Five Bullets 10.25.24
Tchad Blake, Shell Grotto, Offices, & more.
Good Morning and Happy Friday!
This morning is a cool fall day with clear skies here in New York City. Hard to believe we’ve got less than a week left in October! The weather is feeling more fall-like this weekend after some temperatures near 80 degrees earlier in the week.
I was planning to write about something entirely different for this week’s blog post but after watching an interview with Tchad Blake I was incredibly inspired to apply his concepts to both music and writing, so I ruminated on his creative lessons.
In this spirit, here’s a field recording I captured along Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s East River waterfront with just my iPhone:
In this clip you can hear the following sounds: cars, construction, ferries, waves, wind, people speaking, a large running club, birds, children playing, the subway travelling over the Williamsburg Bridge, and more.
This week’s bullets:
Creativity: Tchad Blake's Lessons on Creativity. This week I wrote about how Tchad Blake, the recording and mix engineer behind albums from The Black Keys, The Bad Plus, Peter Gabriel and more, uses ambient sounds and binaural recording to create a visceral, emotional response from the listener. Blake’s creative concepts can be applied across mediums, including storytelling.
Music: Eddie Van Halen Changed Rock History. Now His Brother Is Telling Their Story. Alex Van Halen, drummer for rock band Van Halen and brother to guitar god Eddie, has written a memoir. “Brothers” focuses on Alex’s relationship with Eddie as they made rock n roll history. Richard Beinstock interviewed Alex for the linked article, writing that Alex’s story is emotional; the brothers were “a unit” and very close. Not one to linger in the limelight, I was surprised to see Alex had written a book, but, as Beinstock writes, Alex wanted to tell his brother’s story and to set the record straight.
Mystery: The Mystery That’s Too Good to Solve. In England, there’s a mysterious place called the Shell Grotto - an underground chamber resembling a chapel decorated with millions of seashells. The grotto’s true origin is unknown though recent tests date it anywhere between the 16th and 18th centuries. Gabrielle Schwarz ruminates on mystery and curiosity while examining her fascination with the Shell Grotto: “After all, it’s the mystery of the grotto that gives the place its particular magic — the powerful effect of not knowing, uncertainty’s capacity to elicit close and prolonged attention, sparking the imagination with possibilities just as revealing as anything we know for sure.” Speaking of mystery, white blobs are washing up on shores in Canada.
NYC: Tommy Silk, the mind behind Landmarks of NY has a new book out. Hidden Landmarks of New York: A Tour of the City's Most Overlooked Buildings covers 120 of New York City’s more than 37,000 landmarks, from the Old Stone House to the Poe Cottage to 56 Beaver Street. For the last five years, Silk has been photographing and telling the stories behind some of the city’s most interesting buildings. I always learn something new about our great city from his work so if you’re interested to learn the story behind these locations, give him a follow and check out the book.
Photography: In his 2001 series “Office”, Lars Tunbjörk photographed the sterile, soulless environment of the modern office. Tunbjork visited workspaces in Tokyo, Stockholm and New York, capturing workers flanked by a mountain of computers and wires, among overflowing file cabinets, and an untouched birthday cake. Tunbjork said that while photographing he tried to “imagine that I’d never seen a place like this before”. Cal Newport writes: “Office” may look like a quintessential artifact of its period, but it also manages to feel contemporary, because it captures a mood that still infuses our professional lives.”
That’s all for this week. I really enjoy getting this weekly list together. It gives me a reason to explore my interests, learn more, and share it with you.
If you’d like to read more, subscribe to get Five Bullets of stuff I’m hearing, reading and seeing in your inbox every Friday.