The Man is the new Rockstar

"Excuse me, are you the inspector general?"

I mean, it said it on his flight suit.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Turns out I should learn a bit more about the Air Force.

However, he was a kind and gracious fellow, and we struck up a conversation right in the restaurant today where I was grabbing a quick lunch between DJ gigs.  And I learned something way cool that pertains to the music industry and how us musicians might do well to embrace change a bit more.

Greg works for the inspector general, and his department writes the rules for how inspections are supposed to take place.  There's a gazillion people in the US Air Force (an exact, military-approved number), and his crew figures out how to write guidelines for say, how to make sure that there's no broken windows with their property.  He told me that they're going through some major changes, and they're building a culture of change in the workplace.  "There's so much change happening, and happening so rapidly, we need to do our best to embrace that."

Yes, you heard that right.  The United States Air Force, with crew cuts, strict discipline, and cool fighter jets, is building a culture of change...and I'm over here wondering about Spotify, nickles and dimes, and how to sell stuff to friends.

It's probably good that I don't fly F-16's.

When I signed up to be a musician, some of the themes that were going through my head were:

- Thinking as big as possible.

- Having friends say "wow!"

- Being change and the very cutting edge.

Time went by, and I became involved in the nitty-gritty of the industry, and got caught up in the day-to-day hustle.  I'm very grateful that I got to talk to Greg today and hear how he was embracing change.

When "the man" is outdoing me on all fronts, it's a bit of a wake-up call.   Yes, I know - it's challenging to be a musician.  But - I'm so lucky to get to make noise.  Digging ditches is hard.  Guitar is not.  The man is outdoing me.  I've got to change that.  I'm going to do my best to remember not only that I signed up for this, but why I signed up for this.  Not to have friends support me...but to raise everyone up on a tide of awesome.  Not to scrape by, but to create a sound that the wind can dance to.  Yes, I'm terribly confused, and not at all sure how it will ever work. I wish I were writing this from a platform of success and cash, and that my fellow hardworking musicians were camping in gold-plated vans eating ramen with caviar.  I get it - it's tricky.   But - it's also a great time to be a musician.  And even if it weren't, that doesn't matter.  Keep the cheese, bro.  It's been moved, but that doesn't matter, because I'm going vegan.


Are you ready to ROCK?!


- Josh