So, it's been a few days since I last posted.  To try and catch you up on all that has been going on is an impossibility at this point.  However, there are some things that I really want to share with you.  There is so much going on!
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MY DEBUT AT THE COMMODORE
I recently played at a songwriter's night for the first time in a long time.  I've played for larger groups of people over the last several years, but this was different.  I played at The Commodore, which houses a well-known songwriter's night several times per week.  I found out, right as I was walking on to the stage that it was a "one and done."  If the lady who runs the show thinks you're a good songwriter, she books you into the regular rotation.  If she doesn't think you have what it takes, you don't get booked.  There were 2 other guys on stage with me, and they played before I did.  They were both good songwriters, and each with a unique sound to his voice.  They were a totally different style than I, but they were both high quality musicians.  I started to sing my song and realized right away that I had no vocal (or very little) coming out of the monitor.  My brain went into overdrive, and my ears immediately scrambled to find the sound in the house.  The moment got faster, and it felt like every second was rushing at me, hitting me full-on.  My vision narrowed, and I could feel the heat building in my face and ears.  I was blowing it.  I was over-singing, picking up the pace of the song as I played, playing faster with every strum of the guitar.  Somewhere in there I thought, "let me just finish, so I can be done with it."  I finished the song, and I felt like the Wonders ("Oneders" pronounced: Oh-Needers) on That Thing You Do.  It was unplug my guitar and get off the stage.  I had this voice going off in my head, saying, "you bombed", "the only reason they clapped was because they were being nice," and "well, you just blew it."  
SAY WHAT?
For those of you who know me well, you know I'm pretty even keel and positive, but the voice in my head was screaming its head off, at me.  I got to the side of the stage, and I was tempted to put my guitar away and leave.  But I MADE myself stay.  I walked back to my seat at the table I was sitting, and watched the rest of the show.  Afterward, I even dared to meet some fellow writers, who "probably don't want to write with me after that".  "You have a great voice" was obviously a cover for, "you sucked eggs."  That voice!  I met a couple of writers and we exchanged info.  Then, I picked up my guitar and headed for the lady who oversees the show.  I thought it only polite to thank her for having me, and to potentially ask for another opportunity... and that's when it happened.  She shook my hand, told me I did a great job, then handed me her card.  She said, "I'm booking for May now, so if you want to play then, email me or call me."  Say what?  I "passed"!  Relieved, I walked out, excited and thankful to be able to play that venue and show again.  In fact, I have already secured a date to play in May, where I'll be part of the rotation, and will play 3 songs.

STAYING IN ACTION
As an artist, not many things are more intimate than to share your creation with people...with only your voice and a guitar.  I've played with a band behind me in front of larger groups, even in the last year, but I haven't been in this type of setting in a long time, and I felt it.  To say I was rusty is an understatement.  A good friend of mine, who is a very talented Broadway actor, told me, "there is a difference in bombing (which was my description to him of how I did) and not doing as well as you hoped."  Touché.  However, it gave me a real picture of where I am right now, and it also gave me an understanding of the work that I need to do to be in top form.  I am committed to doing the work that I need to do!  I know that one of the things that's missing for me to be in top form is performing consistently.  I've spent my 10,000 hours, but I've been on a bit of a hiatus, so I need to build those hours and be in front of audiences and crowds of all sizes to get my form back to where I want it.  So, I'm scheduling and hitting writer's nights, as well as other opportunities to perform.

JUST KEEP GOING
Again, I'm reminded of the power of that damn voice in my head.  It can be so bleeping loud, and so bleeping convincing.  And yet, I didn't let the "voice of reason" let me run and hide.  I wouldn't have met the other writers, and presumably, I wouldn't have received the invite from the organizer if I had run when the voice in my head said to do so.  Ok, so I didn't bomb (the voice in my head just said, "you did really."), I just didn't perform as well as I had hoped.  But none-the-less, I keep going!

SO WITH THAT...
I leave you with this one simple thought:  Just because the voice in your head says so, doesn't mean its true.  I know that its coming from our own head, and we believe that it's true, but it's often not the TRUTH, and there's a big difference.  Don't let that voice stop you from doing what it is that you really want to do!  

So here it is, 4:45am, and I've been up since 3:08am.  It's not because I'm pulling an early morning, but because I can't sleep.  I don't have insomnia, but I have had more sleepless nights in the 3 months that we've been here than I have in the last...I don't know...10-12 years combined!  I think I'm so focused, that I wake up after only a few hours of sleep ready to get to work, as I know there is so much to do.

One of the things that I committed to when I started this blog was that I would attempt to be vulnerable, to not only share my dreams and exciting things, but also share my challenges and when things aren't going how I want them to go.

AN AMAZING TEAM
This week was incredible!  I spent last weekend holed up in a hotel with part of my team, for almost 15 hours over 1.5 days, going over the plan and future of my music.  It included an 85 page document that details my business and marketing plan, of which I can't reveal the details because of their proprietary nature (how's that for a hook?), as well as hours of explanation and expansion on where we're headed.  So now we begin the first round of fundraising with investors that will support the first music project, as well as my label, publishing, and the other multiple aspects of the business!  I'm amazed at the team that is assembling around me that will help me to get where I want to go, and allow me to focus on the things that I need to do:  writing, singing, recording, performing, repeat.

EXPOSED
The past weekend was filled with appointments, and I wrote with some great writers.  I had a meeting with a guy on Music Row, who is in "the know" in the industry.  As time goes along, there will be some relationships that I will tell you the names, and other times, I'll keep those names private out of respect of their position, or because of the level of relationship I have with them at the time.  Anyway, I meet with this guy, a great guy!  We have an engaging conversation that sparks what I think will be a strong partnership in the future.  He asks for me to play some of my music for him.  Of course, I have a bunch of songs on my iPhone, so I plug it in to his speakers and push play.  As I sit there, on Music Row, in his office, with my music thumping through his high quality speakers, I feel...exposed.  I can feel myself churning on the inside, my heart racing, and I can feel my body and disposition tensing.  It's a surreal moment to say the least.  I speak to myself a saying that I made up that helps ground me and slow me down when I'm mentally overexerting; "Sit in the middle of the universe", and immediately my emotional engagement to the situation calms.  It even relaxes me physically.  It isn't that I want him to like it, or that I am scared that he won't like it.  Honestly, whether he likes it or not is irrelevant, I'm not looking for his approval in that way.  Don't get me wrong, I want him to like it, but if he doesn't, that doesn't change my commitment.  This situation is a moment for me to recognize my "offering", for today at least.  It is me, putting myself out there, sharing my gifts, my heart, and my talents with someone who doesn't even know me.  I'm expecting nothing in return, yet I know that this is one of the ways that I show up in the world, and when you show up in such a way, you never know what can happen.  

I AM ALIVE
There's something that's exhilarating and yet terrifying in the process of sharing yourself with others.  It makes me feel alive.  It's like that anticipation that stirs on Christmas morning as a kid, when you're so excited to wake up in the morning to find out what you're getting.  It makes me realize how much time I've spent over the last many years living safe and sheltered, instead of being willing to offer myself in a way that would help me grow, and contribute my gifts to the world around me.  Well, those days of playing safe are over.  I am committed to making that offering every day, showing up as an artist in the world, and taking the consistent action that moves me toward my dreams, even when they make me feel exposed and vulnerable.  At the end of the day, I will have made a contribution, and it doesn't matter what's waiting on the other side of that moment.  What matters is that I make the effort, that I dare to put myself out there, knowing that no matter what...I will do it again tomorrow.

MUSIC VIDEOS COMING!
The offerings of putting myself out there will continue...SO... I will be releasing some music to the public this coming week!  In fact, I just released my first video last night!  I'm going to be doing some covers (no originals just yet), with just me and a guitar. There's no better season than to begin that, than with Christmas music.  I've already post on my FB page, and I've had several people comment on what songs they would love for me to sing, so I'm working on several of those.  If there's something you would like to hear, please drop me a message or comment below.  I'll be posting videos to my social media, and I'm beginning to build my YouTube channel.  These are going to be raw, organic videos of me singing.  I'm really excited to make these videos, especially for the many people who have never heard me sing and keep asking, "when am I going to hear you sing?"  Well, here's your chance!  Who knows, maybe I'll hop on Periscope in a couple of weeks and perform some Christmas music, LIVE!  And speaking of live music, I'm lining up some dates to play at writer's nights here in the Nashville area.  As I start doing those, I'll post them on my website.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, and I hope you can make a contribution, an "offering" to the world today, that makes you feel alive!

Luis
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Watch my first video, I'll Be Home for Christmas, & subscribe to my Youtube channel by clicking HERE! 

It's been a few weeks since I have written here.  It has been a whirlwind of life, not only personally, but also in our world, as so much has happened.  A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a song and recorded it in the studio.  I'm excited about the song and it's potential.  There are a handful of people who have heard the song, as well as a few others I've written, and some incredible doors have been opened for me to write with some of the greatest writers in the world.  In fact, over the next 2 weeks, I have nearly a dozen writing appointments scheduled, and I'm working on scheduling more.  I'm so thankful to be engaged in the "game" of life that I want to play.

I CAN'T SHAKE IT
There is something that has been stirring in my heart for a couple of weeks now, that in some way, I don't want to share...but I can't shake it.  It's something I feel I need to get off my chest, and it feels like it's something emanating from deep within my soul.  Maybe there is a part of me that is afraid, not because of what others might think or say, but maybe because it gets to the bedrock of who I want to be and how I want to show up in this world.  I don't know.  What I do know is that a couple of weeks ago, there were tragic terrorist attacks in many places across the world, with the most publicized one being in Paris.  Because of those attacks, there has been a heightened sense of fear that manifests itself in so many different ways, and that fear is used to manipulate us in ways involving everything from politics, to religion, to daily activities, and more.

AND THEN...
And then I woke up on Sunday morning to a text that had been sent to me in the middle of the night, asking me to pray for an acquaintance/friend and his family because of a terrible tragedy.  As the news came in, this family's 7-year-old daughter had been abducted at her brother's football game, and was killed just a few yards away from where they were all sitting.  She was reported missing, and then she was found only 30 minutes later in a nearby creek.  It makes me nauseous even writing this, but it has been so tremendously sad and devastating to people I know, as well as their small community.  It's easy to look around the things of this world and create a long list of fears, but there is no freedom in that. 

A LONG LIST OF FEARS
The current state of our government wins votes by emotionally charging it's support base.  Its a system that operates on it's ability to generate a flood of emotions, all the while minimizing certain facts, and it happens on both sides.  We are led to be afraid of who will be the next to lead our great nation, and that fear is used as leverage to get us to vote a certain way.  It's amazing the level of fear that is induced surrounding: candidates, policies, refugees, diseases, terrorism, war, Russia, China, North Korea, Islam, Christianity, gay marriage, school curriculum, and even red Starbucks cups.  I'm not saying that we shouldn't be concerned about issues, I just don't think fear is the best decision maker.  It seems that almost everyday, someone claims that another people group is declaring war on them, or on something in which they believe.  I have learned in my life that just because you disagree with someone else's opinions, lifestyle, religion, or beliefs, doesn't mean that they are your enemy. We need fewer lines drawn in the sand, and more bridges built. 

THE POWER OF FEAR
But here is the heart of what I want to say:  I am not controlled by fear...and it is not because I turn a blind eye to the issues of our world.  It is not because I turn a deaf ear to the cries of those in need.  My only response when fear is floating around, is to live in defiance.  Fear takes on all kinds of shapes and forms.  There are the fears of this world and the things that go on, and there are the internal fears that we all carry.  We all have those fears that we're not enough, that we are an imposter and someone is going to expose us.  We all have those fears of failure, and I believe that even more people have the fear of being great.  Fear is a powerful motivator.  In fact, it is said that the #1 motivator is the fear of loss.  Think about that for a moment.  Of all the great and noble motivators that can be attributed to great works, the #1 motivator is still that you might lose something.

I CHOOSE LIFE OVER FEAR
This is where I live in defiance.  When the world says I should go hide, or when that voice in my head tells me that I'm not enough, it is my opportunity to live the life I want to live in spite of what fear says.  You see, I live in defiance of the fears of this world when I continue to build the life that I want to live.  When I continue to love my family, and to raise my children the best way I know how, I am choosing life over fear.  When I keep moving forward in pursuit of my dreams, I am choosing life over fear.  When I have the mindset that no matter what anyone else says, no matter what the government does or does not do, and no matter what events go on around me, I choose how I will respond and I make my own internal weather, I stand in defiance of fear.  I am not a fool who thinks there is nothing bad in this world, and that there aren't people who want to bring harm to others.  But I happen to believe that the freedom that I have been given to live the life I want to live, regardless of how it turns out, is my greatest response to those who wish to introduce fear.  I haven't told this to anyone, but, the night after the attacks in Paris, I felt the urge to get out of the house, so I took the entire family out for the evening.  We went to a few shops, we ate out, and we spent time around people.  In my mind, it was an act of defiance.  It was my way of saying that I would not be swayed by fear, that I would continue, even in the small ways, to live a life of freedom.  It wasn't an effort to tempt or to speak anything negative into life, on the contrary, it was to stand for all that is good.  It was as much a declaration of me standing for my freedom as it was in defiance of fear.      

THE POWER TO CHOOSE
The freedom that I live with doesn't just come from the laws of our country, it comes from the understanding of the power that I have, the power to choose.  I have the power to make any decision that I want to make, as long as I am willing to deal with whatever the consequences are that come out of my decisions.  There is tremendous power and freedom that comes from that mentality, and it has changed my life.  So I choose life over fear.  And even more than living my life in defiance against fear, is living my life FOR the freedom that I have been given.  I have been given the freedom to make the most of this life.  For me, my light shines bright through music, as an artist.  For you, it may be as a teacher, a construction worker, a doctor, an entrepreneur, a soldier, and for many of us, as fathers and mothers.  Whatever it is that makes your light shine bright, do it!  You see, it is my contribution to the world.  It is my part of making this world what it is, and what we want it to be.  It is a defiance against the darkness, but more importantly, it is a stand FOR the light.

THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS...
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States once said, "let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."  Let us not give our power and life over to the nameless, unreasoning, and unjustified terror which paralyzes our ability to move forward, whether that threat comes from within, or without.  

FIND YOUR BRAVE
There is a song from Les Misérables that sings, "Will you join in our crusade?  Who will be strong and stand with me?  Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?"  I believe that there is a world that we all long to see that is beyond our current barricades.  I implore you, and ask you to take a stand for yourself, for your life, your dreams, and for your freedom.  Don't be captivated by fear.  I'm not calling for war against something, there is too much of that going on, and I'm not drawing a line in the sand.  I'm attempting to build a bridge, and I'm calling for an awakening for us to live in the freedom that we have, to be who we want to be in this life, and to pursue the life that we want to live. ​ May your life song drown out the echoes of fear humming all around us, but more importantly, may it sing and stand FOR the life you have been called to live.  Everyone has fear, and everyone can be brave.  Find your brave!