Coming Out Of Retirement

Even though I have been very happy with not being a manager the last 7 months, the truth is, work has been a little boring since I am working part time again, and while I get to enjoy more time off and not be tied down to any kind of 40 hour week.  It’s just not realistic to survive financially without working.  So, last week my boss asked if I was interested in being an acting manager and “help out” up at a store that is closing down, in Nashville, because the Opry Mills Mall is re-opening.  (Giant mall by the Grand Ole Opry House, that flooded two years ago during the great Nashville Flood)  It was a bump in pay and more hours for only two weeks so I was happy to jump at the opportunity. 

            When I got to the store, I soon realized that “help out” really ment running the whole damn show.  I realized, although a lot of managers were working out of that building, they were all concerned about the new store opening just ten minutes away in a few weeks, so this store, which was still open for business, was just limping along till the end.  Closing down a store is about an eight week process, when I got there, we were about two weeks out from absolutely having to be cleared out, and nothing was done yet.  So, I looked at what needed to be done, made some phone calls to get the logistics of everything set up that needed to happen, let the whole store know who was in charge going forward, and took the helm of this store to ride it out to the end.  Last week was the hardest I have worked for Old Navy in years, both physically and mentally, I had to throw out all kinds of fixtures and metal hard wear, all heavy stuff.  The first day, I put it all in the dumpster and made sure it fit, and was going to call for it to be emptied, however the next day all the metal was magically gone!  Now, I just set any metal trash outside and the next day its all gone, crazy how that works.  I was given the keys to a very, very large U-Haul, to drive back and forth between stores, picking stuff up and dropping stuff off, I think I might have a future as a truck driver, I tell you what.

            The whole closing the store down has been an extremely un-organized process, I’m not blaming anyone really, the store just kind of got dropped by everyone and I had to come in to pick it up and finish it out.  Now, before I’m finished making it sound like I am the Peyton Manning of Old Navy, I still have a week left to get the store cleared out, Friday the 31^st the store has to be empty and I am not at all close to that being done, so this week will be the true MVP test for me.  I did talk to the store manager from the new store as well as the District Manager, about moving up to management again, they said they’d love that and sounded excited.  The only catch is I really want to go to the new store.  It is a long drive from The Boro, but its Nashville, and not just Nashville, the store is literally the same parking lot as the Grand Ole Opry!  I can see the Opry house from the back of the store.  I would be getting paid more, to do something I am good at, and I do like to do it, and I could hang out at the Opry house all the time!  Who cares that it’s Old Navy again, I like Old Navy, and I’m good at it. 

            With that, I hope to be working the Opry Old Navy as a manager within the next month, there is a chance I would be stuck in Murfreesboro, and that wouldn’t be so bad, I do really like my boss there, but, It’s the OPRY HOUSE!  Really hoping for a chance to be up there! 

Another Night In Nashville

I have not written much in here since I’ve been back from Seattle, BUT, I have been doing things around here in Nashville.  Tuesday nights I usually go to a college church service, however last Tuesday, I was Working during the day and through Twitter, I noticed there was a show at the Station Inn.  It was a last minute show, but was a super group of Nashville bluegrass pickers.  On Banjo and Fiddle, Justin Moses, of Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder, also on Banjo, and Guitar, Ron Block, a studio musician who’s been on country CD’s from Tim Mcgraw to Brad Paisley.  Pickin’ on lead guitar was Matt Wingate, who’s day job is Claire Lynch’s guitar player.  The star of the show was Sierra Hull, a 20 year old, Mandoline player and bluegrass singer, who has spent a lot of time playing under Alison Krauss, and Andrew has fallen in love with.

            So with all that in mind, after work, I went home and headed up to Nashville to watch the show.  I talked Andrew into tagging along with me.  I didn’t realize it was his first time to The Station Inn, and his first really Bluegrass show.  The show was great, and inspiring, especially after being at Wintergrass up in Washington last month.  Speaking of Wintergrass, while there I met Claire Lynch, IBMA Female Vocalist of the year, and talked to her for a little bit, I told her I was a banjo player in Nashville, and she asked if I ever go to The Station Inn.  So, who was in the audience of this show?  Claire Lynch, there to support her guitar player Matt Wingate.  I did get a chance to talk with her again, and she remembered me from Washington.  She is not only a crazy good singer and also such a sweet lady!  The band talked her into getting on stage for a song before the night was over.  It was another night in Nashville at a bar watching some amazing musicians that just doesn’t happen anywhere else I have lived, Sooner or later I won’t be in the audience anymore, but until then there is never a bad seat in this town.

On a side note, I took a temporary management position up in Nashville, it’s a little more money for me, and while Nashville is kind of a drive from Murfreesboro, but, I do like being up there more often. I am thinking about going full time again, kind of funny considering why I quit in the first place.  However, I am in  good spot with Church and have Musicians around me.  Besides, people have to work, right?

ChevyCoop is a Tennessean

The ChevyCoop is officially a Tennessean.  I am not referring to myself in the third person, I’m not that guy, instead I’m the guy that has a nick name for his car, which is way better… right?  Anyway, my car now has a Tennessee License plate.  Unfortunately I didn’t want to go through the trouble of getting my custom plates in Tennessee, but they only assigned ONE plate for the back of my car, so I left my California ChevyCoop plate on the front.  I had put off getting registered in Tennessee for as long as I could, my tags expired in February, and I just got them today, March 1, even with an extra day, I missed procrastinated.  I got up early expecting to go through an entire day of DMV problems, that’s from the Californian in me.  The DMV had no line and plenty of nice ladies working and they were not behind bullet proof glass, I wasn't sure if I was in the right place.  It cost $87 and I was done within a half an hour, including driving down to the smog check, which was a joke compared to California.  My car insurance should cost half what I’ve been paying for insurance in The Golden State.  The only catch so far, is I have to go to a different place to get my Driver’s License, and I need two forms of proof that I live in the state, kind of odd, but now I have one with my registration, and my next paycheck will have my new address on it, so that’ll be that.  Thank you Tennessee for being so nice and easy, California take note,  now if they just get an In-N-Out here, we’ll be good.

Andrew and I played some music for the Church here, a week ago, and have already been asked to come back, must have done an alright job.  Next step is to keep looking for more stages to play!  Last weekend I was up in Bellevue for my Dad’s birthday as well as a bluegrass festival, I’ll write separately about that, but the highlights, I met Ricky Skaggs, Claire Lynch, The HillBenders, and played with a lot of bluegrass guys, including my hero, Tennessee Jimmy Harrel.  Who knew I had to go back to my hometown of Bellevue WA, to meet a bunch of pickers from Nashville?

Side note, The HillBenders, while a great band, and excellent performers, do not do well in turbulence on a plane.  And Frontier Air is ran kind of like a Child’s lemonade stand.  More to come...

A Day in Denver

So here I sit in the Denver Colorado airport, how did I get here though?  Well, last month for my birthday I told my Dad I wanted to go to Wintergrass, a big bluegrass festival in my home town Bellevue Washington.  I didn’t know Dad would be on board with this, but he looked it up and said “Sure, let’s do it!”  And he foot the bill to not only the tickets to the all weekend event, but getting me from Nashville to Seattle as well.  He bought the ticket from Frontier Airlines and I left on Wednesday morning February 22, 2012.  Another great piece to this weekend, was that, Tennessee Jimmy Harrell was going to be coming up from California to meet us in Seattle as well!  This weekend was shaping up to be a great time, and still will be.

            My flight left Nashville to Denver at 9AM, it was delayed about an hour due to high winds in Denver, they told us not to worry about any connecting flights, because the whole airport was delayed.  When I got to Denver, and asked about the connecting flight, the lady at the desk said “It already left, go see the customer service desk, down by gate 36, there is a long, long line, you can’t miss it.”  Great…

After waiting in line with at least twenty other people that missed this flight, so they must have sent an empty plane to Seattle, I was told the best fastest option was to fly in to Phoenix Arizona, and then to Seattle.  A little odd, but ok.  Now, my main concern was of course, my banjo.  I had to gate check it back in Nashville, so I knew it was here in Denver, but at this point I didn’t really trust Frontier Air as the most reliable people.  So, I asked about it, and decided to go get it.  And I did.  I had to go out of security and back through again, but now I had my banjo, my clothes though, who knows where those are at this point. 

            Of course the gate to Phoenix was right next to a bar, and there was no way I was going to pass up a beer as cold as The Rockies, by The Rockies.  Turns out the flight to Phoenix was delayed for two hours, which means I would miss my connecting flight to Seattle from there.  I went to the customer service desk again and the first thing they said was, “You’ll have a problem getting that guitar on board, I can tell you now, they will make you check it…” To which I responded, “It’s a banjo, and I don’t care about that right now.  I need to get to Seattle.”  Which in five minutes they got me on an on time flight to Seattle from Denver that left at 6PM!  What the Heck?! If there was an open spot, why would you send me to Arizona? And if I hadn’t said anything I would be stuck there all night!  What is wrong with these people?! I feel like there policy is, “If you have a customer issue, just send them somewhere else, and let someone else deal with it!”  I would love to do that at my work, any complaints, just send them to another side of the country, odds are, we won’t see them again.  I’m pretty sure the only flight that left on time today, was the empty flight from Denver to Seattle.  So I’ll never be flying Frontier again, but that’s the breaks, how hard is it to use your head and problem solve? Phoenix Arizona? Really?

On a side note, Denver seems like a beautiful place, I would love to visit some time and see more than the airport.  I forgot how cool it is to look out and see the mountains.  Also, I’m sure I’ll have much more to write about after a weekend of bluegrass in Bellevue!

Empty Bar Room, Band Still Playing, Living The Dream.

            Yesterday, I noticed on Twitter that Ted Russell Kamp, was playing a show in Nashville.  I became a TRK fan years ago while he played bass in The .357’s, Shooter Jennings back up band.  I saw Shooter a few times in Seattle and in L.A. When I saw them in L.A. I was with Elliott, and we got to meet the band and hang out with Shooter a bit, and it was a great time, especially for the 19 year old country fan that I was.  At the time, Kamp opened the show with his solo act and it was great, Elliott and I bought a CD there and then the rest on iTunes, and I continue to buy his stuff when it comes out. 

TRK lives in Los Angeles now and plays shows all over the place, so when I saw he was in Nashville and I was off work I pretty much had to check it out.  It was snowing just a touch last night and in this town if it looks like snow, NO ONE goes out.  I got to 12^th and Porter, at 8:00pm when the first guy, Hugh Mitchell was supposed to be on.   There were 4 people working at the bar, and me.  The stage was down stairs and not open yet, so I thought maybe I read the times wrong, where was the line of people?  This was Ted Russell Freakin Kamp?!  I got a beer and leaned against the bar and waited for the show.  There as about ten of us down stairs by in the stage room and I was litteraly the only on that was not friends with the band… yet.  Ted played bass for both opening acts, it was real rock and roll, Americana, with some bluesy country twang, good stuff all around.  Hugh Mitchell was great, then Bart Ryan went on and did a solo singer songwriter act, it was a really fun show to watch.  Between acts before TRK went on, He was talking to a girl and I heard him say, “Excuse me I need to go introduce myself to the one guy I don’t know here…”  Which was me.  We talked for a bit I told him I saw him with Shooter a couple years ago and have been a fan ever since, and living in Nashville now I was excited to come see his show tonight.  He appreciated it and thanked me for coming.  He and his band did an awesome show, I felt like I got to sneak into his band practice, because at this point there were five of us in the audience, probably a little disappointing for him, but way cool for me. 

He did some new stuff, some old stuff, and then said, “Thank you to Mike, for doing the sound, Jeff, working behind that bar… and Hell, thanks Laura for being here, Cooper, and Michelle, thanks for staying.”  Then the last song he played was “Steady at The Wheel” a song he wrote and Shooter Jennings cut on his first album “Put the O back in Country” and said, “Coop, this one’s for you, welcome to the club, its not a big one, but it’s beautiful” He’d already dedicated the love songs to all the girls there. 

After the show we talked a little more, apparently he has lived in Seattle, L.A. and Nashville, places I too have lived.  I told him he rocked, I already had all his CDs, which he replied “Really? Cool!”  And he said good luck with your music, he loves banjo and said keep me updated on your music, as he comes to Nashville every few months.  And I signed up for his email list.

I realize Ted Russell Kamp isn’t Brad Paisley and a lot of people don’t know who he is, but I am a big Shooter Jennings fan, and I have been listening to TRK for the last six or so years, and I am a fan of his.  To me he is a great country artist just like Dierks Bentley, Jack Ingram or Brad Paisley.  I had no idea there wouldn’t be many people there last night, and they were so good, there should have been a packed house, but I enjoyed it the way it was. I also loved that everyone there loved being on stage playing, I'm sure they wanted a bigger turn out, but they were going to rock faces off either way.  to me,  he’s living the dream, I can’t wait to play an empty room and meet a few people that say “I love your music” or “I love that one song, I lived it!”  And head out to the next show the next day!  Keep it up TRK and if you want to hear some great music, listen to some Ted Russell Kamp!

We're putting the band back together, we're on a mission from God.

I have now played up on stage in Tennessee!  The church had a women’s retreat this past weekend and they put together a band for the services.  I was asked to play banjo on a few songs.  It was a lot of fun, and I just kind of noodled around for most of the songs and added a little banjo twang here and there, but for a few of the songs I took the lead and we played some fun bluegrass hymns.  I had a lot of fun up there playing and the drummer even told me after words that he had never played country/bluegrass drums but he really liked it, and I realized I’ve never actually played worship music but I really liked it too.  It’s fun to play with musicians that are humble and really talented, they all play by ear, they say what key its in, and then they all just start playing.  Since that weekend, I have been on a crazy banjo addiction.  I have been playing hours everyday and I LOVE it!  Mostly playing hymns and Steve Martin tunes, yep, you can play anything on a banjo, except a sad song of course.

After playing I started listening to some of my hero, Brad Paisley, as I often do, and came across “Life’s Railway To Heaven” an old hymn that he does bluegrass style on his latest album.  I have heard the song many times before, and I am pretty sure I listened to that CD non stop for the first three weeks after it came out.  But it was a little different this time because this is exactly what I wanted to play like.  Even though I really only played for two or three songs, it was really fun and defiantly was a confirmation of why I am in Tennessee.  I am really thankful they invited me to play with them and I am looking forward to doing more of it.  And Andrew and I were asked to play for a pre worship service on an upcoming Sunday!  Hope ya’ll are ready for some hillbilly praise time!

This weekend I’m house sitting and taking care of a co-workers dogs (Different co-worker that last time)  Although I’m not desperate to stay away from where I live any more, I do like playing with puppies and getting paid to hang out in someone else’s house, I forgot my banjo tonight though…

On a side note, I have been to many, many, country concerts mostly Brad Paisley, and I have always been in the audience.  So it’s a lot of fun to be on stage now, and the best part was it was al for Church and God.  However, it was nice to play on stage in a room full of beautiful women. ;)

For the Record-ing

So, how do you top a blog about drugs, murder, guns, and banjos? I had a somewhat less exciting week, and that is A-OK with me. 

I’m still trying to deal with some stuff from Monday’s events but it’s mostly behind me at this point.  I cannot possibly express how much I am blown away by the support I have received from people around here, and back home.  It truly amazes me how many people have helped me during this last week.  The only thing I can do is say “Thank You!” and know that someday if any of them or anyone else needs something I can provide I would do it in a heart beat.  As a songwriter, everyone is expecting a song out of this, and I do have one coming.  Not exactly what you might expect seeing as drugs, guns and shooting is more of the rap scene not bluegrass.  But I got a special one brewing.  Now it’s back to the music! And what I am doing here in Tennessee in the first place.

Andrew and I have been writing and recording music.  I could write a whole paper on recording.  Recording is a long process and much more complicated than what I used to do on my own.  It’s also much more rewarding when done right.  For the first time I am writing songs, that are really GOOD!  The other day we stayed up till about 5AM but we finished a song and I like it a lot.  The coolest part about it is that, it is honest, and it is clearly a song the two of us wrote.  It’s also really cool to start with an idea of a song, write it out, and get it recorded, then listen to the final product. Although, we don’t have final products yet, like I said, it is a long process. 

We have set up a recording studio in the McBride’s back barn room.  Everything we’re recording is through Garage Band on my laptop, so nothing out of control, but it sounds good.  I have some really big goals, but they are starting to seem like they could be really realistic goals.  We have a list of songs that we are fixin’ to record, and a few others to be written.  And now we need to get them in recording.  After that, we put it on a demo CD, and try to sell it around as well as selling ourselves at songwriter nights and music bars.  Sounds simple, but we have a long way to go.  The exciting part is, I am one step closer, and I am actually doing musical things, besides practicing in my room and working all week at an un-rewarding job. J