• Movember selfie of Neel

    Shaving. Man, there’s a whole world of options and information out there. For decades, I was a Gillette guy. Easy, does the job, and I don’t have to think about it, like, at all. I learned early on to shave only against the grain, and suffered many years of razor bumps on the left side [...]

  • Anatomy of a Song book cover with Neel reading

    I recently finished reading a great book by Marc Myers entitled Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits that Changed Rock, R&B, and Pop. Myers interviewed the people involved in historically significant songs from the 1940s to the 1990s. He ended his examination in 1991 because, as he explains it, you [...]

  • Neel walking with the Beatles across Abbey Road

    I was intrigued by the premise of the movie Yesterday; an English singer-songwriter who finds he's the only one in the world who remembers the Beatles music after a freak accident. This is a unique idea and relatively refreshing after a barrage of mediocre musical hero bio-pics in recent memory. Watching the movie, I often [...]

  • great albums

    According to my wife, I’m a music snob. It’s true that I know what I like and don’t feel shy about expressing it and even citing the reasons why. But I’m not about to tell anyone else their taste in music is wrong. I just happened to think my taste in music is great. So, in [...]

  • Movember selfies Days 1-6

    I’m a creative and intellectual guy first and foremost. I’d much rather be writing songs, playing piano, reading, watching great movies, and learning new things than going for a jog or doing a workout. I feel like this is hard wired in me, so I have to hack my way to engaging in physical activity. [...]

  • Movember Days 7-12

    Mental health and taking care of your emotions is so essential to everyone. It’s a great feeling to learn about yourself to the point of knowing the things that work for you and give you joy. I’m still on my journey, and have a long way to go, but here are a few things I’ve learned so [...]

  • Movember Days 19-24

    Sometimes I have an easier time around women than men. I’d rather talk music, philosophy and health than sports, cars, or tools. Of course, these are just stereotypical interests of the genders, based on conventional views of gender identity. I like to think I’m neither stereotypical nor conventional in my thinking. I’ve been told, only [...]

  • Movember days 25 to 30

    I was brought up to believe that any discussion about sex was so taboo, that this belief was never even expressed; it was just strongly implied. So this topic, even to this day, is a tough one for me to talk about. Sometimes the ceilings that are built for us as children are hard to [...]

  • Circle of fifths

    I know many of you don’t care for music theory. It’s clinical, it’s boring, and it sucks the soul out of songwriting. Well, news flash: you’re using music theory whether or not you intend to. For myself, I know my theory pretty well, as I learned it at young age. I couldn’t tell you if [...]