#propertyofzack

PropertyOfZack was laid to rest a year ago today. Since then, most things have changed for me. I moved back to New York, I shed several jobs and responsibilities while gaining more, I bought a house, I moved in with my partner, and I even started liking seltzer (but not LaCroix - yet?).

Towards the end of my stay in Philly, the majority of my activities were singular, while everything I noted above has involved positive outside forces and collaboration. 

Graduating college was rewarding in a finally kind of way, but I was stuck beyond that in a job that was cancerous and a studio apartment that was isolated. I had no plans to leave, but an opportunity pulled me away and I’m very thankful to have jumped into something new.

Every month or so, someone will ask me if I miss running the website. The answer never waivers from “no,” but I do miss the community of people around it from Jesse and Adrienne to very excited Twitter followers. It does, after all, seem crazy that a website that primarily existed because of blink-182, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, and Kevin Devine bowed out the year before each of those bands released new music. But that’s life.

While I still tweet endlessly, it felt like a noticeable internal change has taken place to be able to be less public, which is something that was beginning to take a real strain on me over the final year of the site’s existence. And that has been healthy for me. 

I did and do love the website though. And I was and am proud of all that was accomplished despite hardships, mistakes, internal and external ignorance, and arthritis. 

I hope more music blogs pop up in the next year.

I hope I write more.

I hope you all listen to the great music I’m lucky enough to be involved in. 

Modern Baseball are spotlighted in a full feature in The New York Times a day before the release if Holy Ghost. It’s a really great read if you’re interested in the band, the album, and what they accomplished to get here. Yours truly also has a small quote or two in the piece, which is neat.

by Zack Zarrillo

On Valentine’s Day of this year I had nothing better to do than talk to my friend Connor Sheehan for an hour over Skype. It’s Connor’s fault that the website exists, so it’s only natural to bid it farewell on an idea he put together. Way back in February, Connor wanted to talk through the birth, middle phases, and “reboot” of PropertyOfZack following our relaunch in January. But due to life and school obligations, Connor never got around to putting the podcast episode out into the world. 

 The news of the site’s demise gave him a little kick in the ass, and I’m glad it did. The Life and Death of PropertyOfZack is the first in what Connor hopes to potentially turn into a series of podcasts with creators and doers. The podcast was mostly recorded on that loving day in February, but ends with a recording I made just a few days ago, right before I announced the end of PropertyOfZack. 

I would call this my definitive exit interview.

by Zack Zarrillo

PropertyOfZack has not been the most financially successful or popular entity that I’ve worked on this year, but in many ways it has been the most rewarding. With that in mind, the site will be coming to an end within a week from now.

Why?

My life is in a period of deep change and instead of risking integrity, happiness, or feeling guilt - I would rather PropertyOfZack say goodbye the right way. Timing is everything, after all. I haven’t looked at our traffic in many months, but I appreciate the dedicated daily, weekly, or monthly readers of the site now more than ever. I’d rather bid you a proper farewell than a lackluster finale. Burn out, not fade away.

And a good farewell we have planned. Friends of the site will be filling our page in the week ahead with farewell posts of all kinds. From sappy to serious to somewhere in between. We won’t be publishing news or commentary in our final week. Just words. I hope you’ll read them and say goodbye with me.

The last seven months have felt like one slow rolling accomplishment. To regain control of the website and to be able to publish smart and pointed words from my friends and colleagues while dabbling deeper with my own writing, commentary, and podcasts has been great.

Like I alluded to above, I’m facing many changes, in both my life and my career path. Closing POZ is undoubtedly the largest one. It’s going to be something. I feel profoundly sad, but this decision feels right. Identity is an incredible thing, one that I’ll soon be lacking. For now.

I’m excited for the future, even if my greatest fallback and comfort is now being put to rest.

by Zack Zarrillo

If you’re a record label, festival, have a product, or are otherwise involved in the music or tech world, sponsorships for July and August are now open on PropertyOfZack.

Sorority Noise ( sororitynoise )

Middle East / Cambridge, MA