Friday, February 28, 2014

23 days, $1150, And One Hell of a February - DAY 23 LAST POST IN FEBRUARY

Well - Here it is Friends - The last post of this Glorious month. 

- If you're reading this - follow this link - Play this song - Its - ah, its perfect. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jfEIsiXz3g


I'm sure I've missed people. I went back through every day in the blog - tried to come up with all the names - but there's so many - I'm sure I've forgotten some - But I did my best. 

These are the thank you's for the month. Without which - I wouldn't have made it. 

Tom Jackson - Thanks for buying a CD, and paying double for it
Dominic Maino - I never thanked you for the 20 dollars you put in my pocket.
Mitch - For giving me his entire lunch
Noel Huntzinger - for bring me Orange Juice in the subway.
Filament Theater - for giving me their space to perform my music in
Everyone who came to the concert - for you love - for buying my bread and my CD's
Alex Schulte and John Zulaga for filming my 8 hour day.
Rachel and Jessie Ramirez - letting me sleep on their couch
Julie Ritchey - letting me sleep on her couch and take care of Gizmo
Victoria Alvarez Chacon - letting me sleep on her "Poof" and hug her dogs every morning
Lindsey Dorcus - letting me sleep on her couch and hang with her super wierd lap cat - Henry.
Kelly Hill - For buying a CD
Allyssa Magill and her sister - For donating 75 dollars
Anonymous Donor - for donating 200.00 - and rocking my world
My Parents - For all of the "Brainstorm" Nights
My Brother Eric Westwood - for all of the Facebook comments
All the friends I didn't know that were following the blog
Alex Schulte - for filming and recording my concert
Nathan Scheetz - For believing, or at least pretending to believe that I'd ACTUALLY have the money in his account by the first for the post dated check he wrote me from HIS account that will be cashed on the 1st.
My Brother Doug Westwood - For randomly sending me the Thermal Underwear that I literally wore EVERY DAY that I busked this month, and saved my ass from the cold.
My Sister Tiffany Westwood - For the care package that I lived off of, SOLELY, for the last week
Ashley Spessard - for "All the Tears"
The 20 dollar bill club - For each person who made my day - and dropped 20's
Every person who bought my CD in the subway
Sam Raptis - for meeting me in the subway, coming to my gig, and trying to bring friends
Bernardo Alvarez - for buying my CD, Writing 2 blog posts about me, and supplying my folks with pictures of the concert
Sonny - for buying a CD and the Lollypop
Mike Ward - for hearing me in the subway and coming to my show
Teresa Borowski - for attempting to get me to record music for her on every encounter
Nikki - For the free shot of Whiskey at Macnamara's at the after party of the concert.
Every person that posted a comment on Facebook
Dominick Maino - for winning the - I reposed your posts the most times by about 15X compared to any other person, award.
Molly Bunder - for Bread and Tea
Andrew Marchetti - for lunch at Haba Nero
Mara Dale - For all the rides
Grace Desant - for the Hug.
Julie - for the 10 dollar starbucks card that lasted the whole month
The Cold - Because it spawned a new song - Cold Don't Bother Me
Filbert - For putting up with me being gone for a month
Peter Oyloe for inspiring me with his concert
The guy who gave me a "Box of God's Attention" 
Dave - for the 2 Ties
Me - for actually sticking to it - and doing it - all the way to the end.
Whoever stole my guitar - For making me fall in love with Ol' Red again
Darla - The Humidifier who helped nurse my voice back to health
Caleb Woodley - for all the help trying to find a job
Kevo - the transient guy who made my beautiful Poster for the concert
Luther Wirtz and Emily Henniger - For listening to my radio interview
Luther Wirtz - For all the past, present, and future Everquest adventures. AXECAT
Catie Osborn - for following your dreams, and taking risks
Adam Dorcy - for restoring my faith, even momentarily, to the homeless population of Chicago
Haywood - for renaming my song to Georgia
Doug Westwood - Again - the Thermal underwear dude. - It saved my life.
And to Every person that dropped a dollar in my case - THANK YOU. 

February -  896 From Tips and CD sales
345 from Donations
210 (Roughly) From concert - Bread sales, ticket sales, flat fee, CD's sold - Thanks again to whoever dropped the 80 dollars in my bread money tin. 

total 1451

Hours in subway 47  - This has to be wrong - I must have not recorded solid numbers on the blog. Should be more than this. 

Average hourly wage - 19 dollars an hour

High 42, Low -2

Days "Feels Like " was in the Negative - 4 days

Days "Feels Like " was below 20 - 17 days

Best facebook comment thread on a post - 

  • Ryan Westwood HOly Biscuits Claire! I haven't seen your name in years!
    14 hours ago · Like · 2
  • Ashley Spessard i adore this story, ryan. and i'm stealing your mom's phrase about crying. i've never heard it summed up better -- story of my life. 
    13 hours ago · Unlike · 2
  • Claire Marsh Well I've been cheering you on all month!! 
    13 hours ago · Unlike · 2
  • Kathy Westwood OK, right now my heart is leaking out of my eyes. Not sure how you keep on keeping on, my son, but sure proud of you for not just asking, but doing something in return for what you ask. You have an incredible outlook on life. Keep giving. It's what keeps you alive and feeds all that creative energy. Keep your horns on because sometimes they are needed in life. Love you, mom.
    7 hours ago · Unlike · 2
  • Tiffany Nielsen Sobbing. I'm sobbing. It's too much. Thank you kind, Anonymous Donor. Thank you. From the depths of our family's heart, thank you. Love to you my wonderful brother. Love to you.
    5 hours ago · Unlike · 1
  • Tom Jackson Ryan...you are an inspiring guy! Your attitude, your bravery and your talent will serve you well as you create your future. I look forward to many interesting things from you...but mostly I look forward to the next time I get to hear you sing or tell a story.
    3 hours ago · Unlike · 2
  • Dominick M Maino A Dreamer with a Positive Mental Attitude....Yeah...AKA Ryan Westwood. You continue to amaze me with your talent and your outlook on life!
  • Eric Westwood I am in tears.

    I am blown away by the caliber of people in your life, simply amazed! You mused on luck and people. You sir ARE amazingly lucky. The love you share, the integrity with which you live your life, the way you interact with every soul that comes your way, and the passion you have for life, it draws people to you. Not just any people, but the people that BRING random luck in life. Not karma, because karma comes full circle only in death, but luck in life born from love given to those around you.

    Sometimes the people in our lives know us better than we know our selves. Read these words posted from friends and family alike and put them in your heart. Let them grow.

    This month your words are flawless and your victory of self impregnable. Sometimes the opportunity to live your dream puts a light in your soul that guides you for the rest of your life. You have such a light, let it burn bright and guide your sight. Let the stories grow!

    Love and light, and luck in life!
  • Ryan Westwood Update Friends. Final Post tomorrow Morning. Thank you all so so so so so so so so so much for reading this month. It's been quite an adventure. http://16-dollars-a-day.blogspot.com/.../23-days-1150-and...



What. A month. Right?
It doesn't seem like it's over. Its surreal. Almost like it never happened. But it did - Its all up here - every day - It really happened and I really did it.
I think that is the thing that is so incredible to me about this. Is that - I did it. I set a goal - and I made it.

 I didn't do it alone - See giant, freaking list of thank you's above - but together - We did it. All of you who helped - you helped an artist follow his dreams this month. And me - I followed MY dreams this month.

So - What's next. -
Well - as you know - March is coming. March is next. ha. hahaha.
That's the best part - is that - this doesn't end here. I'll be back out in the subway tomorrow, because - it's my job. That's pretty cool. That's my favorite part. Is telling people that it's my day job. God willing I'll get another one on top of it, but for now - She'll do the job.

Back to whats next  -
March is a whole new month - with what will be a whole new set of goals - and I'll fight on through them here - Right here - on this blog, with whoever keeps reading. I'm doing some more thinking on what exactly the Specific goals for March will be - But - it could be a combo of any of the following
-Make 1300-1500 in Tips and CD Sales
- Perform in 2 venues
- Produce a Demo
- Produce a live album
-throw a house concert
- co-ordinate a concert in the subway with a few other street performers

I'll fill you in, in the next few days.

Again - and a thousand times over - I can't thank you all enough for reading this blog this month - I couldn't have done it without you.

All the love - All of it -
Ryan




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