Jump to a specific date this week

Monday July 24 
Tuesday July 25 31
Wednesday July 26
Thursday July 27
Friday July 28
Saturday July 29 13
Sunday July 30

read the archive

Met our goal in the meeting this morning.  Another great learning experience added to the empirical PhD. that I am earning at BootlegTV.  Home now, 12:23am, thinking through the worlds I have visited since last week.   

Visited the town where I grew up, and realized what a blessed childhood I had and what a great place the mid-west is to grow up (and leave...)  Saw about 120 of the 300+ people in my graduating class.   I am so very glad I made the effort to attend...  I want to crash next year's reunion as well to see more of my old friends -- I'm thinking of organizing a sort of bootleg reunion for next summer to bring together my closest friends from 20 years ago.   BretH, RichardW, KevinMc, BridgetB, SheilaB, DavidH, MaryR, JodyM, ErickN, JohnW, KathyL, KarenL, SteveC, LarryR, NeilA (if we can find him...)   These were the some of the people who I wished to see this year, but who were not there...  next year.  

* * *

Tomorrow: on to the challenge of describing the vision and execution plan for the  next phase to the the extended BootlegTV team.  

* * *

Noon all-hands meeting today to unveil the next stage of evolution at BootlegTV.  Some great feedback.   I so wish I could document some events here, but it is so very inappropriate.  I've got to stop this mistaken idea that this public document can be a place for introspection and reflection.  The stakes are too high.

* * *

My sb.com mail is working again after a week of being down.   My ISP officially sucks.  Time to move...

* * *

A new level of clarity tonight as JL, GM, DS, CVB, JH, and SB burned midnight oil in the conference room.    I blew off a morale event this evening to focus on necessary diligence.   My morale is strong after a long and difficult day.

To sleep in peace this evening.   

* * *

My 20th reunion (three days ago) seems like one million light-years away...  as does the MDV meeting which occurred on Monday.   Sands still shifting daily under these feet.   Quite a dance going on.  Part of me is thriving on this process, and part of me is suffering dreadfully.   Right now, there is one thing that keeps me going.  

Trust.

* * *

Kind and poetic mail from dear friend DebraK today.  I did not even really have time to glance at it -- but at least I saw that it arrived!!   Even that small glance sent me a small burst of hope and reminder of why this sweat and blood is necessary.    Few know the real reasons.   

But, this is is neither the time nor place for pronouncements.   Time to shut up and go to bed.

* * *

More roller-coaster action today, now on the upswing as we kick into serious preparation for the transformations which are coming next week. 

Only 12:06am now.  To bed early this evening.  Not bad since I have a 7am breakfast meeting. 

* * *

Dinner with Bob Bejan this evening at a sushi place in Madison Park.  Great to catch up with him -- I haven't seen Bob for at least a year.   Bob was largely responsible for the projects that lured me to MS over four years ago.   

Coincidence or another magic inevitability landing at my feet at just the right moment?  

A day of decisions.  It began at 7am with a breakfast meeting on Mercer Island.  

And some good meetings with BillS, MichaelH, and MichaelS, among others.  Some extremely important and difficult stuff going around as a result of the markets reeling in a global rash of ongoing unaccountable behaviors within the dot com world.   

Rhetorical question of the year: what to do when what we do has no measurable or sustainable value?  The easy answer: blame something or someone else, hide, coast, or ride on someone else's dime?   Go public?  Add a dot and a com to the end of the name?    

No.   That strategy no longer works in the market.  This market is more intelligent than it has been in the recent past.   

The difficult answer: make sure that what we are doing has real value.   And how to get accountability?  Does what I am doing have real value?  

The not so rhetorical version of this question: what is the value of my day-to-day, hour-to-hour actions, minute-to-minute actions?  Am I hiding, coasting?  

Or is my work really contributing something of value to the people around me, and to the world? Perhaps it's easy to ask this question if you are manager of a company who is accountable to shareholders, customers, and employees.    Three audiences, each with different demands, expectations, and requirements...  but the question remains: how to create value with accountability?

Fortunately, we have been able to turn on a dime and deliver something that has real value and big potential.  I am deeply excited about the potential and that which is now within reach.   

Execution is everything from here.

* * *

An excellent letter written by DavidS a few days ago is alive in the front of my mind this evening.  Someday, it may even make it's way out into a public forum.  But not tonight.

Just completed recording in the living room with the SGC.  We have 12 pieces in our repertoire that need to be documented before Jaxie goes on leave in a few months.   I am going to miss this configuration (that is,... until we regroup next year.)

Recording in Medina this afternoon after a fruitful morning at work.   Feeling very confident and excited about where BTV is going.  Feeling very uneasy about the transitions necessary to get there.

* * *

SGC recording felt somewhat stiff and difficult.  Lots of background noise: birds, hum, and daytime sounds.  Some yeomen's work, but not much magic flowing this afternoon.

* * *

Some magic moments at Mr. Spots this evening, however.  Many familiar faces in the audience this evening.  And some major distractions too, but that's another story.  Jaxie was no help whatsoever in the distraction department.   But she probably saved me a great deal of grief, for which I should probably thank her in advance. 

Thanks Jax. 

Nice to have Tobin contributing his tone, power,  and grace as part of this group.  Looking forward to Bumbershoot with both Tobin and Curt motoring through the Afghanistan bass lines.  Our huge and throbbing Bumbershoot audience may be very disappointed if we show up as a lame-o, un-tight quintet.   Oh well,... I guess another couple of years of playing to empty coffeehouse audiences wouldn't be soooo bad.    

( Money seems to be useless.  Guilt is also not quite working.  Hmmm...  wonder if fear of sucking in front of lots of people would work? )   

Doubt it.  But it's worth a shot.

* * *

Up at 7am for an 8am meeting in the office.  Working around 100 hour weeks lately along with DS, GM, JL, the core BTV team who are going pedal to the metal toward our destiny.   Then back home by 11 to open the door for the arriving team.

* * *

Six hours of SGC recording this afternoon.  My fingers are tired by the end, and we feel spent.  Wish we were just keeping this set up and recording every rehearsal from now on.  One hour of material development, and one hour of "practicing recording" would be very good for us.  The logistics for this kind of extended recording work, however, for this group, at this time, seem insurmountable and unlikely.  Still, perhaps we are missing a once in a lifetime opportunity to catch this configuration at it's peak?

* * *

Some great stuff going on in the diaries lately. One example,  TravisH thinks the SGC performance team should change our name.   Here is the specific quote:

I think the SGC should change their name. They’re a subset of the Seattle Guitar Circle, not the set itself. 

Hmmmm... where have I heard this logic before?  Perhaps it is time to address this cyclical mis-understanding. 

It is true that when the Seattle Guitar Circle performs, we represent a larger body called the  Seattle Guitar Circle, which is a group of aspiring musicians who work together in various configurations on a number of activities related to the practice and performance of music.

When we perform as the Seattle Guitar Circle, we are a physical subset, but we both represent and actually are the Seattle Guitar Circle.    In fact, in my view, there is no other name that could more accurately and precisely represent who we are and what we do.  When we perform, we step into the role and function of the Seattle Guitar Circle, and this is the group that performs at our shows, regardless of who shows up onstage. 

The personnel are obviously not fixed as evidenced by the flexible configurations we have adopted over the past 2-7 years.  Was Christian/Bill/Tobin/Debra/Trey a "guest" or a "member" when they performed with the SGC?   This depends on your attention span.   Last night, Tobin was playing with the Seattle Guitar Circle.  Was he a member of the group?   This is not just a question of semantics.    It is a question of function and role.

* * * 

Potential participation in this team is open to anyone who can deliver the repertoire and who is up to the minimum performance standard.  But even this is no guarantee that there will be a stool available for whoever shows up.

We have even invited a few people to join us on occasion (and some have said "no," not realizing perhaps that open doors do not always remain open)  -- it is likely that the lineup may evolve gently in the near future to accommodate practicalities.   However, the price for entry is actually quite high. 

* * *

So then, a logical next question:  why is the Seattle Repertoire Circle not called the Seattle Guitar Circle when they perform?  The blunt and practical answer is that this has to do with level, reliability, function, experience, guidance, and trust.

The bottom line: when an audience sees a Seattle Guitar Circle show, the don't see Curt, Dean, Steve, Bob and Jaxie.  If we do our work well, the audience will see and hear the music of  the Seattle Guitar Circle: a large group that is more than the sum of the individual performing members.

When the Seattle Guitar Circle performs, the audience and the musicians have the potential to be part of a process which has been fed by 15+ years of work by thousands of guitarists, aspiring musicians, kitchen coordinators, and seminar organizers. 

* * *

Okay, enough.   I'm violating the "don't write your diary when you are cranky and tired" rule.  By definition, this will get me into trouble.  You'd think I know better by now...

* * *

Seattle Guiar Circle at John Henning's private party two weeks ago.   Photos by TravisM.

Curt Golden, glowing in the dark on forty-nine notes.   
Photos by TravisM.

* * *