we realize, like,

maybe the American idols of the world also played a hand in that, now the idols are, you know, the people that were, are coming up now or at the time, all their heroes didn't play guitar because everybody was coming from reality shows. And so maybe that kind of made things shift to pop. Does any of that sound crazy or relevant? I mean, there's, so listen, there's space for everybody in this music economy. There are more bands today than we ever had 30 years ago.

So if we go back to like those early days of course, corn, there's less competition for the radio, you know, opportunities. Sure. There's certainly publications, you know, that were talking and writers that were writing about these bands. Yeah. We're spread out a lot more now. You know, even the blog world today is not what it was 10 years ago, you know,

when we had Tumblr and people were always posting or go back even further to MySpace and you could have your top eight and share, you know. I miss that. So, you know, we've lived that. You know, you and I are of a certain age. You know, the 18-year-olds of today, completely different world. And so, you know, everything that they have, yeah, is with their phone and their phone is connected to everything. And now as we get into, you know, responding to questions that they might have, you can just go to chat GPT and get a response real quick.

You can go to Google and get a response real quick. Everything is right at your fingertips. And so it's a little bit of a different world in that sense. You know, I think at one point, yes, we had the rock stars that glorified sex drugs and rock and roll. Sure. And they were untouchable. You know, we're not going to get them. But then you do have the social media stars that also embody that. And you can see them on TikTok and they're doing these challenges themselves and, you know, doing things that are at a level that.

The jigpals of the world. Sure. Or the Mr. Beasts or, you know, like all of these people that are doing something at a level, investing in their craft. But, you know, you and I are not going to get there. They can still experience it, though, via our feed. the guitar side of the world rock bands rock is dead I mean I've had those

conversations and bands get pissed at me when I kind of share some of that stuff it's like rock's not dead but rock benefits from touring that's right and if you're a rock band and you're not touring you're putting yourself at a disadvantage

that's right it's just that's how it is right and so yeah it used to be you put an album out and then you would go out on the road to promote that album, now it's, it's, it's the reverse where it's like, you go out and build that following so that you can drop something. And you know what I mean? It's, uh, there's just, there's so many ways, it's just, there's a lot of oversaturation, but there's also a lot more opportunity,

you know, and it's just finding that. Um, I could literally talk to you about music all day, but I don't want to, uh, take away from the other amazing things you're doing. So, we talked about O records, you know, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, You taught at SU. You served on the board of Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association, working with legendary producers. Now we're talking about you're working at After Dark Presents. But also, you kind of started this not on purpose, this van life.

Your son is playing hockey. And it kind of started there. And now not only are you permanently living in an RV right now. now, but you've built this incredible social media presence on TikTok, and it's centered around that, but also around the cycling world, which you're involved in, and also the triathlon. Yeah. So I'm somebody who is very mobile, just generally. Sure.

You know, I have been racing triathlons since 2010, and I love to travel. cycling races around the country. My son playing ice hockey was basically from Florida to Quebec City to Detroit. So, like, we were traveling a lot. And I was living just outside of Syracuse. And the apartment that we were in in 2020 was one that the kids' bedrooms had shorter ceilings. It was the upstairs of a two-family house. My son grew like six inches that year.

Couldn't even stand up in his room. I was like, you know, I'm not going to renew the lease on this place. but I couldn't find a place that I liked. You know, I wanted to be sure I was getting the value for what my rent money would be because fundamentally I've got a hard time paying rent for something like you don't own it. You know, I'm paying somebody else's bills. Right. And most people need a place to stay.

But I couldn't find one that I liked. So I said, I'm going to put everything in storage. I knew that my son at the time had four consecutive weekends of hockey on the road. So I was like, we're going to be in hotels. I'm divorced. I typically have the kids. on the weekends. So I was like, they're with their mom, Monday through Thursday. Hockey is Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So we're in hotels. I'll take the next month and figure out where I want to be. So smart, by the way. You know, a small decision, but very smart. It's a small decision, but it's an impactful decision because I thought at that point, there's going to be a couple extra thousand dollars in my pocket because I'm not paying rent. I'm not paying for electricity, internet, whatever. Yeah, exactly. And so. You know, it was great.

I moved everything into a storage unit. I had a Nissan X-Tera that I outfitted with a bed in the back. And I was, you know, working on a college campus. And if you think about it, a college campus has everything that you need to survive. Yeah, shower? I was at the gym every morning anyway, showering. My office had a full-size refrigerator and a microwave and coffee maker. And so I'd make my oatmeal in the morning and, you know,

that'd go to the campus dining for lunch and then I could make myself something in the office before dinner. It was perfect. Like, I was happy. I was getting my job done. I was actually spent more time in the office. Sure. And I got to travel and not worry about having to do work Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I could focus on the kids.

So it worked out really well. And, you know, I wanted something a little bit larger. I was thinking a van, like a Mercedes Sprinter van or a Ford Transit or something along those lines. And my dad calls me and he's like, hey, I just saw this RV that's for sale. And you might want to check it out. And so I drove just to. outside of Oneonta, New York, and walked up to this place.

It was a classy 29-foot RV, 12,000 miles on it. You know, second owner, the first family had it. They were living in it, building a house. The second owner, whom I bought it from, took two trips to Florida. I said, it's too big for me. I just want to get rid of. Perfect. So I bought it.

I bought it cheap and I've been living in that sense. And you document a lot of that. You do like the day in the life, right? Often, often, yeah. At 70.3. We'll put it up on the screen, but on TikTok and all social media, right? It's 70.3 all together. It's S-E-V-E-N-T-Y.

You'll see it. Anyway. And I just find that fascinating because, you know, before you and I had connected again and talked, I didn't understand. I didn't know if you'd fallen on hard times. And I'm, you know, and I'm thinking. And then I was starting to realize, oh, no, he wants to do this and he's loving it and he's killing it.

You know, so a day in the life for you is just because. kind of working out of the van, but out of the RV, excuse me. But also, like, you're still able to bathe and do all the things you would do if you had a home because of your gig. Yeah. It's just incredible.

I ended up doing a TEDx talk right when I left Syracuse. They had a TEDx Syracuse. And the whole theme was, like, get comfortable, being uncomfortable. And that's been the theme of my life. You know, when I train for Iron Man events, you know, an Iron Man is 140.6 miles long.

You know, it's something where you're starting with a 2.4 mile swim. And then, you know, it's a 112 miles on the bike. Wow. 26.2 miles to run. And, you know, that's a long day. Most of what I would do would be half Iron Man events. And that's where 70.3 comes in because that's the distance of a half Iron Man. Oh, that's it.

And so I thought initially my entire social media presence was going to be me sharing triathlon related experiences. Sure. And it grew from there. But yeah, you know, it's get comfortable, being uncomfortable. I love it. Whether you're touring with the band, like you said, you know, those bonded experience. Yeah. You're uncomfortable at times. Most of the time. You know, when you're training for these events, you've got to push yourself beyond the limits that you think are possible. That's part of it. Teaching wise, I definitely took on a whole lot more than most people in my position should or would have. I think I taught 33 different classes over 19 years. So there's a lot of preps there. And it's the idea of maybe investing a little bit of time to get yourself to the point where you can teach at a college level.

And that's hard. It's hard to get yourself to the point where you can say, I have mastery of a subject. And so that's been the theme of my entire life. And I don't know that that's going to change. I often get asked, you know, at what point do you shut it down? You know, at what point do you pull back, you know, just settle into a nine to five again. Fuck, man.

And I don't know that I will. Just do you, man. And if it ends up that way, it ends up that way. And I don't know that I'll get it back into housing as well. Like, I enjoy kind of life on the road. I enjoy traveling. Like this trip that I had from Miami to Syracuse, you know, 1,500 miles. And we went through and had barbecue in South Carolina at this little tiny place.

You know, it was all the locals there. And, you know. It's the best. Amazing. cultural experience, it's incredible. You would never find that place had you have not been on the road. No, no. And I think that's important that we see more of that. And, you know, we're in a time right now where people dig their heels in a little bit to their perspectives.

And, you know, I've started to push back on some of that with some of the social media. So, you know, with 70.3, you know, the account chronicles, yes, RV life, van life. It chronicles a little bit of music. I was born with one hand, and I tell jokes about having one hand, which... It's a hilarious. They, you know, they're fun. And then I've stepped into the world recently where I'm starting to advocate a little bit more with regards to DEI. And that's a very hot button issue right now.

And I think, you know, there's a lot of perspective that is off in how DEI is being presented across the conversation that's happening nationally. and one of the early things that I experienced when I got into social media was the military folks started to reach out to me. I got on social media. I had a blog called shit I do with one hand. And it was designed because a friend of mine in the music business got into a skiing accident and injured his thumb, had to have surgery. And so was laid up with one of his hands, his dominant hand, for like six weeks and types in email. He's like, how do you do everything? This took me 45 minutes to write.

And so I started to show off the little things. How do you tie your shoes? You know, how do you... The things we take for granted. Yeah. You know, I often get to ask about my watch. You know, like, why do you wear your watch on your dominant hand? Because typically it's your non-dominate hand.

Well, right. Well, it's going to fall off, you know? Like... Right. Hello. But, you know, I'll use jokes like that. But then I can take the watch and I can take it on, put it off, you know, on or off without having someone to help. You know, and so those conversations bring visibility to individuals with limb differences.

And I think that's, it's an important time to talk about, you know, experiences that we have as individuals and showcase the fact that, you know, with a DEI initiative, it's not about me getting a job because I have one hand. But it's simply giving me a chance to sit at the table, share my experience. And if I'm qualified, cool, if I'm not, hire somebody else. And that's it. Give me that chance. And I try to explain that. the DEI perspective from the same

mindset which is this isn't this isn't about giving unqualified people jobs this is about giving qualified people a chance to give me a voice give them a voice that's it and there's just misinformation and disinformation has is

trying to destroy society and it has in some ways it's it's a big problem and I feel I feel like technology and social media is outpacing our sample size, because I studied a little bit of this at Thica College, is outpacing what we know about media literacy. And I really want media literacy to be a part of the education system. And not for boomers, you know, people say that. I mean for all of us so

that, so people can spot basic propaganda or just cite their sources better and know when something is, and it's getting tougher with AI especially. So, you know, Yeah. And, you know, back to what you were saying about getting comfortable, being uncomfortable, that's a perfect example. You know, being on social media at 70.3 is the handle. Talking about, you know, your cycling and talk, but talking about the van life, but also talking about just how you get through life with one hand. And you've helped so many people. And I see the way you connect with people on there. And I just think it's spectacular. And that's a message I've actually been teaching my kids. That's why I love when you say that is I have a fire. year old and a 10 year old and I always tell them I say listen I I I can't sit here and tell you that life ever gets easier there's life's always going to be hard you're always going to face adversity I can't take that away but what I can do is to teach you how to handle that you know how to handle that adversity um handle hard better a recent I think WMBA coach was on ESPN kind of quoting that that same mindset and so I just I love that not only do you let you live by that but but you

preach it. So anyway, so you're in the van. I know we got to wrap up so I can talk to you all day. So you're living the van life. You have a huge presence on TikTok. Now, talk about the cycling a little bit. Am I saying that right? Is it cycling?

Because you don't just cycle, dude. You're like in competitions and you're winning competitions. How did that come about? I mean, you're teaching, you're managing bands, your marketing bands. your marketing bands, you're doing everything. And now you, how do you fit cycling in there? How do it come up? I love it.

It is hard to balance. And I will be the first to say that I wish I had more time to spend cycling. But I love to see the world, you know, 15 to 25 miles an hour from the seat of a bicycle. Hell yeah. And it's a different perspective. And David Byrne shares this perspective in his book, Bicycle Diaries. You know, he talks about going on tour and, you know, always have. it by David Burn of the talking heads, for those of you that don't know.

Yes. And, and, you know, one of the first chapters in this book is about Buffalo. And, you know, it's like, really? Yeah, driving, you know, down the streets and you see businesses that are no longer there. Or you see the revitalization of a community or, you know, like these perspectives that you don't see when you're going 55 miles an hour, 65, 70 miles an hour. And you're zipping past these cities. And much easier to stop on a woman. Yes.

And so for me, cycling was always a part of life. I never thought that I would do it in. any competitive fashion, but growing up in the Catskill Mountains was always mountain biking, and that was a lot of fun. And I would do a paper route and I'd take the bike out every morning and, you know, toss papers on people's, you know, porches and in their mailboxes. And it was like, great, I can go cycle five or ten miles in the morning before school. Fantastic. Loved it. Now, you know, as somebody who's a little bit older, I do some of the parricycling races. I try to do the national championship events. I've not won a national championship in, in, uh, in

cycling yet. That's one of those bucket list items. I've won a couple state championships for time trial and, you know, I've placed fourth nationally in the cycling. But triathlon, that's where I've had a little bit more success and do athelon, which is the run, bike run, multi-sport format. I won a couple nationals there. Congratulations. Mornings. That's where cycling takes place. When you have an office location that's near a YMCA, you know, I jump into the pool when I can over lunch, go for a run when I can. You know, it's, it's one of those things that I had a coach who was really high level, a team USA guy, nutritionist, and he really dialed it in. And when I was trying to compete at the national level, that's when he prescribed everything. It's like,

this is your breakfast, this is your lunch. These are your workouts, and you, you had to approach it like a job. Of course. And, you know, Ed Tenike was incredible with all of this. And I, I credit him with the structure to get me to where I was. You know, for half Iron Man and the Ironman ranking system, they have the all-world athlete program. And that's a ranking system for anyone that's competing within an Iron Man events. And they take your top three races.

Each race, you can earn a certain number of points. And the top three races add up your point total. And that gives you, you know, the sum. And then you compare your results to others. That's awesome. I was fortunate that in 2017 and 2019, I finished number one. That's so great.

All-world athlete rankings for the half-ironment distance. That's where 70.3 really comes from. And so, you know, I never thought that that was going to be a goal of mine. And I was really thrilled to have experienced that twice. You know, it's certainly, I'm not the fastest out there. But endurance and stick-to-itiveness and whatever you want to say, I think that's been a part of. I think that's more impressive than the speed is the sticking to it. and having the endurance to do it.

It takes a lot. What do you do in the winter? I mean, because look, we're in Syracuse, right? So how do you take a break? Or do you find ways to cycle in the winter? So I did remove my couch from my RV. And for a while, I had my bike on a bike trainer where the couch was. No, shh.

So I basically have a gym in my RV. This winter in Syracuse was a little bit colder than I would have liked. Yeah. So I made a deal with my. ex-wife and I put the bike in the basement and so I'd go over watch the dogs you know or if she was out of town for anything I could train there but you know also it's YMCA and you know any other gym that I can go to if the apocalypse happens I'm coming to you because you know how to survive you just you adapt to anything and everything I'm um I'm just blown away and inspired by you um I before we

get out of here I wanted to just ask you a few a few questions um kind of rapid, not rapid fire. Oh, I'm ready. No, but no, no, no, nothing crazy. I just, I hate to make you choose this. I'm just curious. Someone comes to you today and says, Alf, sorry, but you got to choose cycling,

teaching, or working in the music business. Is there one that? I do cycling. I knew it. That would have been my money. So, I've never done anything for the money. And, you know, I'm not in a position to say that I've got a lot of money. because I don't.

But I have autonomy. I've got free reign with what I want to do with my life and my schedule. And I value that more than anything. And the fact that this weekend on a whim, my son's like, I want to come home, a flat of Miami and take three days driving back. I love the fact that I can do that without having to answer to a boss. Absolutely. If I could jump on my bike tomorrow and say cycle from Syracuse, New York to San Francisco

and document the entire process, I would. And I probably will do that in a year or two. Oh, you know, so I'm somebody who fades into people's lives, fades out of people's lives, and this people being employers as well. Sure. You know, at some point, I'm going to have enough in the bank to say I'm going to take three or six months and just go ride. Do you think?

And I relish the fact that I can do that. I like the fact that I'm not tied to sort of a corporate position, a nine to five, where you get, you know, two weeks of vacation and these paid holidays, and that's not the lifestyle that I want. And the best part about it is that it wasn't like you woke up one day and went, I'm going to do everything I can. So that, like, all of this kind,

it didn't fall into place because you've worked very hard, clearly. But look at what, like, all the time you've been spending doing all these different things led you to hear. And now you're self-sufficient and self-sustainable, all on your own. And you're like, I don't have to answer to a boss. And you did it naturally. It just all came along that one.

You know, you bet on yourself. And I learned this from the Dixie Chicks. I want that on a T-shirt. Everything I learned, I learned from the Dixie Chicks. You know, they had a documentary on their post-George Bush comments called Shut Up and Sing. Yep. And they were talking about their touring life and, you know, the offers that they were getting. And they bet on themselves.

and they clearly showed that they were betting on themselves. And I feel the same way. It's awesome. I will bet on myself every time. If I lose, so be it. But I feel like I'm going to win more than I lose. And that doesn't... I'd bet on you.

I'd bet on you every time. You know, I think we need to have self-confidence. And I think there are ways to show that you are self-confident. And for me, if I want to go make a couple bucks and need more money, like I can go drive Uber. Yep. I did that too. Yeah.

You know, and it pays well. If I need to take on more clients, I can do that. I've got the resume to do that. But I want to hang out. I want to, you know, see my kids. I want to watch some hockey, you know, and ride my bike. I want to race some triathlons. I want to be that, that voice for younger individuals that, you know, need somebody to look up to.

And that's the best part of social media and sort of, I don't know if they're closing thoughts, but there are thoughts that mean a lot to me, you know. when I first got on social, it was sharing for my friend who had that injury, but it was former military folks who had lost limbs that started to reach out via email and said, you know, the VA taught me how to hide my arm, but you're out here showing it off. Right. And, you know, I'm still seeing that today with the limb different community via TikTok because I've built a fairly good following. At 70.3. Again, we'll put it up on the screen. you know, when when you can show off that you are competent and confident and, you know, you find a way to do everything, then, you know, that's meaningful.

It's so meaningful. I share jokes about myself. I don't ever joke about others, but I like to show that I can do things as well. And that sort of balance makes for a fun time when you're creating. And as a content creator, I love that I'm not just doing one thing. You are so inspiring. and hardworking. You're just a great guy.

I'm so glad you've been on here. Before we go, if you could go back in time, or maybe even present day, one band that you could manage, what would be your dream band if you could go? Like any band or artist in the world? I know that's a tough one. You can get back to me on.

No, so there's one person that I wish I would have managed, and I had the opportunity to do that, and that was a job. John Matrango, who is the frontman of FAR, one-line drawing. And he and I had conversations at one point. I've always loved his perspective on the world. I love the fact that when he was pricing merchandise, it was a sliding scale. You know, and I love the fact that when he was going on tour, he would reach out to fans and say,

where should I play? You know, I can do a venue or I can do a house show. You know, and so he was very adaptable. And, you know, I won't go into the details of our conversations, but he was. somebody as a college radio DJ, though the record Water and Solutions by the band Farr was huge in my life. And to have sort of progressed to the time where he and I were having conversations about, you know, potentially doing some stuff together. That was pretty cool. And I, it wasn't the right time for me. I was still juggling way too many responsibilities and wouldn't have had

the focus that he would have required. But I wish I would have managed him. sort of a secondary response. Early on, there was conversations of working with Rara Riot. Oh, yeah. And so I wish I would have jumped in. Josh Roth did a, he was managing them. But there was some conversations of potentially me releasing some of their music early on, very, very early conversations.

But I wish I would have jumped in with them a little bit more. I feel, I got to get you out. I keep asking you questions, but just I'm fascinated. Absolute last question. I know it's impossible. It would be ridiculous for me to sit here and say, where do you see the music business going?

But the way it's been trending, do you think there'll ever be a time when record labels don't even exist anymore? And are we getting there to where it's just going to be individual artists and the team around them? I mean, it is like that in a lot of ways, but you still see there's your Sony records and things like that. Do you see it going that way?

They're not going to go away. But I do think we've seen this trend where it went from seven to six to five to four to three. Will we get past three? I don't think so, just because of antitrust types of rules. But we often see that there will be spinoffs. So if an imprint from a major label is not really being populated with artists, do you sell that as an asset because that label and that history has the subsidiary of? Yeah, but you spin it off completely and say we're going to,

Maybe we'll sell electro records, or we'll sell one of the, you know, I think that's going to continue to happen. More so what we're seeing are companies that aren't siloed in the sense that you're just a record label. Now you're your rights company. That's right. You're going to own the master. You're going to own publishing. Maybe you've got some touring in place. You've got graphic designers there.

You've got videographers. You've got photographers. You've got everything in-house. And so I think we're seeing a lot more of that. If I was a band starting today, I want to be the center of the universe. I want everything to be built around me. You know, I don't want to use somebody else's money. You know, I want to grow so that I can level up.

And I'm starting with a videographer. That's the first person I'm hiring. Before a manager, I'm going to self-manage. I'm going to get somebody who's great at content, filming content, chopping up content. And then from there, yeah, then it's the manager, your agent, own your master's, own your publishing. And, God, that's so brilliant, Alf. Because you're right. I mean, today in 2025,

It's funny, you know, us being at the ages that we are to think that it would never be hire a videographer before a manager and a booking. But you're right because you can organically grow with just an iPhone or a camera and start there and then build the rest. It's just, it's amazing. Ulf Austerly, off plugs, hit it up. What do we what are we plugging? Let's get your TikTok, your After Dark Presents. Let's do it. Yeah.

So, I mean, I think for any concert-related shows go to After Dark Presents. You know, we've got some really incredible shows. And for me, some full-circle moments. You know, I used to play Less Than Jake on the radio, and I'm getting to promote one of their shows. Oh, that's right. You're working with Less Than Jake. Was it Hawthorne Heights? So these are some of the shows that After Dark has.

Yeah, Less than Jake, Hawthorne Heights, Static X. For me, a unique one is cold because I worked on one of their initial campaigns 25 years ago. and so now to have a show with them coming through. Did they have a song, I never meant to be so cold? Well, that's... No, that was, I think that's cross-fade. That's cross-fay.

But cold themselves, you know, they've had a tremendous career, lots of records, and the fact that they're touring on a 25th anniversary and a 20th anniversary where they're playing these two records in their entirety.

Stupid girl. Yes. That's a big one. I've met them. They're a great band. They're incredible. Yes. I love that band. You know, so they're one.

They're one of them. Asking Alexandria. I'm really thrilled about having them. They're playing Buffalo, Buffalo River Works. But yeah, lots of stuff that's happening down at the song and dance, including our Emo Night Syracuse, which is sort of like the new hot Emo Night for me is amazing because these are the songs that I really kind of grew up with in the scene. And to see like the 18 to 25 year olds out there just, you know, scream into taking

back Sunday is amazing. It's a really fun night. So, you know, those things, I'll plug out. After Dark, absolutely. After Dark Present. Yeah. You know, O Records is AUX Records.com. AUX.com.

Not a whole lot happening there right now, but on the management side, O management, AUX management is still happening. 70.3 for everything else on me. Yeah, at 70.3. And also, the one thing I did forget, because you're amazing, is you also, what was it, you're involved with music internships. Oh, yeah. I started working for Hofstra University. So, you know, that means... Add that to them.

My, yeah, my work brings me from Buffalo to Long Island. And I oversee music business internships for their program. And it's just a part-time gig, but it's a perfect one because I get to interact with students again. And then also the industry folks that I know and try to make some magic happen between placing students. Let me tell you something, man. First of all, thank you for your time and being here. Clearly, you're a busy man. It was great to connect with you again.

And Dosecchi's, forget. get the guy that you have for the this is the most interesting man in the world right here Ulf Austerly after dark presents.com oldwreckers.com at 70.3 on all social media. Dude, I love you. Best of luck. And let's do this again.

Love to come through and talk more music. I would too. We will be back on Good News York.