Finding the Rhythm

I was shocked, frankly, to see a particlar artist’s name staring at me from the surface of one of the CDs I received from Dixie Dance Kings last week. (DDK is a record pool, the oldest one in the U.S.,  of which I’m a proud member.)

My buddy Dan Miller (DDK’s head) prepared a pair of CDs as a special DDK promo release for the Winter Music Conference this year, and it was on one of those CDs that I saw this artist’s name: Pamala Stanley.

I’m not quite as young a guy as I look or feel, so I’m reluctant to even admit that I remember when her first hits, I Don’t Wanna Talk About It and Coming Out of Hiding were released in ____ and I still have the Atlantic Records 12″ singles in my vinyl collection today. (I just can’t bring myself to mention the year in print.) I was a pretty young pup at the time, but I also saw her perform at a Denver nightclub not long after Hiding came out.

I always sorta wondered what happened to Stanley, and her great, dance-floor-friendly, and very capable voice. I suppose I could have Googled and found her web site, but sometimes I miss the obvious.

She’s clearly been continuing to make music, and the song featured on the DDK promo, Feelin’ the Rhythm, is a fab track that I added immediately to iDanceRadio.fm rotation, and to my sets. She sounds as good as ever.

Pamala reminds me of another songstress from back in the day, Carol Hahn. Carol’s been cranking out the tunes in the past few years as well, and while I didn’t know Carol’s older work, she’s pointed me to some YouTube postings of her 80s tracks. (Cool stuff!)

Which brings me to the point of this blog posting: There’s something to be said for doing what you love, and following your dreams. Is it possible for Pamala Stanley or Carol Hahn to become the next Madonna-level superstar, crossover into mainstream, and make millions? Who knows, but is that really the point? (Truth is, nobody is going to be a Madonna-level superstar these days; the music industry has changed, and even the big stars think selling a few hundred thousand albums to be a big deal these days, and that doesn’t add-up to millions of bucks in a star’s pocket.)

But I digress. Stanley and Hahn and countless others I know (or know of) are out there making it happen, delivering on their passions, putting it all out there, and seeing what happens. I really love that, and whether you’re 25 or 35 or 45 or any other age, it’s something we should all be inspired to do.