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The flipping of the calendar is an obvious time for retrospection and brief trips down memory lane. I've tried journaling and writing but I don't really have the discipline or habits to keep that going. The mechanics of picking up a pen or putting hands on keyboard doesn't always work for me (evidence: the lack of action on this blog).

I like to keep track of the happenings in my life through photographs - the time and geo stamps are especially helpful in the storytelling. Lately I've been shooting a little video too. It's been sweet to revisit moments of life, to hear a voice or sound, to see someone's gesture that prompts a small flood of memories.

Every once and a while I stumble across someone else's video on YouTube that brings me right back to a moment, a place, a person. Here's one that happened recently...

The video below is two and a half minutes of someone's rando walkthrough of Black Market Music in West Hollywood probably in the late 90s or early 00s. There's not much to the video - it's poor VHS quality, shaky, no narration, awful sound, blurry, bad color. Totally charming.

We see a random view from the street (72 and sunny in west Hollywood), piles of amplifiers, guitars hanging everywhere, people chit-chatting (even eating lunch), racks of gear, display cases full of pedals and effects. It's a mess. It's full of action. If you know anything about music gear it's just a disgustingly opulent - absolutely ridiculous.

Black Market Music specialized in used gear and was thriving at this point. The music industry was at its absolute apex (file sharing was JUST starting - we hadn't yet heard Lars whining about Napster). Mega bands and labels were making piles of money with their recordings and tours. And if the major label music biz was a gold mine, Black Market Music was a major purveyor of second- hand shovels for all the miners.

I had the chance to walk through the shop right around that point in time when I went to LA with Steve Bell & Seth Freeman for a Little John show. I'm pretty sure it was Steve who led us to the shop. He was a master of material things - he helped me buy my bass amp and taught me about microphones, effects, amplifiers, tubes, drums. He was way over the horizon as far as his awareness and understanding of all kinds of gear.

At that point I didn't really know squat about Marshall amps or Gibson guitars. I probably didn't own a guitar amp. I had a Fender Lead II guitar and a Music Man bass, maybe that Ampeg Amp that Steve helped me buy. But I was solidly in Peavey Solid State-land as far as my understanding of amps went. I remember the smell of the place - musty, kinda sweaty, definitely dusty. I remember seeing piles of gear that had spray-paint logos from Van Halen and hair metal bands - gently used gear from tours or big shows. I remember seeing OLD guitars - like don't touch it old. Things that went for $5k (something like $12k today).

I remember a pile of Magnatone amps - I had just been introduced to Magnatone by Joe Gore who played a slide guitar through his to show me how it sounded - naturally overdriven full and juicy and perfect. They were hard to find, probably not in production at that point (though they've recently come back to life) - unobtanium, a unicorn. And here on the floor at Black Market were like 10 of them.

I remember things that were obviously used by pros - oh there's Alex Van Halen's drum cases, those are Tom Petty's amps, that's one of ELP's keyboard rack system. I'm sure there were even better examples that just went over my head.

It's one of the parts of life that I've come to appreciate lately - there are topics and subjects we can learn about that have infinite complexity. The more we learn, the more we see yet to be learned. The amount you could learn blooms and grows and goes and goes. Steve Bell was great at learning all of the stuff. He inspired me to do the same.

Through Steve and much later some of my YooToobers (Johan Segeborn, Kyle Bull, Pete Thorn, Warren Huart, the Guitologist (before he went nuts), Hermansson to name a few) I've learned just enough to realize how much gold was in that room. Looking through today's eyes, this scene is just bonkers.

Couple of droolworthy call outs worth mentioning: That droopy strat thing at 00:38, the hummingbirds hanging in the background next to the hofner bass at 00:42, the red tolex Marshall PA with two (pa) cabinets at 02:20, the pile of JCM800s at 01:03, the spread of snare drums at 01:09, the mountain of 4-hole plexis or JMPs at 01:48, the heap of old EHX pedals at 02:36, the tonebenders and similar pedals at 02:00. Gibson Jumbos sprinkled throughout. Marshall 8x10s tucked into the scenery... Park, Hiwatt... Stuff you just don't see around many places.

Go watch it:

Couple parting thoughts: who's that guy sitting on the Orange cab? Maybe one of the Eels? Some of my friends have told me of their star-sightings at BMM (maybe I'll post a part 2?). Did they let just any band put their show flyer or 8x10 glossy on that bulletin board by the door. There's another walkthrough from another date that shows more purple tolex and more of the keyboard and combo-amp stock.

I took a field trip a little while back to test out playing guitar outside. I want to do more of this. Get ready.

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category = MUSIC
tagses = DOODLE, DOODLES, IMPROVISATION, IMPROV, GUITAR, NOISE, LOOP, ABSTRACT, SEMANTICSATIATION, HARMONICSATIATION, IMPROVISED, LIVEMUSIC, SOUNDONSOUND, MOLATE, POINTMOLATE, RICHMONDBRIDGE, MTTAMALPAIS, SOLOGUITAR, 16MM,
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Believe it or not- I've been trying to invest a little more time writing lately. Part of this motivation comes from working on stories highlighting capabilities and success that the Lab Zero team has had in working with our clients. The ice-age this-here personal blog has experienced will warm, maybe even thaw. I recently put a quick answer onto Quora and figured I'd capture it here too.

Question: Why is Agile So Popular?

Short answer: Agile is not popular.

My answer will focus on the software world but there are many other ways to tell this story without the software focus.

The promise of Agility is awfully alluring for roles close to the work in a typical org: product managers, designers, and engineers. The way Agile prefers 'individuals & interactions' over 'tools & process' breathes fresh air into a normally stifled environment. Many see Agile's focus on working software over documentation as the right priority for a product team. Any product team will feel like they're driving value into their company when they're able to respond to change rather than merely follow a plan. Benefits abound for teams who want a sustainable pace of work and a high level of accountability. Benefits abound for organizations who want unstoppable, self-organizing teams to drive value.

There are of course real practical challenges in moving a team to a new way of working in companies that haven't already made the leap into Agility. Most people in the software world have encountered these challenges at some point in their career: people get tripped-up on writing / sizing / accepting stories, overloading sprints, and so on and so on. The friction that slows and challenges a team's adoption of Agile is real - even if a transformation is well funded and supported with coaches & experts.

But wait, there's more - all this agility must happen in the context of delivering software and driving results for a business. Chances are there's someone in the PMO (not to pick on Program Management) who wants some predictability in planning a portfolio of work. They have genuine needs involving knowing when reliable work will be delivered. The predictability they seek is critical to the success of the business. Even though Agile programs can be predictable, many aren't at first. How patient can a business be before it sees results from an investment in agility? (spoiler: not very patient)

Here's where it gets tricky- unless someone brings the leadership along, the agile transformation will fail. The work of connecting a plan with a vision forces leadership to take what can feel like a trust-fall. If you've ever helped a leader through their 'trough of despair' in adopting new tricks, you've seen why many agile transformations fail. Investment that doesn't serve a business is waste. No leader can waste time or money in pursuit of agility if it's not showing a benefit.

Most agile transformations fail at one of these levels: team, portfolio planning, leadership. Transformations will fail because teams lack clear signals showing where to focus training. Teams need access to experts in product management, design, and engineering - not just coaches. They will fail because planners aren't supported in working with agile teams. They will fail because leaders haven't bought-into their role in an agile organization. They will fail because leaders haven't seen the benefit to the business.

Sounds pretty bleak, huh? Well that's why you're on Quora, right? When I say 'fail' here I mean that the promise or potential of Agile is never realized. Instead, an organization will settle for some blend of old and new. If they're lucky they can see some small benefit. But the story doesn't have to be this bleak. With access to expertise (from outside the organization) and commitment (within) to driving change, any company at any scale can reach it.

Agile is a rare, beautiful thing - and really totally invisible to the people within it when working its best. I suspect very few software professionals will ever encounter this in their careers. Agile is not popular, but it's worth pursuing.

Go see it in the wild: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Agile-so-popular/answer/Chris-Greacen

I've been writing a series of posts called #MyMusical2018 that covers some of the musical things I've been involved with over the past calendar year. The last post was about open mics and other gigs. This one is all about the doodles...

#MyMusical2018 Part 4: Doodles (something New)

This is new. This is experimental. This is for fun.

I shared a few brief instrumental songs that I called doodles in this year's Song-A-Day event. These doodles came from a process I developed over a stretch of Sunday mornings basically as part of the breakfast routine. My girls would sit on the couch and read a book (or more likely: play a video game) and I'd create something with a guitar, delay pedal, and looping pedal.

Eventually I got smart and started recording the resulting compositions on my phone. At some point later this year, I stumbled onto those recordings and those sounds instantly brought me back to Sunday morning. So think of it as a holiday gift (yes, you may re-gift this if it's not your thing - seriously: find someone who might appreciate this and send it over to them).

Here's what I wrote on Bandcamp...

I created these doodles at home as part of my Sunday morning routine that also included coffee, a newspaper, and making breakfast for my girls. These compositions are conceived in the moment and barely captured using the voice memo app on my phone.

The resulting Lo-fi recordings are special to me because they capture the time and place where our lives took a turn toward a "new" direction.

The background noise, voices, creaking chairs and room sounds are part of the charm for me - listening to these could transport us right back to our living room in the 2014-2018 range. Get comfy, settle-in, let's see where this goes.

What do you think?

Keep your eyes peeled for the next post in the #MyMusical2018 series: "Other shows"

2018 was a musically-rich year fo me. This post is the second in a series of brief roll- ups of some of the musical projects in which I performed this year. The last post was all about my band Doubleplus Alright. This one is about an ongoing project I've done every February for the last decade called Song-A-Day.

#MyMusical2018: Song-A-Day 2018

Holymoly, this was a big year for the Song-A-Day crew. This year's project was full and highly productive for everyone who participated. Know what? 2018 marks the 10th year this group has written, recorded, and shared a new song every day in February.

If you don't know me, here's the brief background on this project - each year I write and record and share a new song every day during the month of February. I do this with a bunch of musician-friends who have participated for many years. I'm still shy of 300 songs, but there are a few folks who are WAY over 300. Normally everyone records at home, alone, and shares music in the middle of the night. I's FUN.

This year was also special because we got a chance to play songs in front of an audience at the Alameda County Fair. We had been joking about playing he AC Fair for a while- i was a punchline that had legs.

Eventually those legs ran off and got in touch with the booking agent for the fair. Before anyone could say 'no' we were on the bill... with no real rehearsals, and no real plan (kinda like the project as a whole right?) this is where we ended up (oh hey- a video!)

Oh hey- some photos! (click through to see more)

I was a blast! 10/10! Would do it again!

Keep your eyes peeled for the next post in the #MyMusical2018 series: "Open Mics and Other Gigs" I've played.