A George-ous Surprise for You

Beauty Hunters,

Hi hi hi! Are you ready to shake your booty? Today is nothing more than a burst of fun. Sit back, hit play, and let the drumming wizardry of Dan Wingard take you away for the next 45 seconds.

Can you name that tune? (Spoiler alert below.) Can you sit still while watching it?

I

Three weeks ago, we kicked off the long-form Desire Salon with a question:

What is a memory of your first desire?

One of the participants said he wanted to be swinging from trees like George from “George of the Jungle.” The freedom!

Now, I remember this George from the cartoons of my youth. I remember George, his loin cloth, the jungle and him careening through the wilderness doing his animal calls until — he smacks head-first into a tree. I remember how that scene made my dad laugh every time. Every goddamn time! God how I loved watching my dad laugh—his big opera-singer no-holding-back yucky-yuck howling and the tears squeezing from the corners of his eyes.

Of course, the salon group had fun with the idea of this swinging desire-freedom also = hitting a tree OOPS, but it opened up the coolest opportunity. We asked resident musician Dan Wingard, a talented drummer (and business coach), to send us a video of him playing “George of the Jungle.” He delivered.

Everyone went absolutely ape-shit over it.

II

When the video showed up in my email, I hit play and my body responded as if on autopilot. Here’s what I started doing at 7:45 a.m. immediately after opening Dan’s morning gift.

I went on to play Dan’s video about 20 times that day. I had this interior “George” rhythm going through me all day long. Hard to take anything too seriously when you’re filled with jungle percussion. Also hard to walk without strutting and half-dancing around the house.

Sometimes (maybe often, like every stinking day), I forget about the beauty of an unscripted moment — like when a song plays, and even in a despondent or low-energy mood, the body responds with a flash of life that is in direct contrast with the unreliable narrator of the mind.

If I can remember, the way you might remember, to use music to transcend that mental trouble maker, that might be all a gal needs in a day.

Thanks Dan! And thanks Desire salon, for playing.

🥁 🐒 🌴

PS. Monthly pop-up Salons are offered to Beauty Hunter paid subscribers, and currently open to everyone through May. The topics will rotate; meetings via Zoom. Separately, there are also six-week extended Salons. Join in on the fun, here’s what’s next:

❤️‍🔥LET'S RE-IMAGINE “MARRIAGE” (Details below) Thursday, April 27, 8 - 9 am PDT Register here. The next SIX-WEEK SALON A MARRIAGE SALON, starts May 31 - July 5, Wednesdays 12 - 1 pm PDT. Read more and register here.