Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I'm so ready to be left behind...

Jokingly I laugh when I tell people I know where Montana is I just don’t know how to get there. Tap it into Map Quest and the journey will have me taking a right at the tracks six miles outside of Vegas.



Sad is when the grocery store checkout computer agrees to give you 25% off but only if you scan a VIP card…if not available type in your phone number but you can’t remember it or any other because its #5 or #3 in the cell phone.



Spell check killed the dictionary. We spend what little we make with an ATM card then physical cash. Why should being on time carry importance when the television DVR caters to procrastination?



Yet science refuses to create a battery that keeps a buzz longer than two late night shots of handcrafted Van Halen Cabo Wabo tequila.



Maybe we shouldn’t be upset about Wall Street constantly crashing. Today’s banking and housing failures are the last of the true reality warriors. Without trips, unexpected burps and bad smelling farts the only thing we’ve got is imperfection.



How dare I touch that subject! It’s 100% against the rules of nature to tread the waters of something that could easily fit under the politically correct umbrella.



Seriously, whatever happened to leaving the weak behind? I’d be the first tossed off the freight train because without the digital devices that have made sorting things out easier…I’m a boob.



The Kindle and Nook killed bookstores and libraries! Skype visually paints images of family, friends and business partners without having to wear pants. IPhones, Blackberry’s and Droids tsunami-ed middle of the day stuck in traffic car radio listening.



Can we safely use the word evolution?



Thanks to texting and Nintendo; inside 50 years I envision human children having extremely large thumbs. There’s no need for fingers, thanks to a digital Google hookup a compact will soon drive you to the mall and if you’re a Corporate American boss you’ve already got 20 people doing everything for you.



How is my 72 year old Mother going to survive? She’s still typing on a non-electric gadget and the kitchen phone features a rotary wheel of numbers. They put wood in the potbelly stove to keep warm while storing potatoes, beets, corn, canned beans, sauerkraut and jelly in something called a cellar.



I can’t keep a fricken banana from turning black twenty minutes after purchasing it!



Radio interns stop in my studio everyday…created is a fake laugh when I’m forced to explain how cueing up a 45 required a quarter turn back and a full turn for albums. Cross fade, segue, punch edit, grease pencil, cart and overnight on-air talent are items that no longer exist. Oops forgot one…dedication.



The evolution of radio in my thirty two years of interrupting your favorite songs has grown into an art form that no longer requires the soul…for what we do is what we’re told then it’s passed to you. Because radio isn’t interested in creating thoughts that involve you tomorrow’s leaders aren’t being trained to communicate one on one to their staff.



More work…less talk.



Here comes another classic set of rules to brighten up your gray cubical.



That was Johnny Bravo from the head office, coming up next its Brenda Bean Counter who’ll kick off another 25 reasons why you should quit your job.



Its 60 minutes of uninterrupted work without potty or coffee breaks to break up your day.



You can win a bonus! Just be the 10th employee to give us 80 hours of your work week and you’ll instantly be qualified to win $1,000 but only if you come to work by 6am for twenty six months straight, have three point six kids, a dog named Bart and your neighbor is your boss and his beer cooler is full every weekend six years straight.



I believe in radio. I write every morning with an old fashioned nib and ink well. I love my Mother for not owning a microwave oven and still have a hard time believing tarantulas’ and scorpions are sold as pets.



I’m so ready to be left behind. Not because I don’t crave modern technology and how it’s simplified the need to torch a Bic lighter at a concert but my daughter Jenny turned 33 today. My heart still sees her as a teen sprouting wings that fed a need to explore new ideas and music. She’s the last American generation that wasn’t born with ear buds linked to an Ipod so having a conversation at dinner is still the most incredible adventure.



Just give me a day where looking forward isn’t a journey stealing glances from a past you can’t change. I want to locate a quiet place in the forest to do nothing more than patiently watch her grow slowly toward middle age. Not a negative but a gift. Its part of this thing called the continuation. We’re nothing more than trees that drop leaves and pinecones and within the whispers of wind comes the itty bitty needles that’ll one day tell the tales of the one that fell just the other day but during their time…the reason why there is…is because dedication never left the breath they shared minute by minute month by month.



Be you…and be brilliant at it.



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

What if you had the final word?





Tough question today yet simple enough to set free the imaginations desire to fire up the torches that singe the corners of your spirit fashioned world…



In Robert Duvall’s new motion picture 7 Days in Utopia the point of view is drawn to a division on the path; professional golfer Jake is asked to chip away the granite that makes up the message that’ll rest forever on the face of his headstone.



Duvall asks, “What will people know you for? He shot a 59?”



Nearly twenty five years ago I befriended Clay…a creative, high energy, sports playing mother loving barely a teen adventure that needed nothing more than a male voice to hear the words that fed the rivers to the lakes and oceans he’d one day sculpt. The human hand can cut from wood the ticks on a clock but time can’t be purchased.



A late night accident stole from the distance of the wind.



I vividly remember his mother’s drive to embrace her child’s embodiment creating a masterpiece on the locks a mountain willing gives away so the human race never forgets.



Duvall’s character teaches the golfer to bury the lies, to learn how to look around rough grounds, to pace the journey over untouched waters while never letting go of the final message.



I’ve never been to my birth father’s place of rest. He left when I was three. He never returned nor have I. Therefore my picture is tainted and would only offer rust to a moment designed by those who knew him most.



When my mentor Dr. Ron recognized the voices behind the gates calling his name; deeply his family bickered about what was to be written. It had to include! It needs to say this! It has to be exactly. But, what about? Start over! And over…and over. To the point of the headstone never being correct even after it sat above his tiny body. They removed it, went to court because the accusations were against the rock chipper when I know in my heart he made no mistake. I’ve never healed.



Duvall asks, “What will people know you for?”



Sadly in the minutes after time has sipped its final straw of life from the 64 ounce super soda your parents purchased during a heightened exploration; there’s no voice to protect the next step in a book that fades each time the sun scrapes its rays across the paths of many.



But in a perfect world where money is of plenty…what has become of your legacy and how shall it be shared with people you’ll never meet? Knowing what you choose is the life you live loyally and with determined passion by way of being perseverant.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Monday, August 29, 2011

Stop giving your success away to your boss!

It’s Monday! 90% of your day will be dominated by 2% of coworker’s asking, “How was your weekend? What’s your day look like? Can you help me?”



Where on the turntable of life did the vinyl record get scratched or broken?



High school fails to teach three very important expectations: In the blink of an eye you’ll be 50. Having children is legalized bank robbery and no matter what you put into your job it never turns out to be what they introduced during the interview process.



When you set an apple outside under a hot Carolina sun, what happens?



It becomes you! Dreams dried. A once beautiful smile sunk into its lost soul. The single stem that once fed vital juices into a tiny springtime blossom dropped like a faded memory.



What gives? Wait…you do! Over and over again.



When will something or someone give back to you? The finger pointing is at you! Reality being a big ole hairy bite; if receiving has become your sink hole…never expect the dirt from other mountains to fill what you’ve given permission to create.



You can’t give in the name of expecting a return. When you give you relinquish. The receiver of what you give holds every right to treat the gift good, great or poorly without you expecting to say stop or give me something back. It’s wrong for you to say, “What are you willing to do?”



In 1991 Andrew Ashwood point blank asked me, “Are you a Broadcaster or a radio DJ”



Sticking my chest out there like a well oiled extremely over determined rooster in heat I replied, “Broadcaster!”



“Good! I can only pay you for 28 hours a week but I need you for 60.”



Morally and physically illegal but you know as well as I do…peer pressure and the fear of unemployment keeps you from whistle blowing.



In 1991 I knowingly gave my life away never realizing the Great Recession of 08 and 2011 would have the same impact on your life. Every mall store, hardware outlet, bank, hospital, restaurant and gas station I visit features not one but endless amounts of bad apples and there’s nothing the giver can do about where they’ve placed their current step.



Or so you’ve been trained…



Time to go back to school! Mentally not physically. Meyouhealth.com invites you to recall three of your favorite high school subjects then asks you to write down why.



Openly I share…mine were Creative Writing, Chorus and Current Events or any type of history…especially the history of religious studies; which we got away with in the latter part of the 70’s.



According to meyouhealth.com what we enjoy and appreciate says a great deal about us. Retouching a high school fun study teaches our present self that learning isn’t a chore. Even at 49 I can wave goodbye to radio and become a Montana State History teacher or a religious mentor that puts focus on the present using current decisions by others to help shape a more positive path for newer dreams to blossom in places looked upon as being safer.

By breaking away from assumption that learning or work is a pain in the roots, it allows you to find better reasons to shatter negative stereotypes connected to the empty answers arriving everyday you ask questions.

Artist Way author Julia Cameron teachers her readers to quickly page through a magazine and pull out only the photos that instantly enlighten you. Without thought quickly paste them to a giant sheet of white paper. Stand back and take a better view of your inner life.

Radio legend Wolfman Jack explains in his autobiography that the majority of those performing on car speakers aren’t doing it because they’ve got a burning desire to report news, weather forecasts and to sell the artist and title. When you take a deeper look into the channels that flood your favorite radio station the single reason why most decide to give broadcasting a shot is because the stage to do your thing is easier to locate than a concert hall or local bar. You hear words from wordy word radio disc jockeys…those sharing the conversation see it as writing lyrics; which is why it hurts so bad when someone says you suck! Art isn’t meant to suck…it’s your view of what is or isn’t and those passing by see it or don’t.

Your job is no different.

There are three rules to follow in today’s business world; find success, hire employees that sacrifice. When in doubt revert back to number one find success by locating someone new to do the job.

Three high school subjects then tell me why you liked them. This is America…you can be anything you want at anytime of the day or night. For you to be that person you’ve got to stop trading your happiness for other people’s big boats, thick steaks bathed in wines you can’t pronounce.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Friday, August 26, 2011

You won't find the time to read this...

The everyday traveler carries with them an over confidence that tomorrow will arrive. And yet I’m constantly told that tomorrow never gets here.



We set aside success exclaiming, “I’ll do it tomorrow!”



The assumed wise man of self love once said to me, “Wars are not fought; they’re won.”



My choice was to argue with this cloud chaser’s life long experiences, “That means someone lost.”



“It doesn’t matter!” The tattered but well dressed soul elected to bounce off his unexpected aggressor, “Preparation keeps you from sitting on the bench of failure.”



In normal rush hour traffic when belting out volume doesn’t seem fitting for the current scene, I usually spout like Old Faithful, “I’m going to disconnect from this conversation without furthering your efforts of wanting to misdirect ten lanes of traffic. Failure doesn’t arrive from unprotected preparation; the birth of war is delivered when confidence is given too much faith. He who believes the most often wins.”



Click…phone tone.



Ridiculed constantly are my feet. Not only do they fit perfectly into my big open Montana made mouth but the shoes I wear don’t often resemble the norm. Daily I accept the challenge to locate the Grand Poo-Paw of ten little piggy protectors; the design that keeps me on my toes.



Mom convinced me that being on my toes kept the chapters I write out of danger.



Master Harris was endless with his effort, “Pick up your heal! It’s a brake! Pivot on those toes!”



The assumed wise man of self love was brilliant with his display of faith; I being an artist dressed up in human clothes didn’t embark on verbal Tae Kwon Do to win a war but instead to deepen his roots of faith.



Master Harris was adamant in crafting the best instructors by keeping them connected to a single line of always being the student.



A Broadcasting friend of twenty plus years called me yesterday, “I finally did it! I’ve said yes to teaching.”



That single moment meant more to me than every slice of art he poured into a radio listener’s ears. Instead of looking at up-and-coming speaker talkers as competition; it’s become his path to step from the wars won and give back to the ancestry that which feeds the very reasons we stand on this stage.



When the image in the mirror no longer owns a key to the tiny perks that ignite your art…that’s the universes way of saying, “Its time to let someone steal your art.”



Master Harris taught us to view the future by recognizing not mistakes but untrained steps. Once identified, apply it to the trails you blaze.



The bathroom mirror might bend like a state fair attraction because it’s not used to seeing your true skills being shared therefore it reacts as if its being burped up like bad Chinese food.



Tomorrow may never come but the future has already happened.



Wars may not be fought but victory tends to blind us.



If being accepted is without a doubt one of the requirements of survival; allow someone steal your art.



Trust me; billions of dollars are spent in everyday Corporate American offices including the biggest baddest White House on earth in Washington DC to locate why India, China, and Japan are triumphant in the money making financial war.



Seriously, has anybody stopped to think the United States of America taught them? The rightful thing isn’t to given in like losers, whine and mope around like a two year old on crack sugarcoated candies or wave our weapons of mass destruction in their faces.



The time has come for us to be the student. We allowed them to steal our art…now its time to create new ideas. It’s our way of giving back to the ancestry that which feeds the very reasons we stand on this stage.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Stop acting like your job owns you...

Back to school! Where rhyming without timing is accepted and four plus four now equals twenty two. How? Make it work, make it your own. Know while you grow that creating problems doesn’t solve issues. Tomorrow’s leaders don’t point fingers; they’re trained to shatter expectation feeding not determination but the palmed pockets of today’s business maker.



Author Brian Adreas writes, “I thought, I’ll remove my head for a while and it went fine except most people didn’t know where to look when we were having a conversation.”



Untold is the future. One might think they can predict, forecast a hurricane or warn of financial danger but in the end more time and energy is wasted flooding the channels of worry and fear which causes an effect by way of teaching the student to stop on a lifelong journey geared toward becoming…



Becoming what? Are we supposed to know? Was it the tiny print that squinted a hint in the crumpled pages handed to you before birth?



The daily goal shouldn’t be somebody knowing the colors of your eyes, being instantly recognized in large crowds or becoming the flavor of the month at work. As much as science and big business promotes one of our key needs of survival is acceptance…try selling that to a rock on the hot desert floor of Arizona.



After taking nearly year off from martial arts; being alone opened the door to locate a proper place of accepted study. In my heart Tae Kwon Do is a vision of twelve different people reading the same book. Each offers separate methods of posture, digestion of printed thought and proper placement of the chapters after the brain’s been given too much to drink.



Going to work is no different. Instead of comparing yourself to the true go-getters and over energized monsters addicted to minute by minute success; know of your own path. You’re not an employee but instead a product. The company has invested in you. Therefore what you deliver is looked upon as being no different then the items found on shelves at Wal-Mart and Target.



Texture is what made America the strongest soil on earth. Sculpting you to look, feel and react like Johnny and Cecilia makes you no different than George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord which ended up in plagiarism court because it sounded too much like He’s So Fine from the Chiffons.



Inventors waste no time suing other creators for stealing their ideas but when it comes to the shell you were given at birth nobody believes in them self enough to protect the space you take up in the world.



Your desire to become was designed by you. Your willingness to share was incredible marketing by you. Through challenge and change four plus four will equal eighty nine but ultimately it’s the arrival of belief within that picks up the puzzle and locates the piece leading to peace.



You’re not for sale. That’s Charlie Sheen’s game.



You’re a hand wrapped individual chiseled from the veins of a giant mountain establishment carefully crafted to enhance what the big business requires to keep their doors open. Separation between church and state isn’t just a government issue; protecting your investment puts value in every breath you take.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Failure doesn't start with the economy...

A 5.8 earthquake shakes Charlotte, Hurricane Irene’s marching band of wild winds and rain continues to gain ground on our unprotected boarders, the unemployment rate doesn’t require Viagra but word from the hood shows an increase in little blue pill use to get housing sales back up.



And what’s up with Humpty Dumpty holding out until the owners of the once giant wall in New York City stop investing in white wired fences picked up at Wal-Mart for 99 cents?



In the age of taking multi-tasking to a professional level, the escape for 99.8% of the working force is to complain about life outside the four walls that consume more time than vigorous teens exploring their options as to why giving into peer pressure is the answer. After all, their parents do it everyday to score dinky dollars attached to never enough insurance.



Have you noticed television newscasts are no longer hosted by the next top model? Viewers want weather on the ones not crime rate statistics. Its ok to have thirty students in a single class room and getting someplace in life needs no mentor but rather the ambition to be anywhere but here.



No wonder you feel alone at work! With thoughts like this constantly floating across the beautiful landscape who needs another Freddy Kruger movie when the nightmare is on Main Street?



How are we going to explain this postcard to your grandchildren?



When Grandma Bakken and Grandpa Dobrenz painted the trials and tribulations of The Great Depression their words held forever the passion of a solid society that refused to believe America was over.



Quietly look around the space you take up and peacefully identify how many inhabitants would rather place their stained fingertips on control alt delete and push then get their hands and feet dirty mending the wings of this once mighty bear?



Could Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Franklyn Roosevelt or George Washington save us?



Let’s get one thing straight…none of them saved America. They, the people did. The soils to which we place our dreams on hourly bled the blood of desire, determination, loyalty and perseverance. Communities weren’t faceless Face Book links or one hundred forty two characters tweeted across purple mountains majesty. There is no America in the minds of social networking; it’s the next frontier Captain Kirk constantly guided his Enterprise toward.



The term: it’s a small world has become the expected reality.



Why should I travel back home to Montana to visit family when it’s much easier and cheaper to Skype and or tap thoughts into a flat screen manmade device? The funeral of the future will be a room full of laptops.



Believe you can and what you become is what you believed you could.



Author John Mason calls our current wave The Echo: life gives back everything you say. Life gives back everything you’ve given it. Rather than look at President Obama for the state of the nation, trouble truly starts in the mirror. Stop hating your boss and take on the party truly involved in creating low flying black clouds. You…



John Mason writes, “If you kicked the tail of the person responsible for not having a job, not enough money for groceries, not being able to hit Disney World or Carowinds for the weekend; you wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.”



Stewart Johnson adds to the conversation, “Our business in life isn’t to get ahead of others, it’s to get ahead of ourselves; to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by today.”



Ralph Waldo Emerson taught those who listened, “It’s impossible for man to be cheated by anyone but himself.”



Nobody can defeat you except the person you are and shall become if what you think is allowed to breathe inside the heart and head of this wandering generation. How long was Moses out on the desert? How many years did the Crow Nation walk until they settled in the greasy grass of Montana?



What if splitting the water symbolizes an effort to separate the daily workplace storms from the constant economic changes and you walk right through no questions asked? A burning bush that talks? Maybe a good start would be two eyes fearing your next move in the mirror.



Zig Ziggler nailed it when saying, “What you picture in your mind your mind will go to work to accomplish. Change your picture and you change your performance.”



Maybe its time we go the way of Starhawk…



Who and what is a Starhawk? She teaches, “Panic is not an effective long term organizing strategy.”



Not just a thought but a seed; something to believe when believing has become your reasons to release in ways that not only damage the path to which you walk but find that it’s connected to others deciding if what you are is worth their investment and time.



I will always believe in you…to get there I had to believe in me first.



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hurricane Irene is kind...she's letting you know that she's stopping in for the weekend.

How do you “mentally” prepare for a hurricane?



The worlds most famous search engines have been taken over by extremely anxious assumption addicted need to know it all’s demanding to be instantly linked to information based on how to systematize by way of stocking the shelves with batteries and candles, boarding the windows, ripping the boat from nearby water to creating a safe room complete with blankets, fresh water and treats for pets during enormous moments of stress.



It’s only Tuesday! Hurricane Irene isn’t supposed to pop into our corner of the states until late Saturday…



Fear of not knowing generates negative stress. Combine it with an always unpredictable act of nature and the average workday becomes titled; someone’s gonna get in a fight.



The big wigs paid to keep you sane claim you’ve got to push that away. Panic stricken is easily identified but not dealt with properly. To become angry over something you can’t control is like filling up your cars gas tank and letting it run in the driveway. You’re wasting precious fuel.



Natural disaster stress can be easily deflated by preparing for what could unwrap. I’m not being a buzz kill! Hurricane season is no different than winter and summer. You go into each prepared for 15 or 103 degree days. From sun block to hats and gloves, salt to melt the ice to mosquito spray; wind whipping blasts that carry billions of inches of rain can never be toppled by the hand of man so click the seatbelt and experience the journey.



I’ll never forget how shocked we were to receive the mighty hand of 1989’s Hurricane Hugo. Prepared? Never… It was supposed to be strong winds by twelve noon the next day not a middle of the night howling worse than a Montana midwinter grip that hand sculpts snow drifts that float over your house into your neighbors pool.



Hurricanes are brutal mental terrorists. Television and radio newscasts and weather reports knowingly raise the color codes of danger which aimlessly hit your tough outside shell eventually shoving your professional wrestler exterior into a state of tapping out. Then poof! Some how some way the systems of change send the giant waves toward Bermuda and we’re supposed to instantly get back to living.



Your first initial reaction is to beat the beeping beep beep out of your confidence only to shred your blanking blank bee boppin to a pulp. There’s got to be a better way to be nice to yourself.



Being centered and relaxed during natural disasters isn’t a skill but a vision of preparedness. Be aware of where the nearest shelter is located. Just because I’ve never seen the creek in the backyard rise over the hump doesn’t mean water doesn’t like to do a disco bump. Within seconds that creek could attack the poet in me with invisible words like, “Hungry! I need to eat your house! I want to devour apple trees.” Water truly isn’t your friend. Like a rattle snake…eventually you’re going to get bit.



Put your smart phone to work for you. Walk around the house documenting everything from the flat screen to the design of your toilet. Get too much proof of how you live and what you own. Insurance companies love that kind of stuff. Create a snowstorm of information.



Make contact with family and friends outside the hurricane area. My wife and I have an agreement…because of the nature of radio I can’t and won’t put family first. I need to be the Broadcaster. Communication outside the city will reunite our paths. Put them on alert and kindly ask them not to freak out if there’s separation. Leadership needs to be put into play on all levels of the game.



Thinking, planning and making preparations takes the heat out of Mother Natures Hurricane Kitchen. Get control of your panic.



Its Tuesday…storms not gonna knock on your door til Saturday. What’s it going to hurt to get a hurricane kit together tonight? The lines will be shorter and if the Great Creator decides to send some wind our way, that’ll give you enough space to help those after its gone away. Life after the storm is a warzone that need not be consumed by careless decisions and out of your mind nonsense.



Can you truly stop a child from using curse words? You can try all day and night but in the end it’s gonna happen. Living is what we do and with it comes things you can’t stop or control.



Turn this week into a positive by making the news useful. The martial artist in me is looking forward to the arrival of such storms. Legendary Master Funakoshi once spoke with great pride of standing on top of his house during a powerful nature changer performing every martial arts form shared by those who led before him. It taught him deep core energy strength and how to accept the vigor of nature while developing a personal path toward better understanding that the art truly isn’t about hitting, kicking and blocking but building a mountain.



Thinking, planning and making preparations…



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Monday, August 22, 2011

For all the wrong reasons...

On VH1’s That’s Metal Show 80’s hair band rocker Sebastian Bach from Skid Row colorfully explained why he’ll never fall into the ranks of comebacks and reunion CD box sets, “Music is about moving forward. You can’t be in your 40’s singing Youth Gone Wild and have fans take you serious. The moment in music has already happened and shouldn’t be reignited!”



I recently shaved my head because the rock in my soul looked in the mirror and decided, “Stop trying to hold on.”



I made a mistake…



Weathered men sporting longer than business accepted hair isn’t someone trying to hold on; the new face is the adult that refuses to let 70’s and 80’s metal fade in the shade.



Everybody attended the Night Ranger, Foreigner and Journey garden party; cut the scalp hair styles, middle aged bald, some trims barely over the ears, a few wild but only because of beer, there were men with wives, others with arm trophies and Carolina partygoers that celebrate in ways that make us a one of a kind.



Though the Mother Nature driven thunderstorm that was bright and extremely loud nothing stopped the wanderers from reaching up with a bold fist by way of saluting the man who took a pen and jotted down a lyric that owned a special place in their daily life breathing memories into the veins of been there done that.



Walking from the amphitheater the visual was spectacular…stumbles, skips, missed steps, a slower than usual pace; the deflation of people was a portrait of how old we’ve quickly become. Ponce De Leon, the most famous seeker of all things connected to an extremely powerful water fountain would’ve been proud of the 17,000 in attendance for who we became those four hours was a river fed by the origin of where we were the first time we heard.



They came, they went; the concert traveler in a modern society of Ipod carrying Smartphone addictive I want it alls!



And for what reason I kept asking those who passed? “I’m here to reconnect.”



Seriously? The very beat that bled a final chord before Amel Pinda screamed, “Good night.” Something extremely valuable was left in the blue fold up chairs and on the muddied lawn stained by rain and heavier than normal feet that fought to stand up so the Ap that resembled a lighter could be spotted amongst the thousands when Journey’s new lead vocals passionately sang, “When the lights go down in the city…”



While watching the lightning scrape the sky like fire set free to chase air, a guitar string of possibility was left on the concrete now being quickly cleaned by late night employees…tossed into cans, boxes and clear bags then onto ATV’s was the reason why bank accounts were emptied; youth.



For three hours Sebastian Bach’s impression of letting music go was set aside for a deeper more spiritual journey…to live, breathe it and hold onto your youth; only to leave it behind.



Like it didn’t happen.



Yes you’ll remember the show. Yes you’ll see more just like it. What’s the difference between your Grandparents liking Lawrence Welk and your passion to see all three one more time before the horizon starts calling your name.



I wasn’t there to chase my youth. I cut off my hair. I wanted to meet the boy king. Billions of people have sat in the front seat of their cars in never ending rush hour traffic singing the songs that helped blaze the trails we’ve chased. Amel Pinda stands in front of Neal Schon and Jonathan Caine night after night being the invisible line that connects your life to every reason why it’s worth holding onto.



Amel Pinda is the everyday average normal guy selected to front the band that’s turned Don’t Stop Believing into a national anthem. He’s proved to the world that no matter how much Wall Street screws up the planet; dreams are still the best investment with the most incredible payoffs. Some reach levels of inspiration and influence and Amel Pinda has opened the eyes of the silent soul that was told, “You’ll never be good enough.”



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Thursday, August 18, 2011

I had a dream!


Your Mom said it, your Father believed it: you can’t be in two places at the same time.

Fighting and making up are separate islands. There can be no peace until there’s equal acceptance from both sides of the white picket fence.

You can fake a smile but someone who’s faithfully jovial can easily spot a fake. Just like I believe “anyone” can do radio and television, those involved are either clock watchers or physically making waves.

You can’t be in two places at the same time. At fourteen I got into the business because of an addiction to collecting 45’s and albums not to generate a simple thought capable of flipping the mood swing switch in the never ending changes of a passerby.

To be or not to be isn’t the question; it’s a clear statement that blatantly states: you can be only one thing. Try and nicely shove that into the face of your Corporate American gatekeeper.

Being “one” isn’t impossible but looked upon as being weak or selfish.

I can’t imagine what truly grows within the lines that make up the stories you carry.

Rather than step on the scale to measure body fat pick up a pen and see how heavy your unspoken vocabulary truly is.

Author Lou Solomon clearly paints the trail when explaining human pain is the result of self obsession. When we try to understand the world from within, we create anxiety over looking bad and not getting what we want.

Lou says, “The answer isn’t to struggle. The answer is to focus outward.”

Instantly my mind is taken to the mat! At second degree, a martial artist is trained to put their focus not on the aggressor’s initial attack but rather three to five steps ahead of present. Not only do I fall properly but while flying over someone’s shoulder the mind works with the body to continue gaining control by trusting theory. If my body is moving this way and the attacker is going that way…what am I doing to guarantee that we won’t be in two places at the same time?

Lou has trained herself to stop second guessing.

Whoa…imagine a world when second guessing becomes the mood ring you no longer wear, the toe socks trashed because those things at the end of your feet weren’t meant to be separated and the Commodore 64 video game that tore up your passion to stop playing board games like Monopoly.

Focus outward…

Radio commercials aren’t meant to convince your fingers to jolt into the mode of button pushing but rather each 15 to 60 seconds of collected thoughts are designed to help make your life better than what it was ten minutes ago.

Its human nature to feel a need to better every twenty four hour period handed out at sunrise. Business owners open their doors to help make everything you want easier to achieve. When I write and produce commercials my focus outward is fed by a passion to connect dots. You want…they have.

Lou writes, “Passion is honest. Passion is never about melodramatic cheerleading.”

Seriously, because of the recession, the downsizing of American workforces, the lack of respect from your children and Mother in law, the cost of gasoline and boring cable TV, where does your personal passion take its place in the halls of your on going never talk about it fame.

What are you doing to focus outward while walking through the chapters of a book that have so much going on that life has become nothing more than one you in two or twenty places at the same time?

I don’t paint any more. The thought of writing and publishing a seventh book is gone. My music rests in a computer in a real recording studio because those professionally mixing it down have no clue how important it is to me for it to be ready for my Mother to hear it because they’re in twelve to forty different places at the same time.

Martin Luther King Jr. isn’t the only one to have a dream. I had a dream too… I had a dream about people, a once strong nation of believers and doers. It was a dream about life; a dream about how we lived and how we wanted to still live. I dreamed of change. An impossible dream I’ve been told my entire life. I dreamed until I could dream no more only to wake up in a cold sweat fearing like I have my entire life. Because in this dream we fell as a nation and nobody cared to pick us back up. We were too busy being in two places at the same time.

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Masters say, "Do it alone!"

Y.O.Y.O.



Live it, breathe it. Learn from it then teach it. Grow from its presence; give it permission to fertilize the dusty path you walk on.



Y.O.Y.O.



Henrik Isben once said, “The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.”



Ralph Waldo Emmerson adds to it, “By going much alone a man will get more of a noble courage in thought and word than from all the wisdom that is in books.”



Y.O.Y.O.



You’re on your own.



In his writing titled The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master…Richard Andrew King holds nothing back when penning out the realities we all face inside a business world that heavily promotes teamwork and team spirit but the physical appearance of there being such a high spirited shape of motivation is the farthest thing from the truth.



Y.O.Y.O.



He continues, “We are born alone, live alone and die alone.”



Ouch!



Fearing for your life is energized when confronted with the facts about friends; nobody is designed to stay true, the act of turning the back is completely natural.



Arroe! Turn this subject into a positive!



Positive begins when you recognize the elements that which lay you down. Why don’t you have life in your step after eight to ten hours at work? Why have your friends disconnected from Face Book? Why do you spend weekends hanging out with the image in the mirror? We spend so much time comparing our happy times with the present that it leaves no time to understand the importance of accepting that you’re on your own.



Somewhere in the tiny print shared before birth there must be sentence that reads: It’s no other person’s duty to protect you or to guarantee they’ll be there when situations become out of control.



Wisdom begins when you accept the presentation of Y.O.Y.O.



Jonathan Livingston Seagull wrote, “Experience joy, deservedly on your own.”



Nothing fuels a bad day more than locating cricket sounds of silence while taking on incredible amounts of stress. We waste more energy screaming for help than we do performing the task at hand.



If the human mind, body and soul was truly created to be alone then why do enormous amounts of university trained thinkers call our modern day dip into social networking through solo devices as computers and smart phones the downsizing of a once ambitious embodiment of energy?



As a Broadcaster I’ve spent 32 years fine tuning the art of one-on-one communications then sending it out to car speakers where four people could be sitting. It’s nearly impossible to cover a subject that each person agrees with. To unfold the blankets covering the face of a computer or smart phone has enforced the importance of learning how to speak with and to rather than at or above.



Can you survive a day of work without having an audience or compliment? What if being aware of your true makings opened the door for you to be less codependent and more independent?



I’m not afraid of being a loner. I’m only horrified of the perception offered. My first wife constantly accused me of not liking people. Learning how to embrace teamwork and spirit that includes all players involved doesn’t challenge me but opens my eyes to the amazingly high number of Y.O.Y.O’s that don’t require other people’s excuses for not participating.



My stepfather Joe was often heard saying, “How can I convince you how unimportant friends are? You know you’ve gone overboard when you can’t go into a public bathroom without them peeing next to you.”



Y.O.Y.O.



Try it for a week and expect the world to change. Nobody likes being alone. What if today became the day that you finally realized it’s not your fault. You were made to do it alone.



I will always believe in you first… Can say that? I thought this was a solo project this day forward?



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Success not connected to dollar amounts...

What if having a better day at work required only a ball or book that you could easily toss into the air? Wait! First you have to clap your hands before catching it.



According to The Daily Challenge; it helps develop your fine and gross motor skills by forcing you to coordinate large and small muscle groups used when throwing and catching. Having good coordination helps your body work more efficiently during the typical underpaid oversaturated multi-tasked workday.

The goal should never be based on how much you accomplish…but rather making sure you’re doing everything possible to prevent an injury.

Let’s look at radio…

Can people that talk on the air get injured? I’m shocked at the way on-air talent stand while doing their shows. They lean to the right, left or force their hips forward adding major strain to their lower backs.

Most control board’s sit a foot inside a large table, each is three feet or more wide…the computer screen is nearly four feet from your natural vision. The air talent extends their calf muscles, ham strings and abs to reach over the sliding buttons connected your favorite songs. Toss in repetition and injuries occur. Did I mention what this does to your eyes? No wonder there’s free Tylenol in the medicine cabinet!

The goal is to prevent injury. Stretching butt exercises while sitting in your office chair does amazing things for your back. Dropping to do five or ten sit ups, push ups or something that challenges your core section of the body can turn a banking or Home Depot Consumer Dept nightmare at the counter into a high level of success.

Artist Way author Julia Cameron invites her readers to take two different styles of daily walks; write three pages of open honest journaling and pick the rear up and go for a walk around the block to take in the sounds of nature. Master Harris from Martial Arts University believes the human body can only withstand twenty minutes in a sitting position before the body begins to react in a negative way. You’re cutting off the blood that needs to be flowing through the entire system. You’ve got to move it move it or your body is going to bite you back.

Working out at work embarrasses the hell out of me. They already think I’m weird…picking my self up from the floor when someone walks in proves it. Yesterday a coworker caught me doing push ups. It felt like my parents caught me doing teenage things.

When you decide to set your body’s needs aside expect an injury at work that won’t be covered by workman’s comp. For some, the pain becomes too much which means taking time off to see a doctor or stay home to cry out loud.

I don’t know how people stand on their feet for eight to ten hours a day. At 72 my mother still mans the front desk at the bowling alley and complains constantly how much her legs and back are killing her. She’s had two hip replacements and numerous wristbands have been wrapped around her arms from leaning on them while at the counter.

Why do bosses kill trees putting dollar amounts on paychecks when the majority of what you make is going straight to the medical field?

Try something different…toss a ball or book into the air and begin a new journey in sharpening up the skills of the muscles required to keep your day at work strong. The cable company doesn’t accept excuses; getting hurt at work steals money from your pocket. If you get hurt at work paying the bills almost never comes first.

You can’t save anything for a rainy day if you’re spending your workday bent over, wrapped around, leaning across or limping like Skippy because if you stand up straight you’ll bump your head on pipes, chords or the bosses ego.

Rather than be shy about doing push ups yesterday in front of the coworker…my new goal is to invite them to join me. Two employees in great shape with winning attitudes means we can grow one step forward toward success.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Monday, August 15, 2011

Learning how to be you...

Being raised on the back roads of sink or swim never leaves a wandering person’s process of thinking.



I connect dreams with reality.



If it seems that it can’t be achieved the very presence of a giraffe and duck billed platypus re-inspires me to try again. Simple projects that seem wrong can redesign ambition therefore giving you the ability to make dreams a current reality.



I love reading letters sent through careerbuilders.com. The employers always want what you might have so you respond only to get an on-line college begging you to further your education.



Today I responded differently:



Trust me…if you are a true American company you aren’t interested in dedication, loyalty and determination. The working environment only wants people they can bend and shape…having success means nothing to management because every leader fears those below them. If you truly are looking for leaders then you found one that puts his people first and not his resume. It’s a changed America and the one thing you fail to mention in your letter is the need for someone who can break down the walls of current challenges and lead people toward a more successful tomorrow. Solo performers are what killed this country. You will have a more profitable more long term team of brilliant performers if you put someone in charge of motivating not through intimidation but through proper coaching and understanding.



What’s your relationship with the weakest person on the team? Would love to hear your answer and see what you’re doing to better understand their strengths.



Think about it…



Growing up next to my stepfather wasn’t easy because no job was given to us unless we fit properly into the pair of shoes. He constantly called us know it alls and do nothings because every project we got involved in ended up being an unfinished product. He’d lose time and money because to get it done right, Dad would drop what he was doing to do what we were supposed to have done three days earlier.



When you have to dummy down your resume to get any job available…the end result is a working class that no longer sees reason to grow forward.



A cell phone company became ugly with me yesterday when they couldn’t answer the simple questions I brought with me. I called their national customer service hotline not to complain but to get the answer to my questions. At the end of the conversation I asked, “Why is it you guys seem to understand but those employed in your stores treat me like I’m a fool?” She laughed…



Is there really supposed to be a difference between sales and service? Wouldn’t you have better sales if you serviced the client better?



I don’t live in the real world. I produce radio commercials and every so often I’m invited to be a radio disc jockey.



When you create within the walls of radio you almost feel like you’re in the movie The 6th Sense, “I see dead people.” Meaning…I don’t physically see people while talking over songs…my imagination creates your ever changing life and style. To better understand who, what and where you are I spend lots of time watching you in motion at malls, schools, at work, making decisions at car dealers and cell phone stores and while reading magazines oversaturated with print commercials.



I wrote back to the careerbuilders.com employer not to land the job but to learn more about their leadership with those they hire. There’s got to be a reason why decision makers are convinced that employee multi-tasking to the brink of heart attack and a stroke is a wise investment.



The stepfather never gave us too much with too little time to do it. This is the first time in my 49 years of life that I whole heartedly believe his extremely strict work ethics and rules would be a failure in today’s business world. Do I accept it or continue to put faith in maintaining a deep loyalty to attaining quality knowing it no longer carries weight?



Is it stepping back and no longer an act of moving forward if I elect not to change my view on being dedicated with determination with a loyalty to setting high standards?



What are you doing to inspire the weakest member on the team? When was the last time you complimented them on their biggest strength?



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

You can only change what you control...

Nobody said, “Don’t stop dreaming.”



To my knowledge no elected official, minister of a church, dentist, doctor, school teacher or police officer will ever say, “Don’t stop believing…”



Although Steve Perry and Neal Schon are credited for sucking the wind out of the universe to come up with the unending reminder to never stop believing; the total process of this songs reality required the entire band.



Percussionist Steve Smith built the pattern around several tom-toms which heightened the presence of newcomer Jonathan Cain’s fingers lightly placed on keys that unlock deeper wishes held tightly inside the American dream.



Before the chorus ignites the horizons we were born to chase Perry shares, “Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants a thrill. Payin anything to roll the dice, just one more time. Some will win, some will lose; some were born to sing the blues. Oh the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on.”



Don’t stop believing…



Your car may one day run out of gas with no means to refill. Your child’s school could close forcing education into the alleys of everyday survival. Food lines take shape in places where happiness once grew and in the shadows a ray of light becomes the lyrics a poet holds while aimlessly chasing mirages on a long drawn out highway taken over by plant life.



Don’t stop believing…



From the ashes that brought purples mountain majesty to a standstill inside Yellowstone National Park arose the virgin stem of an extremely determined lodge pole pine that wasted no time to share its fingerprint with a passerby. Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce Nation grew tired only when time placed his people on a trail that would change the seven generations that would follow his passion to protect all living things.



Don’t stop believing…



Thick skin is earned. Those fifty stars featured next to thirteen red and white stripes will forever preserve the loyalty, determination, dedication and perseverance of the pioneers before us. Now it’s our time to lead, to succeed, to take from the chunks of concrete that lay freely on a surface beamed by our ancestors as being unstoppable and make it a foundation for the future to stand on.



Don’t stop believing…



What we do today. How we react, ignore, turn from and fight against will without a doubt affect or infect every level of the family tree waiting to chase the light the sun shall bring. No day will pass that the sun won’t rise in the east and rest in the west. No day will occur longer or shorter than twenty four hours. Everyday you might have to push a little bit harder challenging the curve in your aging back to reach its breaking point but in the end there’ll be reason for doing what you’ve set out to accomplish; a set of eyes staring back from a mirror that comes with no judgment only words of wonder, “Did you believe?”



arroecollins@clearchannel.com 

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Shut up and drive the car...

Author Richard Andrew King writes, “We can’t expect perfection from results.”



Voltaire said, “Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hands of time.”



Richard Bach reminds us, “There is such a thing as perfection and our purpose of living is to find that perfection and show it forth.”



Vividly I remember being a white belt in combat Karate. Learning to punch a bag properly seemed effortless until the minds eye began to figure out the real world destination of what was truly being accomplished.



The design of the bag only seems tear drop like to a passerby but to a student of boxing, kicking, better health and martial arts what comes across as a tiny and easy to control leather item fades quickly only to return as a mountain.



Perfecting the perfect punch can’t be accomplished in a day, week or month; especially since it involves more than the knuckles linked to a fist full of fire. There can be no steam if energy is a no show. Pushups…hundreds of them. What is a pushup but a punch? Julio commanded his students to forcefully push aside a lack of breathing, body aches and burning wish to quit to do more pushups.



Now it’s time to master the hips. Where were they pointed when the punch was delivered and did your foot pivot properly while delivering?



Does practice make perfect? Not according to Mr. King, “Practice only makes a habit. Perfect practice makes perfect.”



During the average work week; how often do you assume the performance given is perfect only to hear the method is completely off track? It’s what you do everyday! Nobody has ever brought it to your attention until now. Practice makes habits.



Being someone who accepts imperfection, Richard King instantly labels my way of living an injury waiting to happen, “Acknowledging we have flaws is to excuse our flaws. It sets the bar extremely low. The goal should be to connect each flaw then climb the ladder to a better way of living.”



Accept the challenge, start your day with a desire to beat what keeps you weak.



Stop searching your heart for failures and learn to recognize the individual corners of every mirror; if you don’t aim for the target you can’t hit it. Growth requires attempt. Perfecting the perfect punch is a never ending process of learning.

I can’t imagine what my neighbors think when they spot me in the front yard with my arm held out, fist clinched tighter than a granite boulder. From where I’m standing I see the curve of the index finger meeting the middle while deeply studying the behavior of the inner arm to see if it’s firm by way of accepting impact which now involves the shoulder, back, abs and the core development of soul purpose.



By accepting your flaws, weaknesses, shortcomings and limitations you’re teaching the deeper sides of the personality that makes up your presence how to overcome them so that a happier self can grow from the dry beat up soil of who you were yesterday.



Julia Cameron spends a lot of time educating creative people how to recognize the perfectionist. A perfectionist is never happy. They do, redo then do again and again only to learn the day is over and nothing was accomplished. The end result is a gut full of self hatred because no day passes that you feel good enough to be available for better things.



Mr King says it best, “We are what we think. If you’re convinced that you can’t…then you can’t.”



Never forget the sweet golden rule taught to a martial artist…wherever your head is…so is your body. When you learn to master balance the next step is always a direction of choice.

I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Bosses are the start but you finish it...

Are we a controlling society or have we evolved into a nation of followers because it’s safer to point fingers at the foolish inexperienced leader of the pack?

Controlling!

From neighborhood watchdog groups to volunteering at middle and high schools, eight hours at work, long lines of rush hour traffic and unexpected grocery store lines to keeping the kids in minds eye view…control is what we crave.

Control is killing us.

Dr. Richard Carlson believes there are two types of control freaks; behavioral and highly stressful. Both of which require an incredible amount of energy to maintain.

Behavioral is the person that demands straight lines and no talking, your production orders in by 2pm, socks picked up and underwear folded then placed in the proper drawer.

Stressful controllers create stress which weakens the rest giving them power over everything involved. Bosses with demands even they couldn’t fulfill, creating constant reasons why you should be fired, teachers that give students homework without having study time to openly discuss what’s expected, credit card collectors that stress out those they call to pull from the turnip a single drop of blood.

If the pressure is on you then who is the receiver of your controlling way? Being controlled isn’t the disease it’s the original receiver who then takes it to an innocent bystander coworker, child at home or a neighbor that enjoys the occasional beer with a friend until every word spoken is nothing more than a demand.

Dr. Carlson very clearly states, “If you are controlling then you carry tremendous amounts of stress.”

Frustration begins when your team no longer sees eye to eye with your endeavors but because you front a department that demands constant success; results can’t occur if the process of obtaining a conclusion is based on throwing people under the bus.

The worst possible place to find controlling gone wild is workplace meetings where being in control guarantees you an audience. There’s no need to sell your self, everyone present already knows the plan. Making matters worse are large signs outside conference rooms ordering no employee to bring cell phones or texting devices.

Personally, I love these moments. I find great pleasure in watching control freaks waste a ton of energy proving they’re in control. Laced up on power drinks and six cups of coffee the vein in the center of their forehead is large enough for people to write their name and for me to step in and do some classic Arroe art.

The wisdom of the wise leader shouldn’t overpower his followers but should be used to encourage his team to formulate a method of discovery. By accepting the role of being less of a controller and more of a leader he or she under the influence of I am the boss and you are not will locate places to breathe which means stress will be near to nothing.

Controlling people think they know best. There can’t be change until the out of control situation discovers the advantages of letting go of the control. Demanding respect at work is no different than a bad comedian trying to get laughs at a club.

Yes it’s a tough world overtaken by people that spend less time listening and more time making horrid mistakes. The weight of the world is on your shoulders and no the people above you won’t hire someone fully capable of helping you; those days are over.

Invest in relationship not bullying and the end result will be effort well spent.

Dr. Carlson believes the more you let go…the more people will help you. As much as I’d love to argue that fact the more I realize the final destination of such a debate echoes someone wanting control.

I spend more time teaching people what I do so that one day one of them will be strong enough to get the world off my back. Until then it’s about building bridges and I can’t do it by myself.

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Monday, August 1, 2011

24 Hours from Economic Failure...

I’m not into politics! But I’m completely entertained by the most recent dance and pony show put on by elected leaders airing their individual thoughts and visions by way of massively lighting up the headlines with what’s coming across as a disconnection from reality more than having a firm grip on the process of liberty.



Separate parties with well decorated speakers playing the age old divorce game where the tiny tyke and teen pit the parents against each other, “He said, she said…” then end up walking away with double the pleasure.



Raise your hand if you honestly believe we’re on the brink of financial destruction.



Raise your hand if you’ve shown any concern about the current issue.



It’s tough to gage the current rage knowing relief is easily accessible; Harry Potter has made one billion dollars, gas prices are nearing four bucks but who wants to stop? Rollingstone Magazine reported higher numbers at live performances. If fast food is so fast then why did I have to wait twenty minutes in line at Wendy’s to get a chicken sandwich?



Opposites set free in the midst of a well publicized financial crisis. It’s difficult to invest emotion in failure if the other side of the fence is living life like nothings happening.



Who’s leading? What’s leading? How did we get here?



Published author Seth Godin explains in his book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us that everybody holds the right to lead. It’s completely natural to say, “I’ll take the lead.”



If you sit and silently stare outside the cubical of the workplace the methods being used to make decisions in Washington are no different than hammering out an idea to keep clients interested in your product in middle and lower class America.



Everybody wants to lead because everybody thinks they can. Company owners find more importance in people with no experience because they come with a degree. Try sharing that philosophy with a black belt martial artist who just got his a** handed to him by a green belt. Although Masters deny doing it…the monthly cost of taking nightly classes buys degrees.



Degrees need to be kept in thermometers.



The decision making position needs to be given back to the employees with the most dirt under their fingernails. Experience has got to mean something! Until its level of purpose is raised it’ll never be found on a shelf at Wal-Mart because it comes with no value.



Seth Godin suggests more people become followers. When your leader lacks commitment, passion or worst of all, when they can’t overcome fear…it’s best to have nothing at all.

It takes guts to admit you don’t have what it takes to lead. The moment you feel it that’s when you get in line and become a follower.



Which if I’m not mistaken is where we currently sit, stand, lean or whatever else we’re doing during these historic times within the depths of constant national change.



The decision to follow hasn’t been difficult; tough to digest are the actions made by those that elected to stay. Action and reaction of not having the proper finances to keep the mother ship a float doesn’t just cost the company but everyone including those who’ve got the experience. No day passes that having the experience isn’t tested but when it’s not being used everything “you are” quickly becomes what “you’ve been.”



Who wins? Who wants to win? For many the decision to not perform by way of proving a point has swiped from the pages of our well being because the secret ingredient as to what once kept American products at the top of its game is gone.



Who’s the leader now? What if the opinions of highly touted voices printed inside expensive magazine covers hold true and all that we know becomes what we once knew…where will you turn?



The most confident man I’ve met in a long time sat a long side a very busy highway over the weekend selling trunks of trees turned into bears, turtles and dolphins. I asked him if he feared the actions of Washington DC and its decision to shy away from correcting what we’ve been told is a bad situation.



“Heck no…” he laughed, “It don’t matter what those politician do; I’ll always find happiness in my art.”



Is he a leader or someone that follows waves of people constantly on the move?



arroecollins@clearchannel.com