Happy Friday! ☀️
Hello from the train! I spent the week in Brussels, Munich, Berlin and now on my way to Cologne. It’s been a busy work and travel week and I look forward to some downtime soon.
What I’m reading 📖
The stories of El Chapo, the Mexican, and Colombian cartels have been told extensively in tv series like Narcos and I still find this entire world and how much it is entangled super fascinating. This week, I spotted a long-saved longread by The Guardian from 2019 in my Instapaper and read it during one of my train rides. It covers the rise and fall of El Chapo and what it means to the war on drugs. Read the article.
What I’m listening to 🎧
One of my favorite bands during my punk and hardcore days was and still is Hot Water Music. I even had the pleasure to tour with them for several weeks in 2003 and see them play their incredibly intense and energetic live shows every night. The band members took partying as serious as playing and a few weeks on the road with HWM felt like a few months with other bands. They’ve been releasing music for 25 years and their newest album is one of their best in many years. I love it.
Oh, and since it’s the end of the month, here’s my March playlist if you fancy.
What I’m watching 📺
Jessica Chastain just won an Oscar for best actress in the movie ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’, a biopic based on a documentary about Tammy Faye’s journey from humble beginnings to influential tele-evangelist. The movie is quite a ride: bible college, Christian tele-evangelism, tons of make up and drama. Quite something. Watch the trailer.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
Today marks the 5th anniversary of my becoming a self-employed coach and facilitator and I am taking some time to reflect on this rewarding experience of reinventing myself professionally and the doors it has open. I’ll start by reflecting in my notebook in private and let’s see if I can share some learnings here in this newsletter. In any case, I feel great about the past five years and look forward to the next five.
What else?! 💯
The reason I am headed to Cologne is to join the celebration for the 25th anniversary of the Underdog Record Store. Working in the record store was my first real job after dropping out of university and jumping into the music industry and Hoffi, the founder, gave me chance which also led to a role at indie label Defiance Records, which was part of the store. The store and that time in my life has a special place in my heart (and personal history) and I can’t wait to celebrate with Hoffi and the entire crew. If you’re ever in Cologne and want to stock up on vinyl records, make sure drop by and tell Hoffi I sent you.
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
David
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