Bumping Into Geniuses
November 20, 2009
I’m currently reading a book by Danny Goldberg called Bumping Into Geniuses. It’s a perfect book for me to be reading because not only does Goldberg have fascinating tales to tell about bumping into and working with some of my favorite geniuses (including the likes of Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Bonnie Raitt), but his career path is also something I’m trying to emulate.
In fact, I’d unknowingly been trying to follow Goldberg’s career path before I even knew who he was. Now, as I read it, the book is validating my seemingly lofty assumption that I can turn my position as a starving journalist with a geeky obsession with music and musicians into a career as a legitimate, successful music industry executive and artists’ advocate. Goldberg went from being a rock critic to doing PR for Led Zeppelin to running Atlantic Records. Who’s to say I can’t do something like that?
The book’s title comes from Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun’s answer to how to make it in the music business: keep walking around until you bump into a genius. He was obviously simplifying things, but a running theme of the book is the absence of a formula when nurturing a career in music. In the beginning of the book, Goldberg quotes the legendary Atlantic Records president Jerry Wexler (who, incidentally, also began his career as a journalist) in reference to music industry secrets. “First of all, there aren’t any secrets. And second of all, if there were any secrets, we wouldn’t tell them.” This was before Goldberg had begun his own admirable career. And, in hindsight, Goldberg himself says, “What few secrets there were could not be of any help to anyone else. But there were stories.”
So, what can I learn from these men? I can glean confidence from their stories and appreciate my own. And I can hope that if I keep walking in the right direction, I’ll eventually position myself at the right place at the right time and bump into a few geniuses myself.
