A man about town taking photos of things he says #2

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. Interesting thoughts on the benefits of sharing what you do or know for free. In a hyper-competitive environment like the internet, standing out from the crowd is difficult. Sharing your expertise for free can be a great way to build a reputation or following. — “Giving My Images Away For Free” by Samuel Zeller.
    
2. One of my favourite podcasts This American Life has just finished an excellent miniseries on the 57,000 refugees living in Greece. It’s far too easy to forget there are people with hopes and dreams just like you and I behind the statistics we hear on the news. This American Life has done a great job illuminating some of these people’s lives. I highly recommend both episodes as well as the online tour of the refugee camps that accompanies the series. Really eye-opening and moving.
    
3. Another podcast recommendation, this time from Radiolab. Totally fascinating and one of my new favourite episodes. — “In this story, a dog introduces us to a strange creature that burrows beneath forests, building an underground network where deals are made and lives are saved (and lost) in a complex web of friendships, rivalries, and business relations. It’s a network that scientists are only just beginning to untangle and map, and it’s not only turning our understanding of forests upside down, it’s leading some researchers to rethink what it means to be intelligent.”
    
4. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of music by Tim Hecker. Here are some favourites on Spotify. 
    
5. I’m really enjoying Instagram’s new Stories feature. I follow a lot of artists, musicians and photographers and many of them having been sharing behind the scenes footage and insights in to their creative process. The author and illustrator Dallas Clayton’s stories have been some of my favourites. Go follow him and while you’re at it… why not follow me?

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

Last week Kick! Music Schools ran it's July Rock School at St Peter's by the Waterfront in Ipswich.

At the concert, we had the pleasure of witnessing this guitar solo by a 12-year-old. Age is rarely a good indicator of a person's talent, but needless to say, our minds were collectively blown!

Truly inspiring. Enjoy! 🎸🔥

ps. You can learn more about Kick! Music Schools at www.kickmusicschools.co.uk.

Reflect

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. A few weeks ago I started reading Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman about eccentric Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. I'm just over halfway through and can already tell I'll be recommending it to anyone who will listen!
    
2. Attention musicians and concert goers, if you don't wear earplugs you might want to listen to/ read this and reconsider — "an unprotected human ear can spend 8 hours a day exposed to 85 decibels (freeway noise, crowded restaurant) without incurring damage. But if you go up to 115 decibels (chainsaw, loud rock concert) your safe exposure time is only half a minute before your hearing could be affected."
    
3. I'm trying to build more time for reflection, creativity and free-thinking into my day. Detaching from social media and the distractions calling out from our smartphones is hard, but the cost of not doing so is probably higher than you realise. It might be time Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain.
    
4. So far I've resisted the temptation to play Pokemon Go. The concept is great and I'd probably love it... but for now it's an unwelcome distraction. This video on how free mobile games are designed to make money is really worth watching.
    
5. This last week I've made a conscious effort to listen to more unfamiliar/ new music. I love Spotify's Related Artists feature for this. Recent discoveries include Ludovico Einaudi, Chihei Hatakeyama, GoGo Penguin and Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

Three Crows

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. Nonkeen (featuring the incredible and prolific Nils Frahm) have just released their second (!!!) album of 2016. It's a bit of an oddball, but saying that, the title is Oddments Of The Gamble (the first album was The Gamble) so it probably shouldn't be much of a surprise. Here it is on Spotify and here's a review by Clash.
    
2. I recently came across the "Poet Laureate of Twitter" Brian Bilston. His poem Refugees is clever and wonderful. You'll find him on Twitter here.
    
3. How technology disrupted the truth — A long-read on how social media and technology is changing/ threatening journalism and the world beyond. An article made all the more important and relevant given the apparent rise of "post-fact politics". Here it is in audio form.
    
4. I've mentioned Seth Godin before on this blog. He's one of my favourite thinkers and someone who inspires me a great deal. I recommend reading EVERYTHING he writes, he's that good. His daily blog is a good place to start. These two posts from the last week are great.
    
5. Christoph Niemann (@abstractsunday) is one of my favourite people to follow on Instagram. I particularly like his New Yorker covers.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

Every now and then I answer drumming and music related questions on the Q&A website Quora. I thought I'd share my most recent post here with you as it's a question I'm asked fairly regularly.

Q: What are some cool drum beats I could learn?

A: If you're after new ideas and systems for developing unique grooves I’d highly recommend Jost Nickel’s Groove Book. It’s one of the best groove books out there and I’m surprised so few have heard of it!

He breaks his ideas and concepts down very well and offers plenty of suggestions on developing his ideas further.

Another option would be Future Sounds by David Garibaldi. Full of cool grooves but less on the systems for developing your own.

I shared a few other book recommendations on my blog a few months back which you might find useful.

Read on Quora.