My mother once told me a story about a man who was going to bed and was startled by a noise he heard downstairs. The man lived alone in an old county house, and as he walked down the creaky wooden stairs, he looked into his living room and saw a surprise visitor rocking back […]
As a child, I grew up in a home filled with musical instruments. I mean, filled. Most kids grew up with a piano. I can’t count the number of pianos that made their way in and out of the Plaat household in the years I spent there as a child. Beyond pianos, I can count a huge […]
One of my favorite things about playing a musical instrument is the moment where I get lost in the music. There’s an intricate dance between a musical instrument and the person playing it; one can’t shine without the other – a poorly-made instrument can fill a performance hall when played by a maestro. …a maestro […]
Years ago, I remember reading a short piece written by an artist. He (we used that word back then) described the experience of performing onstage during live music performances with an intoxicating tone that made you feel like you were on stage, smelling the paint fumes with him. He used one phrase that’s stuck with […]
This morning, I woke up at 5:30am and excitedly got ready for the day ahead. I was going trail riding on my bike that morning with a friend, and I was eager to challenge myself and take on a trail riding my new Trek. I spent most of the prior evening cleaning out my garage […]
Today, I had the opportunity to sit and chat with Atlas’s grandparents about life – before and after being a parent. The conversation made me reflect on my own journey as a man, father and son. There’s a phrase I’ve heard often, which goes something like this: ”I run the race in front of me […]
“With these words, I drop my pebble into the eternal pond of time.” With over a year spent learning the electric guitar, I’ve picked up a few things that have made me think differently about the world of music. There’s something unique and powerful about the way music theory and composition works, as well as […]
For the last few weeks, I’ve been mindful of the home, possessions and lifestyle that I have. Each one of these things brings me a great deal of satisfaction, which is rooted in a sense of gratitude for the way I’ve been able to pull it all off. For most of my career, I’ve felt […]
As an adult, I run into a lot of people who have little to no recollection of their young childhood years. It seems like most people start to recollect life beginning from the age of preschool. That wasn’t the case with me. Some of my memories go back to the point where I was just […]
Today, I put my underwear on by myself. On most days, that wouldn’t seem significant. However, it was a sign of victory for me after a recent series of painful back spasms. For years, I’ve battled the occasional back spasm; a lightning-hot flash of pain that usually drops me to my hands and knees in […]