Theeo Thoughts № 019 | Man Smart, Women Smarter

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Theeo Thoughts № 019 Playlist | Always About the Music

Part of me wants to wait until Valentine's Day because I'd rather wish everyone love than feel forced into this dead-of-winter, start-anew silliness.

Nonetheless, cheers to everyone. I hope you are wrapping up the year of the snake with intention, prepping for what has already begun as a bat shit crazy year about to get crazier. I've cleared away the debris down to the last paperclip, moved furniture around, and ensured nothing – absolutely nothing – is occupying my space that no longer belongs. I invite you to do the same.

The Fire Horse and a slew of outer planets are moving into positions and configurations they've never occupied before. We've never lived, built, led, or created like what is coming.

Change is getting real, real – real soon. Noticed anything? More giants keep leaving.

The Legends are Leaving

I gasped out loud on Saturday when I saw the post that Bob Weir was gone. When I do this, I partly think I'm being ridiculous. Another part of me ends up sitting shiva. A third part begins to pull internal strings on why the emotional response? And a fourth part finally acknowledges how we are all interconnected. It just is.

He was a complete force of nature who lived so wholly in and on behalf of his creativity. It hadn't occurred to me that he might go next. Willie? Maybe.

He occupied a space as a person, musician, creative, innovator, and spirit that has threaded throughout forty-five years of my own arc. At first, it was about finding the open road, places to dance, and sound to bathe in. In the V.2, Bob was someone I observed and admired for his creative persistence and continual reinvention.

He was a character at a distance, yet close because of how much the world he created and the early life experiences I lived tracked with me forward. Quite literally, his commitment to the music opened space for me to hear, see, and experience a world through sensory lenses beyond the mind. Lenses that ordinary, non-art-specific, and certainly not business, life rarely promotes connections around.

• First of all, he was a master rhythm guitar player, known to weave in the in-between in extraordinary ways – making something new, at first with Jerry and Phil, and then with other extraordinary players.
• Being a singer was somewhat secondary, but his songwriting will be forever important in the canon.
• His ability "to steer a room" of 30k-60k was always noteworthy to my intuitive senses. Even way back then, I observed in real time the magicianship.
• The way he co-created and co-led with Jerry is one of the most precious artistic partnerships. Their friendship, collaboration, and respect for one another led us all in so many positive ways – riding so many downs and ups.
• 5,000 shows in the bag is not too shabby. That takes a dose of backbone and a lifetime of grit. He had both.
• He has always been known to be a seriously good human, appreciating fewer words and more playing.
• The outpouring of stories in these last few days is a testament to his grace.

The Work is Never Done

The reintroduction of The Grateful Dead into the collective consciousness over these last 30 years is a full tribute to Bob Weir's soulful existence.

They all always understood the big idea was not about "the human." It was always about the music. The "God-head" weight took Garcia out. Bob refused the weight of that projection.

• Rather, he committed to deepening our shared understanding of what music means for evolving a collective into a higher frequency.
• For creating experiences for people to experience themselves beyond the tiny boxes on offer.
• To make moments that have a "songlist," but with a ton of room for emergence.
• To be in symbiotic relationship because you can hold the container, and allow everyone to create and choose their own experience.
• To be so committed to one's craft, you understand a divine truth, which is that we are never done.
• The list could go on, but lastly, to show up. This man lived a life appreciating the constancy of change without loss ever breaking him of the creative work needing doing and the responsibility to get on doing it.

Somewhere around 2018, in between projects, I decompressed by watching all the documentaries on the band. I really needed to put two and two together about how my early years – beyond family, culture, education, or biology – were a direct informant and activator of my professional choice.

Finally, I began to see the connections. Producing. Facilitating. Sound Engineering. Designing. Listening. Hearing. Hosting. Collaborating. Partnering. Co-Creating. Leading. Following. Writing. Dancing. Experiencing. Improvising. Being. Standing it up. Tearing it down. Directing. Teaching. Playing. Choreographing. Teaming. Innovating. Moving forward.

In ways, they too raised me up.

Life and Living

Bob didn't obsess about death even whilst he lived a life riddled with too many friends dying too young and for constantly unfortunate reasons. He was instead really passionate about life, living it, and expressive about not planning too much.

"Why plan when the plan never goes that way?" he said.

Getting back "to making the music" is the no-plan plan. Be in the discovery. Follow the signals. Attune. Allow it to unfold. Delight the crowd. Do it again. See how the same song changes, stays the same, or finds a whole new path. Expect the unexpected because that is the way.

"Approach the music by rooting it in freedom, trust, and deep respect for the song." A philosophy and principles he espoused to the countless musicians now reflecting upon his impact.

Building the Future Leaders

Over these last 30 years, Bob Weir was passionate about ensuring a cabal of younger musicians benefited from his wisdom, experience, and what everyone who was able to play, learn, and create with him talks about – his vault of endless stories. As a result, a ton more people across multiple generations have now benefited. They've been enriched by shared experiences with a master, by playing to crowds that are known to bring the electricity and shape the space.

Players and people being exposed to the magic were his fuel. Learning how to "approach the music with deep respect for the song" (technically, emotionally, spiritually, psychically) was his bible. He gave rather than took. He wove rather than separated. He rose folks up rather than ever tear anyone down. He was perpetually gracious. He understood his superpower deeply and wielded it for the greater good. He embodied listening technically in order to be in a never-ending conversation with one another – using music as the medium. He created a lineage.

At a time when "elected leadership" consumes so much damn air for all the wrong reasons and global business leadership appears perpetually spineless day-in and day out, I think Bobby became one of the most iconic and hopeful leaders in the music business. John Mayer, who played with Bob consistently since 2016, giving him a new lease on his own creative life, said, amongst many things, "Bob is brave, patient, and fearless."

Right about now, we need a f'ton more of brave, patient, and fearless.

Joy & Comfort

He was indefatigable. The crowds still gathered, the wildness was still felt, and the experience still flowed. All illustrating why freedom and art are so intertwined. Why they are the best tools to threaten the control systems.

The fact that people kept showing up was his gratitude, and his humility always walked beside him.

The Women are Smarter

This weekend, I sat with a deep sense of gratitude again reflecting on how V.1 of this musical phenomenon shaped me.

• My early experiences taught me the art of hearing behind the words and metaphorically and literally being in the music.
• They gave me an explicit understanding of what it looks like (if not how) to create and shift the movement of energy in human systems.
• I saw in real-time, on occasion after occasion, magic creating itself because the artists understood flow, its nature, and how to submit to her guidance for ever-better outcomes.
• I watched, listened, and felt, as a young woman, the results (beyond technical know-how) of collaboration-in-action.
• I came to an early understanding of collectivism, community, and a shared passion for freedom, meaning, and purpose. Or perhaps, it met me where I am wired naturally.
• I was always able to see the leadership and teaming model up there on stage. The eye language was forever expressive. The sync was evident. The crew integrated. The smiles telling.
• I had the chance on so many occasions to participate in extended moments of time out of time, liminal space, and access to something much greater than myself – all of which were principal teachers – because of the music.
• Lastly, but (cheekily) importantly, while he didn't write it, Bob gave us the cover of Man Smart (Women Smarter). The anthem, pulled forward from a 1930's calypso musician, underscores that he was a smart man indeed.

Approach the music by rooting it in freedom, trust, and deep respect for the song.

Room for New Legends

People die every day, but not every day do we get to reflect upon and read the outpouring of love, appreciation, gratitude, and bigness about how a single person touched the lives, professions, and hearts of so many.

The world at large needs all humans to walk into their brave, patient, and fearless leader archetype. To begin to live life from an indefatigable commitment to creating, to artistry, innovation, non-negotiation, and to backbone, spine, and kindness.

You do not need a big auditorium or a huge audience. You literally don't even need a social channel. You need an internal muscle developing indefatigably, reminding yourself that the work of creating is never done. That love and self-worth is the signature, for yourself first, so it can then ripple out from your artistry into the broader collective – as purpose. And, when you entrust your channel (e.g. your human vessel) to the principles, dynamics, and energies of flow, flow she does.

Trust her.

Get out of the way.

Stop with the planning.

Start with the attuning.

One step at a time.

"You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way, I would take you home"
(Ripple)

Whether you know or care who he is does not matter; take the notes. It's never about the human. But, forever about the energy.

Through the Looking Glass

In the end, I guess this did end up being about love. Very good.

To get into 2026, find all the non-normal ways to expand your knowing. Step outside your own routines to open up space. Experience yourself being the version you want to become, not who you've been. Break symmetry right now. Don't be bullshit, do be honest – even when it's f'ing scary. These are the tests, and the tests ahead are plentiful.

Here are a few words I believe will be descriptive for what's in store –

Sovereignty.
Individuality.
Truth.
Story.
Inner Knowing.
Creativity.
Dismantling.
Fire.
Air.
Flight.
The Unexpected.
Reimagination.
Quick Pivots.
Departures.
Endings.
Weird.
Unusual.
New.
Dimensional.

You are already everything you need. The muse is simply awaiting your call. Get your house in order. Free it of clutter to make way for the fire to regenerate, not destroy. Wonder to yourself how your life experiences keep forming and shaping you. What new ones are you going after? Which ones are you stepping off the karmic wheel from?

I'll be back soon with more on the work.

For now, "Let there be songs to fill the air."

Peace.

You've got this. x

Kathryn