Marc Jason's Boutique

I lost every case to Encyclopedia Brown.

Not once did I solve the mystery before he did.

For many people my age, our first detectives weren’t Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.

They were Columbo.
They were Scooby-Doo.

And there was a ten-year-old boy named Leroy Brown—better known as Encyclopedia Brown.

In honor of National Reading Month, I want to salute Donald J. Sobol, the author who created the boy detective with the big brain, sharp intuition, and relentless persistence.

In elementary school, whenever my class went to the library, I headed straight for the Encyclopedia Brown shelf.

Those books were different.

Each one contained a series of short mysteries. Somewhere in the story was a small logical inconsistency the reader could use to solve the case.

The challenge was simple:

Could you solve the mystery before Encyclopedia did?

Despite my best efforts…

He always beat me.

But something else happened.

Those books made me want to read.

They made the library feel less like an assignment and more like a puzzle waiting to be solved.

And that small spark turned into a lifelong love of reading.

By middle school, I was still reaching for Encyclopedia Brown.

One day I chose one for a book report.

My teacher told me I needed to pick something at a higher reading level.

I remember feeling crushed. It felt like I had to put those books away.

Formally, I did.

But if I ever saw an Encyclopedia Brown book lying around somewhere…

I still read at least one mystery.

And of course—

He still solved the case before I did.

Looking back, it’s a reminder of something simple but powerful:

Sometimes the books that hook young readers aren’t the most advanced ones.

They’re the ones that make kids want to keep turning the page.

And once that happens, everything else tends to follow.

This weekend, I realized I was doing everything right… and still getting it wrong.

I thought my son was having a great weekend. He had snow days, spent time with a friend, and settled in to watch Marvel movies. Meanwhile, I was doing what I usually do — catching up on laundry, finishing doctoral work, paying bills, and handling responsibilities.

I assumed everything was fine.

It wasn’t.

On Monday, as I was heading out the door, my son quietly asked if I was mad at him. Then he said something that stopped me cold:

“Sometimes I don’t know how to talk to you.”

That’s when it hit me.
What I thought was a productive weekend… he experienced as loneliness.

So I changed course.

I picked up pizza.
We sat down.
We watched Doctor Strange together — no agenda, no multitasking.

Ironically, I saw a little of myself in Stephen Strange: driven, focused, always thinking about the next thing. And I was reminded that growth doesn’t always come from doing more.

Sometimes it comes from slowing down.

Leadership, parenting, relationships — they all ask for the same thing:

Presence.

Burnout is not a badge of honor…and it’s not a prerequisite for good leadership.

One of the best decisions I made in 2025 was taking an Organizational Behavior class this summer. I was already a fan of the professor, and I was especially intrigued by the course focus: the critical role employee wellbeing plays in building healthy, thriving organizational cultures. The class more than lived up to my expectations.

One lesson stood out above the rest.

On airplanes, safety briefings always remind passengers to put on their own oxygen mask first before helping others including children. The class offered a similar principle for leadership: you cannot effectively lead others if you are burned out yourself.

In other words, leaders must take care of themselves first.

That idea stuck with me, especially the emphasis on doing things that genuinely bring joy.

A couple of realizations followed.

First, I love dogs even though I’ve never owned one. Between work, school, and life, I’m simply too busy to have a dog right now. Still, I wanted a way to get my “dog fix.”

Second, earlier this year during March’s Reading Month, I read The Seven Silly Eaters to preschoolers. It was easily one of the highlights of my year. I wanted more moments like that. Time spent with kids, reading, and connecting.

It turned out I could meet both goals at once.

I started volunteering with the Friends of Detroit Animal Care and Control (FoDACC), where I walk sheltered dogs around the property. FoDACC also partners with the Detroit Public Library on a program called Storytime with Shelter Dogs, where a shelter dog joins children at the library as a book is read aloud.

Recently, I participated in my first Storytime and brought a dog named Vinda to the library. I didn’t read the book (that honor went to the librarian) but being surrounded by kids and dogs was its own reward.

It made me smile. It improved my overall sense of wellbeing. And it reminded me that leadership doesn’t only happen in offices or meetings.

Leadership isn’t about running yourself into the ground for others.
Sometimes it’s about taking care of yourself well enough that you can actually show up for real.
For me, that looks like little readers, kind dogs, and choosing joy on purpose.

Last week, a news story took me back to 1977.

I was in Mrs. Grossman’s class in the first grade. It was time for art, and I was drawing superheroes and GI Joe like always. Sitting across from me, James Carr was drawing with absolute joy in his eyes. James was drawing the rock band, Kiss, in full makeup with flames going everywhere. He was clearly a Kiss fan, and this drawing was a labor of love.

Kiss guitarist, Ace Frehley, passed away at 74 last week. Ace was the rebellious heart of Kiss, whose raw, unpolished talent and Spaceman persona provided a relatable coolness amidst the band’s calculated spectacle. His iconic guitar riffs on tracks like “Shock Me” were the authentic, rock and roll backbone of the band’s biggest anthems. For many fans, he was the proof that behind the makeup and pyrotechnics, a genuine rock star was lurking.

Last week, another news story took me back to 2000.

I was in my little studio apartment on the ground floor. On the CD player was D’Angelo’s “Voodoo.” My eyes were closed, and my head was nodding along to the hypnotic, raw and soulful beats. With Voodoo, D’Angelo took inspiration from the past and then took music decades into the future. I still do not think we have caught up with Voodoo.

D’Angelo passed away at 51 last week. He captivated music fans by merging the raw soul of vintage R&B with a daring, genre-bending sophistication. His masterful musicianship and impossibly smooth vocals created a deeply sensual and spiritually resonant sound. For many, he wasn’t just a singer, but the visionary architect of a soulful renaissance.

I send condolences to the families of Ace, D’Angelo, and their millions of fans.

En 2019, asistí a un Programa de Líderes Emergentes en la Ross Business School de la Universidad de Michigan. Un día, tuvimos un orador invitado, Maxim Sytch, un profesor de Ross. Maxim estaba hablando sobre las primeras impresiones y dijo que los líderes emergentes deberían causar una primera impresión memorable. Debemos “sobrevender la apertura”.

La impresión que tus miembros de equipo tengan de ti estará anclada para siempre a su primera impresión de ti. Debes mostrar que estás abierto a dar retroalimentación, identificar tu estilo de trabajo, prometer poco y entregar mucho, hacer preguntas, admitir cuando has cometido un error, mantenerlos actualizados en los proyectos, llegar 10 minutos antes y vestir de manera profesional. Al final, ¡lleva donas!

Why did John Lennon walk into the Indica Gallery in London in November 1966? Would he have walked into the gallery in 1962 when the Beatles were in their infancy? Would he have walked into the gallery in 1964 when Beatlemania was at its peak? I’m not sure. However, what I can say for sure in John Lennon evolved from 1962 when The Beatles were perfecting their skills in London bars to 1964 when The Beatles were showcasing their immense skills on the Ed Sullivan Show to that November 1966 day when he met Yoko. He changed. He evolved.

Ultimately, John met Yoko, and the rest is history. Unfortunately, uninformed trolls were unkind to Yoko especially throughout John’s lifetime. According to her critics, she was the reason The Beatles ended. She was the sorceress who led John away from The Beatles to bed-ins. If she had not come along, The Beatles would have never split was the naysayers’ argument. Yet, the argument misses one key point.

People grow up. People evolve. People do not grow up in a linear fashion. We meet people. We learn. We fail and learn from our failures. We experience new things. As a result, we grow. We evolve. We change. The Beatles at their height were experiencing life in a way no one had ever experienced. The opportunities and people open to them made it inevitable they were going to change. The only question was how.

Prior to John meeting Yoko, The Beatles evolved from a bar band playing Chuck Berry & Motown covers to full-fledged pop idols with the first albums to a singing version of the Marx brothers in A Hard Day’s Night to introspective balladeers with Rubber Soul. They changed right in front of everyone’s eyes.

Individually, John and Paul McCartney started collaborating less. Paul loved (and still loves) making music. Music is his challenge, but he views being a musician as more of a profession than the others. Music is his job, and he loves his job.

I believe John loves making music as well. However, for him, music became a form of self-expression. He evolved from wanting to be the next Elvis to being a Dylan-like troubadour. He became more interested in the world outside of The Beatles and outside of his family. He became more artistic, and his artistic side led him to the Indica Gallery.

In hindsight, Yoko is the biggest symbol of his evolution. After meeting Yoko, John became more artier, more open, and more political. Nonetheless, he was also evolving away from The Beatles. In his mid-twenties, he was a much different person than he was in his early twenties. This is perfectly fine and normal. It means he was human.

I think all of us change throughout our lives. Who wants to the be same person at 26 as they were at 22? I believe I’m a different person at 51 than I was at 50.

We meet people. We learn. We fail and learn from our failures. We experience new things. As a result, we grow. We evolve. We change. It is all a part of life.

The “problem” with John’s growth was it put the final nail in The Beatles’ coffin. However, it is not Yoko’s fault for their dissolution. The dissolution was inevitable. They were growing apart as friends and colleagues in their twenties often do. Yoko was a reflection of John’s growth, not the cause.

Last month, Yoko turned 90. To celebrate, I would like to toast her and raise a toast to personal evolution. Life would be boring without it even it causes the dissolution of the world’s greatest musical act.

If the Beatles had recorded “Marquee Moon,” it would be on the absolute short list of greatest singles of all-time along with “Like A Rolling Stone,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Good Vibrations,” and “A Day In The Life.” Instead, it is just merely in the conversation for one of the best 500 singles of all time.

I saw Television and their album, Marquee Moon, in many all-time greatest album lists. Yet, I always glimpsed over Television to read about the greats made by The Beatles, Prince, Dylan, or Nirvana. Then, a few years ago, I started exploring other “greatest albums of all time,” which I previously ignored. The Stone Roses. The Bends. Transformer. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. So, I eventually found my way to Marquee Moon.

Another album I discovered in the last decade, The Ramones, came out in 1976. The Ramones played short quick songs as fast and melodically as they could.

The following year saw more epochal punk albums with the release of The Clash and Never Mind The Bullocks…Here’s the Sex Pistols. The Clash and The Sex Pistols played as loud and as hard as they could, and they did not hide their disdain for their overseers (government, police, The Queen).

Right in the middle of this punk rock bonanza was Marquee Moon. Marquee Moon came out after The Ramones’ debut and prior to The Clash and The Pistols.

While the Ramones were playing songs barely breaking two minutes, Television had guitar solos lasting two minutes, and one notable solo lasting six minutes, which I’ll get to later.

While Joe Strummer was yelling “White Riot” and Sid Vicious was calling for “Anarchy in the UK,” Television was more interested in taking listeners on a journey of their New York.

While The Clash and The Sex Pistols played power chords as hard and loud as humanly possible, Television was much closer to David Bowie, The Modern Lovers and Roxy Music. For Marquee Moon, Television’s two guitarists, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, blended rock with jazz overtones for a more melodic sound.

This melodic sound can be heard in the opening chords of the album opener, “See No Evil.” While “See No Evil” was not going to blow listeners’ speakers out, it was as melodic as any soft rock dominating the radio in 1977.

“Friction” is another song featuring the dueling jazzy melodic guitars of Verlaine and Lloyd. “Friction” leads into the album’s centerpiece and title track, “Marquee Moon.”

The song begins with a double-stopped guitar intro before drummer Billy Ficca’s comes into provide support. Everything just blends perfectly like the finest wine.

Lloyd’s guitar playing including a solo after the second verse flows in and out.

Ficca’s drums and Fred Smith’s bass providing the sturdy foundation. They play the perfect supporting characters: they advance the story without getting in the way of the leading characters.

Then, you have Verlaine. First, his guitar flourishes at the end of the verses are as romantic as anything The Edge ever played.

His singing is perfect for the song. “Marquee Moon” does not require a classically trained vocalist or a smooth crooner like Sam Cooke or Marvin Gaye. It needs someone who can hold a note with a tinge of a punkish sneer. Verlaine admirably fills the role.

Ultimately, what makes “Marquee Moon” one of the greatest singles of all time is Verlaine’s six-minute guitar solo. I’m not sure what we can from music. To make us feel uplifted. To make us feel like the world as endless possibilities. To teach us. To make us appreciate the art form. The “Marquee Moon” guitar solo accomplishes all these objectives.

The solo just blows my mind every time I hear it. I hear rock, specifically “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” I hear a lot of Duane Allman’s improvising in Verlaine’s playing. I hear John McLaughlin’s playing in Verlaine’s work.

I see colors when listening to Verlaine’s playing. I see waves crashing against rocks as completes his flourishes.

Most importantly, I feel hopeful. I feel like Jack and Rose standing at the edge of The Titanic with adrenaline flowing throughout my body. I do not feel confined to my normal self-imposed mental box, which is probably “Marquee Moon’s” greatest trick of all.

At the end of the solo, Television circles back to the double-stopped guitar, which opened the song. The rhythm section gets to take the lead for a few bars before Verlaine comes in to finish the song with more vocals and guitar heroics. The song lasts a way too fast 10 minutes and 30 seconds. I honestly believe if The Beatles had made “Marquee Moon” and released it as a single, radio stations would have played the full 10-and-a-half-minute version.

The second side of the album features more exquisite guitar playing especially on the lilting “Guiding Light.” However, it feels like come down after listening to “Marquee Moon.” I usually spend side two in a “Marquee Moon” stupor and even the high-quality songs on the second side cannot pull me out of it.

The brilliant singer and guitarist behind Television and “Marquee Moon,” Tom Verlaine, passed away on January 28, 2023, at the age of 73. Unfortunately, I just discovered Verlaine about seven years ago and did not get chance to spend as much time with him as other heroes like Lennon, Chuck D, and Springsteen. However, for as talented as all three of these visionaries are, none of them wrote a song that ever takes me to the highs of “Marquee Moon.” No shame in that. Very few have.

Early this summer, Zion made it known he was not feeling doing any type of schoolwork during his break. The eager to learn pre-schooler and kindergartener was replaced with a sullen grade schooler. Maybe, he did not know any better when he was younger.

After a month of inactivity, I found a website called outschool.com, which has all sorts of interesting classes for kids and adults for any subject. Since Zion wants to be a builder (engineer or architect), I signed him up for STEM classes. Eventually, I found daily 90-minute Minecraft classes, which I thought he would love.

Early on, he did love the classes quite a bit. Inevitability, he started to burn out on the classes, and it became a chore. Towards the end of the summer, I gave him a day off per week just to get through the remaining the classes.

Zion has also gotten more into Roblox this summer. So, I signed him up for a Roblox. This was even a chore for him. He was clearly burned out.

Guess he will not be too excited about the two Minecraft classes and two week roller coaster building class I signed him up for in September and October.

I take some solace from another point Michelle Obama made in her book “Becoming.”

Kids know when you devalue their education, and they will behave accordingly.

Zion might not agree with my methods and think he is taking too many classes. However, I ‘m confident he does not feel devalued. If I quit pushing him, he will feel devalued and behave accordingly.

I’ll keep pushing him and keep hoping for the best.

Recently, I started listening to Michelle Obama’s book “Becoming.”

One of the early stories discusses her first piano recital. Mrs. Obama received piano lessons from her great aunt, Robbie. Robbie’s piano was a raggedy upright with yellow keys. Furthermore, the middle C key, a piano’s “north star,” was chipped and not perfectly in the middle of the piano. In Mrs. Obama’ mind, this is what a piano should be: raggedy, chipped, yellow and not perfectly aligned.

When Mrs. Obama arrived at the piano recital, she learned she would be playing on a perfect, or as she put it “flawless,” baby grand piano. When it was her turn to play, she froze because she was unable to find the middle C key. She was so used to Robbie’s piano she could not make the transition to a different and “flawless” piano. Luckily, Robbie came up to the stage, placed Mrs. Obama’s finger on the middle C key and Mrs. Obama was able to play her song.

This is a reminder. We accept less than perfect things in life because we do not know a better way. Sometimes, it is settling a job or life partner because we believe this is as good as it can truly get. Even though in our minds, we were hoping for so much more out of life.

Everyone needs their Aunt Robbie. Someone to show us things can better or flawless. Do not settle for the way things have been. Always believe things can be better. You just need to find your shiny and perfectly centered middle C key.

Today, I started listening to Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ “Small Fry.” She mentions an incident in the book involving her mother and palm reading. Her mother was reading her palm but was unable to tell Lisa’s right hand from her left hand. Lisa’s mom is dyslexic, and people with dyslexia sometimes cannot tell the right hand from their left.

My son, Zion, often struggles telling his left hand from his right hand. I was not sure if this was normal. Maybe, all nine-year old boys struggle distinguishing between their hands. Nevertheless, it was a little frustrating for me (and especially his piano teacher).

Well, Zion is also dyslexic. I assumed it was just a learning disability tied to reading. I did not realize dyslexia could impact him in other areas. The reason why he struggles knowing which hand is which is dyslexia. It feels like someone lifted a giant weight off my shoulders.

At his next piano lesson, I’ll share the news with his piano teacher, and we both owe Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ mother a thanks.