杨总

我有一个同事,叫杨威。郭德纲老师说名字带出性格,为了显示「威」的特征,杨威的微信头像是一只老虎。但是,是一只泪眼汪汪的小老虎,所以由此可见,杨威的内心是柔软的。继承了留学生界的昵称起法,贵荚喜欢称呼同事 X 博、X 总、X 老师,在我进公司的时候杨威已经不是杨威,而是杨总。对杨总的第一印象是他坐在小西天办公室的角落,电脑插着音箱,负责播放办公室的下午茶音乐。

我们都很相信杨总的品味,因为杨总是搞音乐的。每次我说完这句,杨总都会淡淡一笑,说:「不,我是被音乐搞的。」作为一个运营,杨总的职业路径是这样的:豆瓣、多米、贵荚。如果你使用过上述任何一款产品听音乐,你多半都被杨总服务过。杨总是我认识的听过专辑数量最多的人,豆瓣标记的数目是 8318 张,相信这个数还会持续增长。想起之前面试过的一位同学,他说他觉得自己是同龄人中听歌数量最多的人。我问多少,他说两万多首。我在心里估算了一下杨总的听歌数量,保守估计也得超过五万首了。

那一刻,我觉得杨总就是我心目中「听歌多」的标杆。倒不是说音乐运营这件事一定是听得多就会做得好,但「观过世界才能有世界观」这话总没错。杨总是我们的同龄人,但长相上比较稳,重。杨总大学学的是经济,他总说自己上学的时候不学无术,说我们这些研究生应该比他更有追求,更勇敢地去追求自己想要的。怎么听都好像在抹黑研究生,不过我知道杨总是打心眼里为我们好。杨总说,上学时其他人都是去网吧打游戏,他是去网吧扒音乐的。我不觉得那叫「不学无术」,我想他对音乐的积累应该是在那时达到峰值的。我始终相信,花在任何事情上的时间都会有回报,只是迟与早的分别。

杨总来自古城西安,一个生长了张楚、郑钧和许巍的地方。有回做一个地名的歌单,西安我收的歌是黑撒的《西安事变》,杨总说:「把《长安县》放进去吧,私心。」长安县里有句词说:「长安县,呆哪都很舒坦;长安县,虽然妹子都不好看。」杨总的妹子是他的大学同学,也是陕西人,好看得很 (此处请使用西安话朗读)。每回说去看 Live 演出,杨总都会先跟妹子「请示」。妹子乖巧可爱,爱听音乐,但没有杨总那么得爱,说以前经常陪他一起看演出。聊及幸福感,杨总说:「毕业刚来北京,每周听完演出坐夜班公车回家,觉得自己是世界上最幸福的人。」

某回聊天,杨总说:「以后不想做音乐相关的工作了。」我以为他说着玩儿的,他那么爱音乐怎么可能呢。结果昨天,杨总宣布要去深圳做产品经理,可能是通讯聊天、也可能是新闻,但一定不是音乐产品。他说:「被音乐搞疲惫了。」所以,爱好和工作这两件事终究还是不能搁在一起吗?想起大学时在校广播站写乐评的朋友跟我说:「不要把爱好变成工作,会很辛苦。」到现在,我也没想明白爱好和工作的关系,不知道杨总的想法是怎样的。

我们总是嘲笑杨总住在遥远的通利福尼亚,以前在小西天办公,杨总每天骑电动车上班。想象杨总骑着他的白色小电驴穿过长安街、路过天安门,头发被风吹起的样子,大概满脑子都是音乐和理想吧。换一座城市和换一个工作类型都是需要勇气的事,杨总一次性都做了。杨总是爱音乐的,就连他的房东都是红极一时的网络歌手,不要问房东是谁,他只是一个传说。

杨总是一名摇滚青年,最爱的乐队是 Guns N’ Roses,他说他如果英文够好,一定会去翻译摇滚传奇们的传记。每个人都要生活,摇滚青年也得吃饭。就在刚才,杨总发来一条信息说:「刚卖电摩遇到一傻逼,下午电话和我砍价半天,从 2500 刀到 2000。 刚才面交看看觉得不错又说能不能再少点,我下午看的一个 1600 才。 我说你去买 1600 吧就走了。」一个会过日子的摇滚青年形象顿时跃然纸上。

杨总就要跟他的妹子去深圳了,会租一套房子,把房间打扮得温馨,或许还会买一个小电驴。可能会在深圳安家,也可能不会。我们开玩笑说杨总可以住在南山区唱南山南和西安西,约好去深圳的时候会看他和他的妹子。认识杨总快一年了,他的手机铃声一直是刺猬乐队的《树》。那么,就以这首歌的歌词作结吧,「但愿这一切都不会失去」,希望「你期待已久的惊奇,会在某天统统降临」。

[Business Report] Day 3 gathering information

I gathered information for a local artist Jenn Garrett today at work. And I found several things of importance when gathering a person’s information through the internet.

1. From the person’s website, her bio is on the website, searching for her name using Google, which is a common choice for everybody

2. The thing I learned is that you have to learn how to put the information together in a reasonable and logic order

3. came up with questions that might be interested to ask

Remember, always be organized.

When something can be read without effortgreat effort has gone into its writing. Enrique Jardiel Poncela quotes (Spanish writer, 1901-1952)

Keep going!

—Momo Jin

[Business Report] Talking to Rick Beardsley

I went to Artisans’ Guild Gallery (AGG) today and luckily got a chance to talk to Rick Beardsley, one of the founder of AGG. He has been here for 45 years. He talked about how their committee vote to approve an artist to join their group. AGG is founded first to gather artists to decrease their costs in selling their art pieces.

Some of the artists eventually broke out with them to set up their own studios and some stuck with them and keep contributing to the gallery. I saw a bunch of interesting art pieces there and bought three greeting cards designed by Mandy. I first ran into Abe the wood artist and he recommended several artists that I could talk to. They are:

1. Pete Senesac jewelry
2. Anne Seraphine painting
3. Anne Gilroy painting
4. Harriet Huss painting
5. Candace McCaffery quilting
6. Sandra Matasick jewelry
7. Kana Handel painting
8. Eleanor Blair painting

As they told me, every artist likes to talk about their arts. Dick said probably sometime I could bring him a copy of Business Report.

I came up with some questions to ask about the artists in the AGG:

1. How they decide to join the group and what the process of it?
2. Do they sell art pieces at their studios also? What percentage of their arts has been contributed to the gallery?
3. How they cooperate with the gallery?
4. Do they use other agent? Do they contact other sources to promote their work?

According to Dick, artists in AGG only need to contribute 4 hours per month. They take shifts. Around holidays like Christmas, they have about 8 hours. Still, they get plenty of time to do the art.

Finish today’s work then, hoping for a better tomorrow.

—Momo Jin