Music and Art Aren’t Hobbies. They’re a Way of Life!

Jul 08, 2025

Hey,

I hope you’re doing well! It’s already Sunday morning following what has been such an amazing week of studio work for us in Tangier. We literally are walking into what definitely is a brand new chapter of our lives on every possible level. I’m not sure I’ve witnessed Alex being that happy in a very, very long time.

He’s thriving, he’s on fire, and he’s really into music, art, videos, sharing, building, even having a coffee with long-time friends living here, which is something I never saw Alex do...!

Some people might call it a miracle, which to me seems too easy, but I really see this as a manifestation of a series of great decision-making — not only good — combined with great new habits! I’m so proud of Alex, and for us all, it gives us new wings to travel higher and further toward new horizons we all dreamed of for years.

Since Alex decided to get started on Substack in such a wonderful way, sharing so much about what’s happening almost on a daily basis, I thought a lot about my weekly connection with you, since at first, I even thought it would make sense for me to stop and leave the stage to Alex. I simply don’t want to add more noise to the noise! Alex truly is on fire and I don’t think this pace will slow down; I really think it’s the total opposite, in fact! :)

After reflections and asking questions to Alex and the rest of the band, I decided to keep going in a modified format! I’ll share with you 5 things in a more bullet point format about what our music is filled with, about our conversations, about significant moments, and about anecdotes we’re feeding our lives with.

Hope you’ll enjoy it! Please, feel free to suggest anything you would like to know about our current creative process!

Let’s be great to one another!

Your friend and chief operator,
Jeff

🎧 What I’m listening to

Who Killed Sgt Peppers from The Brian Jonestown Massacre album.

My top song is the fifth one on the record; This Is The First Of Your Last Warning! Incredible vibe in there!

📖 Reading highlight I’m pondering

As I’ve been sharing with you lately on my Evening Ritual video, I’m reading this Blackstar Theory book about David Bowie’s last album and creative work. In the book, the author Leah Kardos shares a lot about a German philosopher called Theodor Adorno. I didn’t know him at all, so I spent a few hours catching up on this incredible man, and it really inspired me on so many levels, especially his essay on the aesthetic theory around art, music, and popular culture.

Theodor Adorno’s aesthetic theory is a complex and nuanced exploration of the role of art in modern society. Written in the aftermath of World War II and during a time of increasing commercialization of culture, Adorno’s central argument is that true art must remain autonomous, meaning it should not serve political propaganda, market demands, or simplistic moral lessons. Instead, its value lies in its ability to resist being easily consumed or explained. For Adorno, the greatest art challenges us, unsettles us, and reflects the contradictions of the world we live in.

At the heart of Adorno’s theory is a deep distrust of mass-produced culture, what he calls the culture industry. He believed that popular entertainment, commodified and repetitive, numbs critical thinking and reinforces the status quo. In contrast, authentic works of art contain what he calls truth-content: not factual truth, but a kind of historical and emotional honesty that emerges from the tension between form and content. These works don't offer easy resolutions; they provoke thought, raise questions, and make visible the suffering and alienation often hidden by society.

Adorno also emphasized the dialectical nature of art, that it is always in tension between being a product of society and standing apart from it. Even though art is shaped by its time, its materials, and its cultural context, great art resists being reduced to those conditions. This tension allows it to critique the world from within, without becoming a tool of ideology. Aesthetic experience, in this way, becomes a rare space of freedom, one of the few remaining places where individuals can encounter something truly different.

In sum, Adorno’s aesthetic theory is a powerful defense of the transformative potential of art. It’s not a celebration of beauty for beauty’s sake, but a call for art that remains difficult, complex, and resistant, a mirror of a broken world, and a fragile promise of something beyond it.

I thought it was really important to share this with you since there are a lot of us there and why we’re here in Tangier also. Great discovery on my end!

🎥 Short video that I’ve watched a few times

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere | Official Trailer

Alex brought that up as we were about to get started in the studio one afternoon. He literally said to us all, "I always cry when I watch this. You have to see it!!!"

Listen carefully to the hole-in-the-floor analogy that his manager is sharing with what seems like the record label A&R.

Feels like this quote would have applied to Alex as well…! To our presence here in Tangier, where it all started again for us. I’m also always moved even close to crying every time I watch it.

📸 My Picture Of The Week

I took that picture last Friday night as we’ve been invited to our very dear and precious friend Jean Olivier’s birthday! We really had such an unforgettable evening on the rooftop of our favorite place in Tangier: Dar Nour! This is where Alex spent months on his own writing the lyrics of what later became the album Windows in the Sky following the passing of his father.

It’s through that breathtaking view, those countless laughs, and those precious hugs that precisely shaped who we are today and incarnate what we like to call The Spirit of Tangier!

💬 Shared in the Long Shadows Chat this week

Ben shared a passage in his John C Maxwell book called Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters!

1. Anticipation Causes Us to Value Today

Every day I anticipate that I will find an opportunity to do a significant act by adding value to someone. I look at my daily calendar and think about the potential times and places that I can do this.

Anticipation causes my mind to look for new significant moments and, when possible, to create them. This has become a discipline of mine. And it can become one of yours.

When you live with intentionality, you know and understand that every day is your time to make a difference. It’s not someday, one day or maybe tomorrow. It’s today. You will have the time to make a difference if you want to, so it’s about living with the understanding that you can and then taking action.

This passage brought us to talk about how easy it is these days to take quotes here and there and to even brag about how knowledgeable one can be instead of making serious decisions about how to incarnate the change you want to see in this world and not just talk about it.

Same things apply with art and music! You have to become “the work”. There’s no magic nor angels visiting you at night singing a song for you to play when you wake up.