I was watching the show “How To Make It In America,” in which the main characters, Ben and Cam, are trying to start a denim line. They end up going to the John Varvatos headquarters for advice, where the head of denim there tells the duo that before they even start, they should stop. That they shouldn’t even try. That even he, with ten years experience and financial backers, couldn’t do it successfully.
Sound familiar? I’ve been playing music since I was 11 years old and I have heard these kind of comments and questions my whole life. “You know this kind of thing is hard? Nearly impossible, right?” I’m starting to think that these kind of comments have a function: they separate the wheat from the chaff, the ones who continue despite the odds and the one who don’t.
“Show me any runner and ask him how he got so strong and fast and he will tell you, ‘I’ve suffered.’ Show me any civilization and ask them how they got so strong and powerful and they will tell you they suffered. Any civilization that it makes it their point to avoid suffering is past their prime”
Really rad video. One of my favorite bloggers/thinkers, Derek Sivers, challenges the status quo of thoughts on leadership and suggests that the first follower is the most crucial component in a movement because it’s the first follower that transforms a lone nut into a leader.
If you’re hanging around Venice tomorrow evening, come hang out with us. I’m opening for a bluesman/singer/guitar player I really respect – Jason Diaz. Check his stuff out here
Tuesday, February 9 @ 8:30 - $5
Air Conditioned Supper Club, 625 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
“I pray that God will bless you and everything that you do. I pray that you will grow intellectually so that you can understand the problems of the world and where you fit into that world picture. And I pray that all the fear that has ever been in your heart will be taken out. ”
The power of stories is in its ability to connect people and increase our ability to relate to each other. Stories move us because we can understand the exaggeration, the fairy tale, the drama because we have felt that feeling before—no matter how tiny that feeling was. The story of a homeless man reminds a suburban teen of the time he was kicked out of his house. The story of a black woman’s struggle in a racist town reminds a white high schooler of the time he was beat up by skinheads for being a surfer. These are very different circumstances but the power of stories is in its ability to connect feelings, even though the facts differ.
“You do art when you make change that matters, and do it via a connection with an individual. A great waitress or conductor or politician can make art. So can David, who cleans the tables at Dean and Deluca. Art isn’t the job, it’s the attitude you bring to the job and work you do when you’re there.”
“To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing—and I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch: please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism—for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen.”
