There Once Was an Indie Radio Station....

Named Blockhead Radio. This radio station was built by two people, Rod and Annette. This radio station had the greatest of ideas....a place for people to hear great indie music and artisans to join together as a community. Here's my side of the story.

I had a part of BHR for roughly 5 months. I was "hired" to be Public Relations for BHR on the condition I'd be paid 30% of the advertising revenue. BHR had fantastic potential and I liked the people immensely. I met some fabulous people and artisans. I learned a tremendous amount of things about online life, handmade art and running a business.

I also learned not to trust too much.

Things went swimmingly for awhile. Then Rod (Blockhead Rod) began to get fishy. He was UBER controlling about the way the station was run, basically vetoing any idea anyone had other than himself. Cancelling shows, backing out on promises, and changing his mind constantly. I put in roughly 20-30 hours per week for 5 mos for BHR.

I NEVER SAW A DIME. 

Things started to change after a few months and I began to wonder about Rod and Annette's actual intentions. We constantly kept hearing that not enough money was coming in, yet we were selling ads right and left. I have no doubt that radio equipment costs money but I don't think it cost THAT much. For example, a Skype phone number (which is what we used for the most part) cost 30 bucks a year. Everything else can be run with fairly inexpensive audio equipment on your computer.

Good shows got cancelled for no apparent reasons other than Rod wanted it that way. Good show hosts got told off for no good reason. I spent many hours on the phone with Rod and I thought I had a good read on him. I was wrong. In time I began to get bad vibes but I loved the artisans I'd met and I had invested so much time and money in BHR I felt like I needed to see it through. I also ended up on the air for a short time on my own show that I was quickly removed in yet another of Rod's changes.

Countless artisans invested time and money in listening and participating in BHR. Ads were bought, they promoted BHR for free all over the place. They all got screwed.

I want to say now I deeply apologize to EVERYONE I got to be involved in BHR. I'm sorry if I dragged you in, although I'm grateful we met :)

I was 'let go' around the summer because I was apparently not needed any more. Did I ever get paid for my time? Nope. I knew then Rod was an a*hole for sure because in our conversation in which I was fired, I said, "Well, you're welcome for my work." and Rod replied, "HAh You're Welcome." As if I should have bowed down and kissed his feet for allowing me to be on BHR?? I spent roughly 200 dollars in ads, donations and more to help BHR. I was SUPPOSED to get paid for my work and NEVER DID and he said I needed to THANK HIM?

Oh but no.

I disappeared for awhile, not going into chat, but I missed my friends so I stayed around a little quieter. Then 48forLarry came.

It sounded like a great cause, this man, who we all supposedly "Knew" was dying and hundreds of artisans banded together to come up with an auction for Larry where artisans donated items to be auctioned off and donated money. Things went fine until the end of the auction for me. My brother, who'd recently started an Artfire shop came in and offered to set up a site free of charge to continue to help bring money in for Larry. Even after I talked with both Larry AND Rod about who  my brother was, they continued to accuse him of trying to steal money from Larry and acted like they didn't know who he was. EVEN after I talked to Larry and told him who he was...they then commenced to slaughter him in Artfire forums. I know suspect that because Rod and Annette were part of a scam around this 48forLarry thing, they were doing illegal things with the money and that is why they freaked out about my brother creating the website (on his own dime!).

That was the final straw. (And Yes my brother still has all the emails from Rod and Huck where they trashed and were evil to him.) You don't try to destroy my friends and family without me getting mad.

I defended my brother in forums and at his request, stopped talking about it. He asked me to let it go, so I did. I also cut off all contact with Rod and Annette other than an occassional chat in plurk. I missed my other friends who still used BHR chat but I just could not go back in there. Not many knew what all had happened and I kept it quiet.

Then I started to realize how many other people got screwed by BHR. Items that were donated never got sent because Larry was supposedly to ill to send invoices and addresses. Ads were not put up on the BHR site. Suddenly the whole family was having to leave their home and travel the country in an RV? And they were selling ad space on the RV to artisans??? I wanted so bad to warn people about this but I kept my mouth shut. I'm sorry I did. Now those people are out money because of course there is NO RV and Rod and Annette have cut and run.

No one has seen hide nor hair of them (though Rod has logged into his Facebook account in the last 10 days.) and lots of worthy artisans are out money!

Because Rod is a genius he never changed the Artfire account so I logged in the BHR artfire account to do some digging. Sure enough, they sold roughly 2151.00 worth of ads on Artfire ALONE. That doesn't even count paypal invoices and Etsy sales! 2151.00. So I should have received about 645 bucks of that income and so should have the other artisans who were supposed to get paid.

Artisans have bought items from Huck that never got received, people bid on items for the Larry auction and never received them (not through the fault of the artisans who donated, but due to Larry never sending the addy's to who the items should go to.)

I don't think things started out for Rod and Huck as a scam but I think they started to see the money rolling in and decided to go for it. I've heard of some other bad situations that have occurred with BHR and artisans and its not my place to share that info. I will say, if you got screwed by BHR, and want to share, please do so.

Despite all this, I do not regret my time on BHR. I learned a TON of things and I met some FABULOUS people! There are nasty people all over the web, and in the handmade world, but thanks to BHR I met some of the best people in the world! I will always be thankful for that!

Perhaps one day when the time is right, we can again have a crafty type show on BlogTalkRadio to again share our handmade lives.

The BHR domain was bought by someone else and is still related to music but not owned by Rod or Huck. (Anyone can check this by going to godaddy.com and looking at the url blockheadradiolive.com)

So while I and many others got burned by BHR, Rod and Annette Grambel (not sure if I spelled that right?) I am very happy to have had the experience because I learned alot and learned to stand up for what I believe in---

the TRUTH.

SO, Rod, Annette, Larry, if ya'll are out there and BRAVE Enough to come out and speak for yourselves, BRING IT. But put your riot gear on first.

You've got a LOT of artisans mad at you. As they should be.

I just have faith that karma goes around and they will get theirs.

amy/mama

My Faves: Just for Mom!

Did you know...

that you can link the Blockhead Radio Player right from your blog? Yup, it's super nifty and I had a total brain fart in realizing how to do it until the awesome Larry set me straight!

Simply snag this picture and then upload it to your blogger as a picture gadget.


Then have it link to
http://media.streamads.com/playersdk/v2/widgets/webplayer/arplayer/player.html?sid=117308&relayID=-1&pid=0

Easy Peasy!!

Extra stalker points in it for you if you come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did it.. :)

Do you have a favorite handmade Mom?

Would you like to give her a stinkin' awesome gift for Mothers Day?

Now is your chance!

You can win a great Mom Basket made by Mama's Little Monkey's and sponsored by Rockerchic from Mom's Cafe!

This basket is a $50 Value! And includes all the following:

Lilac Scented Oval Soap, approx 3 oz
Fleur De Lis guest size soap, approx 1 oz
"Twisty Towel" Hair Spa Towel, Pink Terry Cloth
Large assortment of Chocolates in "mom" shapes
Alexander Henry Cotton/Green Minky Eye Sleep mask
Notebook
Flower Pink Flower Pen
Cucumber Melon Bath Salts

Heres how to get your basket:

Tell me WHY this mom deserves our handmade basket of goodies!

Here are da rules:
Only one entry per person
Entry must include: Your name, The name and url of the Mom your nominating, and a way to contact you.
Mom nominated MUST be an online seller of handmade goods
Can not nominate Blockhead Radio Hosts
Blockhead Radio Hosts can not nominate Moms
Basket will be mailed directly to the winning entry's nominated mom.

Send all entries to me (rockerchic) at rockerchic4b@aol.com
Please also direct all questions to rockerchic at the same email address.

The deadline for entry is May 8th 2009

Winner will be decided by the best entry by a non-biased judge. The mom who seems to be the most deserving will win the Mother's Day Basket.

The basket winner will be announced on the Mom's Cafe show Wednesday, May 13th 2009 at 9 pm Eastern Time on Blockhead Radio.

The winning entry will be read on air!


Thanks you guys for entering and don't forget to tell all your friends! This is just Mom's Cafes' way of saying thanks to all their great listeners and friends!

It's Earth Day for Crying Out Loud!

Hey folks...ok...so I do not usually do 'rant' posts and I'm sure by rant standards this will be mild...but I just had to.

I am not what one would call a 'tree hugger' or huge Earth Day fanatic. I believe in taking care of what God gave us and respecting it just as we'd respect anything we have the blessing to be in possession of. For me, many of my 'green' life decisions also happen because they are economical and I will be green as long as my pocketbook allows. I'm not strapping myself to trees a la Lisa Simpson but I will do my very best to leave the lightest carbon footprint around.

As I've said for some time, I was Green before Green was cool...back then it was called being Poor! (Like that? Feel free to purchase it in my Cafepress shop!

So, I headed off to a local ahem, grocery store today for my weekly shopping. I was inspired by Walkinthewoods to bring my reusable grocery bags which I've had for some time but had always seemed to forget! So I threw my bags in the car and off I went, toddler in tow.

I had my usual buggy full of groceries...and put my bags on the groceries so the cashier would realize I was using them. Mind you, two of them are HUGE sturdy ones that basically stand up on their own, they don't flop over, and one was a smaller one.

Remember, it's Earth Day.

She ACTUALLY calls another cashier OVER to bag for her! To HELP her bag! She asks this, loudly, in between shooting me dirty looks. I, normally a pleasant person (ok, MOST of the time...) was not taking this nicely. I wasn't ugly or anything but I said, "Really, it's NOT a big deal, I will bag my OWN groceries. It's NOT THAT HARD." She never really responded to me and got her friend to come over. The friend basically said I'm not helping you bag..and proceeded to play with my baby (to make a point to her friend who was lazy or what I know not.)

So I ended up bagging my own groceries (no big deal but NOT my job...that's what THEY get paid to do.) and the cashier barely communicated with me other than the dirty looks. I was trying to casually explain how much more I can fit in the big reusable bags and what not. Nope, nothing. Just ticked off that I dared to bring in bags and not use their plastic bags!

Okay, so I realize it is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it was really bad mojo on Earth Day of all days!! I know that where I live, they are WAY behind on eco-friendly, modern, or new ideas. However, if one thinks about it, LOTS of green ideas have been around for a LOOOONG time...reusable bags, handmade soaps, laundry detergents, etc. These are not new ideas! So I hope one day that cashier realizes that A) it is not evil or an inconvenience for your customers to use reusable bags B) that how you treat your customers reflects a lot..I will never go in her line again C) do good and good will come to you....be ugly to people and you will get ugly back!

Okay, rant over, I told you it was mild, I just thought it was ludicrous to whine over using reusable bags...Oye.

HAPPY EARTH DAY everyone!! :)

Go Green with Mom's Cafe!!

Happy Earth Day Everyone!!!! Mom's Cafe wants to invite you to tune in tonite at 9 pm Eastern and help us GO GREEN! :) Learn earth friendly tips (to save money AND Mother Earth!), share your Eco-Friendly items, tips, links and more!

How do you go green? Don't be eco-friendly to keep up with the crowd...being green has to do within yourself! Many people have different reasons for going green...for myself it is saving money and leaving less of an ecological imprint...I personally believe we have been given this lovely Earth and it is up to us to respect it.

Maybe you can drive a hybrid car? Use Reusable grocery bags? Turn off the lights (I always did this one...would've had a sore behind if I didn't!) Use microfiber towels for your swiffers, towels instead of paper towels, make your own cleansers...the list goes on and on!

So what do YOU do to go green? Does it also help pinch pennies? How do you feel about Earth day?

Join us tonite to learn much more and share YOUR tips/links in chat! Always feel free to drop links just keep it kid friendly! :)

Mama and Rocker will get you green...and hopefully with a smile! :)

~Amy

http://mamaslittlemonkeys.byhand.me

http://rockerchic.byhand.me

Fabric addiction....what fabric addiction?

So...I've been told I have a problem....

whadda ya think?

at least it's all neat!

Drooool on sewers....drool on....

oh and the entire top left pile....
DESIGNER fabric..

Ok so yup I have a problem...

We shant speak of the soap closet either....

So you need business cards do you...well read this!

Okay, so many of you are probably like me...multiple venues, heck, maybe multiple SHOPS on multiple venues.

Well, then perhaps you need to be re-enlightened in the beauty of byhand.me

 

Do you really get this....think about it...you have SEVERAL URLs...blogs...twitters, etc....

Why cram all that on one business card?

Next time you make business cards, widgets, ads, etc...why not direct your traffic to your byhand.me url?

Or direct them to your 'main' shop (wherever it may be) and then say "find ALL of the great ways you can shop with me by visiting www.yoururl.byhand.me"???

I mean, really, the byhand.me creators are genius!! Seriously, why didn't I think of this? I've been on bhm for 2 months now and love it!!

It is about that time for me to get new biz cards and you can BET that's what I'll be doing!!

So think about it...

how much easier would it be to just put this on your cards?

 

http://mamaslittlemonkeys.byhand.me

 

easy peasy...that is my name of the game!

WOOOT BYHAND.ME!

 

Happy April!

Okay, so I don't really DO April Fool's, but I thought I'd say happy April everyone! May you see pretty flowers, nice showers and more blessings than you can handle!! :)

And of course, don't miss Mom's Cafe tonight at 9 pm Eastern. :)
www.blockheadradiolive.com :)

~~Amy

Survived first live show, now back to work!

Man, life after craft show is hard! Trying to reorganize, inventory, photograph, clean, etc etc! :)

Thanks to those who tuned in last night, you can tune in again every Wednesday night at 9 pm eastern to hear me and my awesome friend Rockerchic on "Mom's Cafe" We'll carry on with our mommyness, awesomeness, and artisan info! :)

So don't miss it! :)

www.blockheadradiolive.com

For Ella...

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

PHEW!! The craft show is OVER!! Thanks to those who came and supported me!! I appreciate it! Despite these tight times, I did enough business to at least break even and it was great practice in working with customers, setting up, etc. I am CONSIDERING doing another show in May in Mississippi but I have to get more info on it because it is a HUGE show.

SOOOO, the shops are BACK open and will be having more new stuff added as I can get to it! :) Right now it is back to work at Blockhead Radio and back to work as a mommy and wife! My house has been greatly neglected due to my prep for the craft show and I need to get back in my mommy groove! :)

Now what I WOULD like you to do is to check out the BHR ARTISAN CHALLENGE! Simply CLICK HERE and then click each category and GO VOTE! I am featured in a few categories, so of course I'd appreciate some votes! :)

And don't forget to ENTER the artisan challenge yourself!!

I have not forgotten the secret giveaway on my blog!! You'll be hearing from me soon if you entered! :)

Have a great day everyone!!!
~~Amy

Ready for another giveaway!??? Get in here and WIN!

Here is our latest giveaway!!

$25.00 gift certificate from Blue Wings AND a free soap from Purities!!

This is a fantastic giveaway! Winning is EASY PEASEY!

Just visit EITHER shop, and come back here, leave a comment on THIS blog post with the URL of the item you like and why! You have one week to complete this task, should you choose to accept it... (and why wouldn't you?)

REMEMBER to leave a contact email for you in your comment so I can find you to let you know you've won!!!

When the week is over, I'll use my super scientific number generator (my husband) and pick a winner! No, no matter how much chocolate you bribe me with, I let him pick the random number! :)

So get on over to her shops and pick your fave!
Blog about this giveaway and get an extra entry! (Must provide blog POST URL in your comment!)

Blog about the Blockhead Radio Tutu Challenge found HERE, and get an extra entry! (Must provide blog POST URL in your comment.)

Here's a sampling of the great goodies you could win!





Happy Browsing!!!

Find her Blog at bluewingsshop.blogspot.com

Don't Miss the Party!!

Don't Forget about our CPSIA thank you party for all your hard work!!!

http://blockheadradio.blogspot.com/2009/02/are-you-ready-for-party.html

TONIGHT Feb 22, 8 pm EASTERN!

www.blockheadradiolive.com

Online Party and Giveaway!

Don't forget guys!!

Our online CPSIA party (a thank you for all our hard work and a way to kick back!) will be going on Sunday, Feb 22 at 8 pm on www.blockheadradiolive.com

You can read more about it HERE.

AND,

Do NOT forget the current giveaway...going on HERE!

Enter to win now!!

The Witching Hours 5-7pm Eastern on Saturday

What are The Witching Hours?
"The Witching Hours" where A Good Witch Too will be the hostess with the mostest plugging shops with "Wicked Good Sales"! Yes, Saturday Night Specials is going live on the air. Call in with your specials and join us in chat to share your links. Don't forget about the Treasure Hunt!!!!

TONIGHT'S FEATURED SHOPS!


www.mamaslittlemonkeys.com

www.fleurdeink.com

www.robynsart.etsy.com

www.cbessentials.etsy.com

www.mercyming.etsy.com

www.marin.etsy.com

http://www.ikowdesigns.com

Http://lillyqueen.etsy.com


GIVEAWAYS!
http://bella1104.blogspot.com/

Find about 18 different giveaways! Hurry… Ends Tomorrow Night!

So come join us tonight, www.blockheadradiolive.com

Don't Give Up the Fight!

While this news about the stay on the enacting of the CPSIA is wonderful news, it does not mean our battle is over!

We still have the 30 day comment period, so inactuality after Feb 10 the law remains the same, until the 30 day comment period is over (around March).

My point is this: While this is slaptastically happy dance news, our fight is not over! We need to keep putting pressure on lawmakers and keep getting our voices out there! This year will pass very quickly and we could find ourselves in this exact position in a year.

DO NOT GIVE UP THE FIGHT! Continue to write letters, just changing them to incorporate your thanks for the stay, and continued proof that handmade is and has been safe.

Keep on going guys!
Mama

Do you need Free advertising?

Check it out!!

http://blockheadradio.blogspot.com/2009/01/need-some-free-advertising-you-bet-you.html