New Monday #67

Happy Monday

And in the US, Happy Memorial Day.

Short one this week. Dan and I have something cooking for next week, but we have to make a video to really do it justice—words aren't enough.

The ongoing series of episodes on creativity has sparked a lot of mail and ideas from you all, and more than a few requests for more on the subject. I'll try to incorporate something short and hopefully helpful on all New Mondays going forward, but there are two ideas that popped up from people writing in that I don't want to push off.

There's also been sad news.

Probably most of you heard about the private airplane crash in San Diego last week. Briefly, a Cessna 550 went down in a neighborhood, killing all six people on board, destroying houses in the neighborhood, injuring people on the ground and causing an evacuation of the area.

The plane was piloted by Dave Shapiro, a founder of Sound Talent Group, a major indie rock booking and management agency. Also lost in the crash were key members of Dave's staff, Kenyon Fortner and Emma Huke, photographer Celina Kenyon, Dominic Damian and lastly, drummer Daniel Williams, formerly of The Devil Wears Prada, was on the plane and perished.

The occupants were all in New York for a stop on Pierce the Veil's "I Can't Hear You World" tour—Mr Shapiro was the band's manager.

By all accounts, Dave Shapiro was an excellent and experienced pilot. The weather and airport conditions were awful at the time of the crash, with dense fog. The plane was minutes away from safe touchdown when it hit a power line. There will be a full investigation in the weeks to come.

This crash is felt personally at Korneff Audio. Dan was at the Pierce the Veil show, backstage with everyone that would later be on the plane. Dan has worked with many bands represented by Sound Talent Group, and knew Dave Shapiro very well. Dave was a heck of a guy, loved by the people that worked with him. He had a reputation for being committed to music and musicians, a decent, honorable person in a tough business.

Drummer Daniel Williams and Dan Korneff also knew each other well, having worked together on The Devil Wears Prada records. The two reconnected backstage at the show after not having seen each other in years. Daniel was also a lovely fellow.

Korneff Audio extends our condolences to the families and friends, and all of the bands and musicians who are mourning this loss, and for whom this Memorial Day has a different meaning.

A Gang of Maniacs

Mike wrote in:

"I've not been seeking permission for a while now, and I think that has to do with joining a community of tinkerers, musicians, and artists who are simply putting stuff out, from fixing and restoring old gear to making videos of obscure instruments. A place to ask questions, get ideas, and find inspiration is priceless. At any one time there's multiple thematic collaborative albums in the works - you don't wanna do a track for 'Mouth Fart A Capella', that's fine! Maybe 'Music for Datacenters' is more up your alley."

Being part of a creative tribe is a tremendous source of inspiration and, of course, permission: Everybody else is doing it, so I can do it. Then there's also the energy and ideas, the inspiration, flowing out of a group of like-minded people.

Mike is part of the Magpie Pirates, started by a Swedish pedal maker who calls himself Simon the Magpie. The group meets via Discord, and here is their website.

There might be a gang of maniacs out there for you. And if there isn't, perhaps you can set one up.

Permission to Suck?

Walt wrote in:

"Giving myself "permission to suck" is a tough one. I have tried. Sometimes it has led to something interesting and surprisingly good. Other times, it's just a flop. Maybe I'll publish all of my flops someday."

This one really caught my attention, and I think we all need to shift our thinking a bit on sucking and suckage. Permission to suck isn't the way to look at it.

Suck is an outcome. It is something you wind up with, not something you do.

What we are actually seeking is permission to have an outcome we don't like, or an outcome of questionable quality.

Getting an outcome we don't like or of potential bad quality implicitly implies that we're going to so something that we haven't done before or that we aren't yet good at. We're really seeking permission to not do the same old thing.

Not permission to suck; permission to risk. Permission to try something new. Permission to learn. Permission to experiment.

I'm not a believer in "manifesting" but I do know that brains filter all our inputs, and we do have the power to set those filters. When I was looking at buying a Honda, all the cars on the road became either Hondas or Not Hondas. When I was directing plays, within a week of thinking about it, I would start seeing ideas for sets and music and costumes out in the everyday world. I would be at the supermarket, hear a song and think, "That would be perfect for the second act."

Why put the word "suck" in your brain? Seems that you're making it more likely to stumble into the ideas and work ethic that would make something suck.

It's a small shift in your brain to think in terms of learning and risking other than sucking, but for me it makes a big difference.

Not permission to suck. Permission to try something new. Permission to see what happens.

A bit of music

I stumbled across Jackie Venson this week. She's a singer and guitarist. It's really interesting stuff. The first clip below is her wailing live with a band, but she also does things with loops and machines. The second is her collaborating with herself as "Jackie the Robot."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLCt_mPOQaQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZpD80Q0w24

Cool stuff.

It has been lovely hearing from you all. Have a great week.

Warm regards,
Luke