Owen Danoff -- On & On & On

A big shout out today goes to the multi-talented singer songwriter Owen Danoff for exceeding his Kickstarter goal of $15,000!!!

Owen and his supporters raised $19,391 by June 30 and now Owen has the money to record his debut album this year!!!  In fact, he's already started work on his album.  This past weekend, he and his rockin' band went to NYC to spend time in a recording studio putting down music tracks.

 

I write about this today because it is truly exciting and yes, healing, to watch someone who I have know since he was a baby find his passion in life and then follow it.  It's healing because it is renewing and energizing to see Owen or anyone else commit to their talents and continue to work hard at developing and mastering them.

 

Everyone has a talent and everyone does something a little better than someone else.  It doesn't matter how old you are or what phase of life you are in, there is always time for you to develop and follow your passions. 

 

If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is an online resource dedicated to funding creative projects.  Films, games, music, art and technology, Kickstarter allows the person proposing the project with a funding goal and deadline to have complete control over it.  Kickstarter offers an online platform where people can pledge money directly to fund a proposed project to make it happen

 

Here, in Owen's words, are some of the reasons why he wanted to record an album:

"Music is about how it makes you feel, and I know the feeling of having a friend in a favorite album when there's no one else to turn to. I know the feeling of listening to a song that's so in tune with the world around you that you can't help but dance a little in public, or close your eyes and soak it in. I know the feeling of sitting on a bus or a plane for hours, and putting in headphones to let music steal away the time.

 

Those feelings, those connections we have with the music we love, are magic. If you give me the chance, I will do my best to create that magic for you."

 

If you haven't heard Owen Danoff before, I have posted a video of him and his band singing a song a wrote called, "On & On & On."  I liked it from the first time I heard it.  It has a driving beat and I love the lyrics.

Here's to Owen's debut album and may good luck continue to follow him and his band "On & On & On" as he goes about creating his magical music for us.

Love Somebody -- Singers From The Voice

Melanie Martinez, Mike Squillante and other singers
 from NBC's The Voice

Hello Saturday!

I've got a lot to do today and only so much time to get it done.

I bet you also have a full plate today too!

So let's pump up the volume and get it going with this new video a friend sent me yesterday featuring the energetic and talented singers from Season 3 of NBC's The Voice singing "Love Somebody" at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City:  Mike Squillante, Melanie Martinez, Bryan Keith, Andriana Louise and Suzanna Choffel:

http://bit.ly/TheVoice3_LoveSomebody

Thanks guys for the energy!!

Reflections of Nora Ephron's Son

 

Nora Ephron

Crying is unsettling.  Especially if you are watching one of your parents do it.

 

My son hates it when I cry and has said that when I would cry all the time immediately after his father/my husband's death, he would feel this mix of emotions that he didn't want to feel and so he would walk away.  I understand it and think his reaction was perfectly normal.  He was thirteen years old and dealing with something that adults find hard to handle.  He was just trying to survive.

 

Now, at twenty two years old, my son explains his reaction this way: "When children see their parents cry, it's like a wall being broken.  It messes everything up.  I wanted you to be my Mom but when I saw you cry, it's like you weren't my Mom anymore.  You were a person and I didn't want that. I wanted my Mom."

 

It makes sense to me and I love him all the more for his insight; as painful as it was, and sometimes still is, for both of us.

 

That is why Jacob Bernstein's long and loving story about his mother, Nora Ephron, is so powerful and compassionate.

 

It's a universal story of how children feel about their parents as children, and as adults, and especially sons and their feelings about their mothers.

 

But having an accomplished, high-profile, multi-talented mother such as Nora Ephron is a unique story. And Jacob Bernstein writes it beautifully.  I knew it was a long story so I only intended to read the first page and then come back to it later, but then I couldn't stop reading it until I reached the end.

His mother is proud.  He took good notes.

Please click on this link to read Jacob Bernstein's story as it appeared in the New York Times magazine this past weekend:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/magazine/nora-ephrons-final-act.html?_r=3&hp=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1362652331-n02tv3ThoWXX1qcUk6JoRw

Let Your Light Shine

Today is twenty four hours of new time.  Time you didn't have yesterday and time you won't have tomorrow.

Today is a day for you to shine.  In the words of South African President Nelson Mandela (please read below), "We are powerful beyond measure."

 

Today is a day to discover something new about yourself.  A day to show what you are about.

It's your day. . . Find your power!

 

 

 

Find Your Power

 

 

Our Deepest Fear

From Nelson Mandela's 1994 inaugural speech

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who I am to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you NOT to be?

You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the World.

There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that

other people won't feel unsure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God

that is within us.

It is not just in some of us;

it is in everyone.

As we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously 

give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

our presence automatically liberates others.

Roll The Dice

 

 

A Road in County Kerry, Ireland

 

I am comfortable with the fact that part of achieving something in life means taking a risk.  I'm not talking about a risk to your personal safety or health but an action that is out of your routine and a little out of your comfort zone in your personal or work lives.

 

I think that living life means that you should take a chance on something you want to achieve.  I am watching four extremely talented people in my life right now who are really putting themselves out there and working creatively as well as very hard to accomplish something very big for themselves and it's exciting to watch. 

 

But taking chances, on occasion, means that you also need to be prepared for the idea that it might not work out.  That can be okay because I would rather take a chance and find out what happens when I roll the dice on a dream than not take a chance at all. 

 

I feel it's better to look at the information you have, access the risk, and go for it rather than look back later and regret that you didn't try something different or new.

 

We all suffer setbacks now and then.  That's life.  The setbacks help us appreciate our triumphs and the hard work, imagination and support that what went into achieving them.

 

Think about what is really important to you and go from there.

 

Find what is right for you. . . .