SO, YOU WANNA BE A ROCK N' ROLL STAR--ling?

Rock n' Roll has become somewhat of a generic term used to identify a wide variety of popular music today. Like many other things associated with this generation, it has been reduced to an almost pathetic state of relativism, but it wasn't always so. When Rock'n Roll was born, it offered up a fresh new sound that was radical and different. Rockers such as Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley and the Comets, and Elvis, among others, burst onto the scene in such a way that audiences were amazed, some were shocked and others were absolutely appalled. However, most of us can now look back in hindsight and recognize the important influence these early artists had on the direction that popular music was to take. Which brings me to the point of this article. Last week, my husband informed me of an interesting fact about a little bird known as a starling. Since we happen to have a family of them living under the eave of our house, he has been having fun recording them with his new camcorder. He showed me the clip and pointed out that I should listen to them sing. At first they sounded like themselves. Then, all of a sudden, one of them sang like a meadowlark! He told me that he has heard them sound like magpies, ravens, and even a rooster once! Starlings love to mimic other birds. Mr. B.B. King once told a class of young guitar students that he didn't care if they could play like him. No one needs another B.B. King, he said; that's already been done. You've got to find your own voice. This is a wise piece of advice from someone who knows from whence he speaks, so please take heed. Do you have dreams of really making it big someday? Then let me ask you an important question: are you going to be a Rock n' Roll Star or a Rock n' Roll Star--ling? How you answer, may well determine your future.