Chapter 4: Music and brain health as a chancellor’s second act

Jen Lam returned to playing music after years away for all the same reasons Katz got into it in his 50’s. An accomplished Intellectual Property attorney who has worked for the likes of Zynga, Meta and Airbnb, Lam first picked up the bass eight years ago. Balancing career, marriage, and two young children, she now plays in two bands— including your reporter’s 90’s cover band, the Heady Vedders.

Lam played guitar in high school and college, but the demands of law school forced her to set it aside. Well into her career but before parenthood, she jammed with others in a band workshop in San Francisco. Then the pandemic gave her time to improve her craft and learn music theory. Like Katz, the camaraderie of a band is what keeps her showing up to practices and gigs.

“When people pursue something for the joy of pursuing it they tend to be easygoing and fun people to be around, she says. “And you get to share something that is really cool with these great folks.”

I feel that same joy, playing 90’s rock with Jen, playing dueling pianos gigs, or just strumming my guitar to break up the workday. Johns Hopkins Medicine says playing music is a total brain workout that can reduce anxiety and blood pressure while improving memory and sleep. Harvard Medicine says music “lights up nearly all of the brain” — including the areas responsible for emotional response, pleasure and motivation. Renowned neurologist and author Dr. Oliver Sacks says we are only “scratching the surface” when it comes to understanding how music affects and improves the brain. All the more reason to keep playing.

Mike Claire also used playing music to break up his workday. Or, more specifically, to escape lengthy Zoom calls that he didn’t need to be on while he was managing 1,500 employees, a budget of $500 million and the demands of a job previously held by someone facing 21 felony charges for bribery and tax fraud.

“Those last four years of my career that were by far the most stressful,” he tells me as we lounge in chairs in a recording studio at Sound Union (more on that shortly.) He would go on “mute,” close his eyes, and plunk on a piano in a sort of meditation while the conference droned on.

If you meet Claire in person, his lack of gray hair and youthful energy might make you think he’s a grad student in his 30’s, not a 37-year veteran of higher education. Starting as a professor at the College of San Mateo in the late ’80s, he rose through the ranks to serve as president for 13 years. In 2020 when the Chancellor of the larger three college system was accused of taking bribes for lucrative construction contracts, Claire was tapped to step in.

Claire is grateful for the opportunity, but doesn’t miss the job’s enormous pressures: union contracts, agendas from his publicly-elected board, management challenges, not to mention guiding and supporting some 20,000 college students. As a multi-instrumentalist playing keyboards, drums and guitar, Claire turned to his bands as an outlet and stress reducer.

Now retired since last year, he’s making up for lost time by playing in three Bay Area bands. For him, music performance underscores a more urgent need for artistic creativity in these challenging times.

“The world is a scary place. Social media and technology are not all bad, but they’ve shifted personal expression to be political or pejorative, with people taking sides,” he says. “Music, art, writing, whatever your passion, we need these things more than ever to stay fulfilled.”

John Avilla and Tom Zazueta believe so much in the transformative power of music that they built a business around it: Sound Union.

The concept is simple yet revolutionary: a dedicated musicians club offering state-of-theart rehearsal studios, recording spaces with cutting-edge technology, collaborative workspaces, and a performance stage hosting local and national talent. But Sound Union is less about the gear than it is about the people. It’s a sanctuary for creativity, community, and rediscovering passions at any age.

The idea was born out of Avilla’s personal reckoning with midlife reinvention, when after decades of successful marketing work for agencies and companies—at one point he collaborated with GoPro founder Nick Woodman— he faced the harsh realities of ageism in Silicon Valley.

So Avilla changed his tune. As a lifelong musician and award-winning jazz performer, he envisioned a space where career professionals reconnect with their musical roots and create together. Avilla pitched the idea to Zazueta, his friend and colleague of nearly 20 years. Known for his operational expertise in COO and CMO roles in wealth management and creative agencies, Zazueta immediately saw the potential.

The two spent years refining the business plan, combining John’s creative vision with Tom’s pragmatic approach, until they found the perfect space—a cavernous former startup space in Redwood City—in 2023.

“Music is one of those rare passions that stays with you for life,” says Avilla, who embraces the concept of “rewirement”—a reimagined take on retirement—to describe individuals discovering the pursuits that give them purpose.

“You might not be able to play football forever, but you can always pick up an instrument,” he says.

Sound Union opened in October of last year. The musicians signed up quickly — engineers, stay-at-home-dads, working moms, executives, and artists of all kinds. Some are seasoned performers, others are stepping on stage for the first time. All are positive and welcoming, excited to pay the monthly fees to keep this new creative experiment humming.

“You can describe Sound Union as a place where professionals who are rock stars in their jobs can feel like rock stars when they play music,” says Zazueta.

Members recently organized a holiday showcase featuring a two hour program singing festive hits across the decades. On “Three chord Thursdays” jammers throw out simple-butso-fun classic rock staples. A local high school music choir director leads a choral workshop for both experienced and aspiring singers. Band workshops teach novice players how to rock out together. Fridays are all about freeform jazz jams.

And that was just this year. The 2025 calendar is filling up fast.

The best part, says John, is that the members are charting the future.

“After the first couple dozen members joined, it stopped being our thing,” John says. “The community started shaping the culture, and that’s been the most rewarding part.”

He smiles and says “This is the most creative and fulfilling thing we’ve ever done.”

See you at the next show

I’m deeply inspired by the 11 incredible individuals I spoke with for this story. Their journeys are as unique as their creative callings. But they all share one important trait: the courage to pursue what truly makes them happy.

Matt Jones sums it up best: “If I didn’t have art right now, I’d be going crazy.”

As I write this, he’s probably finishing his second painting of the day. Scott Johnson could be capturing the Pacific’s majesty on canvas from a windswept cliff. Roman Sochan is getting ready to teach flying. Susan Rink and Melissa Sturgis are lifting up their communities through creativity and connection.

As for me? Time to practice some new tunes after I send this piece off to my old boss (and current editor) Andrew Bowins from RestlessUrban. I have several gigs booked for 2025, with more to come.

How about you? The canvas, the classroom, the stage, the skies, and who-knows-what-else are waiting? What will your next chapter hold?