A Curator of Strategy, Leadership, Spirituality, and Rock and Roll…. "Changing the world…one "contact" at a time…."
In 1946, the late, great, legendary Ray Charles heard "Lucky" Millinder’s band was coming to town. Charles worked miracles to arrange an audition, and he was sure this was his chance to get noticed--if he could connect and play with Millinder, that would almost guarantee a ticket to the big time. When his opportunity came, the …
Continue reading "Ray Charles, Self-Leadership, Resilience, Preparedness, and Talent–DeMarco Banter"
Wow… who does not love this song? It peaked at #71 on the UK singles chart, and was an elegy for Neil Young's first car, a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse. This was apparently a different hearse than the one Stills spotted Young driving around Los Angeles in 1966 which led to the formation of Buffalo Springfield. Neil's beloved Pontiac hearse, "Mort" (a.k.a. "Mortimer …
Continue reading "Neil: Talk to me…. Long May You Run? DeMarco Banter"
By J. William DeMarco So true...think about it and then ponder...who are you serving? Yourself? Your office or organization? Your family? Your wallet? God? Bob Dylan took five months off at the beginning of 1979 to attend Bible school. His subsequent album Slow Train Coming reached No.3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and included …
Continue reading "Bob Says ya “Gotta Serve Somebody” … Do you?"
By J. William DeMarco I am sure there are others out there like me... maybe? Writers with a million notes and thoughts scattered between computers..in word, pages, Evernote, iPads, iPhones, and when there is finally time to sit down and ponder which ideas to pull on... you start looking for your muse. Sometimes it shows …
Continue reading "Where is My Muse or 5 Steps to Helping a Muse Find You–DeMarco Banter"
Well I wasn't born in trouble. It's my adopted middle name. When you're running with the devil, Ya got no one else to blame. No control I got no control You bet I know No no no I got no control Ahhh na na na no control. -Eddie Money Well...Eddie and I are talking about …
Continue reading "No Control–Leadership and a Tribute to Eddie Money: DeMarco Banter"
I am sure this is just part of the maturation process—but do you ever look back on amazing movies, books, or albums and discover things you never knew? I always thought the title of The Police’s 4th studio album Ghost in the Machine was just plain cool—NOT to even mention the amazing album cover. The album was originally released …
Continue reading "Ghost in The Machine—We Are Spirits In The Material World"
“It’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change.” - Miles Davis Many people probably do not initially see the parallels between the rock industry and the American military, and in fact, one might think they have been at odds with each other for …
This has been one of those songs we have loved since day one. It did an incredible job of capturing not only the issues of the day, but also drew an awesome linage of how we got there. Its lyrics are made of rapid-fire brief allusions to over one hundred headline events between March …
Continue reading "We didn’t start the fire… The History Lesson"
The massive military bureaucracy is daunting to any junior or mid level solider, marine, airman, sailor dare we say—any person working in a bureaucracy—giving way to an entirely different form of innovation. If an Airman on a flight-line has a problem or a solider in field finds or discovers a new tool—it can take years …
Continue reading "Bootleg Innovation in the Military–or what happens when Punk Rock goes Mainstream"
By J. William DeMarco Sitting in the all too warm classroom….staring at the clock…wondering if sixth period English was ever going to end…glancing to my left… I notice Scott's Pee Chee folder with 6000 doodles on it…and a massive Union Jack labeled Teenage Wasteland in thick black Sharpie. A great song to be sure… but in …
Continue reading "Who is Baba O’Riley and where is Teenage Wasteland?"
