Alright, so I’ve been pretty good about keeping myself grounded throughout my musical career. Great gigs, increasing pay scale, better instruments – it’s all been fabulous, but I still hold to my roots, remembering that I was a waitress less than 2 years ago and that there’s a lot of hard work ahead of me.
But seriously – this past weekend threw all that out the door. Total rock star lifestyle. I’m hooked. Here’s how it went.
Friday morning I was up and on the road, driving down to Arkansas. It’s a 9 hour drive from Chicago, meaning I needed to leave at 7am to get there in time for sound check. Somehow in my mind, though, I reversed the numbers and left at 9am thinking I could get there in 7 hours… Yeah, that doesn’t work. Luckily (if my police officer fans will please avert their eyes for a second) I drive really fast, and I somehow made it to Searcy, AR, by a little after 6, in plenty of time to sound check and grab dinner.
I was opening up for Sara Bareilles at Harding University, and these people treated me like a queen. My private dressing room (a part of my contract rider which is usually taken with a grain of salt) was upstairs from the stage of what they tell me is the largest auditorium in Arkansas, Benson Auditorium. Private bathroom, loads of food that I couldn’t possibly eat alone, and the boys had even picked up a lovely set of vanilla candles and a feng shui rock fountain for the room. I could have sat in there all day and been great.
The stage itself was huge, with a pro lighting guy and a fog machine (though I didn’t get the benefit of the fog for my set, I still felt cool knowing it was there). After sound check I raced out to dinner with the boys, Cole and Ryan, then spent my last remaining minutes before my show scribbling CD info onto my “DIY Rockstar” burned samplers with a Sharpie. Ah, so professional…
When I hit the stage, there were around 200 people out there in the crowd. By the end of my set, it was more like 500, and more were coming in. It was a blast. I had a great time, the audience seemed to dig me (they bought nearly every CD I had with me!), and I got some great photos to prove it happened!
I also got to watch Sara rock out from the wings. She makes me wonder if I should put together a band…but otherwise, I fell into my hotel bed around 1am and got a lovely restful 4 hours of sleep.
[Totally random side note - I've got the TV on in the background, and "Without a Trace" just came on. I never watch this show and was just about to change the channel when I saw a familiar face...couldn't figure out why...then realized it's James. James Snyder. I spent my college years singing in the SoCal VoCals with this hottie, and there he is, filling the screen in my hotel room. That's just awesome.]
Anyhoo…
So I woke up around 5am on Saturday and had to hit the road for the drive to Little Rock, where I parked my car and caught a flight to Austin. Well, my 12-string and I caught the flight to Dallas, then had to wait an extra half hour while my delayed flight caught up. The first flight was no sweat, but the second was jam-packed with University of Missouri fans on their way to watch their team get crushed by Oklahoma.
In Austin, I met up with Adam, who had flown down there to back me up during the FameCast show. We were then picked up by the FameCast shuttle, a big white van with local Tony driving us to the hotel. FameCast put us up at the DoubleTree downtown, with the biggest most comfortable-looking heaven of a bed I’ve ever seen. If only I’d gotten to try it out…
After we grabbed a little lunch at the chili place around the corner (best bathroom graffiti I’ve ever seen), Adam took advantage of the free time and fell into nap land, while I got ready to head out for the show. The shuttle was coming back to get the artists around 3:30 and I was still curling my hair when they showed up, so I raced downstairs wearing no makeup, one outfit on and another outfit in my bag, and jumped into the van with Rory Miller, Sofia Talvik, and their bands. These two lovely ladies were, of course, all fixed up and ready for the stage, so I tried to make conversation while applying eyeshadow with my fingers and trying to size up their outfits against the two I was still stuck between. Luckily, everyone was pretty easy to get along with. Rory, also from Chicago, is one kickass chick and we discovered quickly that our senses of humor were pretty similar.
Case in point: when we arrived at Stubb’s, there was a camera crew waiting to film us getting out of the van. I forget exactly what we each said, but the sentiment was exactly the same. You’ve got to be kidding me…
The camera crew was a constant for the night. They interviewed us individually (if this footage ever sees the light of day, just let me say now that I was really excited and trying really hard to come off positive and laid back instead of hyper and sarcastic, which was how I really felt, and I don’t think I succeeded…), they followed us around while we were tuning our instruments, I’m pretty sure one crew followed me to the door of the bathroom.
The other artists were awesome. I already mentioned that Rory is a doll; Matt Jones (sorry, The Real Matt Jones) was a total sweetheart with a great sense of humor, Sofia was both gorgeous and sweet (did I mention gorgeous? I had to change into my other outfit after spending a little time with her!), and though Wendy and I only chatted while we were in the ladies’ room, she seemed like a cool chick.
Here’s the thing about FameCast: it is one pro organization. Everything about this weekend was handled well, they got us where we needed to be in plenty of time no matter what, the show was smooth and high quality, and everyone I met who was associated with FameCast – from the camera guys to the man behind the whole thing – was friendly and professional with a great sense of humor. I swear they’re not paying me to say any of this. I had a great time.
Adam showed up around 6:30 and joined me backstage (“backstage” being the huge outdoor area with its own stage that gets tons of use during SXSW), and then we waited. The show started at 7pm with the Singer / Songwriter finalists – Rory first, then Wendy Colonna, then The Real Matt Jones, then me, and Sofia last. I watched Rory’s first song but then I found my Austin friend Mychal in the crowd and we headed outside to catch up.
It wasn’t long ’til Matt was heading offstage and I was carrying my 12-string up the steps in front of the crowd. Four camera crews in there, if I remember right, plus the hundred or so fans and the 3 industry experts – Aaron Burgess (SPIN Magazine), Gary Graff (Rolling Stone, Billboard, etc) and Paul Korzilius (Bon Jovi Management). These were the guys I wanted to impress. I’ve played in front of a lot of crowds, and I knew this one was going to be hyped up and excited for the show, but how often do you get to play and get critiqued by people as high up the food chain as these three?
So I introduced myself and launched into “Bound to Fade” on the keyboard they’d provided. And it sounded great. I was kicking ass. And then halfway through the song, the piano sound cut out. Seriously. I kept going, and it came back in within a few seconds, but in my head I was thinking, “No WAY! You’ve got to be kidding!! Are they going to let me redo this song? Is it going online like this??” I must have kept my cool outwardly, though, and I moved on to “Oh Hell” on the guitar with a few jokes to the crowd about the sound and such. All this touring this year is paying off! The shift in gears between songs threw people off a little, but I could feel the crowd get into the new song and when I finished up, there was a huge cheer. Adrenaline galore. Seriously, if you haven’t tried this – well, let’s just say it’s quite a rush.
Then came the critique. The guy from Bon Jovi Management didn’t have a lot to say (he was more interested in the rock bands that were playing later in the evening), but Aaron Burgess launched into some honest conversation with me. He didn’t like the dichotomy of the two songs (I believe he said he felt like he was being beaten over the head with “Oh Hell”), but he was very cool about letting me explain why I did such different songs (wanting to show off as much range as possible, knowing that both songs get a great crowd response) and that I would never put them side by side in a typical set. Gary Graff was even better. He dug the difference in songs and the range on both instrument and vocal. We had a good little chat up there in front of the cameras and the crowd.
And then it was over, and the cameras were following me out the door and backstage. They interviewed me a bit more as I was putting my guitar away, then watched as Adam and I turned on the fake tears of relief and excitement (man are we bad actors), and then they left the cameras on while we had our actual “moment,” hugging and talking about the set.
Afterward, there was much Tito’s Handmade Vodka and laughing and talking, reunions with more local friends who had made it out, phone calls to parents and friends, and then a rather wild and crazy night on 6th street. We wound up crashing on the couch at my friends’ place, waking up at 6:30am in a panic (well, I did, Adam was out cold), and catching a cab back to the hotel just in time to catch the shuttle back to the airport. Hence my not getting to take advantage of the amazing, heavenly, soft, wonderful bed at the DoubleTree. *sigh*
And then, it was 9 hours back to Chicago, me driving all the way (Adam won’t drive my car because I’m so obsessive about it – it’s a stick shift and the first brand new vehicle I’ve ever owned), and after the excitement and carousing and adrenaline of the previous 2 days… Let’s just say I would have given almost anything for a touring van with a driver. And a blanket. And a pillow.
In all honesty, I was really happy with the show. I’m excited to see it online tomorrow night. And I really enjoyed the whole experience of the Finals.
And…this post has gotten WAY too long, and I have work to do! Rock star, out.
