Ikigai or Raison d'être

WIKI defines it thus:

"...Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept meaning "a reason for being", it is very similar to the French phrase Raison d'être. Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self...."

I stumbled upon this graphic at a place called "Urban Samurai". Facebook suggested it for some reason, so I took a few seconds to check it out, and found this.

My mantra was always "where your interest and talent intersects", but I find this to be...deeper.

Posting here for your consideration.

March End Up-Date

LOTS moving....including workshop and gig dates:

David (w/ Marcie) on TV-36

Lousiville (songwriting clinic)

Shelbyville April 29 (songwriting deluxe clinic)
Shelbyville April 29 (performance - with guest Marsha Lee)
Lousiville May 20 (songwriting clinic)
Lexington May 21 ("play today" ukulele clinics)
Lexington May 28 (Blues Between the Bridges show)

...music intern meeting this Saturday with a handful of people....

...loads of new stories and interviews at Skinny Devil Magazine (including interviews with Grammy winning blues master Roy Rogers and the re-publishing of the last of the Lost Interviews from Tinfoil, including interviews ewith Bobby Ferrara, Badi Assad, BTBAM guitarist Dusty Waring, and Grammy winning Phil Keaggy).

Also lining up interviews (they aren't complete yet, so I won't name names) with a couple more Grammy nominees & winners. Hoping we'll be featuring about 80-100 new stories on SD Magazine this year (shattering our goal of 60).

Speaking of goals...just heard the mix of "In the Pines", one of 3 songs on the new EP of old (and public domain) songs. Awaiting mixes on the other two songs ("Stack o' Dollars" and "Wayfaring Stranger") and then we'll be releasing it...and getting to work recording the new EP of original music.

LexJam 10th anniversary show

Workouts have been better - very intense (today was 300 stairs, 300 push-ups, 300 squats, 300 sit-ups, 300 dips) - and guitar workouts have been yielding measurable results, too!

Had a BLAST at TV-36 the other day doing an interview and being the "house band"! Looking forward to some more of that!

More soon!

Recording Complete & Shelbyville, KY Gigs Confirmed

On-stage in Morehead, KY 2017

MORE DATES PENDING in Nashville, TN, Cincinnati, OH, Louisville, KY, Macon, GA, and more....for university clinics, store workshops (songwriting, inprov, etc), and public performances.

Scheduling music intern meeting(s) now for paid and non-paid projects.

Recording for the new 3 song EP of old folk & blues songs complete. Awaiting mixes now....but suffice to say it picks up where "Carnival at the Crossroads" left off. That is, these are old (public domain) songs from 19th & 20th century brought into the 21st century in all their neo-cyber glory!

Work-out schedule so far this week:

Monday (broken into 3 short work-outs across the day) - 300 push-ups, 200 stairs, 300 dips, 300 squats, 50 pull-ups, 200 sit-ups.

Tuesday (broken into 2 work-outs) - Go-dai series, Tibetan Rites, 100 squats, various light calisthenics.

Wednesday (so far) - 500 stairs, 100 pull-ups, 400 squats, 300 calf raises.

[edit: Thursday work-out - 200 push-ups, 200 dips, 200 squats, 300 sit-ups and Friday saw 100 pull-ups, 250 calf raises, 300 squats...and a few hours later another 50 pull-ups]

In addition, I finally got back to specific guitar practice (other than scales and such) and am focusing on heavy rhythm drills (polyrhythms, specifically) and fingerstyle blues (constant thumb drone against fingers for chords, licks, melodies, etc) plus a bit of arpeggio work. Realized also that I slide when soloing more than the average player, so really building on that....and other "Skinny Devil-isms", as one of my students put it (haha!).

March: Studio, Live, Workshops, Magazine

STUDIO...WORKSHOPS...LIVE GIGS...SD MAGAZINE....

JUST FINISHED UP in the studio working on the new EP coming soon from Marsha Lee, with Nathan Eisenberg manning the board. It ain't every day you get to jam on a folk tune in 9/8! Can't wait for the release!

Next up in the studio - throwing down some electric guitar on music by Gregory Francis (with Richard Easterling at the helm). Let's do that soon, Richard!

Then tomorrow at Willis Music Lexington is the Songwriting Workshop - Lexington...teaching thru the week at COC & Hurst Music....Thursday in Morehead for Songwriting Workshop - Morehead & David M. McLean at Pasquales....teaching & TV after that.....

ALSO.....

NEW at Skinny Devil Magazine...new poetry from Liz Fink Davenport..."Guitar Gods" interview with Cody Wright....an article on the adrenal response and how to crush STAGE FRIGHT so it doesn't crush you....review of a book of poetry by none other than Johnny Cash!

More coming soon....including Thomas Suggs (starting a band, pt 2) and lessons from Alan Robinson!

....and that get's us through the first coupla weeks!!!

Lexi Awards, Standing Rock, & RBR

Red Barn Radio spot

Last week was a tad crazy....did the Red Barn Radio live-stream and taping on Wednesday (see the ad video here), played 3 songs at Lexington Standing with Standing Rock gathering (with Dan Ward) Friday, then the Lexington Music Awards (a show I produce) Sunday. The after-party was a fabulous experience, getting to hang out and relax, hop on stage to play guitar for both Heather Parrish and Ande Fee, and end up on piano with the fabulous David Lee Hinkle (who was REALLY playing piano!) singing "Let it Be" with Jeff Frohlich & miss Heather.

Playing with the great Dan Ward

Lots of event wrap up for the award HERE, lots of local TV coverage for the Standing Rock event, and the Red Barn Radio event will be available on their web-site first as audio and later as video....which may even yield live EPs for 3 of my 4 guests (and maybe me, as well). My guests, by the way, were the incredible Tiffaney Nesbeth, Rhyan Sinclair (of ATLP), Daisy Helmuth, and Lissy Taylor (Tiffaney is in pre-production for her debut release and the other 3 have albums available - so go get them!).

Next?

Jeff standing, me 7 DLH on piano, photo by Heather

Well, we're scheduling Kentucky - Morehead, Lexington, Richmond, and Berea - for performances, workshops, and university clinics as I write this....then moving to out-of-state gigs in WV, OH, IN, and TN.

Playing Ben Lacy's guitar on-stage

Spent last night after teaching hanging with Dustin & Joshua of Spectrum Entertainment and Sean & Tim Berg of Bergstok Guitars (the future of guitar technology).

Now doing the awards wrap-up (paying bills and such)....outlining a couple of e-books (music related, of course!)....outlining 2 acoustic recording projects (one of traditional music and one of original music)....mapping out several Lexi-Fest shows & scouting locations....eagerly awaiting a new song from Gregory on which I'm playing electric guitar....looking at reaching out to several artists for new "Guitar Gods" interviews....and much more (marching towards nailing all my 2017 goals by summer!)!

As my cousin Jami say: Life - with all is ups & downs - is an adventure!