This is, in some ways, a continuation of my previous post, about finding meaning and fulfillment from winning. Pulling off perfect service in hospitality, or putting on a great show, these are definitely time-boxed things that feel like winning when they're over. I remember feeling this with community theater, or when we would do remote shoots with my TV job right after college. Then there was literally winning in any kind of athletic contest, especially as a coach. It was so satisfying.
Outside of putting on a show or crushing a volleyball, that satisfaction, that feeling of winning seems harder to come by. Yes, in the moment, there are big feelings and adrenaline, I get that. But there should also be lingering satisfaction for winning. Why don't I feel that? Some of it is the challenges still ahead, which we're definitely feeling in my house right now. But big picture, fuck, I've got a lot of wins under my belt.
This is just another aspect of the struggle required to live in the moment, I suppose. It's so hard not to focus on that next milestone, getting beyond that challenging time. I have so much to be happy about. The career milestones, a great relationship, and sometimes even a parenting win. I should be celebrating more.
Perhaps this upcoming long weekend will be right for celebrating.
We've been watching a few of those "failing restaurant" shows on Max. They're entertaining, to say the least. I especially like the one called Kitchen Undercover (the Antonia Lofaso version), which doesn't really manufacture drama because it's already there. And of course, I just finished The Bear, so that's fresh in my mind, too. The overall takeaway, and reality, is that restaurants are a horrible business.
But I love the idea of showing people a good time. Like most things in hospitality, success comes from excellence, done in a repeatable, fiscally responsible way. It doesn't seem like a mystery that treating people well and providing the best possible product is key, but I'm surprised at how often I encounter the opposite at restaurants, hotels and theme parks.
The scope of my ambition is not large. I can imagine a long, narrow spot, with a long bar and small kitchen. Coffee and pastries in the morning, drinks and small plates at night, vibe all day. I'm sure there's a specific concept I would gravitate to (pirate-tiki bar?), but who knows. The location would have to be perfect, preferably in a neighborhood where you could attract regulars. I would want a qualified manager to run it, but help out when I felt like it. At the same time, I wouldn't want to put a lot of my own money into it, because that's a bad idea. I just want to see people having a good time together.
I also imagine that there could be an even lower risk scheme. A so-called "dry hire" business would be a blast, I think, especially if you did mixology presentations. Those are situations where the host buys all of the liquor, and you show up with your tools to serve it. You have some "inventory" to keep in terms of serving gear and glasses, and probably bring the ice, but you're not putting significant cash into it. That would be a fun gig.
It's strange how I've gravitated toward this sort of thing, if you don't count living in a place that depends on hospitality for its economy. But I think I've always thought about it, just in terms of the arts, or going back far enough, to working in radio. Entertainment is all about making people happy. Turns out there are other ways to do that, too. I have to think more about this.
Shirley Manson, from Garbage, said in an interview back in 2018, "How bland youth culture has gotten; is it going to be down to the 50-year-olds to do something naughty?" She was about 52 then, and even though I'm younger than her by a bit, this quote still sticks with me. If there's one thing I can say about Gen-X, it's that our youth brought back some of that rebellious energy that predated us by a few decades. It made people older than us uncomfortable, and I loved it. Youth culture has seemed a bit self-absorbed and boring since.
Along comes Olivia Rodrigo, which I often refer to as the 23-year-old Gen-Xer, given her taste in music. She toured with older bands like The Breeders, and newer bands like Wolf Alice, and made her way onto alt rock radio. An entirely new audience is being turned on to something better than the average pop stuff. She might have been another child star Disney brat, but instead has managed to navigate fame and attention in a fairly mature way (in public, at least). She's already three albums in, and learned from Taylor Swift to own her master recordings from the start.
On top of that, Rodrigo is using her voice to callout the bizarre anti-woman behavior and policy that is stripping women of their rights. She just pulled off the Daisy Chain Fields festival last weekend, that managed to raise $20 million for women's charities. She was joined on stage by "our" artists, like Alanis, Sarah McLachlan, and Stevie Nicks (who arguably belongs to the Boomers). Garbage even played the show. Most importantly, I think she's getting an entire generation of young people out of that "blandness" that Shirley talked about years ago. That's excellent.
Oh, Olivia Rodrigo's most recent album is also pretty good. No throw-away songs on it at all.
Art can be so powerful. It makes me hopeful to see someone barely more than half my age using that power for good.