July 1st, 2023 The world lately has me feeling a kind of sick, and I’ve been having to remind myself of a lesson I learned early in sobriety. When I got better, my first instinct was to help everyone else get better, too. It’s not a bad instinct, but it’s a naïve one, and itContinue reading “Bad Brains + Bad Hearts”
Tag Archives: Inspiration
Cold World: Building a house you can live in as is, with doors and stairways to expand up, down, or sideways
June 30th, 2023 Everything about Cold World was, for me, too big to contain in one story — whether I ever decide to write any of those other stories or not. I knew that I wanted to tell a complete, specific tale: this chapter of Calef’s life as he explores the power of understanding, throughContinue reading “Cold World: Building a house you can live in as is, with doors and stairways to expand up, down, or sideways”
Football is Life (and Death)
May 30th, 2023 I’m posting this absolute thirst trap to talk about my two favorite shows right now which, like this photo, are about soccer and not about soccer at all. Yellowjackets and Ted Lasso couldn’t be more different on paper, but they share more than their European football connection; they compliment one another, andContinue reading “Football is Life (and Death)”
The History of The Next Step, Part VI: Unreleased Work, Legacy, and The Future
May 29th, 2023 Like a person, The Next Step isn’t and never was all good or all bad. And it was never a boy band. But it made me who I am today. Before I get to how, however, let’s talk about the stuff that never got made (or got made and then buried somewhereContinue reading “The History of The Next Step, Part VI: Unreleased Work, Legacy, and The Future”
Platform of Pain
May 19th, 2023 If you would have told me when I was a kid that I would eventually build my life on hurt, I would have told you that you say really weird things to kids. But you would have been right. I was having a recorded conversation with a friend earlier this week (forContinue reading “Platform of Pain”
The History of The Next Step, Part II: Tangled Cords, No Fear Of Failure, and Recording at Pachyderm Studio
May 11th, 2023 Now that we had a name and had performed an original song, it was time to record an EP (a short album which is typically 2-5 songs in length). By this time, personal computers were becoming more common in homes; we got our first PC when I was in high school. IContinue reading “The History of The Next Step, Part II: Tangled Cords, No Fear Of Failure, and Recording at Pachyderm Studio”
tragic/miracle
May 1st, 2023 Normal people wake up in their normal beds on the morning of their birthday and they post the cutest pic they can find of themselves on the internet to announce that they are a year older, a whole three-hundred-and-sixty-five-days wiser. I stayed up until midnight to post this photo of me I’veContinue reading “tragic/miracle”
Final Thoughts On Us, and Them
April 28th, 2023 Enough talk of failure. There was some victory, too. As we end another month of retrospect and introspect, I want to talk about the triumphs from the year I released Them and Us. I made a list: 1. It only took me one book to realize I can do anything. By that,Continue reading “Final Thoughts On Us, and Them”
Us: How do I love failure? Let me count the ways
April 17th, 2023 I’ve mentioned several times that the story of my book, Us, is the story of failure; but today, I want to count the ways. Because I’m an eternal optimist, however, failure is always only half of a story. The other half is a lesson, an annoying ray of sunshine as a bookendContinue reading “Us: How do I love failure? Let me count the ways”
Be The Sun
April 6th, 2023 It’s a weird phenomenon that we think of something nice to say about someone else and then battle within ourselves over whether or not we should say it. We should always say it. I got a gift today. As an artist, you’re always trying to figure out what kind of art youContinue reading “Be The Sun”
The Den 