I've got good news and bad news to share, the good news is that I found out that I'm still capable of learning and growing and then adjusting to some of life's toughest situations, the bad news is that it's been a painful revelation. Like they say, "no pain, no gain"... who said that, and who are "they" anyway? I suppose I'm gullible, I have a tendency to trust people too much, even when my gut instincts tell me to run. My parents always taught me to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I found that for the most part that this is good advice, but sometimes you're better off running. Being in the music business for all of my adult life, I have heard just about everything. They call it hype, or spin... I call it bull-crap. Though I know this, I still allow myself to be dazzled; I want to see the good in people. You remember those TV commercials back in the 80's that were selling that "diamond ring", it went something like this... "this beautiful ring sparkles with genuine imitation diamond chips, surrounded by handcrafted faux pearls, in this stunning 14k gold plated setting" man that sounds awesome, it even looked good. My grandmother order 4 of them at $9.99 each...wow! It was a great pitch and they did nothing wrong. Good news, they made millions, bad news, they were only worth about $1.50 each and the "handcrafted faux pearls" were plastic and fell out.

I come from a family that never minced words; "say what you mean and mean what you say". I admit, I've allowed people to twist my words, miss-speak for me and even go as far as denying it when I confronted them. When I worked as an executive in the corporate music world, I was told by a close friend of mine when I took the job that I shouldn't trust anyone, and to watch my back because they were not what they appeared. I had just come from a hugely successful family run music company where everyone was actually very close, though not all related, we were "family", and I did trust them. Unfortunately as time went on in the corporate world, I realized my true friend was right and some of my other "friends" were nothing but opportunists. I allowed myself to be lied to, betrayed and then tossed under the bus, before I even knew it had happened... why? Well, for one thing, I was too trusting, call it naive, but I wasn't raised to be like that. Some said it was "nothing personal, just business", when in actuality it was about business, the personal stuff was just a front to keep me off guard while they did the dirty stuff and smiled. So that was a good 9-10 years ago and here I am again at that same place, just a different set of people. It just goes to show that maybe it takes a couple lessons for some of us hard-headed types to really learn. Sometimes it's hard not to be cynical. The good news is, I made myself a promise that from now on everyone and everything is suspect until proven otherwise, even when Maxx my dog wags his tail at me, he probably has an agenda (ok maybe not Maxx... well... maybe). Dolly Parton said it best "from a distance, nothing out sparkles a genuine imitation Rhinestone". Sometimes things are not what they appear to be, so I will be checking twice, maybe even three times for the truth, I suggest you do the same. It's less painful that way! -Nick