AMA - My Health Clash with Pertussis

"It is health that is real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver." - Mahatma Gandhi

AMA (for anyone new here, it means "Ask Me Anything")....

I mentioned in an earlier post and elsewhere an illness that KO-ed me earlier this year, but have not written about it. I was asked about and have spoken openly about it in workshops (including Paulie Felice's amazing "The Forge" weekend retreat) and even a few of my more interactive gigs, but was recently asked again and decided to write a short piece on it.

Bordetella Pertussis bacteria

Let's leap right in!

Pertussis is the medical term (you may know it as "Whooping Cough"), and is something I always thought was just something little kids get.

Nope.

And, speaking bluntly, it's not just brutal, its a potential career ender for vocalists.

Retched cough, fever, broncho spasms, loss of voice....lasts for upwards of 3 months!

You've had the vaccine as a child, but unless you step on a rusty nail as an adult, you might find its been decades since you've had it. 

Don't mess around with this - if you've not been boosted in the last decade, get your vaccine now.

AMA - AI and The Arts (part one)

Art created by Gemini for this essay.

AI in music....and AI in the arts in general.

Before we leap in, one thing worth remembering - and it's highly likely to anger everyone reading this right now - is that most of the public discourse on this topic (at least by musicians and industry folk) has been of a legal or philosophical nature, while usually taking a brief moment to mention how "fake" AI sounds as composer or performer (or poet or essayist or visual artist).

If that's your view, you need to swallow a bitter pill: The market disagrees with you, and (by any metrics you yourself would apply to a fellow human) you are wrong.

Sienna Rose, The Velvet Sundown, Nick Hustles, Xania Monet, FN Meka, Yona, Breaking Rust, Eddie Dalton, and more....including the 100% AI driven (no human intervention) creation Anna Indiana - all streaming millions to hungry listeners. Listeners who largely don't care about any of the issues we're about to get into - they care only about if they like the music.

Admittedly, this pisses me off a little, too.

At any rate, ponder that for a moment and then we'll leap in.

While I've thought extensively about this topic (and have for longer than I care to say, as I've been an avid fan of the works of Raymond Kurzweil for a long time, starting with his 1990 book "The Age of Intelligent Machines", and, as an irrelevant aside, still own my Kurzweil K-2000 keyboard), it's usually fragmented based on specifics. I've never really coalesced these thoughts into a single, specific policy position.

So let's explore "both sides" of this issue and see where we land.

Worthy of note: It should be obvious that the history given below (on both sides of the issue) is greatly abbreviated and oversimplified for brevity and ease of discussion. But the major pillars remain.

Let's get into it!

AMA - "Beyond the Music"

With Agatha in Nashville, 2025

For this edition of "Ask Me Anything" (and for the record, I'm writing this in late May of 2026), I'm responding to several questions that I'm lumping under "Beyond the Music" (the title I use at the end of the "about" section of my website).

Most of the folks who know me and/or have followed our Lifestyle Challenges and such here already know I'm into various other pursuits and have a specific interest in health & fitness, but there were a few surprises, I suppose, and it generated a handful of questions and comments, so I though I'd use this post to expand on some of those things and drop in some personal photos of some of those activities.

From "Undermain" Arts Magazine

HUGE thanx to David T. Miller for the very flattering interview!

From the piece:

“There’s such a concentration of musical talent here. I honestly think it's comparable to Memphis and Nashville and L.A. and Atlanta. I think there’s a higher concentration of musical talent [here] than in those places, to be honest.” -- David McLean

Skinny Devil Music Labs: 25 Years of Making and Teaching Music

Miller: What’s your earliest musical memory?

McLean: I think it was “Peter and the Wolf”, which I'm guessing was the Leonard Bernstein recording. The first time I think I saw anything like rock music was sitting with my grandparents at five or six years old and David Bowie came on the television doing his song “Space Oddity.” This was, I think, 1969. They were horrified but I was hooked!

Read the entire piece HERE.

AMA - Thoughts on Tyson Fury & Jon Jones Controversy

I got a good laugh at this question, as I'm a musician, not a fighter (and when I fought, I was average at best, and that was long ago).

Be that as it may, I figured it might be fun to weigh in on this.

"Did you hear what Joe Rogan said about Tyson Fury and Jon Jones? Now Tyson & Jones are talking back and forth on social media. Who do you think would win?"

Yes, I heard what Rogan said, yes I heard some of the back and forth (though not sure of the chronology or who said what first following Joe). Who do I think would win?

Well, I think boxing and MMA are two entirely different sports. Sure, they're both combat sports. But understand the rule set of boxing and the rule set of MMA are radically different, and the salient point of "different" in this case is that boxing enjoys a MUCH more limiting rule set.

So how a fight between them would turn out? 

AMA - How to Be a Full-time Self-Employed Musician

Next in our "Ask Me Anything" series.....Dylan asks:

"What are the most important things to do on the path of wanting to become a “professional musician” in writing, teaching, and performing?"

This is a tough one because, unlike being (for 2 obvious examples) a doctor or a lawyer where there is a single path to the goal (and by "single path" I mean schooling and licensing), there is no such single path in any of the arts. 

I will also assume his question embraces self-employment, as opposed to getting, say, a teaching job as a college professor or high school band director (or other such employment that lends a degree of financial security to the equation)....which is almost another question entirely.

So much of the focus of this discussion will be $$$, but certainly not all. And, as usual, I'll over-simplify much for the sake of brevity, but I'm happy to expand any areas where any of you reading have specific questions....so don't be shy about commenting below or contacting me directly.

AMA - Music Theory for Beginners (part 2)

Howdy!

Our last conversation was the first installment in this series within a series, and discussed the fundamentals of chord progressions (though more on that later).

Today, our task is to look at the fundamentals of chord construction (which will make sense out of those crazy chord names, like Cadd9 or Bm7b5 or Am11 or Gaug or Fmj7 or Emb9 or Dsus4. Sounds scary, but it really isn't.

Just like last time, we're going to start in the key of C (no sharps or flats), so our basic notes are, in musical order, C, D, E, F, G, A, B.

AMA - Music Theory for Beginners (part 1)

Howdy, all! This is the first in my new "Ask Me Anything" series. The idea is exactly what it says: Ask me anything. Presumably, y'all will be asking about music-related topics rather than what I think of the new movie or TV show, or my views on...whatever. But I'm open to most questions, and am happy to respond so long as I think I have something meaningful to say.

These short text entries will often, but not always, be accompanied by videos (just as certain videos will often be, but not always, accompanied by a text entry here). If YOU have a question, contact me in the comments below or via social media or email!

So let's leap right in!

First question - Caitlyn asks (via FB): 

Where does an adult with no grasp of music theory begin, if they want to know more?

Excellent question! Answer? Right here - read on!