A few weeks back, the Giants called up a young pitching phenom named Tim Lincecum to make his major league debut. The 22-year old had basically dominated at every level he'd ever pitched and Giants fans were clamoring for him to get his shot in the pro's. His first inning was not impressive, as he gave up two runs. He lasted into the fifth, ultimately giving up five with the Giants losing the game. As I watched this happen, I felt almost a sense of relief. For a pitcher who had not really faced that kind of adversity, it seemed the disappointment and failure in this first start would end up being a valuable learning experience. I've come to realize over the past three years now just that value. Which is not to say that I see an importance in my label failing, as I kind of see my first two years in San Francisco as all the disappointment I needed. That being said, I am really thankful for how much I had to struggle to get to the point where I am now. For instance, had I gotten the television position I tried so hard for back in 2004, who knows where I would be now.While I want nothing more than for New and Used Records to come out of the gate a resounding success, I am not afraid of a different result. It is really important to me to document as much as possible during this process, and I am really a big believer in the fact that we need to put it all out there. Since we've started this project, documentation has been an integral part and I want to make sure that wherever this road leads, that is documented too. Any adversity we face will be a valuable part of the story. There really is a great deal of uncertainty right now, as we just don't know how many people we will be able to pull for this CD release show or whether that will lead to other show offers in the coming months. We don't know how and even if local press and critics will respond. And we just don't know how much the CD will sell.
There has also been some conflict within the band. I am not going to get too detailed about it right now and it's nothing earth-shattering, but I have been successfully trying to balance my neutral stance in relation to the band. Since my role is kind of a unique label president/ manager/ booker/ documentarian/ PR guy, a certain amount of conflict resolution falls under there I think. At the same time, I also try and keep a certain distance to let things play out. I've spent much of the past couple days either on the phone or at dinner with band members just making sure we're on the same page. I'm big into keeping the channels of communication open at all times. When a disagreement arises within the band about how certain things should be done, it does force me to look at the situation and how it relates to my own goals of marketing and promotion. At the end of the day, though, I'm really just reminded of something my friend and mentor David Katznelson told me ... which is if you have an artist that you really believe in, then you put your weight behind them and let them go where they want to go. I'm certainly in this for the long haul - and I think success, failure, disappointment are all a part of that.
Oh, and as for Lincecum - well since that first start, he's 2-0 and appears virtually unhittable. I don't know if he'll rival my affection for Barry Zito, but he's certainly someone I can get behind.
2 comments:
Your positive attitude will go a long way toward cementing all the hard work that you've put into your label. Even though you are very passionate about this, you are still able to maintain the arm's length perspective of a documentarian. That's a good combination.
I agree with what Barbara has said. Everything you've just written sounds like you have it all in perspective, which is a really hard thing to do, especially since you've put so much effort into everything. It certainly sounds like everything is aligning, despite the hiccups.
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