JB Blog - All about Gian Carlo Tuesday June 29, 2010

Ok - Let's try this one more time. Welcome to the Re-release of my website. This site says "Janet." Ha! I really love it.

Believe me when I say it was quite painful to cool my jets while waiting to get it up and running. But, man I did not want to go through what I did with the last one. I am sure we have a winner this time.

I wonder often what people must think of me showing up and then disappearing as if I have a time share property on one of the islands. Well, I can tell you exactly what is happening. I am back at my drawing board, adjusting and re-adjusting, rethinking, re-planning - and singing my way through the whole darn thing.

I am many things, but if nothing else (Glory to God) I am no quitter. Oh, there have been hundreds of times over the years that I said to myself "Why am I doing this again?" And I know a bunch of you said “WHAT - the heck is she doing?” LOL! But, in the end life without my dream, just isn't worth living. I am gonna get this bugger off the ground or I will die trying.

For this blog it is so important for me to talk about my best friend Gian Carlo Cervone - "G" to those of us who know and love him. By the way, yes - it is true that ordinarily you would pronounce G's name as "John," but you know what? He doesn't dig that. He wants it to be pronounced "Gee-on." Whaaa? Yep. That's what he likes. Nope. It isn't just the ghetto in me, for those of you who have heard me state his name. So if you can't respect his desire just call him G and we're good. He is too nice to tell people, so I blurt it out periodically. Bad Janet :-( Well, people already think I’m a nut so it’s ok.

I would say that this new website makeover is my best work by far. It really reflects who I am as a person and a business woman. But I really have to give the BIG Kudos to G. It is absolutely his best work. There were very specific things I asked of him for this go round. Not only did he hit the nail on the head the first time around for most of the items, but on the few things that I didn't like he tirelessly searched and found it or wrote some pretty sick code to give me exactly what I wanted.

Anyone who knows G on even the most cursory level knows that he has a heart of Gold. You can also tell instantly, when meeting him for the first time, that he is this humble unassuming guy who never toots his own horn. I guess I have to toot it for him (insert wicked laugh here :-)

Most folks already know G is a solid Jazz player and a killer Blues player who writes incredible songs. Many folks have heard his originals so many times at our gigs they probably think they are standards. I've been trying to talk him into bring his own band out again for years. His music is awesome.

You may even know that he can really sing (Bass) and is good enough to sing in most octaves when giving parts to a choir. Because his Dad comes to town periodically you may also know that his Dad, D. Donald Cervone, is a retired tenured professor of music and that G learned and continues to learn a great deal from him.

But did you know G:

~Is a Harvard Graduate - B.A. Anthropology, cum laude in General Studies
~Worked RMSC for 26 years resigned as Senior Registrar to accept position at Brockport State College
~Is Currently Music Director for Harmonics at The Genesee Country Village Museum
~Writes arrangements for the Harmonics and for other musical interests
~Is an awesome photographer and has published books with his photos.
~He received an honorable mention for a photo submission to the NYS Fair
~Does professional journal layout as a part-time contractor
~Was Executive Assistant Beaman Enterprises 1994
~Has been VP of Janet Beaman Music Services since 1998
~Was On-Air Host WXXI 1993-1988
~Tech Skills are ridiculous- not just to a semi-tech like me, but to hard core techies too
~He can rival anyone on MAC operating systems and equipment
~He can more than hold his on on Windows - but is a MAC lover all the way
~He's highly skilled in HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL and those are just the ones I know because I dabble in it beside him.
~He knows tons of other crazy tech stuff I know absolutely nothing about.
~He is a very gifted handyman and has skills ranging from machine repair to building a shed or a small house fixtures included.
~But wait there's more! Yes ladies - the man can cook! I mean REALLY cook (not like the guys who say they can cook - you know what I'm sayin'?)

On top of all of that he is honest, hardworking, loyal and ethical. I can still remember when I was being dissed at Shep's one night when I was very new on the scene. You see I was working in G's band, The Jazz Workshop, and he had finally gotten me to the point that he was giving me my own set. I was soooooo excited, but still nervous. I was even more shy back then.

So the short version is that I finished my set and lots of people were nice enough to come up to me and say hello, ask me about my singing, compliment and/or encourage me. While speaking with them I saw G come up the stairs with a weird look on his face. Well it turned out that the club owner was loudly telling him - right at the bar, even though G asked if they could step outside - that I was running his customers away and that he better never bring me in and let me do a whole set again.

G told me what was up later, so as not to blow my high - and I was on a high. I had just made it through one of the scariest moments of my life. I was so wound up I had never even heard what was being said. Devastated doesn't cover it. Well, G also told me later that he called the place and cancelled his gigs. He never brought his band back in there until there was a new owner. How's that for standing up for someone being treated badly? I could hardly believe it, when he told me. In my world no one had ever demonstrated that much care about their fellowman.

G and I discovered very early on - like 1992 early - that we make an awesome team. We just naturally fell into working with one another. Later G had a tech product he had developed and wanted some help with it on the business side of it and I of course needed music theory, etc. Thus the deep friendship began. I remember several years into working together, when we played at The Little Theatre and some students from RIT interviewed us as they were filming. One of the questions was "How long do you think you'll be together?" Somehow at the exact same time we looked at each other AND said "Forever." That made us laugh. Here we are just about 18 years later and still putting up with one another as we create something special.

G is my best friend in all of the world and even if I could pay someone ten times what I pay him, I couldn't get a better person to work with. So again BIG Kudos to you G. I know as you read this you are probably pacing the floor of your apartment and trying to decide how you feel about me peeling back some of your layers for all the world to see, but just chill friend. You deserve this acknowledgement and I really want to give it to you.

Thank you to those of you who read through the whole thing. G is so humble he really will be fretting over your thoughts about this blog so, when you see him out on the scene, please be kind enough to give him a pat on the back for me and let him know that you can still dig him for just being G, ok? It's just time for folks to know how special he is.

Coming soon to a website near you, The Beaman and Cervone Song Book. Peace and Love G Lime.... I'm out! JB

Always B4 REAL! JB

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JB Blog Monday 5-6-09

Wow. The new JBMS website is finally out. What a ride this has been. Actually, since I opened the company in 1994 it has been pretty much a roller coaster ride. Any of my family, friends and even business associates reading this will know exactly what I am talking about. Still regardless how bad things got I heard the words of Winston Churchill and I never, never, never gave up. I know that I will be tested by those words again in the weeks to come, but I believe in the attitude thing. The final result of any situation is only 10% of what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. You don't become a 32 year cancer survivor without believing both those ideas on some level.

I celebrated my 50th birthday this past November. My niece, Teresa Webb, hooked me up with a new look. It makes me feel fabulous. Thanks Baby! I have lived and learned a great deal about myself, others and this business. I am very grateful to those of you who stood by me as I fought off some demons for the past 7-8 years (Extra shout out to Tony Hiler who still let me call him my drummer even though he wasn't getting many gigs from me during that time). And yes, the saying is really true. You find out EXACTLY who your real friends are when you are in tough times. Regardless of which category you fall in, I can say in all honesty you will never be forgotten. HA! I mean that in the nicest way. Honest. Both groups helped me shed a bit of my innocence and gullibility, but I learned to love everyone on a deeper level too! Surprising, huh? I remember reading in the bible a scripture that said What does it profit you to love someone who already loves you? Can you love someone who doesn't love you?

My biggest lesson learned is people usually have a lot to say about what YOU do and how YOU do YOU. But in the end, they are not there with you at 4:00 AM, helping you work through a problem or drying your tears. ........ well, no one except Gian Carlo, but that's another story for later. And even with G, my best friend on the planet earth who is and - always - has been down with me no matter what, I remember more than once seeing the look of -Are you completely nuts?!!!!- in his eyes as he struggled to utter the words "Ok if that's what you want." HA! Love you G.

Eventually, what I was trying to accomplish becomes clear and it got done by God's wonderful Grace. At the of end my many ventures, I am the one who will take the public hit for what or how I decide to do a thing, and I'm ok with that. And as God is my witness I will do my best to stand firm as I am facing the bumps and stumbles head on, starring the looming hit direct in it's eyes and take it on the chin like a woman. Then I will go lick my wounds for awhile before I come back and take another stab at it. Can you dig that?? No blaming anyone else for my failures and repeat failures. I will own it. Because we all have a story. Our story is merely what happened to us, it does NOT define us. We are NOT the story. We are the person who walked through the fire of our story and somewhere on this planet is another person who is going through the exact same story, on the exact same subject and maybe on a worse level. We are the survivor of the story. We are the testimony of the story. Know what I'm sayin' John-John?

They say life is what happens while you are making other plans. True that. Who knows what is on a collision course with you right now? A good reason to have your prayer life right. I made it this far even when I was told I'd be dead at 20 years old. And now I am going to work with it until the end of my days. So despite the roller coaster ride, I am standing. I stand before you humbled and yet still proud to say (I can hear old blues eys crooning in my head as I type):

--.....Regrets I had a few, but then again too few to mention. I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption. I planned each charted course, each careful step along the by-way. And more, much more than this I did it my way. Yes there were times I'm sure you knew when I bit off more than I could chew. But, through it all when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out. I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way. I've loved. I've laughed and cried. I've had my fill, my share of losing. And now as tears subside, I find it all so amusing..... Let the record show, I took the blows and did it my way.---

Always B4 REAL! JB