When you say ‘I don’t feel like trying today’ but you try anyways, it’s not that you’re ignoring your feelings…you’re simply bringing how you feel with you to what you’re actually going to do.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
One thing I can remember from every show I’ve ever been to is how close I got to the artist.
I bet you can remember too.
Changing proximity is so powerful…the satellite stage, crowd surfing, running through the aisles, getting down into the crowd, going way stage left or stage right.
If I have a ticket for row 52, I expect to have 52 rows of distance between me and the artist.
I could have spent a little more money and got a ticket for row 51, or a little less money for row 53…but I decided I want 52 rows of distance.
So when the artist shrinks that distance, I remember! How could I not?!
An artist changing proximity flips the entire economic and experiential equation upside down.
We long to be near. We long to see.
These are free tools anyone can utilize.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
Most artists view playing 400 cap rooms as a stepping stone to playing 4,000 cap rooms or 40,000 cap rooms.
But what if (in a strange turn of sci-fi events) 400 per night was all you could have? What if the bigger rooms didn’t exist and in each city 400 was the max?
Once you get 400 in the room for the first time, from here on out the only thing that is ever going to change is which 400 people are there.
You only get 400 slots. Who do you choose? Tell me about those 400 people. Tell me everything about those 400 people.
Play for them.
***It’s worth noting that if you’re touring and selling out 400 cap rooms, you can pretty easily bring in a few million dollars a year. Not a bad stepping stone. Maybe even a stepping stone worth focusing on and ignoring the ones after it for a while.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
Looking forward to something is fun because you get to script it however you want.
That freedom in your mind to script the future however you want is seductive, because you are always the boss and there’s always more future to script and idealize.
So we forgo embracing the reality (the pain, disappointment, joy, contentment) of the present, because it’s just not as controllable as the future in our head.
If you’re constantly looking forward you’ll get really good at looking forward.
But getting good at looking forward is not the way to get good at embracing reality.
But in order to be present for when the thing you’re looking forward to finally comes around, you must stop constantly practicing looking forward and start opening your eyes to right now. It’s the only way to begin truly living in reality.
ie. What your show at Wembley Stadium in five years needs from you right now is to stop looking forward to it and instead fully immerse yourself in the show you have tonight.
If you can get good at that, you’re going to have a blast at Wembley.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
If you’re willing to be the first one to say hello, you’ll always have someone to talk with.
Everyone is interesting enough to be famous…the internet confirms that time and time again.
The better you learn to listen, the better you’ll speak. Not the other way around.
***We were taught not to talk to strangers because they might kidnap you. But even if that was true back then (it’s not), we’re adults now, so go ahead and talk with strangers.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
Last night I bought a gray denim jacket on the internet.
Today I got shown advertisements for that jacket everywhere I went online.
But I don’t need to be told I need the jacket anymore. I already have it.
I need what comes after the jacket.
Of all the clothes on the internet the great algorithm in the sky is showing me the one article of clothing that I’m definitely not going to buy today.
It’s a lot more fun to sell to people who want and don’t yet have what you’re selling.
And if they already have what you’re selling, try selling what’s next.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com