By the Way

First, read the entry before this one. I go on a rant! Whoo! Please read about Lindsey. It is much more important than this entry. Go on. Go read that one and then you can come back and read this one. It will just take you a second. I’ll wait here for you, promise…!

Dum..dum….da..dum dum…THIS IS YOUR HOLD MUSIC WHILE YOU READ THE OTHER ENTRY….hmmm…la ti la…dum dee dum…

WELCOME BACK! (Did you read that other entry? if you didn’t, GO READ IT NOW. No cheating, people!)

And, now, another entry:

Ok, I want to clarify I am NOT getting paid to do “Gimme the Mic”. I do not keep the clothes I am wearing. I do not get free SBC phone service or HEB food. I’m just doing it because…well, because my friend, Sammy Papert, had a friend at KVUE and they thought it sounded like something I’d be fair minded about (because they wanted judges who are in music but who would be nice.)

Also, they are spelling the title of the show “Gimme the MIKE” because they thought the public would ask, “What is a MICK?” (pronounciation for “mic”)

I’d just like to say that is ridiculous. First thing I asked when I sat at the judges desk was, “Why is “Mic” spelled wrong?” and that is the answer I got. That the
creators of the show didn’t want to confuse the public. Can you hear me rolling my eyes?

We taped the first two shows yesterday…We, the judges, only have about
twenty seconds each to respond, and it is awkward because I want to be able to say, (for example), “Your stage presence feels shy, so I’d concentrate on what makes you unique and really push that direction. Your voice has a really interesting timbre; when you sang those low notes…wow! Excellent…” But the feedback I get from the producers of the show is, “Ok, less…tighten it up!” So it is turning into, “Good job! I gave you a 7!”

TV is bizarre. It has turned our country into a land of goobers. I don’t want to be part of the goober factory. Today, I’m going to try to push the envelope to the best of my ability with each person. I want them to leave with some feedback they can use…although, there seems to be some consensus that no one wants to hear the truth…they all just expect to win (natural, of course)…
BUT LET ME TELL YOU WHAT IS NOT NATURAL!

That everything has a sponsor connected to it…From the bases at a baseball game to helicopters in the sky to tee-shirts to buses driving down the street…
There is no peace for the weary mind!

This is not natural, either: that people who make music are either “FAMOUS” or “MAKING A COMEBACK” or “HISTORY”. I think that is weird, wierd , wierd…(I can’t make up my mind on how to spell ” weird”).

For example, all these contestants have a fantasy that if they win, and when they win and make their demo tape, they will go on to be the next Mariah Carey or Smashmouth or Faith Hill…but what if they just have the opportunities to make music and make a living, like me or Slaid Cleves or Barbara K or Colin Boyd or Brave Combo? Isn’t that success? Getting to do what you love and making a living out of it? What is it about “fame” that is such a drug? Do you think Prince wasn’t making music the whole time he was out of the headlines?
No. Do you think John Travolta wasn’t acting when he wasn’t riding on one of his “comebacks”? No. People who make music and act and dance and write poetry are doing it because they CAN’T HELP BUT CREATE. And we make livings doing what we love because that is what happens! So, creating is happening whether you hear about it or not…all around us, all the time.

Whether someone is “famous” or not has nothing to do with it. Is it challenging? Intersting? Inspiring? Touching? Funny? Whimsical?

And we are ALL capable of creating! Every single cotton pickin’ one of us! I don’t want to get an email from someone saying, “I can’t draw a straight line unless I use a ruler!” THROW THE RULER AWAY for awhile. If you want to draw a straight line, PRACTICE. Otherwise, enjoy the line that comes from your brain through your hand onto the paper. Wow! It is YOUR LINE. It is not RIGHT or WRONG. It is all good because you MADE IT YOURSELF!

Next time you need a birthday card for someone, MAKE ONE. You can do it!
Next time you feel like singing a song, just because you feel like it, DO IT!
Next time you want to call someone just to say, “I was thinking of you!” DO IT!
You don’t need a reason or an appropriate time…Good God! Just do it because you can!

THIS IS IT! As the saying goes:

If you can talk, you can sing!
If you can walk, you can dance!

And you don’t have to be trained to sing, and you don’t have to have legs to dance.

Ok, I will stop for now.
Wait. No, I won’t. I have one more thing to say.

FAMILY

I received an email from someone who wants to know about my family history because they said they appreciated how much family means to me. They wanted to know what kind of household I grew up in.

I will tell you.

In my next post. But, now I must stop and think about the day.
Thank you for reading this far. If you are still with me, here is an internet hug. If you gave up after the first paragraph and went on to google something else, here’s a hug, too. Hugs for all, I say!

And don’t forget to hug the chihuahua! (WHAT?! Diego knows!)