Despite your Circumstances, Smile And Enjoy Life

“Do what you’re made for, yes, but then get better and better;

eradicate weakness, yes, but only within strength”

– Jim Collins

I am infamous for allowing vivid memories of the past, be the thicket of briers that I keep falling into and getting bruised all over again for something that is way beyond the current time restraint that I am in. Imagine being someone who is keeled over exhaustion from running backwards into sobering reminders of yesterday.

So what? I was tattered and torn. Darn scars! So what? I fell victim of my own mistakes. Darn detours! So what? The events of the moment that don’t seem so great stimulate thoughts that can mask a smile. Darn Debby downers! So What? Finances are climbing. Darn bills! So What? The driver next to me just cut me off two seconds off of getting snipped. Darn Road Rage! It has become alarmingly obvious to me that these things are a part of life and you just have to deal with it; plus there have been more good days than bad and the good needs to be acknowledged just as much as the bad! Maybe celebrated even more. 

“Today’s clouds can never deny yesterday’s beautiful sunset.

The inconvenience of today’s storms can never turn us from tomorrow’s harvest”

– Nikki Giovanni

I had the opportunity to perform my original tune, “Enjoy Life” live with the JNote Band and it was a great experience to come before the masses and to do it for the first time and share my story in a song. Sometime it takes encouraging yourself to come to the reality of a situation. Check It out here: https://youtu.be/yW9t5G82i68

I have found out that it is more important to thrive and to grow from these things. I have discovered that falling allows you the wings to fly higher than any bird in the sky. I have come to realize that your thoughts about your own self hold magnitude. It is better to think good about who you are and the possibilities than to stack your plate at the negativity buffet. 

Better to set out with confidence and greet each new day with a welcoming smile. The sun itself is pleasing to the eye and it is easier to take on the world with a measure of confidence and to enjoy life. For what is life without a little spice? A smile might just be that pinch of spice to make your life that much sweeter. 

Unlimited Love for Singing My Originals

As artists, we sometimes default to singing cover tunes because we have grown accustomed to loving the artists who we look up to so much, that their songs linger in our hearts and we want to sing them. 

It becomes second nature to get knocked into a groove of a familiar tune rather than to splash our own color into the singing experience and to sing something that came from our own pen. I will admit, it is still an ocean of fun for me and very inspiring at that, whenever I get on stage and share a song with an engaging audience, whether it is a cover tune or an original; and I have had many inspiring moments.

I flashback to exactly three years ago today when a fellow musician, Lenny Underwood, blessed me with the opportunity to join him on stage with the legendary Jennifer Holliday, and I was asked to perform a duet with her before the Jackie Robinson Foundation award recipients at the Waldorf Astoria.  That moment was unforgettable and still bedazzles me every time a Facebook “on this date” shows up and reminds me that this event actually took place in my life.  

Other inspiring moments include, performing live at the Great Adventures Theme Park, releasing my musical project Finally JNote, traveling to Russia and singing at a music festival in Krasnodar, creating original video content for a visual component to my lyrics, 

and just recently something generated the most positive emotion in me that I have ever had. 

For the first time ever in my life, I performed before my peers, a concert of all original music and it felt as good as being a shoe-aholic in a shoe store on a shopping spree.  I was able to share the tone of my existence with a live audience. I shared the frame of my culture through sound and vision. I shared a piece of who I am like I never had in my experience and it felt great to finally do it with the personalized touch of my own lyrics and melodies.

I have sung my original tunes live prior to that moment, but always wedged in between a cover tune. I was able to grab the attention of my entire audience with my own, creative works. I had been building up for a moment like that all my life and finally, that moment came. All I can say is, I cannot wait to do it again with the JNote Band. Looking forward to the next time.   

My favorite moment of the night was for the first time ever,  performing my song Love No Limit,  written about the experience of seeing the world with your own eyes to separate myth from facts when it comes to loving a people. It was mostly inspired by research I conducted when first starting my college thesis and seeking information on language and different dialects  of so-called "bastardized languages," Latin American Literature (more so the concepts of magical realism), and my most recent international trip which was to Russia. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/Ehbsut02E_g

The lyrics are by me, Stephanie Jeannot and the music is by Paul Garrod. Singing this song mostly felt great because I was able to do it on a platform with the JNote Band, in a flow of all original music and that is what made the night memorable for me. Only God!