It's about the journey, man

I've continued workshopping names for the podcast. An associate presented a strong point: Perhaps I've overlooked simplicity.

#ScaiPod is simple, rhymes with iPod and could be an homage to pioneering use of audio.

This is an important week for the arts in Fort Worth. Within #ScaiPod, which, I would add, boasts a 5-star rating on Spotify from the, I'm sure, millions of listeners who all just decided to cumulatively vote once to prevent the site from crashing, we've been discussing this weekend's ArtsGoggle.

The Lord, I suspect to stop me from constantly questioning whether it was a good idea for a man who finds most people exhausting to start his own business where he would be required to talk to even more people, presented me with several folks who provided encouragement.

In the first part of the podcast, I talked to the president of Fort Worth's Near Southside. When the Goggle first started, it was just a few local artists getting together because there wasn't much gallery space.

Mike Brennan explains they just improvised and staged an open house. Now, the event covers 21 blocks. They also don't advertise the Goggle. He says it just grew organically and now draws 80,000 people.

I don't advertise, either. I'm going to start saying it's because I want people to discover #ScaiPod on their own instead of explaining advertising sounds expensive.

Similarly, piczzl.com's Cliff Baise started out as a photographer. He spent some time working for Justin Boots. Taking pictures of boot after boot after boot gives a man time to reflect, so he tried different media.

He talks about how he expiremented with paint. In this piece, he says he wanted the red to stay vibrant, so he added gray to the green.

Baise says he'll often pair complementary colors but mix gray into one to make the other one more striking. He wants to make each painting "super vibrant and whimsical."

Back in the network days, sometimes I'd get frustrated when my editors in Washington would assign me a serious story instead of something lighter I thought would be funny.

"You guys aren't embracing the whimsy!" I'd exclaim through the phone, exasperatedly.

So "super vibrant and whimsical." You and me both, painting, you and me both.

He's now doing some work with stained glass. I asked what he'd want people who here this to take away from it.

"I'm the guy who started off really wanting to follow his dreams then took a detour. Now, I'm back on the road to following my dreams," he said.

You and me both, Cliff Baise, you and me both.

His message about the ArtsGoggle can apply to all of us.

"No matter where you are in life, keep that dream alive and point your arrow toward that," he said.