I’ve spent a lifetime searching for talent in others and I live in a place where it exists in droves – New York City – though we certainly don’t have a corner on it.  Actually I think each person has his/her talent.  Some people find it and develop it to a high degree; some people find it but let it founder and some people have it, but never have the opportunity to find it.

I’m fascinated by it and have basically dedicated my life to exposing it in others and developing it in myself. It’s why my partner, Jim Birch, and I founded and developed Watchfire Music.

It certainly is one of life’s special attributes. It draws us to one another like magnets. It elicits love from each of us like few other words.  It sparks immediate curiosity in each of us and inspires awe like nothing else.

People flock to it. Crowds pay ridiculous prices to get a peek at it. People stop in the dirty tunnels of the subways, late for work, to stand and gawk at it.

Most people connect it with show business and fame, but it runs far beyond just that. In fact it has little to do with fame.  I’ve known great teachers with talent and a house keeper with a superb talent for cleaning kitchens and a computer nerd who had an intuitive talent for fixing software that ran far beyond skill.

Some people have talents that people seem not to recognize, but they’re still talents. For instance, I can make my wife laugh at things that no one else on earth would ever laugh at. My own son has a talent for driving me crazy, and my dad had a talent for moving his toothpick nimbly around in his mouth with his tongue.

Then there are people like Judy Garland and Chick Corea and Rudolph Nureyev and John Lennon – giants of talent.  The list alone could go on for several pages.

My desk is covered with Post-its. They comprise the myriad reminders of all I have to do in life – each one (Call Brad Ross, Colin Boatman called, Sign Gracie Vandiver, Get contract from Richard Glasser, Raise Jenny’s key, Send Chariots to Alvin Ailey, Sound system for Eric Lennon) each one a human being with great talent. Each person has come into my life because of his or her talent.

I’m presently working with a young woman named Megan Neal. Her talent is as big as a house, yet she’s only yet discovered the front hall.  It’s my business to see the whole house. I get to show her around her own house and help her discover the rooms and attics that lay waiting for her.

I’ve had the opportunity to watch my wife’s (Julia Wade) talent grow by leaps and bounds these past years. I’ve played my part in that and it’s been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life.

I work with a graphic designer, Watchfire Music’s Sara Gray, who each day churns out one gorgeous creation after another and runs a team of designers around the country.

I worked for over 20 years with the talent of Jenny Burton – a talent that never failed to drop my jaw and make me laugh at the wonders of life.

I share ownership of a company with a partner whose talents as a businessman and entrepreneur run a different course than mine, but amaze me each and every day of this journey together.

I live and breathe each day to explore my own.

Even More Inspiration

• Random Thoughts – On The City Of Inspiration
• The Changing Scene
• Community Of Like-Minded Originals
• Kickstarter.com Campaign – I
• Gabriel, Come Blow Your Horn
• Light At The End Of The Tunnel

New York, New York: A place so big you have to say it twice.

New York New York is a wonderful town
The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down
The people ride in a hole in the ground
New York New York is a wonderful town

I live two blocks from Times Square, one block from the Broadway theater district and in an apartment on the 38th floor with a spectacular southern view of Manhattan – the Empire State Building to the left, Wall Street, NY Harbor and the Statue Of Liberty head on, and the Hudson River landing strip to the right. In between are buildings, buildings, buildings.

On Saturday mornings the QE2 and the S.S. United States sail up the Hudson and park in our side yard. Last month I watched people stand on the wing of a jet plane landed in the river and get saved from my dining room window. Standing on my terrace you could have watched the World Trade Center go down in my front yard and on New Year’s Eve if you lean out far enough, you can watch the ball drop and hear the roar of the people.

It’s a historic and inspirational view. We love it, live in it, look out at it and appreciate it every day. I open my living room door and walk out on my terrace and stand on the edge of the universe, its bright lights blazing before me, its millions of people scurrying below. It is a city of wonder.

Sometimes I miss Mother Nature. When my son was seven I took him to his first Yankee game.  After the game as we were moving through the crowds to the subway we passed through a parking lot where there was a small divider plot of grass. “Look Daddy, grass! Can I go run in it?” And so he did. Two little laps. “Now can I roll in it?” I checked it for broken glass. And so he did. It’s what he remembered about the game.

From my studio window I watch the fog roll in, roll out. This morning the sun rises and the city is pink as a baby’s bottom with light.

Sometimes I’d leave and live in the mountains or on the sea, but I can’t. It’s the talent that keeps me here. A few calls and I’ve got the best in the world standing in my living room, singing and playing in my studio. The talent is addictive.

I watched a new disaster movie the other night. The end of the world. Once again it’s NYC in the final moment that gets blown to smithereens. Why is it that it’s always NYC? Any thoughts on this one?

You bet it’s expensive to live here; but then again you make more money. It evens out.

I live on 9th Avenue. Within a 6 block radius you can eat (reasonably for NY) any kind of food you can imagine: Turkish, Afghan, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, French, Peruvian, German, Russian, Jamaican, etc. A true melting pot. My son grew up with eclectic taste buds. No McDonalds for him.

Walking the sidewalks in my neighborhood is a trip. The tourists clog the concrete, all, necks craned, looking up in wonder, running into each other. The New Yorkers take to walking in the streets – impatient to get to work.

“One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.” – Paul Simon  Oh so true. Sometimes I think about the 37 apartments below me – layouts all the same. Some day I’ll organize a D line open house where we can all visit one another and check out how we’ve each decorated the same space. Most of the time I’m totally oblivious to living on top of all these folks. Weird!

I don’t know the last names of any of the people who live on my hall. We live so close, we maintain our privacy.

I wake up each morning in a city that doesn’t sleep
I’m not king of the hill, but I’m definitely on top of the heap

Last night I went to Steinway Hall and saw a classical music concert. On the way home passed by Carnegie Hall, Birdland, The Schubert Theater on Broadway.  It’s the hood.  It’s a city of inspiration.

~ Peter Link

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For more inspiring music you can download
and information about Peter Link, please visit Watchfire Music.

Even More Inspiration

• Gabriel, Come Blow Your Horn
• Live Music Lives!
• WFM Listening Room – Series II Finale
• WFM Listening Room Series II – 3
• MOMIX’s Botanica
• I Stood In The Wings… Part 3