It's gonna be the longest winter without you. I won't know where to turn to. See somehow I can't forget you, after all we've been through.... I had another blog almost completely finished for this week, but I couldn't NOT write about the man who single-handedly helped me personally develop and foster my love for music. This week we will briefly (because no post could ever do my admiration for Mr. Jobs justice) discuss the impact that his genius had on my life and the rest of the world.
Yea, this post is dedicated to all the teachers who told Steve Jobs he would never amount to nothing. And all the techies in the struggle. You know what I am saying. It's all good baby baby. It was all dream... Oh but what a great one it was. A teenager who decided his life path in the back of a garage. The only thing I ever did in a garage was...well let's not go there. After traveling through the path exactly as he wanted to, he excelled in his 56 years on earth in ways others could only imagine. Nope, not true. He was so sickeningly amazing people couldn't actually imagine it. But he did.The music library that currently resides in my pocket reminds me of the dark days of Cd's and how much I treasure the ability to retrieve any song within a few seconds. It also connects me to the man behind it all, and I feel sad at the thought of not getting to live through another one of his babies that would be the hottest gift for future Christmases. Standing in line for an apple product in the bitter cold morning hours of a black Friday will never be the same.
I have mentioned more than once how much my ipod means to me. I am currently on my 3rd one and even though it is on its last leg I can't seem to bring myself to get a new one. Actually Beatles songs sound so much better when they are skipping. No they don't. Steve just let a big "oh for the love of itunes, get a new one!" somewhere in software heaven. But like a perfectly worn in college t-shirt, or your favorite pair of socks, it has become a fiber of my personal fabric as a human being. My first ipod was the disarmingly cute pink metallic mini - first generation in 2002. Duh of course it was pink. Remember those bright neon commercials with the insane dancing?...Wow! Apple is talking to me!! This shit is Bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S! Thanks Gwen now I always remember how to spell it. This campaign demonstrated marketing & advertising that was so purely delicious it made Don Draper and the crew shutter a bit. Suck it Ogilvy. As result of their success, the commercials put JET and The Ting Tings on the map. In my early days at the Gap we'd recreate the commercial in the store when the song came on...specially that cough at the beginning...Big black boots, long brown hair, she's so sweet with the get back stare... my old manager Brianna just shook her head in disapproval! I still stand behind the fact that the customers loved it. Interestingly enough, I was rewarded for my booty shaking as I won a store contest and got a gray mini. I was naive in those days and gave it to my boo. He still has it, but if this happened today I would just have 2 ipods, which to me, makes perfect sense.
My beauteous Pinkie and I lived through many adventures and heard amazing music together for the first time. I discovered The Doors, Dylan, Muddy Waters, and countless other legends as this god-like device helped me access music in a way I never could before. Me & Pinks tolerated Compact Discs as a means to build up our library but really we couldn't wait to be one with our songs and dump their pathetic asses. Eventually I outgrew the memory and upgraded to a classic in black. I held onto Pink for a year before I finally found a new home for it.
I was too young to experience the Macintosh revolution of the 1980's, but I remember an entire lecture in my advertising class structured around Apple and it's infinite power to innovate. Correction: Steve Jobs' infinite power to innovate by making people do whatever it took to fulfill his vision, often exceeding even their own expectations. Prof. Lev, gave me the greatest gift in that 3 hour lecture any educator has ever given me: Foresight and inspiration. She told us any one of us could be titans in any industry we wanted. At first, I almost spit out my latte, because a quick glance around the room told me otherwise. First of all, it was a Saturday class at FIT, which meant you were either a first class nerd and the chance of missing a learning opportunity just because it was the weekend was unfathomable; or you were the bartender, waitress or stripper who was desperately trying to continue their education and this was the only time they could go (even though they slept through most of it)...and there was me: The miserable full time student who was never told the class was needed until the last semester and was already taking 5 evening classes after work....thanks FIT...you rule!!! It was highly unlikely that the 8 students in this pitiful class could be titans of anything other than mediocrity or perhaps stripping. (I swear that one girl was a stripper. I don't see justification otherwise to wear what she wore to a 1PM Saturday class, unless she was pulling a pussy double. Which hey...it is not for me to judge.) Prof. Lev saw the skepticism or actually lack of any relevant sign of life (except maybe my smirk at her comment) and she showed us the infamous 2005 SJ commencement speech. I think I held my breath during a few parts. I loved her enthusiasm in seeing our response and even Candy (I called her that in my mind because that seemed like an appropriate stripper name) perked up. Holy shit! I could be a titan!!! This is one of reasons I love that you, my dear reader, give me the chance to do this blog: I get to relive moments in my life that at first glance seem trivial or just fillers of time, but some, like this one, in fact have shaped my future and I didn't even know it! Prof. Lev told us that Steve didn't have to over pay for a fancy education because he had keen instincts. He knew his most effective weapon in the Jobs arsenal was his recognition of power in the unforeseen, beauty in the uninvented, need in the non-existent, and relentless affinity for absolute perfection no matter what it took. He also had that killer smirk, he knew he was onto something while the rest of us imbeciles where struggling to take in oxygen and walk at the same time.
Steve Jobs it turns out was a master at the same thing Missy Elliot mastered: Working it. He didn't invent actual products. He invented reinvention itself. He put his thing down flipped it and reversed it. The mac was a better PC, the ipod was a superior walkman, pixar was walt disney but on crack, and the iphone well, it left the rest of the phones looking like the ones that come with candy... including my beloved crackberry. Work it. I need a glass of water. Boy oh boy it's good to know ya. Steve Jobs said yes we can before Barack was a household name. He wasn't known for his people skills...My baby he don't talk sweet, he ain't got much to say. And maybe he don't dress fine, but I don't really mind... But his bed side manner and his choice of wardrobe were completely irrelevant when you witnessed the awe of his genius. He has inspired me and countless others to never apologize for the psychos we are and to dream ambitiously as if tomorrow might not come. He is right, it might not. He eloquently reminded us through his own struggle that our mortality can be a catalyst for achievement and accomplishment. As I would say no reason not to go balls out all the time. He will be remembered, in my opinion, above everything for changing the way we use technology in our lives, and for the tenacity it took to make us see just that. He was a dreamer of epic proportions who dreamt for all of us. Thank you Steve Jobs, you will be missed. Let's hear it for the boy.
