I’m losing my ambition. This is probably something that a person shouldn’t admit, especially out loud on a blog post. In our culture, we place a high value on ambition, even celebrate it. Ambition is equated with forward motion, something fresh-scrubbed and enthusiastic. “Lack of ambition,” on the other hand, conjures up the image ... Read More

Friday evening. It’s sweltering out. My apartment is a sauna. I should be practicing but all I feel like doing is lying in front of the fan and watching Netflix. At the very least, I should be writing. Yeah, I know, I’m writing now. What I mean to say is that I should be writing ... Read More

Someone I care a lot about has been going through some hard stuff this past year. She’s taken hit after relentless hit. It’s been brutal. We were talking things over the other day and she wondered out loud “How much more resilience do I have?” Fair question. Knowing her as I do, I’d say she ... Read More

A week ago today, I was riding across the rocky hills of Texas on a beautiful Appaloosa mare named Dee Dee. The sky was wide and endless. The cypress-lined vistas were peaceful. Dee Dee was a sweet and steady girl. I grew up riding horses, even competitively. Still, it had been at least 30 years ... Read More

Assholes. Every creative community has a few. They slime around the scene, inflicting varying degrees of unpleasantness and leaving an acrid aftertaste in their wake. Ugh. Assholes aren’t a particularly upbeat thing to write about; neither are cockroaches or plumbing problems. But we all encounter them from time to time, right? It’s good to think ... Read More

In my last post, I wrote about rejection. Judging from the comments, reposts, likes and emails that I’ve received in response, it’s clear to me that the subject resonates with a lot of people. It seems further examination is warranted. If we’re all feeling like a bunch of rejects, then what does it mean for ... Read More

  Last week, a local organization announced the finalists for an annual vocal competition that it hosts. These finalists will sing at Jazz Alley for a shot at winning a trip to Japan. Throughout the afternoon after the announcement was made, I received emails and texts from a handful of vocalists, friends who did not ... Read More

  A few weeks ago, my landlord sent (finally) the maintenance guy (Waffi) over to deal with a variety of problems in the apartment: an oven that wouldn’t light, a bathroom sink that wasn’t draining properly, a busted hinge on the hall closet door and a perpetually dripping faucet in the kitchen. We’d been living ... Read More

The other day, I was talking to a guy who, by most definitions, would be considered a success. He earns six figures a year and works in a beautiful office in the Galleria Office Tower in Houston. (To those unfamiliar with the Galleria, think swanky.) He recently got remarried. His new wife is super smart, ... Read More

   A year or so ago, I was chatting it up with a fellow vocalist.  We were chortling, snorting and swapping stories, when at one point in the conversation, she told me that she doesn’t practice. (Screeching brakes, crashing plates) “Huh? Say what?” I sputtered back. She said it again, “I don’t practice.” In that ... Read More