Ignore me!
In stark contrast to the chaos swirling around me the previous day, this song was written in one of the most devastating silences imaginable: an empty house that’s empty because of a death. If you’ve had the sad occasion to be involved in the immediate aftermath of the death of a loved one, you know that it’s filled, perhaps mercifully, with an amazing amount of work to be done. Funeral arrangements, obituaries, family decisions and … Continue reading
I’m not entirely sure how to approach entries for 2020. With only two songs written for Song-A-Day, and the circumstances surrounding the reasons why, it seems impossible to take my normal approach of not discussing meaning or direct inspiration. What you’re reading is actually the second time I’ve written this entry. I had provided a more detailed account of everything that went on prior to leading up to the day I wrote this, but that … Continue reading
I can’t overstate how influential Neil Peart has been on my life. He and his two cronies were with me for hours and hours of D&D, thousands of bus rides and car trips, hundreds of notebook doodles, and many deep discussions of life, politics, philosophy, religion, and what it means to be a free and independent human being. He lived an amazing yet often tragic life. Watching how he dealt with some of these things … Continue reading
Since mid-2017, I have been working to build my creative skills into a self-sustaining, and ultimately profitable, business. I spent a lot of that initial time refreshing my knowledge of how to be self-employed. Regulations, taxes, legal structure, manufacturing costs, global distribution options, royalties, streaming, performing rights organizations, licensing opportunities, and a gazillion other things that musicians and creatives should know about running a business, but often don’t. My consulting practice, which I’ve had off-and-on … Continue reading
Another Song-A-Day challenge comes to a close, and again, it was a rewarding experience. I managed to post all 28 tracks, including two that were done on the road. The last few days were even more of a challenge as the effects of not getting enough sleep and walking dogs in Wisconsin-winter temperatures ganged up to give me a fantastic head and chest cold. A fairly typical pattern for Song-A-Day participants is that they hit … Continue reading