embarrassed as I am to say, is the movie, "Coyote Ugly."I am not a movie buff which is my disclaimer for not having ever seen this 10 year old, BEYOND cheesy, pop culture catastrophe after which hundreds of bars, truck stops, and even reality shows have patterned themselves. And just in case you are as out of the loop as I, the movie Coyote Ugly is about a small town girl named Violet who moves to the big city to pursue her career in singing and in song writing. Extremely cliche,' right? And even more cliche' is that Violet gets a job as a BAR TENDER to support herself as she chases her dream of breaking into the music industry. Never heard that one before, right? Riiiiiiiiight.
Folks, stay with me.
Violet's host of obstacles seems endless. Shopping her demo around to countless agencies and labels gets Violet, as a newbie, COUNTLESS rejections. Initially, she's conflicted about compromising her values to become a part of the sleaziness that is the bar tending style of the "coyotes." Violet finds herself opting to work at the bar instead of taking advantage of opportunities to display her talents at open mic nights, and when she does have chances to display her singing/song writing abilities, she finds herself succumbing to stage fright.
What exactly, you wonder, resonated with me so much that I felt compelled to blog about what some would argue is the worst movie released that year?
Well, Violet's story is every body's story no matter the profession, no matter the plight. We all can relate to beginning a new journey, seeking help from any and everyone, and being told, "no." And how many times has each of us stared down the forked road and thought, "do I compromise, or do I stand my ground?" For me, those crossroads have appeared more times than I can recollect. And what about the struggle of doing what you need versus doing what you love? How many of us are faced with this challenge regularly? It's the "I really wanna be doing what I love" versus the "I really gotta survive and sustain" conflict. And finally, there's the stage fright. We all - performers and non performers, alike - probably can attest to getting that one opportunity for which we've been praying and then letting that 1% of self-doubt get the best of the situation and ruining it. Yeah, you've been there, too.
For all the aforementioned reasons, watching Coyote Ugly - of ALL movies - inspired me. Ironically, a movie that, on the surface, is about a handful of scantily clad, seductress bar tenders is really about the human spirit's desire to accomplish and to achieve beyond one's wildest dreams.
Stage fright, though, is the most detrimental of the common denominators. It is the stage fright that stands between where we are today and where we are supposed to be.
Good thing Violet overcame her stage fright within the 2 hour time slot allotted for Coyote Ugly's showing! Oh yeah. SPOILER ALERT: Violet ends up getting discovered and LeAnn Rimes is the first major artist to sing one her original works.
So I totally learned to not judge a movie by it's mediocre trailer or by the no-named talent attached to the project because you just never know how inspired you might be by its true message.
