November 26, 2007
I saw Ellis Paul and Kristian Bush (of Sugarland) at Eddie’s Attic on 11/25. I had heard and am a fan of Ellis Paul and his music from when I lived in New England, but had never seen a show. I had seen Vance Gilbert in Hartford and he mentioned Ellis several times during his performance. So I checked out his music and liked what I heard. When I saw that Ellis was coming to the Attic, I bought a ticket and by chance got the ticket for the show he was doing with Kristian Bush (not really knowing who he was, I’m not into Country Music much). They did a similar show to what Matthew P.J. did at the attic (see Matthew Perryman Jones Blog), where it was “in the round”. They grabbed a local artist, Caroline Herring, to be their 3rd.
Caroline held her own between the CMA Award winning/Grammy nominated artist (Bush) and the Farrelly Bros. Movie Soundtrack/Boston Music award winning artist (Paul). Kristian would play mandolin on Caroline’s songs and it was unbelievable. It’s amazing to see such talented artists perform. I’m now a Kristian Bush & Caroline Herring fan
Youtube video’s of Caroline’s Performance @ Eddie’s Attic:
Devil Made a Mess
Song for Fay
Stone Cold World
Mistress
Paper Gown
Posted by Tom under Caroline Herring,Eddie's Attic,Ellis Paul,Kristian Bush,Main Blog | Comments (0)
November 25, 2007
Had my friend Neida email me about a concert that Shawn Mullins was going to have on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at the Variety Playhouse and was wondering if anyone wanted to go. I have one of Shawn’s CD’s and have always been a fan of his music. I thought it was cool that he started out in Atlanta and was still living in the Decatur area. I had always meant to buy his other CD’s but had never gotten around to it.
Neida knows I’m a fan of acoustic artists and we’ve been trying for years to go see Edwin McCain in concert, but haven’t ever been able to go. Something had always conflicted with the night he was in concert. I had tickets once to see Edwin in Connecticut, when I lived up there, but it happened to fall on the weekend that my Dad was going to be in NJ for his High School Reunion. So I decided to drive down and see my Mom and Dad that weekend and ended up giving away my tickets to the concert. No one in my family ever came to visit me when I lived in Chicago, NJ or CT, so I thought it would give me an opportunity to at least show my parents were I once lived and worked when I was in NJ. Plus my dad being an only child and his parents dieing when I was young, he hasn’t ever told us much about growing up in NJ. I figured this would be a great opportunity to find some things out.
Anyway, I’ve strayed from the subject, which is my inclination to do.
So a group of us met up for dinner and headed over to the Variety Playhouse in Little 5 points to see Shawn. I’ve been to several concerts in Atlanta, but I had never been to the Variety Playhouse. The venue is different. It’s set up like a movie theatre but there are seats with tables on the sides, with normal theatre seats in the middle. Evan McHugh opened the show. When Shawn came out, it was just him, which seemed strange because there were instruments set-up all over the stage. He played a few songs by himself. Then he had an intermission. After a 15 minute break, he came out with his full band. The show was unbelievable. Shawn truly is the prolific singer/storyteller and was amazing alone and with his band. I can’t believe I only paid $20 for the concert. It was more than worth it. They were video taping the show, so hopefully it’ll show up on DVD and I can see it again.
Posted by Tom under L5P,Main Blog,Shawn Mullins,Variety Playhouse | 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)
November 3, 2007
Saw Matthew Perryman Jones at Eddie’s Attic last night. I first learned of MPJ’s music from Audrey Spillman (see earlier blog) and hearing that he had helped co-write a song with her. I saw that he was playing Eddie’s Attic and thought it would be a great opportunity to see him perform. He was there with Katie Herzig (another friend of Audrey’s) and Peter Bradley Adams. The concert was part of the American Songwriter magazine, “American Songwriter presents… ‘in the round’ tour”. So instead of one artist opening, another following, with the headlining act closing, they all played on stage together, alternating between the three and collaborating on each others songs. Seeing Matthew play guitar during Katie’s & Peter’s songs showed how talented a musician he was. He was able to add something additional to songs that weren’t his. I could see why Audrey’s collaboration with him went so well. Matthew had his song “Save you”, used in the television show “Kyle XY”, and it seemed like most fans of his music came to know him from that song and its popularity. Katie was cute. Earlier in the day, she had taken the opportunity to go lamp shopping at our local IKEA. Katie played percussion on the songs Matthew and Peter played and guitar on her songs. Each of Katie’s songs had catchy rhythms and lyrics. Just the week before she had her song, “Fools Gold” featured on the television show, “Grey’s Anatomy”. Peter’s songs had a nice mellow tone to them. Something about his sound reminds me of Jackson Brown. Overall it was a great concert experience. Not what I expected when I heard the concert would be “in the round”.
Posted by Tom under Katie Herzig,Main Blog,Matthew Perryman Jones,MPJ | Comments (0)