Season 2 Episode 20:

Fifty Thousand People in My Head

I’ve now made two live albums for concerts that neveractually happened. Somehow, fifty thousand people still showed up in my head.

People ask about my creative process and the why behind thethings I make. In this episode, I talk about Live From My Head and my new imaginary concert album, the family stories that become songs, the nonsense I make just because it makes me laugh, and the distance between the music I canimagine and what I can play on a guitar.

Mira has a few observations about my imaginary touringcareer. I talk about the production tools that help me build the music—and why making finished songs has made me want to practice more. It’s a conversation about loving your people, trying things before you’re good at them, and lettingyourself have some fun along the way.

In this episode:

• Two live albums and no actual concerts
• How stories about Kellie, the kids, and the dogsbecome songs
• Making room for ridiculous ideas
• The gap between imagining a song and playing it
• What production tools contribute and where thestory begin
• Why finished music made me want to learn guitarmore

Shaka Electric — Jacob’s electrical company serving Coeur d’Alene and surrounding North Idaho.

https://shakaelectricco.com/

Renewed Strength Pilates — Kellie’s Pilates studio in Post Falls,Idaho.

https://renewedstrengthpilates.com/

Helping Hands by Sam — Sammie’s personalized errand help, including grocery shopping and returns. Message @helpinghandsbysam about needs andavailability.

https://www.instagram.com/helpinghandsbysam/

Shaka Electric and Renewed Strength Pilates support theshow. Helping Hands by Sam receives a family business shout-out. These are businesses run by Mike’s son Jacob, wife Kellie, and daughter Sammie, respectively.

Mike Baker and creative projects

Still Here, Still Trying

Related essay — The Song in My Head Is Better Than theOne in My Hands

My ADHD Rabbit Hole Built an Apocalypse Club
Still Here, Still Trying | Season 2, Episode 19

I’m about ten movies into a project that started with a conversation about AI. Now there’s a website that sorts you into your apocalypse house. This is what happens when my ADHD gets access to building tools.

It began with Jake and his friend Max, both in their mid-twenties, trying to figure out their path in a changing world. We talked about the futures movies had imagined and whether we’d want to live in any of them. That conversation became Apocalypse Optional, a science-fiction film and book club where you watch something together and keep talking after the credits.

In this episode, I revisit Star Trek IV, A New Hope, and the Matrix series, and explore what this particular rabbit hole gave me. There’s some fun with the movies, a few uncomfortable questions about power and choice, and a personal look at how AI helped me turn a passing idea into something worth sharing.

If you’ve ever gotten absorbed in an interest and wondered whether anything useful would come of it, come spend an evening with me.

Find your house and join the conversation:
Apocalypse Optional

With thanks to our episode sponsors:
Renewed Strength Pilates, my wife Kellie’s business.
Shaka Electric, my son Jacob’s company.

Includes movie plot spoilers.

Season 2, Episode 18:

After 27 Years, What Makes Someone Your Person?

Today is our 27th wedding anniversary.

Yesterday, Kellie and I attended a celebration of life for a couple who had been married for 66 years. During the service, someone shared a J.R.R. Tolkien quote about marriage that followed both of us home:

“Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes… But the ‘real soul-mate’ is the one you are actually married to.”

That is a hell of a thing to hear together the day before your own anniversary.

In this episode, I think about what actually makes someone your person after decades together. We talk about soulmates, compatibility, the people Kellie and I were when we married at 23, the people we have become since, and why a long marriage still requires curiosity about the person beside you.

I also discovered that I’ve apparently been doing anniversary math wrong all year. Today marks 27 completed years and the beginning of year 28.

I fully intend to start saying 28 sometime this week anyway.

And stick around until the end. I wrote Kellie a surprise anniversary song that she has not heard yet.

I hope she likes it.

Otherwise, I might not make it to 28 after all.

This episode of Still Here, Still Trying is sponsored by Shaka Electric, serving North Idaho. Learn more at www.shakaelectricco.com.

The show is also sponsored by Renewed Strength Pilates, Kellie Baker’s Pilates studio. Learn more, check out classes, and connect with Kellie at www.renewedstrengthpilates.com.

Sign up for my newsletter, find my books, and follow everything else I’m working on at www.mikebakerhq.com.

My audiobooks are almost finished too. If you’re enjoying the podcast or have read one of my books, an honest rating or review helps other people find the work.

Thanks for listening.

Still Here, Still Trying.