June 14, 2008
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So Audrey Spillman was down in Atlanta for the 500 Songs for Kids in May and I told her that I saw that she was performing in June on a Saturday and that I would try and get up to Nashville for the show. I had driven up before for her “Next Big Nashville“ show and it wasn’t a bad drive.
I started out from Atlanta early afternoon, knowing I had plenty of time to get there with the show starting late, and with the time change from EST to CST. I completely forgot that this was the same weekend that Bonnaroo was going on (signs warned on possible traffic), but traffic wasn’t bad going through Manchester, TN. It takes about 4 hours to get there so I made it to Nashville around dinner time. I grabbed a bite to eat and hung out until around the time when the show was about to start.
Since I had time, I located the venue and tried to find where I could park. 12th & Porter is an odd place. It’s in an industrial area next to an auto body shop and other warehouses. When it got close to the start of the show I parked at the gravel lot at the end of the street and head into 12th & Porter. From my first impression, the place seemed like a dump; a dive bar. Garage door windows, concrete floor, odd chairs, tables strewn about and a plywood stage. This was an odd bar. I didn’t have to pay a cover to get in the front door, so I wasn’t exactly sure how this was going to end up. I purchased a beer and people-watched. I didn’t hear any music, so I assumed the show had not started.
As I’m sitting there I notice a line forming, a guy taking money and people going through a door off to the side of the bar. I originally assumed this was a bathroom entrance. After awhile (although it seemed strange to pay to go to the bathroom), I jump in line, pay the man and head back behind the door. Like Dorothy entering OZ, I exit a dreary colorless hole-in-the-wall into a nice colorful music venue. There’s another bar, a private balcony, large stage, huge speakers and tons of stage lights. I found a spot to watch off to the side. Kristi Neumann started the concert followed by Sarah Silva. They were good. I liked the songs and will have to listen to them again when I get a chance.
I took a break while the opening acts were singing to see if I recognized anyone up front in the bar. Before I had a chance to recognize someone, I hear, “Tom!”. It’s Audrey. She’s at a table, chatting with some friends. I get a hug and we talk a bit. I know she’ll be getting ready to go on soon, so we don’t talk too long. I head back into the venue and they start setting up the stage for Audrey. Then I recognize someone tuning a guitar off on the left side of the stage. It was Matthew Perryman Jones. This was unexpected. I knew that Matthew and Audrey knew each other, worked together in the studio and co-wrote some songs together. But I didn’t expect to see him at her show. I think the last I heard he was somewhere on the west coast touring. So Matthew recognizes me and jumps down off stage to talk to me. We continue our conversation from his show at Smith’s Olde Bar and I tell him that I remember him from High School. He seems surprised that I would drive to Nashville from Atlanta to see Audrey. Shortly thereafter, Audrey started her performance. As always, she was amazing. The new band she had was good and made all her great songs better. There were a few songs I had forgotten about. I forgot how good “Comfort You” and “Flood” were. Since these songs weren’t on the CD that I had of her music, I had not heard them in a while. Halfway through, Matthew jumped up on stage, grabbed his guitar and performs with Audrey for the rest of the show.
It was a great concert. Not like what I had expected and definitely worth the drive. I hung around afterward and talked with Patrick Lochridge’s parents. They remembered me from the Eddie’s Attic show on 11/13/07. Audrey came out shortly thereafter and I told her how great the show was. She told me that she would be recording an EP soon and planned to perform at Eddie’s Attic in August. She was hoping to have the CD ready in time to make the performance a CD release show. I talked to Matthew before leaving and found out that he would have his new CD out soon and that he would be back down in Atlanta performing at Eddie’s Attic with a group of performers. It would be called the 10 out of Tenn, for the ten singers from Tennessee.
Posted by Tom under 12th & Porter,Audrey Spillman,Main Blog | Comments (0)
May 3, 2008
500 Songs for kids. Josh Rifkin and his Songs for Kids foundation put on a yearly fundraiser at Smith’s Olde Bar. Last year they had a countdown of the top 500 songs (as listed by Rolling Stone Magazine) performed by local artists. This year they chose to do a countdown of the THE 500 GREATEST SING-A-LONG SONGS OF ALL TIME.
Here’s the list of songs:
http://www.songsforkidsfoundation.org/500songsforkidscountdown.asp
I don’t remember why I missed the concert last year. Audrey Spillman had been invited to sing and performed the Rolling Stones song “Wild Horses”. I remember hating that I had missed it. Audrey was invited back this year, so I went to check out the show.
This was the 3rd night so they were covering songs 400-351. The performances were great. Each act got to do a cover of one of the songs on the list. As I looked down the list I noticed #373 was (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin and I hoped that it was the song that Audrey was going to sing. Sure enough, when it came to that number in the countdown, Audrey and her piano player, Patrick Lochridge, walked up on stage to perform Aretha’s song. Here’s a video I was able to take with my digital camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D3aCIgEQss
I love how the crowd reacts and gets into the song which causes a cool reaction from Audrey. After her song, I caught her off stage and got to talk with her and Patrick.
The concert was a fundraiser for the Songs for Kids charity, so they were taking donations there. They had a deal where if you donated over $100, you got a ticket, and guaranteed entry, to the final show. The list of performers for the final show was incredible, so I said what the hell, and made a donation. I had received my economic stimulus check into my checking account the day before so it seemed like the right thing to do with some of that money.
Posted by Tom under Audrey Spillman,Main Blog,Smith's Olde Bar,Songs for Kids | Comments (0)
November 14, 2007
So a back in June, Eddie’s Attic posted a MySpace Fan Showcase promotion asking that fans nominate their favorite Myspace artist to have them play a special free concert. Rules were that they couldn’t be signed with a label, they haven’t played the Attic already (other than Open Mic) and they where geographically viable to the venue.
After Audrey’s performance at Smith’s Olde bar in February for the “the devil stole the beat” concert, I had messaged her on Myspace as to how I could purchase her music. She was scheduled to perform at Eddie’s Attic on May 7th, so I also told her that I looked forward to seeing her again in Atlanta. She responded that she was working on putting a handful of songs that she had recorded onto a CD and that she would have them available by the 5/7 show. I went to the show and happened to catch her near the entrance after her performance and asked her how the CD was coming along. She immediately realized who I was and began apologizing for not having a CD available. She was still working on getting the songs together and she told me then that she would mail me a CD. The next day I got a message from her (she tracked down my original message to her) thanking me for coming to the show and saying how bad she felt that she didn’t have a CD for me, saying that she’s always good about keeping her word. In one of her messages, she told me that she always wanted to play at Eddie’s Attic and assumed that the best way to play there was to do an open mic.
So when the MySpace Fan Showcase promotion was posted in June, I immediately contacted Audrey to see if she’d be interested, since I knew she wanted to play there again and I knew that she qualified for the contest. She said that she was interested, so I submitted her name with a link to her page and music. And when the voting began I tried to get people to vote for her. When the final tally of votes was made, Audrey came in 6th. At first I was disappointed, but as it turned out, they took the top 9, so she was in! They had 3 separate Tuesday nights reserved in November for the 9 performances (3 each night).
Audrey’s show was on the 13th. As always, she was incredible. Even the other artists on the bill were amazed at her talent. I even received a personalized “thank you” from her while she was on stage, for the support I’ve given, which was really cool. And afterward we got to hang out and talk a bit.
I was able to purchase a CD from Mrs. Lochridge (Mom of Patrick Lochridge (Audrey’s keyboard player)) and have Audrey and Patrick autograph it for me. Audrey kept her word and got me a CD. It was an incredible night of great music from amazing people.
Posted by Tom under Audrey Spillman,Eddie's Attic,Main Blog | Comments (0)
September 10, 2007
Drove up to Nashville yesterday to see Audrey Spillman perform at 3rd & Lindsley for The Next BIG Nashville Festival.
Songs in her Set included:
1). The Great Discovery
2). Comfort You (new, co-written w/ Trent Dabbs)
3). Whisperin’
4). Tomorrow
5). You Can Bring Me Flowers (cover of Ray LaMontagne song)
6). Let it Go (new, co-written with Matthew Perryman Jones)
It was a long 4 hour straight (fairly) drive up to Nashville, but I got up there early and got to look around downtown before her show. The show was definitely worth the drive. I can see Audrey making it big with her music.
Video I shot of Audrey singing “Tomorrow”.
Posted by Tom under 3rd & Lindsley,Audrey Spillman,Main Blog,Next BIG Nashville | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007
Came across a posting on the internet for a artist showcase at Smiths Olde Bar put on by ASCAP and BMI. The event was titled, “the devil stole the beat”. So I bought a ticket online and went last night.
Included with the ticket I bought online, was a card provided by discrevolt containing an account number so that I could download songs of the artists performing.
Another cool thing was that I could check out the performers Myspace page before going to the concert and get an idea of their songs.
I really enjoyed the performances by Andy Zipf, The Less , Sonia Leigh and Audrey Spillman.
Posted by Tom under Andy Zipf,Audrey Spillman,Main Blog,Sonia Leigh,The Less | Comments (0)