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About Timothy from USA: Just a fan.

Re: Billboard 200 (96,106) (96,109) by Timothy from USA It's looking like it will chart at 28 or 29 for the debut frame when the chart updates. The chart runs a week behind. (Monday 12 October 2020; 02:08)

Re: I am stunned (95,869) (95,872) by Timothy from USA Wow Bill. Of all of the different fan reviews, this one makes me more excited to read/listen as it now seems like we will learn some new things vs. the controlled P.R. image of things some of us feared. Thanks for this. (Wednesday 30 September 2020; 22:10)

Re: Wayward Child (95,860) (95,871) by Timothy from USA Well said, Andrew. (Wednesday 30 September 2020; 22:07)

Re: Nick (94,681) (94,685) by Timothy from USA Thanks Terna and We Are Lambily. (Thursday 23 July 2020; 22:01)

Re: Nick (94,681) (94,684) by Timothy from USA I am still getting used to how to message in here after all these years. Also, if you have a guide for how to use the board in general, like linking articles and posting your pic, can you email it to me. Thanks. [Webmaster: Just click on "edit account" on the top and you can change your avatar. If you want an article to be linked, just give the address in your post and I will link it for you.] (Thursday 23 July 2020; 22:00)

Re: Nick (94,663) (94,668) by Timothy from USA Oh Andrew. I think because you are so used to people being combative with you on this forum, you read my previous post with a perceived tone that wasn't as severe as you took it. I have always told you I have no desire to argue with you or anybody else on this board. I have read posts on this board for some time and I did think it was nice that you made a "well-intentioned" apology to Licia. I am certainly aware you don't do it often however, your message was public and the apology was served for all of us to read with some pretty sweeping judgement about BLM. I didn't write my last post looking for an apology. At first I was pretty upset by your earlier post. I don't get upset easily. But then I just felt bad for you and I took accountability for obviously riling your up. You were making an effort to apologize and I allowed a few weeks of reading news articles filled with nasty comments by some trolls to lead me to jump to a conclusion when I saw some of the same language like "victimization" etc in your post. So, by the time I got to your post on this website, I probably gave you more than you deserved for trying to apologize to someone you respect. I am secure enough and man enough to acknowledge I am a junior executive who skims a lot all day. I skimmed your post and thus I apologize for not thoroughly reading and then attempting to invalidating your apology. In truth, that post was for Licia and Licia only to comment on. Having said that, there are a few things I want to clear up. First, I don't really think it's creepy to see several different pics of the same person, over a decade's time and mention they are attractive. Labeling someone a pretty boi might be a cultural thing for me that sounds like a bigger compliment in print than saying it in passing. I wasn't hitting on you or asking you out. When I referenced "build on" I meant dialog on the board. In fact, in the past, I noticed that someone was able to disarm your defense mechanism to launch into combat mode by throwing a little flattery in there. Whatever disagreement you were having shifted to you exchanging emails. (I was skimming that too so that is what I thought I read.) That wasn't the outcome I was looking for in this case but I did want you to relax and really understand the point I was making about bias. Alas, that didn't occur. Secondly, I never had a problem with you pointing out the struggles of Jewish people but you presented it comparatively, which is harmful. Thirdly, I try and operate with a sense that all people are good and decent at their core and therefore, lately I am working on assuming positive intent, no matter the packaging. So, with that being said, if I assume that you are a good and decent person underneath all the vitriol, then I think I should share with you that a textbook example of White Supremacy is immediately labeling the person discussing bias as a racist themself. So, I will assume you didn't know that and that you deduced me talking about Mariah bias as labeling you a racist, which couldn't be further from my point. A deeper study and understanding of all of this would lead us to the conclusion that racism is an action; it is the system of oppression that results from prejudice and bias. Racism requires a position of power or authority in a given situation to create actions and facilitate systems of oppression. So, by that definition, neither of us could deduce the other is a racist from our exchange. To reinforce my previous point on intrinsic bias, I want to clarify that bias can most times be subconscious and not have malice. It is often the result of images and narratives in media and teachings from one's home or immediate environment. The older woman who jumps when she sees me as a black man with a football build next to her in a Buckhead Atlanta supermarket isn't a racist. Her intrinsic bias leads her to believe that I am something to fear. Thus, if I pointed out you being biased against Mariah, it could be unintended or unknowing. I think we all owe each other the benefit of the doubt. Now on the matter of this "white boy shut up". I read my post again three times looking for that. I am direct and I don't allude to anything so I like my words to be taken at face value. I do wonder if that was projection on your part as many of your posts can be summarized as you telling someone they are dumb and to shut up. This is a chat board. If we shut up there would be no point. And I like Adult Contemporary music like most people who were around in the 90s. I paid hundreds of dollars for Celine tickets lol, so I don't think Adult Contemporary is a defined race. And Eurocentricity has its place. Who doesn't like a great, sweeping period epic? It just should not be held as the gold standard when someone chooses to do something different is my point. Now, don't take this wrong. But you did bring it up just because I used a standard title, commonly associated with the presidency of the United States. If we are to understand that Briton is a common wealth and it's citizens/subjects recognize a sovereign (even if only ceremonially), who is God's representation on earth, who requires that you show her deference in her presence, then that is at least reinforcing the idea that some bloodlines have more value than others. I get the impression that Queen Elizabeth is a nice woman. However, it is a fact that British monarchs enriched themselves through hundreds of years of imperialism and subjugating other cultures, under the belief they were savages that didn't deserve control or ownership of their own land or resources (America has its own sordid last with genocide and slavery obviously). So while you may enjoy all of your freedoms in your homeland, there may be variations of liberty around the rest of the common wealth, meaning a member of the commonwealth's freedom may sometimes have an asterisk next to it. Lastly, Andrew, you give a lot of didactic feedback about argument validity, intelligence, etc. As someone who did win a state-wide debate award or two, I learned a long time ago that substantive points should stand on their own, without subjectivity. So, I challenge you to try, even if just for a week, to make your counterpoints to someone on this board without questioning their intelligence, being petty, or attempting to marginalize and belittle them. That way, your points will be more clear and people will understand your messages for their true intentions, often with valid points, without the unnecessary, and frankly draining, sideshow. I have been a smart guy my whole life. Gifted since kindergarten. But a very hard childhood, filled with perhaps more than my fair share of trauma, caused me to build a wall and use my intelligence as a defense mechanism to protect me like an armor against all those perceived enemies. That was a draining way to live. Thankfully, I had the unique privilege in my young adulthood in Atlanta of spending time with some great men who happened to be national civil rights heroes like Rev. Joseph Lowry and the recently departed Rep. John Lewis. From them I learned some valuable lessons in character and humility. From really applying those lessons in humility later in adulthood came the six figure job and the quality relationships and of course, the bad bitches. It made all the difference. So, I really don't know you Andrew. But like all of us, you have a choice, you can respond to this balanced, subjectivity-free attempt at dialog with your same, well-branded animosity, or you can make a different choice. Whatever that next chapter is for you, there is always a choice. I hope that all of us use this unique time in our public discourse on race to really make an effort to not just listen, but to hear each other, as we have much to learn from our opposing viewpoints. Be well, TLB (Wednesday 22 July 2020; 04:46)

Re: Nick (94,658) (94,659) by Timothy from USA Now this post was troublesome. For the record, the free world is currently being led by a man who retweets antisemitic tweets and calls Neo Nazi groups "good people". He wasn't cancelled either. While, I have been fortunate enough to partake in ceremonial joint African American and Jewish Seders that help both sides in attendance see the similarity of our struggles and difficult pasts through prayer and breaking bread, I think it is alarming to read a non-minority person post about how that group is the truly disadvantaged. I have pondered to myself when I read the frequent vitriol from you, what is the place that you are coming from. Is it a point of view that is necessary for well rounded dialog or is it really just cancerous. I try and see all sides and believe everyone should have a seat at the table where their voice can be heard. I draw a line however at you attempting to validate or invalidate the Black Lives Matter movement. How dare you assume to speak on the true intentions of/or the hearts of people who you don't know, nor have you walked in the shoes of? You speaking on Black Lives Matter is like me pontificating on Brexit. It's misplaced. If anyone wanted to read Fox News dog whistles on race and BLM, we wouldn't be here on this board for an escape. I was very offended when I read your other post as well. I could care less what does or does not happen to Nick. It was you using it as an excuse to interject BLM into the conversation and the way you did it. You are on a fan page of a woman of color who herself supports the movement. I think the light bulb that went off for me today is that I finally understand why you speak about Mariah in the harsh way that you do. To you, and the rest of the Adult Contemporary crowd, she is a POC who should shut up and sing. And not just sing, sing perfectly, the songs you want, dressed in the euro-centric way you want to see her. If she can't do that, then she is less than the dirt under your foot, which is how you talk about her. Her life and existence is therefore of service to you, nothing more. If it was, then you would display more empathy for her human condition and it's mistakes. So to you and everyone on the board reading this, let it be illuminated, that a person who has never written or recorded music, not performed live for three decades, or ever had to put his hands perfectly in his lap with a gun pointed at him by the police during a racial profiling stop (whose salaries are paid by his taxes) should probably take a good look in the mirror and understand that every time you attempt to validate or invalidate her worth or the BLM cause, it is your entitlement that gives you the gaul to do so in the first place. One shouldn't apologize if one doesn't mean it. You didn't need to apologize for insinuating that Black lives don't matter because you restated your same point right after. The sad part of all of this Andrew is just like many of my conservative friends, on most issues, we are not that far apart. And if I am honest I actually think you look pretty attractive. And if the webmaster would ever let me post my pic, you would see I was a handsome brotha myself. So why can't two attractive, intelligent men from two different sides of the world with a shared interest not build on that connection? For the same reasons that conservatives lose many of us, the generalizations and the vitriol. If there was anything to apologize to me and any other POC on the board, it was your sweeping generalization you made about what all people supporting BLM are like or want. Intelligence is useless if it is used to destroy and tear down. How much farther could you reach pretty boi, if you used that intelligence to build something up. I don't assume to know your heart so I would never call you a racist but I would ask you if you are open to understanding what intrinsic bias sounds like and how it makes the people in your circle of influence feel when you speak arrogantly from that place. If you were truly open to that, then I think African Americans like myself would be open to speaking on how we really feel about our valid message getting hijacked or stepped on by a few which is the ammunition for the argument you made in the first place. (Tuesday 21 July 2020; 03:21)

Re: A vibe (93,906) (93,916) by Timothy from USA That's a solid playlist. Just missing Babydoll. (Friday 1 May 2020; 16:56)

Re: Iconic photoshoots (92,669) (92,673) by Timothy from USA Lol. I should have read ahead to the next post because I was googling like why can't I find this W Magazine spread. Lol. (Friday 31 January 2020; 02:27)

Re: Celine vs. Mariah (92,397) (92,412) by Timothy from USA Yes, I second the compliment on the great analysis. As a point of clarity however, Celine has lip synched on television award shows and on tour heavily since 1996/1997. Her fans are convinced that The Power of Love has not been sung live past the beginning verse since she missed the note performing for Bill Clinton during the song's initial promotion. Other than that, I agree. For all of the stand there in a gown and sing the song straight forward that Celine is so good at, there is not really a lot of magic. I loved the bombast Saturday and all of the formal pomp and circumstance with the strings and synchronized lit drones circling here during My Heart Will Go On but there was none of that feeling you get when Mariah is in good voice and teases you at the end of VOL or the way we all feel something when she does an unexpected low note. So, there in the end is disciplined results vs. fleeting magic. I guess I choose magic. (Friday 17 January 2020; 05:19)

Re: Celine (92,368) (92,377) by Timothy from USA Now Andrew. I have been clear that I have no interest in antagonist exchanges with anyone on this board. It's a waste of good, productive energy for what is supposed to be an escape. I did not criticize Celine, I said she was great, even phenomenal at lip syncing and it was a great show. I would see it again. But two things. 1) As an an African American (especially as one who is a leader in corporate America) I can relate and understand the sentiment Mariah and others share about always having to be twice as good and receiving twice or even three times as much criticism for what non-others get passes for. Case in point, if Britney Spears was a black girl years ago, lazily lip-syncing on the MTV Music Awards, her career would be over, not momentarily paused with overwhelming sympathy. So, my observation (being one of maybe 11 African Americans at the entire Celine Show and 1 of maybe 200 at the Lionel Richie show) is that one can make conclusions about the praise and complete confidence for one compared to the harsh criticism and doubt raised for the other. The same could be said for the UK, which is currently facing a split of its Royal Family based on the press's racial undertones. I will never debate the validity of feelings of a person of color with someone who is is not. It is what it is but I think flat out denials and persecution of people that even hint at the topic is tone deaf in 2020. There are just too many examples on a weekly or daily basis. Second thing. You have mentioned in the past (numerous times) Andrew that people pay $250+ and should get to see a singer sing or a phenomenal display of talent. My tickets for Celine were close to $600. So, I think that entitles me to walk away from that and have a few notes. In the end the main themes of my last message were her great showmanship, great acting and really timeless songs. The point I make now, after your response however is we see the world the way we choose to see it. Celine's audience was choosing not see the lip syncing instead of actively looking for it. End. (Thursday 16 January 2020; 16:57)

Re: Celine (92,356) (92,365) by Timothy from USA Sorry, I know I needed like 10 commas in there but I only had a few minutes to write that on a break in between conference calls at work. I was surprised the webmaster didn't give me some corrective brackets lol. There are a lot of YouTube videos from Celine's Courage stop in Atlanta. You guys should definitely check out the opening, All Coming Back To Me Now (100% playback as confirmed by her biggest fans) and the climaxes of The Power of Love (playback from first chorus) and All By Self (playback climax note). Even if it easier to tell on a video it was extremely believable in person. (Wednesday 15 January 2020; 22:28)

Celine (92,356) by Timothy from USA I really debated posting this but I have wanted to see Celine live for a while now because I like a lot of her music, respect her accomplishments and as a huge concert buff, believe that you should see all the greats at least once. So since I had not made it to Vegas to see her or Mariah's shows there yet, when Celine came to Atlanta last Saturday, I had to check it out. First and foremost, let me say. The woman deserves an Academy Award for acting. There is professional lip syncing (Celtic Women/Janet Jackson) and then there is Celine. If it was a sport, she would be the Olympic gold medalist, ten times over. The way she managed her head movements, eye raises, hand movements, neck turns and contortions to make a show that she sung 40% (generous) live was astounding. When you pair that with the best engineering work I have ever heard at a live event, you get a world class show. I didn't know what to expect since the live parts of her Jacksonville show two nights before revealed a pretty "fragile" voice condition but she was in much better voice for our show. I must say all the lip syncing (of entire songs in some cases) means that her voice can be great when it needs to be (case in point the new solo version of The Prayer or the live parts of it). What was most surprising to me though was the packed arena ate it up. Without question. I was surrounded by people (including my mom who I didn't have the heart to take her euphoria away after) who were literally commenting on how her voice has not changed since the beginning Of her career and how amazing she sounded. Even when the two highest climaxes in The Power of Love and All By Myself were just too perfect to be human (layered, stacked, echoed) and two of the spots where the engineers use older tracks because she doesn't/maybe can't re-sing them now. It made me wonder why Celine gets this pass from the clearly Adult Contemporary crowd when the same, usually discriminating crowd (albeit slightly older) was dismissive and critical as we were leaving Lionel Richie and Mariah a couple years back. I will give you that the engineering during Caution was the best yet and I didn't see the usual people looking around in a is she/isn't she singing kind of way but as a comparison my mother leaned over and said during that show, I know she was just lip syncing just now when Mariah wasn't even lip syncing in that particular spot of the show (lol). I find it fascinating. I am not ready to call it a race thing. Maybe it is a better management/marketing thing. Maybe because Mariah was heralded the best singer and put on a certain perceived level during every interview while Celine was building her live following and staying musically consistent. Either way, Mariah sings much more of her show live but was performing in a theater that wasn't sold out when I saw here in March while Celine was performing to a sold out arena of people raving about an artificial voice. Hell, even I was giving standing ovations when I have been following the YouTube debate on her long enough to know which parts were artificial. I got caught up in the polish of it all as well when I am just bracing for Mariah to look convincing at climaxes when I see her live while I wait to hear and enjoy her real voice during other moments of the show. I just hope that the new management team will do something to her presentation that gets her on the same level as her peers. If anyone has a chance to go to a secondary market ticket site and score Celine tickets, I would encourage you to do so. It was a great show. But "show" is the operative word. (Wednesday 15 January 2020; 18:40)

Re: New album (92,139) (92,156) by Timothy from USA Andrew: Although you make valid counterpoints, is it not a reasonable observation that the top of the charts in the 70s and 80s had a lot more middle aged singers (both male and female)? *This is not meant to be antagonist* I just want to be clear about the underlying sentiment for the ageism argument. (Sunday 5 January 2020; 03:43)

Re: New album (92,133) (92,138) by Timothy from USA This was really well written. Especially the section on the rare late career hits of those other artists. (Saturday 4 January 2020; 01:14)

Re: Article: Carey struggling to sell tickets in Las Vegas (92,130) (92,137) by Timothy from USA Smh. Vegas shows typically sell the bulk of tickets the day before or day of as visitors make selections on entertainment upon arrival, based upon hotel concierge recommendations and local promotion. There was so much factually incorrect about that article that it would take too long to dissect. There are complex algorithms used to anticipate demand for artist shows and if there was any real threat that Mariah's show would lose money, Ceasar's would not renew her. She is on the same pre-sale pace of Celine her last time around. To compare a residency show in a tourist town to a national tour is not apples to apples. The author seemed biased and pot stirring. (Saturday 4 January 2020; 00:55)

Re: Melissa Mariah's manager (92,044) (92,054) by Timothy from USA Wow. Now that tidbit makes this all make perfect sense. I hope this becomes a long-standing client-management relationship, as it bears good fruit. (Tuesday 31 December 2019; 11:59)

3rd Week at #1 (92,034) by Timothy from USA So, now that it's official, congrats to her on this. This was major. This has been the best she has been managed and presented to the general public since the similarly strategic roll out and marketing of TEOM. (Monday 30 December 2019; 20:02)

Walter A. gets really candid (91,775) by Timothy from USA This was an interesting read. He was humble but still honest. (Thursday 19 December 2019; 02:36)

Re: World tour (85,199) (85,238) by Timothy from USA Very good point webmaster and just when I thought it was putting the cart before the horse I see that this is one more very well played strategy by Roc Nation to ensure a more successful era. (Wednesday 24 October 2018; 06:06)

Re: ? (85,192) (85,237) by Timothy from USA Agreed. Some of these posts are pathetic. Cynical for cynical sake. If you consistently spend time and energy on something or someone you have such dislike for, it says way more about your life than the topic you are discussing. Take the perpetual negativity somewhere else. The world is negative enough as it is at the moment. This board should be a break from the vitriol. (Wednesday 24 October 2018; 06:03)

Re: Too many bubbles for my taste (85,187) (85,213) by Timothy from USA Ummmm no. There are such negative entries on this board that neglect to notice or mention that various respected publications that have identified The Distance as the hit that she has been waiting for. (Tuesday 23 October 2018; 06:14)

Re: Big news (85,169) (85,171) by Timothy from USA It might just be the announcement of this year's Beacon shows. We'll have to wait and see. (Monday 22 October 2018; 03:33)

Re: The Distance (85,160) (85,163) by Timothy from USA Qhm, I am so glad you said that because from reading so many of the critiques over the last couple days a lot of the group was pointing out their dislike for the chant as if they don’t listen to popular music anymore to know that the random audio file is standard and almost required now. I think that the producer probably wanted to do something even more random and she steered it to something she thought her fans would be more familiar with because of the last time she did it in UOMF. (Sunday 21 October 2018; 15:03)

Re: Updating the stats (85,159) (85,162) by Timothy from USA You know, I saw those new stats in that post and I think that they are intentionally ambiguous. As someone who reads Billboard, I like to think that stats never catch me off guard but that one... It almost seems like they are defining a unit as a individual track or they are counting all individual merchandise sales from various eras and licensed products. Either way, for a decade now, her, Madonna, Celine and MJ's estate have all tried various ways to outdo one another in stats through sometimes sketchy calculations. I just don't think this is the right way to go when so much is going right to start this era and part of the reason Mariah became so unrelatable to the general public was because of all of those sales montages before "less than ideal" performances. People need a reason to root for you and the average person is not going to take their hard earned money to keep you on a perceived mountain top. I hope Roc Nation has her play the underdog more as that is what people like to get behind now. (Sunday 21 October 2018; 14:55)

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