The Good:
Knuckle Puck playing Copacetic at The Salt Shed was a career defining highlight for both the band and myself. It was an overwhelming night and I was lucky enough to be joined by Grace and Thomas, who have been next to me while I’ve worked with the band for the last 12+ years.
Alternate Side continued to grow. Cory became a partner at the business after tremendous growth since joining us in 2020. We hired Mike who brought amazing artists like Beach Bunny and Car Seat Headrest with him. Ally was promoted to be a proper manager after starting at the company as a coordinator in 2021. I also hired a marketing manager, Gracie, to be across my roster. We’re 12 people now, which is hard to believe sometimes. We finished the year at our company retreat in New Orleans and it was a blast.
Sydney Rose had an all-time great comeback year. After being dropped by Elektra, which also culminated in Public Consumption being shuttered, “We Hug Now” had an unbelievable viral moment. It took Sydney from sitting at home to around the world and back with sold out headline shows, festival appearances, and great collaborations. Today I came back to my office after a few weeks away to find a Gold plaque for the song waiting for me. Sydney also signed to Mercury Records, which has been one of the best label experiences I’ve had in my career. Proud of the entire team who has worked so hard on Sydney’s behalf this year. And for Sydney who has had true resilience for being such a young artist. I will always remember the size of the crowd Sydney played to at Noah Kahan’s Hyde Park festival show in London in July. It was rewarding to be there, and to share the moment with Grace and Whitney.
Cavetown played Eugene, OR in February. That is Grace’s hometown, so we flew out to go to the show and to bring her family along with us. I had always wanted to go to one of the venues Grace grew up seeing shows at.
Kirk and Carly brought Grace and I to a Warriors/Knicks game and we had near-courtside seats. It was really special seeing Steph Curry that close, especially in the later stages of his career. And it is always special seeing the Knicks lose.
I finally got to go to the Hoagie Room for my birthday with Grace, Thomas, Ashley, Emily, and Jeff.
Grace and I took a great trip to Miami Beach for my birthday as well. We are warming to Miami!
We went to Denver for Anna and Ben’s wedding in May and had a lovely afternoon at the Denver Zoo.
Many Hats grew in many ways. We hired a second employee, expanded our distribution businesses, and had major success at Wax Bodega. The Hot Mulligan release was a year’s long effort that helped grow the band into 3,000 cap rooms and a serious festival act. Releasing a Moving Mountains record on the label was also a great personal milestone considering the band was the first I ever interviewed for PropertyOfZack. Life is weird sometimes. We paid out over $16,500,000 to independent artists and labels in 2025. I wrote last year that I hoped we would crack $15,000,000! We are very close to reaching $50,000,000 paid out to artists all-time and we’re going to celebrate it in a real way. And finally, I’m excited to be working on the launch of a new indie focussed label brand within the company too.
While Bonnaroo getting cancelled was a drag, we made the most of it. Evange threw a lovely pool party at her new house with Hot Mulligan and members of our team. The band played an insane small room show the next night at Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge, which was a hell of a place and a good time.
We went on a Fire Island Friends Trip with Jenny, Mallory, Thomas, Matt, and Ellen. I had wanted to go there for years, and it was as special as I hoped it to be. What a great week.
I got to see Taking Back Sunday with Fred Mascherino. It rocked.
I successfully ran my first of many 5Ks and beyond. I have been running off and on, poorly, for a decade. I was never able to run further than 2 miles due to a weird mental block. Thomas and I went running on the aforementioned Fire Island trip and it cleared the hurdle for me. I ran over 165 miles from August through December and I’m excited to push myself further in 2026.
Grace decided to take a sabbatical from her job. I’m excited for her and glad she is able to have some time to focus on personal goals and growth.
I fit in a ~24 hour visit to Copenhagen between Berlin (first time!) and London for work. It’s such an important place to me. I can’t wait to go with a group of friends, mostly first timers, this Spring.
Pietramala was awarded a Michelin Green Star. I was standing at a show when the news hit and I was totally in awe. What a crazy thing to be involved with. It has also really helped shine a light on the restaurant and has pushed our reservations to a new level.
Thomas, Emily, Bren, and I went to see the Lakers play the Sixers in early-December. It was likely the last time I’ll get to see LeBron James play basketball. And he was amazing. Like seeing Steph in March, it was meaningful to see the greatest ever be great. It’s also been nice to reconnect with Bren this year.
We were able to quickly launch and fund a very successful Kickstarter for Kevin Devine. It’s amazing to me that Kevin and I have been working together for nine years now.
The Bad:
An artist I work went through multiple traumatic moments, but is showing incredible strength and progress on the other side of them.
Dave Shapiro, and several colleagues, passed away in a tragic plane crash. It caused unthinkable pain and turmoil for many close friends and coworkers. I hope our community never has to experience something like that again.
For the first time, I felt a real sense of burnout towards the end of the year. I am working through ways of figuring out how to better care of myself in 2026.
While I traveled considerably less, it was still taxing on me and my body.
2025’s Goals Revisited:
Try to fly closer to 60 than 70 times → I flew exactly 60 times! Proud of that change, but it still felt like too much.
It’s okay not to go to every show → If only. I went to more shows than I had been to since 2019.
Figure out that travel workout routine and get into working out quicker once home from elongated travel → I met with a physical trainer at the end of the year and put together a banded workout routine that I have been consistently doing over the past month and hope to take into 2026 while traveling.
Visit Eric and Alex in Maine → Almost. Grace and I are excited to visit Eric and Alex in Maine the first week of January.
Host a dinner party → We did it!
Go to the Philadelphia suburbs at least twice → I went to Chestnut Hill, Allentown, Glenside this past year.
Eat the Royal Chirashi at Royal Izakaya → It was everything I had hoped for (picture below).
Find a business coach → I did an introductory call with a coach in the fall and decided that path, for now, was not for me. I did restart therapy, which I think has been beneficial to business as well as personal matters.
Consider the question, “What is enough?” → This kind of became a meme to people around me this year, but I do think I started to make some headway in finding out the answer.
2026 Goals:
What is enough?
Throw a $50,000,000 payout party for Many Hats
It’s okay not to go to every show
Go on a boat in Copenhagen
Cook a chicken
Go to a beach in New York or New Jersey
Fly 55 times or less
Continue running and strengthening my lower body
End of the Year:
As always, I’ve published lots of media, data, and other information from my personal life this year, which all can be found below:
Activity Log: My favorite meals/drinks, all the flights I took, and every show, movie, and book I consumed. My favorite movie was One Battle After Another. My favorite TV show was Pluribus. And I just had the best time reading Mark Hoppus’ memoir while on the beach in Miami.
The Year in Music: I struggled a bit to really pick ten albums I loved this year. I expected Alex G or Big Thief’s records to be my favorites, but they both didn’t fully meet my high expectations. The surprise album from Hayley Williams ended up being my favorite. Algernon Cadwallader’s record was the most thrilling for me.
Shows: 84 shows. The most I’ve been to since 2019. I would like to go to just a few less this year.
Works: I reorganized these pages a bit to end the year. We are starting a new indie label within Many Hats this year, which is something to keep an eye on.
Enjoy Philadelphia: No major updates here. A failed holiday project of mine was to start a broader Recommendations Engine, as I’m calling it, for places I suggest to people all around the world. I do hope to get that done sometime this year.
Allergic Reactions: Nothing new to see here.
