Words matter. These are the best Shawn Amos Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
Like any self-governing group of people, the Recording Academy has made missteps over the years. Still, it has corrected course and done more to open its arms to the future than nearly any other industry group around.
Woodstock was a business. A very poorly run business.
Black people cannot look to government to solve their problems.
Despite all of our technological advances, content creation still requires time, inspiration, and a certain amount of sweat. There aren’t any shortcuts. You can’t write an algorithm for it. You can’t predict it. You can’t code it.
We are more than the work we perform. In fact, I’d say that our work is a mere representation of who we are underneath.
My stroller of choice is the Graco Classic. It’s the ’70s Buick of strollers, bulky with a complete absence of style. There are no good lines on the Graco. Yes, it has cup holders, like any self-respecting car or stroller does these days, but the luxuries stop there.
The Woodstock dove on the iconic poster is really a catbird. And it was originally perched on a flute.
Early 1900s Hollywood was full of farmers battling to hold onto their land against a new influx of filmmakers who dug Hollywood’s reliable weather and diverse landscape.
The combination of cheaper and more widespread broadband and increased mobile usage is turning us all into independent viewers.
I know plenty of Hollywood kids who still struggle with being whole. Their lives are never fully their own – always in the grip of a parent who put celebrity ahead of them.
In the ’60s, my father, Wally Amos, had been a talent agent and a personal manager before taking a major career detour in 1975, when he opened a store selling chocolate chip cookies.
There was a time when a musician was forced to act in a video. Seeing a singer step too far outside of his comfort zone to pour all of his high-school-drama angst into a poorly scripted scenario was a sight to behold.
From chain gangs to folk songs to intelligent soul, America has created musicians dedicated to truth, justice, and a better American Way.
As a child, I experienced black culture as many people did in America: on the TV, radio, and stages.
Of course, screwed up families are not the exclusive province of the famous. Still, most families get to screw up in private.
Leave a movie audience inspired, and they will want to ingrain that movie into their lives with the toys, branded food products, soundtracks, and clothing they buy.
Somewhere along the line, a concert became a variety show. It was no longer enough for four dudes to play together in front of some guitar amps. Costume changes, an army of dancers, and Broadway theatrics suddenly became standard for a ‘concert.’
We’re all posting and clicking and sharing, but we’re not devoting enough attention to get anything meaningful from it all.
The Bangles are proof that short skirts and electric guitars go hand-in-hand. They are one of the great all-girl groups, backing up their looks with a serious pop-rock pedigree.
The Dolls were the forefathers of glam. You never knew if they were going to kiss you or punch you. More than likely, they’d do both.
In my early performing days, I played gigs under the pseudonym Whitey McFearsun. I painted my face blue, wore crimson lipstick, and strung on some tight silver latex pants.
Technology has the benefit of being easily scalable. A few weeks or months of coding can result in solutions that reap huge benefits. The global success of Facebook, Twitter, and Google are all triumphs of technology.
Her makeup, hair and general quirkiness overshadow the fact that Cyndi Lauper was one the most soulful chicks to come out of the ’80s.
There’s a reason for Art Garfunkel’s oddly shaped hair. It hides a very big brain.
We all know the record biz don’t pay. All musicians have day jobs – no matter how big they are.
When Woodstock ended on Monday morning, over 600 acres of garbage was left behind on Max Yasgur’s farm. It took over 400 volunteers and $100,000 to remove it all.
‘Morsel’ is a perfect word. Forming those six letters on the lips and tongue prompts an instantaneous physiological reaction. The mouth waters. The lips purse.
I take my kids to a farmers’ market each Sunday to buy organic produce.
Year after year, we see a new crop of musicians who do their best to look tough in lipstick and makeup. Maybe it’s a cry for help, an admission of their strong feminine side, or the realization that they don’t look so good any other way. Whatever the reason, makeup is as rock n’ roll as a Marshall stack.
I live in the social purgatory of the San Fernando Valley, while my eldest daughter is bused to a charter school in the fantasy land of Bel Air.
Harlem’s Apollo is probably the most well-known music hall in the world.
At its best, American music is the soundtrack of our long – and often painful – march toward a more perfect union.
Blues became rock, rock became soul, and all of it was colorblind.
At the height of his popularity in 1977, Cat Stevens converted to Islam and dedicated his life to educational and philanthropic causes.
We all love to sing along with our favorite songs. We sing in the car, in the shower, and at the karaoke bar. The problem is that half the time we don’t know what we’re singing. We’re making up lyrics as we go along and hoping no one will notice.
Musicians burn through more cash than the Federal Reserve.
The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie was an unexpected, unplanned pop culture phenomena. My father went from star-maker to star.
Rock stars should be able to tune their own guitars, apply their own eyeliner, and pick out their own leather pants.
Memphis is the place where rock was born and Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed. It’s full of contradictions, abject poverty, and riches that only music can provide.
Chrissie Hynde is the blueprint for any teenage pop star wannabe looking to have some real cred.
Music and philanthropy have a long, benevolent relationship with one another. Record bins are rife with charity singles, and concert history is filled with benefit shows for every imaginable cause. Musicians like to give back.
There is a difference between a hand out and a help up. Brothers need to help brothers. They don’t do it enough.
In the world of celebrity, there is one universal law: if there’s a scandal or death, Al Sharpton will be there.
The blues is deceptively simple. Verse and chorus. Sometimes not even a chorus. Four bars that repeat, no Auto-Tune, electricity optional. It is the most direct, bare-bones of content. There is no interference between the head and heart.
Men of my father’s generation were perpetual hustlers, always on the make and always on the move.
The same basic tools we’ve used for thousands of years to connect with people, to draw them in and to hold their attention will always work, even if we’re telling our stories 140 characters at a time.
Brands’ products should be the manifestation of a company’s values. Those values should be the subject of all sorts of wonderful stories that comprise your company’s narrative.
Long before Wesley Snipes decided he didn’t need to pay the IRS, Willie Nelson was dodging the tax men.
Schizoaffective disorder is a big mental mash-up of a disease. It combines just about every disorder, from depression, delusions, and paranoia to mania, schizophrenia and hallucinations. My mother bounced between all of these regularly while raising me alone in our Hollywood home.
My father’s very public life as Famous Amos was the opposite of that of his ex-wife, my mother Shirley, who was fighting a very private, solitary battle with mental illness.
