Tony Robbins Live

Saturday November 3rd, 2007 - Oak Lawn, IL/Lake Villa, IL

Another good day on many levels. For one thing the weather is spectacular for this time of year no matter if it’s due to global warming or not. It was sunny and about 67 today as I spent the day outside enjoying as much of it as I could. I had one more night in the barrel in Oak Lawn and it was an 80 mile drive no matter what time of day I did it so I left early.

Rather than complain about having to work somewhere I don’t really want to I made up my mind to enjoy the day and use it as a working vacation. I have some cds I picked up at Walgreens of all places for $5 each and I jammed out to all of them. Little things do please me and I savored the music of Three Dog Night, The Isley Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Maybe I’m getting old and maybe I’m just nuts but those are three of the best discs I’ve heard in a long time. All are greatest hits compilations and they sound fantastic in my little after market car stereo I bought at Best Buy for $100. I was in my own little world for the drive across town as I sat back and got my money’s worth and I don’t care who laughs.

Three Dog Night has some great songs I forgot about. They were super hot when I was a kid in the ‘70s and then just fell off the world. Of all the band reunions that have come to pass in the last thirty years I can’t believe they haven’t gotten back together. I would buy a ticket to see those guys especially after reliving all their hits today. They had it going on.

Lynyrd Skynyrd was never one of my favorite bands growing up but I’ve learned to like them as I’ve gotten older. Say what you want but Freebird really is a true American music classic. The guitar solo blows me away and every time I hear it it puts me in a good mood. I must have cranked it up as loud as it could go ten times in a row. Why? I just felt like it.

I’ve always liked the Isley Brothers. I saw them live once and they were really good. I’m pretty funky as a rule and that’s the kind of music I gravitate toward but this was a treat to hear songs like ‘That Lady’ and ‘Fight The Power’. An unexpected bonus was a version of ‘Summer Breeze’ originally done by Seals and Crofts. I am not a huge fan of the other one but this one just smokes. There is a killer fuzz guitar solo and it tore up my car stereo for a long time. I kept hitting the repeat button and grooving to that guitar over and over again.

I sure did get my money‘s worth out of those cds. If I like a song I’ll play it over again to let it sink in before I move on to the next one and do it again. I’m weird that way but I like it so that’s what I do. Sometimes I get frustrated when I hear a song on the radio because I want to hear it again and can’t. Maybe my skull is so thick it takes a few times to sink in.

Whatever the case it was a gorgeous day cruising around hearing cheap tunes I liked and just enjoying life. I’m in a good mental state right now and trying to change my habits so I keep it that way. It’s only been three days but I’m starting to eat better and that feels good too. I’ve consciously made a point to avoid junk food and walk a lot more. Even knowing I am trying to do that puts me in a good mood for some reason. I have a long way to go in all areas but today I just relaxed and let life come to me rather than chase it like a maniac.

One of the reasons I left early was to take a walk through the Wealth Expo in Rosemont sponsored by the Learning Annex. They’ve been really pumping it on the radio all week so I thought I’d see what they were offering. Donald Trump and Tony Robbins were the two main speakers and they also had a ton of others mostly focusing on flipping real estate.

I don’t have a desire to flip real estate because that’s not my field of expertise. I am not handy with tools and never was and I’m not stupid enough to think it’s as easy as they say on TV. It takes WORK to flip houses and I don’t mind work but not that kind. I’d blow it and get discouraged and probably lose my shorts as 99.999% of people who do that do. It is amazing how many people fall for those scams and really believe it doesn’t take work.

I am familiar with the convention center because that’s where the big sports card shows take place. It’s a nice facility and there is parking a few blocks away that’s both cheap and a brisk walk so I enjoyed the day even more as I got some exercise. The whole vibe of the day was laid back and relaxed. I had plenty of time to get to my gig and wasn’t stressed.

I got to the Expo and Tony Robbins was on stage speaking in the main exhibit hall. He’s very dynamic and charismatic but as I watched him I thought I could do that too. I am not taking anything away from him but I have spent my entire life talking to people and if he’d have given me the mike I’d have had no trouble going up there and taking over right there.

If I had to estimate the crowd there to see him I’d say there were 2-3000. I watched it all for about an hour not only listening to Tony but also watching the audience. I saw a varied crowd of young and old and black and white and it wasn’t the drunken mob type I usually have to work in front of. I wanted to jump on stage and take advantage of the big crowd.

Tony Robbins found his niche. He took a lot of other people’s ideas and ‘reallocated’ all of them into his own. He brought it to the masses and good for him for doing it. Those are the people that win big. Famous Dave’s Barbecue is the same way. He took a lot of things from little mom and pop joints and reallocated them into his own place and they worked. I am going to do the same thing in my business idea. I will find my niche selling funny stuff.

The shows tonight at the Barrel weren’t as bad as usual. The first show was actually not bad at all. It was pretty full and I didn’t let them talk like they wanted to. I established my rapid fire style up front and they couldn’t interrupt me because I wouldn’t let them. By the end of the show they got the message and stopped trying. I even sold a few cds and that’s rare for this place. Most of the people are blue collar to the bone and won’t buy anything. I’m used to that from starting in Milwaukee. Nobody is as cheap as a Milwaukee crowd.

There was a bartender both nights named Annie who was just incredible. She’s 22 and a blonde bombshell with a perfect face and smoking body. I’m officially old because I could be her dad but WOW was she hot. I didn’t get to talk to her much and didn’t think she had noticed me until after the show when she said ‘You are SO talented and funny. You made me laugh all weekend!’ I gave her a CD and I thought she was going to faint. I said thanks and of course she had to say how her boyfriend would love it. End of dream. End of week.