Rik Leaf's Blog, page 22
May 31, 2013
May 27, 2013
Drunk Urinal Guy
one of those days…
I was backstage at a deafeningly loud show in Fort St John. Some long-haired prog rockers were in the process of shredding the audience’s equilibrium one inner ear at a time. I’d flown in under a cloak of secrecy to surprise my friend and longtime collaborator who was being honoured at the event for his work in the community.
As soon as the shock of the Big Reveal wore off, he asked if I’d play a song after the three-piece monster’s of metal were finished ripping the faces off the moshers in the front row. He quickly procured an acoustic guitar and promptly disappeared.
An evil cold virus had lodged in my vocal chords the day before leaving me without a voice, which meant I’d have to do an instrumental. Except my instrumental songs are all written in a strange tuning. That’s how I ended up backstage trying to get far enough away from the noise so I could actually hear my guitar enough to tune. Eventually I ended up in the handicap stall of the mens washroom, trying to hear anything but the impending cacophony of tinnitus.
Some drunken buffoon lurched noisily into the room braying like a rabid goat in heat. (I think he was singing) In the sonic pause between one song and the next, he heard me tuning and started cheering, whooing and hollering, ‘yeahhhh Baby’ with each string.
Just as the band on stage kicked back in and started channeling what sounded like the terrified screams of the undead, I heard someone yelling at me. Drunk Urinal Guy had managed to climb up on the toilet in the stall beside me, sort of like Zacchaeus climbing the tree to see Jesus…and was giddily dangling over the divide spewing spittle, surprise and the most positive use of profanity to describe his surprise at finding me there with a guitar.
Reading his lips I managed to understand he was screaming, “Where are you from man?”
Rendered voiceless and likely unable to be heard even if we were in a morgue, I somehow managed to communicate I was from Victoria. Which is when Drunk Urinal Guy lost his s#*t.
“DUDE…I’M FROM VICTORIA!”
In his mind we were brothers from other mothers, lovers, BFFs…stars guided through time and space to meet at that very point, in that very stall…so we could HUG!
I’ve always been leery of strange men wanting to canoodle in dark washroom stalls, and had to start ducking and diving, bobbing to the left and right trying to avoid the top-down hug being initiated as Drunk Urinal Guy tried to desperately to reach me.
At that point the thundering drums culminated in a final eruption. The crowd roared in approval, signalling it was time for me to go, leaving Drunk Urinal Guy flapping in the breeze.
Rik Leaf is a professional Producer/Presenter, recording artist, slam poet & published author who spends the majority of his creative time & energy dreaming up ways to inspire people to live awesome lives.
Interested in booking Rik for your Conference/Festival/Event…contact,
Ronnie James, Artist Agent
info@justartists.org
You Don’t Like What I Like!
let me put it this way…
Rik Leaf is a professional Producer/Presenter, recording artist, slam poet & published author who spends the majority of his creative time & energy dreaming up ways to inspire people to live awesome lives.
Interested in booking Rik for your Conference/Festival/Event…contact,
Ronnie James, Artist Agent
info@justartists.org
May 22, 2013
Hybrid Publishing
Sometimes telling a story is a story in itself. Industry gatekeepers exist to keep people out, not to let people in. Cause let’s face it gatekeepers exist to protect the interests of those desperately trying to maintain the status quo. But for every desperate gatekeeper you will always find a handful of adventurers exploring new ways of accessing the keys to the kingdom. Like Promontory Press and Influence Publishing.
If the publishing world were the Game of Thrones, Promontory and Influence would be Little Finger and Lord Varys. Shrewd. Devious. Clever. Operating from the shadows and always a step ahead. (They are also fun and irreverent and enjoy kitchy movie trailers like THIS ONE! They are also industry leaders in Hybrid Publishing. Unlike self publishing companies who make their money by selling service packages to authors, Promontory and Influence make their money the traditional way…by selling books. But through an innovative approach to financing and shared risk management, they have developed a model that allows them to invest in emerging authors.
The great news for me (and you) is that because of Promontory Press and Influence Publishing, Four Homeless Millionaires, is available through Amazon Kobo and Chapters.Indigo. A 2014 West Coast Wines & Words tour is currently in the works, showcasing Rik as Master Storyteller & Sommelier.
Sometimes telling a story is an odyssey of adventure all its own!
Interested in booking Rik for your Conference/Festival/Event contact, JUST Artist Agency Group - info@justartists.org
The post Hybrid Publishing appeared first on Rik Leaf.
Promontory Press
An Odyssey of Adventure and Discovery
Telling my story has been a story in itself. After writing for five months I had to determine how to publish my manuscript. As an independent recording artist, my creative DNA is wired to do things myself. Music industry gatekeepers have never supported me, and I had no reason to believe the book publishing gatekeepers would be any different.
I ended up with a company that positioned itself as providing mainstream publishing resources to self publishing authors. From the get go it was a bumpy ride. As a relatively new start up there were major delays and gaping holes in communication. Learning to advocate for myself was a weekly lesson. There was some yelling and a few tears were shed in the process. Eventually the wheels of progress s_l_o_w_l_y began to turn and ink was finally applied to paper.
Right about the time my book was finally printed my relationship with the publisher fell apart. My book promotion specialist was one of the most comedically incompetent buffoons I’ve ever met. I can’t say I really worked with him, as much as in spite of him. I remember writing the president of the company requesting/demanding/begging to be reassigned to anyone else. Honestly…it’s none of my business how far you stick your head up your ass until you’re my book specialist.
Anyway, a parting of ways was inevitable, and at that point I was truly a solo artist and author. And hey…I realized things could be a lot worse, I could have signed a contract that stuck me stuck with my book proctologist for years. Thank god for small mercies.
Then I met Bennett Coles, the president of Promontory Press at a book fair. Thinking I knew all I needed to about ‘his sort,’ I coasted through our conversation and out the back door. Only he didn’t let up. And what’s more, when I unloaded my big guns of Disappointment and Disillusionment, he responded with proactive, creative and innovative solutions. Imagine my surprise!
That first conversation has led me to where I am right now. With a fabulous new, fully re edited edition of Four Homeless Millionaires published with Promontory Press. The cover is actually printed in the bright tropical orange and electric blues I first imagined. If you bought the first edition, you have a collectors item. There were only a limited amount ever printed, and I am proud of that version for countless reasons.
Zara, Zion, Riel, Rik
And for all of those who have heard me talking about our odyssey of adventure and thought some day you’d get around to downloading it through Amazon or Kobo or picking it up at Chapters.Indigo, there has never been a better time than now.
Sometimes telling a story is an odyssey all of its own!
Rik Leaf is a professional Producer/Presenter, recording artist, slam poet & published author who spends the majority of his creative time & energy dreaming up ways to live an awesome life.
Interested in booking Rik for your Conference/Festival/Event…contact,
Ronnie James, Artist Agent
info@justartists.org
May 19, 2013
May 17, 2013
Make It Count
Throughout the year that our family toured the world, we developed a very clear system when it came to choosing accommodations. Clean, quite, safe and inexpensive were the four priorities. We’re masters at making money stretch farther than most people would believe.
But of course, sometimes rules are meant to be broken. If we were going to break our accommodation rule, then our rule breaking rule was…go big or go home. Make it count! 
Choose something truly unique and amazing, like the Radisson Blu in Berlin, where scuba divers paddle around with fish above you. 
Personally I adhere to this way of thinking in the important matters of life and love. We live in a day and age where self-indulgence is passed off as freedom and novelty is called originality. We’re constantly being sold a bill of goods that’s good for absolutely nothing. Rehashed and recycled ideas that weren’t worth the time or effort the first time around.
Living an awesome life takes discipline and hard work. It’s like getting and staying in shape…you’ve got to constantly work out your imagination. So when it’s time to let loose and dream…go big or go home, really make it count!
Rik Leaf is a professional Producer/Presenter, recording artist, slam poet & published author who spends the majority of his creative time & energy dreaming up ways to live an awesome life.
Interested in booking Rik for your Conference/Festival/Event…contact,
Ronnie James, Artist Agent
info@justartists.org
May 16, 2013
How You Choose to Die
“Every man dies, not every man really lives.” William Wallace, Braveheart.
Have you ever thought of how you’re choosing to die? Maybe you’re going for the slow, agonizing demise as one drudgery filled shift follows another. Or maybe you’re choosing the ‘burn out in a blaze of stress-induced, aneurysmic ecstasy. Or maybe…you’re choosing an exclamation point on a remarkable story.
I don’t work well in purely theoretical environments or arguments. If the rubber never meets the road I generally lose interest in spinning my wheels in endless conversation. So that William Wallace quote stuck with me. It wasn’t just a line from a movie, it was a window to the world around me. I saw how most people end up working harder at jobs they hate so they can buy things they don’t need, to fill a house they can’t afford. Oh yay…floral pillow shams!
Some people hate to fit in, and other people hate to stand out. It helps explain a lot when you figure out which one you are. Now I admit I live an unconventional life. Always have. Selling our house and spending our life savings on an epic whirlwind adventure wasn’t a once in a lifetime choice. It was one choice in a lifetime of many, like our little family choosing to live in a community for the last three years.
Anything could happen today. You could get hit by a bus or hop on and go for the ride of your life. It’s no surprise your’re going to die…the question is whether you’re going to choose to die at the end of your life, or somewhere in the middle.
Rik Leaf is a professional Producer/Presenter, recording artist, slam poet & published author who spends the majority of his creative time & energy dreaming up ways to live an awesome life.
Interested in booking Rik for your Conference/Festival/Event…contact,
Ronnie James, Artist Agent
info@justartists.org
May 15, 2013
Dare to be Disappointed
Dare to live on the edge
It’s the day after an election and I can’t help but feel disappointed. Which is a good thing. The party and people I felt represented the best ideas and hope for the future, lost. And let’s face it, it’s discouraging when you care about something and it doesn’t work out.
“Scratch the surface of most cynics and you find a frustrated idealist — someone who made the mistake of converting his ideals into expectations.” Peter M. Senge
But here’s the thing, I’m no cynic. I believe a sign of a healthy life is regularly being disappointed. It means you put yourself out there, you actively invested in something you hoped for and it didn’t work out. It means you’re alive and that for one more day you refused to buy into the, I’m-an-old-dog-and-can’t-learn-new-tricks, B.S.
What a terrible thing to never feel the nervous energy that comes from taking a risk or trying something new. To never create the opportunity to perform or compete at your highest level and feel the satisfaction and pride of knowing you did your best. How awful to let fear of failure or looking or feeling foolish steal adventure and discovery from a single moment of a single day.
Did you really plan to wake up one day and decide that you had reached the pinnacle of your evolution as a human being? That you were as smart and fashionable and informed as you could ever hope to be and every day from that moment on would be lived in a holding pattern, maintaining the status quo?
That’s not disappointing…that’s depressing, and you’re better than that!
Rik Leaf is a professional Producer/Presenter, recording artist, slam poet & published author who spends the majority of his creative time & energy dreaming up ways to live an awesome life.
Booking Rik for your Conference/Festival/Event contact,
Ronnie James, Artist Agent
info@justartists.org
