STORYBEAT WITH STEVE CUDEN

STEVE CUDEN INTERVIEWS SINGER-SONGWRITER-ACTRESS AMANDA MCBROOM

ANNOUNCER:

This is StoryBeat, Storytellers on Storytelling. An exploration into how master story tellers and artists develop and build brilliant stories and works of art that people everywhere love and admire. Join us as we discover how talented creators of all kinds find success in the worlds of imagination and entertainment. Here now is your host, Steve Cuden.

Steve Cuden:

Thanks for joining us on StoryBeat. We’re coming to you from the Center for Media Innovation on the campus of Point Park University, in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you like this podcast, please take a moment to give us a rating or review on whatever app or platform you’re listening to. Your support helps us bring more great StoryBeat episodes to you.

Well, my guest today, the brilliant Amanda McBroom, has been called the greatest cabaret performer of her generation, an urban poet who writes like an angel and has a voice to match. Her name first came to the attention of the music listening public when Bette Midler’s version of Amanda’s song, The Rose, hit number one worldwide in 1979. Her songs have been recorded by no less than LeAnn Rimes, The Manhattan Transfer, Anne Murray, Barry Manilow, Judy Collin, Barbara Cook, Nana Mouskouri, Kurt Cobain, Donny Osmond and Eminem, to name a few. She was a staffed songwriter for the experimental TV series Cop Rock and with her composing partner and my previous guest on StoryBeat, Michele Brourman.

She’s written lyrics for 14 animated films, including The Land Before Time, parts four through 14, Hercules and Xena, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Meet Frankenstein and American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster and Balto, parts two and three. Amanda’s first two albums, Growing Up in Hollywood Town and West of Oz were recorded in collaboration with pianist, Lincoln Mayorga. Her album, Dreaming, sold over 150 000 copies worldwide. Midnight Matinee features performances by jazz legend Bob James and blues idol Robben Ford. Amanda McBroom Live at Rainbow & Stars, was recorded during her sold-out month-long engagement at that most illustrious venue in New York. Other stellar recordings include A Waiting Heart, A Woman of Will, and Chanson, which is a tribute to Amanda’s writing inspiration, the incomparable songwriter Jacques Brel. The CD, Voices, features a truly historic duet of Amanda and country legend, Vince Gill, singing her hit, The Rose.

As an actress, Amanda appeared on Broadway in Seesaw and Off Broadway in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. She wrote her own musical Heartbeats, which has been produced throughout the US at numerous venues including The Old Globe Theater in San Diego, the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, the Cleveland Playhouse, the Pasadena Playhouse, and the Sacramento Music Circus. And her one-woman musical, A Woman of Will, had its world premiere at the Rubicon Theater in Ventura, and its off-Broadway debut in 2005.

Amanda also wrote the lyrics for the musical, Dangerous Beauty, which had its world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2011. Performing live in cabarets, clubs, and concert halls has allowed Amanda to unite her songwriting, acting, and vocal talents into singularly dazzling performances that leave audiences and critics alike breathless with emotion. She’s performed in concert at Carnegie Hall, throughout the US, in London, the Far East, and Australia.

For those reasons and so many more, I am beyond honored and truly thrilled to welcome the exceptionally talented Amanda McBroom to StoryBeat today. Amanda, so glad to have you on the show, welcome.

Amanda McBroom:

Thank you so much. I’m delighted to be here. My mother would have loved to hear what you just read.

Steve Cuden:

Well, it’s kind of like you’ve done a lot.

Amanda McBroom:

Well, I kept saying, really? I did that. And I did that, I forgot. Oh yes, thank you for reminding me.

Steve Cuden:

You know you’ve had a career when you forget a lot of what you did.

Amanda McBroom:

I guess that’s true.

Steve Cuden:

You’ve been writing and performing since you were very young. How did all this musical stuff begin? Where did this start?

Amanda McBroom:

Well, the music part, probably when my aunt bought me a guitar when I was about 13 maybe. I played a little bit of piano around my house when I was a little kid. But she bought me a guitar and I decided I was a folk singer. And that started me really singing. I’d been acting before then, but not singing. The song writing just appeared one day by mistake long after I was in the national tour of Jacques Brel, was one day when I was not working and my husband was. As I picked my guitar up and something came out and I played it for him when he got home. And he said, “Oh, you just wrote a song and it’s not bad.” I said, “Really? Did I just write a song?” And it became a hobby that then became my life.

Steve Cuden:

It was never an intention of yours to do this, it just happened.

Amanda McBroom:

Never. No.

Steve Cuden:

And do you know where it comes from for you? Were you always studying music as a kid?

Amanda McBroom:

No. Not at all. I loved musicals and I loved musical theater. And I always wanted to be Julie Andrews. The whole concept of music was in my life, because I listened to it constantly and I liked to sing. But I never had any idea I would write anything.

Steve Cuden:

And did you take lessons on how to play?

Amanda McBroom:

No.

Steve Cuden:

You’re just a naturally gifted musician.

Amanda McBroom:

Well, let’s just say, I learned enough to be able to plunk a tune out on the piano or a guitar. It got okay, I got okay, I’m not brilliant like Michele is, but I can accompany myself if I have to.

Steve Cuden:

And our dear friend Michele is brilliant, there’s no doubt about that.

Amanda McBroom:

Yes, she is.

Steve Cuden:

Then the performing came before the writing. Does the performing inform the writing in you all along?

Amanda McBroom:

Absolutely. The whole thing about song writing was, when I started writing songs I realized they were letters I was writing to people that I would never send, with music. And then I realized, they’re all monologues.

Steve Cuden:

That’s true.

Amanda McBroom:

Most of the songs I write, are little dramatic stories.

Steve Cuden:

But of course, you’ve written songs that are for more than one person, yes?

Amanda McBroom:

I always write songs for me.

Steve Cuden:

Just for you.

Amanda McBroom:

Just for me. And then the fact that somebody else wants to sing them is gravy.

Steve Cuden:

And how often do you think of songs that would be sung by say a choral group or by a band?

Amanda McBroom:

You know what, it never occurs to me.

Steve Cuden:

Never.

Amanda McBroom:

I’ve gotten to the point where, after I’ve written something, I think well, this might be nice if a choir wanted to sing it. But I always start writing just so that I have a story to tell. I think I’m a balladeer, I’m a story teller, a Harry Chapin kind of person.

Steve Cuden:

I would say that’s very accurate. In other words, you are writing for yourself and you’re writing for you to perform these songs.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly. I’m a selfish writer.

Steve Cuden:

Well, I think the world is glad you are.

Amanda McBroom:

But then of course, Joni Mitchell was too.

Steve Cuden:

Yes. And so is Bruce Springsteen I would say and people like that, for sure. Do you have a preference between writing and performing?

Amanda McBroom:

Performing’s easier. I love to perform. But every once in a while when I will sit down and pick up a pencil and give myself an assignment, I have a great time writing.

Steve Cuden:

But you say it’s harder than performing. In what way is it harder? What makes it harder for you?

Amanda McBroom:

Well, as you know, the blank page is intimidating.

Steve Cuden:

It’s a task master.

Amanda McBroom:

So I’ll do anything. I’ll walk the dogs and I’ll do the dishes until whatever song wants to come out, just grabs me by the throat and says sit down now you have to write me.

Steve Cuden:

Well, I think that’s actually a very common issue for most writers.

Amanda McBroom:

I think so.

Steve Cuden:

I think writing it probably one of the hardest things to do. And most people think it’s incredibly easy, but it isn’t. For many, music is a calling. Has it been a calling for you?

Amanda McBroom:

I guess so. I never would have said that it was a calling. I would have said it was a hobby. I always loved to sing, but it was always, I did for my own pleasure. It wasn’t for anybody else, because acting was my thing. And when life set me down the road that I wasn’t planning on and singing became the thing that was bringing me out into the world, I realized that I could act in a song as well as just stand there and sing it. It morphed from acting into singing.

Steve Cuden:

I think the listeners should pay attention to what you just said, which is that life sent you down the road that you weren’t planning. And that’s the same thing as life is what happens when you’re busy making plans, yes?

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly.

Steve Cuden:

For many people, it’s like they have to do this. I’m assuming you have to do this. You would do this even if nobody paid you, I assume.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, absolutely. I had no idea that anything would ever come of any of it. I just had to do it.

Steve Cuden:

Who or what were your earliest influences. Where did you start early?

Amanda McBroom:

Influences in what way, musically or language or what?

Steve Cuden:

Both, musically and performing and language.

Amanda McBroom:

It all started with a love of words that was given to me by my parents. My dad was an actor and my mother was a drama teacher so there was no way in the world I wasn’t going to be in… And I have no shyness. I’ve been showing off since I was three and I’ve been in theater since I was about 10. They were my first influence, they gave me an adoration of language and of performing. They were always encouraging me to do what I needed to do. And my dad would make the costumes, my mother would do my makeup and that sort of thing. Not that they were stage parents at all, because they had no idea I wanted to be professional. But they didn’t discourage me from doing it. And the music started when I was in high school and started folk singing and just also loving all those Broadway musicals that I was hearing on my record player. And dreaming of, wouldn’t it be nice to be in My Fair Lady, or wouldn’t it be nice to be in Oklahoma, or something like that. That’s where the music started seeping into me.

Steve Cuden:

Julie Andrews was, as you’ve already said, a very early inspiration I assume.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, big time.

Steve Cuden:

And did you emulate her? Did you try to sing like her?

Amanda McBroom:

I don’t think I tried to sing like her. At the time, I certainly didn’t have her five octave range.

Steve Cuden:

Who does?

Amanda McBroom:

But I loved the sound of her voice. And I loved her perfect diction, I loved the fact that she could understand every word she said. She was an influence, I wouldn’t say I tried to copy her though.

Steve Cuden:

Okay. What I’m just getting at, what you’re answering, which is where does this spark come from so the listeners understand that it’s good that it comes from somewhere. It’s not necessarily out of the blue.

Amanda McBroom:

I have the spark and my parents blew it into a flame.

Steve Cuden:

That’s nice. And they encouraged you, they didn’t discourage you.

Amanda McBroom:

No, they didn’t. They didn’t push me, they were not stage parents at all. But they saw this is something I love to do and they did their best to help me learn how to do it.

Steve Cuden:

I wanted to go back a half a step and talk about something you said a moment ago. You said you’re not shy. I’ve seen you perform, you are not shy. You are all out there. Do you ever get nervous before you go on stage?

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, God, yes.

Steve Cuden:

Oh, yes.

Amanda McBroom:

I like to call it energy, rather than nerves, before you step out on a stage because you never know what the creature that is the audience is going to be. Are they going to be your friends? Are you going to have to work to get them? Are they already ready to play? There’s that nervous energy. I get nervous if I’m doing a brand new show, not knowing what works and what doesn’t until after I’m out in front of people and feeling it out. I’m thinking to myself, well that joke didn’t land okay. Oh, that song works. Nope, that one doesn’t. The first time I ever do something new, I get nervous.

Steve Cuden:

And you keep working with it though to get it to where it does work.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah, or you throw it away.

Steve Cuden:

Or you throw it away. Sure, that’s the editorial process. As you learned how to write songs, did you also learn how to write and read music?

Amanda McBroom:

I’ve always known how to read music. I did learn, that was in school, in choir because I was in choir in high school. I do know how to read music, I’m not the best. Throw me something hard in bebop jazz and I’ll fumfer around like a fool. But I certainly can read music, I have a little bit of music theory.

Steve Cuden:

I see. You are able to write music as well. It’s not just something you’re playing and somebody has to translate for you.

Amanda McBroom:

I prefer to have somebody else translate it, but yeah, I can write it down if I have to.

Steve Cuden:

I see. When you’re performing, are you ever in the middle of a song, inspired to write a different song?

Amanda McBroom:

Maybe. But I get so deep into the story of the song that I’m performing. It’s like a meditation, I try very hard not to let other things sneak in. But sometimes, if I’m listening back to a performance, I’ll hear something that will trigger something else.

Steve Cuden:

I’m asking because I find it interesting that when I’m writing, sometimes I’m working on this. But the other thing will come into view. And I was wondering if that happened to you when you performed. I would get it more easily if you said, yes, when I’m writing. Sometimes I’m also thinking about something else, something else triggers.

Amanda McBroom:

Generally not. I’ll tell you when I get it is when I’m listening to somebody else perform.

Steve Cuden:

Oh, really.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. When somebody else is singing something, I’ll say, “Oh those three words, I can use that.” I am not too proud to steal.

Steve Cuden:

What’s that famous phrase that amateurs borrow and professionals steal, I can’t remember what that phrase is.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, I like that. That’s good.

Steve Cuden:

Aside from doing a lot of writing, performing to become a better crafts person, are there other things that you’ve done to develop your writing and performing talents?

Amanda McBroom:

Let’s see. I’ve taken a few vocal coaching lessons, nothing deep and long lasting, but I’ve learned some really good vocal tricks from working with a couple of fine coaches. And mostly I’ve learned just by doing.

Steve Cuden:

You’ve been doing that your whole life, that’s not a new thing to you, that you just do it. And I’m a firm believer that you just have to continue to do it. You can’t buy your way to being better. You have to just keep writing and performing and so on.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. You just have to keep doing it.

Steve Cuden:

When you’re not able to find a gig, you’re in between gigs, what do you do to keep up your chops?

Amanda McBroom:

Nothing.

Steve Cuden:

Nothing. You’re lucky.

Amanda McBroom:

When I’m between gigs, I’m in the garden until something will stir me to either write or somebody will call me. Once I know that there’s a gig forthcoming, give me a month or so, I’ll start singing again. I’ll start working out again. But I appreciate down time.

Steve Cuden:

In other words, it’s not a problem for you to not sing for a little while.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

That’s a gift.

Amanda McBroom:

If I was Celine Dion, if I had an instrument like that and sang with such Olympian prowess and such difficult vocal challenges, I would sing every day. But my songs are not that difficult and they’re not that challenging, I warm up when I have to, but it’s there. For me, it’s there.

Steve Cuden:

It’s always been there. It’s never not been there.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. But I’m not a belter. I’m not a person who holds long notes high hard, that’s not the way I sing. Mostly, I sing easy. And as a wonderful teacher once said to me, “Darling, if you’ve been talking all day, you’re warm.”

Steve Cuden:

Well, that’s true.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah, absolutely.

Steve Cuden:

When you’re in the garden, do you purposefully not sing or talk?

Amanda McBroom:

I’ll sing when I’m in the garden, when nobody’s listening, absolutely.

Steve Cuden:

All right. Now I’m really curious about other artists. You’ve had your work sung by numerous different people. What’s the best of hearing others performing your work?

Amanda McBroom:

Aside from just the thrill and the surreal moment when you realize that… If I listened to somebody do one of my songs for the longest time I forget that it’s me that wrote it. Because I get so lost in the difference in interpretation, I learn so much from somebody else doing my material, because everybody has a different approach to it. It’s wonderful to hear a different version, because I always hear another color that I didn’t even think of.

Steve Cuden:

You didn’t know that you had that in there, but somebody else saw it.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly.

Steve Cuden:

Do you enjoy working with other artists, like when you worked with Vince Gill?

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, of course.

Steve Cuden:

What is about?

Amanda McBroom:

That’s a joyous thing. Usually, I am not in the studio with other artists. They’re recording in Nashville and I’m in LA, or they’re recording in Paris. It’s not like I get a chance really to hang. Only a couple of times have I been in studio with a performer and able to put in my two cents.

Steve Cuden:

Does that ever happen live, where you’ve got other performers?

Amanda McBroom:

No.

Steve Cuden:

I heard you sing with Ann Hampton Callaway, that was fun.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, God. Well, singing with Ann, that’s like singing with a Maserati. She’s such an extraordinary vocal talent. And it’s wonderful to be with her, because we love each other, we have a great time together and we are so different. She’s so facile and powerful and funny and she covers the standards brilliantly. But that gives me room to sit down and my stuff. We’re like apples and broccoli, we’re very different. But we work together very well.

Steve Cuden:

Have you ever had apples and broccoli?

Amanda McBroom:

No. Health food, I could someday.

Steve Cuden:

All right. Let’s talk about your writing process. When you get an idea for a song, it comes to you out of nowhere, does it just hit you?

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah, it comes to me out of nowhere, it comes to me out of reading a newspaper article, a magazine article. Somebody says on the street, somebody says on television, something like that, a book title.

Steve Cuden:

Then, that’s the beginning of it. You need something to frame it and it’s usually, what? Several words.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. I find what the kernel of the story is going to be, frequently I write it backwards.

Steve Cuden:

What does that mean?

Amanda McBroom:

I know what the end is going to be, so I have to find out how it starts.

Steve Cuden:

I see. That makes sense. That’s good for most story writing as it’s good to know where you’re going. And once you know where it’s going, how long does it take you to write most songs? Is there an average?

Amanda McBroom:

It depends. The Rose took 15 minutes.

Steve Cuden:

15 minutes.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. It was just there. And others have taken a year and a half. Something that I would work on and work on and just put it in the folder and then come back and pull it out a year and a half later. There’s a couple of songs that I’ve written with Ann that were lyrics that I started years ago and finally I went, “Oh, I remember this one and now I understand what it’s supposed to be about.” And I would send it to Ann and she would tweak it. That’s fun. Or Michele too, or a poem that I’ve written and I’ll send to Michele and she’ll say, “This is a song, let’s do it.”

Steve Cuden:

But you also write music, correct?

Amanda McBroom:

I do.

Steve Cuden:

But you prefer someone else to write the music these days.

Amanda McBroom:

It depends, if it’s something very simple. I’m a lazy composer. I’m a really strict lyricist and I don’t write music as easily as I do lyrics. When you have somebody like Michele Brourman as a composer or John Bucchino, just write the words and mail them over.

Steve Cuden:

When you say you’re a strict lyricist, explain what that means.

Amanda McBroom:

I believe in making lyrics as clean and as clear and efficient as possible. I really appreciate a perfect rhyme scheme, which makes me so unpopular in contemporary writing. The words have to rhyme perfectly, I’m sorry, they just do. I’m old fashioned that way. I take a lot of time and care with the lyric and then the melody, if I’m writing it, the melody comes once the lyric is written. The melody fits under it. With Michele, I’ll send her a fully completed lyric and then she’ll tweak it. But she’ll send me back music that I had no idea it was going to sound like this. That’s one of the wonderful things about collaborating with someone you trust, is that you think you’re sending somebody gelato and they send you back a cheesecake.

Steve Cuden:

Do you ever find that it’s not quite what you expected and you try to get it changed or never?

Amanda McBroom:

Oh yeah. Writing with someone is a marriage or like a really close friendship, you’ve got to be able to give and take the word no.

Steve Cuden:

Well, that’s for sure. Any partnership is like a marriage.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly. Any successful partnership.

Steve Cuden:

Sure. And I’ve had a number of writing partnerships over the years and it is. You have your ups and downs and you have your perfect days and you have your less than perfect days.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly. And then you have your days when somebody says no or when you say no, then you better be able to explain. You have to be able to say, that song is not yellow enough. No, you have to be a lot clearer about why it doesn’t work the way you want it to.

Steve Cuden:

Regarding perfect rhymes, you would be very welcome in Stephen Sondheim’s house.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

He’s all about perfect rhymes.

Amanda McBroom:

He’s all about perfect rhyme, that is one of his astounding skills, yes.

Steve Cuden:

And perhaps there’s never been a greater lyricist than Stephen Sondheim.

Amanda McBroom:

I think that you could be quite right.

Steve Cuden:

You probably don’t, you probably already alluded to this, but is there a regular routine for you when you’re developing a lyric? Is there something that you go through ritually or is it always different?

Amanda McBroom:

No. It’s always a surprise. It’s always different.

Steve Cuden:

Always.

Amanda McBroom:

Inevitably, at some point I sit at my keyboard, inevitably at some point I’m sitting at the kitchen table with the cat food plate just across the table. And that’s my favorite place to write, is at my kitchen table. That’s where I tweak and finish those.

Steve Cuden:

Amanda, I’m going to send you a basket, because you really shouldn’t be eating cat food. Do you work with an audience in mind, or are you the audience?

Amanda McBroom:

When I’m writing?

Steve Cuden:

Yes.

Amanda McBroom:

I’m the audience.

Steve Cuden:

You’re working to please you.

Amanda McBroom:

Absolutely. If it tickles me, or if it’s something I want to write with Michele, if it tickles me and or it tickles her then yay.

Steve Cuden:

The first time you play it, before an audience, is it always a surprise what the reaction is?

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, God, yes.

Steve Cuden:

Always.

Amanda McBroom:

It used to be, when I was starting out, incredibly frightening to me. Because, when you write a song, you’re offering a bunch of strangers a peak into the middle of your heart. And you’re taking the risk that they’re going to say, “Oh, that heart is not good.” It takes a great deal of moral courage to sing your own new material for the first time and chance that this bunch of strangers will identify.

Steve Cuden:

And how often, I’m going to guess not too often, but often have you presented a song to an audience and they either left or booed or something like that?

Amanda McBroom:

Maybe never.

Steve Cuden:

Never, yeah. I was going to say. Your fear is proved over and over again to be slightly unjustified.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. But it’s still there.

Steve Cuden:

I understand.

Amanda McBroom:

You still someone to like your children.

Steve Cuden:

It’s a natural artistic fear. I think what you hear from a lot of writers of all kinds of different writing is you hear that the world is going to figure out that you’re not real, that you’re a fraud of some kind.

Amanda McBroom:

Yes, exactly.

Steve Cuden:

You’re always thinking, “They’re going to figure it out, that I don’t know what I’m doing.” But, in fact, you’ve proven over and over that you do know what you’re doing. The problem is that you’re always facing that, as we talked about earlier, that you’re always facing that blank screen or that blank page so you’re always starting over again.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah, which is great.

Steve Cuden:

It is great.

Amanda McBroom:

It sure rattles your complacency.

Steve Cuden:

The one thing that I think and you tell me if you feel the same way, that happens over time as you mature as a writer is that you learn over time, you know what doesn’t work so you don’t try it anymore. You’re always looking for something new.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

And so you’ve eliminated a lot of things before you’ve started to write.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

That make sense?

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. Absolutely. As you go through time, you begin to figure out or, “Oh, I’ve said this before.”

Steve Cuden:

Correct.

Amanda McBroom:

I remember at one point, I was in a very dry, non-creative phase and Ann Hampton Callaway said to me, “Oh, have you run out of stories about yourself?” And I said, “Yes, I have.” And she said, “They’ll come back.” And Michele always says to me, “Darling, you’ve emptied the refrigerator, you just have to stock the refrigerator before you can cook again.”

Steve Cuden:

That’s when you go out and you garden.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah, that’s when you go out in the garden or go hang with friends, or go listen to your girlfriends complain about their lives or read the newspaper, or whatever.

Steve Cuden:

Are you a person that walks to get inspiration?

Amanda McBroom:

Walks? Yes. The two places where I get physically the most writing done or the most things finished is taking a long walk or a shower. For some reason, falling water and you know that’s so inappropriate for Southern California, because water is such a precious commodity here. But for some reason, I can find the end of a line in a shower better than anywhere else.

Steve Cuden:

How am I trying to say this? Are you frequently seeking ideas or are you just waiting for them to come to you?

Amanda McBroom:

I wait for them. Unless I’ve got an assignment, in which case I will seek. It’s like writing these songs for these animated films, they’re challenging in a way. But they’re delightful because somebody has said, this is the character, this is the situation, this is the song we need. Thank you. Now you’re telling me what the story is I have to tell, great. When you have to make it up yourself, it’s harder.

Steve Cuden:

I guess that’s true for all kinds of storytelling, where it’s easier if somebody says here’s the assignment.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah, that’s wonderful to have an assignment.

Steve Cuden:

And a deadline. I like deadlines. Are you a fan of deadlines?

Amanda McBroom:

They make me do things. I’m a great procrastinator, so a deadline is a good thing.

Steve Cuden:

But you’ve also written a lot of stuff as a procrastinator where nobody had a deadline.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly. The song sets its own deadline. Once I start, I really want to finish it. I get very impatient and very excited when I start something.

Steve Cuden:

How many songs do you think you write that you know when you’re done aren’t going anywhere? Does that happen?

Amanda McBroom:

That are going to what? Not happen?

Steve Cuden:

That are not going to happen. You’ve written it and you look at it and you go, “I’m not giving this to anybody.”

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, I haven’t even thought to count. I know they’re there, because I have a trunk full of lyric that has never seen the light of day, but I couldn’t give you a headcount. The one thing I know is that any lyric that is not useful, has at least one line I can steal that will be useful.

Steve Cuden:

That’s good. I’m trying to impress upon the listeners that even for a long time professional, there’s a lot of work that happens that is not necessarily going to be used.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, absolutely. And none of it is wasted. None of that effort is wasted because there is a word, a phrase, a something in there. The reason that it was written, I truly believe is that at some point, you can take that one sentence and create something else out of it.

Steve Cuden:

And the other side of that is, is that you are exercising that muscle.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly, that too. Yes, you are keeping your chops up.

Steve Cuden:

Yeah, because you don’t want that muscle to go flaccid at all. You want that muscle to stay healthy even if at that moment, it’s not opening a can.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly.

Steve Cuden:

When you’re a fast writer, you’re a fast writer, correct?

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. When it really hits me, yeah, it’s very fast.

Steve Cuden:

How many songs have you written that way, where it’s 10 or 15 minutes? Not an exact number, but a general.

Amanda McBroom:

I’d say about maybe 10 or 12.

Steve Cuden:

10 or 12, were just there.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. I say I’m the window that happened to be open when they wanted to come out.

Steve Cuden:

I’ve said to various artists on this show that is a really typical answer from creative individuals, where they will say something like, it came as a bolt out of the blue or they are a channel for something that’s coming through them. Do you feel as if the words in the music are coming through you, that you’re a channel for it?

Amanda McBroom:

Yes.

Steve Cuden:

You actually feel like you’re not creating anything, something is coming through you.

Amanda McBroom:

Yes. I know the ones that are messages from somewhere else and the ones that I create, which are harder. But not less valuable or wonderful, but you long for the ones that just leap out at you and you know that you didn’t write them.

Steve Cuden:

Well, because who wants to work hard at this?

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly, darling.

Steve Cuden:

Do you have a favorite song of yours?

Amanda McBroom:

A favorite song of mine. Well, The Rose, of course.

Steve Cuden:

I would think.

Amanda McBroom:

And my song about my father, Errol Flynn. I’m very fond of that one. And Michele and I just wrote a really beautiful song. I have this project of songs, contemporary songs for Shakespeare’s women. And it’s a show I’ve been doing called, Lady MacBeth Sings the Blues. There’s a song that Michele and I wrote for the character Desdemona that is my current favorite song.

Steve Cuden:

Do you find that you have current favorite songs on a regular basis, where the ones you’re working on become favorites?

Amanda McBroom:

It comes and goes. I wouldn’t say that every song I write is immediately my favorite, no. The ones that I love to sing that really resonate from a really deep place in my heart, that really speak to other people. Those are my favorite songs.

Steve Cuden:

Okay. When you’re listening to music, what do you tend to listen to?

Amanda McBroom:

I’m sorry, say that again.

Steve Cuden:

When you’re listening to music, what do you tend to listen to? What is your favorite music to listen to?

Amanda McBroom:

My favorite music to listen to. I would have to say predominantly songs with a lyric as opposed to just music. Although, nothing helps me pay the bills better than classical music. A little Mozart goes a long way with my checkbook.

Steve Cuden:

Why’s that? Why does Mozart go a long way with your checkbook?

Amanda McBroom:

I read about this, they said it had something to do with the mathematics behind the music. Mozart, or Bach, they have discovered that if they played that in classrooms, peoples’ response times are better and they learn more and they learn more easily if they’re listening to Bach, Mozart and classical music.

Steve Cuden:

Are you able to listen to Mozart and then come up with a lyric?

Amanda McBroom:

No. I don’t listen to classical for that. I listen to other songwriters, because I’m story driven. I love to hear other people’s thoughts. It’s funny, I have a book by Jimmy Webb which I really love. I admire him greatly as a songwriter and agree with the things that he says often, “I can’t listen to anybody else’s music when I’m writing.” And I find that listening to somebody else’s music can be very stimulating to me.

Steve Cuden:

I think that’s the two sides of the coin. One is that you really can’t listen to anything. I can’t listen to words when I’m writing, I can’t listen to song with words when I’m writing. I can only listen to music.

Amanda McBroom:

It can interfere.

Steve Cuden:

I’m listening to the words and I can’t think of my own. That’s what happens.

Amanda McBroom:

I find if I’m stuck, I’ll put on Springsteen or Warren Zevon, or go back and pay a little attention to Brel. I won’t play somebody singing while I’m writing, but I’ll stop and listen to somebody whose art and craft inspire me and then I’ll go back.

Steve Cuden:

Warren Zevon is one of the great lyricists of all time.

Amanda McBroom:

Isn’t he? Oh, I’m so glad to hear you say that. He’s my man.

Steve Cuden:

He wrote what I think is maybe the greatest single line lyric in the history of music. You’re going to love this.

Amanda McBroom:

Which one?

Steve Cuden:

It’s, “Little old lady got mutilated late last night.”

Amanda McBroom:

Yes. Is that one of the great lyrics of all time? Yes, it is.

Steve Cuden:

A little old lady got mutilated late last night. How do you even get there?

Amanda McBroom:

I’m so happy to hear you say that because yeah, he’s been my inspiration for years.

Steve Cuden:

Oh, yeah. He’s great.

Amanda McBroom:

When I talk to younger writers, I say, “Okay, what do you think of Warren Zevon?” And they don’t know who I’m talking about. So I say, “All right, you go right now to YouTube, whatever, check him out, because his craft sounds so easy and it is so impeccable.”

Steve Cuden:

Impeccable. I teach for a living, and I teach 18 to 22 year olds and there’s a whole lot they don’t know. When you say they don’t know who Warren Zevon is, this generation at the moment until they learn it, does not know-

Amanda McBroom:

And then they love him.

Steve Cuden:

It’s pretty hard not to love him, he’s pretty good. He’s an awfully good writer.

Amanda McBroom:

Another perfect song, as far as I’m concerned, and when I’m teaching songwriting masterclasses, it’s one I hold up. I say, “Okay, who knows Margaritaville?”

Steve Cuden:

And?

Amanda McBroom:

Everybody has sort of heard, but never really listened to Margaritaville. They just like the groove and they like the spirit of it. It’s an impeccably written song. You have the first act, the second act, the third act. It has wonderful irony and humor, perfect rhyme schemes, great imagery. Jimmy Buffet is a great writer.

Steve Cuden:

Great writer. Do you believe when you’re writing a song that it should be a beginning, middle and end story?

Amanda McBroom:

Mostly, yes. Like I said, I like to write little plays. I like to write three minute movies. I like a plot.

Steve Cuden:

Have you ever taken one of your songs and had it turned into a movie?

Amanda McBroom:

I’ve had people propose it a couple of times and nothing has ever really come of it.

Steve Cuden:

Maybe that’s something you should think about at some point, because you have enough in your trunk that you could probably turn something into a movie.

Amanda McBroom:

If I knew somebody with the production checkbook and the interest, sure.

Steve Cuden:

That’s always the tricky part, isn’t it?

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

Okay. I’m going to ask you a question I ask pretty much every guest and it’s a tough question and we’ll see what your answer is. For you, what makes a good song, good?

Amanda McBroom:

What makes a good song?

Steve Cuden:

Yeah. Why’s a song good? Why does it work?

Amanda McBroom:

For me, universality. A song that is so specific that it becomes universal. That is so personal. I’m babbling.

Steve Cuden:

It’s okay.

Amanda McBroom:

If a songwriter writes a song that is very personal to them, and has detail in it. Springsteen writes really clean detail. Zevon writes detail. Don Henley, for the Eagles, writes impeccable detail. And when you get things specific and detailed, everybody can identify with it. They become universals, because for some reason, in the specific is the universal for me. And then, the craft of really good rhyming. A unique take of some kind. Song writing is like haiku. You have a certain number of notes that you can use. Compositionally, you have a certain number of notes you can put together. And most songs these days are written in 4/4 so you have a limited structure within which you have to really focus down. I like to say the really good song is like a triple espresso. It’s a slice of life ground very fine under a lot of pressure, with a little steam.

Steve Cuden:

Ooh, wow. That’s great. Have you turned that into a lyric?

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

That was great. Certainly when you’re working on a song, the more specific, the better. The more amorphous, the worse. Wouldn’t you say?

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Steve Cuden:

Good.

Amanda McBroom:

Instead of saying, once upon a time, if you can say last Wednesday at 2:00, it becomes a much more interesting song.

Steve Cuden:

I think that’s a very good lesson for our listeners to learn. I want to talk for a moment about working on producing a song or production of sorts. When you’re going in the studio, do you produce most of your own stuff or do you have someone else produce for you?

Amanda McBroom:

No. I have friends, really excellent producers. I will be the overall overseer, but I trust people who are really good, who understand engineering, who have a great pool of talent to choose from. I don’t produce myself. I have good taste to know good producers.

Steve Cuden:

Do you do anything now in terms of producers and production that’s different than when you first started out?

Amanda McBroom:

I know now to speak up much more for what I want. I haven’t become quite as anal as Joni, but I will be able to say, no flutes. Nope, don’t want that. I need my voice more farther out front, blah blah blah. I can make specifics that I didn’t know how to say before. And I know how to choose songs better if I’m going to record. And I know I’m really much better now at how to structure a collection on a CD. Of course, now that CDs are going the way of the Dodo too and everybody’s doing single songs on streaming, that art form may be disappearing. But at least I know how to do it.

Steve Cuden:

I think that art form will come back.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, I hope so.

Steve Cuden:

I think it’s gone away. I think people will long for albums that actually have some sort of a tale to them.

Amanda McBroom:

I certainly hope so.

Steve Cuden:

In the early days, when you were recording, you felt like you were at the mercy of the people behind the booth or behind the glass.

Amanda McBroom:

They knew much more than I. My two first albums were direct to disc albums. It was actually the great blessing of how I ever learned to record. I had some backup for Bette on her recording of The Rose and the guy who played the piano was Lincoln Mayorga, this wonderful pianist, who had his own really prestigious audio file label. And he said, “I want to produce you.” And I said, “I’ve never been produced, I’ve never been in the studio.” And he said, “Don’t worry.” And he took me into the sound stage at MGM where he recorded and what they do with this audio file, it was direct to disc, they put you in the middle of an orchestra. And then you cut an entire side without stopping, which gives you this incredible live… You do a pass and then you do another pass and sometimes you’ll do five or six passes of an entire side until you get the one that you think is perfect.

Amanda McBroom:

And that way you can hear, the true audio file geeks can hear a page turn, or somebody coughing quietly in the back between numbers. You don’t stop and then when you decide you have the perfect take, they grab the master and they race it down to a pressing plant and they start pressing immediately, because it starts to deteriorate and they can press maybe 100,000 copies before that particular master is worn out. And then they have to pick the second best recording. And what it is, it’s live performance. By that time, I have been doing Broadway, I’d been doing off Broadway. I was very comfortable on a stage doing live performance so the first two recording experiences I did were me and an orchestra with some friends sitting around the outside with headphones on. It was like doing a show. And that’s how I started to learn to sing in studio.

Steve Cuden:

That process, that doesn’t exist anymore does it?

Amanda McBroom:

If it does, it doesn’t happen very often. It’s truly, it’s the best sound you can ever get. Because it’s so live and the engineering is so precise. And the true collectors, the people with the $40,000 sound system, love their direct to disc albums.

Steve Cuden:

I know that was the way that Sinatra recorded, everything was live.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, yeah.

Steve Cuden:

Because it does have a different richness to it. It doesn’t sound canned, it sounds live.

Amanda McBroom:

No, it doesn’t sound canned. It doesn’t have that metallic sound, because it hasn’t been compressed. It’s compressed enough, a recording, you take it and you put it on a CD, that’s compression. When you put it on serious radio, you’ve turned it into aluminum.

Steve Cuden:

Right.

Amanda McBroom:

It sounds like you’re singing in a tin can.

Steve Cuden:

When you did this, you had already learned how to perform live and then you learned how to perform live in the studio, which I guess has a similar thing to it, but with maybe slight differences.

Amanda McBroom:

It’s different because you can’t be as big, because you’re not performing to 5,000 people. You have to learn how to perform smaller and more intimately because your voice is an inch from the microphone. You have to relearn technique.

Steve Cuden:

Have you been able to take that technique that you learned back then? Have you continued to use it or have you abandoned it in any way?

Amanda McBroom:

Oh no, I’ve learned how to be small. I’ve learned how to be intimate, I’ve learned how to be precise. Every time I’m in studio, I’m better than I was the time before.

Steve Cuden:

Wow, that’s an interesting self-revelation. You honestly can feel that you’ve gotten better every time.

Amanda McBroom:

Absolutely, because I’m not intimidated like I used to be.

Steve Cuden:

How did the recordings come out when you felt intimidated?

Amanda McBroom:

There’s times when I could hear that it wasn’t as honest as I would like it to be or I was worried that my voice couldn’t hit certain notes and maybe a little bit more strained. I would say, there’s no recording that I dislike that I’ve done.

Steve Cuden:

That’s nice.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. Some are my more favorites. But I’m not ashamed of any of them.

Steve Cuden:

What is your favorite recording of yourself?

Amanda McBroom:

My favorite of the moment is, I would say the Jacques Brel, which Michel produced.

Steve Cuden:

I haven’t told you this, but a couple years ago, here in Pittsburgh there was a production of Jacques Brel. For years I was a lighting designer and hadn’t done it for 25 years and I designed the lighting for Jacques Brel.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, for heavens sake.

Steve Cuden:

And it was fantastic. That show was fantastic.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, God, yes. It’s such great music.

Steve Cuden:

It’s endlessly listenable.

Amanda McBroom:

Yes.

Steve Cuden:

Which part did you play? Did you do a carousel?

Amanda McBroom:

I started as the little one and then I wound up doing the big guns and carousel was always there.

Steve Cuden:

Well, you did it live here in Pittsburgh when I saw you. That song always amazes me when anybody can pull that off.

Amanda McBroom:

You should have heard it when I sang it in Dutch.

Steve Cuden:

You sang it in Dutch?

Amanda McBroom:

That’s called giving yourself a tonsillectomy.

Steve Cuden:

How did you learn that or do you speak Dutch?

Amanda McBroom:

I do not speak Dutch, we were in Holland and we did a production that was half Dutch and half English. And I had to learn to sing it in Dutch, which almost killed me, phonetically.

Steve Cuden:

Wow. That had to have been very hard to do.

Amanda McBroom:

Very hard.

Steve Cuden:

Especially that song. I mean that song’s almost impossible to sing as is.

Amanda McBroom:

It’s easier than it sounds.

Steve Cuden:

Really? Why’s it easier than it sounds?

Amanda McBroom:

The vowel sounds are really easy. It’s really repetitive, it’s impressive the pyrotechnics of the speed and the acting are very impressive. But all you have to do is learn how to sing it clearly, fast.

Steve Cuden:

Yes, I would say that’s true.

Amanda McBroom:

But I find it very easy, just the way it’s constructed. It’s around and around and up. Around and around is a much easier word to sing than refrigerator, you know what I’m saying?

Steve Cuden:

I didn’t know he had put refrigerator in there.

Amanda McBroom:

There’s not too many songs with refrigerator in there, and that’s why I wouldn’t try it.

Steve Cuden:

All right. When you’re performing, from back then through today, what’s the most challenging aspect of performance?

Amanda McBroom:

From back then to today, what’s the most challenging aspect? Aside from maintaining vocal health, I would say always remembering that every performance is new, that every audience is new. And to keep things fresh, not to fall into patterns of repetition.

Steve Cuden:

In other words, you try not to repeat yourself.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. You’re going to repeat yourself in a certain way, because you’re singing the same song again. Especially if people request it, like The Rose, like Carousel. But trying to make it new and trying to tell the truth, that’s the major thing that I learned from my husband, George, who was an astonishing singer. When we were first working together, he just turned to me and said, “Oh, for God sakes, stand still and tell the truth.” And that’s how Sinatra did it, that’s how Brel did it. And now has been for many years, my mantra, as far as singing a song.

Steve Cuden:

And when you’re standing there and telling the truth, does it come out a little bit different every time?

Amanda McBroom:

Absolutely.

Steve Cuden:

It’s the truth of the moment.

Amanda McBroom:

It’s the truth of this particular moment. That’s correct.

Steve Cuden:

That truth, it comes from within you. And you’ve written the song, are you learning new things about the song every time?

Amanda McBroom:

Absolutely.

Steve Cuden:

That’s interesting. You’re always finding something new in the song.

Amanda McBroom:

Yes. Sometimes it’s a major revelation and sometimes, it’s just a teeny tiny thing. But it’s something new. And of course, come on, you’re singing to a different audience every night. And performing is a ball game. I bounce it to you, you bounce it back to me. and depending upon with what enthusiasm you bounce it back to me, with what arc you bounce it back to me, who’s asleep, who’s awake, who wants to play? It’s a totally different game every song, every night.

Steve Cuden:

That’s true. And one of the things that we teach our actors here, is that you have to be in the moment. You can’t try to repeat yourself, it has to be in that moment.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly. If you try to repeat yourself, it’s going to be boring.

Steve Cuden:

That’s right, it will be boring and there can be nothing more deadly in a performance than boredom.

Amanda McBroom:

That’s right.

Steve Cuden:

I’m going to go back to writing again. What do you do to stay on target and on deadline once you’re on something? Do you have a method or a technique?

Amanda McBroom:

No. I just know that it has to be done by Tuesday. Okay, that means I can’t watch Game of Thrones, until I have at least finished one verse.

Steve Cuden:

One verse gets a treat.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

And the treat is Game of Thrones.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. Well, the other thing too is changing the mindset. And saying, “Oh, God, I have to have this done by a certain time.” You say, “Oh, boy, look what I get to do.” I have to do this, what a gift.

Steve Cuden:

Well, it is a gift.

Amanda McBroom:

It is. Acknowledge the fact that it’s a gift rather than a chore.

Steve Cuden:

The work that you do, my work has been different, but in a similar vein in the entertainment industry, it is a privilege. It’s not a right and it is a gift if you’re able to do it and do it well at some level where people are actually giving you money for it.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. And the other thing, this is going to sound really woo-woo, I know, but music is healing. And I realize one of my purposes in life is to make people feel better. And if that’s the way I can add a little joy, a little peace, a little healing to the world, that’s my job and I need to do it. That’s why I’m here, I truly believe that.

Steve Cuden:

That is a glorious thing that you’ve just said. And I know that after shows, that you meet the crowd and you sign autographs on your CDs and so on. How fulfilling is that for you?

Amanda McBroom:

I call it act three. It’s wonderful, it’s tiring. The show is not over when you finish the show. Because you must expend the energy of connecting with people, letting them tell you how they feel, if they feel. That’s part of the job too, is being able to say, thank you.

Steve Cuden:

I’ll give you a little taste of my world, which is take two seconds, I just was in South Korea where I saw for the first time the show that I wrote, Jekyll and Hyde performed in Korean.

Amanda McBroom:

That must have been amazing.

Steve Cuden:

It was amazing. In fact it was one of the best, if not the best production I’ve ever seen. I didn’t understand a word they were singing and I understood every word they were singing. But to hear it in another language.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, my God, yes.

Steve Cuden:

It’s so odd and out of body and yet so fulfilling at the same time.

Amanda McBroom:

Oh, gosh, yes. And to see that another culture gets what you were creating.

Steve Cuden:

It’s just an awesome thing when that happens and I know you’ve performed overseas. Your work translates everywhere.

Amanda McBroom:

Some of it does, yes indeed. Some it does not. It depends, some things are very American that I write and some things are universal.

Steve Cuden:

Well, yes. But I would say that the stuff from the heart really is all universal.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. Seems too.

Steve Cuden:

What would you say is the biggest disasters you’ve ever found yourself in and how did you get out of it?

Amanda McBroom:

The biggest disaster would be of this wonderful musical that Michele and I wrote the music for called, Dangerous Beauty. Beautiful musical that wound up in the hands of the wrong producer and the wrong director. And watching it go down the tubes when it should be on Broadway right now, was heart breaking. That was the biggest disaster.

Steve Cuden:

I saw Dangerous Beauty at the Pasadena Playhouse. I thought it had a lot of good to say for it. It just didn’t quite work.

Amanda McBroom:

No, it didn’t work because things were being asked of it that were not what its intention had been. But they decided to put tits and glamor and all kinds of new contemporary rock and roll and stuff like that. And we didn’t know enough at the time to say, no. And the producer and the director were both incredibly powerful and we allowed ourselves to be bullied into doing things we didn’t want to do.

Steve Cuden:

Was it a work for hire?

Amanda McBroom:

No.

Steve Cuden:

You own it then.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. Well, the woman who wrote the film owns it. The three of us, she was book writer and Michele and I were the music.

Steve Cuden:

Is there ever a conversation about reviving it?

Amanda McBroom:

We always talk about reviving it. We would very much like to revive it and do it the way we intended.

Steve Cuden:

If you could go back in time, maybe this is it, maybe Dangerous Beauty, if you could go back in time and do one thing over, what would that be? Would it be Dangerous Beauty?

Amanda McBroom:

Be allowed to pick the director.

Steve Cuden:

Allowed to pick the director, because you didn’t get what your vision was.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah. We were not offered the option and had we been offered the option, I know who the director would have been, who’s a dear friend and a brilliant musical director and it would have gone a whole other way. But you know, that’s water under the theatrical bridge.

Steve Cuden:

It is.

Amanda McBroom:

And hopefully there can be a revival. Hopefully so.

Steve Cuden:

I hope that you do get a revival. I think it’s a show that should be on Broadway.

Amanda McBroom:

Because I would like to hear it sung in Korean too.

Steve Cuden:

Yeah. I understand. That was a lifelong dream, to hear it sung. I’ve heard it on record sung in Korean, because there’s an album, but I wanted to see it live and that was an amazing thing.

Amanda McBroom:

That had to be wonderful.

Steve Cuden:

It was wonderful. Believe it or not, we’ve been talking for close to an hour.

Amanda McBroom:

Wow.

Steve Cuden:

We’re going to go to the famous last two questions. You’ve obviously worked and met with lots of people in the entertainment industry. Fortunately, you’ve had the good luck to work closely with a few people a lot. But you’ve worked with all kinds of people. Do you in all of your experiences have a quirky, or an oddball or an offbeat or a funny, or just a weird story that you can share?

Amanda McBroom:

I was trying to think of that. The one that came to mind and it’s truly silly because almost all of my creative relationship with people have been delightful, but I would not say out of the ordinary. I would say the silliest moment was when I was nominated and eventually won the Golden Globe for The Rose. And the presenter was Susan Summers. And we walked out on stage and we were wearing exactly the same dress.

Steve Cuden:

Oh, no.

Amanda McBroom:

She filled hers out a lot better than I filled mine up, but we looked at each other and for a moment we were both struck dumb.

Steve Cuden:

Literally the same outfit.

Amanda McBroom:

Literally the same outfit, we both went to Trashy Lingerie and got these really incredible teal blue nightgown dresses and we walked out on stage and looked at each other and neither of us could say anything.

Steve Cuden:

Nobody made a comment.

Amanda McBroom:

Not until much later. And then we both started to laugh. I don’t know if it was a sincere laugh, but we laughed.

Steve Cuden:

What are the odds?

Amanda McBroom:

Thank you very much. I’ll take my trophy and go home now, bye.

Steve Cuden:

Well, but you won one and that counts.

Amanda McBroom:

That’s right, honey.

Steve Cuden:

They don’t get to take that away, do they?

Amanda McBroom:

No.

Steve Cuden:

No. Not for wearing the same outfit. All right, what is the best piece of advice that you may be able to share with those who are just starting out in the business, or maybe in a little bit and trying to get to that next level?

Amanda McBroom:

I would say the operative word, keep tattooed to your forehead, the word yes.

Steve Cuden:

Yes.

Amanda McBroom:

And keep yes in your heart and keep a pencil and a notebook or your iPhone or whatever, always warm in one hand because you will always look for inspiration everywhere.

Steve Cuden:

That’s a wise piece of advice I’ve not heard anybody else say on the show. And I do that myself, you always want to have something to record with, whatever that is.

Amanda McBroom:

Absolutely, because if you keep your eyes and your ears open, there are wonderful thoughts everywhere.

Steve Cuden:

And what happens if you don’t put it down, you forget it, don’t you?

Amanda McBroom:

You’ll forget it. Unless you say it over and over to yourself, which makes you very tedious. You’ll forget it. Write it down. But keep it right where you can lift from life everything that you need to write.

Steve Cuden:

I think that is a very sound piece of advice that more people should practice, is having something whether it’s a voice recorder which is a pain in the butt to carry. Although, most cellphones now have voice recorders in them.

Amanda McBroom:

Most cellphones do, absolutely.

Steve Cuden:

Or at least, the small pad or paper of some kind and a pen or a pencil.

Amanda McBroom:

And the other thing is, lift your eyes from your cellphone.

Steve Cuden:

Yes, please.

Amanda McBroom:

Look around you. Don’t look down onto your screen, look around you.

Steve Cuden:

We’re slowly having a problem with that in our whole society.

Amanda McBroom:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

I see it in the classroom and on the street. It’s not a good thing. Do look up and take in the world because where else are you going to get your ideas? You’re not going to get them in the cellphone.

Amanda McBroom:

Exactly. I like that, look up and take in the world. I’m stealing that, Steve.

Steve Cuden:

It’s all yours. It was yours to begin with, it’s still yours. Amanda, this has just been a fantastic, fast and greatly entertaining hour and I thank you so much for coming on the show.

Amanda McBroom:

I just loved it. Thank you, Steve.

Steve Cuden:

I appreciate you coming on the show.

Amanda McBroom:

Let us meet in Pittsburgh for more good wine at some point.

Steve Cuden:

Will do.

Amanda McBroom:

Okay.

Steve Cuden:

We have a real treat today. Amanda has graciously allowed us to listen to an unreleased recording of a song that she wrote with Roger Kellaway who wrote the music. Please enjoy now, Silk Pajamas.

Amanda McBroom:

(singing)

Steve Cuden:

And so, we’ve come to the end of today’s StoryBeat. If you liked this podcast, please take a moment to give us a comment, rating, or review on whatever app or platform you’re listening to. Your support helps us bring more great episodes to you. This podcast would not have been possible without the generous support of the Center for Media Innovation on the campus of Point Park University. Until next time, I’m Steve Cuden and may all your stories be unforgettable.