Meet Benjamin Davidow

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Benjamin Davidow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Benjamin below.

Benjamin, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?

Comparison can be helpful in some scenarios to set bench marks and gain access to the ideas of others’ achievements, however I have found that focusing on authenticity and my own voice without judging myself too harshly in the footsteps of others works far better.

It’s easy to get bogged down in your own thoughts much less fettered to a blossoming narrative of whatever you think others may be thinking about you. I this case I think it’s best to take a deep breath, be honest and say what you intuitively know and feel should be presented for the moment at hand. It’s not always easy to take the armor off, but it’s always worth it in the end.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

First and foremost I’m a writer and a musician. I see most things through this lens. Whether it be for education or the exploration of a business opportunity, I am often framing my approach through a breath of creativity.

I have performed and recorded at some of the most famous studios in the history of the world including The Beatles’ own Abbey Road Studios in London, UK with famed engineer John Barrett (Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Jonny Greenwood, Paul Thomas Anderson) & mastering engineer Alex Wharton (Radiohead, The Pixies, The Beatles) in addition to Dennis Hopper’s El Cortez Theatre in Taos, NM and Dave Catching’s Rancho de La Luna in Joshua Tree, CA where I worked side by side with producers and musicians key to Queens of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters, and Eagles of Death Metal such as Catching, producer Chris Goss, and Nick Oliveri.

I have shared stages with Guitar Legend Dick Dale, The Wood Brothers, Primus, Snoop Dogg, The Dead Kennedys, Truckfighters, Nick Oliveri, Mike Watt of The Minute Men, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others. I have also performed at some of the largest music festivals in the country, including Sweetwater 420 Fest, Muddy Roots and Bonnaroo 2024.

I studied among many great musicians and guitarists such as Sid Wolf, Robben Ford, Oliver Wood and Dweezil Zappa.

In addition to my work as a recording artist I helped successfully launch a number of companies as a co-founder to West Coast Craft Distributors (Wholesale Liquor), BohoLama Peruvian Imports, Cockswallow Gin LLC, Pipe Dream PR, and The Fuzz Firm and self published my first book of poetry Baghdad Battery Acid.

The most exciting part about all of this for me is engaging in the experience to achieve these goals and meeting incredible peers along the way.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I would say the top three skills needed to succeed anywhere in life are quite basic, yet universal and relate to strengthening interpersonal relationships – kindness, empathy, and compassion.

Giving back to others and working on intuitive practices will help strengthen these skills such as donating time or skillsets to others, practicing mindfulness or meditation, and engaging in local community conversations that are close to heart.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

Recently I was reading Chögyam Trungpa’s “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism”. Trungpa Rinpoche was a great buddhist master of meditation. There is much to be gleaned from his teaching, but this book in particular tackles the responsibility that we have to take reality on reality’s terms. We often create stories in our heads of the way we believe things are, so much so that it’s easy to build one wall and then another until we have built a kingdom of fantastical illusions without realizing we are creating cognitive dungeons in our minds, making us less nimble in thought; thus, our capability for neuroplasticity becomes stunted unintentionally. These unintentional habits of mind can produce precepts that influence a whole life time of set values, practices and ways of being. So it’s best to deconstruct the narrative and hold yourself responsible for widening your perspective while remaining open and receptive to compassionate communication with others as we attempt to enrich our world.

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Image Credits

Whit Lane
Kristofer Sampson
Kit Gordon

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