Sitting at a cocktail table in Pauli’s Lounge at Eppley Airfield on New Year’s Day, surrounded by college football commentary and anchored by surprisingly large glasses of cold pilsner, we pondered the question as the Cursive frontman applied his mark to a handful of copies of Hear Nebraska: Vol. 2 — the vinyl record to which he and his solo band contributed a self-described “tragic … dramatic … personal and universal” track.

Kasher’s haphazard use of letter case was a potentially compelling indicator, but before we could begin measuring slants and t-crosses, the impromptu handwriting analysis gave way to news that his and his friend’s flight to Chicago was weather-delayed an additional two hours.

“Think we he have time to catch a movie?” he asked his friend.

What a sicko.

With the question left unanswered, whether or not Kasher pens warning signs is left to be determined by the handful of lucky people who scored the records and posters autographed by him and the other nine bands on the compilation album. More than 100 records, posters, shirts and more will be will be carefully packaged by HN staff and shopped out this week to the generous backers who helped fund the project through Kickstarter. And if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you can do that right here:

Seeing Hear Nebraska’s vinyl project receive its final strokes by one of Nebraska’s most critically successful musicians was a fitting way to end 2013, and to begin this nonprofit’s fourth year.

I have no doubt, it’s going to be a big one, including the launch of a redesigned, much-improved website, the debut of HN Radio, the third-annual Take Cover concerts and many more projects that will allow Hear Nebraska to continue to give back to the statewide community that has supported it so generously. I’m excited for what’s to come.

But first, let’s take a quick look at what your contributions — both monetary and sweat-based — helped us do in 2013:

We produced more than 650 stories (averaging 3/weekday), ranging from music videos and photo essays to in-depth, audio profiles of some of Nebraska’s most critical cultural figures.

We produced 30 events, including a packed-house release concert for Hear Nebraska: Vol. 2 — our second compilation album, that this time was produced on solid-orange vinyl. We successfully funded the album’s production through a Kickstarter campaign.

We trained 15 interns, specializing in editorial, photo, video, copy editing and marketing.

JANUARY:

— Our website turned 2 years old, and we celebrated with our Take Cover fundraiser concerts in Omaha and Lincoln, wherein musicians take turns doing an original rendition of another Nebraska musician’s song.

FEBRUARY:

— We promoted our first position to full-time, that of our managing editor.

MARCH:

— We sent five journalists to the SXSW Music Festival in Austin to cover Nebraska bands and to promote Nebraska music.

APRIL:

— We launched HNFM, our weekly radio show on Lincoln’s 89.9 KZUM (Thursdays at 6 p.m.)

MAY:

— We raised more than $30,000 from 770 donors, over the course of two community giving days in Omaha and Lincoln. In both Omaha Gives! and Give to Lincoln Day, we were among the three nonprofits who received the most unique donors.

JUNE:

— We teamed up with Omaha Performing Arts and Nebraska Educational Television to produce “Hear Nebraska: Live at the 1200 Club,” an “Austin City Limits”-style concert at the 1200 Club in the Holland Center for Performing Arts that will air on NET statewide in spring 2014.

— We launched the second “Hear Lincoln,” 10-week concert series with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce — this time, with the generous financial backing of the Cooper Foundation.

JULY:

— We hired our first programming director, and our first staff writer to part-time positions.

— We operated booths at Party in the Parks in Lincoln, and at Benson Days.

— And we brought legendary ’90s Lincoln band The Millions back to Omaha for the first time in 18 years.

AUGUST:

— We delivered this fiery, 140-second speech at Ignite Lincoln.

— A team of 12 Hear Nebraskans represented at Maha Music Festival, covering the fest in words, photos and videos, and passing out Nebraska music coloring pages to kids.

SEPTEMBER:

— We hosted the third-annual Nebraska Music Retreat — this time, at Platte River State Park.

— And we hosted our first-ever pool party. (Yes, we did.)

OCTOBER:

— We clicked “publish” on our 10,000th piece of content.

— We helped produce the Railyard’s first-ever concert during its grand opening party in Lincoln’s expanded Haymarket District.

— And Garrison Keillor shouted out Hear Nebraska on “A Prairie Home Companion.”

NOVEMBER:

— We produced a digital compilation album (and release show) as a benefit to the nonprofit Omaha Girls Rock.

— And we were among a select view publications who served as official videographers at Fest, in Gainesville.

DECEMBER:

— We successfully funded our second compilation album (on beautiful, solid-orange vinyl) via Kickstarter. The album release show to celebrate the album on Friday, Dec. 27, was attended by more than 175 people.

— We hired a consultant, and held two strategic planning sessions to establish our three-year strategic plan, which we will begin to implement immediately in January 2014.

— And we secured a grant from the Cooper Foundation for $3,600 for capacity building (including funding our strategic planning consultant).

We’re hard at work to make sure 2014 is even more productive and focused on our vision to make Nebraska an internationally known cultural destination. If you’d like to donate a tax-deductible contribution to the cause, please do so here.

(And tell us what you want to see from Hear Nebraska in 2014.)

* Michael Todd contributed research to this column.