Love and The Mixtape Manifesto

SW Hammond talks about a topic that has fascinated the masses for many centuries… Love. In his book The Mixtape Manifesto, he incorporates his personal experience with love. Below he talks about it. Enjoy! This is a good one!

Welcome SW!

When you cut through to the heart of The Mixtape Manifesto, all it’s about is love. Or lack thereof. It’s been the biggest thing on my mind since about the age of 8. I’m not sure why 8, I remember getting all dreamy about the proposition at a young age, even though I was a later bloomer. Love is the cause of the biggest changes in my life—it’s given me courage, and paralyzed me with fear. Yet, after all of that, I still understand very little about it. How it works. Why it works… This book compiles those feelings and experiences and then warps them through the prism of your favorite songs, movies, and TV shows.

Pop culture has force-fed us an idea of love, a Norman Rockwell vision that I, and most of you, have been tragically chasing since we were given Barbie’s or G.I. Joe’s. Joanie Loves Chachi, but does she still feel that way after 20 years, a couple of kids, and a fat ass? The movies and the songs teach us how to fall in love, but none of them teach us how to live with it once we have it. As divorce rates grow, our greatest societal influencer—media—has never instilled longevity. Even our entire economic system is based on quarterly growth rather a lifetime of prosperity… Where do we turn in a world where Kevin Arnold doesn’t end up with Winnie Cooper?

This book does its best to wrap nuggets of wisdom and philosophy up in a neat little box with a bow, but basically it’s me writing about life. The things I care about, the places I’ve been. Fortunately, I’ve had a decent amount of messed up people (I use the term lovingly as I am one of them) tell me that by reading about my jacked-up delusion of love, they learned something about themselves. That they had a lot of fun with this book because they watched those TV shows growing up, they used to lay awake at night listening to those songs, they have felt that way when the stars aligned and they finally won one.

This book isn’t going to change your life—I am not a professional or living saint—but when you read it, you have a friend. We’ve been there, together. Maybe on opposites sites of the Earth, but I felt just like you when that terrible theater shooting happened. I laughed with you when Charlie Day DJ’ed his roommate’s hookup through the bedroom wall. If you smile, if you shake your head at me with disgust, if next time you have the courage to talk to Beautiful Eyes on the bus—I did my job. And we’ll forever be connected because of it.

Title: The Mixtape Manifesto: A Pop Culture Confessional by SW Hammond
Published: August 23rd, 2016
Publisher: Surf Star Media
Genre: Non-fiction / essay / relationships
Recommended Age: 16+

Synopsis

A compilation of articles spanning more than a decade woven together to create the misguided anti-love story of a young man learning about relationships and the opposite sex through music, movies, and television.

From music industry professional, SW Hammond, comes The Mixtape Manifesto: A Pop Culture Confessional, a collection of provocative short stories on his life as a Lost Boy in search of Winnie Cooper.

Raised on rock n’ roll, Hammond blends an unparalleled view of pop culture and philosophy that follows him from his early twenties through his early thirties. The Mixtape Manifesto is filled with rich photography that captures Hammond’s days as a tour manager on Warped Tour and working for Sony Music Entertainment, as well as bringing to life the music, movies, and television that has plagued his rational sense of love and relationships. From childhood viewings of Full House leading to his lifelong hatred of John Stamos, his introduction to the Riot Grrrl movement and Kathleen Hanna, and to a questionable infatuation with The OC’s Summer Roberts—each story blends a reflective Kevin Arnold-like inner monolog with Wild Turkey.

The Mixtape Manifesto is the byproduct of one too many romantic comedies. Inspiration, enlightenment, and delusion fuel Hammond’s quest as he searches for a bit of meaning to life and someone to share it with.

Click to read an excerpt.

Purchase The Mixtape Manifesto on Amazon | GoodReads | SW Hammond Store | Apple iBooks | Kobo

About SW Hammond

SW Hammond, short for Sean William, is the author of The Mixtape Manifesto: A Pop Culture Confessional and The Final Book fictional series. He is also a freelance writer contributing to countless music zines, athletic, lifestyle, and technical magazines and websites across the world.

SW’s writing style, particularly within his commentary, is often compared to Chuck Klosterman-esq with countless references to pop culture, especially music. His brazen and honest approach creates camaraderie with the reader, then tests the boundaries with sensitive subject matter. Philosophy, ethics, and nobility square off against a materialistic society driven by instant gratification, with Hammond treading water directly in the middle.

His fictional writing makes a conscious effort to blend perception, rumor, and fact leaving the reader to question reality. His stories often taking place in historical settings or playing on modern headlines, Hammond uses common themes to drive home critical points about the human condition. Though often grand, epic, and futurist, the backbone of his novels hinge on honor and virtue, or lack thereof.

Hammond has a very unique background as a music and sports industry professional. He has worked for Major League Baseball as a Marketing Coordinator, was an Assistant of Arizona Operations in the Kansas City Royals farm system, and a Stadium Manager of the Los Angeles Angels Spring Training facility. He is also credited as a Marketing Representative for Sony Music Entertainment, a Senior Tour Manager for the Vans Warped Tour, and an intern at WAR Records / United Interests Management.

SW was born just outside of Denver, CO and hasn’t stopped moving since. Aside from Colorado, growing up Hammond also lived in Maine, California, Utah, and Hawaii. As an adult he returned to Colorado and Utah, also adding Arizona and Nevada to the list. He currently resides in Las Vegas. Hammond has never been married and has no children.