Meet the melodic heartbeat of *Songa! LIVE —*the transformative social play that’s gathered a million families in the world’s family rooms | Lead Female Vocals of Songa’s Songbook | co-CEO of songa.fm | Recovering Perfectionist and People Pleaser | mini-Bassist | affectionately called “The Songstress of Songa”
https://player.vimeo.com/video/1025693289?h=b6780e7997&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479
My mom dreamt of acting on Broadway as a child. She lost a big opportunity in her twenties to be the lead in ‘Phantom of the Opera,ʼ and the phantom of her failures haunted our family ever since.
I grew up with my brother Brand, in the trailer parks of Aspen. Now, a trailer park might sound shabby, but don’t take pity on us. Because to live in Aspen, even in ‘its slums’, comes with a million dollar purchase price. Still, Brand and I saw the children of wealth everywhere we looked. As my classmates were taught to dream of lives in finance with clear paths to wealth, I wanted to become a singer. I remember when I was eight years old and I soloed on stage for the first time: My mom tore my performance apart. She was ruthless, and that critical voice of hers would echo in my head and become my own. But that didn’t stop Brand and I from writing songs together. Because you see, he wanted to be an artist too: a writer. Until one day, my mother’s critical voice turned into my father’s ultimatum: ‘If you become an artist, we’ll not only cut you off financially, but we’ll cut off all contact with you too.’
Brand chose his life. I chose mine.
The life of an artist is a lonely one, especially when you’ve lost your family. I found one on the road with other traveling troubadours. I moved to St. Louis because the cost of living was cheap, but so cheapened too was my art as I traveled with nothing but my guitar case slung over my shoulder, and my palm outstretched to a series of rich party planners from Miami to Ibiza to Bali. They paid the bare minimum and that’s what I thought I deserved, because that’s what my mother had taught me I was worth. Still, I poured my heart out and into my songs for the families of wealth, no different to me than the happy families I’d imagined in those Aspen mansion as I wrote songs from my childhood bedroom in ‘Rocky Mountain Mobile Homes.’ But the more I spoke to these families of wealth, I realized they were just as unhappy as I was.
And if they couldn’t find joy, what chance did I have?
We were all playing covers of our songs that used to be originals. I was tired of this tired life, playing 17 Gigs a Month just to get by. So, I looked inward to find that joy I and regain my singing voice, while listening and speaking to my Inner Child.
I learned to Embrace Every Part, all the light and the dark. I started only playing originals, and helping families find the lyrics to their own song. And when I began playing to those same families of wealth and showing them how to turn their lives into art, their **wealth become a force multiplier that had the potential to bring joy to hundreds or thousands or millions of people. But I didn’t know how to harness this new form of musical entertainment. And then, on one of those rare days that I was off the road and home at St. Louis, I heard Riverfront Tim on the ‘The Riverfront Tim Show’ and his plans for the world’s first social radio station.
It was the microphone my voice needed, to broadcast my message to the world and reach its wealthiest families, whether that wealth came in time, talent, or treasure. The next day, I found my part, even before I knew what exactly it would be. I was busking in St. Louis’ Compton Hill Reservoir Park, when a man in faded jeans and cheap cowboy boots slipped past me, while slipping a part of a playbook into my coin-filled guitar case.
It came with a piece of a secret manuscript that detailed plans for a ‘The Plot to Save the Soul of Business—and St Louis (with music).’ It was a social change game that was operating on a massive scale, but ended with a specific direction: ‘If you’re to change the world, you must first change your Self.”
I knew my story would start with my brother who I’d lost, Brand. And soon, my brother and I would reunite on ‘The Riverfront Tim Show’ and get to work on creating a show of our own: ‘Brand and Sage Storries Hour’ on **SoSTL.fm**