Inspiration from our Mentors

Mentor = a trusted counselor
Inspiration = unusual creative activity of the mind

Putting the two together creates a phenomena, and when we get the chance to meet up with someone that we have looked to as a mentor, watch out for the creative hurricane to begin.

Carol Moxley of She-Lives and Bass-ically Speaking had the chance to interview one of the most talented woman bass guitarist in our history. Carol Kaye - The First Lady of Bass.

In one of the quotes, Carol Kaye say’s…”Your whole demeanor changes when you change that inner voice that keeps you locked up in chains.”

Competition in every aspect of our daily lives is overwhelming, in every adventure we seek there will always be someone who came before us that did extraordinary things, someone we can learn from. We do ourselves in when it comes to mentoring those around us, and those that have the knowledge that we seek do the same by locking themselves up for “security” reasons.  Whether it’s job security or emotional security or just down right ego.

For Carol Kaye to take the time to allow Carol Moxley to do an entire series on her life as a musician,  struggles in a male dominated industry and the challenges she faced throughout her career, she not only became more of a mentor to Carol Moxley, but she became a mentor to the bloggers that visits She-Lives.

Ego’s too big to give you the time of day are appalling to me and offer up absolutely no inspiration what so ever…last year, I contacted a local radio station - WLUP in Chicago, and wanted to donate some of my artwork for a charity drive they were having, I can’t fork out cash, as many of us can’t,  but I have had great success in generating cash for charities with pieces of art work that are auctioned off.  A single bar stool with Stevie Ray Vaughan went for 465.00 a few years back.  The emails I sent to the local radio were ignored and when I left a note on one of their blogs, I was told “The artwork on this site, looks like vomit on a White Camero after eating black crayons.” Very nice, huh, extremely professional..not.. Needless to say, my radio dial has never hit 97.9 again, and I do have a screen shot to back that statement up.

Remember, we touch everyone’s lives somehow, keep your thoughts positive, keep your options open, keep the communication going.  We never know how we touch people when a little bit of time is spent, we can walk away better people, we can walk away with new experiences and new friends.  Carol Kaye gave something to Carol Moxley that she will always treasure, she gave her time and her thoughts…

Remembering the man and the music - October 3rd would have been Stevie Ray Vaughan’s 54th Birthday.  I was not one of the lucky one’s to have known Stevie nor did I ever see him play live.  My husband had and said as soon as he hit his first note - the crowd was silenced.

In the past year, I have been lucky enough to have become friends with someone that grew up with Stevie and he has shared with me his feelings and thoughts.

I did this pencil sketch for Cutter - this sketch is no longer in existence.  In place of it, lie’s a scar on Cutter’s hand and a story he was terrified to share with me, it took him a week to finally call me and explain what had happened.

Why things happen is anyone’s guess - why this sketch did not get to hang on Cutter’s wall is still a mystery to me, but within that mystery a friendship was born.

The loss of Stevie in the music industry was huge, but from the stories that Cutter has shared with me, it doesn’t come close to those that knew him personally.

I can not explain the connection I feel to Stevie through his music, or the passion that drives the drawings of Stevie - I sit with empty paper and his music resonates throughout my soul and when I look down, he has come to life on paper before me.

My heart warms because I feel I have come yet another step closer to knowing the man that Stevie truly was inside.  His kindness & compassion for others can be seen within his eyes and within his hands, watching his hands wrap around the neck of his guitars as he played with power & dedication because he wanted to share his talent and share his love of music.

He gave to us that did not know him,  a gift through song, he will continue to inspire me as time moves along.  I send a silent thought up to the heavens, for him to hear how even after all these years, he has continued to bring people together.

I hope I have educated many on some of our Greatest Session Players that were intertwined in the life of  Al Kooper, this is the final piece of my recycled end table that will hopefully find a home.

Touching Other’s Lives is one reason we are all here…

Those that are intertwined in our lives can be great influences on many of our decisions.  As bloggers,  we open ourselves up to new opportunities and new relationships on a daily basis.  Intertwining with people of similar interests or those that we can help with the littlest bit of advice, we have Touched Other’s Lives.

I have been blogging for over a year now, and continue to be amazed at the amount of people that come in and leave comments, those that answer the questions that I have pondered.  I am sure I am not alone when it comes to having run into some of the “ego’s” or less than helpful folks out there.  It amazes me that some of these jokers will not take the time of day to Touch Other’s Lives, the big dog’s on the porch so to speak.

The power that comes from helping someone achieve something is over whelming - and in all honesty can we take our knowledge with us when all is said and done? Leaving a mark on someone when you influence them is all part of the learning process.  Learning to communicate, leaving comments on others blogs, sending a small thank you note when someone has helped you, it’s a cyber cycle of touching others lives.

Go forward today and comment on someone’s blog that you usually wouldn’t, keep the circle going.

“To me, there’s nothing freer than a bird, you know, just flying wherever he wants to go. And, I don’t know, that’s what this country is all about, being free. I think everyone wants to be a free bird.”  Ronnie Van Zant

Van Zant wanted to be a boxer, a baseball player or stock car driver, it was not until hearing the Rolling Stones that his career path took on new dimensions.

Capricorn Records was based in Georgia, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Manager was the younger brother to Phil Walden, big wig at Capricorn, wasn’t interested in Skynyrd.  Al Kooper took a shot, created his own label which was bankrolled by MCA Records.  Skynyrd ended up on Al’s doorstep.  With a late night phone call from Ronnie Van Zant to Al Kooper, after their equipment was stolen, Al lent them 5,000.00 dollars.

Saying of Van Zant, he was a man of his word, he ruled that band with an iron fist, and God help any band member who crossed him.  Not always agreeing with Kooper’s ideas as their producer, Van Zant would listen to his ideas, because perhaps 1 out of 20 of those idea’s would be a good one.

In today’s society, we are often times afraid of ideas, putting them out there and seeing if they stick can bring us some of our greatest moments.  I may at one time post one of my original paintings, I look at this painting now, one that I was so proud of, and go.. OH MY GOD. I can look back now and see how far my skills as an artist have come.   I do laugh though, when I think how proud I was of this particular piece, which I had painted on a jean jacket, and proudly walked around with it on my back.

I am sure others must have chuckled at me.. my point is, if it is something you are sure about, as Kooper was this Southern Rock Band - go for it..

A slide guitar great that has been playing blues for 45 years!

I didn’t hit this one on the head, and had to step back and look - I took his jaw on this drawing to much to an extreme.. don’t know what happened, but not all works can be perfect - draw & learn.  Here’s the pic I went off..

Stepping up when a friend is in need when Mike Bloomfield ducked out of another performance due to his insomnia, it was at the Fillmore - Al Kooper was put into a predicament once again to find some players that would rock the house.

Calling up Carlos Santana, Stevie Miller, Jerry Garcia and Elvin Bishop.  Playing past closing time, the musicians with the passion, showed up, played their hearts out and bailed out a friend in a jam.  Why, because they were and still are passionate about playing guitar and making music.

Elvin Bishop had a guest spot on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper, not as much of a success as Super Sessions, but still some great instrumentals - The Band’s - The Weight, a Classic Booker T’s - Green Onions, and much more!

It is amazing reading Elvin Bishop’s Bio - the lives he touched and the people that he has influenced.

From his site -

And then, late one night when Elvin was 14 or 15, the atmospheric conditions a little rough, Jimmy Reed’s harmonica came cutting through the static from WLAC in Nashville, and Elvin Bishop’s life was changed

Hooked on the sounds emerging from the radio, Elvin had to find out where they were coming from and who was responsible. When he was awarded a National Merit Scholarship in 1959, he could have gone to pretty much any college he wanted, but chose The University Of Chicago, because that’s where the blues were. And so he landed in the middle of one of the richest and most vital scenes in blues history.

I wonder do we give our children these opportunities now to follow their passions, or do we actually push them to hard? My son is going to be 17 in a few weeks, and we raised him openly, honestly and did not push him in any one direction.  We have treated him as an adult, we did not force soccer, football, arts, after school clubs, or anything of the like down his throat.  We signed him up for soccer, he played for a short while, he did not have the “passion” to go after that ball.  Being 6 foot 3 inches tall, and over 250 - I so could see him playing football, and so could the coaches, but he does not have the passion to do it.

I have watched several of the kids he went to school with, one’s that were forced to do as many extra curricular activities as they could fit into a day, now, coming into their own as teens - and they seem to be taking some of that freedom of choice back, and it’s becoming evident, it’s not always the best choice how they are using that freedom.

To be who we are, do what we love - we can only grow more and share the emotions that the passion from doing so creates!