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GRAMMY THOUGHTS

1/28/2014

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The Grammys use to be dull, dull, and dull. When the American Music Awards started kicking their butts in ratings and celebrity power, they starting making changes. Not all the changes work all the time, but at least we are talking about The Grammys again.Here are some of my thoughts on last night’s ceremony:


MASH UPS:
This had become the Grammys new claim to fame. Take two unlikely artists and have them perform together.  Some have been almost historic, but most, not so much.  Robin Thicke and Chicago
looked like they had never seen each other before, let alone rehearsed. And maybe we could hear ALL of Blurred Lines just once at an awards show?  My pick for best of the night was Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar.  They looked like they had been working together for years and once again, Imagine Dragons burned up the stage with their energy. Maybe all bands should start in Las Vegas so they can learn how to put on a show! 
 
MY WTH MOMENT:
Katy Perry in a costume that looked like a reject from Conan The Barbarian.  I am all about entertaining, but not when it totally takes away from the music itself.  I got so stuck trying to figure out what all those people on stage were doing, I can’t even remember the song. Pink has managed to work entire trapeze moves into her live performances and I go “Wow”, not what the hell? Take some notes Katy.

 L.L. COOL J:
I want to like him as a host.  I really do.  But every year he has to remind us that, yes, he use to do music too! Naming all his hits in the first five minutes of the show bordered on embarrassing.  Telling us we all HAD to listen to the lyrics of Hunter Hayes song (especially you kids!) was condescending. And why did he keep referring to Taylor Swift as “my good friend”? Do these two really hang
out together? REALLY? I am not sure I want to know what they have in common.

NO TAYLOR HATING ZONE:
While we are on the blonde Swifter, I know it has become a national past time to do some Taylor Hating. Goodness knows she gives us plenty of material.  Her surprised face.  Her constant singing along from the audience with EVERY artist onstage.  The hair flipping. Yet, when I listen to one of her songs, Iforgive and forget.  “All Too Well” has lyrics that read like a novel.  Her writing about love and heartache rivals what Jackson Browne use to do before he got all political on us. 
 
 MACKLEMORE AND RYAN LEWIS:
 Well deserved best new artist.  The “Same Love” wedding number could have blown up the corny meter, but somehow, they came off so real, it worked. It should have been the finale.
 
 REALLY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FINALE:
 This was one long show!  Next year, they should add an intermission and they can make it a whole day
affair. Then they can be longer than the Acad


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NEW YEAR, NEW JOB

1/19/2014

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A new year is always a time to take a look at your life and what you are doing with it. Sometimes  you are forced to do something different when you become unexpectedly unemployed. I am always looking for new gigs, as a musician and even in my corporate life.  Doing it when you have to instead of when you want to, is a little more stressful, but even in a shaky economy, very possible.



Two months before Kate and William tied the note (yes, baby Prince George’s parents), I found myself unemployed.  I had quit a steady job to go work for a start up and less than three weeks in, my new job had disappeared.  My savings were minimal and music wasn’t going to cover my house payment, so I desperately needed to find something fast. I gave myself until the royal wedding to make it happen.  It wasn’t an easy goal in a very lousy economy, but it was do or end up living in a cardboard box with two cats and a 90 pound dog.  The  day of the wedding I had two job offers.  Here are the top three IT’S I learned from that experience:  


IT’S A NUMBERS GAME
It is real simple.  To get a job, you have to apply for jobs.  Networking is great, but when you really need to work, having coffee with people who may or may not be looking to hire, should be what you are doing after you get on the internet and send out resumes to everything you are even remotely qualified for.  I was averaging sending out about five resumes a day.  Did I get calls on all of them?  A course not, but the simple law of averages will tell you that the more you put out there, the better your chances of hearing something.  


IT’S JUST A CONVERSATION
To me, job interviews are like gigs.  Some are great, some are not. The key is not getting tied up in knots about the NOTS.   EVERYONE has messed up a job interview.  The key is learning from it and then moving on.  Some of my major mistakes have just been not preparing enough.  I once created an elaborate presentation that went great, only to go down in flames when I was asked whether I had gone to the company website. I hadn’t. That is Interview 101 and I blew it. Other times you just click with your new possible boss and sometimes you don’t and there is nothing you can do about it. Self beating leads to self doubt.  Change what you can and let it go. 


IT’S NOT ALWAYS PERFECT
When you need a job and you get offered a job, you should take the job.  The offers I got were both below the ideal salary I was looking for.  Neither was exactly what I really wanted to do.  I chose the one that was least what I wanted to do, but much less of a commute.  It turned out to be one of the most stressful couple of years I ever spent in a job, but of course, I kept looking.  I also kept learning and when a job came up I really wanted at another company, I got it, mainly because I was using the same software as the job from hell.  So am I sorry I took the job?  Of course not.  Not only did I pick up software skills, I learned an awful lot about dealing with a demanding boss.  Not to mention instead of sleeping on hefty bag sheets, I got to remain in my own bed! That made it all worth it.



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MY NEW YEAR BCS

1/2/2014

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It’s a new year and that means two things. Bowl Championship Series (college football bowl games) and New Year's resolutions! This year, in honor of both of them, I have come up with my own BCS. Three things that most of us need to work on in the upcoming year.  

Body:   Calories, pants size and weight are all just numbers. The most important  thing, is being healthy and physically being able to everything you want to do.  Dancing, walking, anything that gets you off the couch and a few more fruits and vegetables and suddenly, you feel as young as you felt when the press was hung up on Bennifer!
 
Creativty:   It is amazing how being creative changes your whole mental outlook and keeps you from dwelling on the negative  things going on around you. This year, make being creative a priority.  Learn to Salsa dance, try some karaoke or paint your bedroom. Maybe you can even start your own blog!
 
Salary: Whatever your salary is, work on living within it.  This one is my real trouble spot and I know I am REALLY going to have to stay focused to keep this one up. The one positive thing of my No Presents Christmas 2013 is I am not going into 2014 with another huge chunk of “too many presents” debt. 
 
And that has 2014 looking brighter already!  


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