So How Did I Get Here?
Fascinating stories and priceless life experience can't be allowed to just blow away with the sands of time.
It's for this reason I've started a bi-monthly podcast series with incredible and inspiring people at home and abroad, to tease out the moments in their life that made them who they are today.
The shows take the form of a relaxed conversation where I'll be metaphorically running all over the shop to pick up all the pearls of wisdom my guests drop as we look back over their remarkable lives to date.
You can listen and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes
Here
#1- Meet Jamie Sparks the Entrepreneurial Adventurer
At the tender age of 24 he’s already got 6 Guinness world records to his name. The first few of which he gained at the start of 2014 by being one half of the youngest pair to row across the Atlantic ocean- Mind you this was only rowing a mere 12 hours a day for 54 days straight. Reflecting on his achievements with a reporter for the GWR Jamie said "It was the most incredible experience and I'll never get the opportunity to do anything like this again."
This though was evidently a lie as just 6 months later he spent a further 71 days at sea skippering a 4 man crew that rowed across the Indian ocean from Exmouth, Australia to the Seychelles gaining him a few more medals for the trophy cabinet.
On top of being the World’s youngest double ocean rower he’s ran 7 marathons in 7 days, set up the Wadi Rum Race- an ultra tough 260km race through the deserts of Southern Jordan, founded an expedition company that plans to take people to some of the most wild and remote regions on the planet and to stretch the legs this summer, he walked across Sri Lanka with his girlfriend and fellow adventurer Lauren Molton; who he tells me, he actually met at the start line of their Atlantic row. Birds of a feather indeed!
I have the pleasure and privilege of being Jamie’s friend and business partner as we travel about making films together and this podcast was actually recorded on a coach to Stockholm airport as I had to jump at the opportunity of actually having us both together and sitting still for more than 5 minutes! The audio quality isn’t great for this reason (it’ll be much better in future episodes don’t worry!), but I hope you’ll agree Jamie’s stories and outlook are more than enough to merit persevering with it!
I had a great time recording with Jamie and as he said afterwards it was the quickest bus journey he’d had in a long time so I hope you enjoy too!
Intro Music by Angus Miller and Lowercase Noises
You can find out more about Jamie at his website : http://www.jamie-sparks.co.uk/
The Wadi Rum race:http://www.wadirumultra.com/the-race/
Finally if it’s adventure that tickles you, be sure to check out his incredible expedition company First Expeditions: http://www.firstexpeditions.com
Thanks for listening
Within the music industry, Chris Greenwood aka Madera Verde has done a bunch.
In our conversation at his house in South London Chris talks us through the journey his entrepreneurial spirit and passion for music has taken him on over the years; From humble teenage beginnings trying to sell soggy firewood with a mate in Barnes, to having a pretty sweet summer job in the States DJing in the Hamptons, to returning to London to run his own nightclubs, festivals and everything inbetween.
His stories are enough to make you drip with envy and wish you were there with him - like those times he hung out with the Beastie Boys in New York, or when Bjork used to sing at the Giles Peterson & James Lavelle jam sessions he helped facilitate and Wesley Snipes dropped by Bar Rumba for a boogy- you know, the usual days at the office!
We talk about his epic vinyl collection and where his collecting habit started - visiting vinyltheques in Brussels with his mum, and amongst many other things we cover the seemingly organic progression towards eventually running Shoreditch based nightclub Cargo for 10 years before being drafted in to co run The Big Chill festival for over 5 years too. You can now find him most days & nights at Louie Louie, a hybrid cafe/bar/restaurant he co owns in the Walworth Road, SE17.
It was a real pleasure to chat to Chris being a huge fan of his radio show and the music he champions (World music 2.0 if you were wondering!), so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and you take something away from the picture he paints of what it is like to be a part of the ever changing music industry.
Want To Hear More of Chris?
You can visit his new venue Louie Louie at 347 Walworth Road London SE17 2AL, listen to his monthly SOAS radio show here, and his weekly radio show on MiSoul here. Chris' Mixcloud archive can also be listened to here and I thoroughly recommend doing all of the above!
