I have a love-hate relationship with marketing.

I understand its purpose. I actually have a day job that is directly related to marketing clients via radio and other audio sources (streaming, podcasts, etc.), so I appreciate it, I know its power, I understand the psychology, and all of that. It is truly great and serves its purpose.

But I also am someone who hates both bullshit and self-promotion. And at its core, pretty much all effective marketing involves some level of bullshitting and/or at the very least allowing others to rain their puffery upon you via a marketing medium. I really wish it wasn’t this way, but I think it’s true. I think honesty isn’t the commodity people like to think it is. People actually want someone to tell them the true things they want to hear but then be lied to about everything else. They don’t really want honesty. That goes with marketing, too. Marketing would be very different if it were honest. (watch the movie “Crazy People” if you’d like some good examples)

As much as it’s kind of validating, I’ve always been uncomfortable when people say nice things to other people about my playing. I’m made even more uncomfortable when I have to say nice things about my own abilities. It just seems wrong. This past weekend, I was watching a new series on Netflix called “This Is Pop”, and was moved particularly by the episode called “Stockholm Syndrome” because I really identified with the Swedish producers they had on the show – in particular their description/mentioning of a Swedish cultural phenomenon/informal rule called Jantelagen. Basically it’s the concept of always keeping in mind that you’re no better than anyone else. Not really common in this country, for sure, since we’re all about the bragging. But I’ve always found it unsettling and a little unseemly. But that’s part of why all these amazing Swedish producers/songwriters have OWNED the pop charts for literal decades and yet we don’t see them flaunting anything ever or demanding people’s attention. In fact, sometimes they’re hard to track down, at least as public figures. You’d know their names, but their work is really all you know about them. The mystery contributes to the magic, though, which is almost an anachronism in today’s social media driven society.

All that said, I’m not Swedish, so I’m going to say if you’re anywhere near San Antonio, Texas, USA Saturday night, you need to get your butts to Picks Bar to hear Chandler and The Bings play piles of songs for you to sing along. We’re fun.

I took a pause when I first started this week’s entry and now I can’t think of more to write. So I’ll spare you any verbal flailing and hope you have a wonderful weekend and thank you for reading.

Peace be the journey…
TMS