John Gorka "Good Noise"

We'd had some words.

Not profane or incendiary, mind you, but unpleasant nonetheless.

It was the kind of uncomfortable exchange between a manager(me) and a staffer, that starts with a legitimate bone to pick, and somehow, unexpectedly devolves into some sarcastic unpleasantness.

We'd walked away, both vowing to return to the subject the following day.

So I was bracing myself for the conversation, sitting in the mvy studio, watching the clock tick closer to our meeting time.

I was ready to apologize for being flip---that was unprofessional. But I was also ready to call her out for taking the conversation on a negative turn, just because she wasn't getting her way.

She, of course, surprised me, with an apology of her own.

"I really believe in that song 'Good Noise,'" she said, referencing a song I'd played earlier in the afternoon. "If you've got nothing good to say . . ." you shouldn't say anything.

"Did you hear that on the way in to the studio?" I asked.

"Hear what?"

"Hear me play 'Good Noise.'"

"No. Did you just play that?"

I had.

Karma? Coincidence? Luck? Cosmic confluence? Plate of shrimp?

It was a little weird, but it reinforced that it's the right move, to make a Good Noise.

A positive message has a ripple effect, I guess.