By: Ken Boone When I sat down to write today, I was ready to go into a full-blown, 1,200-word rant about all the times and ways I have been wronged in my life. I wasn’t worried because I’m always able to pivot to where I can assign enough blame to me. I’m also able to find the silver lining behind the dark cloud. Even the title of this blog post was my attempt to launch into a “woe is me” aria, but I’m not going to get into who said or did stuff that harmed or angered me. This was supposed to be the second half of an earlier blog post (“The First 100 are Always the Hardest” - March 04, 2019) and I was all set to complain about the perceived disinterest of my friends to what I am posting on social media. Fortunately for me, something went wrong on my way to writing this story. I started to count my blessings. There are people I want to thank for quietly hearing my cries for help, or validation. This list isn’t exhaustive, and I’ve lost touch with several them. But I just want to let them know how much I appreciate them. My wife, Celia, edits each of these blog posts. She does more than just tidy up the grammar; she softens the hard edges of my recollections. She also sharpens my elbows when I need to get a point across. Not for me to retaliate, but to help me connect with readers in relatable ways. She has been an enormously good influence on me, and I cannot thank her enough! My son, Kenny, has my back even when it’s not apparent. I invested a lot in him over the years. I also realize that he’s probably invested even more in me. This guy always picks the perfect gift, no matter the size of his budget. From a $5 multi-head screwdriver when he was in the 2nd grade, to a brand-new truck as a thank you gift, and much, much more. He’s been reading all my blog posts and offers praise and encouragement. And of course, he made me a grandfather! In 2012, Celia had several major surgeries requiring an extended hospital stay. Our neighbor, Becky D., would finish her 12-hour nursing shift and then spend time with Celia before leaving the hospital just about every day. She would also make sure I was ok, since I was with Celia almost around the clock. The friendship just grew from there. In 2019, she still checks up on us and always clicks that “like” button on our posts. In planning our wedding, Celia and I hadn’t considered what we were going to do about the music. Becky O., a life-long friend of Celia’s, stepped right in, driving 2 ½ hours to play the piano as our friends and family gathered to share our wedding. She played “Ave Maria” as the processional for Celia’s walk down the aisle. She also listens to our podcasts and will appear as our first guest on our upcoming podcast, “Songs from the Journey!” The mountains of North Carolina produce the most wonderful people! Also attending our wedding were our dear friends, Jimmy & Robin E. Since that day, we’ve eaten many meals together, shared the stage with them, and supported each other’s ministries. Their generosity is greatly appreciated. From the anonymous love offerings when we would perform, to the donation of a P.A. system, to Robin being our very first Twitter follower, these two have been nothing short of angels to us! My first producing gig since my comeback was a freebie. I didn’t care, because I was just glad to be wanted. I was recording the music for a college film project. The younger brother of one of the project leaders was tapped to lay down a guitar part. Don came in with enthusiasm, a great attitude, and tremendous talent. He made the track come alive! At the same time, I started producing Celia’s debut album and was having a hard time finding local musicians to flesh out the track. Enter Don again, playing guitar, alto saxophone, and putting down some co-lead vocals! We couldn’t have completed the project without him. My buddy, Pete, was gracious enough to take me under his wings and really teach me the music business. It wasn’t through chalk and talk, but through the most entertaining anecdotes. I never wanted to bother him with my small-time ambitions. But when I would, he was, and is, always there with the right bit of wise advice. When he finally sold his record label, he lobbied the new owner to keep me on to produce the royalty statements. When I expressed reluctance in doing that, Pete persuaded me to take the gig in his own special way. Last summer, when I started kicking around the idea of creating podcasts, I had no idea what I was doing. Of course, I went to Google to find videos, articles, and blogs for a crash course. Beth B., our friend and Celia’s boss, stepped in with a couple of situations that really helped me out. I recorded a demo with her and her friend. She gave me my first remote spot. She even hosted the first season of my first podcast. Working with her got my chops up to snuff quickly! The people I mentioned in this post are not the only ones who’ve help Celia and me along the way. I’ll probably end up writing a second post thanking more people later. But these folks prove that when that metaphoric tree falls in the forest, the sound is only heard by special people with a special type of caring and compassion. I constantly must convince myself that it’s not the end of the world if my post may get only a “like” or two. Celia helps me to right-size my expectations. She tells me to continue to strive to produce quality content and let go of trying to control the results. For grins and giggles, I Googled “Descant Music & Ministry”, “Descant Podcasts”, and “Descant Blogs”, and to my surprise, all three searches showed up on the first page of results! In my research, I learned that getting on page 1 of a Google search is of greater consequence than likes, shares, tweets, retweets. It means that the fallen tree does make a sound! And to you, dear reader, we invite you to check us out. You can look us up on Facebook, Twitter, on our website. It doesn’t matter what platform you pick. Or you can just Google “Descant Music & Media Group”. We show up on page 1! But wait... there's more!
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About the AuthorAs owner of the Descant Music & Media Group, Ken is a creator and producer of several podcast shows. He is also a music producer, as well as a writer and an accountant for small businesses and nonprofits. Archives
June 2020
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