As I write this I’m sitting on one of the deep, soft couches at The Sugar Shack – a great studio in London where I’ve been lucky enough to do quite a lot of recording over the years. I’m listening to raw mixes of songs I’m recording with a local singer/songwriter named John Couture.

The first listeni...

The truth is I’m not a particularly good drummer.

I have no illusions about this.

I’m a reasonably competent drummer and I can play tastefully and I sing fairly well, but I don’t really register on the “Dude, that was amazing!” scale. And to be honest, it still bothers me sometimes.

It doesn’t bother m...

So why now, podcast boy?

Good question. The idea of doing a podcast has been on my radar for a few years, but thinking about it never quite led to doing it until recently. There were reasons for that. I knew it would be an interview show, but I wasn’t sure how to record interviews – conversations – o...

On March 4, 1861, newly-elected President Abraham Lincoln delivered his inaugural address to the American people. The speech came on the edge of a breaking point between North and South. Several southern states had already seceded from the Union, and the two sides seemed to be hurtling inevitably to...

You know, life is pretty clever sometimes.

If you pay attention, if you’re open to the clues, there are messages everywhere that can be instructive, uplifting, and comforting. I received one of those messages on the weekend. It was more of a reminder, really, but it was still timely and powerful and...

February 19, 2019

I owe this one to my friend, bandmate, and road roomie Deni Gauthier – singer/songwriter, artist, entrepreneur, and formidable human being.

I wrote recently about calling your own b.s. I made some hard decisions last fall as a way of testing what I’ve been writing about intention and...

February 12, 2018

I want you to do something for me, faithful reader.

I want you to look in the mirror, pretend you’re talking to a friend, and say, “What are you really passionate about?”

Say it like you mean it.

Go on. I’ll wait.

….

You’re back? Great.

So did you do the fist thing?

You know what I’m talki...

February 4, 2019

Do you have the patience to wait

Till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving

Till the right action arises by itself?

- Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation)

This one hit me hard the first time I read it.

Generally speaking, you don’t turn to a book like the ...

January 29, 2019

I unwittingly started this series on the Tao Te Ching with one of the first posts on my site, way back in October of 2017. That post was built around one of my favourite verses from what is definitely my favourite spiritual text: “Do your work, then step back. The only path to sereni...

January 3, 2019

Just about a year ago, as the clock was set to roll over into 2018, I did a post on this blog about small acts of courage. It was my encouragement to everyone who reads it to do just one courageous thing in 2018 and see where it leads.

And in a blink, the year went by.

And here we are.

I...