You've gotta play to win! This is just as true of music and poetry and art and love as it is of the lottery. And the good news is that we're a lot more likely to actually WIN in those games because the odds are always in our favor. Ask, try, submit, propose, invite, query, [...]
Here is my humble harp hospital - a perfect place for a lovely little harp to heal. I’ve been doing harp rehab for a friend’s lap harp this week, bringing this beauty back up to pitch and teaching her to make music again. She’s been stowed in a closet for many years, which is the [...]
Just a bit of encouragement: every so often, go through the stacks, the piles, the shoals of unfinished work. For me, that is always bits of paper with poems scribbled on them and then put into rough cairns to be re-found, often months later. What is somewhat funny to me is that the reason I [...]
I'm passionate about the cultivation of intelligence. Nurturing it in myself and in others is one of the most thrilling things I can imagine undertaking on planet Earth. I'm writing a book about teaching and today found me gathering pieces I've written over the years. This excerpt on what I call "integrative intelligence" caught [...]
On my Lake District adventure, I visited a small church that boasts a beautiful stained glass window designed by Edward Burne-Jones and executed by William Morris. I was so moved by the experience and so grateful to the parishioners that I wrote this poem and sent it to them. I got word this week that [...]
In which I read a beautiful Midsummer poem by Irish poet, Padraic Colum. Ah, Summer and Enchantment! From a few years back. Rediscovered today as I am working on creating a multi-media presentation for "Songs of the Poets." Will share news of that soon!
Hello, friends! Today I want to tell you about my latest book, "How to Get Gigs You Love: Money, Fun, and Opportunity for the Solo Performer." It's a soup-to-nuts guide for getting gigs you love and rocking them once you get 'em! (It is gleefully inexpensive: $4.99. Here's a link in case you want to [...]
Who knew? Doing some e-research tonight, by sheer chance I came across an Irish scholar's review of an essay I wrote years ago for a festschrift for my wonderful mentor, Professor Patrick K. Ford. Professor Ford's "hound love" inspired me to write about dogs in the Finn tales (plus I've always said I'm part-dog [...]
Last night I sent in the songs and artwork for my new EP, "The Moon Jig and other dances," and I wanted to tell you how it came to be because I think it's an encouraging story. If you've a mind to create something fast, no waiting - well, this is for you. Over the [...]
Cork singer-songwriter John Spillane (pictured) writes: "On my 18th birthday I got a full-time permanent and pensionable job in Bank of Ireland, and two years later I left it to become a full-time professional musician. My mother nearly killed me. 'If you leave your good job in the bank,' says she, 'don't ever come back [...]
