Speaker 1Shut up and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you.
Speaker 2Hey, rock stars. Reggie Dawson here, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Can I tell you, I am stupid excited about this episode. So, I spent the last week, like, taking a deep, deep dive into the Beatles. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people, but for me, this was a huge deal because in my upbringing, I was never really exposed to the Beatles. Now, my mother lived through the time when the Beatles were the number one band in the world. But, turns out, she wasn't quite the fan, so I was never actually exposed to them. So, me taking this deep dive and spending the week with the Beatles, if you will, is kind of a huge deal. And it's really my first full Beatles exposure. I'm very proud to say. I'm all about trying new things and having new experiences and finding inspiration in new places. And I have to tell you, if you are feeling low on inspiration, spend a week with the Beatles. Listen to the music. Look up the meanings behind the songs. Look at their story. Look at the things that they accomplished, the things that they did. I got to tell you, it is phenomenal, the journey that these guys made. And even beyond the journey that, you know, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, they all continued even after the Beatles broke up. Now, I'm not a Beatles expert, whatsoever. So, anything that I quote in this episode, you can look it up. I found it online, but I'm not guaranteeing the facts, to put it that way. So, it's true to what I read, but I'm not guaranteeing that it's true to reality. So, as performers, and I'm just going to kind of start getting into the reason for this podcast. So, as performers, you know, a lot of times we need motivation. A lot of times we need inspiration. And I have a group on Facebook, the Being On Stage group, in which every Monday and Wednesday, I share a bit of motivation or inspiration. I call it Motivation Monday and Drive Time Wednesday. Drive Time Wednesday is because I'm driving while I'm making music. Drive Time Wednesday is because I'm making music. the video. I know, original. So every Monday I share a music video or a motivational video or something that has inspired me and in hopes of inspiring other people. And then on Wednesday, I kind of go into why it has inspired me and what it's done for me and what I hope it does for you. And I do this every week. You can check it out at the Being On Stage group. You can get there beingonstage.com slash group, answer a couple of questions, join the group. If you don't like what you see, leave the group. No harm, no foul. So this week I posted the song Let It Be as the Motivation Monday. Now, the reason I posted the song is a little on the dark side, but go with me here. As performers, there's a lot of times when we face challenges. It could be internal challenges, things going on in our mind, our mindset, worries, anxieties, paranoia even. It could be external. It could be disagreements we're having with a group that we perform with. It could be disagreements. It could be disagreements with people that you've come up with. It could be disagreements with more personal relationships like your wife or your parents or your children. And one of the things that this song taught me is that when you're at your deepest, darkest moment, sometimes the best thing you can do is just give up and let it be. And by give up, I don't mean stop caring, give up your dream. I don't mean that. I'm saying just it's kind of like similar to the religious saying, let go and let God. But Paul McCartney says, let it be. And the story behind let it be is the real reason why I share it. So Paul McCartney is one of the all-time greats. He was part of one of the greatest bands of all time. I feel very confident in saying that now. And when the Beatles were going through their tough time towards the end of their run and they were, you know, ending, you know, nearing the part where they're breaking up, he was going through a lot of internal stress and grief with it because he kind of wanted the band to stay together. He was feeling the tension. He was feeling the pressure. He was feeling the tensions and getting really nervous about it and really paranoid about it and kind of questioning where things are going to go and what things are going to be. And and he even said that he was, you know, partying and clubbing and drinking and drugging. That's just, you know, that's what you did in the 60s, I guess. That's what he says anyways. And one night when he was sleeping, his mother appeared to him. Now, his mother had been dead for about 10 years or so. His mother appeared to him in his dreams and started comforting him and using words such as it's going to be OK. You know, let it be. Let it go. Everything's going to be all right. Those type of comforting things that you would expect a parent to normally do for their child. When he awoke, the words let it be stuck with him and he had begun writing the song. And if you know the story and knowing that right after that song was recorded and the album was released, the Beatles broke up. They were pretty much broken up before the album was released, but this was their final album. You can kind of feel that in the song, he's saying, like, you know, we had a good run. We had a fantastic time. We made great music. They made history. And then it was time to move on. And listen, it may not always be time to move on for you, but I think we're all going to face something similar to what Paul McCartney and the Beatles were facing in that moment. And that is, you know, maybe it was time to take a new direction. Maybe it was time to to separate and take a break. And that's what happened with them. It was time for them to, go off on their own. And years later, and I don't know where I read this, and I don't even know if it's factual, but it really stuck with me. Years later, Paul McCartney had done a song, had done a benefit for New York City, for something that happened somewhere. And one of the things that he said is when he struck the first chord of let it be, the entire audience like was with him. They erupted and you could just like, you couldn't even hear the music, but you could feel, I guess, the magic. I don't know what he, used, but you could feel the, the atmosphere change. And he had the realization, and I think this is 100% factual, whether he had the realization or not, that the Beatles music was no longer the Beatles music. It was everyone's music. And the reason that stuck with me is because you can hear the Beatles in songs today. You can hear their music play in movies, commercials, TV shows. You can hear other artists using the melody. And the chords and the words and similar, you know, practices even. And if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have the rock music that we have today. So the Beatles music lives on. So at that moment when they broke up, there was nothing else. They had done what the Beatles were meant to do. And I think that when, when we face that with ourselves, it can be a very scary thing to face. I've, I've faced it myself. You know, I performed off and on for about 10 years or so. And I say 12 years now because I still perform. This podcast is a performance. I get up on stage. I MC, I speak. So I still perform. But when I performed, you know, party style, club style, it was pretty heavy for about six or seven years or so. And one of the things that happened was I reached a kind of peak when working on it became work. And I no longer did it because it was fun. I did it because I thought I had to. And when that moment comes and you kind of have to reevaluate what you're going to do and where you're going to take your talent and your skills and your performing, sometimes you have to have that realization that you have to let it be. And it's time to move on. Sometimes it's going in a new direction. Sometimes it's just trying something new or adding a new, you know, adding something new to your skill, you know, to your talent. Sometimes it is taking a break. Sometimes it's going solo and taking a break from a group. You see it all the time. You know, the guys with one, one direct, and I know, listen, I'm talking pop and I get it, but it, everyone knows what I'm talking about when I say the guys from one direction. So go with me. You know, they had to, they're broken up for the most part. They're on their own. They did what one direction was meant to do. And now they're moving on and I'm not comparing one direction of the Beatles in any way, shape or form, but I guess depending on your generation, it could be slightly 1% similar, but for you, you know, maybe it is time to walk away and try some, something new, take a break, reinvent yourself. For me, I had to do it. Part of my life had changed, you know, when I was not living with my wife and my daughter, you know, we split up for about five years, not split up relationships, split up distance. We did a five year long distance relationship, maintained our relationship status on Facebook and everything. So, you know, it was legit. And, you know, during that time I had the freedom and I don't want to say freedom in a sense of I'm like tied down now, but I had the ability, I should say, to go out, stay out late at night, travel, do the things that I had to do to advance my career in the club industry. Now we're back together. I have a teenager, I have a 14 year old at home. I can't go to the club. They want to go with you when they're that age. Like they feel some type of way, like they feel really upset that they can't go to the club and see you perform. So I've since had to kind of give up that lifestyle and reinvent myself. And it is hard. It is hard to say to yourself, I got to let it be. I have to move on. You know, I did what I intended to do. and now it's time to do something new. Reinvention is an amazing thing. It doesn't mean you're retiring. It doesn't mean you're giving up. Sometimes, listen, sometimes it is that time. And if it is that time, it's gonna be one of the hardest things you ever have to do. And you'll probably never truly stop performing. You'll move on to something else eventually. But if it's that time, it's that time. Sometimes that realization is the piece that you need. I'll leave you with one last thing. Always, always be proud of what you've created. But when it's time to move on, let it be. That is what stuck with me when I spent my week with the Beatles. Be proud of what you created. Move on. Have confidence enough in yourself to take that step and let go. And believe me, this is a hard episode to do because by no means is this podcast ending. This is not like a farewell. This is not like a farewell thing. It's something that I was drawn to talk about because of Beatles Week. There's a lot, a lot of good Beatles songs. I'm very happy to say I have my top 20 and I'm not gonna go through all of them. But it's not all the typical ones. You know, I've listened to some of the more obscure stuff like Rocky Raccoon and I Am the Walrus. But one of my favorites is Hard Day's Night, Let It Be. And I'm not gonna lie, I really like I Am the Walrus. So check out the Beatles when you're looking for some inspiration. I encourage you, if you spend an entire week only in the Beatles music, you'll find the inspiration you need to take whatever step you need to take. There's some powerful stuff in there, guys. So speaking of reinvention and change, and I'm gonna talk a little bit more about some changes in a couple episodes, but I wanna do this announcement now so you have a chance to subscribe. In a couple episodes, I'm going to be doing the very first interview on this podcast. It's with a lady that I met through Facebook, one of the podcast communities that I am in. And she has been an actor, a comedian, a storyteller, and a speaker, and a writer in Los Angeles for 30 years. And we're gonna be talking about some of the obstacles that she overcame to get where she's at and what it means to chase your dreams and kind of follow your dreams and how you push yourself to do that. So you'll definitely wanna hit subscribe to stay tuned for that. And if, listen, if I could ask you, have you had a chance to go into iTunes and leave a five-star rating? And a comment? If you haven't had the chance yet, could you make the time to do that for me this week? I would greatly appreciate it. And listen, it helps other people find the show. So people looking for a show like this, people looking to perform and step out on stage and improve their audience connection and their following, they need your comment and your rating also so they can find this show. It helps them find it. So thanks in advance. I appreciate every single one of you tuning in and subscribing. You know what? I gotta leave it. I gotta leave this. Let it be. And keep on shining.
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