A couple of my favorite producer-teachers have been advocating the use of self-imposed limitations as a way of getting more work completed. It’s a ‘creative hack’ I’ve been ruminating about for a while. Cognitively, I get it – find it attractive, even. But emotionally?
The (Corporate) Cultural Revolution
How Cloud-Based Data Is Changing the Contract Between Companies and Workers
Haven’t had much time to sit down and write a grammatically-correct, well-structured blog post about the creative process lately. (1)
Between a big freelance project I started three weeks ago and the sometimes frustrating levels of fatigue that seem to be affecting so many of us during this Mars Retrograde, time for unpaid creative work has been in short supply. (Mars, the energy and drive planet, has been retro since March 25. He goes direct on June 29. We should see a noticeable bounce by early July.)
I can’t tell you too many details about the project I’ve been working on. It involves a couple of mega-corporations in which people are using technology to change the way people work. (I’ll share the video once it comes out.) Continue reading
Protected: Panda
Why You Matter
Naked Songwriter Episode 5: Whose Story Are You Living in?
In this 30-minute podcast, DK argues that your individual vision is important to the world. Why?
It’s not because you’re unique, like a snowflake. It’s because following your heart – finding the courage to express your vision and live your dream – is a profound act of creation that changes the narrative of the world.
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
– William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Continue reading
Seedings ii: Live looping guitar
I really like this one, not because it’s perfect – but because it came from a moment of being absolutely in the moment, with full permission to experiment and make mistakes. Continue reading
Songs I Like: I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)
Artist: Stevie Wonder
Album: Talking Book
If you want to follow along:
Got to thank Lauren, my girlfriend-for-a-minute from Detroit many years ago, for turning me on to this one. Lauren taught me a lot in a short amount of time. She took me to my very first sweat lodge. And told me, in a 7-Eleven parking lot on the way home, “You’re a blamer.” God, I was so mad at her in that moment. But it didn’t take long to realize she was right. (Usually when I’m really angry about an accusation that has been thrown at me, it’s because there’s a grain of truth underneath the other person’s hurt or anger that my ego doesn’t want to have to acknowledge.) Continue reading
Endangering workers for fun and profit
Photo by Jamain – Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0,
Worker Misclassification: Taxpayer-Subsidized Corporate Tax Fraud
When companies intentionally misclassify employees as “independent contractors” to avoid paying taxes on these workers, guess who ends up paying?
You do – to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Continue reading
In praise of: David Bowie
Alien pattern power
David Bowie’s passing affected me much more deeply than I would have expected. If you had asked me in December to list my 10 favorite bands of all time, I don’t think I would have even considered putting Bowie on the list.
Yet, for some odd reason, his death on January 10 hit me hard, harder than just about any celebrity I can remember. I was still a brainwashed fundamentalist Christian kid in 1980 when John Lennon was shot. I probably still thought the Beatles’ music was ‘satanic’. When Jerry Garcia died, it felt more like a relief than a loss in some ways. The last Dead show I saw, at the Palace outside of Detroit, you could almost feel Jerry’s suffering ripple up from the stage.
The more I explored my feelings about Bowie, the curiouser I became. And in talking with other diehard music fans (not all of them diehard Bowie fanatics), I realized Bowie had affected us much more powerfully than I had ever acknowledged. And that is probably exactly how he planned it.
Bowie had two of what are called “alien patterns” in his natal horoscope. These energies affect the native – and those the native relates to – in very distinct ways. Which I explore in Episode 4 of the Naked Songwriter pod.
The Ultimate Freelance Writing Gig
Taking Poetry to the People
afrose poetry busking. Photo (c) James Curtis 2015
In Episode 2 of the Naked Songwriter, DK interviews poet afrose fatima ahmed on taking the plunge and doing what you love, writing intimate poetry for strangers on the street, love, loss, and giving yourself permission to just be you.
“I find that every time I take the risk and I put out the thing that feels too edgy, people respond really well to it. They’re really grateful that I chose not to just wrap it up in puppies and rainbows. They want that rawness. They’re hungry for it. Because we’re all experiencing it every single day but we often don’t find spaces in which we can acknowledge it openly…”