I’ve got heroin on my mind this morning. You see, there are days when I obsess about music and there are days when I don’t care so much about it and consider it mere background noise. Then there’s the other days when I am flat-out convinced that out of the 4,500 songs I have in my digital library, there isn’t a single one I want to hear.
I’m in New York City this entire week, engaged in what is often referred to as “intensive strategy sessions” for work, typically lasting from dawn to dark. We do this from time to time and it’s good on a few levels, most notably the fact that our spread-out team (NYC, Boston, SF) all get to convene in person and work together – a rare occasion and one that should probably happen more. We have a great team of people with varying personalities, backgrounds and interests and we’re brutally honest with each other, which is incredibly healthy. As a new member of our team mentioned yesterday, there is no groupthink here. We all have our own ways of approaching things and we respect one another’s opinions. On top of that, we get along rather famously outside of the office, too. I would consider any one of them a good friend, in addition to being labeled co-workers.
Anyway, I got sidetracked there. Music often acts as my companion, especially when I am traveling. If I’m ragged on an airplane, I can find songs that match my mood. If I’m working, I can find songs that trigger creativity or the will to keep my foot on the pedal for a few minutes longer. This morning, though, on my ten-block walk to the office, the music found me. Consecutively, The Velvet Underground’s “There She Goes Again,” Mark Lanegan’s “Hit The City,” and Mother Love Bone’s “Bone China,” three completely different songs, made their way into my morning. All three artists are well known for their associations with heroin at one point or another, but it was interesting that the Ipod produced these three songs as I was making my way down the cement walkways of the city.
Of course, NYC is nothing like it was in Velvet Underground’s heyday. A city that was awash in trash, controversy and funk has slowly been Reaganized, for better or worse. But it’s fun to let the music take you away sometimes – to try and paint a picture of what things looked like in another time. I suspect MTV made me like that….