5 Points – 26 –
I’ve published my 5 Points newsletter installation for 6 months. My initial goal was to commit to the effort for 10 weeks…and when I met that with relative ease, I just kept going.
So, why am I even doing this? I’ve been asked this question a number of times. A few reasons…
- When I decided to move from Los Angeles to Nashville, I was really worried about being alone in a new city and being separated from a lot of my best friends. I rely on them so much. I thought this could be a way to stay connected in a pretty low touch way. To say the move has had its challenges is an understatement, and I’m not complaining, but getting the occasional note from a friend gives me incredible strength to persevere. Thank you.
- I have lots of different interests and enjoy learning about all kinds of things and have lots of ideas…and I feel that if I don’t get them out of my head that they run in the background, kind of like old crummy anti-virus software, clogging up my ability to come up with new ideas and see things differently.
- Sometimes I come across resources I find valuable and that make my life easier. I get a lot joy from learning that someone else’s life has been enriched from a tool I turned them on to.
- Some day, you’ll get the last one of these from me, as a result of my demise. This is a curated record, the only record, of some of my thoughts. I am convinced that humans 500 years from now will be so thankful I wrote all this stuff down.
- I think it’s neat to write. I struggled as a kid to learn to read…in part because of a myriad of learning disabilities…so I’ve had to really work hard at it to figure it out. Very differently than, say, math or athletics or spoken communication…part of that working at it has been and still is, writing.
- The network of folks that read this has proven most valuable to my professional pursuits. I regularly receive questions and referrals that have resulted in non-trival additions to how I make a living.
So, I’m going to keep at it for now. I really appreciate your joining me.
I’m speaking at the AIMP Indie Music Publishing Summit –
I’m stoked to have been asked to speak at the Association of Independent Music Publishers event in New York City on June 12th.
https://aimpsummit2018.sched.com/event/ExfI/digital-tools-of-the-trade
My panel will feature resources music publishers can leverage to grow and better maintain their businesses.
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I’ll likely be in the city for a few days to bookend the event, so please do get in touch if you’re keen hook up.
Containers –
I was riding from SOMA to Oakland yesterday with Peretz (https://www.linkedin.com/in/peretzpartensky/) and he pipes up from the back seat of our Uber pool (he gave me the front and he wedged in beside two nice ladies we didn’t know in the back) “Do you know where the first shipping container cranes ever built are?”…like that’s a run of the mill question…I took a crack with Brooklyn and then suggested Long Beach…then he pointed past my ear toward these 3 small black cranes in the near distance…Oakland. That’s where they are. The first ones.
Went on to share a lot about containers, as a result of tuning into the Containers Podcast (https://soundcloud.com/containersfmg) – Containers is an 8-part audio documentary about how global trade has transformed the economy and ourselves.
What I’m Listening To –
One of the joys of living in Nashville has been the plethora of truly world class music, everywhere.
So, last week my friends Anna and Jared Cattoor (https://www.facebook.com/twocitiesoneworld/) were in town for a show at the coffee shop down the street, and a couple of the Wooten Brothers played backup for them. Really…they just jumped in to play back up for a crowd of 15 at a coffee shop???
Anna and Jared killed it and the show was mind blowing…they weren’t thinking about it or reading the music to play…it was just happening and proliferating out of their being and it was awesome. I don’t play music, enviously, but I like to compare this sort of phenomenon to athletes playing at the highest level.
Afterward I looked into some of the things Roy Wooten had been involved with …and talk about a rabbit hole. Also known as Future Man, he won Grammy’s with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones..invented and often plays the drumitar, which resembles a piano but plays notes not found in the traditional western music scales. This instrument is based on the periodic table of elements[3] and the golden ratio..and likes to dress up like a pirate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Man
Kindness –
I recently listened to some of the lectures and read the book (https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021) of Jordan Peterson . He’s a focking idiot. It may sound like his ideas are worthy of consideration at first glance, because he’s smart and presents them confidently. But make no mistake, what he’s chirping is vitriol and radioactive. And when the message is distilled away from the packaging…sounds right out stupid.
Among other things he pontificates is that kindness is over rated. This is bullsh!t.
I can share with you with absolute confidence that this is patently false. Being kind and agreeable is without question one of the greatest tools I employ to living a happy life. The world has an uncanny ability to mimic the shape you present it with..when I smile, others smile back unprovoked. When I help someone out, others rush over to lend a hand when I need when I haven’t asked. When I pay it forward, somehow, incredulously, the universe conspires to afford me with the most beautiful and special good fortunes. I give a lot of credit to these facts as a direct result of being kind.
I saw this sign in the coffee shop this morning and it made me smile 🙂 and it worked
