I have never had such a good time as I’ve been having in Nashville. When Jeff offered to put me and Gia up for the week, I was thinking that we’d be in and out and we would try to keep out of the way of him and his roommates. Instead, from the first night we stepped foot into their living room, Gia, Jeff, Mr. Michael and I have all become fast friends.
After my 12-hour drive from my sister’s house in Batavia, NY you might think I would be tired, but instead I was, as Ian loves to quote from Talladega Nights, “all jacked up on Mountain Deeeew,” minus the Mountain Dew part. I think the combination of having a fun visit with my sister and my niece & nephew, driving my sassy new car, and driving through the unexpectedly awesome state of Kentucky had me amped up.
The first indication I had that this might be a good trip came when I crossed the border from Kentucky into Tennessee and saw that the very first exit was Exit 117, my number. I said, “Thanks, Universe!” and chuckled to myself; my GPS had taken me an unusual way down to Nashville, and now I knew why.
Interestingly enough, the drive down had a few unexpected detours – I left an hour later than anticipated, I went for an accidental hour-long adventure off an exit in Ohio, and I must have had to stop to pee 10 times. As usual, it all worked out perfectly and exactly as planned (by the big U, not by me), as I pulled into the Nashville airport exactly on time to pick up Miss Gia. If not for all my delays, I would have sat at the airport for three hours, because in addition to the delays I had completely forgotten about the time change in Tennessee.
Picking up Gia from the airport
My goals in Nashville were very specific. I wanted to play the famous Monday night open mike at the Bluebird Cafe, and I wanted to record my songs. The first goal was a stretch; the Bluebird’s stage is a tough one to get onto because of its fame and how many people try to sign up for the very short open mike. The way they work around this is to collect names in two baskets – Basket One is for people who didn’t get to go last week and have a stamped name slip. Basket Two is for first-timers, and they let you know that you’re probably not making it onstage.
Gia and I stood in line, shuffled inside, I put my name in the first-timer basket, and we sat down and made some new friends (who all told us to hang on to the stamped ticket, because I wasn’t getting onstage). Barbara Cloyd (the host) announced that there were 50 people signed up, 20 of them were second-timers with first picks, and that there was time for 21 people. She read out the order…..and I was number 23, the last name she read before saying, “And I’m not calling any more names because they won’t get to go.”
The famous Bluebird Cafe
The line at the Bluebird Cafe
To sum up an otherwise long story, I GOT ONSTAGE AT THE BLUEBIRD CAFE!!! A fantastic act, Isaac Clark (accompanied by his friend Dusty Parker), performed one of the most rockin’ country songs I’ve ever heard (it’s the first song on his MySpace page), and then said, “We’re just playing this one song tonight so someone else will have a chance.” Well, baby, that was ME. Isaac & Dusty, I hope everyone reading this blog takes a listen to your song 7 Redneck Sins, hope you sell it to Brad Paisley and make millions.
So, Goal #1 was accomplished, and then Jeff and I recorded live takes of my songs, so Goal #2 was quickly accomplished, and since then Gia and I have been having a blast being shown around the city by Jeff and Mr. Michael (dubbed Mr. Michael because he is a true Southern gentleman).
A quick plug for Jeff – he is a sound engineering genius with a solid formal education behind him and plenty of hands-on experience. For a day job he works at Guitar Center selling equipment to Paramore and other local celebrities, and if you ever find yourself in need of a knowledgeable, reasonably-priced sound guy his MySpace page is HERE.
Jeff giving me what can only be termed "a look"
I know I’m getting a little long-winded so I’ll leave off here. Today Gia and I are off to get my guitar repaired at the famous Glaser’s, and tonight I’ll be playing Cafe Coco’s open mike, so I can already tell this is going to be a great day.
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