Hello, and welcome to Volume 45 of the Underground Binder Clip Society.
For the last couple years, I’ve been working part-time jobs to help pay my rent between projects. I’m fortunate enough to have clients, new and old, who trust me to record and mix their songs, a handful of times a year. The rest of the time, I’m recording and mixing my own songs, and working 2 or 3 days a week. Super-part-time you might say. The guys I work work for make it pretty easy for me be to off whenever I want and for as long as I need. They let me and my friends throw shows at one of the shops every other month or so. I get do other little things while I’m working, like read or send emails. This work is a gift, and allows me to work on my music year-round. I’ve tried to do music full time before and quickly found myself working on projects I didn’t love, or that I felt compromised my artistic integrity. Now, sure, I’m not a “full-timer.” But I’m working on stuff I believe in, and i’m writing a lot.
I thought it would be cool to lay out what a “normal” work day looks like for me at the shops, and talk about how I make little strides throughout the day to help prioritize my art. Most people don’t have all the downtime that I do at work. But everybody can control to some degree how they show up in their own thought life. Where my thoughts rest in a string of workdays can have a pretty direct impact on how I show up to my studio later in the week.
I’ve said it before, and I’ve learned now that Annie Dillard said it first, but “how we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” Our mind, body, and spirit are always aching to become in tune with one another. My body cries for rest often from that which I feed my mind. I know I am not alone in this. I’ve heard people recently talk about feeling hungover from doom-scrolling.
I’m here today. Taking inventory. Pivoting where necessary.
Anyways, here’s a day in the life.
7:00 AM - Start some coffee. Pace around the house. First cup. Ripest cup of the day. Not even a whole cup’s worth has hit the pot yet. If you know, you know. It’s ripe.
7:15 AM - Avoid screens at all costs. Step outside a moment. Breathe. Have some first thoughts. Some worthy contemplations. Try not to think too hard though before that first cup hits. Hope will come. Bit by bit. I can be patient. “You are out of bed,” I say to myself. That’s a good word.
7:20 AM - One journal page. That's all I can muster lately. It’s better than nothing though. I’ve done “morning pages” before. But no more. My inner child appreciates that, Julia. I crack the window. Find my place back on the couch. Surrounded by poetry, fiction, scripture, and the like. All purposed and pointed in differing but often parallel directions. I finish a page in my journal, and maybe one more. I’ve likely started a short list by now of to-dos and people to reach out to. Either on a sticky note, or a scratch piece of paper or on the back of some junk mail. The junk mail lists are always the most successful. Without a running list though, I’m basically useless.
8:00 AM - By 8 o’clock, I’m feeling my 2nd cup of coffee hit me. I had a refill at some point in the midst of that meticulously crafted, yet singular journal page. My stomach is not thanking me, but I’m much more awake now, and much less dreadful. I decide (yet again) that I can skip reading for too long this morning because the to-do list is calling. It’d be nice to get in the studio and make some mix revisions so that I can listen to them on the drive to work. So I do that, and have another cup. That’s 3 down now. I gotta shower, eat breakfast, and pack a lunch before 10:30 am. Cup 4 goes down somewhere in there.
10:30 AM - I mix awhile and bounce out new versions of songs until right around 10:30. Maybe throw a record on in the living room fairly loud if the roommates aren’t home. Or recent mix revisions. Hop in the shower around 10:40. Leave the record on. Let it ruminate throughout the house. I’ve got a speaker that runs off the living room stereo into the bathroom. I try to stay centered. Ring God if I can. Take mental notes in the shower. Hop out. Scribble notes. Get dressed. Throw some sandwich stuff in my little igloo cooler. Refill my mug. Fill my thermos with the remaining 7 cups of joe. Grab my guitar, my laptop, a book, and some song scraps, and finally, we’re out the door.
10:45 AM - The vintage store and the t-shirt shop are both about 10 minutes away. I listen to my mix revisions in the car. Have a little more coffee on the drive. Cup 5 or so. One hand on the mug, one on the wheel. Try not to spill. But usually my car or my clothes take a hit.
IMPORTANT: IT IS KEY NOT TO RUMINATE ON GIRLS, POTENTIAL LOVERS, EX-LOVERS, EX-POTENTIAL LOVERS, RECENT FAILURES, OR ANYTHING RELATED TO MONEY WHILE IN THESE PRECIOUS MORNING HOURS. THIS IS SACRED TIME. TIME TO BE PROTECTED AND UTILIZED WITH CARE. THE MORNING ONLY COMES ONCE A DAY. MUCH OF THE REST OF THE DAY IS USELESS FOR CREATIVE GROUNDBREAKING. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING.
11:45 AM - The shop is open. We are pouring cup 6 from the thermos. Tunes are up. My laptop and books are spread out on the table, and ready for my consumption. Feels like it might be a “no-hitter” kind of day. The kind where not a single person comes in all day. If I owned the shop, this would be a bad thing, but since I don’t, I guess it can be a good thing. Ever seen the movie Clerks?
These two guys work at a combined gas station and video rental store. They basically figure out how to do as little work as possible while still getting their jobs done. They occasionally close the store midday to play hockey on the roof. I’m not quite pulling those kinds of antics. I try to have friends stop by. And I convinced one of my bosses to let me mount a TV on the wall in the shop. I don’t know what that makes me. Maybe something like a bum. Maybe a starving artist. Maybe something in between.
1:00 PM - After an hour or so at the shop, I start to chip away at my “Music Chores.” Edit little videos. Try to line up shows. Send out demos to labels occasionally. People don’t really get discovered that way anymore. But I still shoot. I tend to the store. Help customers where I can. Refold and restock shirts. Eventually, I make myself eat lunch and throw together a turkey sandwich. But before that, I’m munching on my Great Value brand oatmeal cookies, and downing a few more cups of that not-so-sweet, but oh-so-deep black joe.
2:00 PM - The thermos is still out. I’m finishing the last few cups of the day. Probably out of snacks by now. Writing. Reading. Watching a little movie, maybe. Leaving room for the spirit to move. Trying not to be too preoccupied or overly stimulated.
5:00PM - I get off around 5 sometimes. From there, I might hit Five Points Pizza after work for the $5 beer and a slice happy hour special. Keep the dehydration station fully operational, ya know? Or I’ll head home and make dinner. I might work on some music after dinner. Or try to do something out in the yard if there’s still daylight. Work on the motorcycle. Organize the shed. Just stay outside while there’s still some daylight. It’s good to just sit sometimes, too. But that’s about it. I might read. Listen to a record. Watch a little show. Shower and hit the sack.
And that,
is a day in the life.
Thanks for being here, and I hope this is encouraging or interesting to you in some way. I put a lot into curating my little life. I’m tryna live “free and clean,” as they say. It ain’t easy, but I think it’s well worth trying.
Yours Truly,
Jake Smith
Here are this week’s “Quick Clips”:
* I am playing a two solo shows THIS WEEKEND !
* Would love to see you at one of these if you are close by!
* Knoxville, TN - 6/13 @ Pink Moon Sound
* Columbia, SC - 6/14 @ Curiosity Coffee Bar
* My new song “Rug” is out now, You can stream it here.
Support me and this newsletter by becoming a paid subscriber, buying merch, or by streaming my music!
As always, shoot me an email if you want to work on music, remote or in-person, here in Nashville, TN.
I.L.Y.H.M.L.Y.M.
N.I.L.O.M.
<3
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