I was catching up on some Twitter feeds and noticed a link to an article on Mashable.com that talked about the banjo player who performed alongside Taylor Swift at the Grammy Awards last weekend.
Turns out, Butch Walker, while not a complete stranger to the music industry, went from relative obscurity to sharing the stage with one of the hottest acts in the world on “Music’s Biggest Night.”
Here’s an excerpt:
Musician and producer Butch Walker scored the awesome opportunity to perform live at The Grammys with Taylor Swift last night — all because of a viral video that he posted to YouTube months ago.
Back in November, Walker — formerly of rock band Marvelous 3 — was using Twitter to ask fans which songs he should cover at L.A.’s Hotel Cafe, where he had a residency. Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” was the number-one choice, and Walker later recorded the jam with gender-adjusted lyrics and banjolin accompaniment.
[It] became such a viral hit that in a mere two days Swift caught wind of the cover and tweeted enthusiastically, “@butchwalker covered You Belong With Me and I’m losing my MIND listening to it! Blown away.”
As a result, Walker got to rock out with the Grammy-award-winning Swift, as well as legend Stevie Nicks, at last night’s ceremony. This state of affairs truly shows social media’s ability to both bring people together and to foster creativity.
So, what can we learn from Butch Walker? Be creative!
Inside each of us is a creative genius – although many of you are already hearing that voice inside your head rejecting this claim. Walker took something “everyone had heard before” – Swift’s song – and recorded it with his own twist. The world, and Taylor Swift, couldn’t help but notice.
Find something you like. Find out how to put your own unique twist on it. You never know what kind of opportunities will result.
The first is very short and addresses the sure-to-be-asked, “where did you find [out about] this?” The answer is simple: Marianne Williamson had posted it on her blog.
The second back story relates to what you are about to see.
Kseniya Simonova was a contestant on “Ukraine’s Got Talent.” She is standing behind a table that is covered with sand. The table is lit from beneath. There is an overhead camera above the table projecting her activity onto a large screen behind her so that the audience can watch what she is doing.
She is telling the story of one of the aerial bombings of Kiev during World War II. You will see one of the famous monuments that stands in Kiev today commemorating those bombings.
No introduction can prepare you for what you will see. It is nothing short of brilliant, breathtaking, jaw-dropping, beautiful, amazing, deeply moving, incredible, pure artistic genius. Those are just the words that immediately come to mind.
What Miss Simonova accomplishes in this piece will leave you spellbound and in awe. I have never seen anything quite like it. The elegance, beauty and grace in which she tells this story is something that I can only imagine to be divinely inspired. Wow!
In a fascinating speech from the TED series, Beau Lotto explains why “context” is so important in terms of how we see. Ok, I admit it’s a little nerdy, but if you know me, you understand it’s right up my alley.
However, what makes the talk so wonderful is the metaphor it represents for how we “see” our lives – our surroundings, our relationships, the actions and events we experience each day.
What really struck me was Lotto’s assertion that “information is meaningless because it could mean literallyanything.” He continues, “there is no inherent meaning in information. It’s what we do with that information that matters.”
So the next time a friend or loved one does or says something you don’t understand or that you take personally, understand that YOU are giving that information its “meaning” by associating your own paradigms, thought, fears and feelings to it. What they did or said, by itself, is meaningless. You are providing the context.
As Shakespeare puts it, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
Take the time to examine the context through with you are living each moment of your life. Through which lens are you looking at things?
Lotto takes the science of sight and delivers a powerful, thought-provoking – and fun – message that we can all learn something from. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
As I was eating my lunch yesterday afternoon, I decided to see what people were up to on the social networks – admittedly, a fairly non-productive time-wasting activity the majority of the time. However, I noticed that one of my friends had recently “favorited” a video on YouTube. I decided to check it out…
What I watched was perhaps the most brilliant piece of short film work I’ve ever seen! No joke.
In about 15 minutes, you run through a gamut of emotions and even connect to the characters. Truly amazing work. But, what’s even better is the underlying message that it brings forth.
Please take 15 minutes to completely change your day. If you’re paying attention and pick up the “secret” revealed in the film, those 15 minutes could change your life – and others’, too.
It has been way too long since I’ve posted anything, so I decided I needed to do that.
Before I share the piece of video I happened to catch a week or so ago on the Today Show while running late to work, I want to share two verses from the Bible that came to mind.
Matthew 18:2-4
1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
I Corinthians 13
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The story is about a six-year-old little girl from Ohio - Elena Desserich - who was diagnosed with childhood cancer and how she chose to live her life. We can all learn something from Elena. It is an incedibly moving story.
6-year-old, Elena Desserich
Now, the video…
Unfortunately, because of copyright issues and limitations to WordPress, I can’t embed the video in my blog, so you’ll have to use the link below to watch it from the NBC site.
To get the book, click the book cover or click here.
The following is a story that originally appeared on ESPN.com in Rick Reilly’s “Life of Reilly” column. The story is one worth sharing. Hopefully, it will inspire you and encourage you to offer hope to others.
There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.
by Rick Reilly
Melinda Wright Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.
They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.
It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.
Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?
They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.
It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.
“I never in my life thought I’d hear people cheering for us to hit their kids,” recalls Gainesville’s QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. “I wouldn’t expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!”
And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he’d just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.
But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That’s because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.
This all started when Faith’s head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.
So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. “Here’s the message I want you to send:” Hogan wrote. “You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.”
Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan’s office and asked, “Coach, why are we doing this?”
And Hogan said, “Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”
Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!
“I thought maybe they were confused,” said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). “They started yelling ‘DEE-fense!’ when their team had the ball. I said, ‘What? Why they cheerin’ for us?’”
It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. “We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games,” says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. “You can see it in their eyes. They’re lookin’ at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us! By our names!”
Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game’s last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.
After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that’s when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. “We had no idea what the kid was going to say,” remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: “Lord, I don’t know how this happened, so I don’t know how to say thank You, but I never would’ve known there was so many people in the world that cared about us.”
And it was a good thing everybody’s heads were bowed because they might’ve seen Hogan wiping away tears.
As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.
The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, “You’ll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You’ll never, ever know.”
And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they’d never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.
Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it’s nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.
While some of the overlays are in German, this is one of the most compelling videos I’ve seen in a long time. The story of Dick and Rick Hoyt is not new, but one that should be told and retold to remind us all of four very important things:
LOVE – Do it now, do it often, do it unconditionally, do it forever.
Be Fully Present – many times when talking to others we are trying multi-task or our minds are already on to the next thing. Stop. Really LISTEN and seek to UNDERSTAND.
Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover – Looks can be, and often are, deceiving. Give EVERYONE a chance.
“Yes you can!” – You can achieve beyond your wildest dreams if you simply ACT with FAITH and DISCIPLINE.
Be inspired…
Here is a touching “tribute” video that’s also worth watching:
(Bonus points to anyone who can tell me who performs the song in the video.)
This is what happens when a true Internet expert enters the presidential race. We’ll take the White House, and take back the country this November. But, I need your help to do it.
I was reminded today – through divine appointment – about a lecture that truly inspired me when I heard it several months ago. The lecture, given by former Carnegie-Mellon University cxomputer science professor Randy Pausch, was part of a program in which universities from across the country students invited their best professors to give a hypothetical “last lecture,” to think deeply about what matters most to them.
Mr. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only weeks or months to live. His last lecture, “How to Achieve Your Childhood Dreams,” was so inspiring – and word got out – that he appeared on Oprah to reprise his lecture…
You can see the “full” version of his lecture, which I recommend when you have time, by clicking the link below. It runs about an hour.
As a follow-up, Pausch addressed the 2008 Carnegie-Mellon graduates this past Saturday (May 18, 2008), 9 months after his doctors told him he had 3-6 months to live! Watch the commencement speech by clicking the link below.
Now, the video…
