Fresh from the kitchen…

Had to post this.  Check out this brilliant work by my friends Chris Arias and Andy Waddell.  It’s their entry in the IKEA Kitchen Rhythm Contest.

Meghan Muses Memorably…

Meghan Coffee’s new album, Songs To Sail By, will be available June 19th, the day of her album release concert at Smith’s Old Bar in Atlanta.  You can buy your tickets here.

…or something like that. It might not be memorable, this could turn out to be incredibly dull. I’m a sucker for alliteration, however, thus the title.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Meghan Coffee and I am fond of almond joys, red lipstick, laughing loudly (preferably at appropriate times) and the smell of old books. I am a lucky girl in that Dan Hannon and Danny Stephens like me and my music. I’ve got a picture up there somewhere, a pale freckle-faced girl with flowers in my hair.

Let’s see…now that I’ve been let into this OneAtlanta Music blog what shall I write about?

I am in the mood to put together a puzzle. I am in the mood to go roller-skating. I am in the mood to unabashedly roll down a hill. I am in a mood. I want to run fast and faster and catch up to my 8 year old self.

Ah, and now writing that has brought to mind a memory…

The summer I was eight years old was the summer I ran away pretty much every night. Well…It might’ve been just one week that I tried to run away, but to my eight year old self it felt like the whole summer. During the day I would sneak food (yogurt, granola bars, hot dogs, bread) and then after I went to “bed” I would grab my little pathetic pile of bedsheets, matches, books and secreted food and carefully make my way down the outside staircase of my house.

The house we lived in (in Decatur) used to be 2 apartments, a top floor and a bottom floor. So, we had an outside staircase leading up to the old entrance of what used to be an apartment. That upstairs of our house was where my sister, Erin, and I had our domain. The laundry room was there and a big play area and a cool closet that began in my sister’s room and ran the whole length of the upstairs.

Anyway, I digress.

I would sneak down said stairs and take off for the park which was just down the street, cross over the baseball field and down into a culvert or drainage ditch of sorts. It was shaped like the bottom half of a stop sign (the actual name of the shape escapes me now, that’s sad…) and it was completely concrete. At one point in this culvert a tree had fallen over and had been made magical with undergrowth and vines of which formed a glorious canopy, a fairy world. To this little piece of twilight perfection I would run.

I’d set up camp. Out would spread my sheets, blazing would be my tiny fire, devoured would be my “rations” (always were they called rations, never food. Sometimes they were “grub” if I was feeling particularly saucy) and I would just be settling into my book of choice when I’d hear my father’s step and his voice from the baseball field. Everytime. And everytime I would be so exasperated! Why wouldn’t they just this once let me spend the night!

One time in my father’s demands to “hurry up!” I lost my book, Little Women, in the leaves and in the darkness and all my flustering about. It was gone. I cried because I had just arrived at the point where Beth was dying and I had to wait for 2 days until I could get a copy from the library. Sheer torture.

My nightly escapades all ended when my parents told me the next time I ran away they were going to call the police and have them take me to the juvenile jail. (They most likely wouldn’t have but they were TRYING to knock some sense into me…) That almost wasn’t sufficient warning, but Erin, my sensible younger sister convinced me that my bed was better than any old bed that kids might’ve peed on and that I might get beaten up. This caused me to resign my grandiose ideas of a fairy filled sleepover in an old, but lovely, drainage culvert.

I still fondly remember the fire-lightning-fly-bugs and the smell of my fire and my sense of being in my own space in the world. It was my place. My own piece of just rightness.

I went back there today. The park people probably long ago cut the tree and the fairy vines down, cleared away the pieces. I wonder if they might have happened upon traces of a fire, a granola bar wrapper or two, maybe my book, weathered and worn. They cleared away my past, my place, my piece. I sat where it would have been, pondered my aging, pondered my little girl personhood.

I was probably pretty annoying. But cute. I still get called cute.

Grrrr.

I’m off to tuck my soon to be eight year old boy into bed.

“What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.” ~Cynthia Ozick

2nd.wav gets some good press.

Okay, it’s high time I blog/brag about the band my 11-year-old son Noah is in, 2nd.wav (pronounced Second Wave).  They were on the front page of the Forsyth County News today to promo their gig this weekend at Vickery Creek Elementary.  A snippet from that article: ”It’s so exciting because they’re actually a real band.  They actually get real gigs.  I know they play at different venues throughout the Atlanta area, so it’s a real treat for us to be able to bring them in and feature them at our school,” said Julie Royal (PTA Member).  

2nd.wav is Savannah Wofford on lead vocals, Russell Wofford on guitar/vocals, Holden Fincher on bass/vocals, Noah Stephens on keyboards/vocals, and Grayson Arias on drums.  Check out their recent performance at Northpoint’s Walking Wisely Weekend below, as well as some various band pics. (band photo shoot by Zack Arias)

You can inquire about booking 2nd.wav by contacting us here.

And the winner is…

…not most of the folks we were pulling for.  But Atlanta didn’t lay a complete goose egg at last night’s GMA Dove Awards.

Seth Condrey won for Spanish Language Album of the Year.

Ricardo Sanchez’ song Say So, recorded by Israel Houghton, won Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year.

And, together, Mark Hall and Casting Crowns landed 4 Doves for: Song of the Year, Group of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year, and Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year.

How about a little love for these guys?  And for the other A-town nominees (see previous post).  It is, as they say, an honor to be nominated.  Give it up here. 

I Could Sing of Your Dove Forever

The Gospel Music Association’s annual Dove Awards happen tonight, and our own Dan Hannon is nominated for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year for producing Aaron Shust’s “Whispered and Shouted.”

Other nominations for Atlantans include:

Spanish Language Album of the Year

• De Corazon A Corazon; Seth Condrey; Seth Condrey, Mark Balltzglier; CanZion

Viva Nashvegas: Highlights

Technically, it’s my birthday right now.  Happy Birthday, self!  Hope you enjoy your bronchitis.  I feel terrible, but am still having a great time in Music City USA.  On Sunday, Michael Johnston, Dan, and I played at Cumberland Church and had a blast with service programming director Billy McCarthy and campus director Eddie Johnson.

Since then, we’ve been going to concerts, renewing acquaintances, making new friends, having meetings, and such.  Some high points…

Kristy Starling, whose record Dan recently produced, is here with us, and we’ve had meetings about the best option for getting her record out there.  Amazing voice.

It’s pretty cool that Michael W. Smith did Kristian Stanfill’s and Alex Nifong’s (Atlanta guys) version of Jesus Paid It All last night at the Ryman.  

We’re staying at the home of music photographer Allen Clark, one of my favorite people in the world.  

Saw new OMG Records artist Chasen from Greenville SC tonight at The Rutledge.  They were good.  The lead singer sounds like Paul Carrack from Squeeze (remember them?).

Hung out with too many friends to name, from Nashville and Atlanta, like performance coach Tom Jackson and former Atlantan singer/songwriter Kevin Lawson, who lives here now.  Hanging with more friends tomorrow, including Dave Barnes‘ manager Chris DeTray.

But for now, to paraphrase Tommy Boy, Danny need sleepy.  Happy Birthday to me.

Coffee in the Attic.

So, last night I went to see Meghan Coffee at Eddie’s Attic.  She didn’t have her band; it was just her and a keyboard, with occasional help from Flo (her Mac).  She was amazing, but I expected that.  Zack Arias snapped this photo and was gracious enough to send it to me.  Many thanks, friend.  After Meghan’s set, I ran into Clay Cook who was there to play guitar/keys for Aslyn later in the night.  Clay is a musical freak in his own right, and one time had a band with writing partner John Mayer called LoFi Masters.

I love Eddie’s.  Great venue.  Who’s with me?  What cool local artists have you guys seen there?

Advance

Today I played keys for The Maximum Impact Simulcast: ADVANCE, which was broadcast live from 12Stone Church near Atlanta, GA, to over 600 cities & more than 20 countries.  The guys in the goofy pose are (L-R) Brad Long, Tim Gibson, Slug, and Danny Dukes.  And, yes sports fans, that’s me with Dick Vitale.  Awesome, baby!

Enemy Lovers.

Dan Hannon has been finishing up producing a record for Tim Scroggs‘ band from Asheville NC, soon to be renamed The Enemy Lovers.  For those who’d like to see Dan and JAMM in action, here’s a snippet of studio life with Dan calling the shots and JAMM (offscreen) laying down a piano track on an Enemy Lovers song.  The clip opens with Tim’s million dollar smile.

Gene K

For the record, K is for Krcelic, which I’m still not sure how to pronounce.  Gene (left, with Dan) came down from OMG Music headquarters in Greenville SC today to meet with us about some stuff, for which Dan and I are very grateful.  I can already tell we can learn a lot from him.  OMG has just released the long awaited debut of Chasen (thanks for the swag, Gene).  

After Starbucks and lunch, we headed over to the studio, where we spent awhile debating whether astronauts really landed on the moon.  

I love that the studio is Grand Central Station for a lot of local talent.  Today the Winston Audio guys were in there, as was Jeremiah from Manchester Orchestra.  Nice guys, all.

Anyway, Gene’s dad worked for NASA and he wrote Gene’s name on one of the rocket engines that blasted our guys off to the moon back on July 20, 1969.  That is, if you believe it really happened.  No comment from me yet.  You weigh in.

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