- 16 Dec, 2025 *
I really want to make sure this does not turn into an advice column. When I talk about what I am doing, it is literally just that — what I am doing. Nothing more. I do not want this to sound moralizing, though. Think of it more as a check-in — a “what is JD up to” kind of thing.
And as I try to reserve the 6 AM hour for music, there is always a ton of stuff in the mix: playing bass, playing synth, writing new songs, maybe organizing a DJ set. And I also think any musician should have a one-hour set rea…
- 16 Dec, 2025 *
I really want to make sure this does not turn into an advice column. When I talk about what I am doing, it is literally just that — what I am doing. Nothing more. I do not want this to sound moralizing, though. Think of it more as a check-in — a “what is JD up to” kind of thing.
And as I try to reserve the 6 AM hour for music, there is always a ton of stuff in the mix: playing bass, playing synth, writing new songs, maybe organizing a DJ set. And I also think any musician should have a one-hour set ready to go at all times. If someone asks you to play for an hour — on guitar, mandolin, harmonica, whatever — you should be able to pull that together quickly.
So last night I dug up every music folio in the house and put them all in one place in my office. On mornings like this, when I am totally pooped and out of music — wrote a song, practiced, DJ stuff is good — it is time to learn something.
I have been looking for (and found) this one Bob Dylan book, and just going through these songs microscopically feels right. When I think about learning his songs, the upside of internalizing his entire catalog cannot be overstated. Yes, you want to go back to the sources, but he is such a genius that knowing the whole catalog… I would be excited to see what comes out of that later.
So the general point here is keeping a cache of things to do, and knowing the night before what I am going to do in the morning really helps. Anything that gets me closer to performing is good work. (And I also have not been on YouTube watching ridiculous cat videos, which is a win.)