Reading Books

Reading sparks new thoughts and ideas, and awakens old ones that we’d forgotten.  

Reading a book isn’t a quick hit.  That’s probably why the insights have more staying power.  You sit in the mental space long enough for it to take grab hold and make an impression.

Here are the books I read this year.  I recommend all of them, none of them were duds.

Entreleadership- For anyone who’s ever wanted to build an idea.  And funny enough, most often throughout the book you could substitute “artist” for “entrepreneur” and the adjectives and ideas would make perfect sense.

As A Man Thinketh- Another one from the early 1900’s, considered one of the grandfathers of modern self discovery books.

The Dip- To quit something or to stick with it.  This short book helps open your eyes and is must read for every artist/entrepreneur.

Legacy Journey- A book about building wealth…and wealth doesn’t only mean money.

Linchpin- I read this one with a friend.  Every week we’d get on the phone and talk about a couple chapters.  The conversations would last hours.  Thats hours, with an S.

Purple Cow- In any high school or college marketing class, they should start with every kid reading this book.  Implementing what this book has to offer will change and grow your business.  It’s so simple.  Not easy, but simple.

The Shack- A fiction book that took hold of me in a very non-fiction way.  And I’m going to be having a daughter in a couple months, so for those who have read this book, you get it.

Pursuit Of God-  A very thin book, but it weighs about a thousand pounds.  In every heart there is a longing.

Think And Grow Rich- This book takes a long time to read because there are a lot of pages.  And over all that time, the ideas seep into the subconscious.  A must read…a must read 5 or 6 times.

The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective- This book and also The Wisdom of the Enneagram help to unlock ourselves, providing structure, verbiage and tools to express the simple, deep, fearful, scary, shameful, joyful places of our lives.

What books do you recommend?

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

Pray For Rain

I hope 2016 is the year is rains for you.

I hope all the seeds you’ve been planting over the past year and probably for many years get the rain they’ve been waiting for and you get to experience the harvest.

Planting is hard, ugly, lonely, dirty, necessary work.

Dirty, worn out hands are a good sign.  Clean, soft hands should make you worrisome.

True, the longer the seeds are in the ground with no rain, the more likely they are to die off.  So if the rain isn’t happening, you have no choice but to keep planting and praying for rain.

But 2016 can be the year it starts to mist, to drizzle, to rain, to downpour.  And then you will see.

The rain is the seeing, the planting is the believing.

Droughts are a real thing, but they’ve never ever lasted forever.

The rain comes in the nick of time.

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

GTBP 2015 Playlist

Here are some of my favorite songs and artists from this year.  

After all, the most important, mystifying, beautiful, life giving aspect of the music industry is…the music.

You can go straight to the listening by clicking Apple Music or Spotify for the 10 song play list.

Gabe The Bass Player Playlist:

There was a great band a few years ago with stunning melody and harmony called The Bridges. They broke up, and now one of them started a new electro-pop band called Myzica.  Ready Or Not.

I wrote a short book about SXSW this past spring.  One of the bands who came across that book was Born Cages. Rolling Down The Hill.

Probably my favorite new band of the year is The Struts.  Great songs, live show, voice, aesthetic, the full package.  Good to see these dudes’ popularity is growing.  Could Have Been Me.

Strange Names are a New York band, but the guitar player is from the same 2,500 person town where I grew up in Minnesota.  Props to Francis for not only making music, but making good music.  I Can’t Control Myself.

I got to know Mike Van Soest this past summer and fall.  He’s new to Nashville but has one of the best new songs I’ve heard out of Nashville in a long time. Violet.

Some fellas in my neighborhood are in a band called Coin.  They’ve started having some great traction this year, and for good reason.  Better.

I don’t know anything about PHASES except that this song rules.  I’m In Love With My Life.

One of the things I’m most proud of this year was helping Nick Flora release his record Future Boy.  The power-pop melodies and sunny California production are right up my alley.  It’s feel-good introspective vibes at their finest.  For The Sake Of Conversation.

I wanted to love the entire new Brandon Flowers record.  I didn’t.  But this song is fantastic. Can’t Deny My Love.

The unexpected 6+ minute beauty of a song on Coldplay’s new one. Up & Up.

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

Hey Strawberry Loving

The Beatles Anthology 1 Disc 2, All My Loving live from Ed Sullivan.

You can actually hear Paul McCartney smiling.  It’s infectious.

Summer after 8th grade is when I heard this for the first time and it blew me away.

But it was earlier in my 8th grade year when my friend Emily Goff let me borrow The Beatles Past Masters Vol. 2 cd that I started down the path. (I don’t think I ever returned it to her. Sorry, Emily)

Hey Jude was on that cd.

I had no idea every single part of a song could be that good.  I had no idea the notes of a melody could be put together in such a beautiful way.  I had no idea that in the key of F you could play an Eb chord before going to a Bb….the 1 7 4 progression in the Na-Na part.

Totally amazed.

And finally the clincher was Strawberry Fields Forever, the first track on “The Blue” album.  That mellotron intro, John’s voice and the drum fill.  So mysterious and inviting.

I love remembering getting into The Beatles because I fell hard.  So many amazing songs, so much evolution, revolution and romance.

Remembering makes me feel like I’m a kid in 8th grade again.

Being able to thumb through Spotify or Apple Music today for and go from one Beatles smash to another brings with it that semblance of discovery all over again.  

It’s good to be a kid again every once and a while, even in two and a half minute increments.

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

The Beatles On Streaming

The Beatles songs are finally streaming (well, they are in a couple hours here in Nashville, at midnight)

The Beatles used to be the first to do things, now they’re the last.  But it’s still a big deal because they have the best songs.  Your adoption and promotion of streaming probably won’t be as big of an event.  But you should still adopt it and promote it.

The next “first” that we’ll see happen is when a huge artist, like, say, Adele, rather than keeping their music from streaming, will ONLY put it on streaming.  It won’t be for sale.  Anywhere.  

And that is the best thing a big artist like that could do to HELP you.  (Keeping their music off of streaming in the name of “artistic integrity” helps you not)

If the six million people who bought the Adele record subscribed to Spotify or Apple Music instead, because they HAD TO in order to hear the album, that would have increased streaming revenue by almost 10%.  

Obviously all six million wouldn’t have, but you get it.

As if The Beatles needed to make sure they’d make more money for even longer, adding their music to streaming ensures it.  Streaming is a long long time.  

The royalty rate will only go up.  And thanks to the Fab Four, there’s going to be a little more leverage to make that happen.  Even if they’re a couple years late.

It’s happening. It’s already happened.

Go listen (starting at midnight) to any Beatles song you want.  No…go listen to all of them.  Because you can, and it will bring you joy and happiness.

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

Writing A Hit Song Isn’t Easy

Writing a hit song isn’t easy, but it’s simple.

Hitting a fast ball isn’t easy, but it’s simple.

Making people laugh isn’t easy, but it’s simple.

The thing you do that makes you successful won’t be easy, but it’ll be simple.

In achieving the level of success you desire, you’ll find yourself doing something simple, yet far from easy.

Stop looking for easy. Start looking for simple.

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