"I am not afraid, I was born to do this!"

My dreams have been challenged. My support system isn't what I thought it was. It is disappointing. But one thing for sure is that I have sacrificed far too much to give up on my dreams now. I am not usually one that works with negative reinforcement however this time I am motivated. I will prove you wrong. I cannot wait for the day you apologize to me for not believing in my dreams. As soon as I found out about my "challenge," I decided to rewrite my cover letter. I will probably clean it up a little but it won't be formal. Formality, doesn't express desire. What do you think?

I am the person that will take you to the next level. You haven’t met me yet. You will and I hope to prove to you that this is what I want to be doing. This is the industry I have dreamt of being in since I was a sophomore in high school. Music is my life. I am in a difficult position. I didn’t go to Belmont. I don’t have parents that have connections in Nashville. I am older than most that approach you for jobs. I knew all these were obstacles prior to moving to Nashville. I didn’t care. I want this. All I need is an opportunity. Maybe that is a lot to ask. But you got to where you are now because you were the kid that was like me – hungry. Determined. Passionate. Driven. I am creative. I think outside of the box. I speak social networking. I crave viral marketing. I will promote anything to anybody and I am damn positive I can sell a Ford truck to the CEO of General Motors. I am adaptable. You put me in a situation and I will genuinely find a way to make a connection with that person but I will not bullshit you. I tell it like it is. If I don’t like a song, I tell that person. The industry is too full of crap to let it continue.

The music business is dying. I want to be part of the solution. I am ruthless. I am a mercenary and I will fight to my death for the people and projects I believe in. I am a learner and a person that enjoys serving. I will gladly get your coffee. And I will have your drink ready at 5pm. I just want the opportunity to show someone what I can do. I can’t get the internship because I already have a college degree. I am willing to start out making copies or sorting and delivering mail. I will walk your dog and teach him how to sit. I will work 25 hours a day.

I might come off as arrogant but I am not. I am confident in my abilities. There is a difference between arrogance and confidence. Being arrogant is strictly the act of showing your lack of self-confidence. I believe I will be the person to help you reach your goals. Just give me a chance to make you proud that you were the first to put your trust in me, just like that one special person did in your life.

And my video? It's only fitting!

Rockin' Through The Rain

I wanted to put a quick post up about where I spent most of today. My friends Stephen Salyers and Courtney Allen put on an amazing all day benefit called Rockin' Through The Rain at Limelight to raise money for victims of the flood.

The day started off with a great round that included Trista Mabry, Travis & Julie, and Megan Peeler.
The next round included Thomas Rhett Akins and my very close friend Shy Blakeman with Ted Russell Kamp bass player, mandolin picker, writer and producer extraordinaire and Nick Nguyen

This is the first time I have seen Shy play since the release of his newest album, Long Distance Man and I must say I am really proud of him for the performance he put on. Shy always gives 110% on stage and is a great performer so I applaud him for getting up there on stage at noon on a Sunday to play his ass off for a benefit. Please support Shy and buy his album. He has worked so hard to get where he is at I feel he should be recognized and rewarded for what he done and gone through!

I also wanted to commend Alicia Katy on a great job! This was my second time to see her and she put on a fantastic set!

Following Alicia was my favorite "Real American" Melissa Bollea She has some great stuff she is writing. Check her out!

Next was another of my close friends, Leigh Brandon Houison with a great set. Also in Leigh's round was wonder-duo Chelsee & Rob and Christy MacDonald

I also got to enjoy sets by Jesse Lee, Mason Douglas, and Megan Connor (whom, by the way, supposedly teaches a spin class- I'm going to the wrong spin class! I need a spin instructor like that!)

Others that I didn't get to see were Big Vinny from Trailer Choir, Michael Gresham, Brian Desveaux, and a full band performance by Rachel Bradshaw
I am sorry to those people mentioned above and others that I missed their sets but I want to thank each and every one of you for playing and donating your time. A special thanks to Adria DeLaune and Tara James for letting me hang with them!

But my biggest thanks goes out to Courtney and Stephen and all the volunteers for all the hard work they put into it. Please check out Stephen if you have a chance. He might be the only person I know that can sing for 25,000 and not need a PA.

Priorities...a follow up

So my last blog was titled a "Prelude to Priorities" because I knew I was going to approach this subject. Recently, I said that we should always treat our girlfriends, wives, significant others, etc. like the amazing, powerful people they are. While I still agree with that, I think it should be noted that we should treat people and expect to be treated as priorities. Part of the world's problems are that we are always making others our options. If we spent more time making the people in our lives, whether it is your friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever, a priority, then people will start appreciating your friendship more. I, myself, need to do better at this.

Moving on, I wanted to share a song with you that has struck me very close. About this time last year, my dad was well into his chemotherapy treatments and was not being cared for the way a cancer patient should have been. I was seeing a friend play at 3rd & Lindsley and was introduced to a song that just about had me break down in tears. The song is called "You Got My Attention" by Dan Adams. He wrote it after his dad had been in a car wreck and was in the hospital.



Starting at about :53 in, these words in particular stood out:

I’m standing in this hospital room
I cant bare to think of what he’s going through
He’s always been superman.
Now I'm trying to be the strong one and holding daddy’s hand

Lord if you were wondering when I’d listening,
Well you got my attention

After all I’d done wrong
My selfish ways and too close to calls
I haven’t been the man I oughta be
After all of my mistakes
The times that I fell short of grace
You and I both know it should be me

So Lord if you were wondering when I’d listen
You got my attention

I really hope you guys get a chance to hear this song live.

What else to talk about? It has been a trying week. The internship I interviewed for last week went to someone else. They said that I didn't seem sure of myself and my abilities. That really bothers me because I feel as if it is just the opposite. Sometimes I feel like I am over-confident. My thinking is that I know I can be successful. I know it deep down in my heart. All I need is an opportunity to do that. I need someone to give me a chance. My goal is to be on the Billboard "30 Under 30" list and I know I can get there. But I need the opportunity first and my clock is ticking. I am scared to death because I love it here so much! I don't want to leave. I love my family and I love being around them but Nashville is where I am happiest. Since the time I was 16, I have wanted to do this. I can't get too mad about the internship because if it was meant to be, it was going to happen.

That whole fate/destiny thing has been my philosophy all week. There was a girl that I have had my eyes on for a while. However, have you ever met someone that was so amazing and beautiful that she was as close to an angel as you have come across but you are intimidated by her? That's what I was feeling the last few weeks. I saw her as this perfect angel but felt that I never had a chance because of who I am, what I say, and what I've done. I could never get a read on her either. While looking for quotes for my friend that was dealing with breakup, I stumbled upon this one:

I get the best feeling in the world when you say hi to me, or even smile, because I know even if just for a second, I crossed your mind.

I know it is girly and cheesy but it is how I felt. Unfortunately for me, it didn't end up happening. When stuff like this happens, I have to remind myself that I didn't move to Nashville to meet a girl. I moved here to pursue my dreams and be successful. As much as I hated it not working out, I am grateful for her friendship and for the reminder as to why I moved to Nashville. Lady, best of luck on what you are pursuing! ;)

Anyway, lately I have been playing a lot of golf. Well more like pretending to play. I love it but I am horrible. I played 9 holes yesterday and lost 7 balls. That is bad. But I guess I have found someone who is worse than I. And surprisingly, it is Chris McDonald aka Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore. My uncle has played with him at two tournaments and played with him again earlier this week. Legend has it that he showed up to the first tournament wearing jeans and tennis shoes. I got to meet him in 2006 at a tournament and I have to say, he is genuinely one of THE nicest guys I have ever met! Here is a picture from then:


My uncle and I had a conversation about Shooter this week. It went like this:
Me: How was Shooter? Did you play with him today?
My uncle: Crazy as a fucking loon
Me: Did he have shoes and golf pants this time? Or did he show up in jeans and tennis shoes?
My uncle: He lost 30 balls before you could blink
Me: Sounds like me
My uncle: You could beat him hands down and that's dangerous

I am going to wrap things up now but I wanted to take a few minutes and say congratulations to my best friend Ryan Milstein and his wife Shauna. They celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Sunday! And to embarrass them a little, I wanted to share with everyone just how cute and lovie-dovey they are:

Yes. That's really them! They are regionally famous. At least in the DFW area! Anyway, congratulations guys!

My song/video for this blog will be Ryan and Shauna's wedding song, "Beautiful" written by Jim Brickman and sung by Wayne Brady (yes, THAT Wayne Brady!)

Till next time!

A prelude to priorities...

The last 10 days or so have been crazy. Tons of good, a little bad, but all educational and motivating. Where to start? My dad had his final Chemo treatment before he gets rescanned. Let's hope that this shrunk those fuckers and made their existence as painful and stressful as they have made pops'!

I had an interview for an internship on Friday. I think it went well. I felt rushed but it is such a perfect opportunity for me. I really hope I get it. But it will only happen if it is meant to happen. I have forced things before and they didn't pan out the way I wanted them to. Have you ever been talking to somebody and giving them advice and it was like you were supposed to be saying it to yourself? That's what I feel like I happened to me recently. I was telling someone that what they wanted to happen will but only if it is supposed to. Then I said, "In my mind, our story has already by written. We just hope it reads the way we want it to." I think you do write your own destiny to an extent but that only goes so far. After that, it is in someone or something's hands and out of your control.

What else has been going on? My friend from previous blogs has had a roller coaster couple of weeks too. However, she made some choices and some choices just came to her and she did what she felt was right in her heart. I couldn't be more proud of her! She might not be completely happy but she is almost there and it is because of her own choices. Not because of something I did or something somebody else did for her.

I want to apologize to a couple friends for being a flake on Saturday night. I should've of been there and I wasn't. I am sorry. If it is any consolation, please go to Tara's myspace page and check out her music:
http://www.myspace.com/taranicolejames

I did get to apologize to Adria for not being there and had a great chat about life: Where we were headed, how we were gonna get there, and why we might not get there just how we want to. This girl is truly a gifted writer and I believe we have song to finish from LAST SUMMER! I have put this video on here before but I want to make sure you hear the song. It is "Talk Myself Out of Loving You" sung by Leigh Brandon Houison but cowritten by Adria DeLaune


What else? I went to see my friends El Camaro about two weeks ago and after they were done we walked down to Robert's on Broadway. I met some fun girls from Chicago that chose to come to town (a week after the floods by the way) for two of their birthdays. Laura felt it was a good idea to take a picture of me and the sad thing is I don't remember it. I am wearing sunglasses in the bar. WTF?!?! I also think there was a picture from the next night of Laura and I but I can't seem to find that anywhere. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Laura please give my best to all those girls and I will be looking for a chance to get to Chicago.

The last thing I am going to say is aimed at my good friend (and fellow Tennessee Squire) Amanda Broadway. I had a rough couple of days and Amanda was there to help get me through it. It wasn't just Amanda and I want to thank everyone that offered advice and showed concern. I first met Amanda at a little Deliverance-esque gig that Leigh and Tyler Stenson put on. I met her a few other times but over the last month I have really gotten to know her and appreciate her friendship. If you watched the video above, she is singing harmonies. Her harmonies give me goosebumps. I got to see her play with a full band yesterday and she sound phenomenal! If you are around Nashville tomorrow night, come hear her at Stephen Salyers Tuesday Night Social at Tin Roof. With that said, I will leave you with one of Amanda's songs:


PS- Don't be surprised if there is more tomorrow as I feel like I still have tons to write! Thanks again for caring guys!

HOPE...

So I have received a few comments about my last blog and I must say that I am still humbled that people care enough about what I have to say to read it. Thank you so much!

This weekend I was invited to go to Tunica with some friends. I had such a great time. We got there about midnight Friday and started partying almost immediately. It was a very long night that ended up with a deodorant stick and a price tag that led to two comped nights. Saturday we went to Graceland. It was interesting. I had been before but I was much younger. I have a different (but better) appreciation for it but, as someone pointed out, it was sort of creepy to be worshiping a dead person the way they were. I also don't like being pressured to buy something the way Elvis Presley Enterprises does. Every door we walked through had a gift shop waiting on the other side. Overall, am I glad I did it? Sure. Will I do it again? Probably not but maybe.

I also got to help a friend through a tough time. This made me extremely happy I decided to go on this trip. I have such a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for this girl and her smile is something I want to stay on her face always. The smile is there. I have seen it. I saw it couple times this weekend. Even though that bastard WIll Ferrell cheapened it with Elf, I really do like seeing a smile. To me, it's the best accessory a girl can wear. However, the toothless women at Walmart on Saturday mornings should not wear one! Nobody wants to see that shit!

My friend had said that people have told her that the light in her eyes is gone. I disagree with that. I don't know what kind of light WAS in there but I see some light. I see sparkles. I see promise. I see potential. I see happiness. It's right around the corner. And it has me so excited to get to experience this friendship with a heart that isn't broken. Every little piece of her heart that gets put back together, a piece of mine is also. Obviously, I have invested a lot of my own heart and passion into helping her get over that fucking prick. I would never make a situation worse (at least not intentionally), but man would I like to see him pay for what he did to her. I'm not really going to do anything but believe me, I wish I could.

Anyway, I think I will get off my soapbox and get back to the good times we had in Tunica. Here are some of the quotes that were said over the weekend (I am not going to use names, to protect the guilty):
- While speaking to the hotel staff, one of us (in a sleeping-pill induced haze) asked, "Are they speaking in kitten?" I don't even know what kitten-speak sounds like.
- After hearing that Buck Wild was finally reopening this weekend, someone asked, "Why did they close? Was there a shooting or something?" Nooooooo......there was flood remember?
- "Toodaloo muthafuckas! Wanna suck on these chinese nutzzzzzzz?!?!?!" Over and over and over and over again.
- "If you cross the sausage roll, I will shart on your leg."
- "Will you take a picture with me?"
- There was a period of at least 10 minutes where one person read every quote from The Hangover's page on IMDB in a nice restaurant.
- "She wants a mermosa." "You mean a mimosa?" "Yeah."
- Can't remember exactly how it was worded but it went along the lines of, "You still ride the short bus?!?!" "Yes. I'm still retarded."

That's all I remember really but I can promise you there were a lot more.

With that said, I want to thank the people that went. I had such a great time. It was one of the best times I have had in a long while and l am very appreciative of the invitation. I hope to do it again soon!

Before I leave you with the "song of the blog," I hope I made you laugh a little. If I did, as a thank you, please do me a favor and watch this video. There are a lot of causes that mean a lot to me for one reason on another and eventually I'd like to get you familiar with all of them but this one is a new one and I just wanted to help spread the word a little bit. Thanks guys! I really appreciate your comments and encouragement!



And here is the video for the blog:

A beautiful girl can make you dizzy...

First and foremost, I want to offer my condolences to those that lost anything and/or everything in the flood. I was very fortunate and my area was not hit nor was I in town. However, I can't imagine being in your situation You are in my prayers.

Now that I have gotten the important stuff out of the way, we can start on the reason you are reading this: Because you think what I say might be important (a very humbled thank you by the way).

I'm pissed off. I will get over it eventually. Then I will get pissed off again. Things aren't right in the world. Yeah yeah yeah. I can hear you saying, "No shit Captain Obvious!" This is my second blog on the topic of treating women right. I hear far too many stories about my friends being screwed over by some douche. Now, I am no saint. I have done my fair share of hurting, which I am not proud of but it takes seeing the pain in a beautiful woman's eyes to never want to put them through that again.

Thanks to a few douchebags here recently, I have seen the tears and shattered hearts on more than one occasion. Fuck! It is not fair. I bust my ass to prove that nice guys do exist. Then as soon as I feel like I make some progress, some dickhead comes around and hurts a beautiful soul. Girls like the chase. But let's change that. They like the chase because that is what they have had to get used to.

Do you realize how fucking lucky you are to find a beautiful girl? Do you realize that there are tons of guys that would give their last breath to have one moment with the girl you are treating like shit?

There is a movie that came out in 1996 called Beautiful Girls. There is a part in it that I think describes my stance on a beautiful woman perfectly:

"A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise. Promise of a better day. Promise of a greater hope. Promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten little thing about life seem like it's going to be okay."

Does that make sense to you? Finding a beautiful girl is a beautiful thing. To find someone that makes you smile when you are in a bad mood or being able to see her eyes even if she isn't nearby that's what you get when you have that beautiful girl. Yes the one you are thinking about and the one you probably treated like shit if you don't have her anymore. If you do have her, you better get your shit together. Like I said earlier, some girls enjoy being treated like shit but that is the lessons assholes like you have taught them.

Nobody wants to be treated like shit. If I constantly treated you poorly, you'd get fed up and not want me around. Eventually, you will end up either lonely and then it is going to hit you that the reason you are lonely is because you are a dick or she will be so fed up that you are both miserable. Think about your grandparents. Do you think granny wakes up every morning and says, "It is a beautiful day for Gramps to call me names and be shady!"? NOOOO! That shit doesn't happen.

I am tired of talking about it. Tonight, I am pleading with you to do a couple things for me: First, please tell someone how beautiful they are to you. It will make you feel good and it will make them feel even better. Second, quit being an asshole to the good girls and if you know you were an asshole, apologize for it!

Today's video is called "The Asshole Song" by Jude

Gungala Gungala

Thursday was a great day! My dad surprised me for my birthday and flew me out to Palm Springs, California for my birthday. I have never been a golfer but the bug recently has really bitten me. Being here, you have no choice but to like golf.
Friday, my dad, my uncle (who’s house we are staying at), and myself headed up to the Mountains course at Big Horn Country Club. According to my uncle, this is the 5th hardest course in the Western US. I had an excellent drive off the first tee. After that, I wish I could say it was “downhill.”….It was worse. I lost more golf balls than I could keep count of. I probably killed a few lizards in the bushes and fish in the water. But this is only the 2nd time I have ever played. I have been going to the driving range for years but never felt confident enough to play a full round. After yesterday, I realized how much fun golf can be, even if you suck.

The most important thing though was that my dad actually played too! He hasn’t played in over a year due to the profound effects chemo had on him. He hit a few birdies and had a couple AMAZING drives. Not bad for a man that had lost about 65 pounds and had a tumor the size of a volleyball. He gained about 40 pounds back so far but the cancer came back and the new chemo treatments are going to be much different. We don’t know how much weight he will lose again but the weight loss won’t be nearly as drastic as before.

Saturday we got up, went to get some breakfast and then I had a lesson with an instructor and she was phenomenal! One hour with Amy and everything is completely better. My swing and my drives are all improved. Like night and day improvement.

Today, there might be another lesson or a round of golf, or both. There is also In-N-Out Burger in my future. Can’t wait for that! I don’t think I have had it since I moved back from Scottsdale.

For my music selection this week, I am going with two videos. They aren’t related to this blog this time but they are two close friends who are cranking out some great stuff!

The first one is, “Talk Myself Out of Loving You” which was written by Leigh Houison and Adria DeLaune. They are both super talented and are writing some great songs! This is Leigh singing it at 12th and Porter


The other song is “Wild as Me” by Kelly Paige. This girl has something special. I see very bright things in her future. I also see lots of cocktails in her future ;)


The quality isn’t very good so I suggest you go listen to the song on her myspace page
http://www.myspace.com/kellypaigecountry