August 5th, I’ll be rounding up the band for another run down to the Gulf Coast for RadioLive! We’ll be sharing the stage with Nashville’s Laurie McClain and locals Panhandle All-Stars. We’re honored to be asked back for our fourth time on the live broadcast, and always look forward to RadioLive even more than our customary after-show visit to McGuire’s Pub!
Get all the info at www.radiolive.org
We’ve been playing a lot of Wild Wing Cafe gigs recently, you may have noticed. If you’re not familiar with it, Wild Wing Cafe is a regional chain of wing restaurant/bars that feature live music at night. The chain started in my hometown, Hilton Head Island, SC, and I spent many a Tuesday night in college getting two-for-one wings at their downtown Charleston location. So it’s sort of a nostalgia trip for me, and it’s a pretty fun gig because we get to stretch out and play the whole evening, try out new material, throw in some cover tunes, and eat the best wings in the South!
Last weekend we played at the Mt. Pleasant, SC location, near Charleston. Chris Thacker (of Big City Sunrise) played lead guitar, and his brother/our friend & producer Chris Unck came along for the ride. Unck got up and did a few of his tunes with the band as well.
(L-R): Chris Thacker, Dave Anthony, Chris Unck, Gregg Shapiro
This week we’ll be at the Wild Wing Cafe locations in Augusta, GA ,Thursday night, and Columbia, SC, on Friday night. If you’re nearby, come hang out with us!
Hey Atlanta friends! It’s been a few months since I’ve played in town with a full band, and several of you have asked about another local show. So, December 18th I’ll be bringing the band for a show with our good friends Pasadena and Harrison Hudson! It’s a benefit show for Toys For Tots, so bring a toy and save $2 at the door! Three Favorite Gentlemen bands in one one night! Expect to hear some new tunes and have a great time! Tickets are $10 at the door or $8 with a toy.
I snapped this pic this morning while running to the bank. A crane was lifting steel beams into the roof of the Theater. Here’s hoping for a speedy return to action for the GA theater!
I saw TV special featuring a professional pool player, who sank every ball on the table in a row. He said the way he does it is by figuring out where the cue ball needs to be to sink the last shot, and then works backward from there, planning each shot in reverse.
It got me thinking… what if I used the same tactic? What if, instead of aimlessly struggling to find the next rung of the ladder, hoping for some “break”, I really thought about where I want to end up, and worked backwards to figure out the steps to get there from here.
Where do you want to end up? Now work backwards to where you are now.
What’s your first step?
I’ve got a new camera. It’s not too fancy…just a point and shoot. But it takes nice pictures and it’s small enough to carry all the time, which was my intent. I wanted a camera to add something visual to this blog, and I can also use it to record video, so expect more video podcasts!
I make no claims of being a photographer, though I have actually been employed as one, and I built and ran a darkroom when I was the head photographer for my yearbook staff in high school. I know a little bit about how the gear works, but I don’t aspire to be a photographer.
But I will post some pictures here along with my writings. And some of random things I see along my travels.
Here’s a shot from the other night when I offered to do the grocery shopping and let Mary relax at home. Notice the shopping list and the sense of endlessness in the aisle.
I’m playing a private event in Atlanta this evening, and as I listen to the rain outside of my window, I’m not looking forward to the hour-and-a-half drive to the gig. To be honest, I’m not totally looking forward to gig for another reason: I’ll be playing solo.
I still get nervous before performing, and even though I’ve done lots of solo gigs in the past, I’m way more comfortable getting up on stage with the band behind me. They’re sort of a security blanket for me, and I know that even if I don’t hit all the notes right, the band’s gonna rock and the show will be good. When I play solo, I’m way more exposed. If I miss a note or flub a chord, there’s nothing to hide behind. And I’m not an exceptional singer or guitarist, so the songs themselves better be good enough to make up for any lack of virtuosity on my part.
But that’s the essence of what I’ve been going for all along, isn’t it? To write great songs. So part of the challenge is to be receptive to the songs and write them when they come. It’s another challenge, when performing, to get out of the way and let the songs speak on their own. And playing solo acoustic shows is the best way to practice that.
I just added a solo show in Atlanta on November 11th for Two Wheel Driver, a great local cancer benefit combining motorcycles, golf and music. I’ll be joining Michael Tolcher, Sam Thacker, Heather Lutrell, Elizabeth Elkins and Chuck Carrier. It’s $10 and the proceeds go to help pay medical costs for Ashley Klem, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Go to www.twowheeldriver.com for more info.
2009 RECIPIENT INFORMATION
Ashley Elizabeth Klem is 28 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer on June 19th of this year. She has a mass in Stage 1 with the possibility that it has spread to her lymph nodes. Given her age and other circumstances, her cancer specialist has recommended a bilateral mastectomy followed by chemotherapy
and Herceptin treatments. Because of obvious troubles in the economy, Ashley unfortunately has no health insurance.
Ashley was born January 27, 1981 in Conyers, GA and grew up on a 285 acre farm that has been in her mother’s family for over one hundred years. She comes from a very artistic family with her mother being a landscape designer and her father working as a mechanical engineer. She has one older sister who is married with three children. Ashley attended high school in Rockdale County at Heritage High, where she played both soccer and volleyball until graduation in 1999. She then attended Georgia State University, gaining her BA degree in Studio Art in 2005. While at Georgia State University, Ashley was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority
and studied abroad in France for one summer.
After working for over three years as a design consultant in the new home construction business, Ashley’s company had to close its Atlanta office due to the ongoing recession… and along with it, lost her health insurance. She is presently working at Fado Irish Pub & Restaurant and has been blessed to meet many amazing fellow employees and patrons of the pub.
With golf and music events being planned for late October, TWO WHEEL dRIVER will be working through the fall of 2009 to raise money for Ashley while she focuses on what matters most.
I’m back at my Sunday morning sound gig this morning after being on the road last week. I’m tired and my ears are not working very well. Not a good thing for a sound engineer. Sort of like if you showed up drunk for your job. Not quite, but sort of.
The last two days have been filled with loud guitars, which has taken it’s toll on my hearing, it seems. Friday night I mixed a metal show. Yesterday I modified one of my guitar pedals and cranked up the amp for a while, and then last night the band and I played at Downtown Kitchen in Canton, which one of my favorite places to play. Imagine a classy restaurant and bar with an amazing chef, gorgeous original artwork on the walls… and us playing in the corner. We usually start out quiet and bring up the volume as the night goes on and the patrons start dancing. There were several birthday parties last night and the place was jumping all night and we had a great time! Mike LaMond played bass, since Gregg was booked at another gig, and he did a great job.
I first met Mike at the music store about six years ago when I first moved to Atlanta. For the last few years he’s been playing with Bain Mattox. He’s a very solid bass player, and sings gorgeous high harmonies, and I’ve wanted the chance to play with him for a while.Dave and Bret rounded out the lineup, and those guys always deliver and are fun to hang with.
I just got the Blackberry WordPress app working on my phone, so this rambling is a means to test out the software. 
A couple weeks ago, I talked about not worrying about how you measure up against other musicians, because it’s easy to get discouraged. There’s another side of that that can be equally as damaging, which is criticizing others in order to build yourself up. This is certainly not limited to musicians, but we tend to fall into it pretty easily.
There’s a zillion bands, musicians, songwriters, artists and producers out there trying to “make it”. When someone else is getting the attention… a bigger crowd at their shows, favor in the press, a sweet opening slot at a big concert, or even a record deal… it’s easy to think,“Why not me?! I deserve it more than him! It’s easy to start viewing your peers as competition and criticize them. “They’re not that good!” Arrogance and entitlement show their ugly heads, and bitterness sets in.
I’ve been as guilty of this as anyone. But I’ve learned that it’s counterproductive and damaging all around. It destroys any camaraderie you could have with other artists, and it tends to keep you focused on what other people are doing instead of focusing on what you should be doing, which is making music. I think it comes from insecurity, which I think every artist person has to some degree. We all want to be liked and affirmed, and as artists, we tend to hang our self-worth and credibility on it.
But, if you’re an artist, what does it really matter? Do you believe in what you’re doing? Regardless of whether it’s trendy or popular or commercially viable or has “indie-cred”, can you look at your body of work and take pride in it? Are you creating music that you like, honestly? If so, then forget what anyone else thinks and focus on your own improvement. Keep doing your thing. If it’s real, and honest, there will be people who recognize it and will appreciate it. Encourage and cheer on your peers in their improvement as well, without trying to compete.
Don’t hate. Create.
I spent the day working on booking shows, which for an independent artist, is a grueling exercise in (mostly) rejection. If you’ve ever done any cold-call sales, or been on a job hunt, or gone to one of those speed-dating events (I haven’t), it’s probably like all those rolled in one.
For every 20 emails you send or calls you make, you might get one response. And if you can get someone on the phone, you might get about two minutes to convince them they should hire you. There are SO many bands and musicians trying to play at a small number of venues, it’s like trying to get a date with the most popular girl in school. Sure, you think your band is great and the venue should book you. What makes you any different from the other 300 bands that sent an email this week? Sometimes, unless you know somebody, you can’t ever get in! And unlike a job hunt, which mercifully ends when you get hired, booking shows never ends. If you get a talent buyer (or bar owner) to bite, you still have to land a gig for the next night! Sure, once you get to a certain level, a booking agent willl handle the dirty work and will usually have the connections to open doors and get you gigs. But an agent won’t even look at you unless you’re gigging enough for him to make a steady commission! So you’re stuck, it seems. But you’ve still got make the calls and try.
When I was growing up on Hilton Head Island, there was a group of men who were the top real estate agents in town, year after year. They had come up in the business together, starting out from the bottom as young men, and eventually became kings of that market, selling the most (and most expensive) properties in the area. The local legend was that they cut their teeth selling Bibles door-to-door during their summers in college, and that experience helped make them the uber-salesmen they became.
I went to school with their kids, and several of their sons actually followed in their fathers’ footsteps after high school, and spent a summer selling Bibles. The way I heard it, every morning they would get dropped off in a town somewhere on the mainland, and they’d walk the neighborhoods and knock on doors trying sell people big, expensive, ornately bound, family Bibles… the kind people used to record births and weddings and funerals in. At the end of the long, sweaty day, they’d get picked up and taken home to start again the next day.
Even at that time, it seemed like a losing strategy, to me. When I was growing up, my mother owned a Christian book store. If someone wanted to buy a Bible, they’d go to a shop like hers, which might not exist in every town. I remember it became a big concern when Walmart started stocking Bibles and selling them for less than she could. Why would anyone make an extra trip, and pay more at her shop, when they could grab a paperback copy of the “Good News” for $6.99 while they picked up some dog food, batteries, school supplies and a pack of undershirts?
Now a person can go to any Walmart, Target, Borders or Barnes & Noble and find a selection of inexpensive Bibles. But guess what? Most people don’t care, because they don’t want one anyway. So if I came to their house and knocked on their door, trying to sell them an over priced, oversized Bible that they don’t want anyway, I’d probably be wasting both of our time.
I feel like that as an artist. People have changed they way they consume music, but we’re often trying to sell them the old way. Most people I know don’t go to concerts very often. They might go see U2 when they come to town, or occasionally go see an indie artist they like, but I don’t know anyone who goes out to shows to just to discover new music. gone are the days when you can set up a P.A. in a field, hand out some flyers and have a few hundred people show up to hear a few local bands. A venue owner really only wants to know if you can put bodies in the room and sell drinks. And lately, the selling drinks part has been easier than bringing the bodies.
And CD sales have been declining for years. Sure, some people want something physical they can hold, but mostly they’ll either download a few tracks to shuffle on their ipod, or they don’t want it at all. And according to a recent report, of the some 13million songs available for purchase online, 11million of them were never even downloaded once! So how does an artisit make it?
I don’t know.
Maybe we’re entering a dark age where few musicians can make a living at it. Or, maybe there will be a huge “middle class” of musicians who eke out a living, but very few will be known outside of their niche. But for those of us who just have to make music, we’ll keep putting out music. And maybe it’ll spread and somewhere down the line someone will say, “oh, yeah…T.J. Edmond!I love his music!”.
When I played in Hilton Head last week I was introduced to a woman who, upon hearing my last name, said “Oh! Didn’t your mother own the bookstore? I loved going in there!” My mom’s store has been closed for a decade and a half, and people still fondly remember her and her store.
So maybe there’s hope for me.
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