The Watchmaker’s Son

 

Our friend Brandon McCormick of Whitestone Motion Pictures (based out of 12stone Church) is recovering well from a Vespa scooter accident last month in which he apparently had to slam on brakes while going 50 mph. (He’s seen here talking to one of his actors on the set.) He had some teeth replaced and some facial reconstruction.  But he feels well enough to have recently returned from accepting the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival for the film The Watchmaker’s Son.  Watch it here.

 

 

Pitching

 

Tonight Dan Hannon and I sat in a “song-pitching” session by the collective of songwriters at 12Stone Church known as the Playchase Music Group.  They weren’t pitching songs to us, but to each other.  Each writer shared a song with the group of 15 or so people, then was encouraged, questioned, crucified, whatever.  There were no egos, no agendas, no special treatment; there was respect, honesty, and productivity.  I love that this big church hasn’t gotten too bureaucratic to encourage original art within its walls; in their worship services, 12Stone actually uses a ton of original songs written by the group.  ONE Atlanta is exploring ways to partner with them in their journey, as it’s also our passion to encourage original music in the local Church at large.

Update: Video from Friday’s lunch

Told you I’d try to get my video issues worked out, so I could share a little of the music that went down at this past Friday’s 1ATL Thank You Lunch for Jackson Spalding.  (Click here if you have no idea what I’m talking about, or just scroll down to the Aug. 8th entry.)  Thanks to Josh Peters for fixing the video problem.  Here’s a 10 minute series of song clips with Rudy Vaughn and Miriam Ah Kuoi, doing all original music.  (Sorry it’s so dark; but hey, studios are usually dark.)  

 

Glowing in the Dark.

ONE Atlanta took over the “A” room at Glow In the Dark Studio today.  We threw a lunch for Jackson Spalding public relations firm to say thank you for all their incredible work on our behalf.  They have partnered with us on branding and marketing stuff, and they are amazing.   Original music was provided by Rudy Vaughn (and his bandmates Nathan Cooley and Mike Hankins), with a special guest appearance by Miriam Ah Kuoi.

 

Several of the Jackson Spalding creative staff were there, including Glen Jackson himself.  There was also a contingent of 12Stone’s redemptive arts staff there.  A few other friends of 1ATL were there, too, including Glow in the Dark owner Matt Goldman (thanks for the room) and Michael Johnston (thanks for the pics), both of whom are former bandmates of mine in Smalltown Poets.  Fellow 1ATL founders Dan Hannon and David Fussell were there; even my wife, kids, and in laws were there!   Okay, sorry for the who’s who.  (But I do still need to thank Cindy, Alice, Jenny, and Jake for the food and the chairs.)

 

Hoping to update this post soon with video.  My camera is being very uncooperative at the moment.

 

 

 

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!