The Blog
No particular theme - just various topics and lessons learned that popped into my head.
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I DON’T DO BRILLIANT
I’ve found that I’m not capable of creating anything truly brilliant. But the rigid aspiration to always attempt it has been the thing that’s driven me and any success that I’ve had.
WINE SNOBS & HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD A HAPPIER PLACE
We’ve all met wine snobs. They are irritating. My wife and I were once invited to another couple’s house for dinner. Our young boys were good friends, so it was a great chance to get to know the parents. We offered to bring something, and the wife said to bring a bottle of wine.
Big Mistake.
MARBLE ALERT!
Like many parents, when my kids were young I would lie between them at night and tell them a bedtime story. It was difficult to come up with a new story each night. Some stories were funny, others were adventurous. Some long, some short (which was never really allowed). There were a lot of “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories as well, which were some of my favorite. But of all the stories, Marble Alert! was the one they asked me to tell over and over.
SOME DUSTING OFF
…So in rediscovering this old blog, it reminded me of its purpose: Journaling. I have been told countless times the value of journaling for personal and professional growth. I have taken it up countless times over the decades. Just a few months ago I was cleaning out a closet and came across my last journal. Sure enough there were five or six entries, then hundreds of empty pages. Let’s face it, I am terrible at blogging or journaling with any consistency. For that matter, I may be terrible at it in a general sense.
GET OVER OURSELVES
I read an article by a brilliant graphic designer recently. Well, I am assuming he is brilliant because he is granted a full page in a magazine dedicated to graphic design. A magazine which is filled with hundreds of examples of stunning creative work.
He was criticizing some design he’d been seeing. It’s easy to criticize others. It’s also easy to criticize people who criticize others, as I do here.
A LITTLE R+D
As I consume this plate of Deviled Eggs I think nothing about the happiness of the hens that birthed them. I don't wonder whether they had a name, good friends, or fresh air to breathe. It's 2012. How could I be so careless? Are these devils so good that the taste is numbing my conscience? Well, yes. But it is also because I am sitting in the harmonious crossroads of food, audio, and architecture. I have no strength against these forces.
GETTING STRONGER
If I remember correctly, I recorded my band’s first demo in 1981. From there it was a pretty rocky, arduous path to get to the point where artists were willing to pay me to record their music. Years later and driven mad with success, there was one musical platform I never embraced: The Live Album.
CHURCHMIX LIVE
I wrote this post only to realize that it wasn't funny at all. Discouraged, I put it away and slept on it. How can you write a story about a bunch of church techies wearing their all-black outfits with gaff tape hanging from their belts and not have it be funny? Perhaps if they had something funny printed on their t-shirts like "...the quieter you'll end up."
STEEL TOE SANDALS
Old post alert
Just the story of taking a zeppelin hangar of a space and turning it into a place that looks and sounds amazing. All while putting safety first, mind you.
PARADISE ON THE BEACH
Like Jesus, my father was a carpenter. Also like Jesus, I learned the trade but had other plans for my life. In case you're nervous, that's the end of comparing myself to Jesus.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
At a get-together last month a guy asked me, “What do you do?” It is a common enough question, and most people generate their answer without any drain in resources. But for me you might as well ask, “I saw you coming out of that bar last night with my wife. What’s going on with that?” Beads of sweat begin to form above my hairline and I take the look of a deer in the headlights.