yewknee
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An internet waystation.

it me - michael eades

👋 Hi, I'm Michael Eades; a long time Internet dweller, design dabbler, dangerously amateur developer, online social experimenter and frequent curator.

Currently working as VP of Product at Smarter Apps. I also keep the lights on at a boutique record label called yk records, a podcast network called We Own This Town and a t-shirt shop called Nashville Galaxy. Previously, I built things for Vimeo OTT, VHX, KNI and Spongebath Records.

This site is an archive of ephemera I find entertaining; tweets, videos, random links, galleries of images.

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find me elsewhere

 

contact

Reach out via threads or good ole email if you have anything to discuss. I do my best to reply in a timely manner.

for the record: "yewknee" is a nonsensical word with no literal meaning but a unsurprisingly nerdy etymology. It is pronounced, "yoo • knee."

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ongoing projects

yk Records →
started in 2009 as a conduit for music that friends had no plans on releasing. now it's a full fledged boutique label focused on releasing quality music from a variety of styles. you know, like a label does. Here's a sampler on Soundcloud and a different one on Spotify. Options.

We Own This Town →
Originally a Nashville area music blog, this site has grown into a full blown podcast network as of 2018. It's an attempt to bring together creative folks about a variety of interesting topics.

I host this show all about Nashville local music outside the expectations of the city. I'm biased but all the shows are good.

Nashville Galaxy →
An online t-shirt shop featuring beloved and defunct Nashville area businesses. Very niche audience on this one but I tend to think niche is good.

some noteworthy other things

Chris Gaines: The Podcast →
published along with co-host Ashley Spurgeon; a limited series podcast that takes an absurdly researched deep dive into the time that Garth Brooks took on a fictional personality named Chris Gaines.

Garth Brooks Chris Gaines Countdown →
to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the time Garth Brooks took on the fictional personality Chris Gaines and appeared on Saturday Night Live in character, I GIF'ed the entire episode. It's a lot of GIFs; please use them.

Whiskerino →
a social network built around communal beard growing for four months. yes, it was as weird as it sounds but equally fascinating and enjoyable.

Moustache May →
an offshoot of the beard growing contest mentioned above. equal amounts of oddball fun but only a month long.

Summer Mix Series →
before all music was streaming everywhere, Internet music fans would swap zip files of music. it was truly a strange and wonderful time.

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As mentioned, I went down to Atlanta last weekend for DragonCon. For those unfamiliar, DragonCon is a convention that celebrates all things geek culture. While Comic-Con certainly started with similar goals, it morphed into a giant movie industry event that acts as premieres for big tentpole films. I'm sure it's also a complete blast as an attendee but from the outside, it looks a little more corporate.

DragonCon has been running since the late 80's and hasn't seemed to ever make that switch. It consumes downtown Atlanta with thousands of people filling the streets and every hotel in the area with cosplay costumes and general, polite, enthusiasm for all the things. I may harp on getting stuck in a nostalgic mindset but there's a fevered creativity at work here that goes beyond "hey, remember this thing from your past?" Attendees merge characters (like Ghostbuster Admiral Ackbar), gender bend, race bend, celebrate all body types and even have their own in-jokes (like these two, paying homage to a carpet pattern).

All and all, it's an exercise in positivity. Even if you don't feel any affinity to the characters being portrayed (trust me, I empathize with Star Wars / Comic book exhaustion), it's hard not to appreciate the work and dedication involved. So, with that in mind, please give yourself a deep dive into the #DragonCon2018 and #DragonCon hashtags on Instagram to get an idea of the goodness happening down there every year.

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