writer's block

what a swell season

I forget sometimes how fortunate I am to have the job I have, and to do what I do in the music industry. Most of the time it's all emails and meetings and conference calls with sales reps. Boring stuff.

But then there are days like yesterday.

Two years ago a small independent film called Once burst out of Dublin, Ireland starring Glen Hansard (lead singer of Irish rock band The Frames) and his musical collaborator Markéta Irglová. Shot on a shoestring budget (only $160,000), the film featured the pair as struggling musicians and included original music written and performed by Hansard and Irglova. It was a simple but beautiful story that went on to earn $20 million worldwide and earned Hansard and Irglova an Academy Award, a Grammy nomination, and international stardom. The two musicians now tour and perform as a duo called The Swell Season.

This week I was in California for a music presentation with one of our accounts. We do these a couple times a year featuring artists from all across the Warner label family, and it's a cool opportunity for me to see a lot of various artists perform in one setting. The most exciting part for me - The Swell Season was on the docket to play the showcase. I have been looking forward to this for two months!

And so the time finally came yesterday. About midway through the showcase I selected for myself a spot right at the foot of the stage. A label guy got up in front of us and went through the story about Glen and Markéta and the movie - everything I just told you. And then, the words I had been waiting for, "Please welcome The Swell Season!" And then he gestures behind us! I hear music. We all turn around to see Glen, strumming on his guitar, and Marketa both standing at the back of the room side by side - no mic, no lights - as they launch into one of their trademark songs. And so begins the most incredible, intimate, unassuming, amazing acoustic performances I have ever seen in my life.

After a couple songs Glen explained how he believes stages separate an artist from the audience and creates a line of divison that shouldn't be there, and that when he can he likes to play right in amongst the audience so that there can be a true connection. The set was necessarily short and direct, and simply amazing. They closed with their Grammy nominated song "Falling Slowly" which I captured below. There's a lot of ambient noise, and there are plenty of better live recordings on YouTube, but this one is mine and I like it a lot:



After the set I wandered outside the club, pretending to be checking my email on my phone, but knowing Glen and Marketa had to catch a plane that evening. In general I don't care too much about meeting artists, but there are a few that I have always wanted to meet. And so as Glen and Marketa were walking out the door I did my best to nonchalantly thank them for playing and told them how much I enjoy their music without coming across like a total goob. I'm sure I didn't accomplish that, but they were kind enough to humor me with a little conversation and a picture before getting in their car and jetting off.

Yesterday was without a doubt one of my Top 5 music related experiences of all time. Hard to capture in words and really poor-quality video, but it was great and was a good reminder of why I work in music.

If you haven't before, check out the soundtrack from Once. Keep your eyes open for the new album from The Swell Season releasing October 27th.

five musical collaborations i'd love to hear

This is a short, somewhat tacky, and by no means exhaustive list of musical collaborations I would love to hear. Click the little linky-links to hear songs if you like musics. Tell me what collaborations you would like to hear in the comments below:

Ryan Adams & Mindy Smith
Performing "La Cienga Just Smiled" and "Out Loud"
Two depression-prone alt-country folk singers performing together like this will likely cause some cataclysmic event in the music world from which we will never recover (not a good thing, considering the shape of the industry right now). Nonetheless, this would be a great pairing I think. If I was mean I would have Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams sing "Summer Of 69" together, but I like Ryan too much to do that to him. Two great songwriters and great voices.

Sigur Ros & Regina Spektor
Performing "Hoppipolla"
I have no idea what this would sound like in my mind. Sigur Ros, my favorite "mood" band, and Regina is just a really talented songwriter that would somehow have to merge her Russian-pop sentiments into the gobbledigookish lyrics and sounds of Iceland. I'm willing to give it a try though. Sounds fun.

Battle Of The Bruce's: Springsteen & Hornsby
Performing "Thunder Road"
Two of my favorites from 80's-era arena rock. Bruce Springsteen has an awesome keyboards guy already in Roy Bittan, but I love Hornby's sound... really bright and punchy. Go ahead, find a better rock piano man than Bruce Hornsby... seriously, name one off right now. Have a name in mind? Ok, now listen to this - Bruce Hornsby "The Way It Is", recorded live for Here Come The Noisemakers. I just proved that there is no better rock piano man. "Thunder Road"... what an amazing (dare I say epic) song, kicking off possibly my favorite album of all time, Born To Run.

John Hiatt & Mandy Moore
Performing "Have A Little Faith"
It's kind of a cheesy song, but I like it a lot. Both Hiatt and Moore have recorded covers of "Have A Little Faith". Hiatt has a classic soul voice and Moore has great tone and range. It would be a great recording. Of all the girls to come out of the late-90's teen pop debacle, Mandy was the only one I ever thought had any real musical talent (is a good actress too), and isn't certifiably dumb.

Sting & Delirious
Performing "Every Breath You Take"
Martin Smith of Delirious once said that if he could have anyone cover "I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever" it would be Sting. Seems like a natural pairing. Lets have Delirious provide the band and Sting and Martin duke it out on vocals. It would force Sting to be both rock and British once again, instead of that Middle-Eastern-gypsy-goofiness he prefers now... not that there's anything wrong with that.

steph goes to the art store

My wife likes to paint things. She's a much better artist than I'll ever be, and I like that the walls of our house get free custom artwork. Every once in a while artists have to go to art stores to get supplies, such as canvases and paints and brushes. We have a great art store about 5 miles from our house that offers crazy good deals on canvases and a selection of paint colors that would make the snobby little kid from your 4th grade class, who was so proud of his box of 96 Crayola crayons, speechless. This weekend was cause for one of those trips to Jerry's Art Store.

Now, when Steph goes to the art store I usually go with her. My self-appointed job on these trips is to manage expectations. I have but one goal when we go to Jerry's: To get in, and get out, as fast as humanly possible... otherwise, I will get a call from my bank the next day asking why I have charged $14,000 in paints and brushes to my account.

So we went to the art store Saturday. I did a quick scan of the store - there was a children's painting class taking up one whole corner of the building, blocking the Easel display. Good, one less area to worry about. I felt comfortable leaving the Papers section unattended - Steph was on a painting trip and trying to finish a project for some friends... drawing was not top of mind. I knew she needed a couple paint based markers, so I escorted her in that direction for a quick drop off while I headed to the Acrylics Paint section. I knew if I could somehow coral five or six shoppers into Acrylics, that would be enough commotion to make Steph want to skip that area.

I quietly pushed a shopping cart over to block one end of the Acrylics aisle and then spread a rumor amongst other shoppers of a "5-for-1 acrylics paint sale". That seemed to cause the desired result and I ran back to find Steph, who by now had long ago left the paint markers. I raced down to Brushes And Knives to find her holding a 4-inch wide albino Qinling Panda-hair paint brush in her hand, eying it like Gollum at Mount Doom, with a $75.99 price tag dangling daintily from the handle. Frantic, I grabbed her arm and gently turned her towards some modestly priced palette knives while easing the Panda-haired brush from her grip. In disbelief I glanced down at a shopping basket she had acquired sometime in the last five minutes, half full of items not on our shopping list.

I can sense I am beginning to lose control. I plant an idea in Steph's mind that we "should go look at the art books" over in the Books And Manuals section. This is always a safe bet, because while books tend to be more expensive items, she will rarely buy one and instead thumb through the pictures looking for future ideas. She gives in and I escort her away from Brushes, while suggesting to her that I go scout out vacancy at the checkout counter. I cannot deal with a line at this point. If we have to stand in line at checkout, she's likely to wander back into Acrylics, and then there will be no hope. We have to walk right up to the cashier, lay down the cash, and get out of there before she has a chance to take in the counter displays.

The checkout line looks good. A beret capped 40-something is just finishing up his purchase, so now is the time to move in. I give the "I'll be 1 second" gesture to the cashier, who acknowledges me from across the store. I head back to Books to find Steph... who is not there.... Oh good moogly googly, where could she possibly have gone? A feeling of dread overwhelms me as the truth begins to sink in...

Canvases.

Canvases is the black hole of Jerry's Art Store. It's seven solid aisles of nothing but stretched white linen. Sheets of canvas as large as pool tables. The walls are made of canvas in Canvases. It's a maze designed to trap you in, and never let you go, until you have convinced yourself that, "Why yes, certainly I can take home this 7-foot x 13-foot monstrosity of wood and double-primed acid-free linen and conceive upon it a work worthy of Michelangelo's praise and adulation!" No one ever returns from Canvases.

I hear rustling. "What do you think about this one?" a familiar voice calls out. "What one?" I respond, "Where are you?" I see movement in the far back corner. "I'm right here... I think this one would look good on our living room wall!" A canvas starts to move towards me - yes, move towards me - as though self propelled. Suddenly Steph pops out from behind the 9-foot tall 'potential of art', peering up at a canvas which is twice as tall as her. "Maybe it would go better in the stairway where the ceilings are taller," she counters to herself.

I sigh, and select a more unassuming 2-foot by 2-foot canvas and suggest, "You know, I've always wanted something to go on that blank wall in the kitchen. Perhaps you could do something with this?"

I hand it to over, which distracts her long enough for me to guide her out of Canvases and towards the front of the store, where a line has developed at the cash register. Great. We stand there while Patricia and her four kids stock up on enough water colors to keep them busy for the rest of the summer. "You know, I've been wanting one of these," says Steph grabbing an Artist's Color Wheel from the counter display. "It will help me match colors." The name of the game is now called appeasement. "Fine," I say as I hand the cashier my check card and start emptying items out onto the counter.

---

Of course a trip to the art store with Steph is really nothing like that. The Canvas section is only five aisles wide. Ok, seriously, Steph does love her trips to the art store, which makes me laugh, but it's nothing like that. Samples of her series that she is painting for a local church to be featured here soon.

so one day we went to greece

So we went to Greece! Steph and I decided in January that we were going to go on an international mission trip this year, and it happened! You're thinking, "Right, Greece... some mission trip." To which we say, Paul's mission trips were to Greece, so if it was good for Paul it's good for us.

Every year the international missionaries of the Southern Baptist church attend an annual conference in their region called an Annual General Meeting. This is a chance for them to get away from their local ministry with their families and take part in training, interact with other missionaries, and relax. The week is full with worship services, classes, VBS for the kids, and all sort of other activities. Steph and I were part of a team from our church in Nashville that led the worship music at the conference for the week. It was an incredible experience, and we met so many great people who have dedicated their lives to serving overseas.

Leading worship for the missionaries was an incredibly unique experience. In America we take for granted our opportunity to go to church without fear, and worship in peace and freedom. We've all been told that we take this for granted countless times. But this freedom was cast in a different light when we witnessed 900 missionaries worshiping who DO NOT have this freedom in the countries they serve in. We met a number of individuals who serve in high security countries where the political or military environment prevents them from being open about their faith, and demands that their work as missionaries be kept a secret (some of them couldn't even tell us exactly what city they served in and what their job function is). As you might imagine, song lyrics that talk about "trials" and "burdens" that may seem intangible to us take on an entirely personal meeting for these folks. We have never seen a group of people worship and sing with such passion, and the wall of sound of singing voices that greeted us every morning when we began to play was inspiring.

We were grateful to have the opportunity to spend a day in Athens on our return trip. Among the highlights from touring the ancient city was the ability to visit the Acropolis to see the Parthenon, walk on top of Mars Hill (where Paul gave his famous speech to the Athenians), and eat some really fantastic Greek food.

For us, a band of 8 traveling from Tennessee, playing music at a conference center was not what we would consider a great personal sacrifice. After all this is something we love to do, and whether we do it at home in Nashville or halfway around the world, we try to bring the same spirit and energy to prompt people to worship God wherever we are.

But to 900 missionaries who live in a culture that is not their own, who struggle daily with a language that is not their own, and are presented with daily challenges that would make many of us throw up our hands in defeat... being able to worship in English was a rare treasure. I think we all left Greece, not with a feeling of personal pride at having "performed" well, but with the confidence that God had used us to meet a specific and important need. It was a fantastic trip, and we feel blessed to have had the opportunity to go.

To see some photos from our trip, check out this album on Facebook.

it's a horse!

Steph works at a horse hospital where she's basically an equine surgical assistant or, as Brian says, an "equinarian".

I came across this the other day, courtesy of GraphJam, and thought it was hilarious. I can just imagine Steph and her boss posting this in their treatment area and begin diagnosing cases based on this chart:

(click the image to enlarge...)

the neked people

No one is really sure why "The Naked People" statue came to the Music Row roundabout a few years ago. I'm sure our reaction was similar to the one I'm about to describe below when it was first unveiled, but the locals have come to just accept / ignore it's existence and get on with life.

Apparently Nashville's "powers that be" decided we needed something to mark the foot of Music Row, an area just outside of downtown that is home to many of the Nashville based country, gospel, and Christian music companies. And what better way to honor Nashville's historic music tradition than confusing residents with a circular intersection and a 40 foot tall statue of naked dancers? According to the artist, the sculpture "Musica" uses dancers to convey the "physical expression of music" bursting forth in "celebration and exuberance". Whatever. Remember, this is Nashville, the home of country music... Johnny Cash would just roll his eyes. A statue of a broken down pickup truck, a sad coon dog, and beat up guitar would have captured the spirit of the city better.

But anyways, yesterday as I'm leaving work and about to enter Nashville's most perplexing intersection, I see this little old car creeping along on the roundabout. He's going terribly slow. I wait for him to pass me, glance at the license plate and see he's from out of state. Georgia. I figure he's as baffled as I am as to where to exit the never-ending circle road.

Then I look closer. The driver is an older guy - gray hair, glasses, and there's this shocked expression on his face and his eyes are glued to the drivers side window. Peering up, he's taking in for the first time, with dropped jaw, the naked people. I can hear in my mind exactly what he's thinking... "what in the world is that???" He continues to drive around the roundabout, making a full revolution - not just once, but twice, with mouth open staring up in utter amazement.

Welcome to Nashville my friend. The Country Music Hall of Fame is ahead on your right.