This category lists the blog posts that tell more about creativity, how to keep in flow, what’s blocking artists in their creativity and how to unblock.
Happy new year to everyone! Isn’t it exciting, the start of a new year? Every year again I want to believe in this chance to start all over again, to begin with a clean slate. In the euphoria of party and firecrackers at midnight I have so many good intentions, that the hangover the next day feels extra heavy š What is it with a new year, starting all over again and good intentions? I often made the mistake to […]
Do you recognize the tension between being ambitious and being content? When ambitious, I tend to become one-track minded, almost fanatic. When content, I tend to become a couch potato. That’s black and white. Do I have to do it in terms, or is there also some gray? How does gray look like??
Do you know this situation? You meet someone and after the meeting you feel totally worn out, as if that person sucked all the energy out of you. I’m not talking about a friend in need who needs your help and support, and who will give you help and support back when you need it. After a meeting with a friend in need you will usually not feel worn out. I’m not talking about confronting and inspiring meetings either. The […]
There are many ways to seduce someone. My Dutch friends on Facebook talk about it, because Julien Blanc is planning to visit the Netherlands. He teaches men to seduce women by overpowering and dominating them. Men pay thousands of dollars to him to learnĀ that they have to force the face of a women to their dick.Ā Various countries have banned Blanc and in the Netherlands we have a petition to politicians to ban him too. I’m against his methods, […]
Last night I spoke with a friend who’s a production guy, often traveling with big productions crews. Sometimes he and his colleagues might mingle with the backing band, but never with the stars of the show. He was part of the huge production crew of the European tour of Justin Bieber. When he described Justin Bieber as a spoiled prick I wasn’t surprised, it confirmed what I already thought. The friendĀ continued with telling me, that all the people with […]
We all want to predict our future, to have control on what’s happening next, to avoid awkward situations when we feel uncomfortable because we don’t know how to react. it’s a huge market in predicting the future, with cares, stars or a medium. Changes will always bring you to awkward situations. You can prepare yourself as good as you want to, changes are always in a certain way unpredictable. Moving to another place is a very clear example, starting at […]
Excitement Will the Scots vote for independence tomorrow? I don’t know. Though I do know the importance of independence for me personally. The first major step was on the day after starting at university, when I went to the city council of my new home town to officially register there. I felt light as a bird, the world at my feet, all options open. Is Scotland feeling this kind of excitement too? Responsibility Of course there’s a downside of independence. […]
There is no easy road to success, every artist has to go his/her own way. Or as I saw in a quote from Joseph Campbell last week: “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on somebody else’s.” So if the path is not clear, that should be a good sign, right? Does that mean that you should feel lost all the time? That sounds quite depressing, like the myth that an artist has to suffer in order to […]
Art is always something new, something that hasn’t been there before, at least not in that form. It requires a certain amount of freedom, freedom of fear, to create something new. And new is unpredictable, therefore scary for many people. Today is a national mourning day in the Netherlands, for the victims of the plane crash in eastern Ukraine. Another conflict area that is dominating the news is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I see many one-sided and aggressive reactions on social […]
With the stressful life most of us got, we need our breaks to slow down. Stress brings adrenaline in your blood, which makes you feel great and excited. That’s the feeling you got when visiting an exciting festival or when you are about to start your show. Though if stress endures, it brings cortisol in your blood. Cortisol harms your body at cell level. That’s OK if it’s for a short while, to run from a lion. It’s no long […]
Are you aware of the power you have when making music? Remember the festival you attended, when you joined the masses in enjoying your favorite band play, the euphoric state they created in the audience, the energy they gave to everyone. Sometimes a show can be nothing less than live-changing. That’s the reaction that Balkan Beat Box got, one of the bands I booked, when they played in Nijmegen. The impact can be huge. The power of music is old, […]
Today I saw that the book of a friend is sold out, and that she will start to re-write it this summer for the second edition. When I asked her if she would celebrate it, she told me that she would wait for the second edition to be published. Grown up on a small farm I learned, that every reason is a good one to celebrate! We celebrated both, birthdays and (catholic) name-days, Saint Nicolas and Christmas, anniversaries, holidays, the […]
Can you help me? I’m looking for a new title for my blog. Two years ago I called it “Help! I’m famous. How to deal with success”, later I adjusted the last part to “Dealing with stress and success”.Ā But actually, I’m not much writing about fame, and I don’t want to write about fame. I want to write more about leadership and artists, about how some management theories about leadership in business can be translated easily to artists, and […]
Last month my father in law passed away. I’ve known him for 22 years and we became quite close, especially in the last two years when he needed more and more care. He had a good life,Ā played tennis until he was 90 years old and could say goodbye to family and life before he died. Still, the emotional roller coaster in the last month was quite intense. I’m happy to have known him for so long and I’m sad […]
As musician you want your music to be heard, you want to reach an audience. In the past, the best tool was to record your music and sell it, and than get played on the radio.Ā Booking a tour was a tool to sell more albums. You needed an expensive studio to record your music, labels and distributors to distribute it throughout the country and record shops to sell it. The infrastructure is still in place, though the situation has […]
