Posts by James Newcomb
A two-year trek down I-95
A couple of months ago I picked up a terrific book titled “Blood and Treasure.” It’s a biography of the great American frontiersman and explorer, settler, etc. Daniel Boone. Something that I read in this book that really stuck out to me was how Boone’s family relocated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina when he was…
Read MoreGet In Line
Things don’t happen when we want them to, do they? We’re often told by the Universe, by way of our circumstances in life, to “get in line”. Wait your turn. The results that are meant to happen will happen. But we need to worry about our mind, body, spirit; as well as our connection with…
Read MoreSingers in the hands of an angry mob
A couple of years ago, I heard about the plight of Daniel Elder, a composer of sacred music who was blacklisted by his peers, not to mention the entire music publishing industry for one single Instagram post. The setting was the summer of 2020, which if you recall was a quite dark place generally speaking…
Read MoreYou need the minors to excel in the majors
Back when I edited Ben Greenfield’s podcast, I would occasionally get approached by people who want themselves or someone they know to be on Ben’s podcast. If you’re not familiar with the name, Ben Greenfield is a legit guru in the world of health and fitness, and his show is listened to by tens of…
Read MoreWe’re not in college anymore, Toto
These emails can be pretty difficult to write. Not necessarily the actual action of writing. I mean, we’re talking 300 words max. That’s how long my discussion board posts were in college, and I could pound them out like it was no one’s business. But sharing things on your mind, personal things, with the intent…
Read More1 in 8 billion
A common objection to getting into podcasting is “there’s just so many of them, so why bother getting into it myself?” I’ve heard that before I got involved with the craft in 2015, and many times since and it has always struck me as a bit of a cop out for not putting in the…
Read MoreProof that musicianship is intensely personal
Good morning. I just released a new episode of the Trumpet Dynamics podcast yesterday. Actually, it’s a very old interview that was repurposed into a brand new episode. It featured Denver Dill, who is a very fine trumpeter with the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point. In addition to playing, he also teaches a…
Read MoreAirport experience a reminder of the frailty of life
A post from June 2016 showed up on my Facebook account today when I did a search for something seemingly unrelated. But it struck me as something worth resharing all these years later, and just as relevant IMO. What follows is what I posted in June 2016: “In the event you’re inclined to think the TSA…
Read MoreI had to re-establish the paradigm of my name
When I was a child and young adult, I heard many variations of my last name, Newcomb. You can see that the name contains the word “nuke”; not in the spelling but in the pronunciation. People used to poke fun of my name for that very reason. If something got “nuked” in the microwave, all…
Read More“I’m not there yet”
Today’s email is me shamelessly gushing over my wife, Sana. If you’ve followed this email newsletter for any length of time, you know that Sana recently arrived in the US after a very long time processing her visa. 3 months after her arrival, she got the hankering to get out of the house and find…
Read More