Jump to content
The World News Media

When pushed over the edge, Rene Marie decided she’d fly


Guest Nicole

Recommended Posts

  • Guest

When Rene Marie returned to performing music after more than 20 years away from it, her now-ex-husband made her decision easy.

Marie, who had been a singer since her teens, and her ex-husband became Jehovah's Witnesses, and the conservative group they were in frowned on singing nonreligious music in public places.

"I continued to play at home," says Marie in a call from her home in Fredericksburg, Va. "My husband played piano. I played and sang and our sons were musical. And whenever there was a gathering and there was a piano nearby I was on it. It was just at a gathering we might have or at a friend's house, but never on stage."

In her early 40s, though, Marie started singing again and was about to record her first album. Her then-husband disapproved.

"He said, 'If you keep singing, you have to get out. And if you gonna keep living here, you have to quit singing.' I was about to record a CD and he said, 'If you go to that studio tomorrow, don't come back home. If you do come back home you're gonna have hell to pay.' So I asked him if he was threatening me with physical harm and he said it was a promise, not a threat. Having grown up with that kind of physical abuse, I just decided the choice is clear for me. It wasn't that I chose music over my marriage, but I didn't want to be in that sort of a marriage where that kind of talk was considered normal or acceptable. So I left that night and things did get violent before I left."

She says under the circumstances, it was the best thing he could have done.

"It crystallized a huge decision I needed to make in my life. Am I going to make this change or am I going to stay in this situation knowing good and well what it's going to be like? But if he said, 'Oh, Rene, our kids are in college now and we've got an empty nest and I want to spend way more time with you. I miss you when you're gone. Sweetheart, do you really have to sing?' If he had said that, I probably would've said, 'No, I don't have to.'

"Sometimes we jump off a cliff and sometimes we get pushed, but either way we end up in the same place in the air. We can either fly or plummet to the ground. It's not how we get out there. It's now that we're out there, what do we do? It was a gift as far as I'm concerned."

If so, it was a gift that keeps on giving. Marie's status as one of jazz music's great singers continues to grow, and her album "I Wanna Be Evil (A Tribute to Eartha Kitt)" was nominated for a Grammy in 2014. She's earned critical acclaim and a solid following over the past 15 years.

Marie has won special notice as being a modern jazz singer who writes much of her own material.

"I wrote my first song when I was 15," she says. "My boyfriend and I broke up. Isn't that where all art comes from? Pain? So we broke up and I wrote my first song, which I really did like. We met in this musical group we were playing in, and when we got back together we started playing it."

 

Even during her time away from music, Marie continued to write songs.

She says that all the years of being told to not make music took its toll on her confidence.

"It took me about five to seven years to not have what he (her ex-husband) might say in a certain circumstance running through my head. What happens when you're hearing that stuff regularly if you don't replace it with something positive is you're just going to keep hearing it, whether they're standing there or not. I think that's what got to me. I was like, 'Wow. He's not here and I'm still hearing this in my head? I cannot blame him for this anymore. This is me. I'm the one dredging this up. I have to replace this with something beautiful and positive.' "

Marie decided to start calling her answering machine to leave positive, affirming messages to herself. When she'd talk to record store owners about selling her album, and having initially been frightened, she'd call her answering machine after the meeting, congratulating herself for going through with it.

"I'd say, 'You were crying in the car you were so afraid, but look at what you did! You still got out and went in there. You did a great job.' Or, 'You kept that appointment with so-and-so and you are maybe going to do this gig together!' I'd go back home and sometimes forget what I'd said and then listen to those messages. That was so powerful to me. It helped move me forward."

She says having confidence in her own compositions in a world where playing standards is more typical can also be difficult.

"I'm always encouraging other singers to write. They think it's big headed to consider themselves a composer. But you don't have to be a Tchaikovsky or a Duke Ellington to call yourself a composer. If you write a song and it's original, then, hey, you're a composer. It's as simple as that. It does take a little bit of guts when you're filling out a set-list and you deign to put on a couple of your own songs. You erase it, because it just doesn't seem right to put your own stuff beside someone else's, but it's a process."

Source: http://www.knoxnews.com/entertainment/music/when-pushed-over-the-edge-rene-marie-decided-shed-fly-2abe9c59-59c5-4663-e053-0100007f2221-367569061.html?d=mobile
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Views 1k
  • Replies 0
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Popular Days

Popular Days





  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Popular Contributors

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • It appears to me that this is a key aspect of the 2030 initiative ideology. While the Rothschilds were indeed influential individuals who were able to sway governments, much like present-day billionaires, the true impetus for change stems from the omnipotent forces (Satan) shaping our world. In this case, there is a false God of this world. However, what drives action within a political framework? Power! What is unfolding before our eyes in today's world? The relentless struggle for power. The overwhelming tide of people rising. We cannot underestimate the direct and sinister influence of Satan in all of this. However, it is up to individuals to decide how they choose to worship God. Satanism, as a form of religion, cannot be regarded as a true religion. Consequently, just as ancient practices of child sacrifice had a place in God's world, such sacrifices would never be accepted by the True God of our universe. Despite the promising 2030 initiative for those involved, it is unfortunately disintegrating due to the actions of certain individuals in positions of authority. A recent incident serves as a glaring example, involving a conflict between peaceful Muslims and a Jewish representative that unfolded just this week. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/11/us-delegation-saudi-arabia-kippah?ref=upstract.com Saudi Arabia was among the countries that agreed to the initiative signed by approximately 179 nations in or around 1994. However, this initiative is now being undermined by the devil himself, who is sowing discord among the delegates due to the ongoing Jewish-Hamas (Palestine) conflict. Fostering antisemitism. What kind of sacrifice does Satan accept with the death of babies and children in places like Gaza, Ukraine, and other conflicts around the world, whether in the past or present, that God wouldn't? Whatever personal experiences we may have had with well-known individuals, true Christians understand that current events were foretold long ago, and nothing can prevent them from unfolding. What we are witnessing is the result of Satan's wrath upon humanity, as was predicted. A true religion will not involve itself in the politics of this world, as it is aware of the many detrimental factors associated with such engagement. It understands the true intentions of Satan for this world and wisely chooses to stay unaffected by them.
    • This idea that Satan can put Jews in power implies that God doesn't want Jews in power. But that would also imply that God only wants "Christians" including Hitler, Biden, Pol Pot, Chiang Kai-Shek, etc. 
    • @Mic Drop, I don't buy it. I watched the movie. It has all the hallmarks of the anti-semitic tropes that began to rise precipitously on social media during the last few years - pre-current-Gaza-war. And it has similarities to the same anti-semitic tropes that began to rise in Europe in the 900's to 1100's. It was back in the 500s AD/CE that many Khazars failed to take or keep land they fought for around what's now Ukraine and southern Russia. Khazars with a view to regaining power were still being driven out into the 900's. And therefore they migrated to what's now called Eastern Europe. It's also true that many of their groups converted to Judaism after settling in Eastern Europe. It's possibly also true that they could be hired as mercenaries even after their own designs on empire had dwindled.  But I think the film takes advantage of the fact that so few historical records have ever been considered reliable by the West when it comes to these regions. So it's easy to fill the vacuum with some very old antisemitic claims, fables, rumors, etc..  The mention of Eisenhower in the movie was kind of a giveaway, too. It's like, Oh NO! The United States had a Jew in power once. How on earth could THAT have happened? Could it be . . . SATAN??" Trying to tie a connection back to Babylonian Child Sacrifice Black Magick, Secret Satanism, and Baal worship has long been a trope for those who need to think that no Jews like the Rothschilds and Eisenhowers (????) etc would not have been able to get into power in otherwise "Christian" nations without help from Satan.    Does child sacrifice actually work to gain power?? Does drinking blood? Does pedophilia??? (also mentioned in the movie) Yes, it's an evil world and many people have evil ideologies based on greed and lust and ego. But how exactly does child sacrifice or pedophilia or drinking blood produce a more powerful nation or cabal of some kind? To me that's a giveaway that the authors know that the appeal will be to people who don't really care about actual historical evidence. Also, the author(s) of the video proved that they have not done much homework, but are just trying to fill that supposed knowledge gap by grasping at old paranoid and prejudicial premises. (BTW, my mother and grandmother, in 1941 and 1942, sat next to Dwight Eisenhower's mother at an assembly of Jehovah's Witnesses. The Eisenhower family had been involved in a couple of "Christian" religions and a couple of them associated with IBSA and JWs for many years.)
  • Members

  • Recent Status Updates

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      65.4k
    • Total Posts
      158.9k
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      17,669
    • Most Online
      1,592

    Newest Member
    Miracle Pete
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Service Confirmation Terms of Use Privacy Policy Guidelines We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.