After a recent watching of High Fidelity, I decided to put myself through a little exercise.  In the film/book, Rob Gordon creates a list of his top 5 dream jobs. I decided I would do the same. 

So here’s my top 5 dream jobs list. Like a top 5 albums of all time listing, this list would probably change on a monthly basis. But right now, here’s my best shot. In no particular order…

Own a record store. Not a Virgin, but a place that sold vinyl. Something like Village Records in Mill Valley. Which is where DJ Shadow would go to find fresh sounds for his music and which sadly closed a year ago. Extended ideas around this include having a expansive space to have a coworking facility (complete with self serve coffee bar) during the day and a performance space at night.

Be the new media director for Wilco (or another band that I love). Actually, the ideal position would be with Phish. But someone already has that role and is doing a kick ass job at it (if what happened at the Hampton reunion shows in any indication). In addition to handling Wilco’s online strategy and execution (web, social media, etc), figure out ways to integrate new media into their performances. This dream job is heavily influenced by an earlier dream job on this list: be the visual designer for concert backdrops…incorporating abstract video, animation, etc.

Social media stratgist for an entertainment company. Ideally Marvel or DC Comics. I once wrote a multipage outline of how comic book characters should have have online profiles integrated into their marketing outreach and ultimately, the storylines. Social media integration could take the story into a real time dimension, capturing what takes place between issues or episodes. Sort of what happened with the Mad Men characters on Twitter. Example: Bruce Wayne and Batman on Twitter. They would never be tweeting on the same time, right? Do you think they would be following each other’s tweets? In short, there is an entertainment thing that can take place in social media. The Fake Steve Jobs blog did it. Twitter.com/darthvader also doing it well.

Photographer (Street, urban, dark landscape, or concert) – If there was money to made in traveling the world shooting photos while also towing my family with me. I would do it. Even if that means I have I’m shooting traditional photos for postcard companies. Ideal job is Rolling Stone staff photographer based in Europe – specializing in capturing what happens when up and coming American bands make their first trek to Europe. Imagine being there when Kurt Cobain brings Nirvana to Paris for the first time and seeing him react to the Louvre.

Multimedia Artist – Can someone just pay to hang out in a loft somewhere, working on digital art installations, like what I did in grad school – http://solidether.com/luminance

Honorable mention bonus…

Recently bumped from this list since the last time I did such an exercise (in 2001, in the months following the dot com implosion) – Helicopter Pilot. Not your ordinary traffic reporting copter pilot, but the guy who takes the extreme skiers to mountain peaks and tops of glaciers to drop them off. In the summer of 2001, I actually tried this. I logged about 2 hours of flight training before realizing that I wasn’t going to be able to deal with the motion sickness. If it wasn’t for that it would still be on the list.

It’s not often you get to see such an amazing musician perform at a tiny venue with 300 people.

When we woke up last Saturday morning and drove to Sonoma for our nephew’s birthday party, we were treated to a steady diet of rain and showers.  Steady enough and heavy enough at times that Keturah kept dropping the “this show is going to be a horrible time” lines on me.  I countered by stopping by a sporting goods store to pick up a bunch of rain gear.  At $125 a ticket and the fact that it was Van Morrison performing one of my all time favorite albums, it was going to take some flooding to keep me from making it to Berkeley for this show.

Then the rain let up and the sun came up
And we were gettin dry

Though the sun never did come out and shine down last Saturday, it did let up long enough for this show to be a good time.  It was a much more subdued experience than I was expecting.  The rain kept the crowds away, which meant a miracle of no bathroom lines at the Greek.

Still, the important part of the experience was the music.  And it was a home run.  Van’s voice was clear and hit his notes.  Our friend Denise noted “I can actually understand what he’s singing”.  There were plenty of classic Van moments of him using his voice as an instrument to accompany the 12 piece band.

Here’s the set list

Set 1

Northern Muse (Solid Ground)
Troubadours
And It Stoned Me
Baby Please Don’t Go
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately
Wild Night
It’s All In The Game
Queen of the Slipstream
Moondance
And the Healing Has Begun
Common One

Set 2

Astral Weeks
Beside You
Slim Slow Slider
Sweet Thing
The Way Young Lovers Do
Cypus Avenue
Ballerina
Madame George
Listen To The Lion
Mystic Eyes/Gloria

Highlights for me were “Baby Please Don’t Go”, “Sweet Thing”, and “Cypress Avenue”.  Overall, it was a great start the series of concerts Keturah and I are attending this summer.  We continue with Iron and Wine this Thursday at the VERY intimate Swedish American Hall, then its back to the Greek in June for Wilco, and then the return of Phish to the Bay Area in early August.