If you’re hanging around Venice tomorrow evening, come hang out with us. I’m opening for a bluesman/singer/guitar player I really respect – Jason Diaz. Check his stuff out here
Tuesday, February 9 @ 8:30 - $5
Air Conditioned Supper Club, 625 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
“I pray that God will bless you and everything that you do. I pray that you will grow intellectually so that you can understand the problems of the world and where you fit into that world picture. And I pray that all the fear that has ever been in your heart will be taken out. ”
The power of stories is in its ability to connect people and increase our ability to relate to each other. Stories move us because we can understand the exaggeration, the fairy tale, the drama because we have felt that feeling before—no matter how tiny that feeling was. The story of a homeless man reminds a suburban teen of the time he was kicked out of his house. The story of a black woman’s struggle in a racist town reminds a white high schooler of the time he was beat up by skinheads for being a surfer. These are very different circumstances but the power of stories is in its ability to connect feelings, even though the facts differ.
“You do art when you make change that matters, and do it via a connection with an individual. A great waitress or conductor or politician can make art. So can David, who cleans the tables at Dean and Deluca. Art isn’t the job, it’s the attitude you bring to the job and work you do when you’re there.”
“To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing—and I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch: please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism—for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen.”
Driving to work this morning, I realized something:
The cars that go 5 miles per hour with their turn signal on, waiting to get in the 30 mile per hour lane don’t get ahead as fast as the cars that change lanes after matching the speed of the cars in the 30 mile per hour lane.
It made me think of my life and work. That if you can be successful and match the speed of your favorite artists, bands, industry, and gatekeepers, etc. in your OWN lane, it makes it much easier to cross in and out of their lane.
Someone asked me the other day if there was a celebrity who would make me nervous to be around, and I said there wasn’t. But thinking about it now, there is one person that would make me extremely nervous and excited to be around: Dr. Martin Luther King. The things he sacrificed, the odds he faced, the hatred he fought against, and the love he shared . . . I’m so grateful for his life and work. Thank you Dr. King for all you’ve done for us.