Tim Hackbarth

Good ol' Midwestern boy living in Austin, TX and playing on the Internet all day.

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  • @Galaxy Cafe (1000 W. Lynn St.)
    32 hours ago in Austin, TX

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February 15, 03:42 AM

He finished going through my work, and said into the phone, “Janet, could you hold on for a moment?” He covered the receiver with his hand, and I leaned forward in my chair. “You know, Frank, after looking at this…” My eyes widened. Okay, here we go. Finally, some honest feedback. Something other than “looks great.”

“Needs more love,” he said to me. “Okay, Janet, I’m back. Sorry for that, just have a student in here.” He waved his hand to shoo me out of his office. He wished me well on my trip and said that he would see me next week in class. He smiled.

“Needs more love.” Best damn advice I’ve ever gotten. You can keep your practicality and your action items and your take-aways. You can have your instructional advice, your recipes, your prescribed steps to fulfillment, and your ladder-climbing. I’ve got this: this little gem of insight from a man who taught me so much. The only thing that matters is that we care more than we already do about the people and places and projects that we give our time and attention. We’ve got to believe in the stuff.

Frank Chimero in The Manual, Vol 1
February 09, 12:30 AM

My bedroom is freshly cleaned. And since I’m not traveling in February, I just might sleep there once or twice.

November 04, 09:53 PM
I think most creative people want to express appreciation for being able to take advantage of the work that’s been done by others before us. I didn’t invent the language or mathematics I use. I make little of my own food, none of my own clothes. Everything I do depends on other members of our species and the shoulders that we stand on. And a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow. It’s about trying to express something in the only way that most of us know how—because we can’t write Bob Dylan songs or Tom Stoppard plays. We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings, to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow. That’s what has driven me.
Steve Jobs
October 12, 05:56 AM

Beirut - Goshen

You’re the face in stone, through the land I own.
You never found it home.
You’re not the girl I used to know.

Download

October 06, 10:36 PM
Casual Work Environment
  • Andrea: helllo dave are ou there?
  • Tim: Is that French?
  • Tim: Oh, NVM. I saw your email. It's drunk :)
  • Andrea: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, i'm very drunk and i'm tryring to fugures our how ot turn off adds'
  • Andrea: i'm taking a vacation from friday-monday
  • Tim: Haha, I'll get your ads.
  • Andrea: dear tim, i love you very mush
  • Dave: Wowza
September 02, 07:20 PM

Palace Brothers - All is Grace

The blessed grace of waking up—of breathing in the sheets. And hello to you, at the window, hello to you.

Download

August 25, 03:47 PM

The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it. That’s somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That’s when you find out who you are and what your values are.

So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.

Steve Jobs - Fortune, Jan 24, 2000
August 07, 12:21 AM

If you need inspiration to drop out of an Ivy League school and move to the middle of nowhere, I’m your man.

Just do me a favor and tell your mom first, okay?

July 18, 09:32 PM

Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand

Download

July 15, 11:04 AM
Talk about what you have written, by all means, but do not read from it while the work is in progress. Every gratification procured in this way will slacken your tempo. If this regime is followed, the growing desire to communicate will become in the end a motor for completion.
Walter Benjamin - One Way Street
July 13, 06:56 PM

Iron and Wine - Die

If you haven’t seen Beginners yet, you should.

This song isn’t in the movie. But it’s a good, sad song. And Beginners is a good, sad movie.

Download

June 15, 08:05 PM

We skipped out on the gambling/whores/Prada stores of Las Vegas to go see Hoover Dam last weekend. Here’s a poorly assembled panorama of Peter spelling HOOVER.

May 24, 04:59 PM

My late-20’s will be remembered as the phase of my life where I did boring things in fun places.

May 20, 06:08 PM
One True Thing

Sometimes when I ask people about the majors they picked in college, I get an answer—regardless of the major—akin to “because it’s like, just so fundamental, you know?” The neuroscientist thinks, the brain, the brain! Everything starts with the brain. The writer thinks, where would we be without language, without the ability to communicate our ideas? The investment banker thinks, money runs the world, and he who commands it shapes the entire planet. The environmentalist thinks, none of this would matter if we didn’t have an earth to live on. The designer thinks, everything is designed and design can solve all the world’s problems.

April 28, 12:18 AM
Darwin’s notebooks lie at the tail end of a long and fruitful tradition that peaked in Enlightenment-era Europe, particularly in England: the practice of maintaining a “commonplace” book. Scholars, amateur scientists, aspiring men of letters — just about anyone with intellectual ambition in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was likely to keep a commonplace book. The great minds of the period — Milton, Bacon, Locke — were zealous believers in the memory-enhancing powers of the commonplace book. In its most customary form, “commonplacing,” as it was called, involved transcribing interesting or inspirational passages from one’s reading, assembling a personalized encyclopedia of quotations. There is a distinct self-help quality to the early descriptions of commonplacing’s virtues: maintaining the books enabled one to “lay up a fund of knowledge, from which we may at all times select what is useful in the several pursuits of life.
Where Good Ideas Come From
April 24, 08:49 PM

If you need me, I’ll be in the backyard.

March 11, 04:45 PM
What Should I Do With My Life?

I wanted to be an engineer. My uncle Jack was an engineer, and I love my uncle Jack.

When Uncle Jack’s family visited from Minnesota, he and I would play catch. Sometimes we’d even play a modified, capitalist version of the game 500. Jack would throw a tennis ball (or baseball, as I got older)…

I wrote this for the Real HQ blog.

February 02, 03:13 AM

Slow Club - Let’s Fall Back In Love

And although you are so near
In everything you do
All your doubts and fears I hope some day stop haunting you

Download

January 19, 06:29 PM

Close encounters on my walk to the grocery store…

December 24, 04:26 PM

Everything is One Big Christmas Tree - The Magnetic Fields

Nein, vielleicht ist Alles nicht ein Traum
Ist Alles ein Albtraum? Nicht, nicht!
Alles ist ein großer Tannenbaum
Rotierend im Weltraumgeschichte

In English?

No, maybe not all a dream
Is all a nightmare? No, no!
Everything is a big tree
Rotating in space history

Download

Audio

  • Beirut - Goshen You’re the face in stone, through the land I own.You never found it home.You’re not the girl I used to know. Download
    0 plays
  • Palace Brothers - All is Grace The blessed grace of waking up—of breathing in the sheets. And hello to you, at the window, hello to you. Download
    0 plays
  • Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand Download
    0 plays
  • Iron and Wine - Die If you haven’t seen Beginners yet, you should. This song isn’t in the movie. But it’s a good, sad song. And Beginners is a good, sad movie. Download
    0 plays
  • Slow Club - Let’s Fall Back In Love And although you are so nearIn everything you doAll your doubts and fears I hope some day stop haunting you Download
    260 plays
  • Everything is One Big Christmas Tree - The Magnetic Fields Nein, vielleicht ist Alles nicht ein TraumIst Alles ein Albtraum? Nicht, nicht!Alles ist ein großer TannenbaumRotierend im Weltraumgeschichte In English? No, maybe not all a dreamIs all a nightmare? No, no!Everything is a big treeRotating in space history Download
    0 plays
  • Ryan Adams - Oh My Sweet Carolina Ryan Adams has been playing in our house for weeks. Mostly his old stuff: Heartbreaker, Demolition, Strangers Almanac. We’re having an alt-country party on Thursday and need to prepare, see? Sometimes we get drunk and Joz plays this song on guitar. The rest of us sing along, coming in and out of tune and stumbling over the hard-to-remember parts. This is one verse we never miss, though: Up here in the city feels like things are closing inThe sunset’s just my light bulb burning outI miss Kentucky and I miss my familyAll the sweetest winds they blow across the South Download
    30 plays
  • This is Mike Birbiglia reading his story “D-U-Why?!”, excerpted from Episode #379 of This American Life. Don’t listen to this while shopping at Whole Foods. It could lead to embarrassing sniffles and watery eyes in the coffee aisle. Download
    60 plays
  • JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart Now that’s how you cover a song… Download
    110 plays
  • Deer Tick - Dirty Dishes It’s a good thing I don’t listen to this song on vinyl…the grooves would be worn to nothing. It’s some dirty dishes and you wanted moreAnd you got left, and it hurtOh but it could be worseYeah, things could be so much worse Download
    70 plays
  • Loretta Lynn - Happy Birthday I’d put my money on Lynn as one of the best country lyricists of all time. Well I know where you’re going and who’s gonna meet you thereI know how late you’ll be coming home but guess who doesn’t careTonight I’ll step out too and since I won’t be hereHappy birthday, merry Christmas and happy New Year Download
    70 plays
  • Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky It’s 90s and sunny this week in Austin. I’ve been playing Edward Sharp & the Magnetic Zeros a lot. This song happens to fall right after that album ends and is just fantastic for summer. Download
    60 plays
  • James Hunter - Carina I should start compiling a mental catalog of songs that prominently feature a woman’s name…would come in handy for girlfriends, wedding DJ gigs or creeping out Whole Foods cashiers. Download
    70 plays
  • Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash - Pack Up Your Sorrows It’s Friday folks. Take the trials and tribulations of your week and send them my way. Now play this song on high volume. Ride your bike, drink a milkshake, go roller skating. Or all three like I plan to do. Download
    70 plays
  • Gayngs - The Gaudy Side of Town Gayngs (featuring members of Bon Iver, Megafaun, the Rosebuds, Solid Gold, P.O.S, and many more) will play a pair of CD-release shows for their debut album, Relayted, at First Avenue in Minneapolis on May 14. “We want to decorate First Ave with street lamps, whatever the normal prom decorations are, and white drapes on the stage,” Vernon says. “We want to encourage people to wear prom-type formalwear, and I think the opening act would be something [Gayngs producer Ryan] Olson’s going to be doing, either a side project or DJing to set the mood in a prom sort of way. The last song on the CD is ‘The Last Prom on Earth,’ and it’s one of the big jams, so that’s where the idea came from of doing the release show as a prom.” more… I’ve already booked my tickets and I have a pretty gal who said yes, but I’m still in search of formalwear that coordinates with periwinkle. If you’re in the Midwest, find yourself a date and come join us. Tentative plans: 5:00 - Photos and awkward hugs 6:00 - Dinner at The Olive Garden 7:30 - I proudly announce “I got this” as the server sets down the check. 8:00 - We drink vodka and Mountain Dew in the parking lot. 8:10 - Altoids everyone! 8:30 - Waiting in line for pictures. Debating the least lame way to pose. 9:00 - People make jokes about spiking the punch. No ones actually does. 10:00 - Who’s going to break the ice on the dance floor? 1:30 - I’ll skip post-prom if you will?! 2:00 - Bowling alley Download
    120 plays
  • “Let’s Connect!” Sarah missed most of SXSW on a trip to Dubuque, IA to see family. She’s been back nearly a week now and I still haven’t seen her! I knew I wanted to hang out, but I just didn’t have the time or the candor to tell her myself. So I outsourced it. Enjoy this wonderful phone call Sarah received from the singing telegram service TajTunes. As their slogan says, “outsourcing never sounded so good.” We got to get together Yeah we got to connect Let’s not pass it up Because the timing feels correctDon’t you think so, Sarah? You can name the time and place Emails and texts Just don’t compare to face to faceLet’s connect! Let’s chill Talk it up You know the deal Create some good times Day or night Just by being realLet’s connect! Let’s chill Catch up You know the deal Let’s connect, Sarah Let’s connect!
    150 plays
  • Hank Williams - Settin’ the Woods on Fire We’ll take in all the honky tonksTonight we’re having funWe’ll show the folks a brand new danceThat never has been doneI don’t care who thinks we’re sillyYou be Daffy and I’ll be DillyWe’ll order up two bowls of chiliSetting the woods on fire I know little of Hank Williams aside from Wikipedia and 40 songs of his I’ve been playing incessantly. But I think I know what it would be like to meet him and his lyrical love interest from “Setting the Woods on Fire” on this particular night. I’d feel equal parts: Exuberant Ignored The exuberance part, that’s both apparent and difficult to describe without getting saccharine. So let’s skip to being ignored shall we? I claim the last empty stool at the bar and soon hear a distinctive soft yodel down the line. Wouldn’t you know it! Hank Williams himself is leaning in to the auburn-haired beauty to my left, singing an uncharacteristically sweet love song. I interrupt and introduce myself.Two whiskeys come and go, and Hank, Millie and I are discussing his upcoming tour schedule. I make eye contact with the young couple as we talk. They look at me, too, like honest men and women do. And yet, their eyes have a depth of field and I’m not the focal point.“You sure are a swell couple. How did y’all meet?” I ask.An impromptu duet ensues as they alternate sentences, regaling me with that chance first encounter. I listen and understand their story. It’s a collection of times, places, names and dialogues and a fascinating one at that. (Hank earns his living telling stories after all.) But I don’t really understand the story they’re telling. Their cumulative shared experience creates a much more detailed narrative through short pauses and facial expressions in a language I can’t understand.I summon my whiskey courage and ask a fair gal near us to dance. She obliges. The four of us head out to the hardwood floor where we boogie and we woogie. I dote on my swell new partner, but occasionally sneak a glance at Millie and Hank. They’re lost in each other, and watching them dance is like gazing into a snow globe. Spending time with two people in love can be sad. You could spontaneously combust like a poorly planned microwave meal and they wouldn’t bat an eye. To them, the entire world is one giant third wheel.I know, I know. I took probably the only happy song Hank Williams ever wrote and made it sad. This wasn’t meant to be a complaint piece, however…just an observation. To quote Johnny Cash:“I don’t like it but I guess things happen that way.”And when I find myself in a snow globe romance, I’ll be ignoring you too. Download (Thanks to Sarah and Jason for reading drafts of this)
    32 plays
  • The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping My brother posted this bouncy New Wave Christmas tune on Tuesday. I got their album “Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful?” and am really digging it. They sound like Los Campesinos!, CSS or a less serious precursor to Riot Grrrl. One hit wonder my arse. Download P.S. I feel dirty comparing an influential group to it’s modern degenerates, but I’ll be damned if I know what inspired The Waitresses. I’m not a rock historian, I just like pop music.
    110 plays
  • Mayer Hawthorne - Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’ Like the Motown classics you’ve been singing since childhood, Mayer Hawthorne strings together clichés in a toe-tapping, earnest way… Download
    40 plays
  • Iron Horse - Float On (Modest Mouse cover…naturally) I overheard this song at hookah last week and despite the rare Shazam failure…I was able to track it down. Download
    60 plays
Inspir.es

Updates

  • The funniest thing ever is probably an old person licking an ice cream cone.
    6 days ago
  • I thought my grandma said "hipsters" but she said "hip surgery".
    12 days ago
  • The drums at the beginning of "We Are Young" sound just like the beat from Major Lazer's "Pon de Floor". And once you know that, you can't help but imagine people daggering along to Fun.
    5 weeks ago
  • Twice this week I've heard buskers playing Dashboard Confessional on 6th St.
    2 months ago
  • I just touched snow for the first time this year!
    4 months ago
  • I just tried to use one of those disposable lint rollers on Marley but he wasn't having it. If only I could explain how bad he needs it!
    4 months ago
  • I'm looking for a freelance writer to help out with an ongoing, flexible content gig. The writing is fairly encyclopedic, but you can make it interesting. The role is on your own time, anywhere you can write (Austin, Boston, the bathroom, the beach), fun co-workers, and newspaper wages. About 10-15 hours a week... If you or someone you know are into it, email tim@realhq.com.
    4 months ago
  • Plug in the iPhone radio adapter and turn up the Saves the Day, it's time for an old school road trip to Iowa.
    5 months ago
  • I've gotten two speeding tickets this year and I don't even own a car.
    5 months ago
  • Any Austinites have an extra ticket to The National / Local Natives tonight?
    5 months ago

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Cat / Plane / Wedding

Marfa

Minneapolis / Gayngs

SXSW 2010

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Posts

January 19, 10:50 PM

Andy and I worked at the Yellow Deli on a mild, winter day in Boulder, Colorado.

October 22, 04:50 PM

I worked and read while enjoying an Americano in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin.

July 08, 12:26 AM

I spent a few days working and relaxing at El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas.

May 26, 09:04 PM

I worked with Dave in front of Samovar Tea Lounge on a cold spring day in San Francisco.

June 20, 08:50 PM

I worked at Mars Cafe in Des Moines at the beginning of my stay with Dane and Andy. I also overheard a girl picking up a guy (and a guy trying his hardest to sabotage his good fortune).

May 19, 05:00 AM

I spent a few days working on Pete’s porch in Chicago.

May 14, 05:00 AM

I worked with Allie at Bob’s Java Hut in Uptown Minneapolis. We drank too much coffee.

April 05, 04:35 AM

I edited an audio interview at Spider House Cafe in Austin on a Sunday afternoon. Matt sat across from me and read Ayn Rand to the chagrin of our server.

January 16, 10:12 PM

I worked outside at Green Muse Cafe in Austin on a warm Saturday in January.

November 04, 06:00 AM

I worked at the Griffith Observatory overlooking the famous Hollywood sign. The reception is spotty, but the view makes up for it.

July 11, 05:00 AM

I worked on Diamondhead Lake in Western Iowa. I also learned how to wakeboard.

June 15, 05:51 AM

I worked on the back porch (in Des Moines) by citronella. And I got organized (and excited) for the upcoming week.

June 08, 09:23 PM

I worked at Java Joes in downtown Des Moines. I also participated in a quid pro quo laptop supervision program, where I watch a laptop for the guy next to me…and he does the same in return an hour later. Thankfully, neither of us needed to use our laptop defense training…

May 22, 05:00 AM

I worked on a ledge outside Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs. I also got offered a free ticket to the game by a friendly passerby, but decided I’d rather work.

May 21, 05:00 AM

I worked at Royal Mile. I also ate a Portabella sandwich.

Audio

I Worked Here
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