What Is Lady Gaga Gonna Do At The Super Bowl?

I can’t tell if it’s still as cool to play the Super Bowl halftime show as it used to be…but it’s definitely a pretty big show.

This year Lady GaGa gets to do it, and as they were rolling out the commercial spots for her at practically every commercial break during the playoffs this past weekend, people wonder…

What is she gonna do?

See, that’s the question EVERYONE asks when thinking of her playing the halftime show.

We don’t wonder how totally rock n roll she’s gonna be (like we did with Prince). We don’t wonder in what way she’s gonna rule the world (like we did with Beyonce). We don’t wonder which smash hits she’s gonna play (like we did with Paul McCartney).  We don’t wonder how she’s gonna save the world (like we did with U2).

We wonder what she’s gonna DO.

That is the thought she’s been able to build into your mind and mine…and the minds of the school teacher in Cincinnati, and the lawyer in Dallas, and the Uber driver in Denver.

That thought, while extremely simple, took YEARS to build and spread to the masses. 

So you don’t get to play the Super Bowl this year, Lady Gaga has the spot.

But say you get it next year…what will we wonder?

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

When All You’re Left With Is Fame And Money...

Well when you say it like that…

Maybe it’s important to make sure you’re pursing more than that now. That way when you have fame and money it’s not all you’re left with.

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

Help! I Need Somebody. Help! Not Just Anybody...

How good does your career need to be going before you help someone elses’?

Kind of good?

Pretty good?

Really good?

The question highlights the fact that we tend to not help others’ careers because we’re focusing on our own.

We’re focusing on our own because we’re “not there yet”.

Which would lead to the idea that: once we’re there we’ll help someone else.

The funny thing is if you actually have an answer to the question, you’re already off the mark.  

Not having an answer, or simply thinking about the question, is much better than having an answer for the actual question.

You’re already doing well enough to consider others.

p.s. Help looks different for everyone.  How an artist helps a booking agent is different from how they’d help a PR rep…is different from how they’d help a fellow band, or the marketing person at the label.

p.p.s. Don’t get too down on yourself.  You’re already helping people. If you’re actively participating in this business, chances are you are helping others whether you realize it or not.  But realizing and amplifying will help realize and amplify.



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

For Goodness Sake Be Ready For These Questions

Keep in mind as you read these questions that will absolutely 100% come up, that answering the question isn’t as important as having something entertaining to say after the question gets asked.

You are in the entertainment business, not the information business.  If they wanted the information, they’d contact your manager or PR rep.  They have YOU on their show, interview, podcast, channel because you have that extra thing inside of you that makes the information entertaining.

So don’t think about answering the questions.

Think about using them as cues for entertainment.

What’s a funny story from the road?

A funny story from the studio?

A crazy wild moment on the road?

Your favorite song?

Your favorite song to play live?

Your favorite show you’ve played?

Your favorite lots of things…

A prank story?

How did you meet?

What was it like working with that producer?

What was it like opening for that band?

Where did the idea for that song come from?

What’s your writing process?

YOU DON’T HAVE TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS.  My guess is you read through these questions and simply tried to have a better “correct” answer.

You get to talk about literally whatever you want after the interviewer is done asking.

Also, for goodness sakes speak directly into the microphone clearly, articulately, don’t let your voice’s volume drop at ends of sentences, slow your speaking speed

*If you’d like me to help you with this type stuff (interviews, media, etc), lets dig in.  You have a voice and are entertaining, we just need to expose that in a setting other than the stage.

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

Cashing vs. Cutting The Checks

It’s easy to think that it’s awesome to get paid and sucky to have to pay people, to be the one signing the checks.

People who climb the ladder get checks.

People who own and build the ladder write checks.

When you’re the one writing the checks and the one responsible for making sure those checks clear, you have an experiential, realistic approach to how making money works.  

You learn that money to pay players didn’t just appear because you played a show.

You learn that money to pay the producers back-end points didn’t just appear because you released new music.

You learn that promotion and marketing campaigns don’t happen out of thin air.

And when you’re the one cutting the checks out of your own account(s), you feel and understand the value of each and every precious dollar.

It’s an honor for you to pay your people and for those people to deposit those checks into their own bank accounts and their own lives.

Something you’ve created is financially benefiting the team around you.  What an amazing gift you’re giving. 

You’re right, to them the paycheck might just seem like magic. Like it was automatically going to happen.  As though job security is something that exists.

But you know. You know how hard you’ve worked in order to take care of them in this way.  You know how many times you almost didn’t make payroll, but somehow made it happen.  You know the all the years of thankless work that enabled their simple satisfaction of walking out to their mailbox and getting a check twice a month.

It’s easy to want the reward for all your hard work to be always cashing checks and never cutting them.

But the real honor and reward for a job well done is to be the one signing people’s checks, checks with lots of 0’s on the end of them.

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

Speed Dating Round 1

The first session of GTBP speed dating is now in session.

The point here is similar, only it’s phrases instead of humans. 

Here’s a bunch of singles, spend a few seconds with each of them and see what suits to help you right now, today.  As your going through them, make a mental note of the one or two that perk your interest the most, come back to them, and spend some additional time with them. Maybe you were made for each other.

It’s better to focus on incremental breakthroughs than one big one. Incremental is always possible. Possibility encourages hope and hope, breakthroughs.

If you haven’t compromised in a while, people are talking about you behind your back.

If you haven’t stood your ground in a while, go get your sharp edges back.

You could become a better leader today…recognize and appreciate, starting believing and communicate to your team how valuable they are and how you couldn’t do it without them.

You can do two things with the attention you’re given: keep it for yourself or do something with it that benefits the world around you.

You know that problem that always happens in the middle of your live show, but it gets forgotten by the end of the show…once and for all, go back and fix that problem.

Because you are the boss (the artist), if you’ve got bad team members it’s your fault. Because you are the boss you have the opportunity and responsibility to do something about it.

Slow down, life is here today, right now. It’s not after you get through the uncertainty, or the hard times, it’s here and now…AND there and then.


Mingle with these singles.

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