Michael Franti is an exception to this ageist rule. Last week, his new hit “Break Up With Everything” was the #1 most-added song to radio station playlists on U.S. adult radio. And, as he approaches his 59th birthday, this decade has been the most successful in his nearly 40-year music career.
This particular song has MEA written all over it as it’s about letting go of people, mindsets, identities and limiting beliefs that no longer serve us in midlife and beyond. The first half of life is about accumulating and the second half of life is about editing which is why we finish our first full day of an MEA workshop with the Great Midlife Edit fire ritual.
I met Michael Franti, by chance, 35 years ago when I was a boy with a rock ‘n roll motel and he was a boy with a band. While Michael was based in San Francisco, his band flew in from Philly and elsewhere and they converged at my place, The Phoenix, multiple times. Michael and I stayed lightly in touch over the years as he became an award-winning, famous singer, songwriter, and activist. Whenever we connected in person, there was almost a conspiratorial knowingness that gave us the sense we were on the same team. We both shared a love of Bali, basketball, and the Bay Area.
Starting on Michael’s 59th birthday (April 21), he and I will be co-leading a feel-good workshop at our Santa Fe campus called “Finding Your Rhythm in Midlife and Beyond.” I can tell you that everyone who was in the workshop last year became a raving fan (and friend) of Michael’s. We even wrote a song together with the cohort and we’ll do that again this spring. I hope you can join us to celebrate finding your own rhythm. Here’s Michael’s Instagram video explaining how much he enjoyed this year’s Santa Fe workshop. You don’t have to be musically-inclined to love this workshop (I’m certainly not). Come celebrate Michael’s birthday.
-Chip