Eric Harper

If you haven’t written a hit song, keep writing.

If you’re a one-hit wonder, keep writing.

If you’ve written several hits, keep writing.

In Texas I’m a medium.

In Canada I’m a Large.

In China I’m an EXTRA-LARGE.

If your music marketing strategy isn’t working. It could simply be that you’re in the wrong environment.

In a world moving from its collective adolescence to its collective adulthood, competition will make way for collaboration and cooperation. What that means in the music world, is stop thinking of other musicians as competition and start thinking of them as your fellow collaborators.

There’s no such thing as writer’s block. This is an invention. What writer’s block is, in my opinion, one’s refusal to take the first idea that comes to mind. We call the first idea “cheesy” or “stupid” and then don’t act. Then the idea fairies stop sending us ideas because we ridiculed their first offering.

This morning our dear Quw’utsun friend came over for a latte and we had a wonderful and insightful conversation. Then our Argentinian friend came over for breakfast and we also had an engaging conversation. Next our Danish-Ukranian friend stopped by to fill up her water for her run. Finally, our Scottish friend drove by just to say hello.

I love that our home has become a micro hub of world relations where no borders exist. Just the warm invitation of a yummy latte, warm hearts and elevated convo.

My son has a football game today. And science homework he’s stressed about. He doesn’t have room for Father’s Day, and that’s alright.

I used to not make a big deal of this day at all. This year I miss him more than usual, (earlier this year he decided to live full time with his mom) and some part of me wanted to make that mean something it probably doesn’t.

He’s not choosing his life over me. He’s just 14, living his life, the way he’s supposed to.

And honestly — a kid who’s stressed about homework and excited for a football game is a kid who’s growing into a full, busy, engaged life. That’s the whole point. That’s what I wanted for him.

So today I’ll cheer him on from a distance and let science homework win. I’ll take the version of fatherhood that means watching him become himself, even when that doesn’t include me.

Happy Father’s Day to anyone else missing someone today instead of celebrating with them.

I wasn’t prepared for how lonely it would be - speaking to my kids in Portuguese, being the only Portuguese speaker in the house.

Living in an English-speaking country and insisting on raising multilingual kids, it mattered to me that they see the world through more than one set of lenses. I just didn’t expect the cost of that to be quiet, daily, and mine alone to carry.

Recently I talked to a Japanese mom in the exact same position. She said, “Finally, I’ve met someone who knows how I feel.”

That…

I used to be consumed with being a "musician."

My language, the way I dressed, how I spent my time — all of it revolved around making sure people knew. That I was trained. That I was professional. That I should be taken seriously.

And yet none of it was bringing me any real sense of fulfillment.

One day I was mowing the lawn and it hit me: I'm not being a musician right now.

And somehow the lawn still got mowed.

“You have cold? You have cold?”

What was she saying? Was she saying,

“Do you have a cold?”

“Are you cold?” 

Or the more distant sounding,

“Do you have a coat?”