Listening
While living in Tokyo, I became a regular at my neighborhood vinyl bar. Usually, I’d belly up alone, nurse a whisky or Sapporo, and focus on listening to the music that was curated by the owner. His encyclopedic musical knowledge and deep collection would bring together a wide range of songs in interesting, unexpected ways.
There are no photos allowed in the bar. Loud talking is strongly discouraged. Music is the priority here, and the ultra high end audiophile array that dominates the softly lit space makes this very clear. As the owner once yelled at an offending photo-taker while he was being thrown out, “shashin o toritai nara, sassa to Dizunīrando ni ike!” or, “if you want to take photos, go to Disneyland!” Which is one of the best things I heard in Japan.
I’d turn off my phone, listen to the songs and try to piece together the connections between them. I’d hear details in songs I knew and loved that I hadn’t noticed before. Over several months, I fell in love with this feeling of intentional listening. Music suddenly sounded new, as if I was hearing it for the first time.
I spent my final night in Tokyo at the bar. The owner asked me what I wanted to hear. Let it Be by The Beatles was my send off request, which made me cry. At the end of the evening, I gave him a handwritten note expressing my appreciation for this magical shrine to listening. I also gave him a clock as a thank you gift.
After returning to Boulder, I really missed these analog evenings. Listening is my attempt at bringing my own version of this experience home and sharing the revelatory enjoyment of focused, intentional listening.
The concept is pretty simple — I’ll set my turntables up in a quiet, comfortable space. Usually around 20 people. People show up, we socialize for a bit, have a beer or a sip of Japanese whiskey. Then we all shut our phones off and settle in for an hour of listening quietly to an hour of vinyl that I put together. It’s always an eclectix mix of known and lesser known sounds, arranged to take you on an engaging, focused listening journey.
The goal at these events is to really stretch our listening skills by giving ourselves permission to shut down all distractions, and focus all of our attention on one thing: listening to music. It’s amazing what you can hear when you really practice paying close attention. My hope is that this hour of intentional practice helps all of us to become a little better at listening — not just to music, but to everyone and everything.
Screens, noise, distraction, and division dominate daily life. These events are my effort to create the opposite — a room built on attention and presence. And when we practice and embrace that mindset, we pass it on. Deep listening is something people notice, and it can change how they listen too.
Net proceeds from Listening events go support local arts non-profit Top Hat Supply for Journeys and also to More Trees, a non-profit founded by the late Japanese musician (and my creative muse) Ryuichi Sakamoto.
