Zents Music Studio

Nobody seems to mind nowadays what authority has to say. It seems that skepticism has taken root in the lowliest to the loftiest.

All bets are off where trust comes into play. The only real word given, or accepted, is the one backed up with legalise.

There is no way to make someone budge excepting threats from the long arm of the law!

What’s going on? Has the world lost it’s innocence? Apparently so.

Now I’d venture to confess that in spite of good intentions, things sometimes go awry. If you really care, genuine sincerity must be backed up with covering your rear.

Use good sense. 

Honestly, the world has changed, so don’t be naive, be wise.

Who cares? Depends on the subject and the person. 

I hate to say it, but nobody cares unless they have something to gain from caring, or if they are your mom.

Mom’s care.

Just remember to be careful.

Something I discovered while out shopping today is that some employees in retail should value themselves better. It’s not that their employers don’t appreciate them, it’s that the employee who is intelligent is not reaching out for a higher, loftier, and probably better paying position.
Granted, some people are the perfect fit for their job. Their job doesn’t call for a lot of brain work, and that’s probably good enough for them. They probably live paycheck-to-paycheck, or else they’re just clocking in time for the people contact, or some other reason.

However, when you encounter a man or a woman who is too large for their position, you kind of feel sorry for them. You think to yourself, this person with an exacting mind and a high polish does not belong here. It would be better for them to use their practical mind in some other way more beneficial to the world.

Then again, some people enjoy selling socks. Maybe that’s as far as they’ll go in life. Maybe they put their intelligent energy in running a happy home, or maybe someone has not alerted them to the fact that life could be much more fulfilling to them if they reach out for a better job.

You may be a brainiac, but nobody will speak up for you.

If you think you deserve a whole lot better than you’re getting; if people admire you for your intelligence, and all the while you’re just doing scut work for low pay, well that’s okay for your employer and customers, but is that okay for you?

We need more ambition in our lives. This ambition means defining your dream and playing to your strengths, otherwise you will always be stuck at slave wages, doing the bidding of less intelligent people than you.

I have a day off. This morning I made eggs, black beans, brown rice and black coffee. Afterwards, I rehearsed some songs with my husband for an upcoming gig.

The way I live is spending my life doing what I love. Years ago I had an idea the way I wanted my future to be. I never expected stuff to get so bad for so many years

Expecting can be a trap. What do you know about the future when you are young?

My biggest disappointments have always been the results of false expectations.

Experience is different from expectations.

Life means making a future for yourself and not fighting your reality.

What happens to you depends on so many factors, including personal faults and the opinions of family and friends.

Of course the media contributes to personal discontent and disappointments too.

I needed to experience a lot of pain before I woke up to reality and realized all the cards I had been dealt to me, could be turned to my advantage with the right attitude.
If it is to be, it is up to me, was the mantra that changed my life.

I really love to see my dreams fulfilled. Many of them have come true for me. Many are coming true, but it has taken effort, daily effort on my part to expect little and let go of the fear of failure. Temporary hardship can yield fantastic results.

One foot in front of the other.

Keep on keeping on!

Musically yours,

Amy Zents

I have noticed that sometimes I do things without thinking. Stupid little things like holding on to junk mail, or odds and ends. Other times I notice how others will barge in during my conversation with a friend, or when a friend completely ignores my presence when they find something or someone else that grabs their attention. 

I remember one time I was at a party. I wanted to impress my boss with my jazz singing the song, My Funny Valentine, with the Jim Whitman Trio. I told him I’m getting up shortly to sing.

I finished singing, and I came back to the table. My boss who loves to talk, said he was so engrossed in conversation, he missed it.

I remember there were times when my mother forgot all about me and everyone ate supper without me. It reminds me of that little mouse who’s whole family moves away without him. He comes home to an empty house. Nobody has missed him.

I’m not feeling sorry for myself because I am in quite demand now. In the past I was shy and insecure. My sister got me over that by pushing me in the deep end. She pushed me out on stage with my quaking knees to sing, Billy don’t be a hero. 

My inherent shyness stuck with me throughout High School. It was only when I fell for a liar who broke my heart, that I was awakened to my verbal power. The guy who stole my heart and broke it, told me I should be a radio DJ. So I took it to heart, and things have only gotten better!

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I guess this is a lesson in my life that we need to pay attention to others, and others need to pay attention to us to make us feel happy.

Musically yours,

Amy Zents

For some dysfunctional artistic folk, drama is their meat and bread. They really believe that vice is nice, or else they have bought into the idea that suffering produces great art. One theatre set-builder I knew felt his work wouldn’t be a success unless he got some of his blood on it. Eww!

My old drama coach used to tell me, save the drama for the stage.

Nevertheless, the lives of many of our most creative and celebrated authors, actors and artists reveal great sacrifices on those who dare draw close to them.

Just getting close to these narcissistic neon lights are enough to blind paramours to their many faults.

These creative individuals who walk on the edge of sanity seem to give off a strange allure.

The temptation to enable them is strong, almost addictive! Add to it their talent or verbosity, and you may get easily hooked.

Satellites of loquacious or sullen luminaries often pay a price, and yet for awhile they enjoy a crazy, sometimes delightful rollercoaster ride.

Who wants a boring life?

I’ll take a 21st century life in the rurals of Minnesota over a heady, congested downtown city life by far, just like I will avoid people who radiate charm but trigger my internal BS detector.

The price is too high for me, thank you very much. Been there, done that. How pathetic or tragic these talented idiots may seem, they are just not worth the pain. By all accounts, these geniuses of manipulation never will apologize for tbeir unpleasantness, unless it suits their means.

Glad to have survived. Glad to blog often and share my stories. Give me nature, music and pets, good food, a fun job and a faithful, quiet husband.

That’s good enough for me.

Not every genius is a glorified goon, but many are! 

I think Henry Rollins says it best in the great song, Liar

We live in a world of strangeness. The rich get richer, and the criminal is arrested more than one time. 

I took a Citizens Academy years ago, and one thing that stuck in my mind was the fact that so many times, a criminal will come from a family of criminals.

You just say one of their family names, like Younger, as in Younger brothers, and you look it up on the jail roster and discover mother, brother, uncle, sister, father, and a host of other relatives are all in the same boat and probably have an arrest record.

I know it’s hard to look at things that way because we want people to be judged on their own merits and not on their family name.

Another coincidence is if someone is arrested for one crime, and it may be a petty crime, that person will always be suspected of breaking the law in that area. 

For example, there is a guy who is known to go to bars a lot and drink a lot. He cannot drive because he has a driving under the influence charge against him. Yet it is said, that even if he is in a vehicle just riding  with  others, his associates are often pulled over just by virtue of his presence, putting them all at risk for the charge of drunk driving.

Again, the same holds true about birds of a feather who love to flock together. Sadly, his friends do not want to go out drinking with him for that very reason.. because they are all drunks, and still drink and drive, to them that is ok, but they don’t want to be seen with him.

Once a person is judged as doing something wrong, that person will always be suspected of backsliding and doing that again and again. 

We like to give others the benefit of the doubt, but more experienced people, like the authorities, seem to have a very skeptic view of human nature.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if all of us were born and raised in a family of winners, whose very name conjures up the vision of a family of law-abiding citizens.

It would be great if we never had a reason to make a mistake, or never found ourselves in bad company. Sadly, not everyone is a winner in the gene pool, or the family lottery. But, we do have free will to make our own decisions, and we can really change if we decide to.

However, if worse comes to worse, folks found with a negatively popular last name who are trying to do right, can either legally change their last name in order to separate themselves from a disreputable family, or else just bravely try to set a good example.

Some of the biggest thrills in my life, things that make me really sparkle with the joy of living, have come from writing original homemade songs.

Perhaps it is the element of surprise that comes from the trance I get in, and the results of original songwriting.

Today I wrote a new song. It was inspired by the end of summer, the joys of living in the Midwest, and of course being with my husband, the love of my life.

Nevertheless, something else that speaks to me, besides the thrill that that comes from writing original songs, is the majestic beauty found in the abundant variety of blooming and blossoming flowers.

Granted, I never used to buy flowers very often. Now, since  I can afford it, I buy fresh-cut flowers once a week, at least.

I do have plants that I grow in the house. But, flowering bouquets have a special attraction of their own.

Yes, they do reflect the transiency of life, but they are so beautiful. They really light up a room and they light up my life.

Suppose you try and do something and everyone tells you you’re wrong. That is the way it seems to be sometimes.

Russell Simmons says that you should “do you!” It is somewhat exciting to be yourself, but people don’t like it. They want you to “do them.”

Like in the song “Cecilia,” my confidence has been shaken as of late. People seem to imagine me doing their bidding. I’m not a Slave. Perhaps that’s what they need. But I am not a Slave. I can live my own life perfectly contented because of the distance I’ve traveled.

We have a spoiled society of consumerism. People who are so out of touch with what is real, and it makes you want to slap them up the side the head. 

I call these people users and abusers. Once in awhile they rear their ugly heads in my life, usually they show up as immature members of the public. 

It makes you wonder what kind of a generation we are raising.

Of course, critics can be very mean. I’ve never found a competent critic who is well-meaning.

I suppose that it’s every man and woman for themselves. I’m glad I’m strong enough at my age to be able to cope. Thank goodness for my husband, my sister, and my two dogs.

I have to confess that once in awhile one of my associates in my business of broadcasting also has a word of encouragement for me. It’s too bad we have to look outside ourselves for our confidence. Nonetheless, every one of us has the power to uplift each other or tear each other down. 

Be nice.

A few years ago when my Pomeranian was getting an ocular implant, that is an artificial lens because she has cataracts and glaucoma, I wrote this song and created this music video in honor of National Dog day.

Listen to our acoustic duo, Molly and Sonny Boy, (James and Amy Zents) as we sing a short homemade ditty in honor of  “National dog day” on YouTube here.

https://youtu.be/eNOLLwZDpHI

Our pet canines bring us continual joy, day in and day out.

They don’t tell you fibs that bring you down, and they don’t make you false promises, and then don’t deliver.

Dogs ought to be celebrated every single day of the year! 🙂