Expired Dreams

I’ve never been a fan of the term, “bucket list.” It’s my hang-up, I know, but it seems too frivolous for my needs. And, I don’t have anything that I want to do that would be “bucket-ish.” I don’t want to hike the Appalachian Trail. I don’t want to take Samba lessons or learn how to sail. I’m very comfortable in my own skin when it comes to things like that.  

But professionally it’s a different story. I’ve been holding on to the idea of doing some projects that appeal to me and that, in my mind, are too good not to do. But holding on to these ideas is impeding any possible new projects. 

This thought has been percolating for the last few years but came to a head with the death of my friend, Rick Elias. He and I spent loads of time talking about, mostly, his career in music. What could have been, should have been, and that sort of thing. I was always saying that we could still do some good things, book some shows, etc. He was very patient but a realist and was moving on. Rick did release a fantastic album called “jōb” but I don’t think his heart was into any bold moves. Sadly, illness took him much too soon.

My brother Scott has a storage locker in Los Angeles that holds 12,000 videos that he has shot for clients, studios, stars, and newsmakers from 1983 to 2008. I’ve seen the boxes in there. We’re talking major movie behind-the-scenes as well as interviews with the likes of Schwarzenegger, Tarantino, Hoffman, and others. I’ve wanted to go through the tapes, have Scott comment and reminisce and capture that on video. But that’s a massive project and, for a myriad of reasons, some good and some a combination of laziness and the feeling of being overwhelmed at the prospect, I’ve decided to take it off my list. Last week I called him and said, “This is never going to happen.” And it felt good. I should point out that in no way did Scott contribute to the demise of this, we both thought it would be fun if we had the time.

Now realizing that my mental disc space was too crowded and that I needed to open up some more room, I reviewed other projects that had lingered too long and put them away in a “Expired Dreams” file. I’m ready for more action.

 During this process, in April, Toby Francis posted on Facebook that nobody over the age of 42 should be allowed at the Coachella Festival. This really caught my eye. Toby is one of the concert sound industry’s most respected sound mixers. He’s also well over 42 in age and I was pretty sure that he was posting minutes before taking his seat at FOH to mix superstar Ariana Grande. Toby is an inspiring guy for me. Whether or not he’d admit it, I suspect he has done some mental hard drive cleansing through the years and freed up space in order to have a laser-like focus on new and exciting projects. 

 Going forward, I’m excited about meeting new artists. Even though some aspects of modern music are, to my mind, god-awful, a great song is a great song and I like finding them and their creators. I also am excited about learning artistic “things” from my sons, Jasper and Duncan. And learning about video production. Thankfully, I have two brothers who are experts. And immersing myself in movies and film. I watched my first Akira Kurosawa film the other day and loved it. Last, I’m looking forward to working more with my wife and business partner, Claudia McVeigh. She had the audacity to take a real job recently and I miss her.

Since starting Guesthouse Projects I’ve had the pleasure of helping and working with a lot of great pro audio manufacturers, their marketing teams, and a slew of incredible artists. Let me know if I can help your efforts whether it’s PR, artist relations, or general content gathering.