#being talented

[grandmoments]

Rick and Morty 4x6

[fairiesandbeatleslover]

YES, COMPOSING SONGS IS MY LIFE!! (A TALENT)

“It's something you're born with; it's like eating, drinking or breathing, something you can't stop doing even if you resist; my life is COMPOSING AND CREATING MUSIC, since I get up in the morning I begin to imagine a melody and automatically I will play it on my guitar; call it VOCATION or INSTINCT” - Paul McCartney.

I bring this quote from good Paul as a way to explain why I am DRAWING EVERY TIME; Perhaps, as Paul says, it is an INVOLUNTARY TALENT that makes me not stop drawing, because even if I don't want to do it, the IDEAS ARE ALREADY IN MY BRAIN, ready to be put on paper. I’m not as famous as Paul, but I understand very much his reflections about HAVING A TALENT.

[salmankhanholics]

★ ‘You need to stay invested in new talent for life’ !

Salman Khan on why giving a break to youngsters gives him as much of an adrenaline rush as preparing for his roles...

[daveinediting]

As I said yesterday, it will continue to be my penance to proclaim Charlie Kester was right until the end of my days because I blew him off out of hand when I was a young adult and he was a teacher then department head of the Music and Video Business Associate of Arts degree program at the Art Institute of Seattle back when there was such a thing.

In my defense, the things he said were so stupid.

One of the things he just wouldn't, would not let go was to relentlessly promote the act of professional networking which seemed completely phony to us, this idea of making professional connections to further our careers.

Phony.

Phony.

Phony.

And yet.

And yet during my last quarter at the Art Institute, I started working with a friend there on a documentary that began a string of further documentaries, two music videos, and a demo video for a kind of dating show sponsored by a local paper. Very quickly we became fast friends chasing our careers together.

Shortly before I enrolled at the Art Institute, I scored a night job with a local cable channel that turned into a daytime video crew position for both studio and remote work. That work led to positions at KOMO TV as a floor director and Chyron operator for news, talk shows, and sports... and at Small World Productions as an office assistant position that turned into an assistant editor position that turned into an editor position as well as online editor position as well as a digital editor position as well as a motion graphics designer and then music composer. I also picked up additional work through another producer who used to work at the UW.

Everything everything everything was and is somehow tied to that UW video unit and all the people with whom I embarked on my career. 

They knew me, knew what I could do, and when there was a specific need...

I got the call.

Networking.

Professional. Networking.

So when my daughter hit high school, I told her that, in pursuit of a role in a musical that would happen later that year... I told her to make sure she was known for three things:

Her abilities.

Being directable.

And being the best collaborator.

Because high school performing arts is filled with people who think think they've got game but they don't. Who have got game but are undirectsble. Who don't have game or do have game but are a pain in the ass to work with.

A pain

In the ass.

The same is true once you get to college. So I told my daughter that the point of college wasn't the degree (although credentials are nice). The point of college was to jack into the network that flows from the college into the professional world.

To do that?

Make sure everyone knows what you can do and how great you are at it.

Be directable.

Don't be a pain in the ass.

Because those three things and people definitely are gonna give you the call.

And so it was. 

She impressed the right person who brought her on board their sound production pipeline that led to a band that led to a second, additional band, that led to the fulfilment of her own music brand.

A little offshoot of those opportunities during college was a door job she got at a local club where she met a fellow artist who had her do some writing and performing on their upcoming album that led to some big concerts at the Triple Door in downtown Seattle and also led to her entry into the local winery circuit as a solo acoustic performer.

So then at some point last year an old friend reaches out to ask if she'll talk to their high school band class where she pitches them on, you guessed it, professional networking.

She even points out there are better guitarists out there, better keyboard players... but she's the one who gets the call.

'Cause people know what she can do (musician, vocalist, lyricist, guitarist, keyboard player, songwriter, arranger, sound mixer, and producer).

She collaborates like nobody's business.

She's fantastic to work with.

And they wanna work with her.

So.

I reached out to Charlie on Facebook and LinkedIn—looooooong overdue—to ask if he was still in the area but mostly to thank him profusely.

For imparting such an enduring lesson.

😊

[frocga]

y'all ever come across summaries on ao3 and they read like the inside of a book jacket?

because how do people do that?

i'm sorry wdym i wasn't just supposed to put in a quote of the first line and a vague one-sentence description of the whole story?

[desperatelydelicate-blog]

going to be a drama queen for a second but i really just suck at life lately.