Happy Holidays! 🎄

Team, 2025 was one for the books. The shareholders are elated — our stock is through the roof.

If you're reading this, you were a key player this year, and I'd like to thank you.

The first full year out of college is a major adjustment. No longer are our lives punctuated by summer and winter breaks. Our seasons aren't dictated by semesterly midterms and finals. This year more than any year before I had to take it upon myself to find time for the things and people I love, and I couldn't be happier with how that played out.

As our free time slowly gets allocated to the newfound responsibilities and draws of the corporate and adult world, I personally find that the time we do put towards sharing time with our loved ones becomes even more special.

I can't think of a year where my friend group has been more geographically spread out than this year. We're all over California, in New York, and our representatives in Kansas City and Baltimore are finally wrapping up their field assignments and are off to bigger and brighter things. Consequently, a meeting of the minds means months of planning, expensive airfare, squeezing out the last of our PTO, and sleeping on couches.

I am so lucky to have friends like you all that will make these things happen!

Year in Review

On January 1st, 2025, I #WokeUpInParkCity with Jackson, Tess, and Shane in the midst of an amazing trip hosted by our eternally hospitable and generous host Shane Cumming himself and almost immediately shipped off to spend some quality time at Martis Camp thanks to Tess where I got the rare chance to spend some time with my first two college friends, Emma and Tess, skiing, playing bananagrams, and eating French food.

Here are the highlights (wow, it's all concerts?!) of the following 12 months:

• In February, we embarked on a squad ride to Four Tet at the Forum in LA — not sure the whole gang was with the brostep that he played toward the end, but as a massive Kieran Hebden enthusiast I was juiced to have everyone along for the ride with an open mind.
• In March, the gang packed their tie dye and knit bucket hats and shipped out to Sin City for my last Dead and Company Sphere show of the year... ever? Just look at all these Grateful Bros! Shoutout to Shane for tickets and getting us VIP access to lay down and feel the vibrations during Drums and Space, to Aidan and JB for showing me that maybe Airpods at Afters is really the move, to Jackson Alpin's cousin Shane for all the H, and to Nolan for sharing with me some of the biggest laughs I had in 2025 in the Venetian food court eating Panda Express.
• I also got to see my best friend Milo, whom I met doing musical theater at a tiny middle school, performing in his first Broadway musical, Little Shop of Horrors.
• April was the first Coachella with the Weinrot's joining our squad, and our first time having Jordan West in the villa. It's a tradition that gets better every year. Funny shirts. Clairo. Travis Scott x Erewhon immunity shots. Parcels. And I can't forget one of the most memorable festival nights of all time — afters at the Babbling Brook. As interim mayor/chief advocate, Jordan welcomed our new guests to Tip City and we even ended the night with a rare MODA A/V set (#1 of 2025).
• This guy Nolan is really obsessed with Justice. In May, I got to attend one of the 3 shows he went to IN THREE CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS (2x Bill Graham and SB, shoutout to Logan for riding along with him) and it was dope to introduce new people to the word of the Cross while getting to watch it with some veterans. I can selfishly say I remember explaining “So it's these two French guys..” to most of you.. however now I'm putting up rookie numbers compared to guys like Nolan and Aidan who basically toured with Xavier and Gaspard this year.
• June might have been, as Jordan West would call it, my “training arc”. We planned for months and months. Jordan put in over 100 hours to procure, pack, and set up our campsite. I flew across the country, missing my connecting flight on the way. We finally made it to Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, and after one single day (out of a planned four) of music, we awoke to morning rain, which ended up never stopping. The festival was canceled! We packed up our stuff and left TN that night, driving a car absolutely packed to the brim with wet camping gear.

Lesson learned: Day 2 is never promised. Day 1 at a festival is usually about getting your bearings, complaining about the heat, and overall being so distracted with excitement for the weekend to come that the day just flies by. For us Bonnaroovians who had our time cut short, I beg you to try to enjoy Day 1 as if it's your only day.

• This trip could've ended in the slumps there, but in the week to follow I got to spend some quality time seeing Jordan's life in Baltimore (I might be his only friend to get a firsthand glimpse...) and then experienced a strong contender for the best weekend of 2025. MODA was booked to play Twinapalooza, a birthday celebration for the twin Cumming sisters, in East Hampton. Needless to say we tore the roof off the place. Wake surfing, bacon egg and cheese's, lobster rolls, MODA A/V set #2, the whole nine yards. I'm starting to think this Shane guy is the GOAT...
• July: I spontaneously decided to spend the Fourth with my upstairs neighbors in Santa Cruz, I went to Milo's premiere of Zombies 4, and had an amazing solo concert experience seeing Father John Misty at the Greek Theater.
• August: SQUAD RIDE to Golden Gate Park for GD60. I saw what might be the worst Dead show I've ever seen immediately followed by the best Dead show I've ever seen. I'll never forget the hooligan activity after night 2 by the lake. Thanks Tessie! I ended the month of August by seeing my favorite comedian ever, Rick Glassman, with Aidan whom not only introduced me to Rick's work, but also pushed Rick to take a photo with me after the show. That's a good friend. And boy are my arms tired.
• Everything I've written up to this point is a lie, because for the first time in my life, in September 2025, I experienced THE TRUTH... Despacio. Despacio at Portola 2025 felt like the culmination of everything I've ever enjoyed about being a fan of music. High fidelity sound.. top tier selection.. all in a perfect room filled with the greatest concert crowd I've ever experienced. Pretty much everyone reading this has Despacio'd with me at some point... but for Ethan, that day will hopefully come sometime next year in NYC. Get ready to have everything else ruined for you. Not just music. Just everything.
• October: In a Despuesio-induced haze, somehow, accidentally, by accident, we ended up with tickets and flights to see Despacio in Miami. I think there was also a music festival happening at the same time, but we came for one thing and one thing only.

Hey Jackson, Shane, Marianne.. I know there are other DJs playing, which is great and all, but we're actually just here to stand in one place in a dark room for 7 hours.

• It's safe to say that after our double marathon (almost 14 hours of Despacio!) we are now all lifetime converts. Wherever those 7 speaker stacks go.. I will follow. Please, make the pact with me.
• Also, it was during this Despacio marathon that I received a text with one of my favorite photos of Aidan EVER. Reporting live from Parcels. Can't wait for us all to go to Red Rocks one day.
• As if that all wasn't enough, in November I dragged myself to see Australian Jesus Kevin Parker put on an absolute sermon at the Oakland Arena. It was magical. And I got to share it with an absolute heater of a squad. Nolan laid on the ground during Nangs. Respect.
• And, while I'm writing this in December, I'm gearing up to go to Japan with Milo for 10 days. Wild. What a way to cap off the year.
  Love you all so much. This is the reason we play. Every time I'm having a hard time at work I just remind myself of that. THIS IS WHY WE PLAY. To 1 million more years of squad rides and peak life experiences.

If you've read it this long, thanks for entertaining me. Here is a gift, special for you! Open it