Anka's Away!

If you have yet to listen to Mr. Paul Anka putting the screws to his band, please do yourself a favor. Now, your reaction to this ass-reaming, from which Anka admits to getting "some satisfaction," may be similar to my ladyfriend's. Last night, when I dimmed the lights, poured some wine, lit candles, and sat back with her to enjoy the soothing sounds of Paul Anka crooning to his band about integrity, she said "he's crazy."

Our good friend Spyder, guest blogging at CC, tends to disagree.

Mr. Anka is clearly making a battle cry to his men with this declaration. He wants the band members to make each other accountable. He wants them to police themselves. This is not an unreasonable request. The band members are all experts at what they do. Further, to make beautiful music they must all work together. They must show integrity in what they do. If the trombone player is lax, perhaps the bassist can say some encouraging words. Anka is the focus, Anka is the star, he doesn’t have time to pay attention to every little detail. Like he says, he doesn’t "have time to ride your asses”!

By suggesting that “we’re not gonna be as strong as our weakest link” Anka is telling the band that they cannot afford to have weak links in his chain. They all have to be responsible and handle their individual jobs with integrity.

Perhaps the bassist can say some encouraging words, indeed. Read the whole thing, then consider hiring Mr. Anka for your next corporate event.

And just in case you think Mr. Anka's integrity kick was only a phase, or as he calls it a "mood", please keep up with the man.

It's not really the environment in our business where people last more than two or three years. I've just tried to keep the integrity and honesty as to what I'm about.

You've got to deal with something fresh that moves you, first keeping the integrity of what you do.

That's just, the f---, ing way, it IS!