Why share Jarrod Elmore Radio?

If you're here, you're considering "sharing" Jarrod Elmore Radio on Facebook, or some other social medium.

That, to me, is a really fabulous thing.

But, I want it to be a fabulous thing to you before you do it.

Because, when you post something to social media or email it to a friend, it reflects back on you.  You are saying, "I approve of this.  Think of me when you click on it."

I rarely post anything to social media because I think it's often noisy there and people post trite things, like a picture of their breakfast or something preachy about their judgmental political views.  Crap, basically.  I'm generally disinterested.

The last thing I posted on Facebook was a picture of my girlfriend, Debbie.  The only text I wrote was, "Isn't she lovely?"  Here it is:

It got 36 likes and comments by the end of the day.

The photo mattered to me.  It was something I believed was beautiful and wanted others to enjoy. 

And so, if you share Jarrod Elmore Radio, it should matter to you.  It should be something you believe is beautiful and want others to enjoy. 

Let me tell you the story:

(Seriously.  Let me.)

I grew up wanting to be a rock star.  My favorite band was U2, and I saw them in concert twice.  I got kicked out of piano lessons by two piano teachers for being incompetent, and I picked up guitar at a Summer arts camp workshop.  My family noticed I was pretty good, so I played in church.  Then, I rebelled against the church because religion is seriously full of sh*#$%.  I was a tortured, artistic misfit as a teenager.  I would come home from school - where I didn't fit in at all, seriously - and I would write songs for a band I was going to start that would be bigger than U2 someday.  As if that's possible.  After playing guitar for a while, I realized that I now knew enough music theory to start teaching myself the piano.  So, I would sit at the family piano and write, and these songs would come out that sounded way too emotional for a 15 year old.

My parents thought I was too sensitive.  I wasn't.  But, I was too sensitive for a 15 year old to be able to withstand.

So, my adolescence was painful.  And, my adulthood was this turbulent mixture of exhilarating dreams and toxic personal crisis.  I hurt like hell.  But I had some cool moments, too.  I learned.  I pursued a spirituality that was non-religious.  And I began learning the difference between love and fear.

After a string of ups and downs during my marriage from 2007-2013, I hit my lowest low when it ended in divorce.

Having lost everything and embarrassed myself over the pain I was in and the mistakes I made because of it, I started a new life with Debbie in 2014.  She had seen me play in rock bands and knew I was kind of an animal on stage.  But, she responded when I played the piano for her in private.

So I gave her private concerts all the time.  She thought it was sexy.  She preferred my tender side to my rock-n-roll side.  But, the rock and roll turned her on too.  I don't know.  I’m skipping to the next paragraph now.

The story is long, ok?  This is a paraphrase.

That year, I wrote and released Now and Forever, my second studio album.

I did a few concerts and I played on TV. 

Then, I had the best New Year's Eve of my life on December 31st, 2014.  Instead of playing in a rock band for some New Year's Eve party, I just took Debbie out to the movie theater to see Interstellar, the space movie with Matthew McConaughey.

I used a movie theater gift card my mom gave me for Christmas.  I don't know why I just told you that.  And movies are like $11.93 per person now.  That's ridiculous.  I'm old enough to remember when they were less than five bucks.  Back to the story:

In Interstellar, they explore the multi-dimensional nature of space and elude to how Love is the driving force of the cosmos.  It's my kind of movie.

At the theater we went to, the seats are these motorized red recliners.  If you are on a date, you can put the armrest up so it's not between you.  So, Debbie and I put the armrest up and snuggled.  Real men snuggle.  Maybe not with each other, but they snuggle with their women.  As the credits rolled, we didn’t move.

We sat in blissful silence as people got up around us to leave.  We stayed silent the rest of the way home.  The first time we spoke about the movie was the next day.  And when we did, I got into this heightened awareness that the essence of Love is giving.

Love is the spinal column of the human experience.  I am an obsessive absolutist about knowing the meaning of life and doing it while I'm here.  And the meaning of life is love, and you do it by giving.

So, I decided to give my music away.  Screw the 8 bucks I get when people buy a CD.  I just want to give my music to anybody who wants to hear.  (I still have the copyright, so don't get any ideas.)  But, seriously.  It's free.  That's it.  That's all. 

So here's where you come in.

You heard my music because I was giving it to you.  That was me giving you love.  Now, as Benjamin Franklin said, "Don't pay me back.  Pay it forward."

Or, as I say, "Play it forward," which is a stupid catch-phrase, but it helps you remember the gist. 

Think of this music as love.  (I think it is actually.)

And give that love to others. 

Someone will hear this music because of you.

So, I made it easy for you by putting these nifty buttons down below this text. 

Just click on a button, maybe add a personal note about my music, and share the love.

Thank you.  Namaste.  Godspeed.  Hakuna matata.  And, may the force be with you.

(click a button below)