Tag Archives: Taylor Swift

celebrities, lessons learned, music, musings, obits, TV

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but “failing is a big part of ultimately finding success…”

Good morning, y’all. It’s a very rainy Tuesday here in Wiesbaden (ETA: the sun is now out). I was remarking to Bill this morning that this weather seems more like what we usually get in September, as autumn approaches. In Germany, summer has a tendency to end abruptly. One day, it’ll be hot, then there will be some rain and all of a sudden, you need a jacket to go outside. On the other hand, in recent years, the weather has been such that jackets aren’t always necessary even in the “ber” months…

This morning, I was looking at my Facebook memories and noticed a couple of photos from August 1 of prior years that show our backyard(s). They’re usually brown and parched on August 1. Not this year, though. This year, the grass is very green and my “bee bomb” wildflowers are flourishing. My rain barrel is now overflowing, because we’ve had rain consistently for the past week or so. For the most part, I’m glad. It keeps the temperatures from getting too oppressive and prevents the creek from getting too low.

Aw shit… another one gone.

Last night, I learned the Paul Reubens, aka “Pee-wee Herman”, passed away after six years of fighting cancer. I wasn’t a huge fan of Pee-wee Herman’s work, but I do remember his hilarious 1981 HBO special, which was definitely not made for kids… and his “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” Saturday morning show, that definitely was made for kids. I remember that Pee-wee Herman was very much a staple of 80s humor. He appeared in movies, commercials, and PSAs.

He even made an ad in Japan…
Pee-wee says “Say no to crack.”

This morning, Bill was reading about Pee-wee’s career, and he said that Paul Reubens had tried out to be on Saturday Night Live. He was rejected. He also auditioned for several big name colleges, hoping to study his craft at places like Julliard and Carnegie Mellon University. Again, he was turned down, and he ended up attending California Institute of the Arts and Boston University. Then, one day, he got his big break, and became world famous.

A lot of people seem to be genuinely sad that he passed away at age 70, in spite of his infamous run in with Sarasota, Florida police at an adult movie theater back in 1991. He was caught masturbating, along with several others. The incident led to him becoming the butt of many jokes and temporarily derailed his career. But, that incident blew over, and he was eventually back in many people’s good graces.

“God” loves Pee-wee Herman.

As I was listening to Bill talk about Pee-wee’s life, it occurred to me that in his case, failing was a good thing. What would have happened if Pee-wee had gotten on Saturday Night Live as a regular cast member? Would he have ever had his own show? Would he have been in movies? The man was clearly a pop culture phenomenon. If he’d been part of the SNL ensemble, I don’t think he would have achieved all he did in his life.

Failing is part of trying, and many of the most awesome successes come after a person tries and fails and takes another approach. Yesterday, I mentioned Taylor Swift in my blog post. When she was still a young girl, she knew she wanted to be a star. Her family moved to the Nashville area and she started submitting demos to record labels. They all turned her down, because she was like all of the other girls trying to be stars. Taylor was undaunted, and she realized at the tender age of twelve or thirteen that if she wanted to make it, she needed to stand out and be original. So she started doing things differently. She came up with her own style, and wrote songs that struck a chord with the masses. Now, her show is the hottest ticket in town.

Even Madonna failed before she hit it big. Back in the early 80s, before she became a cultural icon, Madonna tried out for the role of Doris Schwartz on the TV show, Fame. She didn’t get the part. It went to Valerie Landsburg, who was much more appropriate for the role of a cute, motherly, Jewish girl who could sing. I don’t know what possessed Madonna to try out for the role of Doris. Maybe it’s because back in the 80s, she bore a passing resemblance to Maureen Teefy, the actress who played the role of Doris Finsecker in the 1980 film version of Fame. Anyway, she clearly wasn’t the type the casting agents were looking for when they were casting that show. Thank God she didn’t get the part. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I loved the Fame TV show, cheesy as it was. But Madonna wasn’t meant to be on that show. She was meant to be the Queen of Pop!

This was not a role for Madonna…
This is…
“She is a star.”
This is definitely NOT Doris Schwartz.
Neither is this.

But she sure gave her audition a good try…

Even my own destiny was altered by failure. When I decided to go to graduate school, I applied to two programs and was accepted by both. I had wanted to be a Peace Corps Fellow, because I was worried about how I would pay for my education. Well… as things turned out, I didn’t get my wish. There was a big misunderstanding regarding the program at Western Illinois University, where I would have spent 2.5 years earning one Master of Science degree. The powers that were there determined my career goals weren’t a good fit for the Fellows program, even though I got into the degree program itself.

At the University of South Carolina, where I ended up going to school, the Peace Corps Fellows program I had applied for was defunded and changed drastically. Honestly, I can’t even really explain what happened, except to say that the whole thing was completely screwed up and backwards. I ended up having to do my dual master’s degree program out of the usual order. I then had to be accepted by the graduate school to be accepted to the MSW program, even though I was already in the MPH program, and had obviously already been accepted by the graduate school for that more challenging and competitive program.

In the end, it was actually a blessing that I wasn’t a Peace Corps Fellow, because that program would have required me to stay in South Carolina for four years after graduation and work for the state. It would have meant I probably couldn’t have married Bill in 2002… or it would have required us to live apart for awhile. Everything worked out, anyway. My education is now completely paid for, too, even if I don’t really use it in the way I had intended.

Bill and I were talking about this “failure phenomenon” over breakfast, and he said that when he was a captain, overseeing new recruits, there were some people that kind of wanted to push them through and avoid having them experience failure. Bill said that was the wrong approach, since training is where people are supposed to fail. That’s how they learn.

I can remember being a student and feeling shame and dread whenever I got an F on my schoolwork. By the time Fs were a more common experience for me, my parents had pretty much stopped caring about my grades, anyway. But I still felt ashamed. Wouldn’t it have been better if I’d had a caring mentor in my life who told me that as long as I tried, and had done my best, there was no shame in a failing grade. It was just a sign that I needed help with understanding the material, and not a personal failing or sign of poor character. Imagine how much mental distress and suicide could be avoided if we simply allowed people the freedom to fail, and reminded them that many very famous and successful people have failed repeatedly. But they kept trying, and eventually went on to succeed, and we lesser known beings can do the same.

Life is meant to be lived. Experience is a good thing, even if it involves failure. We can learn a lot from people who haven’t made it (yet)… or have failed and eventually gone on to achieve. I’m glad Pee-wee Herman didn’t get a spot on SNL. I’m happy for Taylor Swift that she had the wisdom to try a new approach and make another attempt. And I’m so relieved that Madonna wasn’t cast as Doris Schwartz!

Anyway… I hope Paul Reubens is at peace, now that he no longer has to worry about fighting cancer. He was a role model to so many people… like this guy.

You know this character was based in truth. How many kids of the 80s loved Pee-wee Herman?
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business, music

Where the hell has Marc Broussard been all my life?

I love it when I make random musical discoveries. It often happens when I’m watching TV, although lately I’ve been watching more YouTube than network TV or Netflix. Sometimes it happens when I’m out and about. For instance, I came home from our recent cruise with new music, having heard it piped in on the ship. I’ve found the best places for finding great music are in Irish pubs or Scottish whisky bars!

I honestly don’t know how I ended up with Marc Broussard’s music in my library. Last night, while I was sitting at the table talking to Bill and drinking beer, one of his songs randomly played on my HomePod. I was immediately attracted to it, so I tried to look up who was singing. I ended up having to use Shazam, because the song that was playing was listed as Track some and such, which means it was probably on a CD or something, and not one that came from a major distributor. I usually try to add the information when I import CDs that don’t automatically have the music info listed. I guess I neglected to do that during my recent music migration.

I liked Marc’s soulful chops enough to automatically download his album without knowing anything about it other than the song that was playing on my HomePod was on it. His voice is like a hybrid of Stevie Wonder, Cas Haley, and Paul Carrack. It’s very soulful and kind of funky, and pretty damned awesome! The music he does is like a blend of funk, old school R&B, pop, and Southern accents. It’s obvious he was influenced a lot by Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder, at least on S.O.S. Save Our Soul, the album I’m listening to now.

One thing I don’t like about S.O.S. Save Our Soul (2007), is the way the songs are faded out at the end. Marc is still singing soulfully as the volume is gradually turned down. I don’t know who decided that was a good thing to do, but it’s the one thing about the album that I don’t like at all. This man has some chops, and his songs deserve better transitioning than that. Maybe they did it so they could fit more music on the CD. But just on the strength of this album, I’ve downloaded a couple more! And no, I didn’t even listen to any samples!

Dayum!
This gives me the vapors!

So I did a Google search this morning to find out more about this man. I discovered he was born in Carencro, Louisiana on January 14, 1982. He’s also on tour, and due to visit Germany very soon. Tickets for his shows are also very reasonably priced.

As I sit here listening to Marc Broussard’s voice, I’m having a random memory about how I used to acquire music. When I was very young, I would save up my money until I had about $10, then walk by myself down Business Route 17 in Gloucester, Virginia and visit the music section of Murphy’s Mart. The very first record I bought was Crimes of Passion by Pat Benatar (1980). It was on vinyl. I bought vinyl albums until I got a Walkman, then I bought cassettes… then CDs. I remember how music used to eat up a lot of my disposable income, and I’d have to hem and haw over what I wanted in my collection. I couldn’t afford much. I remember my CD collection was once my most prized possession.

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for me to buy a bunch of albums from a single artist in one sitting, just because I like one song! I’ll buy a lot of stuff without even listening to it first, often while drinking. Many times, I end up loving what I get. Only once in a blue moon do I wind up with something I don’t enjoy.

I have really eclectic tastes when it comes to music. I just like what I like, and I like a LOT of stuff. But… I have found that I don’t like a lot of really popular stuff anymore. For instance, you’ll never catch me at a Taylor Swift concert. It’s not that I don’t think she’s talented. She is. It takes a lot of talent to do what she does, which is create a sound that appeals to the masses. I have heard a few songs by her that I genuinely enjoy. But I don’t find her music very inspiring or interesting. The funny thing is, she actually played at my alma mater, Longwood University, back around 2007 or so. People who were at Longwood at that time have posted photos they took with Taylor, who was reportedly very friendly and approachable. Who knew that 15 plus years later, she’d get people so excited that they’d be willing to spend $1000 on a ticket and dance so hard the vibrations show up on the Richter scale?

Taylor Swift was reportedly named after James Taylor, who IS one of my favorite singers, EVER. I saw him perform in November and had second row seats, which was very exciting for me. But I think I paid about $200 for TWO tickets. I got them through a fan sale and didn’t even select the seats. They were assigned to me. I couldn’t have been more pleased. What was especially exciting was that James was signing stuff and interacting with the crowd, who were enchanted by his performance. The show was so good, I came home and downloaded a bunch of albums by James’s backup singers! I already own multiple copies of James Taylor’s official catalog, as well as a bunch of rare and bootleg stuff he’s done since the late 60s.

I think I have just one Taylor Swift song in my vast music collection, although maybe I should explore her music more. People do love her. I don’t think I’d want to go to one of her shows, though, even if someone gave me free tickets. I think it would be too crowded and chaotic, and there would be way too many people freaking out… and taking selfies.

Isn’t it interesting how, when you’re a kid, you tend to like whatever’s popular. As you get older, you stop liking that stuff. Both of my parents were musicians. My dad was a singer. My mom was a professional church organist. They both loved music (Mom still does… she’s still living). My dad didn’t like pop music at all beyond the early 70s. He said rock music made him “nervous”. My mom had a higher tolerance for popular music. But they both liked to listen to “easy listening” stuff. My dad even preferred Muzak, which makes me nervous! And yet, I have some stuff in my library now that could be considered Muzak.

I like Phil Coulter’s music, but a couple of his albums that I downloaded without listening first are legit Muzak albums. Those are among the few “duds” in my collection. And yet, he also did this…

I downloaded this song off of Napster in 2000 or so… and the first time I heard it, in church at a “kirkin’ of the tartans”, I knew it would be my wedding march someday (and it was– a piper and organist played it).

Phil Coulter’s Highland Cathedral album is awesome, as is Legends, which he did with flautist James Galway. It’s not like Muzak at all.

Phil Coulter and James Galway are great together.

My dad, by the way, became a Phil Coulter fan when he heard me play his Highland Cathedral album. I don’t know if he ever heard Coulter’s most Muzak like offerings, though. He probably would have loved those albums. I can’t stand to listen to them.

I do think it’s funny that the record companies were so afraid that downloads were going to destroy the music industry. I find that I buy so much more music now than I used to. And since they are not physical copies, the record companies probably have more power than they ever did when they were selling actual tangible products. Now, there’s a lot of pressure to subscribe to streaming services, so they can spoon feed you music curated by their “experts”. I want no part of that. I am already the expert of what I like. I like to find music on my own, and curate my own playlists. And I love it when I discover people like Marc Broussard, who obviously has a following, but isn’t super famous like Taylor Swift is.

Anyway… I just wanted to share something positive on this Monday. I’m glad to “meet” Marc Broussard. He may not be as world famous as some artists are, but that man can SING! And I’m proud to support his career by “drunken downloading” some of his albums. I’ll probably wind up with his whole catalog.

Here’s one more Marc Broussard song before I go, since I digressed a bit…

This is a nice way to start the week! Wish I’d joined a band when I was younger.

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