What a wonderful song and music video for “BRAVE” by the beautiful and talented Sara Bareilles. It shows a bunch of every day people just breaking out into dance in public places. It’s so funny to see the looks on the faces of people watching these characters enjoying themselves in an unusual way. Obviously dancing in public is only one way to being brave but there are so many other ways we can do this. I love the positive message of the song that boldly states
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

Far too many of us find it too easy to keep quiet and meek and never voice our true opinion on things. Sometimes it’s a smart decision as with social media because we’ve seen too many people get skewered for sharing their unpopular opinions. Still, we shouldn’t let this fear prevent us from being our true selves. As long as it doesn’t come off as mean-spirited or unsympathetic to others, I think it’s always a good idea to be true and authentic in whatever we say and do in life. After all, this is our one and only life. We can’t let political correctness silence our spirits.

We also shouldn’t let all of our other fears stop us from enjoying life. For some it’s a fear of public speaking, which has killed many careers. For others, it’s a fear of criticism so they never dare take risks or put their work out there to be judged. I used to be that way with both fears but not anymore. Ever since I decided to face these fears head on I’ve experienced the highest highs of my career and life. The more I put myself out there, the deeper I delve into who I truly am in this life. It’s an amazing experience. Sure, doing so means taking some slings and arrows…there will always be those who don’t agree or even like something you share and something you like…but that’s OK. We all have the right to like or not like what we want. The key is to follow our heart and our dreams and let others do the same.

Be bold and be brave.

Here’s the behind the scenes look at the making of this delightful video!

The Lyrics

BRAVE

You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
And they settle ‘neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down
By the enemy
Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing
Bow down to the mighty
Don’t run, stop holding your tongue
Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in
Show me how big your brave is

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

Innocence, your history of silence
Won’t do you any good
Did you think it would?
Let your words be anything but empty
Why don’t you tell them the truth?

Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave

I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you

I absolutely adore this video based on the commencement speech by the late great David Foster Wallace to the graduating class of Kenyon College of 2005 is an awe inspiring work of art.
This video is just as amazing as the speech itself. It’s so well-done. It captures the best parts of the speech and visually conveys the stories that Wallace paints with cerebral brilliance.
It isn’t the usual trite hyperbole that most commencement speeches become. Instead, it seriously tries to have a heart to heart conversation with students about what lies ahead of them as they prepare to embark on their journey into oblivion.
Wallace nails the tediousness and brain-numbing boredom that comes from the daily routines that everyone must endure. However, he doesn’t do it in a depressing manner, ironic due to the fact that he dealt with depression for most of his life and ultimately committed suicide in 2008 at the age of 46 most likely as a result of depression and the medication he took for it. Despite his eventual tragic end, or perhaps because of it, this speech is a majestic work of art (David would wince about now if he heard this). It is a life-changing experience that you will never forget. I know I never will, just like when I first experienced the amazing piece by Mary Schmich entitled “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young” which became a sensation in Baz Lurhman’s song/video “Wear Sunscreen“.

Here is the full speech

Bonus material
I love this too. DFW on Ambition

Here are a couple of good articles
“The Last Days of David Foster Wallace”
“Coping with an Unfinished Life”

Here’s the awesome DFW interview on Charlie Rose in 4 parts

DFW on Humor and the misperceptions of his “Infinite Jest”

DFW explains why he dislikes doing public readings at bookstores

I’ve always loved “Lotta Love” by Nicolette Larson who died way too young in 1997 at the age of 45. The song reminds me so much of one of my favorite movies, “French Postcards” because it was used in a pivotal scene near the end of the film. It just makes me feel so good whenever I hear it, especially the sax intro. She reach the top 10 charts with this Neil Young penned tune but never again had another big hit. Still, she did experience her day in the sun which few ever do.

Here’s Nicolette when she performed on Solid Gold!

Ok if that weren’t funny enough here she is on an Italian TV show

Here’s a nice clip of Nicolette and Linda Rondstadt

I’ve always loved the American songbook and my favorite songs were by George and Ira Gershwin. I love this special by Michael Feinstein who shares many stories about the brothers and their music.

Feinstein was fortunate enough to spend six years with Ira Gershwin at the age of 20 when Ira was 80 when he was hired to help catalog all of his music and memorabilia.

Michael has shared all of these wonderful stories in a new book and preserved some important history of the best musical team ever. George died much too young at 39 but his music will live on forever.

“Born to Do It” (2000) by Craig David is one of my favorite albums of all-time. It’s 13 years later and I still love every track from it. That’s a great sign of a classic album… one that never ages.

Here are my favorite songs

7 Days

Fill Me In

Rendezvous

Walking Away

I was watching American Idol and this song started playing at the beginning as they did their obligatory intro piece about the final four contestants. I was captivated immediately by the song and thought it was Five for Fighting at first but realized it wasn’t. I used the Shazzam app to discover that it was Birds of Tokyo and the song was called “Lanterns”.
I then found the lyrics and the music video which I’ve shared below.
I just love when things like this happen out of the blue. What a beautiful and inspirational work of art this is.
I hope it uplifts you and makes you feel as good as it’s making me feel right now.

“Lanterns”

I can’t get this wonderful song out of my head lately. I love the meaning of the song and the chorus and harmonies. The whole sentiment of “What are we waiting for?” resonates so much for me. Things are really happening now in my life. I am not waiting for anything anymore and making things happen.

We come running

We come running

We come running

We come running

Under a pale blue sky

You never felt so cold

Another sleepless night

How could you ever let go

How do you recognize

The dirty face of gold

Behind that crooked line

Where you never knew you’d go

Headed for the open door

Tell me what you’re waiting for

Look across the great divide

Soon they’re gonna hear

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

Never go where we belong

Echoes in the dead of dawn

Soon they’re gonna know

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

When the worlds gone quiet

I see you dancing slow

Feeling satisfied

Where you never knew you’d go

Headed for the open door

Tell me what you’re waiting for

Look across the great divide

Soon they’re gonna hear

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

Never go where we belong

Echoes in the dead of dawn

Soon they’re gonna know

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

Days go by

Feeling broke and tired

Remember

Always remember

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

Headed for the open door

Tell me what you’re waiting for

Look across the great divide

Soon they’re gonna hear

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

Never go where we belong

Echoes in the dead of dawn

Soon they’re gonna know

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

The sound, the sound, the sound

When we come running

—

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

written by KATZ, SIMON / MARTIN, SAMUEL / SQUIRE, MATTHEW BACH / BLOCH, ANDREW LAWRENCE / DUNNE, EDMOND THOMAS

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

This is one of my favorite quotes. It’s one of the reasons why I decided to stop being a critic (reviewer) of startups as I did when I wrote hundreds of pieces for awesome resources like Mashable, GigaOm, Appolicious, etc. and now I’m getting into the arena myself with a new firm called Applanta where we are about to launch not one but two new apps and startups.
I have a whole new respect and appreciation for everyone who has ever decided to create something from scratch and for every startup. Whether or not the venture is labeled a success does not matter..because not trying would have been the greatest failure of all for me. Thus, it’s already a win-win for me.

I just heard this tonight in a TV commercial. I used Shazzam as usual to find out who sang it and I was surprised because I thought it was Imagine Dragons. These guys are so good! I love this song. It’s so positive and uplifting.

When did the social media age begin officially? It’s a trick question because there isn’t an official start date, much like there isn’t a clear deliniation between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 (whatever that really meant). However, I find it fun to think about when the online age shifted into the social network and mobile app age. It wasn’t when Facebook launched back in 2004 because it took them several years to even overtake the then king, MySpace. Perhaps we should use Twitter as the poster child for this new age of communication where everyone has become more socially savvy.

The first official tweet took place on March 21, 2006 when Jack Dorsey published the first Twitter message at 12:50 PM (PST): “just setting up my twttr”. Twitter, then called Twttr, did not open to the public until July 2006 but it did not really gain much attention until South by SouthWest in March 2007 which is when the world started to take notice. Personally, that’s when I learned about it but it wasn’t until the end of the year that I started to use Twitter on a regular basis. Facebook still wasn’t that popular back then…the shift was on.

So, if anyone asked me, and no one has, when did the social media age begin then I would suggest March 22, 2007 when Twitter took SxSw by storm. Some might say we should use Dorsey’s first tweet a year earlier as the AD mark but I disagree because it still remained a blip until the explosive recognition garnered by SxSw 2007. What do you think?

By the way, FourSquare did not explode until SxSw 2009. It is the premier checkin service. Facebook was featured in SxSw 2008 thanks to the Sarah Lacy interview of Mark Zuckerberg which garnered a lot of attention.

So this could be the start date of the social revolution: 3/22/2007