Tag: neil diamond

29
Dec

Attracting Melissa Etheridge Part 4

I never intended to write a four part series about my private songwriting lesson with legendary singer-songwriter-guitarist Melissa Etheridge, but here we are.

I got so much out of my two hours with the rock icon last month that I’m still reflecting on it all.

In fact, friends claim that I mention Melissa in some way or other every fifteen minutes.

They’ve timed me. 🙂

One more session with her and I’ll be writing an entire book about all I’ve learned.

Melissa Etheridge showing me some of her guitars in her home

Melissa Etheridge showing me some of her guitars in her home

Anyway, in this episode I want to share what she taught me about singing, performing and becoming an overnight success.

Before we go there, I have to share a funny moment I had with her.

After Melissa showed me her book collection, guitar collection, and jigsaw puzzle she was working on, she walked me to a piano that her manager had given to her.

She played a few notes and asked me if I played.

“No,” I said. “I wanted a guitar when I was a kid. My father heard me and bought me an accordion. He didn’t want to hear rock, he wanted to hear polkas.”

“Parents!” Melissa said.

Awesome album!

Awesome album!

And from there we went into her home studio.

In my previous blog posts I shared what she taught me about writing songs. Her insights were revealing and inspiring. (See PS at end of this post for links.)

I told Melissa that one of the biggest fascinations for me was her singing.

I still remember her solo acoustic gig on Unplugged TV back in 1995.*

Melissa Unplugged 1995

Melissa Unplugged 1995

It shook me to the core.

Her explosive performance sent out ripples through time, and are still hitting my nerve endings today.

I want to sing like that, I thought. And I told Melissa so.

Of course, she asked me to sing for her.

And I (gulp) did.

It was actually easy to perform for her because she was entirely nonjudgmental.

She was patient, present, and eager.

But I was a nervous schoolboy compared to the powerhouse singing that Melissa does naturally.

So I asked her for any tips she could give me.

She told me about watching Ed Sullivan’s TV show and seeing house rockers, like Janice Joplin and Tom Jones.

“It was their joy in taking a song and belting it out,” Melissa explained. “Barbara Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Neil Diamond. I watched them perform. I always went with my feeling. I wanted to stand up and you know, SING.”

I went to Norm's Rare Guitars in LA, suggested by Melissa, and got this cool Gretsch with built-in phazer effects.

I went to Norm’s Rare Guitars in LA, suggested by Melissa, and got this cool late 70’s Gretsch Chet Atkins Super Axe with built-in phazer effects.

She went on to talk about where the power of a stirring performer comes from.

“Robert Plant’s singing like Janice Joplin,” Melissa said. “Janice Joplin’s singing like Memphis Minnie and Betsy Smith, and she’s singing like a black woman. All this rock and roll, and this popular music, comes from the slave era. It comes from this pain of I’m going to overcome this.”

“It comes from this pain of I’m going to overcome this.”

At this point Melissa pointed out that she heard a limiting belief in me.

She said that I thought I was too old to perform music and rock the world.

She reminded me that many people start entire new careers in their seventies. (I turn 63 today.)

I told Melissa this is one of my favorite shows. She said she was afraid to do it alone but "felt the fear and did it anyway"

I told Melissa this is one of my favorite shows. She said she was afraid to do it alone but “felt the fear and did it anyway”

“There’s an infinite stream of energy that can become whatever we want,” she told me. “And it’s up to us and the story we tell inside.

“So you’ve gotta believe it first,” she stressed. “You’ve gotta believe it first.”

I started to understand that much of Melissa’s on stage power comes from a decision.

She consciously intends to be electrifying.

“You’re gonna draw up this power, and you’re going to project it,” she said. “And be willing to let that energy come through you. I have an agreement, and I made it a long time ago, with the Universe, that I would be a conduit.”

Melissa explained that we are all energy and we project a vibrational field.

“It’s possible to gather this energy and let it go through us,” she continued. “But to do that, we’ve gotta have a clean channel. If you ever hear of anybody touring that lost their voice, it’s because they’re eating late at night, they’re doing all this stuff that’s going to come up and burn their voice.”

She went on to focus on the songs.

I'm dedicating my forthcoming sixth singer-songwriter album to Melissa Etheridge

I’m dedicating my forthcoming sixth singer-songwriter album to my inspiration, Melissa Etheridge

“What material are you working with?” she asked. “Are you singing, tonight I feel so weak. Then act what you are getting across. Be present for what you’re singing. If you’re singing a slow song, everybody’s got a hunger, then think about it, live it, have it be alive in you when you’re singing it.”

Melissa then focused on my new song, the one we were working on together, and a line from it.

“If you are singing, I’ve got a message from the Great Something, and I found it through my struggles and strifes, then put that intention in you as you’re singing. Think, I want to tell this story, and I want you to be moved by it because I want you to know the joy I’m having.”

Melissa explained that she first started singing when she was ten years old. She was in choirs in churches. The teacher would put her in the back because “I had such a weird voice.”

Weird voice? Melissa??

“In sixth grade I wrote a song, a protest song,” she continued. “And I sang that in a talent show that became a variety show around my hometown. We played at old folks’ homes, schools and prisons. And so I slowly started singing for people.

In Melissa's guitar room in her home. She has more guitars than me.

In Melissa’s guitar room in her home. She has more guitars than me.

“I got in a band when I was in junior high, like eighth grade,” she continued. “A professional band that had grown guys and me. And we would have gigs on the weekends, at the officer’s club and these places. And so I sang other people’s songs. And that really helped me.”

At this point Melissa is explaining her decades of singing experience, and singing snippets to me as she continues.

You have to imagine my delight in being in her studio and witnessing this.

“First I sang Tammy Wynette, Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman, and then Stand by your man. I learned to sing from your gut; to when you start with the energy, when you get up, I’m singing from here, and then I would sing the guy’s songs.

“I would sing Roberta Flack. I remember the first time, ever I saw your face is the song, but it was the first time that I sang a song in my band, where usually people are dancing and talking and they’re not paying any attention to the band, we’re just there for their pleasure, that actually people would stop, look at me and then applaud.

“And then I realized that oh, a song grows. I’m telling a story. And I would captivate, I would see people paying attention and want to take that energy and keep it. So I had years and years and years and years and more years of singing in front of people.

The legend: Melissa Etheridge. And, oh yea, me.

The legend: Melissa Etheridge. And, oh yea, me. I’m still smiling.

That’s often what it takes to succeed:

Years, and years, and years, and years and more years.

“When I finally got out to California, I played for five years in the bars, with drunk people,” she continued. “When I finally got my record deal at the end of the 80’s, I would have 100 people in the bar that came to hear me and liked my original songs.”

Melissa summed up her story by saying, “You just get on the path, you just do it, and that’s your intention, and then you let The Great Something bring you the stuff.”

Reread that.

“You just get on the path, you just do it, and that’s your intention, and then you let The Great Something bring you the stuff.” – Melissa Etheridge

I was in awe of all the lifetime experience it took Melissa to get noticed, get a deal, and explode on the scene.

As with virtually every “overnight success” (including my own, as an author), it actually didn’t happen overnight.

Once again, I could continue with all I learned from this loving legend of rock.

But right now I have a new album to record.

I’m dedicating my new album to Melissa.

There may even be a song on it called “Melissa Said,” which will be a tribute to her. I’m currently drafting it using, of course, everything I’ve learned from her. I am forever grateful to her, and want her to know it.

I’m obviously still on fire from sitting with Melissa, so somebody bring me some water!

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – Here are links to my previous posts about my private lesson with Melissa Etheridge:

https://www.mrfire.com/law-of-attraction/attracting-melissa-etheridge-part-3/

https://www.mrfire.com/law-of-attraction/attracting-melissa-etheridge-part-2/

https://www.mrfire.com/law-of-attraction/attracting-melissa-etheridge/

Note: In case you are curious, samples of my five singer-songwriter albums are here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/JoeVitale1

* Brace yourself. Watch Melissa Etheridge on Unplugged TV 1995 here:

My latest book hit the bestseller lists

My latest book hit the bestseller lists. Melissa has one of the very first copies.

11
Dec

Attracting Melissa Etheridge Part 3

Ever since my personal songwriting lesson with rock icon Melissa Etheridge in November, my conversations have changed. Now I refer to Melissa in almost everything I say:

“According to Melissa…”

“When I was with Melissa…”

“Melissa told me…”

“What I learned from Melissa…”

“Melissa puts it this way…”

My two hours with her were so impactful that I think about it every day.

The legend: Melissa Etheridge. And, oh yea, me.

The legend: Melissa Etheridge. And, oh yea, me. I’m acting like I’m 6 years old.

I’ve listened to the audios (Melissa was kind enough to let me record my time with her) several times. I even transcribed the audios so I can get the information visually and not just audibly.

Apparently, life changed forever when I sat with Melissa in her home.

Since so many people liked my “Attracting Melissa Etheridge Part Two” post, I thought you might enjoy this third installment. If nothing else, it’ll give me a chance to say Melissa’s name a few more times.

When I sat with Melissa and her loving spouse in their kitchen, she wanted to know about my life in music.

“Music is sacred,” she said.

“Music is life. Music is nature. When you break reality down, and the dimensions down, it’s all music,” she said. “Tell me about you and music.”

So I told her about growing up hearing the crooners, from Frank Sinatra to Perry Como. But that was mostly because my father played their music. The breakout music for me was Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond.

Melissa loves them all and added she is a huge Neil Diamond fan.

Joe Vitale - Reflection

One of my albums I gave Melissa

I gave her copies of several of my albums, including One More Day and Invoking Divinity.

She held each one as if it were a blessed gift from above.

She studied the photos of my band and wanted to know about each musician.

She was impressed that my drummer has the same name as me.

I was really touched that she was so interested and present with my music and me.

And then she wanted to know about my current music.

“Let me see your journal with your song ideas,” Melissa said.

I handed it to her, which I’ve never shown to anyone.

“This is your safe place to write any ideas,” she said.

“You have to throw just anything in there,” she explained. “Believe me, I didn’t think my song ‘Somebody Bring Me Some Water’ was a good thing. And I almost didn’t put ‘Come to My Window’ on the album. I didn’t think anyone would understand it. We are the worst critics of our own ideas.”

I found that fascinating, shocking, revealing and encouraging.

If Melissa Etheridge can doubt her songs, then it’s okay if I do, too.

We just can’t let the doubt stop us.

Melissa's latest album, signed

Melissa’s latest album, signed

“You need a safe book and a safe place and a good pen,” she said.

“I regard the connection to the Universe when you write as a sacred place,” she added. “And Divinity is only going to come when you are lined up with it.”

That’s when she told me to only write from inspiration.

“Get excited. Look forward to writing. I walk, read poetry, and I believe greatly in the power of cannabis connecting us to the Divinity,” she explained.

Well, she lost me there.

Cannabis isn’t legal in Texas.

I had given her a copy of my newest book, The Miracle.

I still kick myself for not taking a photo of her holding the book. I still see her in my mind, smiling bright, congratulating me on the new book.

Why didn’t I take a photo of that?

 

Available December 6

I gave a copy to Melissa but forgot to take a photo of her holding it

I told her I wanted to write a song about miracles.

“Miracles is your big overall subject,” she said. “What is it about miracles? You have to break that down to get to your core message.”

I showed her a few lyrics in my sacred book.

“Ohhhh, nice!” she said, clearly impressed. “Do you have any music for it?”

Not yet.

“You get to choose what you do next,” she explained.

“You can work on melody, chords, more lyrics,” she advised. “You get to choose.”

She urged writing from the first person, like I do in most of my blog posts and books.

“When you come from your personal space, the music is super powerful,” she explained. “So stay away from ‘you’ in your songs. Write from your own perspective.”

That was a big takeaway for me.

As a copywriter, I was trained to write about you, not me.

But as a songwriter, Melissa suggests I write from my view.

Melissa signed her book to me

Melissa signed her book to me

Writing from the first person is what I am now doing with the songs for my forthcoming new album.

“Our job as artists is to help people to ascension and a wakefulness,” she explained. “Thus we contribute to the societal reality that becomes better.”

She explained how she wrote the song ‘Pulse’ about the Florida nightclub shooting.

“What I’m trying to show, and the chorus is, you know, I am human, I am loved, and my heart beats in my blood, love will always win, underneath the skin, everybody’s got a pulse. So how simply can I say this big old thought that I’m trying to get out is yes, a man came in and shot 49 people, killed them all with a gun, and do you know why? Because he is in so much pain.

“And if I don’t look at him and feel as much sorrow and sadness for him as I do for everyone who died and everyone who went through that experience, then I’m losing out, then I can’t get past this. If I believe in the duality, if I believe in the good and evil and that there’s evil, well, then I give all my power to that. So how can I gather energy to forgiveness and even understanding beyond the forgiveness? Because forgiveness still implies good and bad.”

“Forgiveness still implies good and bad.”

Whew.

I didn’t realize how deeply Melissa dug into her own thinking and her own soul to create such masterpieces as ‘Pulse.’ It made me reflect on my own songs and songwriting.

I decided right there I had to be even more focused on my messages.

My new rock star sunglasses

My new rock star sunglasses

“As a songwriter, you’re always coming up against cliché,” Melissa explained. “So I always dance around the simple, the cliché even, yet sometimes the simple is right on, and then take the thought one level deeper.

“My junior year English teacher gave me the best advice I’ve ever, ever had. She said, ‘As a writer, you want to write just above the masses, just above. ‘ You want the masses to be able to understand, but you want them to reach up.”

That was more food for thought.

Make listeners “reach up” to fully understand.

We talked more about my idea to write a song about miracles. She wanted me to brainstorm and ad-lib and free associate. As I did, she kept urging me to write it all down in my sacred book.

“Editing is the fun part. You can do that later. That’s where the craft of songwriting comes in.”

When I said I used the phrase “The Great Something” as a way to hint at God, Divinity, or the Universe, without alienating anyone, Melissa lit up.

Thanks to Melissa, my new album will have a new title

Thanks to Melissa, my new album will have a captivating new title

“Oh, that’s good. The Great Something. Write that down,” she said, pointing at my sacred book.

I did.

And it’s going to be the title of my forthcoming album.

“Miracle is a little weak just from overuse,” she told me. “People say it was a miracle their car started. Well, not really. This is why I use a thesaurus. You want to dig deeper, find other words.”

She added, “Be as specific in your writing as you are in your writing.”

I loved that line, even though I had to think about it more than once.

“Be as specific in your writing as you are in your writing.”

As you can see, Melissa and I covered a lot of ground in just two hours.

At another time I might share her singing advice, which I also found profound, but let’s stop here for today.

Again, thank you, Melissa!

Come to my window!

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – My other posts about Melissa Etheridge are at:

https://www.mrfire.com/law-of-attraction/attracting-melissa-etheridge-part-2/

https://www.mrfire.com/law-of-attraction/attracting-melissa-etheridge/

Note: You can watch Melissa Etheridge sing her song ‘Pulse’ here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsKbk4A1FWo

I've had this photo of Melissa Etheridge 20 years

I’ve had this photo of Melissa Etheridge over 20 years