Creativity is a boundary-less space.
You're not you. I'm not me.
In service of the song we are disappeared. Subsumed. Weightless. Needless. Miles in the sky and rising…
I will always remember the day I came to terms with myself as a performer. I was scheduled to open for Spencer Day at the Independent. I loved Spencer with the full hearted awe of watching a first star peek through the twilight -- he was my VERY favorite. It was also the first time I'd perform with my own band…
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I stepped with both feet into December.
I coaxed my introverted self to a flurry of holiday parties. I enjoyed them! I had special rendezvous with each main character of my 2022. We recalled the arc of it. We expressed gratitude for its fruits and each other. On 12/21 I dressed in gauzy black and lit a candle. Whenever I wasn't in a hot yoga class, I surrounded myself with space heaters. And in the final week I retreated into the long night of it all. After a year of serving in so many ways, I brought my attention back to myself. Gathered my scattered bits. Even indulged in the opportunity to pursue some me projects. One you have seen: My pretty new web site! Another, an ebook about songwriting, is available soon!…
A new web site is a lot of work.
But such a good sign!
It means enough change has swept through my days that last year's presentation no longer applies.
Now it's updated to reflect the 4 roles that have emerged as my life's work: artist, producer, songwriter, and songwriting coach…
It's been a month of endings.
The masters for the Norzin Chomphel EP are delivered. (Streaming soon!)
The mixes for the Jay Clemens album are in their 3rd draft. (Which is to say, we're only changing the volume of a stray background vocal now.)…
One of my favorite songwriting assignments is: "Write a song from a perspective other than your own."
Some songwriters object on principle: "I only write honestly!"
But here's the trick…
This month has been a little murky.
A little head under feet.
I've been swimming in thoughts. Every once in a while I'll surface and gasp, "Aha!" only to promptly drop under again.
In his book, The Mind of the Artist: Personality and the Drive to Create (Fascinating! Recommend!), William Todd Schultz describes how the main feature of the artistic mind is openness. And a likely sub-feature of openness seems to be a propensity for boredom…
Read MoreThis little secret has been burning a hole in my pocket for over a year now.
I'm so excited I finally get to tell you!
I did indeed write a song for JOURNEY! Not only that, it is the FIRST SONG on their highly anticipated new double album!
Ending my East Coast retreat was daunting.
No matter the extent to which I got what I needed. No matter the extent to which I more than vaguely recalled my love for my life in California.
Over the past two years I've produced 8 albums, plus done a little moonlighting as a producing consultant on a handful of others.
It never occurred to me that I would produce. In part this is because I so revered my producers. Another part is that, as a to-the-bone songwriter, I experienced music as lyrics, melody, chords, form. For me, the SOUND of tracks was veneer. If there were violins, I didn't notice.
A few weeks in California of compounding obligations and 80% of people I love randomly in town at the same time left me deep fried. I've retreated to Maine once again for a hot minute.
Here the volume has turned down. And now gradually the more secret rhythms reveal themselves like stars.
You may have noticed a change in my tone the past half year or so. Of course I still call you my lovelies as per always. But maybe my writing to you is a bit more candid or reflective or geeky or poetic? Which is to say... a bit more me.
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