Friday, January 28, 2011

25 years ago today

Twenty-five years ago today, I took my last voice lesson from Cornelius, my vocal coach back home. She was happy for me because I was departing for Dayton, Ohio to join a record production company.

My Chevy Citation hatch-back was loaded down with my wardrobe, mostly, and notebooks. I was to drive from Warren to Youngstown to pick up Al Berger and we'd join Craig Robinson. These were my songwriting partners.

 We were young and had our own Y-town sound to bring to Central Ohio. We were from the NE corner of the Buckeye State.  Within a week or so we found a home at L. A. Recording Studios on Livingston Avenue here in the city. It was a better fit than The Roger Troutman sound, and we needed more development.

 I digress. While saying our last goodbyes, Channel 21News came on with the late-breaking interruption. We were stunned standing in her doorway -- the lift-off of the space shuttle Challanger. Our expressions went from great excitement to deep pain, as we watched the shuttle blow-up! It was a deep sadness I will never forget!

My God, there was a teacher and six other Americans lost in an instant! How? Why? What happened?
If we were so moved, I wondered how would her family and students go on? Corn hugged me, and bade me adieu'. She said, "Go on and and make your name in the business!"

In 1986, women didn't just go off into space, and they didn't just decide to take a business college education and opt rather to explore music production. No, Ms.McAuliffe and Ms. Booker setting out to do something that hadn't typically been done by women!

So much has transpired since 1986. We have made great strides in both space exploration and music production. Not to mention the Internet....

However; why is that women are still paid less than men in the same positions? 

Why is the right to vote by Black Americans still an act that must be renewed every seven years ? 

Why CAN'T we make health-care and education affordable for every HUMAN? 

Why are people homeless and hungry when we throw away more food than can be consumed, and have abandoned homes with people living on the street?

Why is  the world watching Ted Williams' every move? 

Why does a mother in Akron go to jail for being guilty of trying to put her children in a better school system.  She was dishonest, but the crime was that she had to stoop to tactics in the first place, and believe me she's not the only one who has.


Twenty five years ago today, I began to prioritize and make my intentions known. I became an activist, rather than a reactionary. I had begun fighting for the "underdog."  I became a WOMAN!

Oh Lord ,why'd they give that girl a voice and a microphone? All the world is a stage!!

I'm on my way to Memphis, and guess what? "I'm the UNDERDOG, a woman in a man's blues world."
The International Blues Challenge and the Space Shuttle Challenger Anniversary, hmmm......
Chrisa McAuliffe lives on regardless, and so will Shaun Booker Dammit, even if we don't return victorious.

"I see an opportunity in every challenge, rather than a challenge in every opportunity"!

-- SBD

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