JCL Blog

Dave Winer and Steve Jobs

Yesterday I wrote about how much respect I had for Keith Richards regard for his heroes -- particularly once most of his contemporaries were worshiping themselves.  On the theme of heroes, and not on my being Keith Richards but rather following his example, here are two of mine:

Dave Winer:  A cantankerous techie who has returned to New York for yet another chapter of his career. If you are not already a follower, there is a pretty good page about him on Wikipedia here.  His blog Scripting, and his podcast Rebooting the News with Jay Rosen are two that I follow, but he has done/is doing so much (see the links on his Scripting blog).  I have never met him, but would thoroughly enjoy a beer and a lively discussion about tech -- particularly on his self removal from the middle of the circle in Silicon Valley to foster the growth of a new circle in NYC.  

Steve Jobs:  I am hardly the first guy to say that Steve Jobs is a hero.  His work over the past 14 years at Apple says alot of it.  Not that market cap is a true indicator of value, but here is a chart of the stock VS the NASDAQ since his return in 1997.

 

 

I imagine a moment when Steve is looking at prototypes of the iPod Touch, to this day I think it is the most amazing of his amazing machines, sometime in 2006 deciding on the size, what to have in or out, the fine points of the form factor...  Mine lasted for three years, the third of which I was often heard marveling about how I used it every day and the magic was still there.  The guy has a passion for what he does.  Unbelievable.

Upon meeting him I would ask:  have you ever hung out with Keith Richards?

 

Later:  Links added and if you want to hear one of the best podcasts ever, listen to yesterday's Rebooting the news with Dave Winer, Jay Rosen, and Doc Searls (guest).  There are some podcasts that I skim through at 2X, this one I am going to listen to twice.

 

Book Review; Life by Keith Richards

I just finished reading Life by Keith Richards.  Actually, I had Johnny Depp read it to me via Audible.  An truly enjoyable experience even if it was hard to figure out why the voices were changing.  Who knows, Depp may have been doing a little method acting and using while reading.

I am not a giant Rolling Stones guy, in fact the only CD I own is 40 Licks.  But I am close to going out and buying the whole archive after experiencing Keith Richards through this book.  I have a list of real reviews below.  Here are my main take aways from this experience:

  1. Heroes:  Keith Richards has heroes, and lots of them.  He maintained his respect for venerable blues players like Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and John Lee Hooker even after he eclipsed their accomplishments or discovered they were not all that he thought they would be.  Most any guy who had done what he has would eventually expect the tables to turn, just like another well known guy in the band, and start thinking he was the hero.  Not Keith Richards, at least not by my reading of Life
  2. Music:  Keith Richards loves music.  No way to avoid it in the book.  He cannot live without creating music.  What a passion.  Anyone who is wondering if they should follow their passion (instead of being practical) should read this book and just do what cannot be avoided.  He got to the point were he recreated the guitar as a 5 string instrument.  I am not deep into music, but to me that sounds like unrestrained thinking.
  3. Changing the World:  The Rolling Stones took black music, made in America, and played it back to Americans. These guys did as much for our civil rights movement as anyone.  Anyone.  Just crazy how they were colorblind.  Even more than that, they were sought out the black side of town.


Have a great time with this one.