Work Your Jam
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The song that stopped me in my tracks
Hi Reader, Am I the only one who hears a song for the first time... Then it wraps around your soul and won't let go? In November 2024, I was introduced to just such a song. It found me at the perfect time. I'd shaken most of the "rust" from my singing voice, and was ready to take on more challenging material. Minutes after a fellow musician told me about the song "My Days" from The Notebook musical, I bookmarked it, then promised myself I'd master it, no matter what. At first, my voice...
To blog, or not to blog?
Hi Reader, I started my first blog in the early 2000s on Blogger, one of the first dedicated blog-publishing tools. Back then, I was enamored by how technology could get our words out into the world. But I didn't really know what words I was here to share. Sure, I had stories to tell. Who doesn't? After we've lived some years on earth, there's always a tale or more to share with others. Turns out I had a heckuva lot more living to do first. That didn't stop me from starting different blogs,...
A soulful peg in an AI hole
Hi Reader, I'm about a month into a "teach AI to write like me" experiment. And I wonder if it's been worth my time. If you've been hanging with me since I began this newsletter... You've seen me connect many random things. Star Wars, with my new YouTube video format. Kelly Clarkson's Christmas album, with my musical healing livestreams. The Beatles, with my 5-day challenge to track your soulful life, and chart your next career move. That writing style has been hard for my AI tool to wrap...
What if you're not feeling festive?
Hi Reader, I used to think everyone felt good in December. I mean, what's not to love? It's a time for family, food, and festive cheer. And whether you celebrate Christmas or not, those holiday tunes make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Then I met a professional singer, who professed they hated Christmas. Wait...what? Was it because their holiday gigs were exhausting? Or because work took them away from family? It was neither of those things. That singer has seasonal affective disorder (yes,...
Link it up...
Hi Reader, It isn't always easy to connect the dots. Since my last email to you, I've been down a rabbit hole of discovery. It's probably happened to you before. You do a quick search on YouTube for Thing #1. Then the algorithm serves up Thing #2, which you hadn't known about or thought of. 3 hours later, you ask yourself, "Whoa, where did the time go?" If you're lucky, what you learned in the rabbit hole becomes valuable in life or work. Otherwise, that was 3 hours of...something. 🤷♀️...
The songs that light you up
Hi Reader, By United Press International (UPI Telephoto) Some musicians never get old. I don't mean in the chronological sense. But in how you can listen to their songs, a million times over, and somehow they still sound fresh. That's how it is with me and the Beatles. 🥁 When I returned to music in 2020, their discography was top of mind to learn to sing and play. And boy oh boy, there was so much to choose from. Fancy some songs about holding hands, or how she loves you? Check. What about...
Take a beat. Or five.
Hi Reader, We're into the home stretch of 2025. There's something about shifting from Summer to Fall, or knowing that the fourth quarter of the year is just around the corner. In between "OMG, where did this year go?" and "OMG, those grand plans I made in January...so much left to do!" we all hope to make these remaining months count. I get that urge. But it's also been the kind of year where SO much has shifted for each of us, inside and out. Things that used to be predictable and reliable?...
Does your work pass the truth test?
Hi Reader, Summer breeze makes us feel fine. It's also a great time for some down time...to be with family, in Nature, and with yourself. This has been a working summer for me though. I've been figuring out how to integrate my spiritual work with the (mostly) technical/intellectual roles I used to have. The inner yin/yang struggle is real, y'all. ☯️ But it's a "struggle" that feels true for me. As Lady Gaga sings, I was born this way. I have a soul-deep desire to integrate opposites, inside...
For your musical healing...
Hi there, I'm grateful for you. Some of you joined me when I started this newsletter, taking the leap of faith as I figured out what I was trying to say. The rest of you, wonderfully, beautifully, stumbled upon my newsletter...and felt there was something here for you. Either way...thank you. 🙏 Nowadays, as the world gets louder, it gets harder to put yourself out there, and to feel you have something interesting or useful to share, without adding to the chaos. And when there's more than one...
Your important memories
Hi Reader, I met my first war veteran 10 years ago, on Memorial Day 2015. After Memorial Day weekends spent indoors, watching department store and car dealership TV ads, I wanted to connect to the essence of the day. I sat in a military cemetery chapel, listening to a Vietnam War vet tell his chilling and inspirational tale, of being cornered by an enemy soldier in an underground chamber. After the chapel service, I heeded an inner nudge to meet him, to shake his hand, and to thank him for...
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