It’s Not Imposter Syndrome If You Actually Suck
Rock ‘n Roll Fantasy Crashes, Jazz Fandom Rises, and Your Questions Answered!
I’m pleased to welcome an enormous influx of new readers to Jazz and Coffee this week! Whether you’ve recently arrived or you’ve been following my Instagram reviews for years, thank you—I’ll endeavor to make your Jazz and Coffee time informative, entertaining, and well-spent.
Watching subscribers grow exponentially in a matter of days has been exciting and humbling. Substack alerted me that their editorial team had selected Jazz and Coffee as a 2024 Featured Publication after last week’s posts were already in play—any changes to what I’d written would be the equivalent of recalling an album that was already in stores for overdubs and artwork changes. That was liberating since you can’t obsess too much over what’s already done. Then as I began writing for this week—doubling up on all the obsessions I couldn’t indulge in last week—I realized I felt a little nervous. It’s the same feeling I’ve had before delivering a presentation to a large group at work, or participating in a panel. I’ve done a lot of that over the last couple of decades and I’m confident in my public speaking skills when talking about the music business or digital marketing. But when it comes to getting up on stage and engaging in more creative endeavors, I admit to having a bit of stage fright. I recognize this feeling from long ago…
There were a countable number of weeks I played in a college rock band, and we played one larger-than-average gig that wasn’t even a real gig. It was a the annual student talent show on the stage of Atwood Hall, Clark University. The same stage where Hendrix and the Dead played. The same stage where it took less than ten minutes to confirm that any future I would have in music would be on the business side. Because I had NO business being on the music side.
We were covering the Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love.” For reasons I don’t recall, though I remember the cartoonishly oversized drama it created, we were registered to perform as Equinox. If you think the band name sucked, you should have heard us. It’s possible my memory is corrupt. If we’d truly applied ourselves, practiced diligently, taken a lesson or two, gotten a little coaching on stage presence, and some advice on dressing the part, we might have gotten all the way up to “sucked.” We were utterly bereft of musical aptitude. In hindsight, Utterly Bereft would have been a fantastic band name.
My problem—speaking to the nervous feeling that came over me as I started writing this week—was when I looked out and saw ALL THOSE PEOPLE, I got panicky about not screwing up. So, I started overthinking. Which were the right chords? Was I supposed to solo first or was the other guitarist? Which ending had we decided was best? Basically, I thought about everything else EXCEPT checking to see that I was in tune before starting. Spoiler alert: I was not. In fact, if there’s an opposite, that’s what I was. If that were the only thing that went wrong... ‘Nuff said.
So far as I know, there is no video evidence, and I believe the only audio evidence has been vaulted by a band member who shall remain nameless. The other band members know where he lives—should a content leak occur, we all have shovels and alibis prepared. But I don’t want anyone reading to feel completely cheated out of enjoying at least a glimpse of this embarrassing story: here’s a peak at 19-year-old Syd in musician mode, along with a standing offer that I will change all of my social media profiles to this photo for a period of one year if you make a $100K donation to Girl Scout Troop 6000, who are doing incredibly important work.
The self-imposed pressure to do right by YOU, the music, and the musicians—to all of whom I’m grateful—will sort itself out. I’m reasonably confident that just like nobody at Atwood Hall pelted us with rocks and garbage (though we deserved it), I shan’t be punished by a tsunami of unsubscribes or a virtual village bearing digital torches and pitchforks coming for me if every post isn’t perfect. But if I’ve learned anything from my delusions of bandeur, I should tune up first. Which means before the next big post, the mailbag is filled to overflowing—the number of DMs (direct messages) I’ve gotten over the last week is more than I’ve received in the previous year. That’s cool, though with so many variations on similar themes, I’d like to give a couple of quick replies, with the goal of diving more deeply into these topics in the coming weeks as there’s clearly an appetite for answers!
Tell Us More About Your Listening Setup: What Gear Do You Use?
I’ve gotten this question via Instagram about once per week for the last few years. Here’s a short rundown which is only a list. I’ll do a deeper dive in a future post, along with a series on creating, managing, and making the most of your digital music library. While I’m a vinyl enthusiast to the hilt, my listening experience is hybrid—I have an excellent digital front end to go along with my turntable rig, which gives me a lot of flexibility at home or on the go.
Turntable: Rega Planar 3 (2016 model). I was running a Groovetracer Subplatter and Acryllic platter for awhile, but went back to the stock Rega sub and glass platter.
Cartridge: Ortofon Bronze
Preamp: Furutech ADL GT40
Speakers: Piega 501 Wireless, Gen 1 via Connect+
Roon Nucleus+ w 2X8TB SSD Digital Library for FLAC/HD
Day-to-Day Headphones: Apple iPod Max Pro (terrible name, solid cans)
Critical Listening Headphones: Shure 535 in-ears w/custom Sensaphonics Sleeves
Dolby Atmos/Surround/Spatial Audio: JBL 1300X
How Many Records Are In Your Collection, and What’s Your Most Valuable Album?
I’ve never counted, but the inventor of the IKEA Kallax drives a fancy car with a license plate that reads THXSYD. To the second question, my first copy of Yes’s Yessongs—purchased on my behalf by my father from the Columbia House Record & Tape Club from money I earned from cutting the lawn—is more valuable to me than <something something first pressing something something numbered/limited edition something something Record Store Day>. At this point, the triple gatefold is barely holding together—MacGuyvered with repair tape, hope, and love. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Records are a terrible investment. I buy records to listen to them, not keep them like museum artifacts wrapped in three layers of plastic on a shelf, and afraid to play them. I’m not knocking those who have the time, skills, and experience become a vinyl speculator, dealer, or appraiser, but that’s not me.
What’s The Best Album to Start With For a Jazz Newbie?
After the question about my listening setup, this is probably the most frequent question I to get via DM. My snarky answer is