What You Need to Know

I grew up on a tour bus. Here’s what you need to know about tour buses.  Bunks are a little like coffins but can be the best sleep of your life if the bus driver keeps the temperature cool and the road is smooth. You can never get more than 45 feet away from a fight but you’re also never more than 45 feet away from a friend. Buses make you feel like a rock star until you have to help empty the holding tanks; and let this be a fair warning, the smell of diesel exhaust is far more addictive than any drug.

Once I left the road, I was a worship leader and a songwriter. Here’s what you need to know about that.  Living your life on stages is one thing. Living your life on the same stage week after week is another. Worship isn’t music, but music is worship.

Publishers aren’t out to get you, well most of them anyway. Letting go of a song is the best thing you do for it, and for yourself. Some people will love your music; some people will hate your music. So you should probably make music to please yourself and God, or find happiness living a life being something other than original.

During that time I also wrote for online music magazines. Here’s what I learned about that. People ask for critique, but the critic often becomes the one being evaluated. It is not for the faint of heart. If your skin is thick enough you can earn a pretty extensive education on how the industry works, and get up close and personal to some of the greatest artists in the world, not to mention lots and lots of free music before everyone else!

Then I worked for a non-profit that rehabilitated homeless families. Here’s what you need to know about that.  Everyone has a story. Some of them are careless, some are sad, some are awe-inspiring. Truth exists in them all, though sometimes you may have to do some digging; the treasure is worth the hunt. There are no simple answers, and far too many assumptions. I loved the people, hated the work. It’s like swimming upstream with no arms and one leg in the middle of a hurricane. 

So I started a business. This is what you need to know; In this case, I had a partner. The best one I could choose. At first life seemed grand, but I should have known it was too good to be true. We did music and film production as well as artist management and development. In some situations we acted as a record label. It was the greatest and most painful 18 months of my life so far. Often the right thing is also the hardest thing. It has changed me forever, and given the chance, I’d do it all over again.   

  

And then there’s this moment right here and now. Here’s what you need to know about that. I’m starting over. I’m scared. I’m excited. I’m confident but I don’t understand why, because my circumstances definitely suggest otherwise. I’m alone. I’m lost. I don’t even know my name, but I will get up tomorrow and I will figure it out. Writing helps more than almost anything else. I’m hoping it helps me find my voice again, because I have things to say and a need to be heard.  So thanks for listening.