Story & Lesson Highlights with Yosef Rosenfield of Providence, RI

We recently had the chance to connect with Yosef Rosenfield and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Yosef, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Drawing. I don’t do it often enough, but I find that I really lose track of time when I’m several hours deep into a sketch or painting – even more so than when I’m playing or writing songs, which is my bread and butter creatively. I had very little talent in the visual arts as a child, and I think that finding the delight in using colored pencils, gel pens, and acrylic paint as an adult has allowed me to rediscover the child-like joy in making art as a form of play.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Yosef Rosenfield – I’m a singer-songwriter and author based out of Providence, RI. I write songs, perform them live, and self-publish books (under the pen name Joe Rosenbran). I’ve also toured and released music with my family rock band, the Dorons, as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist (with my brother on bass, dad on lead guitar, and mom and drums).

Earlier this year, my band released a six-track EP, Rhymes with Morons, after a two-and-a-half-year wait since our debut album, The Doronic Verses, came out. More recently, I spent a few days recording some of my solo songs with a Grammy-winning producer, and I expect to return to his studio by the end of the summer to finish the project. I’m also excited about my 10th book, Legends of Succah Hopping, which was released in early August on the tenth anniversary of my first book’s publication.

One goal I haven’t quite accomplished yet is writing 100 songs – I started writing original songs in March of 2016, and I only hit #50 last year – but at 74 I’m now within striking distance. They often come in waves of four or five within a couple weeks, so I’ll just keep plugging away – and, who knows, maybe I’ll reach #100 on the 10th anniversary of my first song this coming March!

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Beginning when I was four years old, up until (embarrassingly) around my 12th birthday, I genuinely believed that I could teleport – and that I actually once did! – by pressing a small eraser-sized red button on top of my head. For nearly half my childhood, I had a false memory (perhaps really a dream?) of flying back home to Rhode Island from Israel in 2004 (that really did happen) and pressing this red button on my head while in the airspace of, let’s say, Switzerland – and simply appearing, in a seated crisscrossed position, on the floor of our den, somehow beating the rest of my family home by a good 10 hours. It took me longer than one might expect to realize the impossibility of this so-called memory.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I go rock climbing every week, and this question evokes a particular climb that stands out among other memories from the rock gym. In my first year or so of top roping (climbing attached to a pulley system), I really wanted to complete my first 5.10 climb. (Every facility has their own way of measuring the difficulty of climbs – a 5.10 at this location is a reasonably challenging climb, especially for someone like me who hadn’t been doing it all that long.)

I had made it most of the way up the wall when I reached a certain hold that I simply didn’t know how to navigate. My hands were losing their grip of the holds I currently occupied, but without a sure way of proceeding, reaching up to the next hold would result in a frustrating descent if I had nothing I could reliably hold onto.

I ended up spending minutes – yes, full minutes – stuck in that one spot, squirming and rearranging my grip as I continued to lose strength and stamina, all while trying to plan my next move upward. I was now repeatedly telling myself: ‘Come on, there’s no shame in letting go. People fail climbs all the time. Just let go – you have no grip strength left. You’ll get ’em next week.’

Somehow – and at this point, I don’t even remember since I was so physically drained – I managed to fight my way up to the next hold and ultimately complete my very first 5.10 climb.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
Strangely, yes. I have found recently, as I interact more and more with people my age and join them at social gatherings, that I am only now settling into the type of person I know I can (and will) become, which is an odd thing to admit as a classical introvert. Conversely, I feel less myself – or at least like a curtailed version of myself – when I am home with my parents or even working alone. (Incidentally, this observation inspired a song titled “Me You’ll Never See.”)

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What will you regret not doing? 
The biggest regret from my childhood is not learning how to dance. Growing up watching Dance Moms and Raising Asia, I pretty quickly developed an appreciation for choreography and emotional expression through bodily movement. I even saved up money to start taking lessons last year but ultimately couldn’t pull the trigger. I’m not entirely sure what’s preventing me from stepping up (pun intended) my dance game, but I am certain that I will live to regret it if I don’t make a move before I turn 30.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Ilene Perlman
Jonathan Gershon Stark
Taylor Elliott
Norm Rosenfield

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