Cooldown - Miss Benny
By: Dominick A. Miserandino
If musical success is based on attitude, Miss Benny, lead singer of the hit album by the band Cooldown will certainly reach her dream of 'Making it Big'
DM) Where are you located?
MB) I am located right on a fabulous cushion in my wonderful
space and I am smothered in puppies.
DM) Where would this wonderful space be?
MB) Some people like to think it's between my ears, but I have
them fooled.
DM) How did you start in your work?
MB) I heard a sad Johnny Cash song in the womb. It all took off
from there.
DM) And which Johnny Cash song was that?
MB) "Don't Take Your Guns To Town." Have you heard
it? It's terribly sad. Bill (in the song) should have listened
to his mom. We all should listen to our moms. Sometimes.
DM) And how did you not listen to your mom?
MB) For me I think the problem was that I listened to my mom
too much when I was young. So when I was discovering things for
myself -- you know, lifting the wool off my eyes - as a teenager,
I became sullen and angry.
DM) How did you take out this sulleness and anger?
MB) I listened to what my mother called "acid rock."
According to my mom, everything was acid rock. Actually it was
punk rock and other stuff, like I would listen to sad songs and
really relate to them. I also became very distant and untrusting.
But I had a plan and I knew that things would get better. I wrote
a lot of poetry and songs. There were other things I did that
I care not to mention.
DM) Who would you consider as your influences?
MB) I really don't think I'm about "influences" especially
modern day ones. There are certainly people who I admire deeply
for what they do and what they have been through, but I try to
isolate my creativity as something that is not a product of someone
else's. Certain people have influenced my drive to achieve, like
my father and my grandfather.
DM) How have your father and grandfather influenced you?
MB) Well, when I was young, my parents worked and couldn't afford
babysitters in the summer. My grandparents lived 30 minutes out
of town in a very remote location. A beautiful big farm with
all the trimmings. They took my brother and I on most holidays
and weekends. They were a huge part of my life, and instrumental
in raising me. My grandmother was a schoolteacher, and usually
it was my grandfather and I who spent days together doing chores,
tending to all kinds of farm type tasks. It was wonderful. He
really instilled in me what the payoff for meaningful work was.
Then he would chase me around the house playing the fiddle. He
was the mad fiddler and a wonderful practical jokester too.
As for my father, he was of the same cloth. We had a real bond.
I used to watch him in amazement at how simply brilliant he was,
and how happy and content he was with the "little things".
There was a calmness within him that I have never seen since.
He was completely self sufficient and resourceful.
DM) They both passed away?
MB) My grandfather "passed away." My dad was killed
in an accident. It's funny how after the experience of losing
someone tragically, there becomes such a different meaning in
the phrase "passed away."
DM) How is the meaning different to you?
MB) Well, passed away is so smooth; it's gentle. It sounds peaceful,
like the death was expected. My dad certainly did not pass away.
He was killed. I had absolutely no preparation time and I'm really
pissed off at that still.
DM) What's next in your career from here?
MB) Big, big, big! Actually, I want to conquer the world, or
at least my world.
DM) And, what will you do once you conquer the world?
MB) I will play without time.
DM) Play without time?
MB) I will not wear a watch so there will never be an end to
my fun or creativity until my mind feels so. I would love to
run strictly on "body time" … no clocks. I hate
endings.
DM) Are you a morning or a night person?
MB) I'm both I think. I mean I can get grumpy either way, but
my dad always told me that the early morning was the best part
of the day, and I really love going for my early morning runs.
There's hardly anyone else out, but all of nature is up and at'em.
When I do pass someone, it's like we both have this secret, this
whole world to ourselves for awhile, so we always smile and say
good morning. I've never run into someone who I haven't had that
with. My internal clock goes off early … always.
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