Fully engorged on Thanksgiving fare, it’s time to move on to the next big thing, Christmas! This week I’ll be sharing some selections from my personal Christmas playlist to help everyone get into the Christmas spirit. The following  songs will be getting a steady rotation in my house this year.

 Leroy the Redneck Reindeer
Joe Diffie

The Santa Clause Boogie
The Tractors

Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy
Buck Owens

Santa’s Gonna Come in a Pickup Truck
Alan Jackson and The Chipmunks

An Old Christmas Card
Jim Reeves

Christmas Cookies
George Straight

I’ll be Home with Bells On
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers

This week I released a video entitled “Faith and Hustle” on my YouTube channel, The Stanford Lee Show. In the video, I talk about what it means to live through faith and hustle. What is faith and what is hustle and how do they work together in our everyday lives? Let’s discuss.

Faith

At some point in our lives, we’re told to “have faith.” But faith in what? Dictionary.com says that faith is “confidence or trust in a person or thing” or “belief that is not based on proof.” I have faith in God that the important things in my life will be taken care of. We have faith in our careers that our bills will be paid. Our family and friends have faith in us to be there for them through good and bad times. But what does it mean to live by faith? Maybe saying “have faith” is a way of reminding ourselves that some things are out of our control and there is nothing we can do but “have faith” that things will work out for the better.

Hustle

When faith doesn’t cut it, there’s always a hustle. Hustle is what you do when there is something you can do. Do you want a better job? You hustle to get that resume on point and you get yourself out there. Do you want to be a better musician? You pick up that instrument and you play, and play until you are the best you can be. Hustle is a go get it attitude that stops for nothing and it’s how things get done.

Where do I land on the faith to hustle spectrum?
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I’d like to think that I fall somewhere closer to faith. Over the years I’ve found that at some point I’ve stopped trying. Mainly because I kept failing, but mostly because the hustle always seemed to hustle me. My experience has taught me that faith has been a more powerful motivator to get things moving in my life than any amount of hustle could do for me. Everything I have today stems from my faith in God, myself, and my family to do what is best. I have a son in college. I have a wife, whom I’ve been with for years, and our partnership together has provided us with a beautiful home and the amazing opportunities I have today. You can’t argue with those results.

Well, folks, I’d hate to say it, but I had to make the difficult decision to delay the release of my next episode. It’s been a rough weekend so far and I just wanted to let you guys know. The episode in question will be released at a later date due to a freak pinecone incident.

So, before I get a million questions, let me explain what happened.

Friday was a normal day by any standard. I enjoyed a quiet evening at home with my wife, then decided to enjoy some fresh air and take my skateboard out for a spin. In retrospect, I probably should have called it when the night started to get dark, but as committed to my outdoor time as I was, I stayed out and continued to skate.

Little did I know there was a pinecone in my path and it completely derailed myself, my board, and any plans I had for the weekend. I spent that night in the ER, and today in surgery. The surgery was a success and I can now call myself a bionic man with my newly inserted metal rods, but the physical cost of such a procedure stands at a minimum of 6 weeks with no weight bearing on my leg.
The next month and a half will be interesting for sure. Unfortunately, the studio stands at the top of a flight of stairs, so I doubt I will be able to get any production done during this time. But you know I’ll try to figure something out because creators gotta create.
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So, I am truly sorry dear fans, your next Stanford Lee Show fix will be released at a time when I am able. I’m sorry dear friends who were eagerly awaiting today’s fun at the Renaissance Festival. And I am so sorry dear wife for making you worry so much, but it was all that dang pinecone’s fault, I swear!

This Halloween I launched my own YouTube show, The Stanford Lee Show. The show is a mix of live performances and music talks with special guests. I’m so excited to share my music world with everybody and if you haven’t seen it yet you can watch it here.

My first show was a Halloween special with my personal friend and talented musician, Mark Simon of Kategory X, as a special guest. We kicked the show off with a live performance of “Zombies of the Road.” While the song wasn’t about literal zombies, I still feel like it did the job of setting the tone for the show.

After the song Mark and I talked about our personal experiences in song writing. We went over things like personal philosophies and where we get the inspiration to create our music. Make sure you watch the whole interview to learn where he got his cool snake hat.

Mark and I have been good friends for years. We’ve worked on numerous projects before, we even held a band together, Ashcraft. While the project ultimately ended, we continue to work together and create awesome music along the way.

My second show, War and Art School just released on Thursday. It’s a personal reflection on myself as a person and an artist. I am just one of a big family with a long military career. Having multiple family members serving our country, patriotism and ambition were engrained into my psyche from a very start. While I never joined the military, being the oddball that I am, I chose art over a career in the armed forces, but I carried the same values and motivations with me throughout my artistic career. While sometimes I regret how my competitiveness negatively impacted my social skills during my time at art school, I don’t regret the artist it has turned me into. I’ve learned a lot over the years and I still hold those values near and dear to my heart even today.
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We just wrapped up filming episode 3 last night with Tesselation Media Productions and I can’t wait to share the finished product with you guys. Make sure you join my mailing list so you’ll know when I release new and awesome stuff!