On Thursday the band was selected to perform at the APCA national convention in Atlanta. APCA is an organization that promotes entertainment to colleges (and the military at this conference) thorough the country. The band had been selected as a national finalist in the band of the year award, so we were excited to showcase. It’s taken me a few years to get over the artistic integrity thing and learn to play for the specific audience. (Hence playing a lot of covers, and not a lot of originals) APCA gave a ten minute showcase were you perform for many of the campus entertainment buyers in the country. It’s not just music either, there are comedians, self help specialist, wild animals, (I touched an alligator)…We were the third act of the night. First up was Mr. Belding of Saved By the Bell fame, followed by Joey from Full House, then us…After the performance you go down to the exhibit hall and meet and greet with the kids. The next day, each acts booking representative meets with the schools reps…If enough schools like the act, they can start what’s called block booking. This process hopefully results in the act having multiple daily gigs in specific parts of the country. The schools get the act for a cheaper rate if they can offer more gigs. It’s an interesting process. We hope to book 20-30 gigs from that ten minute showcase. It’s high stakes, because every act is top notch and each have their own impressive resume……We then drove back to Birmingham at 2 A.M…..
At 11 we met back at our silver 12 passenger van and made the four hour drive to Memphis and the Folk Alliance 2010 conference. This is a complete shift from APCA. FA is a who’s who of artist, festival bookers, labels, promoters, manufactures. It takes place over a week long period in a large hotel/conference center. Last year we we’re literally playing in the elevator trying to be discovered. We had no idea what to expect. There are hundreds of artist from all over the world that will do anything to be noticed. This year we were given an official showcase spot. The twenty minute spot was also recorded for broadcast on XM and some big live music website. In the same night we had two other showcases….One was off of Beale Street and the other in a hotel room late in the evening. The top three floors of the hotel are reserved for room showcases. An artist can pay for a twenty minute spot in a room, and hope that some passer by is the key to a gig/business opportunity. The hallways are completely flooded and one room could have some person you’ve never heard of…the next room could be a Grammy winner…Also you could be sitting next to some mega famous person and have no idea who they are until glancing down at their name tag. (I was feeling the car lag of the day, and after our third showcase (after midnight) some lady was hurriedly asking questions about the band asking for records, and how we got together. I totally was being stupid and making jokes up for answers….I afterwards learned she is one of the wealthiest people in America and builds large amphitheaters across the county…She then goes around the U.S. and looks for good (not famous) music to put in her venues….GET YOUR HEAD BACK ON BUDDY!) As a side note….The Sacred Steel players are a group of African American pedal steel players from around the country. They are part of a denomitation of churches were the pedal steel run through distortion and played like Hendrix has the importance of the piano in a Baptist Church. Robert Randolph came out of this denomination. I’ve been following these guys for over ten years. This year many of the most prominent players accepted an invitation from FA and came to the conference. As soon as we got off the van, I walked into the hotel and three of my favorite players, the Campbell brothers, and Aubrey Ghent were standing right there. I about freaked……Later that evening Calvin Cooke, one of the greats was on the elevator. I invited him to our showcase, and he came!…It meant the world to me…We stayed up super late mingling, then got up at seven Sat. morning to drive back to B’ham for a wedding….I thought the craziness was about to return to normal, when the first person to sit in the pew across from where we were playing was the Governor…..
