September 20, 2007
One of my very favorite under-the-radar blogs, Why Advertising Sucks, posted a fantastic essay on Pride and Ego this morning.
It’s a bit of wonderful writing (which is nothing new for them), and their point is absolutely spot on. It’s a fine line to walk, pride versus ego, and one that requires vigilance and discipline… two things also needed for any kind of longevity in the music business (or any creative endeavor).
Be good people.
Be proud.
Don’t be a dick, though… confidence, not arrogance.
August 28, 2007
A great post on the craft of songwriting : Starting Badly, by my friend Max (his band Superchick was Steve Lilywhite’s first signing as head of Columbia Records).
My favorite section is his closing :
I believe it was Gene Simmons who said, that he writes 100 songs, out of those, he likes 10 which he plays for other people. Out of those, they only like 1. So his ratio is 100 to 1. I understand that. Music does not flow from my fingers like lightning from a God, rather music for me is born in the fields of labor where I turn over rocks and rocks and rocks looking for coal that can be forged into diamonds. When you hear one of my songs on TV, it is the product of many creative people and much time and sweat and tears. I write bad music, I really do, but if you write enough bad songs, magic is bound to happen.
Don’t wait to be good, start now. Give yourself permission to make bad art.
Don’t wait to be “good” (whatever that is, anyway)… start now.
Thanks, Max.
August 23, 2007
Why was I inspired by this post at c|net, of all places?
Because it absolutely gets it right… whether you’re more comfortable living on the razor’s edge and taking chances, or by sitting back and playing it safe, the only path through life and a career is one that is true for you.
Some people were meant to lead, some were meant to follow. It doesn’t make one superior or inferior to the other. At one point in my life I referred to that dynamic as the difference between queen bees and worker bees, and the person with whom I was talking got quite offended. I think I now have a better understanding of why my metaphor wasn’t taken in the spirit it was meant, but that story from my past has been on my mind ever since – over 20 years!
A little snippet from Tobek’s fine article :
This reminds me of a chapter of the Tao Teh Ching by Lao Tzu:
He who knows men is clever
He who knows himself has insight
He who conquers men has force
He who conquers himself is truly strong
August 14, 2007
Merv Griffin passed away this week at the age of 82 (nice video obit at CNN). When I review everything he’s accomplished in those eight decades, I wonder how the man ever slept.
In addition to being an actor, singer, and television host, he found a myriad creative ways to be successful in the entertainment world as well as the business world at large.
He not only dreamed up two of the most ridiculously profitable game shows of all time – Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune – his vast empire included everything from horse breeding and gambling to real estate and television production.
Music was also in his heart – he composed the theme song for Jeopardy, a little ditty that had earned him “close to 60 or 70 million.”
His story inspires me to stay creative, to keep pushing my boundaries, to keep trying new things.
A man who is still quite alive and relevant, Quincy Jones is someone who hasn’t let his age put a damper on his creative demons.
One of the masters of music production of all time, Q is still pushing, still engaged in the present, still expanding his influence and reach.
The Man Himself is offering video podcasts… giving us mere mortals a glimpse behind the scenes of some of the most successful albums of all time (check out his myspace page for more, or read more about it at CNet).
He’s even gotten involved in my little niche of the music world, with a production music library of his own.
We’re given such precious few days in this life. All of us watch history passing by – very few of us make history. Take a cue from these extraordinary people and aim a little higher than maybe you have been this week.
August 7, 2007
For the past 10 years or so, Nick Cave turned his raucous career into quiet, beautiful (albeit dark) ballads. It’s sort of a typical phase of an artist growing old and mellowing out. I followed for awhile, and then drifted away, as I’ve still got a taste for the raucous. During this 10 year phase, I saw him on Letterman a few times, at a grand piano, telling a story I doubted the tens of millions of viewers were likely to get, or be interested in. Nonetheless, his songwriting was inspiring to me, and I trusted everything he did. I just stopped listening.
Then, along comes 2007, Cave grows a fu-manchu moustache, and starts a garage punk band called Grinderman. It is one of the greatest rock and roll albums I’ve heard in a long time, capturing the energy of his early Birthday Party stuff, as well as highlights of The Bad Seeds peak moments of intensity. Pleasantly brutal stuff, and a total surprise for him to whip this out after a decade of winding down. Genius. I’m listening again.
Who of us will have the energy for this level of reinvention when we’re the age of Mr. Cave? Who of us even has it now?
June 5, 2007
It was 30 years ago today that the world’s first “practical” personal computer went on sale.
On June 5, 1977, Apple Computer released the Apple II.
A watershed event in the history of computing, the history of creativity – hell, even in plain ol’ history – Wozniak and Jobs enabled millions of us computer geeks to have an available outlet for our creativity.
I remember being so jealous of my friends with Apple Computers. We were stuck with a TI-99/4a. We didn’t even have an Atari to play games on. Of course, all of that changed with the advent of the Macintosh (which our family’s computing life centered around from the first 128k model), but that’s a different anniversary.
For today, congratulations Apple! And keep rocking Wall Street!!
June 1, 2007
This has to be mentioned, as it was a landmark event in the history of creativity.
40 years ago today, The Beatles released arguably the most respected collection of songs of all time, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Credit to Tom Peters blog for a full post on the topic (another good source for creative solutions to problems we face in business every day, whether it’s the music business or any other).
UPDATE : IGuessI’mFloating gets it right, too… and deserves props, per usual.
May 23, 2007
Making music for a living is hard work. Whether we’re pitching a soft drink ad or making records, it still takes a lot out of us… though considerably more so when the client is present in the studio.
Sometimes a little Guitar Hero goes a long way when we’re in a creative rut and looking to break out of it.
I can’t be the only one totally jacked about the third installment of this fine piece of inspirational machinery… check out the list of tunes you could be playing along with (including a bunch of ORIGINAL recordings, to boot!).
May 23, 2007
What’s the longest amount of time you’ve spent working on music? I mean everything – writing, recording, mixing, etc. Probably more than you think. It takes time to fulfill an idea, right?
Apply this same concept to other forms: painting, illustration, design, web, copyrighting, or any creative art. Local artists sell paintings for upwards of $1,500 or more. Designers get $100 – 150 per hour.
Could you ever do that with your music?
Think very critically about your answer to this question.
May 22, 2007
One thing good managers have pushed me to do for years is study things outside of my “expertise” in order to find creative inspiration. Creativity is manifested in uncountable ways across every industry, arena, and field of interest, and if you search hard enough, you can easily find parallels between what others have done and what you are trying to do. For instance, if you’re in marketing, take an improv comedy class to learn how to adjust your message on the fly. That same improv class can help a manager deal with unexpected office problems.
In music, we tend to believe that a song is born from some sacred and magical, vaulted womb that exists somewhere within ourselves, and we are at the mother’s mercy as to when the song is allowed life. This notion, is of course, BS. But we all get trapped, consciously AND unconsciously, into this frame of mind from time to time. If we don’t “feel” it, we don’t finish it.
This is when it is extremely helpful to look outside of music for inspiration, approaches, design, construction, and whatever else goes into the creative music process. If you’re struggling with lyrics, read a book or magazine or poetry or, hell, even some marketing copy. Good writing exist everywhere. If the song can’t seem to find direction, check out a good software design blog.
I thought about this post as I was catching up on some of my favorite blog and site reading (yes, they span many industries). One blog I was turned onto recently is Your Daily Awesome. It is daily, and I assure you, it is awesome. Recently they posted four short YouTube clips called Ira Glass on Storytelling. Now, I’m biased because I firmly believe that This American Life is THE BEST show spanning ALL media, but if you do anything creative, these videos are must sees. He covers storytelling, approach, shaving the bad to make the good even better, and a whole lot of other topics that should help you the next time you are in a creative quandary.
We’re trying to bring you perspective From All Angles. Sometimes those angles happen to form outside of the music industry altogether.
