Dispatches from the silver key

Arcane Arts

I don’t sail, but here’s something all sailors know: You can’t steer directly into the wind. To get where you want to go you have to zigzag. Tack one way until you start getting off course, then tack in the other direction.

Eventually you reach your destination.

Life is like that too. You can’t just plow ahead into the storm without swamping your craft.

Balance is the answer.

This is one of a very few hard-earned bits of wisdom that’s stuck with me, and I believe it’s a universal truth. At least in my own life.

In fact I even created a visual for achieving life balance, which I call The Grid. It’s a box, broken into quadrants.

Health is both physical and mental (walking, weight training, meditation/mindfulness, nutrition, quality sleep, etc.).

Relationships are tending to your marriage, spending time with your children, and finding time for friends.

Career/Finance is work, optimizing the day-to-day task list, but also professional networking, and striving toward overarching goals, as well as investing/budgeting/saving.

Work of the Soul are activities that feed your spirit. Creative hobbies, like playing guitar/writing/reading/gardening, etc., or a spiritual practice.

I believe to lead a happy life you have to hit all four of these, in something approximating equal measure. You’re not always going to hit all four evenly. But you should aim to do so.

You don’t have to hit all four every day, necessarily. Your weekends for example may include more effort on cultivating relationships and work of the soul than the weekdays. But your life should include them in equal proportion.

If it doesn’t, you’ll feel the absence, and you’ll begin to tip into a dangerous direction.

When I fall out of balance, going back to the Grid helps me reorient myself, recalibrate how I’m spending my time. It works, for me. Come to think of it, it looks like a crosshairs, but in a square instead of a circle. Aim for the middle, hit all four, and you’ll be all right.

Quick example: Yesterday I worked out with weights in the AM and took a short afternoon walk (health). Spent the day working (career). Wrote a short post for The Silver Key (work of the soul), then had a nice dinner with my wife and got caught up on our day (relationships).

A perfect weekday. Would not have changed a thing.

Is balance boring? Maybe … if you’re Elon Musk. Maybe it makes me a boring mashed potato of a 52-year-old but that’s what I’ve got.

This is not a call for mediocrity. I’m a believer in discovering your bliss and pursuing it with everything you’ve got. But it is a call for sanity. To take a break when you’re tired. To pay attention to your health, and to those you love.

It’s a lesson that I learned the hard way. It is part of what my heavy metal memoir is about, as incongruous as balance and Motley Crue may seem.

I’m working through the edits now, which are very helpful and making the book stronger. But also painful and reveal my shortcomings and blind spots as a writer.

But I’m committed to it. This book is a Work of the Soul.

New Edge and S&S van art

In a prior issue of Arcane Arts I mentioned I’ve got an article on the 1970s vanning phenomenon in an issue of New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine.

The article is done and with the editor Oliver Brackenbury. It will appear in issue #8. You can learn more or pre-order here.​

The coolest part: Oliver has commissioned an artist to create original van art to accompany my piece. While I haven’t seen said art, Oliver sent me a tantalizing sneak peak to give a sense of the style. Check it out:

I’ve also seen the TOC of issue #8, and while I can’t reveal it its got some pretty great names S&S fans will recognize.

Support new sword-and-sorcery! And go vanning.

A trio of metal updates

1. I’m seeing lots of chatter about the new Iron Maiden documentary Burning Ambition. It was released in select theaters for one day only (May 7) and I’m waiting until it hits streaming services. I’m looking forward to it, although some of the hardcore fans are saying it contains very little new material and nothing revealing or candid. It seems to be more of a “for the fans” celebration than a documentary. But this fan will be watching.

2. Judas Priest’s sophomore effort Sad Wings of Destiny turns 50 this year. Here’s a pretty good article from Bandcamp that argues it just might be the most important album in heavy metal history, defining the sound of the genre in a way Black Sabbath’s debut did not. Bold words Bandcamp... but not groundless either.

3. Finally, I’ve got a live show on the books: Tom Keifer (with Buckcherry) at the Hampton Beach Ballroom Casino on Thursday May 21. It's perfect timing as I’ll be sliding into a four-day Memorial Day weekend. I’ve seen Tom several times and he always puts on a great show. Cinderella is easily one of the most talented hair metal bands to come out of the 80s. They had a unique bluesy sound that was a step more sophisticated than many of their peers. Keifer plays all their hits and breaks out the sax.

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Reaching the end of The Stand

​From the blog, I’ve reached the end of a return journey into Stephen King’s The Stand. If you enjoy the postapocalyptic genre—Mad Max, The Walking Dead, On the Beach, The Road, etc.—this is a stellar example and one I wholeheartedly recommend. Easily one of King’s best novels. Since then I've been listening to further commentary and analysis by The Loser's Club: A Stephen King Podcast.​

Frank Frazetta’s influences

Every artist has their influences—even (arguably) the greatest fantasy artist of them all. Do you follow the Frazetta Girls? Their latest video details their grandfather Frank’s favorite artists and chief influences, which included the likes of N.C. Wyeth, Jack Kirby, Hal Foster, Norman Rockwell, Roy Krenkel and many more. A recommended 12-minute watch, worth your time, as are all the Frazetta Girls’ well-produced “Frazetta Friday” series.

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Do you own a Frazetta original? Send Brian some of that spare cash, or at least an email.