Made the mistake.

I was like, man, I know I should have eaten something before I came over here.

Yeah, totally.

Woke up late.

You know, you.

You don't want to be too sluggish.

So when you're hungry, you'll be.

Yeah.

Plus, I think you sing better when you've got a little, like, hunger in your belly, you know, because it's like you're hungry, you know, it's like, comes out and when you're playing.

So.

Oh, Dan, thanks for coming to my studio apartment.

Yeah.

Excited to be here.

Thanks for having me.

It's a cool spot.

Something that I didn't know about is the neighbors moving in downstairs.

Below me is a garage.

Okay.

They haven't been too noisy yet.

Oh.

That's great.

It'll just add to the character, maybe.

Sure.

Totally.

Here.

Garage sound just popping up in the middle of the song, right?

Yeah.

Some added texture, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, right.

You're using the house guitar today?

Yep.

Sure am.

Awesome.

Would you like to start us off here with a song?

Do you have anything in mind?

Yeah.

Totally, man.

So this is actually a brand new song.

Kind of indicative of a new direction that I'm going down.

That's, like a little bit more.

A lot of my songs, kind of have a deep, soulful underbelly.

And this song definitely has, like, you know, some complexity to it, but it's a little bit lighter and it's a little bit more like self-deprecating, which I appreciate.

And so it's been kind of a fun direction to explore the past few months.

And it's just about, you know, trying to be a better man, trying to like, you know, do right each day and oftentimes failing miserably.

And, you know, just wanting to make sure that I'm at least failing forward.

And so it's called reformed man.

It goes like this.

To my name.

Got 20 bones.

And one way to get on.

See the woman I love.

Been a fool.

Searching for the truth.

About an ever move.

Had something to prove.

Can't you see?

You belong with me.

I can work on my disease.

If you get back the front door key.

From minus was a man of empty promises.

Living out of my mama's crib.

Had something to give.

I promise to make some concessions.

Couples therapy sessions.

If you cover the heat and electric.

Baby.

Listen.

I'm reformed.

Man on a mission.

And the water, the plants and do the dishes.

If you give me your forgiveness.

And I promise to be more mindful and on is and your picture inside of my wallet.

Lost it in the devil's documents.

I think part of the reflective nature of my songwriting comes from the other area of my work, which I've kind of been leaning a little bit out of in recent years, but life coaching and men's work, and had a men's group that I hosted for a while in Boulder called the Red circle.

It was all about, you know, shadow integration work, working with the parts of ourselves that we typically cast out or don't accept or don't bring into the forefront of our awareness.

And oftentimes those parts of us have like, hidden superpowers in them, but they're being cast out into shame or into territory that we don't look at.

And so that's been a big part of my work.

And then recently, just in the past year, I've been transitioning to full time with music, and that's feeling really exciting and and liberating right now.

Yeah.

Is it scary at all?

It's got to be tough to.

I wonder if it's tough to make it.

Am I just making you scared by not being certain?

No, you're not making me scared.

I mean, I, I think it it can be scary.

Instill you're all in, you know, and I think I think in some ways, yes, it can be scary to be all in on anything.

But for me, with music, it just became really clear that this is what I want to be doing and and that I'm going to find a way, you know, I'm going to find a way to, you know, make, make my dreams come true around it.

And so I don't see another option at this point.

Yeah.

Is there something freeing about committing to something like taking away the choice, the anxiety of of whether you're going to do anything in life, like making a commitment to something and then you don't have to worry about if you're going to do it or not.

You just have to worry about, like following through each day.

Speaking as a lifelong commitment phobe, you know, somebody who's definitely struggled with commitment and most areas of my life.

Yeah, I think there is something freeing.

And in choosing something fully and music in a lot of ways is been an off again or on again, off again love, but also my truest love.

You know, over the past decade, you know, I think that's when I kind of started about a decade ago.

I was like, okay, this is something I want to pursue and put it down and picked it up and put it down, picked it up and had different iterations of groups I was playing in.

And there is definitely a freeing feeling of just, I think for the first time, fully choosing it.

Yeah.

I miss you.

Face in my shoes.

Friends.

And.

Lord knows that right now you're out with him for dead.

But where do I go?

Not to mention, we've been through the thick and thin of this dimension.

This dimension?

There's nothing to hold softer.

Giving the room is clear.

There's nothing here.

The weakness.

Oh, we wanted to say only after.

But can you wait one more day before we falter.

Meet me in the morning and I'll be fine.

Don't you wait home for ever.

Never on time.

I said meet me in the morning and I'll be fine.

Don't you wait home forever.

Never on time.

They never on time.

Your heart is cold.

Mine.

The amber burning through what isn't true.

Despite the anger.

Oh, I'm letting the smoke of the trenches.

Of the deepest parts of me and you together.

But meet me in the morning and I'll be fine.

Don't you wait home for everybody.

Never on time.

I said meet me in the morning and I'll be fine.

Don't you wake up for ever.

Never telling.

Oh, what ain't never on time.

Yeah, yeah yeah.

Woo!

Runtime.

Did you grow up around here?

I didn't, I grew up in New York.

Oh wow.

Yeah, yeah.

So halfway across the country.

I've never been.

But I imagine it's a little bit of a different vibe than Colorado.

Definitely a different vibe.

Yeah.

I grew up in Long Island, New York, and somehow managed to get away with a strong accent, thankfully.

But yeah, it's New York's an interesting place.

Can you give me a taste at all?

Got any accent?

Oh, I could turn it on.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, totally.

Can I have some coffee?

A little bit of water, you know.

There you go.

I would go to work.

Yeah.

Hot dog.

But, yeah, I went to school in upstate New York and kind of fell in love with mountains.

I was in the Hudson Valley, which is like a really beautiful part of New York, in a town called New Paltz.

And I went to school there, and I was seeing a girl at the time that told me about Boulder, and she was like, I think you would really like it.

And I took a trip out and this was 2018 and was just like, wow, this place is amazing.

And buddy of mine got into a PhD program at the same time at a School of Mines, and it was just kind of a no brainer.

I was like, okay, I have a friend move out here with, you know, let's, let's give it a shot.

So yeah, I haven't really looked back since.

2018.

2018.

Yeah, I'm in 2019.

Okay.

Nice.

Cool.

I had a friend who was living in Denver at the time, and I started visiting him, and it was kind of a reason to get my feet wet and then be like, yeah, I kind of, I think I want to live out here, too.

I it's.

Awesome, man.

Hell yeah.

So I've been thinking about like some themes to maybe explore in conversation when talking to people and maybe just around some words or and whatnot.

And I'm wondering when you think of hope, is there anything that comes to mind, what you're hopeful for?

To me, hope is like pretty strongly related with trust.

You know, I think having hope that things are going to turn out okay and that, even if a certain moment in time is hard or a certain chapter is hard, that it's going to work itself out and that you're going to be, you know, a deeper, you know, more a live version of yourself.

You know, definitely is motivation for me and gets me through.

A lot of life's kind of harder, more challenging moments.

To me, hope is always about, you know, having the light at the end of the tunnel.

You know, if there's nothing I can look forward to, or if there's nothing that I'm working towards or seeing returns on the efforts that I'm putting in, things can feel pretty bleak, you know?

Yeah, maybe you need hope.

Maybe hope is helpful and alleviating some of that anxiety, not knowing if things will get better or what will happen in those dark times that you hope can be a way to can help in those times.

Did I lose my chance to love you?

But you ever find your way back yet?

My arms doesn't hurt this much for you to.

Further down this road.

This bros apart.

Well, I'm here in a way.

Wandering about your heart.

Does it still be.

This same?

Now there were part.

For left wing crowd.

We made love.

To keep trying for the.

Then we could go on our own.

And it took some time to realize.

It was never meant to be.

From the start.

But I'm here, lying awake.

Wondering about your heart.

There's a single baby.

The same.

Now there were part.

Oh, how will we know?

How far you've come?

But deal with doubt.

If you had any mind.

Give it time.

Just had.

Sweet time I. It's it's.

Brings on the heartache.

Sure does.

Yeah, I wrote that one in a pretty heartbroken place.

Yeah.

It's interesting to be on the other end of it and not be heartbroken anymore, but to have these songs that are, you know, powerful that came from that place.

I guess maybe just thinking back is it helped to have hope when when you are in those places and, and you just don't feel like it's going to get better.

Big time?

Yeah.

It's like, you know, I've heard this said before, it's kind of hard to borrow hope from your future.

You know, when you're in a moment, where you feel maybe even despair or you feel hopeless or broken, but as best as he can, you know, if you can just squeeze out a little bit, you know, a little bit of trust, you know, in recollection of other moments that also felt that way, that you made it through to just remind myself, okay, I can have hope.

I can have hope that this is going to get better and that it always has and hopefully always will.

Yeah, yeah.

I, I had another theme or two to kind of explore.

So the last time we talked about was hope.

And I'm wondering, what do you think about the opposite of that, something that worries you, that you concerned about when maybe, maybe it's inward, maybe it's something with yourself that you're worried about, or maybe it's it's humanity around you or something like that.

Yeah, I want to think about that for a little while because a few things come to mind.

I mean, I think the thing that worries me the most, honestly, is, technology, you know, I think technological advance is pretty incredible.

There might be a very close timeline in reality where all people can have their needs met.

And I think that's beautiful and amazing and incredible.

Like, it's the fact that we've never really come close to that in history before.

And at the same time, you know, we're all, myself included, addicted to our phones, addicted to the stimulation and dopamine hits that they provide.

And I'm just a little concerned with AI and these other things that are developing.

And it's a little shocking to me that more people aren't concerned with just, you know, not to get too fast, but what could potentially happen with artificial intelligence?

I'm very concerned in multiple ways, in the tangible parts of how it could take away creative careers and in the overall societal thing of having a society.

Like you said, it's great to have needs met, but to to live without want or desire to easily be able to access and fulfill any of your desires, I feel like to a full life is to to build and work towards something and to grow and and to not get everything you want.

And so I feel like that wouldn't be good.

Totally.

Yeah.

It's like we have more in some ways, in a more discontent than ever.

But I think there is hope, you know, kind of bringing it back to hope.

That's not loud.

That was the last topic.

It was okay right now, right?

Yeah.

I think there's hope.

I think we can learn how to use these things as tools.

You know, I hope that it's possible to leverage the positive aspects of things like technology and AI for getting our basic needs met, while also reverting back to a mindset around connecting more with one another and getting out of our houses and off our screens and in person.

And, Yeah, I think for me, like my hope and fears are similar in that I hope that I will continue growing as a person and not get caught in the same pitfalls.

And also, that would be the fear and like and for humanity around me.

I also hope that we can continue to grow and and understand each other better and and not get caught into the pitfalls of marginalizing and putting each other in groups and try to and try to just see each other as one another.

It with love getting outside of our own head and trying to help each other as a community.

It's also possible there's there's all so much hope and at the same time there's human nature and and this new unknown world with, with AI and and powerful weapons and and so yeah.

Do we.

Do we is this where we make the choice to just say we're hopeful and roll with it?

I guess so, I mean, I don't know what the alternative is, you know.

Beats me like a B and her eyes glow like, honey, wanna keep it close to me.

Though our lives look kind of funny.

And I like it when we're laying in the park and talk.

How was and I was.

Can tell in the way that you walk with her.

You've got a soft kind of power.

You.

Remember when we first met and the moon and sun were hiding?

Weren't sure about me back then, but I'm glad that I kept trying.

And I like the way.

Notice all the moss and rocks every hike, stopping in the garden, smelling wildflowers, kissing butterflies all the way that you look it in a criminal with so much delay.

And.

Know when I'm with you I won't be hiding.

My SOS.

Know what to do when there cladding.

On the road is out.

It's nothing can be promise I so many neck and soft and alleys.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Well, thanks for coming over to my apartment.

Thanks for having me, man.

Yeah, it's been great.

Can't you see?

You be alone with me?