Founded in 2018, Lauren Christie Design is a professional interior design company based in Ballston Spa that believes in breaking the rules and marching to the sound of your own beat. In addition to tapping into each client’s unique style and needs, Lauren Christie Design specializes in home decor, home staging for real estate, photography styling, custom-made pieces and furniture creation and renovation. No project is too small. “My hope is that through my business and through my clients and their spaces, I can debunk the ideology that design has to follow a set of rules,” says CEO and Founder Christie Pronto. saratoga living recently sat down and chatted with Pronto about her business.
Where do you find inspiration while staying up to date with current trends and codes?
Trends are important when staying relevant in the market, but if monochromatic decor tickles your fancy, let’s go with that. If vibrant colors and abstract art in the bathroom makes your heart sing, then flow with that. Lean into what makes you or your family function at its highest level. My job is to bring that energy to fruition through decor, staging, lighting and more.
How do you help clients discover and communicate their style to you?
Music truly connects me to the mood of a space. I create soundtracks for each space, because it not only guides me stylistically, but it also feeds my soul and translates into the decorating or renovation of the space.
What does a successful project mean to you? I look for personalized and engaging experiences, whether with the client or through the artistic choices made in a home. It’s about a feeling versus an aesthetic. The aesthetic will be there in the end, and hopefully, the client will have a unique and authentic reaction to the soul of the space. The chair, the mirror or whatever it may be—those are merely the vehicles driving us to the reaction.
What can clients expect from Lauren Christie Design in 2019? My sincerest hope is for quality and integrity in the long run, and heart and passion forever. To me, luxury is all about comfort, and that’s entirely relative. Knowing that a particular piece was custom-made especially for you and your budget is luxurious. Feeling your home rise up to meet you when you enter after a hard day’s work and glancing at the custom artwork hung on your wall is luxurious, timeless and priceless.
Saratoga Springs is much more my speed these days, thanks to Bonacio Construction. Case in point: When I was 16, I had to borrow my parents’ Honda Accord to drive to Wilton to catch a movie. Nowadays, I can just take the 15-minute walk Downtown from my boyhood home on Second Street to do the same thing. Thanks to Bonacio, which was instrumental in the development of the Railroad Place area (an eyesore for years), the city now has the sprawling Bow Tie Cinema. The list of beautiful, beneficial Bonacio builds abounds. Noshed on chips and salsa at Cantina or imbibed a Gin-Gin Fizz at Hamlet & Ghost lately? Both spaces were renovated/remodeled by Bonacio. Heck, even the building I’m writing this story in right now—The Washington on Broadway—is a Bonacio original. In a little more than three decades, Bonacio Construction has developed more than 1.5 million square feet of real estate in Downtown Saratoga. Chew on that for a second.
Who’s the construction behemoth’s wizard behind the curtain? That would be its President, Sonny Bonacio, who, like me, is a Saratoga native—or, more specifically, “Saratoga Springs maternity ward class of 1967,” as he puts it. He also graduated from Saratoga Springs High School, and after earning a degree in Construction Management, set up shop here in 1988. Back then, he tells me, “It wasn’t cool to stay in Saratoga after you graduated college.” But he and his wife, Julie, the firm’s Vice President and Owner of the local powerhouse real estate brokerage firm, Julie & Co. Realty, wanted to change that mindset, making Saratoga a place its residents never want to leave.
This came not only in the form of commercial projects, such as the movie theater and the luxury apartments that flank it, but also the construction of private homes and historic renovations. Bonacio cites 46 Union Avenue—a new build, right down the street from Saratoga Race Course, on the site of an old Skidmore College dormitory, that was designed to fit right in with the towering Victorians around it—as the perfect example of this ethic. “We created a structure that looks like it’s been there for 150 years,” he says. Indeed, I, for one, have driven by the building every day for months and had no idea that it was a completely new build.
Look, sometimes I pine for the less-developed Saratoga of my youth—and yes, Bonacio’s aware that he has critics out there who aren’t all stoked about how much the city has been developed over the past three decades. But he thinks it’s a two-way street: “I feel that a community in Upstate New York that’s growing, increasing its employees and employers Downtown, is a success story.” I can agree with that—especially the next time I’m shoveling popcorn down my gullet and enjoying the hell out of the latest flick on Saratoga’s newest Downtown silver screen.
This past January, I went on a weekend ski trip with a group of friends to Sugarbush Resort in Warren, VT. While we were eating lunch—a classic spread of PB&Js, salt-and-vinegar chips and apples—my friend pointed out a name written between the trees on the mountain trail map hanging above our table. He said he’d heard somewhere that one guy hand-paints “like, all the ski maps.” I was intrigued.
It turns out that my friend was right. Since 1988, Colorado-based artist James Niehues has painted nearly 200 aerial views of ski mountains on 5 continents, for resorts from Vail in Colorado and Thredbo in Australia to Windham and Hunter, both in New York’s Catskill Mountains. His work appears not only on large signs posted in ski lodges and at the top of ski lifts, but also in the fold-up maps nearly every skier picks up his or her first time at a mountain. And, yes, he does it all by hand, first sketching the mountain from self-shot aerial photos, then projecting that image onto his painting surface and tracing over it. “The sketch is probably the hardest step, but through the years, it has become second nature to me,” Niehues says. “I can envision the composition almost instantly, then sit down and start meticulously laying it out.”
Throughout the last five decades, just a few artists—including Hal Shelton in the ’70s and Bill Brown in the ’80s—have done what Niehues does. In the ’90s, ski resorts turned to computers to create their trail maps—Gary Milliken, for example, who invented the digital map system VistaMap, produced Gore Mountain’s map. Ironically, though, in recent years, resorts have gone back to favoring hand-painted maps, the likes of which, really, only Niehues can produce.
I ask Niehues about some of his most memorable projects. “My favorite mountains to paint are in New Zealand,” he says. “They’re treeless in most cases, and I can airbrush the undulating slopes more effectively than on other mountains.” He’s also a fan of painting ski mountains in our neck of the woods, though they’ve presented him with some issues. “Mountains in the Northeast are very interesting to me—the deciduous trees are a challenge to show bare,” Niehues says. “Early on, I’d seen them with a heavy frost; they were aglow with light on the outer extremities and formed an interesting canopy that I’ve tried to replicate with each painting.” He particularly enjoyed painting Vermont’s Jay Peak because of “the treatment of the terrain beyond the slopes.”
Niehues, though now semi-retired, is working on the map for Mt. Bachelor in Oregon, an exceptionally challenging project, given the fact that the resort’s trails cover the entire 360-degree span of the mountain. “They’ve always had more than two views to show all their terrain, but now I’ve included everything into one view,” he says.
Unsurprisingly, I’m not the only one fascinated by Niehues’ work. Skiers Todd Bennett and Ben Farrow had the same “aha!” moment I had when they spotted Niehues’ name on the map at Idaho’s Tamarack Resort in 2017. “I’m basically a fanboy,” says Bennett, who reached out to the artist soon after. “I told him that I’d like to buy his coffee-table book, and if he didn’t already have one, I’d like to make him one.” Niehues didn’t, but had always wanted a definitive catalogue of his work—and Bennett stuck to his word. Bennett and Farrow launched a Kickstarter campaign in November 2018 for a hardcover book project, entitled James Niehues: The Man Behind The Map, featuring nearly 200 pieces of Niehues’ work, information on the artist’s method and the history of ski map-making. Within 24 hours of the campaign launching, they’d exceeded its goal 5 times over, and by its completion, had raised an astronomical sum, making it the No.1 art illustration Kickstarter campaign of all time. The book is scheduled to ship in June 2019.
As I write this, I’m gearing up for my first-ever ski trip out West, with that same group of friends from Sugarbush. We’re headed to the Canadian Rockies to ski at Revelstoke, and definitely going to need some help getting around. Guess who painted the trail map?
If you have family or friends visiting you in the Capital Region for the holidays, chances are, you’re not going to want to cook every night. Luckily, this city has so many amazing bars and restaurants to choose from that you don’t have to! Below, find three of the area’s top eateries that are sure to fill your belly this summer.
The Inn At Erlowest, a Queen Anne-style stone castle on the western shore of southern Lake George, isn’t just a private residence turned award-winning luxury, ten-suite hotel—it’s also a fine dining, farm-to-table restaurant destination for guests and the public alike. The inn serves an à la carte dinner menu in its dining room and outdoor patio nightly from 5-8:30pm, as well as a lighter fare menu of cocktails and appetizers at its Library Bar. Weekly specials made with seasonal foods ensure that each visit is a unique dining experience. Guests at the inn are also treated to a farm-fresh breakfast the morning after their stay.
The Barnsider is an upscale steakhouse that delivers a delicate balance of superior food, service and atmosphere. Located on Sand Creek Road in Albany, The Barnsider’s menu offers a wide variety of exceptional cuts of beef, carefully aged for a minimum of 28 days in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment and are then expertly cut and trimmed in an onsite butcher shop, ensuring each cut is lean, tender and incredibly flavorful. The restaurant’s award-winning chefs use only the freshest ingredients to make sure your dinner, holiday party or wedding shower is the absolute best it can be.
New from the owners of Henry Street Taproom is Flatbread Social, a wood-fired pizza, craft beer and cocktails hotspot, located right next to the Taproom on Henry Street. Flatbread Social officially opened its doors on December 31, 2018, and has since been serving starters, salads and pizzas in an inviting and, yes, social, atmosphere (you can even play shuffleboard with friends there after you eat). Flatbread offerings include “The Only Kind Of Pizza There Is,” topped with local sausage, garlic mushrooms, fire-roasted tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella; the “Kick In Your Pants Pie,” which features pickled banana peppers, spicy chorizo, fire-roasted tomato sauce and mozzarella; and homemade ice cream.
Most people know 20-year Saratoga Springs resident Katie Cristo as a local realtor, mom and avid volunteer. What they may not know is that she also runs her own custom jewelry business. saratoga living recently caught up with the designer to talk about that creative side, and how Katie Cristo Custom Jewelry came to be.
Katie, tell us, how did you first get into jewelry making?
Having just completed a major house renovation, my inner designer came tapping back to that door, like, “Hey you—what’s next?!” After some casual researching, I learned about chainmail weaving. What really caught my attention was how it had a modern take on jewelry but was curiously tied to the old world. Chainmail was used to make medieval armor, so it was created to be extremely strong. I taught myself the technique and started weaving a few chains by hand, right at my kitchen table. I did extensive research to make sure I found the highest quality material available. When I saw how it literally starts as just a pile of rings, but ends as this beautiful, intricately woven chain, I was completely hooked.
Is this when you made it a business?
Yes, but, at first, I thought I’d just make a few pieces and have them available for friends and family for holidays or special occasions. But the funniest thing would happen: I’d wear pieces out to a happy hour and come home with an empty wrist! They were selling off my hand. Then, people started calling me and saying “Hey, Katie, do you think you could do this color stone with that chain?” This was the start of my custom process.
What’s the best part about owning your own custom jewelry business?
I love sitting down with someone and customizing their piece so it’s exactly what they want. And then to see them wearing it a few weeks later when I randomly run into them makes me so happy. I think customers really appreciate when they know that something was created and exclusively made just for them.
Where can people buy your jewelry?
Everything I’ve made thus far is for sale on www.katiecristo.com. But the customization option will continue for all customers—even those who don’t live locally. Anyone interested should email me at [email protected] or call me at 1-800-280-5207.
When I toss my banana peel and coffee grounds into the compost bin every morning, I tend to slam down the lid as quickly as possible. Saratoga Springs-based photographer (and saratoga living contributor) Terri-Lynn Pellegri does the exact opposite. Composting, or the process of recycling various organic materials (such as food waste) to produce a nutrient-rich soil conditioner, is the subject of Pellegri’s most recent photo project. Her Love Compost collection will be on display at Uncommon Grounds for the entire month of May—a bonus, given that International Compost Awareness Week (yes, there’s one of those) only stretches from May 5-11.
Pellegri’s photo project depicts mostly snaps of unaltered accumulations of her kitchen scraps, “which many people would consider garbage,” she says. “The soon-to-be-composted matter often seen as rotten, useless, decaying and valueless is viewed through a more open lens, a shifted perspective. Perhaps the photos will provide a thoughtful suggestion or stimulate conversation.” It’s not lost on Pellegri that “presenting this collection in a food establishment”—one that participates in food composting itself—“will create an interesting dialogue of its own.” The photographer hopes that her art will challenge the way we put labels on things and transform what we consider to be “trash.”
Beautiful, provocative and important, Love Compost almost makes me want to open up my bin and take a closer look. Almost.
The first Saturday in May—the Kentucky Derby—is horse racing’s equivalent to the Super Bowl. Known as the Run for the Roses and the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports, the Derby has captured racing fans’ imagination since 1875—and mine since the late 1980s. What got me hooked? The trifecta of successive winners: Alysheba in 1987, Winning Colors in 1988 and Sunday Silence in 1989. The icing on the cake? Watching Super Saver win the 2010 Derby at Churchill Downs.
Immediately after a winner is crowned at the Derby, racing fans begin speculating about a possible Triple Crown run. Could the Derby winner take the Preakness Stakes? The Belmont Stakes, even? For me, though, there’s a third question: What about the Travers Stakes?
I’m always thinking ahead to that day in August—this year, it’ll be Saturday, August 24—which is Saratoga’s Super Bowl. What makes the Travers so unique is that the majority of Derby winners who’ve raced in it—16 of 26, to be exact—have lost it, contributing to Saratoga Race Course’s reputation as the “Graveyard of Champions.” Case in point: Aristides, who won that first Derby in 1875, came into the Travers a sure bet, only to
lose to an obscure colt named D’Artagnan, who never won a race before or after. On a much grander scale, in 1930, Gallant Fox became the first Triple Crown winner to enter the Travers, but was soundly defeated by 100-1 long shot Jim Dandy.
But Saratoga’s “graveyard” hasn’t always been the site of funerary proceedings. The first of ten Derby dandies to win the Travers was Baden-Baden in 1877, and four years later, Hindoo won the Derby and Travers as part of an 18-race (!) win streak. Derby winners Twenty Grand (1931), Whirlaway (1941) and Shut Out (1942) all won the Travers, successively, with Whirlaway being the lone Triple Crown winner to have ever taken Saratoga’s gem. Following Shut Out, there was a 51-year gap before another a dual victory, which Sea Hero snapped in 1993. Fast-forward to the 21st century, and five Derby winners have shown up at the Travers, with only Street Sense able to accomplish the one-two punch in 2007.
Luckily, this year’s Travers doesn’t need a Derby winner’s win to make it historic: It’ll be the 150th running of the race. But I’ll still be rooting for one—or another massive upset.
With its racing splendor dating back to 1867, you might hear an ole timer use the phrase “The Run for the Carnations” or “The Test of the Champions,” referring to the third leg of American horse racing’s Triple Crown series. One thing that’s not a long shot is the verifiable, bankable excitement of this race that follows the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes: New York’s Belmont Stakes, taking place Saturday, June 8 and may be the site of a Triple Crown victory.
The Belmont is run annually in Elmont, on Long Island, some 40 minutes by car—or 8 minutes by helicopter—from New York City. So naturally, I suggest using Manhattan as your home base, and road-tripping from there. Of course, the Big Apple has no shortage of stellar, top-notch hotels, entertainment and dining venues, which makes a short list for this horse-centric road trip quite tricky. Nonetheless, I put together a list featuring classic institutions and enticingly refined NYC traditions that syncs up with our desired road-trip destination.
Let’s work backward. You’ll probably be taking Manhattan’s 59th Street (Queensboro) Bridge en route to the race (assuming the helicopter’s not in your budget!), so we’d best check you in close by. A top choice is The Carlyle Hotel at 76th Street and Madison Avenue. This iconic, grand hotel has the best views of Central Park! Bemelmans Bar, nestled within the hotel and featuring fantastically whimsical murals by Ludwig Bemelmans, author and illustrator of the beloved Madeline children’s books, is an absolute must, while a great spot for a classic coiffure is Yves Durif Salon on the third floor. And why not follow it up with an exquisite facial rejuvenation and skincare spree at the hotel’s famed Sisley-Paris Spa. (Yes, yes please!)
Keeping in step with elegance, another amazing pick for your stay is The Pierre Hotel on 61st Street and Fifth Avenue. Why? It, too, offers easy access to the Queensboro Bridge, just a few blocks away, drastically cutting down your “commute” to the big race. Plus, you’re mere steps from the Metropolitan Club (fab!), Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman, and can stroll right into Gotham’s famed “Museum Mile,” featuring the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim, The Frick and, yes, so much more.
If horsing ’round is up your alley, then Lower Midtown’s NoMad neighborhood is for you. The newer Phillippe Stark-designed Mondrian Park Avenue, at 30th Street and Park Avenue South, is one of the newest hot spots in town—a cross between the Ace Hotel, W Hotel and The Plaza. Elegant, relevant, sexy!
Cocktails! Let’s start with champagne at Ladurée. The Parisian implant has three locations in town: one in SoHo, another on Madison Avenue and yet another at The Plaza Hotel. The Plaza’s iconic Oak Room has been restored beautifully, its original splendor fully recaptured, and is also a great option. Of course, if you’re in the mood to step out and explore more, the skyline’s the limit! If you’re limited by dietary restrictions, a simple Google search for the best vegan restaurants in NYC will produce buckets of good recommendations. But as of late, the highest marks go to Trip Advisor’s Travelers’ Choice 2018 winner Spice Symphony, which has two NYC locations. If, conversely, you’re a meat lover, then the finest, buttery-aged porterhouse can be found at the world-famous Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn—which makes for a terrific detour on your way back from the track, before taking the nearby Williamsburg Bridge back over to Manhattan. And for fish? Even three decades after its launch in Manhattan, you’ll still need to pull some strings to get into Le Bernardin, unquestionably one of the best restaurants in the world, which consistently serves up the most exquisite seafood dishes on the planet. (And its still the only restaurant in Manhattan never to lose its four-star [highest] ranking from The New York Times, thanks to Co-Owners Maguy Le Coze and famed Executive Chef Eric Ripert.) But never say never, I always say!
For brunch, you can’t get better than the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center. This Gilded Age throwback hasn’t just been restored, it’s been completely reimagined beyond even its original grandeur. If it’s just drinks and impressive Manhattan skyline views you want, venture to the adjacent venue, Bar SixtyFive.
If you want to stay on script with equestrian-centric luxury, here’s one great place to work into your schedule: The Wild Horses Of Sable Island Gallery, home to the most extravagant equine art. I wouldn’t miss this or artist Roberto Dutesco’s coffee table book of the same name. Socrates Sculpture Park, in Astoria, Queens, is pure New York City: hipster. Groovy. It’s. Right. Now. The outdoor metal sculpture park is literally on the way to Belmont Park. Old Westbury Gardens is only ten minutes from the track and doesn’t disappoint. Tour the Westbury House, a King Charles II-style mansion, which touts that it’s “nestled amid 200 acres of formal gardens, landscaped grounds, woodlands, ponds and lakes.”
Also, check out BelmontStakes.com for premium hospitality packages, which put you in a luxe, air-conditioned, front-row seat at the racetrack. Need a one-of-a-kind saddle (yes!), racetrack scarf or satchel? Hermès doesn’t just accommodate, it excels beyond bespoke! I ain’t kidding.
There are a lot of fun things to do on the way to the track, people! It’s time to double down on the Belmont Stakes!
For more than a decade and a half, Saratoga Springs-based Phinney Design Group and its Founding Principal Architect, Michael Phinney, have been known for stunning architectural projects that bridge the gap between the traditional and the future. You can see it in their five live-work studios at Saratoga artists’ community Yaddo, which manage to look both brand new and as if they’ve always been there; in their preservation of historic gems such as The Sagamore Resort and The Gideon Putnam; and in the firm’s unwavering dedication to green building and sustainable design.
So what does the future look like for this architecture, interior design and construction management firm that has already done so much to bring this region’s architecture into the 21st century and beyond? For starters, it’s opening up a second office on River Street in Downtown Troy this spring. “We’re really out of space in Saratoga,” Phinney says. “We’ve kind of gotten to our maximum here—22 people—so we’re moving four or five people to Troy.” For Phinney, who spent six years living in Troy during and after his time as a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the city was the obvious choice for a second office. “I’ve basically lived in Troy and Saratoga, and I’ve always loved both cities,” he says.
One of Phinney Design Group’s biggest current undertakings also happens to be in the Collar City. The adaptive reuse project will take a 40,000-square-foot mill and transform it into a mixed-use space: The ground floor will be a second The Local Pub and Teahouse location (the first shares a building with Phinney Design’s Saratoga office), complete with a game area, room for live entertainment, a kru coffee café and a Common Roots Brewery and Bottle Shop; the second floor will be a business incubator space, with shared work space and some smaller private offices; and the third floor will be apartments.
Through all the company’s growth, it has still managed to maintain its dedication to the environment. In fact, this past November, Phinney was awarded the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC’s) Kevin P. Stack Award for Sustainability for his design work on several USGBC-certified sustainable buildings, including the Bio Building at The Wild Center (formerly the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks) in Tupper Lake, NY. “I’m the type of person who’s always focused on the task of the day and on what’s happening next, and sometimes I stop and look back at the body of work, and I’m really proud of how diverse it is,” Phinney says. “We’ve won historic preservation awards and then we’ve won design awards for really modern buildings.” It’s a design firm that can do both. Phinney Design will honor the Capital Region’s historic spaces while responsibly pushing its architecture into the future.
If you graduated from Skidmore College in 1993, it’s entirely possible that you shared classes with two future Grammy Award winners. The first, of course, is Emily Lazar, who became the first woman in history to win in the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category earlier this year. The second, her friend Scott Jacoby, will be returning to the college on Tuesday, March 26, to share tips with students on navigating the music industry and making it as a creative professional. The Grammy-winning recording engineer, producer, composer and owner of Eusonia Records and Studios in New York City, will be giving a presentation from 5-6:30pm in Skidmore’s Davis Auditorium.
Even though it’s been 26 years since Jacoby has been a Skidmore student, he looks back fondly on his education there. He remembers his first visit to the college as a prospective student, noting that the school “seemed to be a bit more artist-oriented or -inclined than some other schools in the same category of small liberal arts.” That, and he was particularly attracted to the “interdisciplinary spirit” of the institution. Although you might expect Jacoby to have been a mainstay in the music department, he actually took few music classes during his four years on campus, though he did perform in a number of bands. These included Blue Knows, a jazz and blues group that expanded the Downtown scene; D.O.P.E (Deeply Opening Peoples Ears), a hip-hop-meets-funk ensemble, coupling a live band with three emcees; and Dig, one of Skidmore’s only groups at the time fronted by a woman of color. Despite his obvious passion for music, Jacoby claims that he never intended “for music to be a career.”
Instead, Jacoby opted to pursue psychology, discovering a love for the field while taking the then-mandatory Liberal Studies course. In his senior year, Jacoby applied for a Fulbright Grant, proposing a study exploring “the intersection of psychology, psychiatry and anthropology” in East Africa. Despite submitting an impressive application, Jacoby’s proposal was rejected; Fulbright stated that he would’ve had to have been a doctor to pull it off. Jacoby recalls his response to the news: “I was basically like f–k this, I’m going to medical school.” After taking more preliminary science courses, Jacoby began studies at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. At 27, he completed his sophomore year at Einstein and broke ties with the institution, deciding it was time to “figure out how to make a career in music.”
Inspired by Stevie Wonder, Prince and Lenny Kravitz, Jacoby approached his first album, operating under the assumption that “if you were interested in music you wrote all the songs, you produced everything, you engineered it, you mixed it—you kinda did the whole thing.” Jacoby shared the album with none other than his friend Lazar, who after listening explained that each aspect of creating an album—writing, singing, mixing and producing—is an individual career. It was then that Jacoby realized he was “basically a producer and a songwriter and an engineer—cloaked for the moment in recording artist clothes.”
Despite his reservations about where he fit into the music business, Jacoby clearly had a gift—at least in the Far East. His single, “I Like You,” hit No.1 in Japan in 2003. But by that point, his focus had shifted from performing to producing.
He’s had no problem making that shift in the industry, working with a number of high-profile artists such as Coldplay, John Legend, Vampire Weekend and Sia. He’d end up winning his first Grammy in 2006 for engineering comedian Lewis Black’s The Carnegie Hall Performance. A decade later, he served as a presenter the Grammys in its Technical category.
Over the last 20 years, Jacoby has given more than 25 presentations at colleges and universities, visiting Skidmore seven times. He admits that he doesn’t “like advice or people who give it”; he prefers his presentations to touch on the why, not the how of a process or the technicalities of creating it. He thinks that the music industry is a tricky business to get into, but like any field, “the thing that unifies most successful people is a sense of purpose and working hard toward that goal,” he says. “I’m not going to call that advice, but it’s an observation.”