"Just Say the Word"

Josh Kelley

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I was supposed to do a telephone interview with singer/songwriter Josh Kelley last week and a number of things occurred on my end that made me need to postpone it. I felt badly about it, planned to make that connection this week and hookup on the phone as planned, when instead I got a note saying Josh was going to be in Kansas City this weekend for a performance and would I like to do a live interview and review his show? Most certainly, I responded. Boy, did I luck out! I am just walking in my door from that live performance and I'm going to be honest - Josh Kelley is deeper than deep! His voice - with all its soulful calisthenics - will take you on a magic carpet ride you will not soon forget.

I fell in love with the title song of his new CD, "Just Say the Word", so I had glimpsed a little bit of his depth and range before tonight. But the true measure of an artist isn't what he sounds like recorded, but what he sounds like when he walks up to a mic before a live audience. In my experience, live performances most often leave a great deal to be desired, even with some of the most gifted entertainers. Tonight though, when Josh Kelley, accompanied by bassist Darwin Johnson, took the stage, the world rocked.

I'll post both the interview and the review on Emerging Music at Bellaonline.com in a day or two, but I just want to make sure that if you are anywhere near where Josh Kelley is going to be performing, I urge you to run -- that's right, run, don't walk to get your tickets. It will be a performance you will never forget.

Back to Living on the Tip of My Pen

I have some nice things lining up for this weekend. I have a live one-on-one interview for my Bellaonline.com Emerging Music site lined up with Josh Radin when he comes through on The Hotel Cafe tour. Josh is awesome! Songs of his appear on the movie soundtrack for Last Kiss and have also been featured on Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs. He's a Columbia Records artist.

I'm back to writing and my entertainment promotional efforts full time, and could not be happier. One record company executive committed to review his company portfolio in early November and, based on some smaller projects I've already successfully completed for them, target a number of more in-depth projects my way. I will definitely become more aggressive with my interviewing and reviewing, particularly of emerging music artist, but will focus on emerging literary artist also. There is little more exciting than having a role, regardless of how small, in helping someone make their dreams come true. I think that is the passion that drives me towards this.

So, I'm drowning in deadlines and love it.

The Bane of Mediocracy

Talk about waiting to x-hell...

Last night I slept with a peace I cannot begin to describe. Throughout this day the rhythm of my life has returned and I can hear the comforting sounds of self humming softly in the background. I have been fond of saying I am a catalyst of change and not its victim yet I had been a victim of change and not its catalyst for an extended period of time. Last night, though, I x-helled.

How easily the role from catalyst to victim had reversed itself, and how smoothly oiled with fear that wheel was that spun me around and left me dizzy and uncertain of my direction. But there was something that terrified me enough that it never allowed me to allow myself to become entirely entrenched, to become what I hated most. It was the aversion, the absolute, unequivocal revulsion to mediocracy that kept me fighting, kept me warm when my hope felt like ice in my veins, and kept me swimming towards that shore that sometimes seemed like a mirage. I cannot abide in mediocracy, nor can mediocracy abide in me.

So, I lift my glass to yesterday, and thank it for peeling away layers and forcing me to peer deep within to places I often didn't really want to go. I toast the knowledge and the understanding that my mother would now label as "bought sense" because of the price I paid to gain it. I toast Webster and those early teachers who taught me how to look up the meaning of words for myself. But above all, I toast the fodder I now have from which to draw what will ultimately be a masterpiece. Promise.