John Lennon and Me

I came to the difficult conclusion many years ago that John Lennon and I probably wouldn’t have been friends.

I’m sure we would have been cordial and respectful upon meeting and during subsequent encounters…but I’ve read enough interviews, seen enough video and read enough Beatle books to know that on most matters we just wouldn’t have lined up to be pals.

Strawberry Fields, yes. Love Me Do, yes. In My Life, yes. I could keep going…

So I made peace with what I look to him for and what I do not. It’s worked out for me.

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Being In It

Being in it. Finding that emotional, spiritual, physical connection to the music and thereby creating the best chance for the audience to latch on and go for the ride.

And it while can’t be achieved or found every night, the best way to cause it to happen more often is to want to be “in it” and then to keep finding ways to get there.

But the truth is artists don’t always want to be in it. It’s really tough to make the effort.

Show number one is really easy and probably the next ten or twenty or fifty are easy too. But show 250 headlining in suburban Delaware, show 542 on a random Tuesday in central New Mexico, show 1007 at a corporate event…it’s hard to be in it, but before that, hard to even WANT to be in it.

It’s hard to want to be in it enough to give the effort it takes to find a way back into the music.

And even when you have the desire, put in the effort, reconnect with the music, put your best foot forward, you might not get the result or response you hoped for. The amount of effort doesn’t guarantee the outcome.

So if the outcome isn’t guaranteed, is all that trouble worth it?

There was a tag line Gatorade used years ago ‘Whatever you do to get up for the game, stay up’.

I’ll make it a worse slogan but a better idea: ‘You have to want to get up for the game if you’re going to have a shot at consistently being up for the games. If you want to get up for the game, the method by which that happens is something that you’re going to have to find again and again…and that’s the only way to stay up’.

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Speaking Up And Getting Better

A good way to get good at speaking up is to first be bad at speaking up. It’s not by keeping to yourself until you get good.

Too often in this business (and perhaps yours too) it’s become commonplace to not say anything in the moment but then tell your other buddy afterwards what you wish you would have said or what was going through your head or how you really feel. And then maybe confront the initial conversation via email or text message.

Speak up. In the moment. Out loud. You might be bad at it at first. Say you’re sorry. Maintain humility. Keep speaking up. You will get better and more articulate which will help you do it more and become more effective.

»» Also active listening helps…cause if you’ve been speaking up a little bit all along you’re more likely to speak up a little more.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

A Note For Bass Players

A note for bass players and those who might surprisingly find themselves identifying with bass players…

We are the spaces in between the notes we play as much as we are the notes we play.

Often appreciated more for our presence than specificity…that is, until we’re gone.

We are easily replaced with a track until they realize the thought “man it just doesn’t feel right” is the hard part about trying to replace us with a track.

We know at the show that a lot of our best passing notes and ghost notes get lost in the mix, but we do it anyway.

‘Under Playing’ and ‘Over Playing’ sit atop each of our shoulders, making their cases’. But on the best nights we simply ignore both of them out and just listen to the kick and snare.

We’re not often in the spotlight but we play to gladly highlight someone else’s.

Our instrument is a foundational contribution and our attitude and vibe often follow suit.

No matter if you’re a studio player, live player, one show a month or thirty, keep showing up and making your value known by doing great work.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Measuring

Bigger is just so easy to measure. We can’t resist. Followers, likes, what are the pollstar numbers, streams, monthly listeners, VIP packages, gross revenue, net revenue, merch sales per head.

Better is just so difficult to measure. What change did the song make for each person listening? When you took time to get the wardrobe right for the video, how much did it raise the viewing enjoyment? When you released the demo version after your song became a hit, did the inner-circle of your fans get tighter?

Measuring and scheming for bigger is a quick and easy pop if the numbers are going up.

Measuring and scheming for better is a long play, difficult, not flashy in the short term but it’s the best way to ensure you’ll be around for the long term.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Complaining and Making

Complaining is easier than making something.

Complaining is often a socially acceptable distraction from doing the actual work we set out to do.

It’s a lot harder to make time to complain when we’re in the midst of making something that has potential to make a difference.

Skip the easy way out and make something instead.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple