Feb
25
2010
Some of the most powerful resources you have in the music industry have nothing to do with music.
I read plenty of music biz news sites and blogs, and it helps keep me aware of what’s on most of my colleague’s minds. But if it’s in those blogs, people are already talking about it and you can’t do it first.
What I care about is figuring out what’s next. Finding more efficiency. Creating something that hasn’t been done before. Taking an old concept and applying it a new way.
The best wisdom often comes from sources far from obvious. Find the tools you need, combine them with the wisdom you can find, and create something bigger than you thought.
Read Seth’s Blog to get perspective.
Use Evernote to boost productivity.
Fire up Chat Roulette for creative purposes instead of just showing people your junk.
RSVP for every single SXSW party, but don’t get there before me and take my spot.
Jan
07
2009
I have a pretty big CD collection. Not big compared to some other music obsessed friends, because I keep it pared down pretty tight, but bigger than a lot of people’s at somewhere around 2500 CDs. Physical CDs.
My CD shelves are split in two sections – most in the living room and then some more down at the end of the hall. Last night I went through the living room section trying to find CDs to demote to the hallway. Needed to make room for the stack on the floor that I’ve acquired lately and that need to find their way into the prime shelving.
You know the drill. It’s one of those things you do at the beginning of a year, or when the stack is so big you have no choice. I’m squarely in the middle of those scenarios.
My music taste isn’t for everybody. It’s certainly not for the general public. But, a reasonably large and musically experienced set of people would agree it’s mighty comprehensive and shows a solid understanding of the past 5 decades of music. I deeply get a specific subset of genres, mostly in the connected corridors of punk, post-punk, hardcore, metal, hard rock, and goth. And I also have amassed what most would agree are the essentials any learned music fan should have and appreciate.
My collection travels seamlessly from Dr Dre’s “The Chronic” to “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” and from Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” to MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams.” Deicide is only a few slots from Neil Diamond; the Swans’ “Cop” is only a shelf away from “Ice Cream Castles” by the Time. Big Black lives near Black Tape For A Blue Girl, and Pavement lives squarely between Parliament Funkadelic and Quicksilver Messenger Service. You get the point.
I often tell people my music selection runs from Neil Diamond to King Diamond. That pretty much sums it up.
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