Obsolete.

I was at a conference recently, where I got to hear a young woman (around my age) talk about generational "differences," and how older folks could entice young people and recent college graduates to come to work for them. She was discussing how Gen Y (or Gen i, or Gen Z, or "Millennials") prefer a flexible schedule in the workplace, and that if current CEOs want to recruit this younger generation, they'll have to adapt. Or as she stated in her talk, "You risk losing access to a big pool of talent." Immediately, an older gentleman fired back, "So what? If I say the workday starts at 8:00, you should be in your chair at 8:00I I mean, even banks open at 8:30am - and that's just not going to change!" In one fell swoop, he revealed his generational achilles' heel. However, I think generational comparisons are utterly useless. Why? As the DJ says, "What we're gonna do right here is go back..."

The letterpress, beginning with Gutenberg in the 15th century, was a force to be reckoned with. Books, periodicals, magazines, letters and so forth could be duplicated and distributed in rapid succession. Prior to that, books were painstakingly printed by hand, page after page. Information was now and forever going to be in the hands of the people. The letterpress didn't start to fade until the early-mid 20th century, when offset printing first came into being. Think about that for a minute. The letterpress, and all its many incarnations, ruled the printing landscape for over 400 years. For 400 years, that was how people did business. There were press operators, typesetters, and illustrators who day and night ran the machines and created what people saw in print. And even in the 20th century, when offset printing and photo-typesetting dominated the market, many, many people were still necessary to keep things running smoothly.

Then Apple Computer released the Macintosh in 1984, the second commercially available computer (Apple's "Lisa" was the first) with what we now know as a "graphical user interface" or GUI (ie. point, click, drag, mouse, desktop, windows, etc). They got Ridley Scott to do a REALLY cool Superbowl commercial for it. My dad actually bought one of the first "Fat Macs" (meaning it had 512K of on-board memory, instead of 128K) in 1985, with an Imagewriter II printer and an external floppy disk drive. People laughed it off as a "toy," and business types wouldn't come near it. But by the time I had graduated from the College of Design at NC State in 1996, Macs had overtaken the graphic design industry. The idea of hundreds of separate individuals doing the layout, typesetting, illustrations, and photography was ludicrous. One person could now wear all those hats pretty effectively, and in college that's what we were taught to do.

At the same time, the music business was changing. Prior to the 1990s, most indie rock bands released singles and albums on 7" vinyl or cassette. Certainly in the DJ business, vinyl was (and in some areas, remains) the standard. Even CD duplication on a large scale was costly. The "Big 5" record labels were the gate keepers of the business, controlling everything from distribution chains, to stores, to venues, to recording studios. And for an unsigned band trying to record a new album or song, going into a recording studio meant spending thousands of dollars - and with limited funds came limited studio time. Recording music to hard disk for many years was simply not possible, especially for independent artists. Reel to reel was the standard for most of the 20th century. Even I recorded my first album "Breakup" to Alesis ADAT tape, using an old Mac Performa to arrange simple MIDI parts while my producer sat at the soundboard for hours, both of us tweaking until we got the thing just right. Prior to that, I used a Tascam Portastudio (a 4-track cassette recorder) and a Boss drum machine to make demos in my dorm room.

Skip ahead 15 more years. My iPhone (also an Apple product), which is probably smaller than the size of an old cassette walkman, can take hi-definition video, hi-resolution photos that are on par with some of the best point-and-shoot cameras out there (and in some cases, even standard-bearing 35mm cameras), store the entirety of my musical collection (as in every song I've ever listened to, since birth), and instantly communicate with anyone on earth, in almost every form you can imagine - phone, email, text, instant message, video conference, you name it. From my home studio (anchored by a Mac Pro tower), I can write, arrange, record, produce, master AND distribute music I create, instantly. I can then design, code, and market a website to promote that music - all from the same computer which I produced the music on. In fact, I could do all of the above on my 6-year-old Mac laptop.

As of August 2012, Apple is the largest publicly-traded corporation in the world. Their market cap is larger than that of Google and Microsoft combined, and within a space of about 20 years, they irrevocably changed the printing, publishing and music industries. Whole market sectors were rendered obsolete, and many people found themselves out of work. Meanwhile, iTunes, Spotify and Pandora now dominate the musical landscape, and what's left of the music industry is floundering. Save for a few independent college music and used CD stores, standalone music retailers are a thing of the past. How the mighty have fallen.

Of course, Apple's day could be just around the corner also. And that's my point. Technology is changing so quickly that the idea of any one industry lasting for 400 years - or even 50 - is now itself an obsolete concept. As a member of "Generation X," a graphic designer and musician, I've been witness to almost all of it. I didn't have the internet growing up, or cell phones, or email. My grandmother, up until her passing in 2010, hand-wrote me a letter a week, and then a letter a month for as long as I could remember. Friends who did internships or study abroad programs had to communicate with letters as well, because long-distance phone calls were simply too expensive and again, we really had no access to email. Because I was in a profession being driven by technology, I either had to adapt or become obsolete myself. That's not a generational concept, that's simply a matter of survival. If I don't work, I can't eat. And I can't work unless I continue to stay ahead of the curve.

I was raised to believe that I would find one career path, one job, one company and that they would take care of me until retirement. That's what I've wanted for almost my entire life, but because of outsourcing, down-sizing, and contract labor - it probably won't be a reality. And for those younger than me, it's even more applicable. They've grown up with instantaneous communication, instant gratification, and immediacy of control - because that's the system that was created for them, by those who came before them. They've watched their moms, dads, older brothers and sisters work themselves to death under the old(er) system and receive peanuts in return. They don't care about brink-and-mortar storefronts, or cubicle farms like the ones represented in "Office Space." They (or anyone else, for that matter) can conduct their business at any time of day or night, in business casual or their birthday suit, all from the comfort of their own bedroom.

Generational stereotyping is dangerous because longevity gives us a false sense of security. The bottom line is that technology is not generational, and is constantly changing, upgrading, revising. Innovation can happen anywhere, at anytime, by anyone with the ability to do it - old or young. If you take comfort in the fact that the banks will continue to open for business every day at 8:30am, think again. If you take comfort in the fact that your entitlements will save you, think again. You won't simply be out of work, or laid off, or forced to take early retirement.

You will be obsolete.

Learning.

Today I'm reflecting on turning 38 years old. And learning.

Last night I saw Queensryche with one of my old college roommates. We were both metalheads, and in fact the last time we both saw Queensryche was in 1994 in support of the "Promised Land" album. Afterwards we talked about old times, what happened during the 17 years in-between, and what our plans are going forward. I felt a small piece of myself returning, some innocence and excitement about live music I had lost along the way. Mostly, I remembered what it was like to be in college.

Growing up I hated school. I was a good student, but I was a daydreamer. I was also bullied pretty relentlessly in middle school and high school by a few select folks. I grew to hate being in school, and by association, "learning." I could never keep my mind on my studies because I was constantly afraid of ridicule or injury. The fear that I came to live with in high school carried over into college. While I wasn't bullied, I was simply going through the motions of finishing my degree, and once I joined a band and actually recorded in a professional studio, I realized music was what I truly cared about. I can tell you that today my opinion is that I'll never set foot in a classroom again. It's just too much to think about.

But what I've come to understand is that TRUE learning happens every minute, of every day...all around us. I've learned more about myself and grown more as a person in the last 2 years than I have at any point in my life prior. I've learned on the job, behind the wheel of a car, all alone in my studio, and even in the depths of my deepest despair. I'm grateful to still be "teachable." And I'm grateful for the humility that comes with it.

Thoughts on Amy Winehouse...

I just heard about her passing this morning...
http://npr.org/2011/07/23/138639971/singer-amy-winehouse-found-dead

Another artist passed at age 27. Makes me sad. The specter of addiction has taken so many wonderful people from us.

Recovery has become a spectator sport. Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Lil' Wayne wearing a "fuck rehab" shirt on-stage, and now Amy Winehouse. We have shows like "Intervention," "Celebrity Rehab," "Sober House" and more that allow us to mock people who are suffering, or simply indulge our own voyeurism. The trainwreck that we simply "can't turn away from."

I wish people understood that recovery is about so much more than simply letting go of our own vices. It's about learning how to really live, perhaps for the first time. It's about learning how to cope with life's ups-and-downs on your own, without a crutch.

Perhaps if humanity's focus was on treatment, healing and reconciliation, rather than on prohibition and incarceration - we might be able to do some good.

For now, recovery remains a haphazard process at based - a process mired by misinformation and superstition, rather than bolstered by biology, science, and rational thought. I don't attempt to downplay the role that 12-step programs have played in my own recovery, but if you think that all addicts will get well through 12-step work alone, you're deceiving yourself.

For now, I leave you with some lyrics to Amy Winehouse's own song, "Rehab"...

"The man said 'why do you think you here'
I said 'I got no idea
I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose my baby
so I always keep a bottle near'
He said 'I just think you're depressed,
this me, yeah baby, and the rest'

They tried to make me go to rehab but I said 'no, no, no'
Yes I've been black but when I come back you'll know know know

I don't ever wanna drink again
I just ooh I just need a friend
I'm not gonna spend ten weeks
have everyone think I'm on the mend

It's not just my pride
It's just 'til these tears have dried"

-JG

Edie Falco Sobriety Helped Battle Cancer | Parade.com

Cool article on Edie Falco (I'm a BIG Nurse Jackie fan) and A.A.

Edie Falco Sobriety Helped Battle Cancer | Parade.com

REVOLUTION Raleigh...

I'm so proud to be a part of this event.

http://goodnightraleigh.com/2010/12/return-of-the-rave-revolution-raleigh/

I'm also thankful, given everything I've been through/put myself through/put everyone ELSE through over the lats year and a half....

Onward and upward, one day at a time...

Anecdote from a CVS

My girlfriend and I were at CVS waiting in the check-out line, and sitting in one of the chairs at the Pharmacy counter was a co-ed who had obviously just graduated from UNC. She was also talking on her mobile, at full volume, about every detail of her life for the last 3 days. At first i was annoyed. Then I began to feel like I was on some reality show and the camera was rolling. Maybe I am. "And OMG, do you know what she SAID about me? I was like, really hurt, you know???" I began to remember college. The more things change, the more they stay the same. She concluded her conversation with the following: "So then they played 'Carolina In My Mind', and like, I just lost it. OMG." They play that at EVERY UNC graduation. James Taylor was a UNC grad. No big shock. (Mr. Rogers spoke at my commencement, no lie. We all sang "Won't you be my neighbor." No one lost it, I don't think.) ...and the kicker: "So I was like, OMG college is over, what's left of my life?" LOL!!!! :) I wanted to grab her phone, point at the cashier - and the customer - and say, "Absolutely NOTHING. You're either going to serve, or you're going to GET served." JG

"Breakup" turns ten!

My first CD, the "breakup" EP turns 10 years old this month.

I started writing tracks for it back in 1996 (I was 22). Actually, the first track I wrote for it (but did not know it at the time), was "Valley." I had written it late summer of 1994 (about a failed relationship, what else?), and it saw many incarnations before the one that finally appeared on "breakup." The next 3 tracks, "Baranquilla," "Dreamstate" and "Escape" were written on an old Yamaha 8-track cassette recorder which my friend and former bandmate Chris Wimberley lent to me. The bass line and drum track for "Proton Girl" were composed on a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder and Boss DR-660 Drum Machine about the same time.

I actually entered the studio (Osceola Studios in Raleigh) to begin recording "breakup" in 1997. I traded freelance graphic design work for studio time with my old friend and producer Tom Mohbat, of Bad Dog Productions. Back then, hard disk editing systems were extremely expensive and unavailable to the average home audio producer (by contrast, now, every Mac comes standard with Garageband). So we recorded all the songs on "breakup" to Alesis ADAT Tape. Tom would sit at the board mixing on the fly while I would loop and sequence MIDI parts in Mark of the Unicorn’s Performer software on an old Mac Performa (!)

Then I had to have the CD mastered and pressed, but my studio time ran over budget. I had fallen behind on rent by about 3 months, and was essentially eating nothing but popcorn and whatever leftovers my roommate didn’t want. Between money my ex-girlfriend loaned me and a gift from my Dad, i was able to dig myself out of the hole, master and press the CDs. They were mastered at The Kitchen in Chapel Hill by Brent Lambert, who at the time was running his studio out of his home. I recall taking the finished CD home with me and listening to it over and over. I doubt I will feel that way - that newness, that sense of accomplishment - about anything I record ever again. No matter how much better the writing may be.

During this time I was working in computer services at the Kinko’s in Cary, and became friends with one of the 3rd shift managers, one Jody Barnes...who ultimately designed the cover artwork. He was also the one who suggested that taking up DJ-ing might be a good idea ;)

Then one day in April 1998, I came home to find 9 boxes sitting in my living room. In those boxes were 1,000 copies of my CD. I recall asking out loud, "what the hell do I do with all these?"...

...and I have spent the last 10 years answering that question.

Along the way I’ve had many successes and seen "breakup" (and subsequent recordings) go places I never thought they would. I have also seen failure after failure, been cheated, ignored, lied to, swindled, and ostracized, by colleagues, industry types, even close friends (or at the very least, acquaintances), and then been patted on the back by those very same people as if nothing had happened. But in the end, highs and lows, good and bad, it has all been worth it.

And I think I may have even learned a thing or two along the way:

1) At some point, you *will* want to give up. Don’t.

2) Be prepared to spend a LOT of money up-front. Be prepared to NOT break even for several years, if at all. Then be prepared to do it again.

3) Don’t assume people will simply know about what you’re doing because you think you’re talented. Tell people about who you are and what you do, in any and every way you can. If you don’t, no one will come to your shows save for your girlfriend, your roommate, a few friends, one or two random co-workers and your MOM (and even they’ll get sick of it after awhile.)

4) There is good business, and there is bad business. Very rarely are they isolated from one another, and more often than not, one can be mistaken for (or even disguised as) the other.



Thanks to all the DJs, producers, promoters, record store owners, friends (both internet and in-person), family, and colleagues who have stuck by me through thick and thin and encouraged me along the way. I succeed only because of you.

Ten years before "breakup" I was barely a freshman in high school, who had just picked up his first acoustic guitar. Ten years has now passed since "breakup". I can hardly wait to see what the next ten will bring.

With great thankfulness and humility,
JG.