Last month’s short story was about a fictional singer that rose to prominence in the 1980’s. Probably what we would call a one-hit wonder, his flame died out fairly quickly at a young age. While I wanted to give Jimmy B. a happy ending, I just couldn’t realistically see how that was possible. So, it was a bit of a downer. Apologies for that.

I came up with the idea of Jimmy B. after watching the Grammys this year. Actually, that is a bit of exaggeration. I didn’t watch the award show but I sure saw the backlash. Namely, the Taylor Swift and Celine Dion moment that created such a stir that it intruded into my daily feed. If, by some chance, you have no idea what I am referring to, let me sum up by saying Celine presented Taylor with an award and critics everywhere condemned Taylor for not being gracious in her acceptance.

Now, I am far removed from whatever happened on that stage and I only have the video to watch and form a judgement. The same video everyone else has watched and surmised Taylor is an awful human being. Maybe. But I’m not convinced that what I see is the whole story.

First of all, it was noted that with Celine’s current health issues, there were requests made to help her feel comfortable. Second, it was an awkward looking exchange between the two performers but when did awkwardness slide into the 8th deadly sin? Speaking from experience, not everyone can handle every situation with grace. Personally, I’d be satisfied if I could handle 50% of my situations with some kind of finesse.

So, I watched a lot of the criticism against Taylor. Let me clear, I am not a Taylor fan but I am not a hater either. I am in the middle in some sort of ambivalent gray area. What I did think was Taylor will not make the same mistake twice. She will learn from it and improve. And that’s where the idea of Jimmy working with his mom to learn the skills he needed was born.

Granted, Jimmy’s case was much more extreme but the idea that a lot of us are in a state of learning and improving seemed universal. I also decided to put Jimmy’s timeline in an earlier timeframe. Mainly because while we always use labels to identify people, whether for good or bad, the labels have changed slightly.

Hopefully, you enjoyed reading Jimmy’s story. Thanks for stopping by for a visit. My next 5-part short story will be in June.

Songbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B.