The Silent Encourager Promise
I just came off stage following a very mediocre response to my performance…which is not something I’m used to. Today I tried a few pieces and customized portions the client requested that changed up my usual rhythm, but those are just excuses. Perhaps I just wasn’t good enough this time. Perhaps it was a […]
The Promise of America
Over the last 40 days I have traveled across America, performing in stadiums and arenas full of enthusiastic, interested, informed, invested and curious Americans, in a capacity I never thought I would get to in this lifetime. To see people come out in the thousands in every city to listen to the opinions of patriots, […]
Yearbook Photos Promise
Do you remember yearbook photo day? I sure don’t. This past week I have tried with all my might to recall those times, with little success, as all that lives on are the final product, which for me was never the photo I’d hoped it would turn out to be, and so I’ve hidden […]
Drawn to New Heights
A month ago I was leading a Speaker training & retreat with my colleague and master coach, Cheryl Knowlton. It was our final retreat and will always be a memory I’ll never forget to work with her and our students. I glanced over at the couch and was admiring the muscles bulging from my […]
Like a Rolling Stone
As an artist, there was always one magazine I wanted to get in someday, and one magazine only: Rolling Stone. You can imagine my astonishment when I was sent a link to their write up of my performance this past week from our Hershey, PA show, in an arena of some 10,000 people. It […]
Bond, James Bond
Can you imagine meeting THE James Bond as a 7 year old, and him bringing you into his world of espionage, not just meeting him once as a youth, but again as an adult? Roger Moore delights fan Mark Haynes with this story of how, as the author puts it, “I was working with James […]
The Honor System
Just before my 2 week run of sold-out shows began at the Hale Centre Theatre I realized I didn’t have the personnel lined up to man our table and sell my book, “The Promise To The One”. My kids were all traveling, we wanted my wife to just attend and enjoy the shows, those on […]
BJ The Crab Guru
In June our family knocked off a few more states in our motorhome that had eluded us for years even though they are close to our home. Racing from SLC, UT through the scorching Nevada heat, we made our way up the California coast, enjoying the Redwoods and chillier weather, before hitting the famous […]
You Never Know
Years ago, this very weekend, I was performing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at a party high above the harbor in a setting that is reserved for the rich and famous. The pink hue of stage lighting blinded me from knowing who was watching, as party goers walked by and didn’t seem to be […]
The Audience Hates Me
Here I am. Performing my guts out. Doing all I can to get a laugh, spark an emotion, beg a reaction. Nothin’. The audience hates me. I can tell. You know when you’ve got ’em. And wow, how you know when you don’t! These people hate me. But I’m going to keep giving, trying, […]