TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info
TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info
TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info
TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info
TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info
TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info
TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info
TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on. Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild. Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another. upon meeting jeff; with taylor Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t. jeff serenading an entire block After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school. Enter Alex Krew master cello commander, alex krew Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way. Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes. The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory. Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?
Zoom Info

TheCreativeRoutine is Playing Music with Jeff the Violinist

I recently had what is at once one of the strangest and most exciting experiences I’ve had in recent memory. My good friend, and sometimes creative partner, Taylor Raboin and I were recently in downtown Nashville, tentatively talking through and planning an upcoming project we’re working on.

Fate would have it that we would spot a certain, peculiar fellow walking around downtown with a wooden staff that resembled the one Moses most have used to part the Red Sea, along with a backpack that looked large and sturdy enough to carry supplies for half a season of Man v. Wild.

Naturally we struck up conversation with him, not breaking pace as we walked alongside to wherever he was headed. I noticed a violin case in his collection of supplies, and before anyone really knew what was happening, he was sitting in front of a mood-setting sea green wall playing his bright red violin, as I snapped glorious images to the amazement of pedestrian on-lookers. Sometimes you instantly realize that you’re documenting content unlike anything you normally do or will likely do in the future. Everything just clicked. It was beautiful. Jeffrey serenaded us with some of the most surreal bluegrass and mountain music my ears had ever witnessed, as music and conversation wove into one another.

upon meeting jeff; with taylor

Jeff is one of those individuals you don’t really believe is real unless you meet him yourself. He’s a musical vagabond, a fellow who wonders from state to state playing music with local friends in between doing seasonal farming at marijuana farms in both Wisconsin and California. Yes, he’s been to 44 states. And yes he’s homeless. But he’s told me he prefers the term home-free. He owns virtually no possessions aside from the ones he carries on his person at all times. Yet despite his untraditional lifestyle, he seems to be one of the most stable individuals I’ve ever met. I used to joke all the time when I was a kid that I wanted to be homeless when I grew up. Yet the more he spoke to Taylor and I, the more I started to wonder if he’d figured out something the rest of us hadn’t.

jeff serenading an entire block

After playing beautiful music for the entertainment of an entire city block, we took the only logical next step: cabbing with Jeff back to campus to find more buffoonery to engage in. Although there is no photo documentation of the rest of the day’s event’s, you can only imagine the number of eyes that stared when we strolled into one of the dining halls alongside our new wooden staff toting, mountain man friend. Two days later we invited Jeff back to campus for another proper jam session, this time playing alongside a cellist friend of ours in the music school.

Enter Alex Krew

master cello commander, alex krew

Alex is trained in classical cello; Jeff does mainly bluegrass and folksy music. Seeing the two of them jam together was an otherworldly musical fusion that probably shouldn’t have been legal. Much like a few days prior, every so often different spectators would pit stop at our musical jam fusion to pay their respects to the brilliance that was taking place before their eyes. There was even an important looking photographer who worked for a still unknown publication that stopped for like 15 minutes to spectate and take photos in a very important looking way.

Alex and Jeff joining forces was a meeting of the minds; it truly was a musical event. They seamlessly rotated between playing different classical and non-classical pieces, all while talking music, and exchanging notes.

The next day Jeff was gone. Off to North Carolina to play a gig I believe. Where he is now, I don’t know. Perhaps he’s upped his state counter to 45 by this time. What an interesting individual. I wonder how often he has experiences like this, and how many friends and musical compatriots he has all over the country. It’s amazing to see someone who literally seized his own destiny and did as he saw fit. He dropped out of school, against everyone’s advice, moved to New York City, then proceeded to get a gig smoking and harvesting weed for a living, while playing music all over the country and seeing more states than you could recite from memory.

Just another example that there’s no one pathway to anything. If you’re passionate and confident, the only thing keeping you from seeing if you can fulfill your dreams is you. Of course, no one is guaranteed success. But how crippling is life if you’re not willing to take the risk?

Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info
Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope. Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes. Support grassroots!
Zoom Info

Hanging Out With Green River Ordinance

This past weekend I received a fairly random phone call from a dear friend of mine asking me to do a mini-photo shoot of sorts with Forth Worth, Texas indie band Green River Ordinance, or GRO (as they’re affectionately known by those in the know). It was a brilliant experience. I got to chill with one of the chillest bands in America and take some photos. Watching GRO U-Stream their fans live (decked out in Halloween garb) really made me realize how down-to-earth and humorous these five guys are. Super dope.

Watch out for GRO in the future. They’ve toured with Bon Jovi, Switchfoot, Mutemath (and countless others), and had their music featured on a thousand TV shows. Their newest EP, The Morning Passengers is available now on iTunes.

Support grassroots!

Q:yea but the problem is what is creative about it? i mean it is talking, in a fast manner. and they talk about drugs, sex, gangs.... not creativity. bon jovi wrote REAL music, and so did aerosmith, and some others bands now. but you cant say rap is creative when you look at what all the stuff it talks about is

Anonymous

A Tribe Called Quest, one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time, discussed political expatriates, black nationalism, vegetarianism, and the ills of domestic violence (among many other topics) on their debut album People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Kanye West has discussed blood diamonds, racism, the social value of post-secondary education, the ills of materialism and conformity, the trouble with minimum wage (and many other issues) over the four albums he’s released thus far. I think you get the idea. It’s a shame that some of the more shallow “hip hop artists” out there have skewed your perception of the genre. Real hip hop is some of the most enlightening music anywhere to be found. Think of it as nothing more than lyrical poetry cleverly delivered over innovative beats.

Q:why do u focus on all this rap and no real music? anyway, people just spel rap wrong, they need a c in the front

Anonymous

I would love to know who you are so I could perhaps answer this question more adequately. I focus more on hip hop now because I’m really in a hip hop state of mind right now. I’m a lover of all things of creative value. Hip hop, world music, indie, electro pop, folk, traditional rock. I love all these things. Vampire Weekend, Sublime, The Avett Brothers, Switchfoot. These are among my favorite musical acts. I invite you to give hip hop a chance. I think you’d be surprised how your opinion of it just might change.