Adam’s World Weekly 5/11

There’s an old saying in the writing world that goes – write drunk, edit sober.

For this week’s edition of my newsletter I am embracing half of that ideology, because the Knicks just swept the 76ers, and I am celebrating.

Winning is a nice high, but I experienced some other dopamine hits this week, and they reminded me of what I really enjoy in life.

On Thursday morning I started researching June’s One Hit Wondering artist, and two and a half hours into the dig for information I found myself watching a video on YouTube that only had 50 views, and was a transfer from a VHS recording of a Canadian version of TRL, and I was like – I am an archeologist of music history, and I absolutely love this!!!

I was so hyped by everything I found that I spent a chunk of my Saturday writing the feature even though it won’t go up for another month and a half.

My other big high for the week was when I was practicing the piano, and while moving my right hand to follow the sheet music I suddenly realized I knew where all the notes were just by looking at the keys.

Learning new things is such a great dopamine hit, and I have no clue why anyone would use AI when taking the time to enhance your knowledge feels so amazing. Whether it’s learning a new skill, or reading a book, knowledge isn’t just power, it’s an incredible rush.

Speaking of knowledge, after seeing all the debate about The New York Times’ list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters, and having some definite feelings about who was on, and left off, the list, I decided to put together a list of my own.

That feature, which may surprise you, leads off this week’s update.

I also have fresh editions of Pop Shots, and my NYC Scene Report, for you to check out.

Read the full feature here

Read the full column here

Read the full column here

As always, thanks for reading, and have a fantastic week.

– Adam Bernard