New House On The Street

Recently they knocked down a house on my street in order to build a brand new one.

I’m excited about this because it will undoubtedly make my property value rise.

So I drive past it every single day to view the progress.

So far?

I can’t see anything.

They poured the foundation what feels like a million years ago to me, and nothing has happened since.

And I’m getting restless.

I guess they’re waiting for the foundation to dry, to be ready to build on top of.

It’s like they know the foundation is the most important part even though no one sees it.

It’s like they know only when the foundation is ready can they build something of value.

It’s like they know that all the impatient, nosey people like me think they’re dragging their heels, when really they know exactly what they’re doing.

It’s like they know the most long lasting beautiful homes are built with more patience than haste.

It’s like they know even if a nasty storm comes and tries to ruin the house, as long as the foundation is good, it’s worth rebuilding.

It’s like they know if you don’t have a rock solid foundation, you have nothing.

It’s like they know a rock solid foundation takes time and it’s impossible to rush.

I want it all and I want it now.

They want it all and know how to get it…later.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Scattered And Diversifying Energy

There’s a big difference between being scattered and diversifying your energy.

Scattered is running around from thing to thing, completing nothing, feeling everywhere and nowhere at once, lack of purpose, willy nilly, chasing squirrels.

Diversifying your energy might look similar to the untrained eye, but is very different…  

…While diversifying your energy, as you’re running around from thing to thing you know exactly how many things are on your plate, you give all of them some of your time, and the time you spend with each one is valuable to both you and the other party.  You’re all in with the time you spend there.  It’s meaningful.

Diversifying your energy makes you tired from doing so many things well.  Being scattered makes you exhausted while not remembering anything you did.

The person diversifying their energy is often time aware of it.  And they either love it and want to do it forever, or they’re in a season of it as a means to hone in one thing in particular as new opportunities open up.

The scattered person is most likely unaware that they are, indeed, scattered.

Viewing these two people from 30,000 feet, you probably couldn’t tell a difference.

Viewing these two people 30 years from now, worlds apart.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Give Them A Picture

In this day and age in the music business, you’re an idiot if you don’t have a moment in your show thats worth taking a picture of.

An idea or two in your back pocket that you pull out each night.

For better or worse, people are dying to snap a hot pic of the band they’re listening to.

LEAD THEM TO THE WATER!

If you think of your last gig and nothing sticks out to you as “yeah that would have been a cool picture”…you need to figure it out.

Even if your band sucks but at the end of the show the lead singer stands on his head spits jelly beans….there’s some excitement there!

And with a lot of the shows I’ve been to, you wouldn’t even have to do all that much.  Walk into the crowd, stand on a speaker, stand on the bar, lay down on the stage, stick something up your nose, put the guitar player in a head lock.

Now your turn…

p.s. Maybe you think you’re exempt from this kind of intentionality because you don’t know how many people are going to be in the room, or how they’re going to like your music.  You’re not exempt.  You’re afraid of getting laughed at, which is understandable.  But a consequence of fear is mediocrity…enjoy that.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Refrigerator On Your Back

I’ve been doing some home renovation projects lately, and have helped some other people with some home renovation projects lately.

Here’s one thing I’ve learned.

When people are lifting something extremely heavy and it’s not going well, they begin to speak incredibly clearly and concisely or they say things that barely make any sense at all.  One of the two.  It’s intense. And usually loud.

BUT…in either of these cases, when faced with extreme weight, they speak boldly, without filter, knowing exactly what they need. (Insert the PIVOT!!!!! scene from the show Friends)

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to figure out how not to be bold, how to sugar coat what we mean, and are uncertain about our needs.

Let’s start being bold, clear, alert and strong now…not just when life puts a refrigerator on our backs.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The Spotify Discover Weekly Playlist

For a month or two now, Spotify has added a staple playlist to your playlists.

It’s called Discover Weekly…its a playlist that Spotify puts together specifically for you each week based on what you’ve been listening to (along with a bunch of other detailed information I’m sure).

I gotta hand it to them, it’s usually pretty impressive.

I’ve even found a band or two that have kinda blown me away. Who knew

Turns out the computers knew!

I was extremely apprehensive the first time I clicked on the weekly playlist.  I was ready to hate every song and stick my nose in the air because computers and Spotify can’t guess my taste in music.

The technology is changing, it’s getting better, it’s getting more enjoyable.

Streaming is the best and it’s only getting better.

I’m interested to know what you think of your Discover Weekly playlist if you’ve been using Spotify for a while.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Who Writes This Stuff Podcast: Guest: Me

Nick Flora is a good pal of mine, a fantastic musician, artist, songwriter (his latest record is called Future Boy)…and he also hosts a podcast called Who Writes This Stuff.

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to be the guest on that podcast.

It was a really great time.  We talked about music things, music business things, books, Seinfeld and towards the end I divulged a random little nugget of my life that I don’t believe I’d ever uttered out loud before.

The fun and relaxed conversation was made possible by the fact that Nick had done 98 podcast episodes previous to mine and is a total pro.

It’s easy and fun for me to come on his show and ramble on for a while.  It’s hard and not always fun to create, maintain and grow a podcast via consistently rock solid content.

So cheers to Nick.

Listen to my episode here or search Who Writes This Stuff wherever you listen to podcasts.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com