Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to MYKÄL. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

MYKÄL, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

I used to spend every day at the pool during the Summers when I was a kid. I really looked up to the life guards who worked there. I’m not really sure why but I put them on a pedestal and used to follow them around. There was one who I especially liked. She was beautiful. My first real childhood crush. I was 10 and she was probably 15 which isn’t a huge age difference as an adult, but at that age it’s astronomical. More on this later…. At that time they used to all wear red-tethered whistles around their necks. I remember this because they used to spin them around their fingers over and over again while they sat in their chairs and watched the kids swim. They would twirl them left to right and then when it couldn’t go any further, they’d swing them back again the opposite direction over and over again. I was fascinated and mesmerized with this and I had them teach me how to do it which was really cool. They made me feel special. One day I was there later than normal and noticed a class of new lifeguards coming in. These were the lifeguards in training. I’m not sure if it was because someone forgot to bring their rescue prop, or if it was just that they felt that it would be more realistic if they used a real child, but I was asked if I would be the real-life rescue body and of course I said yes. I would swim out into the deep end and pretend that I had drown. When I think about it this was my first acting job! Ha! I never thought about it that way until right now. Anyway, the lifeguards in training would dive in to the pool, pull me out and pretend to do CPR, simulating chest compressions while counting. Then , they’d act as if they were giving me mouth-to-mouth. This was all from a distance of course. Even back then they would not have allowed them to actually touch me. Actually if you think about it, nowadays this never would be allowed to happen just because the liability of having an actual child hurt during this process would be a huge risk. I felt lucky to be able to help them, and I think they benefitted from having a real child there to simulate the rescue process. Sometimes I wonder if any of them actually ever had to rescue a drowned child, and if so, if me being there helped them save a life. I guess we never completely know how much we really affect the lives of the people we meet…not too long after the training days had ended I had my birthday at the pool. I always felt invisible as a child, but to my surprise the lifeguard that I had a crush on surprised me with the best birthday gift I could have ever gotten: a lifeguard whistle with a red-tethered necklace. The exact one they used! All the lifeguards had pooled together to buy that for me in recognition of my willingness to help the lifeguards that were the next in line. And I’ll never forget how to she gave it to me. In her red lifeguards bathing suit, she took the necklace, placed it over my little head and kissed me on the cheek. I can still see the image of her in my mind when I think about it. Things like this I hope I never forget. This was a huge moment of kindness and caring for me that changed my life. It was then that I realized that sometimes people notice you, even when you think they don’t and they want you to feel good for doing something nice. I was honored that summer to be the real-life rescue kid for my local pool, and to be treated with such love and kindness by the people I looked up to.

MYKÄL, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Canvas Rebel Interview

What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

I used to spend every day at the pool during the Summers when I was a kid. I really looked up to the life guards who worked there. I’m not really sure why but I put them on a pedestal and used to follow them around. There was one who I especially liked. She was beautiful. My first real childhood crush. I was 10 and she was probably 15 which isn’t a huge age difference as an adult, but at that age it’s astronomical. More on this later…. At that time they used to all wear red-tethered whistles around their necks. I remember this because they used to spin them around their fingers over and over again while they sat in their chairs and watched the kids swim. They would twirl them left to right and then when it couldn’t go any further, they’d swing them back again the opposite direction over and over again. I was fascinated and mesmerized with this and I had them teach me how to do it which was really cool. They made me feel special. One day I was there later than normal and noticed a class of new lifeguards coming in. These were the lifeguards in training. I’m not sure if it was because someone forgot to bring their rescue prop, or if it was just that they felt that it would be more realistic if they used a real child, but I was asked if I would be the real-life rescue body and of course I said yes. I would swim out into the deep end and pretend that I had drown. When I think about it this was my first acting job! Ha! I never thought about it that way until right now. Anyway, the lifeguards in training would dive in to the pool, pull me out and pretend to do CPR, simulating chest compressions while counting. Then , they’d act as if they were giving me mouth-to-mouth. This was all from a distance of course. Even back then they would not have allowed them to actually touch me. Actually if you think about it, nowadays this never would be allowed to happen just because the liability of having an actual child hurt during this process would be a huge risk. I felt lucky to be able to help them, and I think they benefitted from having a real child there to simulate the rescue process. Sometimes I wonder if any of them actually ever had to rescue a drowned child, and if so, if me being there helped them save a life. I guess we never completely know how much we really affect the lives of the people we meet…not too long after the training days had ended I had my birthday at the pool. I always felt invisible as a child, but to my surprise the lifeguard that I had a crush on surprised me with the best birthday gift I could have ever gotten: a lifeguard whistle with a red-tethered necklace. The exact one they used! All the lifeguards had pooled together to buy that for me in recognition of my willingness to help the lifeguards that were the next in line. And I’ll never forget how to she gave it to me. In her red lifeguards bathing suit, she took the necklace, placed it over my little head and kissed me on the cheek. I can still see the image of her in my mind when I think about it. Things like this I hope I never forget. This was a huge moment of kindness and caring for me that changed my life. It was then that I realized that sometimes people notice you, even when you think they don’t and they want you to feel good for doing something nice. I was honored that summer to be the real-life rescue kid for my local pool, and to be treated with such love and kindness by the people I looked up to.

For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.
Please provide as much detail as you feel relevant as this is one of the core questions where the reader will get to know about you and your brand/organization/etc

The music path, the acting and the voice-over path are all different stories on how I got interested and wanted to be those things but I will say that I think everything is connected and intertwined, and one road can lead to many roads. I always loved music when I was a kid, listening to the radio and putting together mix tapes. My first favorite song was ‘The Rhythm of the Night’ by El DeBarge. It really started my head and heart turning with ideas of love and the magic of life, but it wasn’t until I was around 11 or 12 years old that I began to realize that I could be a musician. My Grandparents had an old electric piano that was buried in an unused room. I remember when Europe’s song ‘The Final Countdown’ came out and I heard the keyboard and thought that maybe I could try and play it on that old piano. To my surprise I figured it out rather quickly. It was so much fun. When I was living in New Jersey my buddy had a drum set and he taught me how to hold the sticks and how to do a fill on that song ‘Rock Me Amadeus’. I liked the drums a lot more than I liked the piano. When we moved back to Virginia on the first day of 7th grade I was so excited because I was going to be in band class. I went to the teacher Mr. Gilmore and told him I wanted to play drums and he said sure and pointed to the top row of the risers where the drums were. All that was there was a row of snare drums and was confused. I explained to him that I didn’t want to play ‘a drum’, but that I wanted to play ‘THE drums’. He told me that was all they had. I left class that day very disappointed. The next day some school buddies told me they were getting a band together and asked me if I would like to play bass and I was like ‘ I’d love to! (pause) What’s a bass?’. That’s literally what I said. I had no idea what a bass was but I knew I wanted to be in a band and I didn’t care what it took, I would learn how to play bass. The next day was band class again so I asked Mr. Gilmore if they had a bass guitar and to my surprise he said yes. He informed me though that I would have to teach myself how to play. We agreed that as long as I played the scheduled concerts, I could spend every day in the practice room learning how to play the bass. He took me into the storage room of instruments and pulled out a beautiful and in perfect condition 1960’s Fender Precision bass. The whole experience was like something out of a movie. Coincidentally if that bass would have remained in that condition it would be worth well over $10,000 in today’s market. I spent every day of class learning how to hear the bass notes and what the bass sounded like on the recordings of my favorite bands of that era. At first I couldn’t hear it but eventually I was able to pin-point exactly what notes were being played and figured out how to play them on the bass. Later on this ability would allow me to completely dissect every instrument and sound that was recorded on any song which allowed me to record entire songs with just me playing and singing every instrument, which is what I do today. It was a magical time for me and so much fun. That year I wanted to go see the Monsters of Rock tour because my favorite band Dokken was playing but I couldn’t because my band was playing the school talent show! I still remember rocking out on that stage with my bass and watching my English teacher watch me as I moved about. I felt like such a rock star. The band was Tommy Fraim on rhythm guitar, Dan Lyric on drums and Andy Duncan (who later formed the band Ok GO!) on guitar. It was definitely a magical time. I walked down the musical road not knowing where it would lead me. I taught myself how to play every instrument I could and not long after that fell in love with analog multitrack recording gear, like the Tascam 4-track cassette. I would spend hours by myself learning how to record. I would track every instrument one at a time to create a song. I was a one man band! I played bass in bands, then became a singer. I played in bands throughout my life and eventually I created songs that were featured in shows like ‘The Voice’, ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ among others. The most fulfilling part of my music journey was when I created a songwriting program for children in Hospice Care. I called Trinity Kids Care ( a branch of St, Joseph’s Hospital) in Los Angeles one day and told them what I wanted to do: write a song with a child, take it back to my studio and create a fully formed radio-ready song for the child and their family to remember them by. To have something tangible that they could listen to over and over again, with their child’s voice on it, so their memory would be honored forever. It was a huge success. I was asked to speak at two different conferences sharing my experience and playing the songs for the participants. It just floored them. People were weeping it was so powerful. I could hardly speak in moments. I really had to pull it together. It was such an honor to give this kids a voice through music and songwriting. For many of the kids it was their final moments of life. Their songs were also played at some if the childrens’ services which was also a huge honor. This is why I decided to create my non-profit called ‘Songstar’ , to re-create the program but on a larger scale. I’m in the process of getting my Board of Directors in order now. I have some really amazing people who want to get involved so I’m very excited about it. I know we are going to touch a lot of children and their families with it, just like I did at Providence Trinity care.

Have you ever had to pivot?

It’s funny. Everytime I see or hear the word pivot I think of that Friends episode. Ross, Rachel and Chandler are unsuccessfully trying to get Ross’ couch up the stairs. Ross keeps yelling ‘pivot!’ to Chandler as they try to maneuver this thing, which is just not made to go up those stairs. It’s hysterical but also very poignant and symbolic. Sometimes when we want something bad enough we become blind to reality. We’re taught to ‘never give up’ when it comes to our dreams and while this is well-meaning advice, it’s not always or healthy. I’m someone that has been very driven in my life. A lot of it comes down to me wanting to see if I can rise to the occasion of my dreams. I set out to see what I’m made of and if I can accomplish things that most think are impossible. I have had successes at these types of things, but I’ve also fallen into this trap of what I call ‘scrap mentality’. This is when you get these little bites of success here and there, but not enough to live off of. Many of my ventures have panned out this way. It’s kind of funny actually when I think about it. I had success in Voice-Over, but never could buy a house from it. I’ve had my music on many well-known shows, but not enough to finance all the gear I needed to buy to make it happen. I’ve had guest star roles on television shows, but I never got to the level of having my own show or making a living from it. There are reasons behind this that mostly stem from my inability to compromise my character and my true feelings. I don’t do well playing the games that most people play in that business and it’s cost me greatly. At the same time, the cost would have been greater to compromise my character for career. I was offered the ‘golden carrot’ once, but the cost was too great. I did not think it was worth it and decided to do it the hard way. My way. If I would have chosen the golden carrot I would have had the career but probably would have ended up an alcoholic, drug addict or dead like so many artists do. The point of all this is that when you’re not willing to compromise on what you believe in you have to learn how to pivot. You have to learn and be aware of when you’re not energetically lined up with something, so that you can walk away. I pounded my head against the wall for years with success coming in little bites, but it was not enough to sustain. At some point, really when I grew up, I realized that sometimes your dreams aren’t meant to be fulfilled but rather they are the spark that lights the way for you to go down a specific path. The end goal is not what’s most important. What’s important is the journey of learning that you experience and how you grew as a person through what you’ve learned. My most recent pivot was when I decided to leave Los Angeles in 2021. I had lived there for 23 years. When I first got there it was a magical time. By the time I left it had become a nightmare. In my heart I knew that I had done literally everything I could to make certain things happen which is really important too. If you walk away from something I find that it’s really important to ask yourself if you will have any regrets if you walk away. If you do then there’s still work to be done and some toughing it out to be had . If not though and you can walk away with a clear head, then that’s a good sign. I’ve found this true in relationships as well. If you really do everything you can do and still fail, you can walk away with a clear conscious. So, I got out of LA and moved to Florida and decided to go back to school I got a Bachelors’ Degree. Going back to school was a way for me to pivot throughout the course of my life. Also, don’t let a career change pivot affect your ego. Too many people put their energy on what others think. Remember this: people who are out there making things happen rarely will ever make fun of you for accomplishing your goals or trying to, even if you fail. The only people who try to shut you down are cowards who don’t have the balls to do it themselves so instead they do what they do best: try to ruin your chances. They do this is many forms: passive-aggressive jabs, guilt-trips, joking…give them none of your energy. They’re mostly just jealous that you had the guts to set out and try to make something of yourself, which is something that they could never do. Learn to pivot with these people too. I’ve had to detach from major relationships in my life because of abusive behavior and I’ve had to let go of the fear around detaching myself from toxic people. I’ve had to learn to pivot from people like this and understand that people who care for you in healthy ways will want to lift you up and support you. People who really care for you want you to be happy. It’s that simple.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think because of my work in hospice I see things from a different perspective than most. I think about the end of life a lot, every day actually , and I want to make sure that on my last day that I felt like I did what I needed to do while I was here. Society has put such a big part of life on accomplishment and being ‘somebody’. What I’ve found is that being ‘somebody’ is really about other people being able to say they know someone famous or worthy. People like to hitch their carts onto people who make them look good. I know people like this and I feel sorry for them. Always bragging about someone they know who is doing something fancy. It makes them look special to attach to special people. In reality this is not important. You will not be on your deathbed looking at your work resume and feeling like you accomplished something. From my experience people on their last days look back in two distinct ways 1.) from the lens of their relationships and 2.) from the lens of their regrets. They reflect on the ways they acted and the decisions they made and wonder if they made the right decisions. Regrets are viewed based upon both the things they did and the things that they didn’t but wished they did. This is an important distinction. Some where along the line I started looking at things in this way too. Trying to be conscious of the decisions I make now and how they affect others. The things that I say to people and how it might impact them. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail but that is the process of life. So in this way, what drives me now is in making sure that when it’s my time, I have done the best I could have done, and made the kind of difference that I wanted to make. I have learned that the purpose in life on Earth is not to accomplish lofty and huge goals but rather to make the kind of impact that you want to make and maybe even more importantly to learn. Earth is school. We’re here to learn from it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mykal.net
• Instagram: @mykalmusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicmykal
• Other: www.songstar.info