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. Hey, rock stars, Reggie Dawson, host of the Being On Stage podcast. Can't thank you enough for tuning in. Thanks again. So listen, I've been thinking a lot about, you know, previous shows that I've done and different audiences that I've experienced. And I just watched a movie with my wife. It's actually one of the stupidest movies that I have ever seen. And by far, anyone that was in this movie, it was probably the worst movie that they ever made. It's called American Dreams, and I believe it was made to kind of make fun of American Idol and The Voice and, you know, shows like that. However, it kind of, the way they took it on a serious note as a way of making fun of it, it came across just incredibly, incredibly stupid. And it's Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore, Chris Klein, maybe? Oh, I can't remember. I can't remember his name. But Dennis Quaid's in it. Willem Dafoe is in it. And it's like when you see all these people come across to your screen, you're like, this is going to be a really cool movie. Like, it's a lot of people that, I mean, there's names that I can't even remember that's in this show, in this movie. And it is, it is about being obsessed with fame. I mean, they go so far as to, like, they have some, I guess, Middle Eastern gentlemen come over. It's supposed to blow up the whole place and, like, blow up the president. And it's, like, it's all done on a comedic approach to it, but it also touches on some pretty serious notes, which I think is why it makes it so incredibly stupid, because when you try to be funny about something so serious, it kind of leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. And I'm not going to give away too much of the movie, just in case you are, for some reason, motivated to watch it. But the premise and the behind the scenes and what the movie is about is, you know, being obsessed with fame and obsessed with being a star and being, just getting there no matter what the cost. And that's kind of, that's how I took it anyways. And one of the things that you notice as you watch the end is everything is a show. And if you can make it a show and you can make it for the ratings and the, you know, the high remarks and everything, then all the more better. So, I mean, it ends up getting somebody killed, which is, like, I'm telling you, this movie, it makes it sound all serious with, like, the Middle Eastern gentleman and the blowing up the president. Like, it's, it is incredibly stupid. Trust me when I tell you it is done in the worst comedic fashion. It's just, it's just a bad movie to say, I mean, I guess that's the best way to put it. It's just a bad movie and it's just, like, it's twisted. Like, it's a bad attempt at a comedy. How about that? It's a terrible attempt at a comedy, which kind of makes it a drama, but not real. I can't explain this movie. Just, if you really want to know more about it, watch the movie. But the basis of it and the reason that drives me to talk about it on the show is that obsession that this girl, Mandy Moore, has with being famous. I mean, I mean, obsession to the point of, like, she's setting up her boyfriend. Like, she. First of all, the guy is totally in love with her. She dumps him as soon as she makes it on this show because she's going places and he's not. Like, okay. So, when she gets to the show, she's pretty much willing to do whatever it takes. They need her to do a retake of her reaction. She has no problem doing the retake. She has no problem, like, playing into a reunion with the boyfriend that she dumped. He joined the army, came back, got injured. So, they play into this American war hero. A bit where she has a reunion. Like, she plays into this and will literally do anything to climb those steps to fame. And it's, like, it is done as a slam on these shows because there, you know, there are individuals that truly have and will still do anything just to be famous. Not even, not even to really accomplish anything, but just to be famous. Just to have that star. That power, I guess. Or that star status of being famous and everyone knowing who you are. And, of course, when I watch a movie like this, it's going to drive me to podcast. Most people get driven to drink. I get driven to podcast. And the reason is, is there are people out there like that. And I, I'm sure that we can all sit around and name somebody we know that is literally just on a quest for fame and just on a quest to be known. But the focus here is to not be that. Person to prevent yourself from becoming so obsessed with needing people to know you and like you. How do you stop yourself from getting to that point? How do you stop yourself from becoming that person that is entirely self-centered to the point of stepping on anybody to get where they get what they want? How do you stop yourself from becoming that person? I think that's a question that each individual has to ask themselves because. I can tell you what happened with me. OK, I was that and I've talked about it before and I'm incredibly open about it. And I know I was basically an ass most of the time that I was performing. But I was the type of individual that I was like the behind the scenes. Egotist, egomaniac, I guess we can call me. I was like the behind the scenes person where I was never like I was always kind to your face and humble to your face. But. Deep inside, like I knew I was amazing and I knew that I deserve the things that I got from people. I deserve people to come up to me and recognize who I was. I deserve people to, you know, kind of become enamored with me. I deserve people to like to the point of I would walk in with my head held so high and my chest puffed so far out just waiting for people to come up and acknowledge my presence at the bar. Yes, yes, I said that. Acknowledge my presence. I mean, and it would happen. I would just have to stand there and eventually they'd start to peel out. They'd be like someone coming in from the left. Hey, Reggie, how are you? Great to see you, buddy. So glad you make it here. Kiss my ring. You know, someone coming in from the right kisses my cheek. Oh, I'm so glad to see you. So thank you. I felt like the freaking godfather sometimes. Like it was that level of respect that I demanded with my presence. It's a terrible thing. Like, don't get me wrong. If it happens out of pure friendship. That's one thing. But what I've learned over the years is this was not out of friendship. I know what it was because I used to be the same way. It was I was the icon and they wanted to be seen with me. And I'm not making fun of people. Listen, I get it. But I put myself in that position. Also, I put myself in the position of you need to come to me if you want me to, you know, socialize with you. And it's terrible. Truthfully, if I saw someone I knew, I should have went up to them and said hi to them first. If I saw somebody that I wanted to talk to, I should have went up and talked to them instead of doing some roundabout twisted mind mess around something. I can't say those words on my podcast. I try to keep it clean. And, you know, when you become that person that it's more about the fame and the success and the notoriety than it is about sharing the talent on stage and doing what you love and being able to be creative with, you know, sharing your creativity and your art. When it's. More about that fame and notoriety. It's. OK. I'm not going to lie. It feels really, really good in the moment. But as you start to fade away, as we all do, I mean, we're all going to go through spells where we're, you know, we take a step back or we take some time off or maybe, I mean, listen, sometimes when it's over, it's over and it's OK, too. But. Which I don't think it's ever truly over. We always have to have some creative outlet. But maybe you're, you know, winding down. This port, you know, this level of your career or whatever. But as that starts to happen, you start to see, you know, that, you know, these people are only here because I demanded them to be here. These people are only here because. I'm that icon and that status symbol that I've made myself. I've removed myself so far from people. OK, it's like, oh, God, there's a quote about gods among men or something like that. And that's. Kind of how it was, you know, because I was this icon and because I allowed myself to be that person, I didn't participate in these people's lives, except when we were at that bar or that venue or when I was performing. I didn't participate in these people's lives at all. You know, they weren't inviting me to their kids birthdays there. And even if they were, I wasn't going because it wasn't a chance to perform and there wasn't enough people there. And that's what I meant earlier in the show when I said, you know, it's all about the audience and the size of the audience, you know, is. Am I gonna show up or is there always have to be an audience and when I say show up I mean show up in life just in general like are you going to be present in people's lives or are you only present when there's an audience because I tell you the notoriety that you have and that that fame of everyone knows your name you have all the money in the world all the women or the guys want you is nothing nothing compared to actually participating in people's lives and being true friends with people because I can tell you right now the amount of friends I have is very slim I went from hundreds of people that knew my name and knew who I was and wanted to hang out with me to I have to find people to hang out with and you know schedule around doctor's appointments and work things like that so how the mighty have fallen but it was a good fall though you know it's a it's a hard lesson to learn and if it's something that you need to learn right now I'm happy to be the one sharing this with you so I guess the the moral of the story and to sum up the podcast is you know sometimes it's okay to allow yourself to actually be a human not just a performer performing is great don't don't get me wrong keep performing but you have to stay in touch with humanity you have to stay in touch with that human side of you that is the human side of you that sorry about that that human side of you that is a person that needs other people not to fawn over you not to you know worship you and not to tell you how amazing you are but people just to socialize and be around and spend time with so participate in the lives of people that you call your friends okay don't assume they're all just your fans some people are genuinely your friends because how do you know they were there in the beginning they were there in the beginning they were there in the beginning don't discount those people okay listen it's been an absolute pleasure oh oh I forgot to say this because I was so like I came off watching this movie and just said I gotta go podcast um listen this is day seven I've accomplished my first week of podcast every day I hope if you've been listening every day since July 1st I hope that you've also done the same of accomplish your thing that you've said you were going to do every day whether it's post on Facebook videotape your performance or maybe you're going to record a song and you're going to who knows I hope you've accomplished your goal as well listen I'm not going to stop I've decided that I'm really going to I'm really going to go for the month I'm going to go for the entire month of July a podcast every day so join me if you will uh you know make the decision to do something for your creative self for your performing for your career make the decision to do something every single day at least for the rest of the month if not beyond we should always do it every day but at least for the rest of the month thanks so much again for tuning in if you want more you can join my email list and get 10 ways to get paid for performing I know I said it's not all about success and notoriety but no one said you couldn't get paid a little bit of money along the way doing what you love so if you want to find out 10 ways you can get paid for performing head over to the website website being on stage.com put in your name and email address and I will shoot that right over to you 10 ways to get paid for performing and it doesn't matter if you're amateur professional and it's not all about just getting up on stage not going to give you any more teasers you just got to go get it all right I look forward to hearing from you thanks again for tuning in and keep on shining
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