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 […]
When I was 11 years old, I survived a heavy car crash. A car, driving 120 km/h, drove on the back of my bicycle. There were rumors that I would have been dead, that one leg was amputated or that I’d been paralyzed in my legs. Fortunately I survived, with a heavy concussion and a flesh-wound on my right leg. After 6 weeks hospital I returned home, after half a year I was sporting again. In hospital at 11 years […]
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”. 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, 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. 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 […]
Do you know the situations when you feel a victim? It’s often because the press doesn’t pay attention to your album or performances, because you can’t afford to go to that amazing showcase festival, because a band member doesn’t act like you would want him to, because the world and everyone is plotting against you. Well, I do know that feeling. And sometimes it can even feel good to indulge in the mud-pool of self-pity. And while indulging the mud-pool […]
Have you ever had a mentor or a coach, asking you where you want to be in five or ten or twenty years? I had a coach shortly after I became partner in the company. She asked me that question, and I didn’t know. I do my work, I know what I like and what I’m doing it for, without having a goal or a picture of where I want to be in five years. I felt like I was […]
It’s amazing, how serious we take business. Some like it if you lighten the burden with humor, others don’t. Still, I’m convinced that humor is the best way to lighten up a tense situation, to disarm a conflict and to treat yourself not too seriously. And that being said by someone who grew up in Germany 😉 Today I got a mail from a friend and colleague, he’s a booking agent too. He was offering a combination of three different […]
Square or circle? If you look at a cylinder it depends on the perspective, on the context, as illustrated so clear in the picture. A friend posted it yesterday at Facebook. Context is important in everyday life too. Like the right-wing Dutch politician who asked his voters yesterday if they would prefer more or less foreigners, and the all shouted “less, less, less”. If you ask the same question to employers who are looking for a work force, they would […]
It could all be so easy, if we had all the information we need, and more. We could anticipate on what’s coming, what will happen now, in a minute, tomorrow, next year. While we don’t have the information, we make it up. We assume certain things to be in a certain way. One fish: How is the water? Other fish: What’s the hack is water? (ofilisketches.com) Do you know what I mean? When I come to the office, I assume […]
Power comes in all shapes and sizes. Here some examples: on the bicycle this morning I saw a crocus with fragile flowers breaking through the dirt, this afternoon the Dutch speed-skaters (10 km) got gold-silver-bronze again at the Olympics , Lemmy and his music at Motorhead. Last night I watched this documentary about Lemmy. It felt like I was on speed during the entire 2 hours! And this morning I still had “Ace of Spades” in my head. Yesterday I […]
Here’s your very own director’s chair. Are you ready for it? Are you ready to take direction of your own life and career? A director knows the direction, knows where he wants to go with the picture. He also looks at the actors from a distance, sees the big picture and works on it in the detail. He needs a certain distance and engagement at the same time. Are you able to look at yourself from a distance? Do you […]
This week I saw an interview with Angelo Kelly, the youngest guy from the Kelly Family. He was famous already when he was a child and got used to everything that goes with it. It was surprising to hear, that he and his wife choose to live in a caravan and to travel for several years. He avoided Germany, too many people would recognize him there, and performed as street musician for two or three days a week. That brought […]