Category: art and artist

30 minutes of heaven | EP Man – Bas Beenackers, solo debut

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
The album presentation in a chapel in Oud-Zuilen. Little bear Puux and me posted our collage on Twitter.

Before I left the after party to the album presentation of “Man”, from Utrecht’s My Blue Van frontman Bas Beenackers, I asked him how bad he would feel if my post about his first solo record resulted in a call to plug it in, amp it the f up, and to wake up the neighbors?
On a scale from 1 to 10?
Because in theory, that is what I do best.

In a not so long ago past, when I still felt I could develop something called Rock Star Yoga (I no longer feel that, I feel like I need to give it a rest. My years-long involvement has not benefited it, and I trust it will find its form in my absence so I can pick it up when I know what it is), someone once asked me how I was going to combine yoga and Bon Jovi, suggesting if maybe “the philosophy” was going to be Bon Jovi’s?
Although it wasn’t meant as a serious suggestion, I answered;
“Well, yeah! It kind of is!”

Because Bon Jovi’s active, push back, go get ’em approach IS exactly what yoga has been lacking!
It’s the directionless “just feel what it does to you” approach, that had unwittingly been depleting me all along.
And that I for one, desperately needed out, before it was ever going to work again between me and yoga.   

The energy of Bon Jovi’s anthems were, and are, the perfect antidote to the feeling I lost myself, during my yoga career.
I was okay, and then one career later, it had destroyed me.
I went in a grown woman sure of herself, with a Tommie by her side, and we had each other.
I came out an insecure wreck who was afraid to stand in her own power, my Tommie was long gone.
And although I’m happy in my love life as a single now, I can’t help but wonder if I had stayed in my power, would we still have each other, AND have made it?

If I had to choose, I’d recommend Bon Jovi’s anthems rather than yoga.
And  Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction rather than meditation.
And I don’t say that because I have 15 years of “What the f happened” to unpack.
I say that because anyone ever listening to a rock record, and enjoying it, will tell you exactly the same thing.

So although I had listened to “Reason” the single from the EP Man, insatiably  on repeat – and would have been able to give him a cue if he had blacked out in the chapel in Oud Zuilen – I didn’t quite get my head around “Cherry” the second single.
And besides, acoustic guitar against plugged in amped up electric guitar? Oh, that’s just no match.

So I was convinced I would like the first two My Blue Van albums, As Colors Change and Hush, better than the singer songwriter album Man.
And that therefor this blogpost about “Man” would inevitably, result in a call to arms to go back to the rock sound of the first two My Blue Van albums;
And all the shows they gave…
Oh man!

All those venues, so well known in The Netherlands, because they all have their legendary stories!
“Pearl Jam played there.”
Nirvana.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
And Dutch band The Golden Earring and the legendary Herman Brood.
Those stages, those places, those venues.
Where the stage is dark, with bright stage lights, and the smoke from machines is reminiscent of the 20th century where for decades people just smoked during concerts.
THOSE kind of venues.
THAT kind of music.

“Bas, if my post ends in a call to plug it the fuck in, amp it up, and rock the  frickin’ house!!
How bad would you feel about that?
On a scale from one to ten.”

And as he looked at me smiling, with those intensely blue eyes, he said in that slow husky drawl;
“I leave that entirely up to you.”

Bas Beenackers’ solo EP Man, is probably the best album you will hear this entire year.

For those who know Bas Beenackers (1985) from his electrifying live shows with My Blue Van, the sound of Man will take some getting used to.
No howling distorted guitar, funky drums or raucous screaming vocals. None of that. His first solo EP features intimate, acoustic songs, bare and vulnerable.
full article 

“Man” is 30 minutes of heaven.
The album was presented in an old chapel in Oud-Zuilen, and the guitar and Bas’ voice sounded nothing short of angelic.
And its melancholic tone, makes it the perfect companion for the month of September, when we look back on this summer and our lives slowly get back to normal. 

For full effect, listen with headphones, and it is guaranteed to make any drizzly workday better. 
And also make any movie better or any commercial more effective, this material could start a serious bidding war on the commercial market. 
Buy the EP “Man” from Bas Beenackers here.
Including the singles “Reason” and “Cherry” which eventually became my favorite track.

Buying the album is €10 straight into the pockets of a singer songwriter who made a deeply spiritual album, that will give you a touch of paradise in the midst of war torn, polarized world.

And waiting for your delivery, listen to the album that needs a reissue with lightning speed, because it is no longer available:
My Blue Van –  As Colours Change (2013) [Spotify exclusive]
and
My Blue Van – Hush (2015)

And amp it the fuck up.

.
~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🥳 PayPalMe 
🇳🇱Tikkie van de week

Get a taste of the LIVE magic!!!
My Blue Van, Who is there to know (live), from the album Hush:

That was it! 

Thank you for reading my Rock Star Writer blog!
Subscribe to the blog, to get them in your mailbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably on the top right.

At my other blog, Daily Bon Jovi Yoga , is currently exclusively dedicated to writing about Bon Jovi On-this-day concerts!
So subscribe there for those short trips through memory lane and the Bon Jovi archives.

Twitter: all blogs, all posts, I practically live here!
Dailies on Twitter: little bear Puux, soundtrack Bon Jovi on this day concert 
Rock Star Writer on Facebook: all English blogposts and a soundtrack on this day

On my English channel Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs will reboot this week! (finally!)

Nederlandse YouTube wordt een channel voor generatie X (1965-1980)!
Dus subscribe.

NEW: Books!

You can find my books The Little Mistress Who Turned Into A Baby Koala
A Boyfriend Like Jon Bongiovi
and White Tigress Yoga Workbook
at the bottom of this page: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter

If you live in The Netherlands, Belgium or Germany, you can also order these books from me – just go to the bottom of this page:
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter
to check out which ones you want, and write me an email at s_beenackers@hotmail.com.
Payment is via PayPal or bank transfer.

Now that
– I am consistently blogging 2-3 times a week inspired by Bon Jovi concerts , at the blog Daily Bon Jovi Yoga
and
– the decision to take a yoga sabbatical (teaching wise/ video wise) until I can share Rock Star/ Bon Jovi yoga the way I want to
and
– with the Bounce concert, being the excellent kickoff to something new!
I am opening a new phase in my umbrella project “Rock Star”.

Therefor:
This Rock Star Writer blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 3]

Title: “Rock Star”
or “Rock Star yoga/ business/ writer”

artists: Suzanne Beenackers, little bear Puux           
art form: performance art
phase 1: earliest expressions, mixed work, July 2019 – March 2022
phase 2: April 2022 – August 2022
phase 3: 22 August 2022 – 

All yoga projects from phase 2 have been dropped for now (yoga sabbatical from teaching/ sharing),
my own yoga practice will be picked up and shared on Twitter,
and otherwise this phase 3 will just be the celebration of projects and dailies, already started and played with, these past years;
All kicked into a higher gear! 

3 YouTube channels
1. English YouTube Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
2. Nederlandse YouTube “de Catacombe” studio voor generatie X
3. YouTube Rock Your Business
Headers from the channels have not been changed yet (and may contain the word “yoga”), but you ARE in the right spot!

4 blogs
1. Rock Star Writer (current blog)
2. Bon Jovi concerts on this day- blog: Daily Bon Jovi Yoga
3. Art and pop culture: World Between Worlds
4. Dutch blog: Suzanne Beenackers

2 Facebook pages
1. Rock Star Writer on Facebook
2. Dutch: Suzanne Beenackers Schrijver Facebook met beertje Puux

1 Twitter account
my personal Twitter account

That’s no tribute band; That’s a rock n’ roll orchestra! | Tribute band Bounce | de Wolfsberg, Groesbeek | 2022 08 21

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
Little bear Puux got very inspired in Olli’s church of rock n roll. After our post-Guns N Roses hiatus, of two months rarely posting, we’ll pick up posting photos on our Twitter , this week

I wasn’t going to put a photo with little bear Puux here. Because in my honest opinion tribute bands have gone through their share of goofy receptions.
But then I saw that I had also posted last month’s Guns N’ Roses story with a photo from little bear Puux!
Who was I kidding: Me, making a photo of you with my bear, is my the highest regards. 

I ditched the idea of using the one single photo I had taken of the band without Puux (during Wanted Dead or Alive, with Oliver Henrich on acoustic guitar as well) and went for this one where a bright light shines around Oliver Henrich’s head.
And since Bon Jovi never feels any shame around deliberately creating a religious experience, in particular during the performance of Lay Your Hands On Me, where Bon Jovi goes aaaallllll in, on his self-proclaimed “Jonny’s Church of Rock n Roll”;
I thought a little reference to the savior never hurt any rock star.
So Oliver Henrich in the light, with little bear Puux as his disciple, it is.

And this is where the mood changes.
This is where you and me, are gonna get super serious about that we need to collectively review our appreciation, of what we, the world, and probably the musicians themselves, call tribute bands.
When in my opinion there are VERY good reasons not to call them that.

Do we call an orchestra a Bach cover band or a Mozart Tribute?
No we don’t, do we?
And why not?
Because we ACKNOWLEDGE (pardon my capitals) that writing music, a symphony, is one thing;
And performance is another.

We acknowledge that musicians, an orchestra, just like actors, perform other people’s work (yes), but their performance in itself is art.
And the tribute scene at least in the Netherlands, isn’t. It sees itself as a party scene, which it maybe is, I don’t know. Maybe other, less serious tribute bands, are party bands.
Don’t ask me.

All I m saying is that I know Bounce, and others, have far outgrown that.
And next to that there are tribute bands that can’t possibly qualify as a party band because the original was way too niche for that. Like for example the Lou Reed tribute band I saw last month.

Before I go into the Bounce setlist and performance, and come up with even half of something that resembles a review here, and not to hammer my point home, but yes!
To bring it home, and close this conversation once and for all, I want to share with you a concert Bounce did in 2014.
They rewrote Bon Jovi songs for orchestra, (talk interpreting as an art form!) and performed in a club, packed deep into the balconies, to a crowd of absolutely ecstatic Bon Jovi fans!
Or maybe better: Bounce fans.
In Germany Bounce fans travel hundreds of miles to see them, and they were particularly hellbent to see this show!

Bounce & Orchestra | A Symphonic Rock Night
| Live at Zeche | Bochum 2014 🇩🇪

So I thought that was definitely required before I can even begin to touch on what I saw today;
Bounce are artists in their own right, with a deep understanding of their craft, their message, and the music they perform.

Can I have an Amen!

bounce in groesbeek:
Welcome to Olli’s church of rock n’roll.

 

No proper church can go without merchandise! And sold over the counter in an iconic stand here (made from concert crates). Merch available on German shows or their website. 📸source: Facebook Bounce

Bounce are what I would call, the ideal cover band for the real fan.
Everyone will have a great time, but the real fan?
Will have an unforgettable time!

Knowing this, I looked forward to having the rarities being tossed around like “Hey, heys!” in Lost Highway, but!
Groesbeek was going to be a 1 hour show!
And at a festival that sends you reminders to come early so that you can claim your favorite standing table with your friends.
A festival that urges you to buy your tokens early, and then you click it and the minimum amount is 25 tokens!
Well, I was no longer so sure.

To me, a tribute festival looked like the anti-rarities occasion.
You wanna hit them with that chorus sooner rather than later.
And preferably one they know!

So would German band Bounce really, on their only concert here in the Netherlands of this entire year (I have the impression the pandemic nearly killed their international calendar), dare to bring their trademark setlist? 
Their shows in Germany can last up to three hours, and have the layered timeline and musical variety of a 2010 The Circle, Bon Jovi concert;
And. Then. SOME!

The setlists of full Bounce concerts rock so hard, that just seeing those titles all lined up like that, is enough to make any fan wonder who they have to bribe to hear such a piece from the heavens.

I asked the setlist from the tribute party, and got it, so I have the list here of what was played.
It has a ton of coded and perhaps classified information on it, so I m not going to share it (and I m terrible with puzzles, so their secrets are definitely safe with me), but I can see the track list.
There was absolutely no time to ask if they had diverged from it, and there was loud music playing when I asked for the list that was taped to the floor. So that made for uncomfortable communication.

It seems to be incomplete on at least one account;
Unexpectedly really, because I thought they would have stuck to it, and there are no audibles (songs to choose from) on it.
But they played Lost Highway, and Lost Highway is not on the list.
Hey, hey!

In short?
Bounce delivered.
They m.f.-ing did it man!!
They actually, I kid you not, used those 60 minutes of stage time to open with We got it going on, which I absolutely LOVE!
But I imagine it will ring few bells, for a tribute festival visitor.
Then we had
You Give Love A Bad Name
Have A Nice Day
Which makes sense because I can imagine the audience needing some reassurance they were in the right tent, and that there’d actually be songs they could belt along!

Then we get Keep the Faith’s album opener I Believe, oh dear….
One for the fans, one for the fans..
Fans who never get to hear this at Bon Jovi concerts, so who are of course VERY excited to hear this with drums banging, guitars howling, and a lead singer who drops to his knees, just like Jon Bon Jovi on the Keep the Faith tour!
I mean, Jon Bon Jovi also did that on the Crossroad/These Days Tour, but I always got the impression that it got turned into an act.
But I like to think Keep The Faith Tour Jon, dropping down to his knees was a  genuine seeker in need of guidance.
Things were not going well for the band in terms of Keep the Faith ticket sales, which made for a tour where Jon literally threw in ALL he had. Probably the best tour they ever did.

After Believe, the maracas come out!
Which can only mean one thing, it’s time for the Keep The Faith album song everybody DOES know;
Keep the Faith.
Opening with the famous bass chords, by a bass player on “whose side of the stage” I’d definitely be on! 
I recently learned people who chose Richie’s side of the stage, called themselves “Darksiders”, so now I am in the habit of identifying on “which side of the stage” I want to be on.
An identity choice I didn’t even know existed, until recently.

Maybe this is a good moment to point out that all this time, we are watching 5 professional musicians, and an on-stage WALL with I think 8 different guitars (Oliver’s and guitarist Jens Roesel’s).
Bear in mind that just like in Bon Jovi, the lead guitarist Jens Roesel (Jay), is not just one hell of a guitar player;
He also sings.
Keyboard player, Sven Martin/ Jojo, like David Bryan; Also sings.
And also like David, who is an acclaimed Broadway musical writer, Jojo was the one who rewrote the material together with Oliver Henrich, for the orchestra performance
Bass player, Tom Mueller: Also sings.
And drummer Markus Hoffmeister is definitely as strong a drummer as Tico Torres. And who knows maybe Markus, can do those cheeky baritone voiced songs or additions Tico does about once a decade 😉 Who knows!

But this is one hell of a band and, just like in Bon Jovi, its members are multi talented and they have invested in their equipment to get it right. No to get it, perfect.
Including the famous talk box;
An instrument that reached worldwide fame (and was probably saved from getting extinct, the moment the 70s rock artists have all passed away) when Bon Jovi started using it for Livin’ on a prayer.
Had they not done that, the talk box’s life would now be tied to Peter Frampton’s.

Bounce is a tribute band with all the bells, whistles, and wow wow pedals, and they know how to wield it.
But mostly of course, it is the standard of excellence from its musicians, that make Bounce what it is.
It’s not what you have, it’s how you use it, and all that.

If Bon Jovi would be in need of new musicians, of a backup musician in case something happens on tour;
Or if they would take the leap of finding a new band member?
I have no doubt in my mind Bounce would be able to supply a drummer, a keyboard player, a bass player, a guitarist, and yes, even a lead singer.
Although that is of a whole different category, because the life of the band Bon Jovi, has historically been tied to its founder and singer Jon Bon Jovi.

But coming back on my point made earlier, if we are willing to start seeing performing as separate to the writing of the music;
Then performing in a band, in a play, that already existed, is not such a big leap.
Just like Queen is still touring, with Adam Lambart as lead singer.

I can see I drifted off.
A lot!
But I hope it illustrates that the level of skill, instruments, and performance power of Bounce, is no small feat.
All ingredients to give you a full concert experience, are there.
And in my opinion, they DO deserve to tour Europe and beyond, with their 3 hour shows. [ touring schedule ]
And wouldn’t it be great if they would also have tours with their own orchestra?
We all deserve that.
Although I thank God on my knees they played Groesbeek; That is not where they belong.
Period.

So let’s return to their Groesbeek setlist, where they had to crush their set to one hour.
What came after Keep the Faith?
The – drum intro! Always!
A track that Bon Jovi has never allowed to become a staple on their list, but since it is probably their biggest hit after Livin’ on a Prayer, Bounce was not going to leave that one on a Groesbeek standing table!

After that we have another one to sing along;
It’s My Life
And then it’s rarities time again, with Born to be my baby AND Raise Your Hands!
The adrenaline for any Bon Jovi fan, to hear those tracks being played live, in a concert setting?
No words to describe, my friend.

After that, a wonderful rendition of Wanted Dead or Alive, with Oliver Henrich on guitar as well.
Wanted Dead or Alive, is referred to as the anthem.
Not yesterday, but by Bon Jovi as well as by fans.
So with Wanted Dead or Alive being loved both by the fans as well as people who are there to meet friends, this was a nice one to get the crowd on the same page again.

Then another standard track from a Bounce concert! 
One Wild Night
From Bon Jovi’s “comeback album” Crush, 2000.

Just like the opener We got it going on, One Wild Night is irresistible as a party song, and the chorus can be taught in a heartbeat and milked for minutes of crowd interaction (which they skillfully did).
But One Wild Night definitely has the hurdle of having very difficult lyrics!
I can imagine that a tribute band or two, and the majority of the fans and that includes me, are definitely not going to be able to get:

Then I’m rolling the bones with Jimmy ‘no dice’
Gonna take him for a couple weeks’ pay
Man, if you lose this roll I take your girlfriend home
So I stopped
But you’re not gonna believe who comes walking out

But that’s why you go to church, to see someone who gets it to a level that you don’t!
And there is no doubt that Olivier, or Olli as he often abbreviates it, knows how to lead the community into higher realms.
Although the voodoo and witchcraft references make One Wild Night an odd one out, in the Bon Jovi catalog.
There is an Angel Heart (1987)/ Wild Orchid (1989) vibe to One Wild Night, where we enter an unfamiliar world where the voodoo priests rule.
Not the catholic ones.

And then.
Just as you think there is no way you can go back from mature, showing them how it’s done, Bon Jovi 2000, to the first album, Bounce plays Runaway;
A song I never really liked on the record, but by the Gods do they bring this live!
And in the original key, AND the miraculous key changes in the end. They talk about “that” key change in Like a Prayer, one Jon Bon Jovi warns young artists NOT to put in their songs if they still want to be able to sing them when you’re 20 years older!
But Runaway’s key changes?
Those were given up by Bon Jovi a lot sooner.

Could have heard them yesterday in Groesbeek though!

And the band Bounce is 20 years old; Oliver Henrich is not a new kid on the block. He was runner up, landing second spot at the voice of Germany in 2020, competing with candidates half his age. This is a singer who has managed to ward off aging and to keep his voice in mint condition. 

And then it’s time to bring it home and remind the congregation why we are here. And that we must never forget that no matter how tough things get, we will always have each other.
And that’s a lot.

Livin’ on a prayer.

And although in this tale, the priests did not blew trumpets, because since 2014 they no longer had the resources of pulling together an entire classical orchestra.
And the wall with 8 of Olli’s en Jay’s guitars did not come crumbling down like the walls of Jericho once had;
The people shouted a great shout, just like they had done in biblical times.

“Whoohoo! Livin’ on a prayer!”

.
~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🥳 PayPalMe 
🇳🇱Tikkie van de week

Tour agenda Bounce: https://www.bonjovitribute.de/termine.php 
Worth planning a trip for!
Or a pilgrimage!

That was it! 

Thank you for reading my Rock Star Writer blog!
Subscribe to the blog, to get them in your mailbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably on the top right.

At my other blog, Daily Bon Jovi Yoga , is currently exclusively dedicated to writing about Bon Jovi On-this-day concerts!
So subscribe there for those short trips through memory lane and the Bon Jovi archives.

Twitter: all blogs, all posts, I practically live here!
Dailies on Twitter: little bear Puux, soundtrack Bon Jovi on this day concert 
Rock Star Writer on Facebook: all English blogposts and a soundtrack on this day

On my English channel Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs will reboot this week! (finally!)

Nederlandse YouTube wordt een channel voor generatie X (1965-1980)!
Dus subscribe.

NEW: Books!

You can find my books The Little Mistress Who Turned Into A Baby Koala
A Boyfriend Like Jon Bongiovi
and White Tigress Yoga Workbook
at the bottom of this page: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter

If you live in The Netherlands, Belgium or Germany, you can also order these books from me – just go to the bottom of this page:
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter
to check out which ones you want, and write me an email at s_beenackers@hotmail.com.
Payment is via PayPal or bank transfer.

Now that
– I am consistently blogging 2-3 times a week inspired by Bon Jovi concerts , at the blog Daily Bon Jovi Yoga
and
– the decision to take a yoga sabbatical (teaching wise/ video wise) until I can share Rock Star/ Bon Jovi yoga the way I want to
and
– with the Bounce concert, being the excellent kickoff to something new!
I am opening a new phase in my umbrella project “Rock Star”.

Therefor:
This Rock Star Writer blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 3]

Title: “Rock Star”
or “Rock Star yoga/ business/ writer”

artists: Suzanne Beenackers, little bear Puux           
art form: performance art
phase 1: earliest expressions, mixed work, July 2019 – March 2022
phase 2: April 2022 – August 2022
phase 3: 22 August 2022 – 

All yoga projects from phase 2 have been dropped for now (yoga sabbatical from teaching/ sharing),
my own yoga practice will be picked up and shared on Twitter,
and otherwise this phase 3 will just be the celebration of projects and dailies, already started and played with, these past years;
All kicked into a higher gear! 

3 YouTube channels
1. English YouTube Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
2. Nederlandse YouTube “de Catacombe” studio voor generatie X
3. YouTube Rock Your Business
Headers from the channels have not been changed yet (and may contain the word “yoga”), but you ARE in the right spot!

4 blogs
1. Rock Star Writer (current blog)
2. Bon Jovi concerts on this day- blog: Daily Bon Jovi Yoga
3. Art and pop culture: World Between Worlds
4. Dutch blog: Suzanne Beenackers

2 Facebook pages
1. Rock Star Writer on Facebook
2. Dutch: Suzanne Beenackers Schrijver Facebook met beertje Puux

1 Twitter account
my personal Twitter account

Exile On Main Street | work like a rock star

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment

It is one of the few Rolling Stones albums I own that was not released when I was alive and aware of it. It is not related to concerts, it’s not one of their ample live albums. Nor is it from my father’s cd collection, which I inherited.
Exile on Main Street.

I have a 2010 double cd edition, and the sole reason I bought it is because the way it came about is illusive, and well documented too. I remember seeing an entire documentary although I have no idea where I saw it, it’s not on YouTube, currently.
The story of this album is what brought me to buy it.

At the time of the recording, The Stones were facing several professional, legal and financial adversities and trauma. They had shifted gears and had started their own record company, but things were far from settled.
The fate of The Stones was standing on the edge of a knife and the recording was a serious business undertaking.

Yet despite of that – or should we conclude “BECAUSE of that”? – at the Villa Nellcôte in the south of France where they were to write and record this album, numerous people stayed and visited, outside the band.
Socializing and fun were as much part of the recording process as writing and recording was.

from The Guardian:
“People appeared, disappeared, no one had a last name, you didn’t know who anybody was,” remembers Robert Greenfield, who was at Nellcôte to interview Keith Richards for Rolling Stone.
“There were 16 people for lunch, and lunch went on for three-and-a-half hours. It was an unparalleled cast of characters.”

Clipboard02There were the people who were with the band, most notably Keith’s partner Anita Pallenberg and their son Marlon. There were fellow musicians, other artists, groupies, technicians, record executives, journalists, and a drug dealer with his entire family.

I’m sure it raised eyebrows even then, but through a 2021 productivity obsessed-lens, the entire scene is downright unthinkable.
And yet, in particular in today’s age, it is so important to realize that chaos and creation always go together.
Chaos and art, always go together.

What lasts through the ages, is what was forged in the heat of something.

One of the things that has been torturing my brain, it’s like a puzzle that doesn’t seem to have an answer, is:
“Where is the art?”

With so many YouTube creators, instagram photographers, online storytellers and offline crafters and handworkers, more than ever before;
WHERE is the ART?!

Statistically speaking, something must have, should have, emerged by now.

And I m going to keep it to fields I know that if something happened there I would have known,
but here we go:
The yoga teacher who is an artist should have emerged.
The blogger who turns out to be the greatest writer of our age, should be known.
The YouTuber who is a performance artist, should be known.

In other words:
The Rolling Stones of our era, should be known.
Yet they are not….

A few weeks ago, I got into a very deep conversation about this, and ever since then the question of two decades of artists missing in action has been on my mind.
And the only solid explanation I had so far, was that the monetizable-ness of these new media has resulted in :
– creations directly being monetized by the creator (f.e. YouTube videos)
– creations supporting services or products that are sold (f.e. writing to sell your product or service)
– creations being shared to create a relationship with your audience

So the creations are very outcome based, whether for dollars or for likes.
And who can blame them, those savvy creators who no longer live hand over fist, but make their own living and absolutely thrive!

From a humanist point of view it’s all good. There has been an artistic revolution where creators can finally live of what they create, either
– from advertising revenue
– selling their art directly,
– by piggybacking selling a product or service onto their art
– or by establishing their own audience, their own fan base.

From the perspective of personal happiness and success, internet has revolutionized art. But, as was on my mind for the past few weeks, it also seems to have taken something from us….
Both collectively, as well as on an individual level.

Because I believe that we have not seen “the real” art, in the mediums I mentioned. 

It’s comparable to the middle ages:
Painters were seen as craftsmen. What woodworkers and leather workers did with wood and leather, they did with paint.
But during the renaissance, painters became artists:
Individual and unique creators.

Modern media is the medieval guild of the artists of today and tomorrow.
And they make a good living there.
The media provide a safe umbrella, just like the guilds did.

This topic, of the nature of art in relationship to modern media, had been on my mind for a while. And I was done thinking about it.
Until today when I encountered Exile on Main Street again, and noticed the difference in work routine then and now! It was so vastly different to what we are used to.

I think for the ones who are called, it would be a very interesting experiment to test our lives in those artistic rock star circumstances of Villa Nellcôte.
Circumstances under which all our routines are broken, and the only thing that comes out of it, is the thing that was created right there and then.

The thing that was forged in the heat of laughter, music, jokes;
Of excess, drama, tension.
Sex.

Art is not born by creating space for it, in neatly weekly intervals and by planning your days in advance.
It is not born at eight thirty AM on Monday morning.

But because you were without guild, without fans, without support, without structure, in a situation that is as chaotic as it is inspiring.

If you want to make a good living of your art, by all means, structure your life.
You are living in the age where financial freedom for artists is more accessible than ever.

But if you want to discover if there is any art left in you?
If you want to discover if you are an artist or not?

Unleash yourself. Strip away everything that can be stripped away.
Break all pattern, all routines, and say yes to everything and everybody at your doorstep.

And the art will come.

~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
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In Praise of The Circle: We Weren’t Born To Follow

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment


Highlighting one, two or even three songs from The Circle is torture – because they’re all so good! But I ll put Superman Tonight on top of this post. And Bullet at the bottom. Full album The Circle here.

Dear Jon,
.
Did you even listen to The Circle, before recording your video?
Now hold on – this posts ends super happy. And there’s sex in here. Well kind of, all I could muster anyways.
But did you even listen to the beautiful and dare I say brilliant and MUCH NEEDED positive and uplifting lyrics of this 2009 album?
Or did you just browse through the song titles, and assumed you were done with your “own” (I will get back to this possessive adjective) work and didn’t need to listen to it?
.
I think every creator, every artist who has ever walked the face of this earth understands where you were, in which place, if you really felt like that, Jon.
A dark place.
Which is why I think that if anyone got it into their heads to berate you for not fully backing yourself – the way you usually do – they cannot be creators themselves.
.
They do not understand the burden of being a creative, and the process in itself being somewhere between the euphoria of the best night with a stranger (see! I m working with you here, trying to spice things up!) you ever had;
And a roller coaster ride on a track that is about to be demolished because it is past its due date;
Perhaps a bit too dangerous.
A tad too thrilling for your liking.
.
But you survived and your feet are planted firmly on the ground, you can shake it off.
And whether the adventure was the night with the blonde (can we make her blonde? We make her Michelle Pfeiffer) or the roller coaster ride;
You can turn it into a good story to tell your friends.
.
However, what would happen if you’d be eye to eye with Michelle, surrounded by other green room invitees who knew that back then the two of you….?
Or if you had to vouch for your time together, in front of a camera?
Stammer and feeling uncomfortable I reckon, nah?
.
What would happen if your friends would surprise you that the roller coaster had not been taken down, and the new owner of the land will allow you to go in one more time, before it is demolished?
That you can relive your adventure from 2009, which you apparently appreciated so much, because you keep telling people about it?
Not an appealing thought to go back in.
.
I m currently listening to the Circle, on my headphones. It’s about the 9th time since you posted your video to Instagram. I m a Twitter user myself – but you being active on Instagram is still the only appeal the medium has ever got to me.
The only alluring aspect of it is you being there.
But I m holding the line so far.
You predominantly on Insta, me on Twitter. But listening to The Circle adds to the wish to see more of you on my social media: What a brilliant album. Just like the previous 8 times I listened to it these past few days;
Not only can I not find anything wrong with it, with zero songs I want to skip, but it’s filled with magnificent songs!
And so many guitars, it’s so rock!
.
I genuinely love this album, Jon. And if nothing else your video has established that me and who knows how many other fans are giving The Circle the relistening it deserves. And I m betting they’re coming to the same conclusion:
The Circle is a strong, rounded album.
Period!
.
But, there is a way more important reason than the high quality of this album why your video was “off”. 
Because you don’t get to be the critic of your own work, Jon.
You may be the one receiving the idea, you may be writing, singing, producing, or even get to be the promoter of your own work, if you’re hellbent to do so.
But the critic?
No.
.
 I personally believe nobody should be criticizing anybody:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.”
A quote from Roosevelt.
But if you disagree, if you believe criticism does have a place in this world, it is still not the creator of the work who gets to criticize his own work.
And the reason is very simple:
Because it is the work of God.
.
More than the people who do not create, or have the unholy profession of being a critic, or the ones who focus on joining the dots type of growth, or have the extremely valuable yet not that spectacular task of cleaning, nurturing, care taking;
The artist is none of those things.

He is usually not even particularly good at them either.
.
Maybe the fact that you are good serving your community in a more direct manner, has made you more judgmental to your art.
Maybe that’s why it hurts (or you think it hurts) seeing your work again.
But I m here to say on repeat:
You are not a critic, let alone you’d be the critic of your own work.
You are a builder and a care taker; And as such of tremendous value to your family and the community at large, but you are first and foremost something else:
An artist.
.
And the creative process is a different one. Different to placing one brick on top of another. Different to mapping out, planning, even (technically) different to having a vision of where you want to go with your art.
.
Builder Jon built the Bon Jovi empire.
But artist Jon?
Oh….. artist Jon did everything else.

But he did not do it alone.
But to know with whom he was, we have to go back to the meaning of creativity.
Creativity comes from creation. And raise your hand if you know who The Big Creator is? 
Yes, Jon? 
*      * 
That is, of course, the correct answer.
The answer is God.
.
An artist creates, and that places him on the same plane as God. Creativity is by design, a divine practice. It’s the reason why it feels so much better to be creating something, than to just try to find meaning in the ways of The Lord.
Once you start joining the process of creation, things acquire meaning and fall into place.
Because you’re no longer here, you’re “there”.
You can feel The Power of the big creator flowing through you, and in conjunction you create a song, a 3 hour rock show, or an extremely good album.
And then the sun comes up.
The cart comes to a halt.
The woman smiles at you, and it’s like a wordless goodbye that makes you sad.
.
But it is done.
And it was worth it.
.
For a brief period you were not just relieved from normal life;
You were one with God.
.
And it is exactly for this reason why we don’t get to be the critics of our own work. Because it was never our work, Jon.
It was God’s.
He flows through us, like he flows through all creators.
And we’re just the messenger, like all the messengers before us, and all the messengers after.
To criticize what we have created is to criticize God.
That’s why it feels so horrible to do it… and makes us feel so miserable.
.
Creation is never something you did for a certain outcome.
It’s not even something you can look back on and say “It took 7 days”, because any limitation, any label is preposterous.
It took as long as it took.
And it was done when it was done.
And the only reason to do it, is because the idea was hovering you, tempting you, whispering sweet promises in your ear at moments when you were supposed to be doing something worldly and extremely useful.
“Come on Jon…. I know you want to.”
“Just a few minutes.”
“I promise I ….. I promise….. I -“
.
And one night, one wild ride, one 1500 word blog post or one amazing album later, your feet hit the floor and you’re like:
“I really should not have done that.”
.
Oh but you should have, Jon.
It’s why you’re here.
.

~Suzanne 

Rock Star Writer 

These blog posts will go out randomly, as topics reveal themselves.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook*
my personal Twitter account

Reboot/ New videos expected at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

* sadly enough all referrals/ links to the Rock Star “Yoga” page on Facebook (url), have become invalid. I intend to start curating this blog, and update the links.

Full album The Circle here.

the Artist versus the Yoga Teacher | (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
Mick Jagger doing yoga
“Financially, dissatisfied.
Sexually, satisfied.
Philosophically, trying.”
.
Mick Jagger, 1969,
Gimme Shelter documentary
.
Originally, the title to this blog had a third name in the loop.
Next to Artist versus Yoga Teacher, I was going to squeeze in:
Entrepreneur.
And although I immediately took it out, if only for reasons of style, now that I have started writing and musing over this story that I m about to share, I think:
“Well maybe that WAS the key!”
Maybe the fact that Entrepreneur did not make it into the title of this blog post, explains not just what happened last night – the story of I Can’t Get No Satisfaction – but that it explains my entire life.
.
We used to have a game on television here in the Netherlands “Lingo”, and it was kind of like Bingo.
And the host would say, whenever a ball with a number came up that was not on the “big bingo card”;
“X (insert number) is not on the card.”
.
And with me:
“Entrepreneur” is not on the card.
.
That is not to say that I don’t enjoy marketing and selling: I absolutely love and adore it!
But not for my own services.
.
With every decision that I make for myself, trouble starts when I start seeing myself as an entrepreneur.
Or if I take actions (even the ones I was going to take already!!) with the perspective of making money.
This does not mean I don’t ask money for what I do:
I don’t give away time for free, nor do I undercharge.
But my main goal is focusing on creating what I want to create, and then to usually share it for free.
It saves me the selling process and maintaining customer service.
If I were to create and sell an online course, I would be responsible for it till the end of time.
Every time I see the words “lifetime access” tied to courses that I buy myself, or that are offered to me, I get shivers down my spine.
And not the good ones.
Promising lifetime access to online products, feels like a virus you will never get rid of.
.
Whereas creating online for free, is absolute heaven.
I have two YouTube Channels and two blogs under this name.
Plus I write a lot of “illegal blog posts” , which means I don’t post them to a blog but only on Facebook.
And I have a pen name, for which I practically do not write anymore because of the C crisis.
My pen name has existed online since 2010, and it’s a more or less secret account, so that I can write freely about my exciting, secretive, sex life.
Needless to say, with C. there no longer is anything remotely interesting to write about.
.
And next to all of that, since three weeks, I am teaching online classes.
And it was in this setting that this story  takes place. Because I showed up to teach my online class themed “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”, and there was no one there in the Facebook group.
It’s a small Facebook group, and it’s aimed at friends and former students of the studio.
I have no intention of recreating an “official” online studio (this is The Artist part, more on that later), so I didn’t mind that no one was there.
It was just that I had not thought it through in advance, what I was going to do, if I was there by myself.
.
I knew at least one student who had paid particularly to attend Monday’s class, and one in particular for Thursday, but was I “obliged” to teach on Tuesday, if no one was there?
Did any of the others fancy this particular class in Replay?
Or could I pretend play, someone would watch it again later, and get great value out of it; So that I could get rid of this eerie feeling and just teach as I always do?
.
When 40 minutes later my mind still had not solved that riddle, and my class had not been the quality it normally has, I gave up, cancelled the rest of the class, and wrote a message on our page, just in case people were looking for the replay and could not find it.
.
The strange thing was, that I understood immediately – as soon as I saw no one was on the live stream – that I would not be able to teach the class.
But I pushed through, because I was so flabbergasted by it.
I didn’t understood WHY, this was such a big deal, right?
I ve been making YouTube videos since 2015, and the largest part of it were yoga videos.
Then why, within a month after my first live stream, did it suddenly become such a big deal that no one was there?
It was this question, this not understanding the deeper underlying principle that would explain the WHY, that caused the restlessness, and caused me to continue.
At least for 40 minutes anyway.
.
The strange thing was, that I had kind of predicted this would happen!
Both no one showing up, as well as me totally “overthinking” it.
.
I predicted it, although laughingly, because the topic of I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, is obviously so sexual I totally understood people feeling uncomfortable attending.
.
But I also predicted that I would think this through, until I had gotten down to the core of its meaning.
.
Because I started the live stream with the Mick Jagger quote about financial, sexual, philosophical satisfaction, stating that – as opposed to Mick – 
I scored a full 100% on philosophical satisfaction.
That over the years I had thought so long and hard, over many of the underlying very philosophical and psychological mechanisms, that you can ask me anything about anything, and I ll know the answer.
I will be able to cut to the core of whatever it is you have trouble with, and I will discover where you have lost your power, which is always at the root of every problem.
And then I will tell you which belief or vision you need to let go off, or what you need to do, in order to immediately regain control over your life.
.

I adapted Mick’s quote to my own situation:

“Sexually, dissatisfied.
Philosophically, satisfied.
Financially, trying.”

Suzanne Beenackers, 2020
unreleased live stream yoga class.

“I m philosophically satisfied. And not only that, I m filled to the brim,” I said in my introduction to the online class I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.
“I really would not know where to store another drop.”

Yet I m writing this blog post on a Wednesday morning, after a yogaclass I did not teach, and about a sex life I do not have.
If I had been in any way serious about being sexually satisfied, I would have spent this Wednesday morning entirely different.
C crisis or no C crisis. .

So I m in my fourth week of teaching the online classes* to friends and former students, and after no one showed up last night, I woke up with this sense of:
“Shouldn’t I make this bigger?”
After all, if I make a real sales page, with people looking for yoga finding this exciting online group, where it’s about Sex and Purpose, and the classes are mixed with popular culture and rock mythology;
If I did that and made it successful, there would never be a Tuesday night ever again, where I didn’t have anyone live there with me.
.
But I could feel the pull, the shift in energy, immediately.
First off, between yoga teacher “me” and artist me.
.
Yoga teacher me, is someone who still feels the need to “sell yoga”. To offer something that resembles what people expect when going into a yoga class.
To Yoga Teacher Me, adding Mick Jagger or Jon Bon Jovi into the mix of what it is I teach, is nothing more than an accessory.
Yoga Teacher Me is very conservative and tends to think: “That’s all fine, have a little fun. Just don’t take it too far.”
.
Whereas Artist Me, immediately thinks:
“Oh really? You know what, I M GONNA TAKE IT TOO FAR! You leave me no choice!”
.
Artist Me rebels against any and all limitations.
And she does it hard.
She’ll burn the thing down, if that’s what it takes to get rid of your expectations of what it is she should or should not do.
She ends relationships, friendships, business arrangements.
She starts fires, arguments, she blows things up.
And Artist Me is definitely the one teaching upcoming Thursday’s class:
“Sympathy for the Devil”
In fact, she leaned back, put her feet on the table, interlaced her hands behind her head and said:
“Well, now there’s a class that doesn’t need any preparation!”
.
Artist Me is the devil incarnated, and it’s the most authentic and real part of me.
.
So in hindsight, I understand perfectly, why I could not teach a live stream with no one there.
Yoga Teacher Me would have done it.
She would dutifully do her work, that she said she would do.
She needed no praise or approval, she didn’t need anybody there, to teach her yoga class.
For Yoga Teacher Me it would be enough that someone might enjoy the Replay.
.
And Entrepreneurial Me would definitely have given that live stream class.
Because it was paid for (people pay per week) so to Entrepreneurial Me it would not have made much difference if they were present to enjoy what they paid for.
Business is business.
.
The only part of me, and like I said it’s the biggest, most dominant part of me, that has no interest in doing her duty, in meeting expectations, or being paid, is Artist Me.
And from an artistic point this makes sense:
The art I create can only exist because there is an audience.
It’s a very well-known definition of art, to say it cannot exist without it being seen.
And it’s a definition I really like.
You could even say that the art comes into being, ONLY because of an audience!
In the 80s there was a modern art retrospective at the Groninger Museum, in the Netherlands.
And on opening night the managing director of the museum said they had gone over all their pieces:
“Is this art?”
If it was art, they would not show it.
The exhibition only contained pieces which were NOT art! 
But of course, they immediately became art, the moment they were admitted to the expo.
Something similar is the exercise Marina Abramovic has given to her students:
Every day, sit down and write an idea on a piece of paper.
If it’s a good idea, save it. If it’s a bad idea throw it in a (designated) trash can.
After 30 days, bring both; The stack of good ideas and the ideas from the trashcan.
She ignored the good ideas and went over the trashcan ideas with her students:
Discovering they were all brilliant ideas.
.
A yoga teacher teaches what helps her students.
An entrepreneur gives what has been paid for.
But an artist needs the spectator,
to breathe it to life.
An artist cannot work unless you offer him or her your soul.
.
Just like the Devil.
..

~Suzanne

Yesterday, I created a powerful video on Gimme Shelter.
You can find it here at the bottom of this post, or on YouTube.

Update 

In June 2020, I renamed this site from Rock Star Yoga to Rock Star Writer.
I ll update all blogposts (there are 46) and will get my fingers into the YouTube channel soon, including retrieving content I had to take down in January because of technicalities.

New videos expected too, at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

About this blog

These blog posts will go out randomly, as topics reveal themselves.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook*
my personal Twitter account

* sadly enough all referrals/ links to the Rock Star “Yoga” page on Facebook (url), have become invalid. I intend to start curating this blog, and update the links.

The Fire Inside

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
With the unpredictable cycle of starting business plans and cancelling them;
Rebooting video and letting it fall flat on its face;
Dangling between video and writing
and the impossible choice between two languages.
But also:
The unexpectedly soothing and satisfying experience of becoming a yoga teacher again:
 
I finally understood what the underlying common demeanor was.
What they key element was, of what it is I DO.
 
And it’s not either or.
Not even either the work I do under this name, versus the pen name;
An alias account (on Fb since 2010) where I basically stopped writing after C crisis.
With my entire sexuality falling flat on its face, and probably staying there for months if not years to come,
there were no aspects of my life that were even remotely secretive or exciting enough to be written about under a pen name.
 
But it was not an either or, of any of those things.
 
As tempting as it is, to simplify life to ONE thing you’re doing, ONE thing you’re selling;
For some of us, that’s not the way we roll.
We don’t know what we’ll be doing the moment our feet hit the floor in the morning, let alone what business we’ll build for years to come.
 
But I did find the one thing I, and perhaps any other soul who has been wondering how to survive this crisis sanely,
can do to not just get out of this intact.
But to be so engaged in something else that you stop caring about whether or not you do get out.
 
Something that is so profoundly spiritual, yet so engaging, addictive, COMPELLING! that if they tap you on the shoulder after C. you’ll furiously snap:
“I m busy!!”
 
And that thing that will save you (if you have it in you, if you are this) that thing is CREATION
 
It is only in creation and our creativity, that life makes sense. Not because we understand every little detail, but because we’re creating new things.
Like God created the earth;
We too become the creators of our own lives.
 
The statue on the picture is Shiva:
Creator of Worlds.
But he is also the destroyer of worlds.
Whether Shiva creates more than he destroys?
No one knows.
Maybe the other Gods pitch in, to make up for the damage.
 
I wrote about Shiva because I have this statue at my studio.
And it wasn’t until later that I heard the story of a studio burning to the ground for no apparent reason,
and its owners “blaming” it to Shiva;
Although I m sure they were smart enough to understand that something else was created.
And that the brick and mortar yoga studio was no longer nessecary to contain it.
Maybe the thriving but fixed business, was standing in the way of the new work the teachers would now start doing.
 
The moment you stand still and resist change you are like ice:
You can only hope that you won’t melt.
 
But the moment you become creative, you start your dance with Shiva, in the ring of fire.
You breathe life into life.
You bring unexpected death and destruction.
And people will never know what to expect because you will be ever changing.
 
As soon as you start creating, you will become Life itself.
.

~Suzanne

The Fire Inside is a Bon Jovi song from the 4-5 disc box set
100 million Bon Jovi Fans Can’t be Wrong
You can find the song at the bottom of this post.

Update 

In June 2020, I renamed this site from Rock Star Yoga to Rock Star Writer.
I ll update all blogposts (there are 46) and will get my fingers into the YouTube channel soon, including retrieving content I had to take down in January because of technicalities.

New videos expected too, at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

About this blog

These blog posts will go out randomly, as topics reveal themselves.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook*
my personal Twitter account

* sadly enough all referrals/ links to the Rock Star “Yoga” page on Facebook (url), have become invalid. I intend to start curating this blog, and update the links.


.

Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment

“My heart’s like an open book
For the whole world to read”
~Nikki Sixx

I was going to share everything.
After all, I am just like Nikki Sixx, an open book.
And as far as I have secrets, I review them regularly, if they still require to stay hidden.
Usually they don’t.
They re just my ego telling me I won’t be loved and successful if I share that side of myself.
When really?
Does the world need another great pretender?
Rip the band-aid.
Bare your naked soul to the world, as my favorite online coach Katrina Ruth calls it.

In the context of taking honesty to a whole new level, I was going to share this weekend’s stunning photos of Jon Bon Jovi in a crispy white shirt, which were taken on Saturday.
It was at an annual fundraising for the Apollo theater, and the photos bore the mark of Getty images and the photographer.
However.
Because the mark was always on the right of the photo, and Jon Bon Jovi was always standing, watermark-free, on the left side, I was already doing a decent job cropping him out, to make a collage with the older one;
A photo of Jon in a crispy white shirt last Saturday and a 90s (I think) photo taken by an anonymous photographer. Also of Jon in a white shirt, sitting by the pool.

Until I realized this is how I could get into trouble. By using photos from a press agent.
It took until I clicked on a version that had actual price tags onto them, before I snapped out of my Paint job and was like:
“You know what? I ll blog with the anonymous, retro shot of Jon Bon Jovi at the poolside to make my point.”

In case you need a visual of the pictures that blew my mind this Monday morning, just read on we’ll get to that.
I didn’t see current-day Jon in white shirt on the official press release of Getty Images, nor on the website of Harlem’s Apollo Theater.
I saw them on a Facebook page for Jon Bon Jovi fans.

Now, this in itself is a small miracle because I don’t spend much time on Facebook. The only social medium I like is Twitter, because it allows much better conversation, and is based on your personal interests. There is also less censorship on Twitter, it’s an adult thing, and you don’t have to use your real name.
You click with other people on mutual interests, it’s as simple as that.

Facebook gets about half a post to seduce me to spend time there, before I click to my notifications and start handling my messages and my pages.
Half a post, that’s all.
Today the JBJ fan page hit me with this one.
(For the fans check post 2, which has the other photos taken this weekend)

The specific current-day Jon Bon Jovi in white shirt photo that blew my mind was this one.

It really was so profound that I found myself kind of needing to process that, and it slowed down starting my day. It was impossible to think about anything else until I knew WHY I liked looking at Jon Bon Jovi so much.

This weekend I already had a long conversation with my mother, to ask her if she could please share her take on male beauty with me.
Because I never see it coming, until it’s too late.
That men are swiped off their feet by beautiful women?
A given.
But how many women are aware that they are swept off their feet by beautiful men?
Or are they not?
Am I an exception?

And what is it then, this mysterious thing we call male beauty?

The last question was a good one to ask my mother, because she’s always much quicker in determining it. I even have a case of my mother saying someone was beautiful, and me simply laughing about it.
And then becoming completely smitten later on.
She knows stuff.
I don’t, not before he has already done his enchanting work.

Together with my mother we came up with a few characteristics.
Teeth, hair, and overall attitude.
I was the one adding “teeth”.
How he holds himself was definitely numero uno, when it came to being an attractive man.
Great teeth, great hair and a strong on-screen and off-screen presence, are as much part of current day Jon Bon Jovi, as they were his traits on the undated photo near the pool.
So nothing new there.

And then it hit me!
This is a cookie jar thing!
Beginners mistake!
But let me explain.

If you re on a diet and you refuse something that is offered to you, for example a cookie from the cookie jar, this costs energy, causing your willpower to plummet.
If after that somebody offers it again, you will not only take the cookie. You ll probably take two, three or a two fists full of cookies.

And in that light, it suddenly made total sense that my Monday morning had a startup delay from one current-day Jon Bon Jovi photo in a white shirt.

Because a week ago, someone sent the first retro shot of Jon by the pool, to me and I tried to resist.
I tried to pretend that barefoot Jon by the pool with his shirt open, was something I could also not swoon over.

Please note that this whole “acting like a grown-up” pose, was taking place during my Rock Star Yoga fallout.
[*note: in 2019 the blog was called Rock Star Yoga]

I was not practicing yoga.
I was not writing for this blog.
But I was super busy wondering where the inspiration went.
(where do you think? could it be sitting by the pool perhaps?)

Pondering over why was I no longer caring for doing yoga to Bon Jovi music and then write about it.
(Uh, maybe because you’re ignoring that cute photo?)

Hard lesson huh?

Inspiration did come to me during that fallout from doing yoga or writing for this blog.
Yet in hindsight?
Oh, it came more than once.

I said in the previous blog (Fever) that I had strong feelings for Nikki Sixx and I wrote an erotic story under my pen name.
Or perhaps I left that out, because I/my ego wanted to keep that from you, but that’s what it was.
Full-on erotica.
I had inspiration in spades!

But I thought it was inspiration that wasn’t fancy enough to share here. I didn’t want to be the weirdo yoga teacher who only practices if she feels inspired by male rock stars.

So I said “No” to the cookie of letting Nikki Sixx inspire my yoga and Rock Star Yoga blog; I said “No” to Jon by the pool inspire me;
And I tried to take the edges off, by taking that inspiration over “to the other side” of my blog under my penname.
The non-fancy side.

Yet, this morning, the cookie jar came again!

I had no more willpower left to resist and let it have me.
Thought about it for as long as I needed to think about it, which was one Monday morning.
And then I wrote this long blog post about the stunning appeal of Jon Bon Jovi wearing crispy white shirts.

Moral to this story?
Take the damn cookie.
And take it the first time.

~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer

Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars is a Bon Jovi song from Crush (2000)
And was played on almost concerts on their most recent tour.

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Bon Jovi concert reviews 1995-1996 Suzanne Beenackers YouTube