Do it for the love of it

Do it for the love of it Recently, I was invited to an album release party of a European entertainer, who has for many years made her home in Los Angeles.  I know that when I first met her years ago, she envisioned great stardom and was anxious and ...
Emotional Baggage by FairyGodFlea

Baggage? Moi?

Baggage? Moi? (illustration by FairyGodFlea) Every year, we collect one more case of it. Mostly small stuff, a hurt here, a slight there, a let down, a misunderstanding. A job interview that fell flat, a song pitched that didn’t land. A promised c...

Clarity is Being Simply Wonderful

Clarity is Being Simply Wonderful Let me make myself crystal clear here: If you want your point of view to be heard, really heard, by your audience, there is no device like clarity. No cleverness or circularity can ever arrest your audience like nail...

For The Write Reasons

For The Write Reasons I have heard of a hungry young band turning down a record deal because their contract contained no clause specifying limousines on call. I have heard of a wonderful little movie that won’t get picked up for distribution becaus...

High Drama

High Drama Do you know the difference between making honest mistakes in judgment that in some way hurt your chances or had the effect of holding you back; and making unconscious decisions or choices that have the effect of making you fail? Be honest ...

Awareness Zone

Awareness Zone If you are not in the “Awareness Zone,” nothing that you read will be helpful. The hints contained in the pages you turn will simply be reams of words that you absorb with your eyes only, but not with your psyche. To be in the “A...

Nirvana

Awareness Zone I have often pondered the meaning of the Hindu concept of Nirvana, feeling a certain resignation that I probably will never know what it is. And then last night I had an absurdly clear flash of understanding (Nirvana?) in which I was b...

Living in The Land of Make-Believe

Living in The Land of Make-Believe The Land of Make Believe is not just a place in a Chuck Mangione song. For those of us involved in the Fine Arts whose job is to write words, it is a place we call home. When we start writing, everything is purely b...

Songwriting As Zen

Songwriting As Zen Zen philosophy tells us there cannot be space between thought and action. Even a space as narrow as a hair’s breadth is too much. From the moment of its invention to your recognition of it, the processing of an idea must be a flu...

Nothing To Fear But Fear

Nothing To Fear But Fear U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said at his 1933 inauguration, “There is nothing we have to fear but fear itself.” This rousing speech to the American people was, “to dissipate the fear and panic which had laid...

Painting With A Full Palette

Painting With A Full Palette I am, like you, just another person on the path of daily living and making sense of life. I believe we are all on this planet to learn some lessons and to evolve spiritually. As writers we need to draw from the philosophi...

Words of Wisdom to Songwriters

Over many years, people at book-signings have asked me to sign their books, and I find myself calling upon several ideas. Today, the Great American Song contest asked for ten autographed books. I inscribed each one with a unique thought to hopefully ...

There is Enough For Everyone

There is Enough For Everyone Or…Self-pity Isn’t Pretty It hits you like Maxwell’s Silver Hammer coming down upon your head. You discover that they didn’t cut your song or pick up your song to publish. Or worse yet, they cut it and didn’t in...

What Words Mean

What Words Mean The meaning of “soon” for instance. There’s “I’ll call you soon” as said by a date as he lets himself out of your front door. There’s “He’ll be dead soon,” as said by the man with the pillow over the other guy’s ...