Sunday night I had the chance (thank you, Christian!) to see Grace Jones at The Hollywood Bowl. The acts before her were good, but when this lady came onstage, it was very clear why she became an an icon and the others were relegated to opening act status. She owned that stage. I mean OWNED. And even though I’m only familiar with one song she has sung in her long career, I was riveted to the core for her entire performance, which included a costume change for nearly every song. At one point (video below) in the middle of her version of the Edith Piaf classic “La Vie En Rose,” this 61 year old veteran turned around to show us her naked backside, which, at 61, looks better than mine after a year and a half of Barry’s Bootcamp. Check it.

Side note: Earlier in the show, Ms. Jones explained to us that her son was in her band. So, as my friend 007 so deftly pointed out, her son had been staring at his Mom’s naked rear end for the entire song. Therapy anyone?

But I digress. This morning at Bootcamp, I was both struck and disturbed. Barry asked us all to do a fairly complex maneuver on the treadmill that involved a steep incline, a slow moving belt, and slightly acrobatic jumping lunges. Admittedly, this was a challenge, but it wasn’t forever, and the benefits became crystal clear through the sudden and intense pain I felt in ass muscles I didn’t even know existed. Trying to take my mind off the pain, I glanced down the row of treadmills to see Barry coaching an acquaintance of mine on how to perform the lunges. The acquaintance finally gave it a half-assed try, pun intended, until a frustrated Barry banished him to “Run the stairs!” Bootcamp Acquaintance was seriously on the sh*t list to achieve that honor. I am afraid of those stairs. Seriously.

Anyway, once Bootcamp Acquaintance returned from the stairs, he did one or two more exercise rotations and then unceremoniously took off. Now I don’t know if he didn’t feel well or what the story was, but truth be told, I thought of Grace Jones. Would she have given up so easily? Did her 61 year old ass look like it did on Sunday night by sheer genetics? Watch that video again.

Grace Jones proved to me, and to the entire Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night, that when your ass is on the line, you have to get out there and do your thing. You’ve got to persevere and win over an audience who may know nothing more about you than your name. Because if you aren’t willing to work your own ass off, how’s it going to be when other people’s asses on are the line?

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