Judgement Calls

Do we hire this person or that person?

How often are we going to live stream?

What goes on the cover?

What’s the best wording for this email?

Is it time to part ways with this company?

Being in situations that where you need to use your best judgement makes your judgement better over time.

You will learn more by making judgment calls yourself and having them succeed or fail than you will by sitting back and criticizing the judgment calls of others. When you’re in the seat (or you’re sharing the seat) it’s just different.

And getting ‘better’ doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll make a more advantageous decision or the right decision or one that makes everyone happy…although all of that may apply.

Part of better is simply having a deeper understanding of the responsibility that goes along with being the one making a judgement call.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Just A Few More Minutes

When we were young we would say it and when we got older we still think it.

‘Just a few more minutes’…

Of playing at the park

Of looking at the Christmas lights

Of sitting on the beach

Of riding the rides at Disney World

Of swimming in the pool

Of catching up with a good friend

Of seeing your favorite artist live

That longing, yearning, joy mixed with heartache…that is a gift. It’s a gift to evoke that feeling in someone…and to experience that feeling because of someone or something.

As artists, that’s the business we’re in. The feeling of just a few more minutes.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Sixty Cycle Hum

When I was in college I went to a Q&A with Alan Parsons. He’d been an assistant engineer on The Beatles’ Abby Road album and from there went on to do tons of big stuff.

At the end of the the seminar they opened it up for some questions from the audience.

Quickly the lines at both microphones filled up with college kids wanting to get their question answered…and also simply wanting to be the person who asked something.

A couple good questions roll out and then this kid steps up and starts a monologue about the history of the wiring of 60’s Marshall and Fender amps and how, depending on how the electricity in the building is run, can be prone to loud hums. Particularly something called a 60 cycle hum.

After this and much more, finally the question, “so when you were recording Dark Side Of The Moon what did you do to get rid of the 60 cycle hum?”.

Complete answer: “We didn’t.”

I was so satisfied. Still am.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Food Trucks and Rainy Days

If you open a food truck, you do it knowing that on rainy days people aren’t going to want to stand in line at your food truck. It’s part of the deal.

It doesn’t do a lot of good to start an advertising campaign trying to convince people that water on your clothes isn’t a big deal and you’ll dry off pretty quickly and if nothing else it’s easy to just pack an extra set of clothes in your car.

All of that is true but it is not useful.

Rainy days are bad for standing in lines outdoors. And standing in lines outdoors are what food trucks rely on for revenue (and for marketing).

More importantly, the rain will end and the sun will come out again…what are you going to do on the sunny days?

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Late Night Drives

When you’re touring in a van and trailer you have late night drives.

The show got done at midnight and the hotel is booked at the next tour stop so there’s a four hour drive about to happen. The driver has to stay awake, they co-captain has to stay awake to make sure the driver stays awake and anyone else who wants to pitch in with conversation is a welcome addition to the cause.

Late night drives with late night conversations. The best. No thought, topic, opinion, hypothetical, musing or question is off limits because the whole point is simply to keep talking so we don’t all fall asleep and run into a ditch. The point isn’t to actually save the world…no one is saving the world at 3am on I65 in the middle of Alabama…it’s to spin up adrenaline and excitement by making and arguing your point, which will help usher the caravan safely down the road.

When you’re talking to stay alive, no need to hold back. If there’s a lull, you fill that lull.

But if it isn’t 3am and you’re not talking in order to stay alive, embrace the lull, no need to rush. Consider what the conversation is for and respond in a way that best serves the desired outcome.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Music Career

Everyone can release a song.

Not everyone can have a career in music.

If you want a career in music

you release songs consistently

you put on a great show even when you don’t feel like it

you have a keen eye for hiring people smarter than you

you get tired of showing up but continuously get re-energized

you love the work

you understand that the extra special magical (yet fleeting) music feeling is a blend of skill, consistency, chemistry and luck

and you understand that a huge measure of success is simply whether or not you get to keep going

oh and you must learn how to make real actual money…how much? Enough money to keep going.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple