Passion

Listen to "Passion" on Spreaker. I love talking to preachers. Mainly because they aren't afraid of being mentally challenged by the questions and thoughts of a wandering daily writer. I asked Casey Crimmons last week how he knew in his heart that it was time to plant a new church in Charlotte. It was a one word answer,"Passion." Hold it! Stop right there. Thirty nine years of radio and every program director I've been blessed to learn from and be led by has accused me of being too passionate about what I bring to the broadcasting table. I had an OM that ordered me to stop being so caring. Why would a preacher tell me the exact opposite? He took on my furthering questions with a greater purpose. I told him of my dates with being passion driven. He asked, "Do you believe you were changing peoples lives?" Absolutely! In the days that followed my heart wouldn't let any of this go. I didn't stand back and measure other people's passion or lack of. I chose to put focus on what I needed to do with the fuel in my soul. Was I delivering what God wants me to bring forward or was it ego keeping things alive in a very plastic world? That's a very tough question to answer because how do you know where God stands in the way you bring what you have passion for to the plan and purpose? It goes back to what Casey asked "Do you believe you're changing people's lives?" That's how I think while producing commercials for clients! The way it's written to the vocals then in production, have I created a product that will in fact change a persons life? Buying a car to a sofa is life changing. Not many believe that but it does make things better if you're planting your seat on a beat up cushion. I challenge you to look deeper into what you have named your passion. Does it change other people's lives or serve you?

Captain Dave Marciano

Listen to "Captain Dave Marciano From Wicked Tuna On National Geographic" on Spreaker. Wicked Tuna’s seventh season finds the captains in need of redemption. Captain Dave Marciano of the Hard Merchandise (@CaptMarciano) is out to turn things around after a disappointing season in Gloucester last year, in which he caught only five fish and landed near the bottom of the leaderboard. This year, Marciano is looking to start strong and land some big paydays as he teams up once again with his son and first mate, Joe, and welcomes a new crew member aboard — his oldest daughter, Angelica. For the Marciano clan, fishing is a family affair.

U God From Wu Tang

Listen to "U God Lamont Hawkins From The Wu Tang Clan" on Spreaker. "It's time to write down not only my legacy, but the story of nine dirt-bomb street thugs who took our everyday life-scrappin' and hustlin' and tryin' to survive in the urban jungle of New York City-and turned that into something bigger than we could possibly imagine, something that took us out of the projects for good, which was the only thing we all wanted in the first place." -Lamont "U-God" Hawkins The Wu-Tang Clan are considered hip-hop royalty. Remarkably, none of the founding members have told their story-until now. Here, for the first time, the quiet one speaks. Lamont "U-God" Hawkins was born in Brownsville, New York, in 1970. Raised by a single mother and forced to reckon with the hostile conditions of project life, U-God learned from an early age how to survive. And surviving in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s was no easy task-especially as a young black boy living in some of the city's most ignored and destitute districts. But, along the way, he met and befriended those who would eventually form the Clan's core: RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, and Masta Killa. Brought up by the streets, and bonding over their love of hip-hop, they sought to pursue the impossible: music as their ticket out of the ghetto. U-God's unforgettable first-person account of his journey, from the streets of Brooklyn to some of the biggest stages around the world, is not only thoroughly affecting, unfiltered, and explosive but also captures, in vivid detail, the making of one of the greatest acts in American music history. Born Lamont Jody Hawkins, U-God is an American rapper and hip-hop artist and one of the founding members of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. A native New Yorker, RAW is his first book.

Thoughts Are Energy

Listen to "Thoughts Are Energy" on Spreaker. We move because someone moved before us. Deep thought right? But an incredible place to grow from. Everything you put into play today can't be owned by the presence of self. It's a series of experiences influenced by the energy of others. All that is necessary in your moment doesn't always reach it's potential because we've allowed ourselves to let others make the move first. I looked up the word necessary today. Mainly because word check has made all of us very bad spellers on paper. Beneath it's headline were a couple of sentences defining what necessary means: Determined, existing, or happening by natural laws or predestination. Pre meaning before. Destination meaning a journey is required. Which means through awareness we are able to shape our new day with what is necessary. Many dogs eat every bit of food in their morning dishes. Does that make you a bad parent? Not so. In controlling their diet you know how much food is necessary for their healthy way. Where it goes wrong is when we give the dogs too much food. They have been trained to eat everything. Which is no different then your walk through an everyday world. Your mind body and soul digest all that sits in front of it. And when you're full with too many thoughts. You still keep feeding that imagination. Locating that proper balance of information is knowing what is necessary. I read all the time about how someone has disconnected from the social networks only to see them coming back. They speak of the promise land and how incredible it was to be without it. Really? Why are you back? We move because someone moved before us. Time to take some notes and start understanding your invisible habits. How you move does affect and infect others. Know what is necessary and begin growing forward in peace.

Jo Jo Siwa

Listen to "Jo Jo Siwa Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards" on Spreaker. Nickelodeon SlimeFest, in partnership with Live Nation, is the first multi-day music festival for kids and families in the U.S. Featuring performances by JoJo Siwa and additional pop music stars, the two-day event will be held at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island in Chicago, Ill., on Saturday, June 9, and Sunday, June 10. Nickelodeon SlimeFest will also feature appearances by Nickelodeon stars, immersive one-of-a-kind experiences and plenty of the network’s signature green slime. General admission and VIP tickets are available starting March 6th via www.nickslimefest.com. Lip Sync Battle Shorties is the ultimate music showdown for kids. Hosted by entertainer Nick Cannon, along with show sidekick JoJo Siwa, the series features talented, real-life kids lip-syncing pop songs in celebration of their favorite musical artists. JoJo is a social media star with more than 6.5 million followers on Instagram, over 15 million followers on Musical.ly and more than five million subscribers on YouTube. Her music video, "Boomerang,” released in May 2016, currently has over 450 million views and is RIAA-certified platinum. In addition to being signed to an overall talent agreement with Nickelodeon, JoJo has a global line of consumer products including her signature bows, accessories, apparel, toys, arts and crafts, cosmetics, home goods, bedding and party supplies. In spite of these early successes, JoJo’s priorities remain at the core of her Nebraskan/mid-western upbringing and grounded family values. A true ambassador of anti-bullying, JoJo continues to be a prominent and relatable role model for her countless fans, with the strength and power in her message of celebrating individuality, keeping strong in the face of adversity and never giving up.

Steve Hackett

Listen to "Steve Hackett Wuthering Nights" on Spreaker. "Wuthering Nights: Live in Birmingham" is the new live release by STEVE HACKETT (ex Genesis) commemorating 2017's 'Genesis Revisited with Classic Hackett' tour! Includes a majority of Genesis tracks from 1976’s “Wind & Wuthering”, solo highlights and masterpieces like ‘Dance On A Volcano’, 'Inside And Out', ‘The Musical Box’, and ‘Firth Of Fifth’.

Valentin Chmerkovskiy

Listen to "Valentin Chmerkovskiy I'll Never Change My Name" on Spreaker. Viewers of America's hit TV show Dancing with the Stars already know Valentin "Val" Chmerkovskiy as a fan-favorite ballroom dancer and heartthrob. And while he has captivated fans since his first performance on the show in 2011, there is a lot more to Val than meets the eye. After coming to America at the young age of eight, without knowing a word of English, Val was a stranger in a strange land, far from his family's native land of Ukraine. Now, as never before, Val opens up about what it was like for his family to move to Brooklyn, realizing the American Dream the moment he became the first American to win the World Championship in Ballroom dancing just a few short months after 9/11. In his upcoming memoir, I'LL NEVER CHANGE MY NAME: An Immigrant's American Dream from Ukraine to the USA to Dancing with the Stars (on-sale: March 6, 2018; Dey Street Books; Hardcover; $26.99), Val reveals the successes and failures he's had on and off the ballroom floor, from world championships up through his first step on Dancing with the Stars. For the first time, Val looks back at his childhood in Odessa, Ukraine, and his Jewish family's immigration to the United States-including what it was like to grow up in Brooklyn as a stranger desperate to fit into a different culture, how he worked to become a premiere dancer, and, of course, the collaborations and competitions with his brother and fellow Dancing with the Stars sensation, Maksim "Maks" Chmerkovskiy-who also wrote the book's foreword. In I'LL NEVER CHANGE MY NAME, Val speaks warmly of his close-knit family and shares intimate and inspiring stories meant to offer hope and motivation not only to fans, but to everyone with a dream. Enduring persecution in their native land, Val's parents wanted a better life for their children-a desire that led them to leave everything they knew and start again thousands of miles away in a foreign country. It was a gamble that paid off-after years of practice and discipline, Val, along with Maks, have reached the pinnacle of success. Though he admits he sometimes still feels like an outsider, Val reveals that he is every bit as American as he is Ukrainian, and he expresses his enduring gratitude for everything that America represents and pays homage to his adopted nation and the opportunities it has afforded him and his family. While Dancing with the Stars has demonstrated Val's beautiful physicality, I'LL NEVER CHANGE MY NAME illuminates his soul, revealing a deep, thoughtful person who channels his emotions and socially conscious views through his art. Inspiring, heartfelt, and compulsively readable, this is a classic story of the American Dream. Showcasing 16 pages of never-before-seen photos, I'LL NEVER CHANGE MY NAME is sure to touch readers' hearts.