Not-So HIDDEN TALENTS - Oh, the Things We DON'T Know About Shaun Cassidy | MUSIC is not a GENRE - Season 2 Episode #35

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Multitalented people are not rare. The creative brain tends to think that everything has the potential to be something. And if that brain also has talent and interest in an area, that person won’t be able to resist making something new. I can think of a dozen famous people offhand who do at least two things really well.

What is rarer is people knowing how multitalented someone is. Most successful artists are known for one thing, two at most. Jamie Foxx is a comedian, actor, & singer. He’s also a songwriter and accomplished pianist. Tom Hanks is an actor and a producer. He’s also a writer & an app designer. Reese Witherspoon is an actor & producer. She’s also a singer & writer. Lupita Nyong'o is an acclaimed actor. She’s also a writer & TV producer. This doesn’t even get into all their non-creative work in business, charity, etc. And these are only four of thousands and thousands.

Among that group is Shaun Cassidy. If you know him at all, first of all you’re old. Secondly, you probably know him as David Cassidy’s little brother, or the costar of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Or as this week’s album shows, a pop singer. But he’s done way more.

I loved this album. So much that I had the accompanying poster on my bedroom closet door. It was mostly because of the cover of The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron". But it was the overall poppiness too. Granted, I was 7 when it came out, but I stand by that pre-teen taste even now, because if we're honest it never really goes away. Then I kind of grew out of him. His next two albums were successful too, and he did lots of TV and stage acting, but I had no interest in most of it.

In the mid 1990s, I heard his name again, this time as the creator, writer & producer of American Gothic. I didn’t watch it, but a couple years later I heard his name again, as the creator of Roar, starring Heath Ledger. I loved that show. From then on I kept tabs on Shaun, who has stuck to behind the scenes TV work, including the current show New Amsterdam. And I constantly look out for other less famous things that famous people do well.

I’m one of those non-rare polymaths as well. If you’ve been following along, you know that I do this podcast in part to promote my own music - most of which I write, sing, play and produce myself. But I’m also a voice actor, and have done several voice overs for commercials, films and video games. And I’m an actor actor too - stage, film and TV. I’m a writer - fiction, nonfiction and poetry. And a graphic artist and photographer. I’ll even dance if you kick me. I do all this for many reasons. It’s fun. I’m restless. I CAN. I like multiple sources of income. I like bouncing between seemingly disparate forms of art. It cleanses the palate, and in the process you can find insight and connections you never would have if you’d stuck to one thing. But mainly I do it because it’s how I absorb and interpret the world. How I make sense of life.

Check out these projects I’ve created or contributed to:
MUSIC: The Weird Objective - https://www.nickdematteo.com/rectheweirdobjective
GRAPHIC DESIGN: SnerkShirts by FEEK – https://snerkshirtsbyfeek.com
VOICE OVERS: my VO reel - https://youtu.be/wEoWto1gUeM
ACTING: The Many Saints of Newark - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8110232/
PHOTOGRAPHY: Hands Down - http://bit.ly/handsdownphotos

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