Oh, and here’s some inspirational shit I wrote out in note-form for myself the other night, I hope it helps you as much as it helped me:

Unbounded Thinking

We are here to be ourselves, to realize our uniqueness and to maximize our true selves – expressing our true nature without fear.

So your passions do not need to be curtailed for the sake of focus, explore them all freely.

Obviously you must make money so search for the sweet spot. But don’t get too hung up on money. It’s kind of nothing.

For example, I love to create awesome things, and a good business is such a thing, a work of art.

If you need money (now) and this is where the money (now) is, then go with this energy, this path of least resistance. But you know, you probably don’t need it as much as you fear that you do.

Defy expectations. Be free.

You can be building a business today, being a singer tomorrow and writing inspirational words next week. Do what is appropriate on the day.

It’s all me, and me is free. Unbounded thinking makes it so.

p.s. to get the email newsletters, just download my free tunes.

I have now played maybe as many as ten Songwriters in the Round gigs thanks to Liam and all the gang at Melting Pot who are really blossoming into a music promoter force to be reckoned with. I have been blessed by their ongoing support over the last three years and it seems to be a beautiful friendship that looks set to continue as SITR moves on to a different venue.

I am also writing a regular blog for them over at their shiny new music blog.

The above gig took place last September 2011 – there’s been a couple more since then and I am looking forward to the footage from those also as they were pretty special.

Click the images for larger versions.

For those of you who live in Melbourne don’t forget I have a gig this Friday night at Seraphim (upstairs bar, over the cafe), 123 Smith St, Seraphim. It’s as part of the way cool Songwriters in the Round brought to you by Melting Pot.

It’s about the 10th one of these I have done and the final in this great venue – so come on down – I am on at about 9pm for around one and a half hours. I will be sharing the stage with John Fleming (ex-Scared Weird Little Guys) and Carly Rae.

“Flood Victim” – by Seamus Anthony. Click image for larger version

This bridge near our home in the Dandenong Ranges got partially destroyed by the floods of 2011. It has come completely away from its foundations on the near side of the creek. It was quickly “closed” by the council but is still used. Guess the locals grew tired of waiting for it to be fixed. Not surprising given that working around it adds another 20 minutes to the walk up to town.

“Not Forgotten” by Seamus Anthony. Click for larger image.

“Winky-Wonky” by Seamus Anthony. Click for larger image.

“Waiting” by Seamus Anthony. Click for larger image.

The recording was great, probably only 70% finished but definitely a successful and fun day’s work and easy to see how from there it would be plain sailing to finish it off into something to be proud of.

I had been waiting for the day in the studio for weeks. Catching me humming a little happy tune while doing my least favourite chore the night before (dishes), A Certain Lady commented, accurately, that I was obviously looking forward to spending a cheeky Thursday making music.

So, come 7pm that Thursday, given all was well, why did I feel so empty? No idea. But I have noticed it before.

Truth is when I get what I want, I very often feel like this and so I can understand how people who get everything they want often lose it.

It’s often bandied about that you have to do what you love in order to succeed – and I think this is true – mainly because you need that passion to push you through the hard bits. If you weren’t passionate enough about your work, the trials that inevitably befall any project worth doing would cause you to give up the fight.

But there’s another reason I need to love what I do – because I have noticed on quite a few occasions that when I get what I want, even though it does feel very good, the feeling doesn’t last. Soon after I feel kind of empty, tired and blue.

That’s why it is so important to love what you do – because success is a fleeting pleasure and because it’s the “doing”, the striving, that takes the most time. So if you love that process, then life is bliss, because once the momentary thrill of success, large or small, is over – you take a little R & R and then just get back to doing “it”, the thing you love, all over again.

Sweet as.

(Photos by Spindickle – thanks mate)

Often this is the point where the detailed plan gets put aside for a little bit, maybe for too long. If you leave it long enough then the plan becomes redundant. A part of you, the part that likes the safety of dreaming and planning, likes that tactic, because it just gets to enjoy creating a vision all over again without having to do the difficult work. That’s why “vision quest” type books and workshops sell so well, because they allow us to justify procrastinating indefinitely.

I remember once asking someone how they went at a motivational seminar they had just attended. “Awesome!” came the reply, “I felt a real shift!”

“Shifts” are nice – and important (I enjoy a good shift as much as the next guy) but Einstein was right – nothing happens until something moves.

Next Gig: Feb 17th – Melting Pot CD Launch (I am featured on their 1st compilation CD), 7pm, Seraphim (formerly Vibe On Smith), 123 Smith St Fitzroy, Melbourne

When you are a teenager at home abiding by other people’s rules and when you are all grown-up with responsibilities, you have something to rebel against. When you’re in your ’20s (or just generally pre-mortgage / babies) you sort of don’t. Life is then as perfect as it gets. You have energy and health and get to please yourself a lot more than at any other point in life – so what’s there to rebel against? Sex with perfect bods and immunity from hangovers? Not!

Rock Begins At 40

(OK, 38, but close enough…)

People who kick-arse begin with a vision that is apparently ridiculous and then successfully engage a critical mass of people with that vision until their support helps it actually become reality.

U2 got a critical mass of people buying into their “impossible mission” – that a bunch of kids from working class Ireland could possibly become rock stars. This seems plausible to us in retrospect, but to your average person of limited vision this would have been laughable before they did it.

Here’s my crazy vision: To prove that dreams can come true – even for middle-aged musicians – thereby inspiring people to determinedly pursue their passions, no matter what their age or situation.

Think about it – middle-aged “popular music” musicians almost never rise from obscurity to establish a viable career as entertainers. All the working rock stars over 30 established their brands in their 20s. It’s an expectation waiting to be defied, and it has a massive “what’s in it for me” factor for loads of people – Hope (not to mention great music).

In 2012 I will have been gigging for 20 years – but I am really only just getting started and the best is yet to come.

To support my vision of geriatric glory you only need to do one thing – download some of my music for free. This will subscribe you to my mailing list so you can follow my further adventures in entropy, prescription drugs and rock n roll (you can unsubscribe later if you choose – although I may send round the heavies if you do).