I’m Not Sure If It’ll Work

“I’m not sure if it’ll work, let’s not do it.”

That’s how most new show ideas, tweaks, arcs go

With out realizing it you make an emotional reactive decision rather than an open thoughtful one. 

Putting something into the set that might not work, whether its a song, story, interlude, lighting effect, wardrobe choice, is the exact reason to put it in.

Think about your favorite artist(s) you’ve seen live.

You probably don’t remember most of what actually happened, but you definitely remember a couple things.

At some point, weeks or months or years before you personally saw that idea unfold before your eyes, someone came up with that idea.

And when that idea was shared, someone in the room said “I’m not sure if it’ll work, let’s not do it”.

But it was done anyway, and that’s the thing you’ll remember about the show for the rest of your life.

How about, “I’m not sure if it’ll work…perfect, we’re on the right track”. 

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

Stealing Your Thunder

Ahhh…That ever elusive credit.

You were feeling good about what you’d done, your momentum, the trajectory, the realization of the plan, the pinnacle moment.  The dominos are busy falling over and you spent long hours pushing them over.

And then someone swipes your thunder.

Someone takes credit in front of someone YOU respect…someone you would like to impress.

Oh it burns.

But if someone is putting the time and effort into stealing your thunder…that means you have thunder to steal (and the robber is likely well aware).

It’s easy to want to call the cops when someone steals your thunder.  Seeking justice, or at least complain to a few people about it.

But the wise person knows that stolen thunder can never benefit the robber in the long run.

You can’t build on stolen thunder.

And it’s funny, in the long run, the thunder finds its way back to the original maker of it.

So if you’re in the business of stealing thunder, stop it, ultimately its worthless to you.

If you’re the one getting your thunder stolen, you’re on the right track.

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

Don’t Bore Us

Kanye isn’t boring. Neither is Bono, Madonna, Cam Newton, Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Amy Poehler, or the Gallagher brothers.

You need to learn how to be not boring.  It’s show business baby.

It’s not about being better or worse, or likable vs. unlikable, it’s about being different…and not in a boring way.

Your vibe, your show, your schpeel, your interview…just don’t bore us.  

All those people listed above, we wonder what they’ll say. And kinda know the gist of what and how they’ll say it, but somehow we still wonder and don’t really know, and wait for it and are interested.

How is this done? 

Wrong question. Back up. Get underneath.

WHY do you want to know how?

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

Blah Songs

You have them. The ones you just wanna get through in the set.

Songs that you’re looking forward to booting from the show.

But a blah song can be the perfect setup for one of the good ones.

Bring them low to make the rocket blast feel even bigger.

Suddenly the blah song has a specific purpose and therefore doesn’t feel so blah anymore.

Purpose reduces the blah.

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

Nick/Demi Show

I saw the Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato tour tonight in Nashville.

Here are some things I learned or was reminded of…

-a great compressor on the vocal rights many wrongs and weaknesses 

-arenas aren’t that big

-if people pay more than $20 for a concert ticket, they need to believe they saw a GREAT show…even if it wasn’t

-Demi told us WE were one of her favorite crowds of the tour!!!

-there’s lots of money to be made via sponsorships, as someone will pay to put their name on anything in an arena

-you don’t need an encore built into your set

-if you’re the artist/front person on stage, everyone is looking at you all of the time

-the way your show looks, feels, flows, sounds like today is a lot like it will look, feel, flow and sound like when you play an arena

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

A Day Off

You need to learn to take one.

Most artists and people in the music business generally fall into one of two categories…

Those who do the least amount of work possible but act (and complain) like they do a lot…and those who work every waking moment, day in and day out..

This is for that second group.

It took me the better part of my 20’s to learn how to take a day off.  And that isn’t a pat on my own back…that’s a long, tiresome learning curve where I was not so pleasant to be around when it was time to take a break, go on vacation, celebrate, give attention to other things.  

Because I didn’t shut it off.

I couldn’t…or wouldn’t, because I didn’t know how and I didn’t think learning how was an important thing to do. 

But it IS an important thing to learn.

What really did it for me was getting around people who’s work ethic and success I really respected and realizing they DON’T work ALL the time.  But they work extremely hard when they work. 

And they vacation REALLY hard.  And spend time with their spouse, kids, friends, family REALLY hard.

Essentially, they’ve realized that turning it on (going to work) and turning it off are equally important.  On is not better than off.  And that you can never fully be on unless you’re willing to also be fully off.

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