Friends, Legends, & Pez Dispensers…

 

Best Experienced With:   Michael Stanley Band;   Let’s Get The Show on The Road

 (please right click on the link below to open the suggested background music to this evening’s treatise in a new browser window.  If you are not from The Land of Cleve you may not have had the MSB experience….once you hear this you will mentally hug me over this WWW)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgFsiDtC2fk&feature=related

 

Whenever I watch Saint Elmo’s Fire (three times a week), there are two lines that always catch my fancy.  First one is when Rob Lowe’s character is laying on the ground and Demi Moore’s character says “you let everyone down, Danny”.  That line still haunts me and speaks to me from a relationship point of view.  As it should.  I was a poor dater from 1972 through 1999.  

 

Second line that resonates from that flick is “do you believe in pre-marital sax”.   The song you cued up when you right clicked that link has one of the finest saxophone performances in the history of recorded wind instruments.  Was listening to some old Michael Stanley Band this evening.  We will get to the Michael Stanley Band later.  My brain needs to vomit on the keyboard for a bit.

 

As the career adventure choices have evolved throughout the years and the team members I brought on board changed, the interview questions have also evolved and changed.   One question that has survived the test of time and will remain on the question list until the sun burns out is: “do you feel you are lucky”?  Not my question.  The gentleman that took a shot on me and afforded me the opportunity to enter surgical sales in 1989 when I was a waiter at a Fairfield, Ohio Bennigan’s asked that exact question in the third and final interview.   I answered “yes” and stole the question.  

Have never, ever, ever hired a candidate for any position that answered “no” for several reasons.  First, it’s more entertaining to work with folks that believe The Random is smiling down on them from the minute their foot hits the floor in the morning until they vigilantly floss late at night.  Second, those that feel they are lucky tend to attribute success, rightfully so, to things other than themselves.  This makes them good leaders in the future.  Finally, those that feel they are “unlucky” tend to not own their actions.  They attribute the good things to themselves and blame comets, poor timing, and the fact they forgot their lucky Sears Gold Toe socks at home for their business misfortunes.

 

 

Those of us fortunate enough to grow up in The Land of Cleve were exceptionally lucky to have WMMS as our album oriented rock radio station.  One of the first AOR stations in the country, WMMS created educated, well rounded music fans.  Back in those days there were three primary AOR stations:  WBCN in Boston, KLOS in Los Angeles, and WMMS in Cleveland.  WMMS was by far the finest of the three.

 

The Land of Cleve already had a head start as the Rock and Roll city because we were lucky enough to have Alan Freed coin the term “rock and roll” in The Land of Cleve in 1952.   Alan Freed and The Land of Cleve had the first rock and roll concert at Cleveland Arena in 1952.   Rolling Stone magazine bestowed upon WMMS the title “Radio Station of The Year” nine consecutive years from 1979 to 1987.   WMMS bestowed upon we lucky Clevelandianites things such as this………….

 

 

We music lovers were lucky to grow up in Cleveland.

 

Back in the late 1970’s, two bands towards the right side of the United States each released several albums to critical acclaim.  Both received serious airplay on WMMS.  The first artist was Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band and we all know how it turned out for them.  The second one is the band you are listening to right now, The Michael Stanley Band.  If you grew up in Cleveland, all you heard in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s was Bruce and Michael….Michael and Bruce.  Pre-pinko  Bruce and Michael.  The good pre-pinko Bruce stuff, like “For You” and “New York City Serenade”.  

Kid Leo and the crew at WMMS gave equal time to both bands, and by some stroke of luck the correct person heard the kids from Asbury Park and missed the kids from The Land of Cleve.  Fame and fortune for one and two annual Cleveland reunion concerts for the other.  My cousin Bo (pictured above in his natural keyboardist state)  has been an amazing musician since he could walk.  A few years back, The Random smashed him into My Morning Jacket when MMJ needed a keyboardist.  Bo has always been ridiculously talented and hard working:   one day he got lucky and found the perfect match.   Olin & The Moon, a Cali band I was lucky enough to bump into last year, is more talented than 97.2% of the bands any of us listen to and they have no major label yet.      Music is odd like that.

 

If you have ever been in love, are in love now, or plan on being in love some day, odds are that some chance meeting allowed you to meet your significant other.  Love, more than most things, is a product of luck and The Random.  Had you not joined your friends at that Tuesday night happy hour three years ago or if you made a right to grab pine nuts instead of left to grab a bottle of Jack Daniels at Vons, you may have not met the person you are madly in love with right now.     For example, let’s say they reopened Heathrow Airport last Sunday for a volcanic test flight and Natalie Imbruglia was brave enough to be on that volcanic test flight.  Let’s say Natalie sat in 3A, turns to her right and sees me sipping champagne in 3B.  That would be a lucky day for Natalie Imbruglia, indeed.      Love is odd like that.

 

Regardless of one’s talent in love, business, or music, luck is generally going to be the deciding factor that tips the scale.  It’s not logical, predictable, or fair but it sure makes it fun to get up every day to see what The Random is going to smash you into, doesn’t it?   Make sure you floss every night.  The Random hates poor dental hygiene.

 

That, in a nut tree orchard, is why I only hire those that believe they are lucky and yes, yes I do.  I wholeheartedly believe in premarital sax.  Thanks for asking.

 

 

 

The Mind of Mully

 

Today’s for sale

And it’s all you can afford

By your own admission

The whole thing’s got you bored

 

 

And the Lord uses the good ones

 

And the bad ones use The Lord

Ephesians 3:20