That new bass player definitely upped their weird factor

The name of the band isn’t important. What is important is their lineup. A band who toured around the midwest in the early 2000s with two guitarists, bass player, and drummer. Their music was pretty technical, a little catchy, sort of strange at times. Somewhat fast, poppy, mathy.

The first time I saw them their stage present was mostly normal with sudden bursts of energy and excitement. At this time the bass player was a larger kid. Looked less hip than the others. He had a stage presence that was more measured and reserved. After their show they stayed at my apartment, which was a normal experience. Being from Brooklyn, the band had different stories to tell but we could still relate to each other. They were good guys. They had lame jobs, a friendly demeanor, and were very grateful for being able to stay with me. 

The next time I saw them they were quite different. As a band, they had had some success. In their particular music scene their latest album was popular. And when they toured on that album their stage presence was quite different. Jittery, bouncy, crazy. Stops and starts. Jumps and jerks. In particular, their new bass player was very hip and looked the part. He made very strange faces while playing. He lurched back and forth, jumped this way and that, and held his bass in random, weird positions. And it all fit. The look, the sound, the antics. Now they were an entire package. 

I talked to them a bit after the show. Still very nice guys but they had a different vibe. They mentioned how they had buttoned up everything from the previous time they toured through town. Better lineup, better presence, better sound. Which I could totally see. It was so obvious. Their brand had evolved and it now all made sense. 

Although, I’d rather have the old bass player around to grab breakfast with. This new guy, I liked his art, but that’s where it ended. This time, they didn’t stay at my apartment. It just didn’t fit the brand.

This has been the 1st account of the times in my life when I was hit with the importance of branding in the physical world. There will be more to come I’m sure.

What are you hiding behind?

Your status? Your career? Your smarts? Your social media profiles? Your sharp wit? Your good looks? You introverted ability to be completely fine being by yourself?

More Potential Topics

  1. Punk rock bands I want to be in until my fingers bleed: IDLES

  2. How I cook: slowly, loudly, full of flavor

  3. When bad words are limiting

  4. Personal Velocity

  5. Branding Shit (on the Trump brand, AKA polishing a turd)

  6. Thinking about death on the daily

  7. The Internet could never be bad, right?

  8. Chasing the long-form

  9. Being better at headlines than the full story

  10. Must love tacos

  11. Where/when design ends

  12. 1979

  13. The magical quality of trees

  14. The Curmudgeon

  15. Leisure Man

  16. Time Travel

  17. That one time

  18. I want to talk about my bias

America Today

When you think about America today, what is a belief that you have to defend? 

That it’s liberty and justice, FOR ALL. America doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t mean that. If we’re not going to stand up for that, than we need to unchisel it from all our monuments and erase it from the pages of all our books. It’s so baseline. And yet in today’s America that needs to be defended like never before. Black, brown, immigrants, kids, people with pre-existing conditions, disabled folks, poor people, homeless people, the unemployed, the uneducated, the forgotten, and on and on and on. If we can’t stand behind liberty and justice for all than nothing else matters.

American Idiot™

– My latest on Medium –

The epic tug of war between the forces of progression or regression will always be with us. Before the kook was given the keys to the kingdom, it seemed as if progress was winning out. But instead, the forces of regression combined with a general sense of apathy to make the jerk backward as jarring as possible.

Read on Medium »

Culture Break: 07/18

The third installment in an ongoing monthly series on the cultural things that break through the noise and touch the soul.

APESHIT
VIDEO — The Carters are in the Louvre! The latest from Beyoncé and Jay-Z drops it like its hot. Huge stadiums with adoring fans? Yeah, they got ’em. All those skin tones, stylin.’

Sudan Archives, Sink
EP — From a 24-year-old violinist, these six songs are full of beats that skip alongside captivating vocals, intertwining emotions and grooves. Sink lower and get overcome by the journey into a meandering sound, chopping to and fro, looking for the feeling.

Jorja Smith, Lost & Found
ALBUM — From a 21-year-old English singer, this album is hauntingly beautiful, wandering and honest. An urgent cry out into a troubled world where we’re all looking for what we’ve lost. 

A Cultural Vacuum
OPINION — What happens to a life without music, film, art, literature, performance, experimentation? If it doesn’t die, it’s certainly diminished. As Dave Eggers puts in the New York Times; it’s myopic, unlearned, cruel. 

What A Day
NEWSLETTER — It’s politics, but hey, what isn’t these days. The delivery and the tone hit just right in our current political moment with humor, grace, wit, and snark. When your government is run by truly awful people, one way to cope is to just laugh at all the absurdity. And then call/write/organize/march/vote!

IDLES, Danny Nedelko
VIDEO — This hit me up side the head in the best way possible. I thought at first this could be punk rock from the 90s. Nah, 2018. It’s so fucking great I love it. Bring on Joy as an Act of Resistance and let’s dance our fucking asses off.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
DOCUMENTARY — The answer to the fast-paced, over-stimulated, too-much-to-handle programming for children at the advent of television? Why a turtle, of course! This film about Mr. Rogers was so good, so uplifting, so heartbreaking. See it in the theater and try not to cry, I dare you. At a moment when there is so much anger and resentment, this is an antidote. 

We the People
ART — Now on display at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, We the People by Nari War is made of shoelaces. It shows that our democracy is composed of many small parts: its citizens.

Hannah Gadsby, Nanette
COMEDY — This stand-up show starts out like something I was expecting and then changes into something very different. It’s so powerful and moving. A comedy about the limits of comedy, the limits of humanity, and the need for complete stories. Beautifully, heartbreakingly real.