LA Hoops or ATL Breakfast?

First up, I have to tell this story.   A couple of nights ago, our own Dan Hannon called me from LA where’s he mixing at Sunset Sound Studios, to say, “You’ll never believe who I’m shooting hoops with right now.”  I guessed Bon Jovi.  After all, he’d hung out with Steve Perry only days before, so I went for broke.  Wrong.  It was John Kraskinski, “Jim” from The Office.

 

Anyway, yesterday Rudy Vaughn and I went to the Atlanta Public Relations Interfaith Prayer Breakfast at the invitation of our pal Glen Jackson from Jackson Spalding PR.  In fact, Rudy (left) had his guitar at the ready; he was officially the understudy for Aaron Shust (center), who was there to sing a few songs, but whose wife could go into labor any time.  

 

Aaron indeed sang.  He did great; his voice is always super smooth.  And if there’s a nicer dude, I’d like to meet him.  Rudy and I made some new friends, and renewed some acquaintances.  Really enjoyed meeting Eric Elwell, who was there with Aaron.  Over his 20+ year career, Eric has recorded and mixed over 50 major label releases, and in 2005 was honored with a Dove Award as a producer & engineer.  He also does production on major tours.  Great convo.  Good guy.

 

Afterwards, Rudy and I made an unplanned visit to the big auditorium next door within the Cobb Energy Centre where the breakfast had been, and we watched the Atlanta Opera perform Cinderella.  We capped all this off by having lunch with Matt Winters, the new service programming director of Cumberland Church in Nashville.  Good day. (Special thanks to Brian Steely at Jackson Spalding for the pics.)

 

So, what’s cooler?  Hoops with John Kraskinski, or breakfast with Rudy and Aaron?

 

 

Part of the Plan.

 

My buddy Chad Jarnagin works with a great fellowship in Nashville called The People’s Church. I want to point you to this great entry on Chad’s blog, because it so lines up with the idea behind ONE Atlanta Music.

 

The core of guys who started this organization, this “brand” called ONE Atlanta, want to cultivate, encourage, and develop some of the young talent in this town that needs experienced hands guiding them. That’s not at all to brag on my experiences as an artist/agent/manager. But I will brag on guys like Dan Hannon, a guy who continues to get face time with major labels all over the place who are excited about the artists he’s developing and producing (several such discussions this past week). I’m proud to be affiliated with him, specifically in regard to those artists who will be working under our 1ATL moniker.

 

The first of those, in terms of us actually developing, producing and recording an artist under the ONE Atlanta brand is Rudy Vaughn. We hope there are many more.

 

Of course, there’s plenty more young talent out there that we’re getting to pour into, in different ways.  I love being one of the band dads helping with the development of Second Wave.  I love helping other young musicians and singers in different ways, from helping them find gigs to connecting them to other musicians.  I can only do so much of that, of course, but I’ve really been blessed this year to spend a lot of time “pouring into” different artists in different ways.  Again, I don’t mean to talk about myself as if I think I’m something great.  But there’s something very exciting about knowing you’re wired a certain way, and that God is asking you to use that wiring for Him, and then actually having opportunities to do it!

 

Are you doing what you’re passionate about?

 

 

Coast to Coast

I’m pretty proud of my partner Dan for the high profile work he’s been getting in the music industry.  And I’m excited about the doors it could open for ONE Atlanta as we begin doing our own recording projects in the near future. To add to the previous post, here’s a couple more pics from Dan’s mixing trip to LA.

 

But I have a pretty good story to share about Dan, too, and it happened back East, right here in the ATL area just a few days ago.  

 

Here’s the account of what happened at Picasso in historic downtown Buford GA last weekend, according to Rudy Vaughn’s keyboardist Mike Hankins:  We were “sloshing through” the intro to Purple Rain… So Dan - completely cool - comes up and takes the mic - guest vocalist Sam Tesh was struggling with the words… So they are singing together… We get to the break and… Well - it was a little weak… So Dan turns around and says “(Dang)… The band doesn’t even know the song”… And sat back down… It was actually a light-hearted moment… We love Dan!”

 

 

 

Oh, what a night.

Not sure where to even start.  Thursday’s night’s final Buckhead Music Project at Velvet Underground rocked.  Rudy Vaughn, James David Carter, and Jamie JAMM Portee all killed.

 

Rudy had a new bass player onstage with him, a good dude/good player named Wes Flowers, who plays for Butch Walker as well.  

 

(Sidenote: Butch Walker has a new record coming out and is playing at The Loft in Atlanta on November 10.  Read all about it here.  Many of you remember the Atlanta band he fronted, The Marvelous Three.  The other two-thirds of the Three (Jayce and Slug) are buddies of ours.  And my son is in the band Second Wave with bassist Holden Fincher; his dad is Jayce, Marvelous Three’s bassist.)

 

Rudy’s set ranged from Michael Jackson’s Beat It to original songs; also, for the first time, I saw Rudy play sax and he destroyed it - in a good way.  James David Carter was excellent, as usual.  Dude has insane falsetto.  JAMM and his band, complete with horns, capped the night off with some great funk/jazz/r&b fusion, or whatever they call it.  Chantae Cann joined him; she’s a background singer for India Arie and is an amazing, new voice on the Atlanta scene.  JAMM also brought both his wife Joni (also known as INOJ) and James David up on stage to do some guest vocals.  

 

Other friends of ONE Atlanta that were there: Michael Johnston of Smalltown Poets, a surprise attendance by original Smalltown Poets drummer Byron Goggin who lives in North Carolina, Moxie Davis with wife Clarissa, Big Snow (on turntables in between bands, doing his thang), Ryan Fitzgerald of theAMP, Casey Darnell, too many amazing musician friends to name, and a bunch of Buckhead Church staff - not the least of which is ‘Los Whittaker (thanks for the pics dude!)

 

 

Go.

 

To this.  Tomorrow night.  I am.  

 

Buckhead Music Project.

8pm at Velvet Underground/Hard Rock Cafe Atlanta.

 

ONE Atlanta’s first official recording artist, Rudy Vaughn, is now opening the night.  Our boys James David Carter and Jamie JAMM Portee are also doing their thing.  I will be there.   

Who’s with me?

 

Catalyst

Spent a little time at the Catalyst Convention today at Gwinnett Arena.  Kudos to Brad Lomenick and his team for the great job putting all that together.  Brad has a good blog you should check out here.

 

Dan Hannon and I just had to stop in and see our boy Jamie JAMM Portee singing on the big stage.  He killed a John Legend song; that’s a compliment, of course.  His precious wife Joni was rocking a mic too.  There were so many friends there that I don’t get to see enough of, from fellow musicians and singers to my friend Ben that I actually got to know in China this summer.  (We were on separate mission trips that collided.) 

 

The green room was fun, as I got to hang briefly with Aaron Keyes, Kristian Stanfill, and Fee, who were all there with their bands. There was some other interesting personalities in there as well: Jeff Foxworthy, Franklin Graham (Billy’s son), Dave Ramsey (the financial guy), and my former boss Andy Stanley (to whom I simply offered a “Hey, Brother Stanley.” No one calls him that).   

 

I kept getting congratulations on the job Rudy Vaughn did on sax the previous day at Catalyst.  Rudy has recently signed a recording agreement with ONE Atlanta Music, our first official recording artist.  How weird is it that I’ve never heard him play sax? He’s apparently awesome. I know he’s one talented singer/songwriter.

 

Meeting and holding Candi P’s baby Elias made me cry.  Where’d that come from?  He was just so sweet and tiny.  

 

Oh, and it was also great finally meeting Jeff Moseley and James Rueger from INO Records face to face.   Fee is signed to that Nashville record label.

 

Sorry, but I wasn’t there long and didn’t actually see much of what happened on stage, other than a lifetime achievement award for Billy Graham, who wasn’t there in person.  Is anyone more deserving? His son Franklin is asking that anyone who has come to faith in Christ through hearing Billy speak go here to leave a note for Billy.

 

Must sleep now.  Big day tomorrow.  Tats for Tots 2.

 

Were you there?  Wish you had been?

 

 

Hola, Amigos.

ONE Atlanta’s Rudy Vaughn (who recently signed a recording agreement with ONE Atlanta Music’s new music brand), performed at Suwanee Town Center Park this past Saturday.  The event was the Amigos For Christ Music Festival.  

 

He told me all about it in an email: “This past Saturday gathered several hundred people from all around the community to bring up the issues of need for Nicaragua.  Basically, the goal was to raise money to help pipe water into an area of Nicaragua where people are unable to get any.  I teamed up with fellow songwriter Ansley Rushing and keyboardist Mike Hankins to kick off the first set of songs to be performed at the Suwanee Amphitheatre, and was followed by a very entertaining world touring family band known as Shae Laurel.  12Stone Church brought some rip roarin’ rock music as the day continued on, finishing their set with a rousing version of “Twist and Shout” which had the entire crowd doing the twist.  The night headlining bands were The Afters, and Caedmon’s Call, but the talk on everybody’s lips was the needs of people who are suffering and our responsibility to help them.”

 

 

Our Big News.

ONE Atlanta Music is proud to announce the signing of its first recording artist.  Today, Rudy Vaughn signed contracts to make him the first offical signee of the new ONE ATLANTA MUSIC brand.  A press release, an album release party, and - of course - AN ALBUM are in the works. For now, you can read more about Rudy here.

 

For those who don’t know about the mission and vision of our music brand, click here.  We want to develop talent at the local level and help it grow to the next level, as 1ATL’s Dan Hannon has done the past few years with Aaron Shust, Manchester Orchestra, Elevation, and more recently Kristy Starling (album due out 09) and the Enemy Lovers (being courted hardcore by major labels right now).  

 

Thanks to everyone who has helped us get to this point: Glen Jackson and the team at Jackson Spalding, Kent Marcus up there in Nashvegas, Nick Kirk for introducing us to Rudy in the first place, Chris Morgan at 12Stone, our business guru David Fussell, Huff, Shane, our patient wives and kids, and many others of you.

 

Let’s make some music.    

    

What’s going on?

 

So, this morning I could’ve sworn I distinctly heard the sound of an accordion playing Free Falling by Tom Petty.  That’s pretty specific, I know, but it was clearly that chord progression.  Turns out my 11 year old son had found my old accordion in the basement.  I asked, “Is that Free Falling by Tom Petty?”  He laughed and said, “Yes.”  Then he started playing the melody with his right hand while playing the familiar chord pattern using the chord buttons.  It was the kind of moment that just makes a Dad happy, so I snapped this pic.

 

Anyway, just thought I’d post today about what a few of us in the 1ATL community are up to right now.

 

Tomorrow night, several of us are going to Safehouse Outreach to play a few songs.  If any of you want to come listen and, more importantly, volunteer, then please drop me a line.  It’s a great experience.

 

Dan Hannon is in the studio with Manchester Orchestra and fellow producer Joe Chicarelli (U2, Counting Crows, The Shins, Tori Amos).

 

Jamie JAMM Portee has meetings this week regarding one of Akon’s new artists, who is on Universal Records; he might be producing her next record.

 

Moxie Davis and his wife are returning from Puerto Rico.

 

Rudy Vaughn is gearing up for the big announcement that you’ll read soon here on this site.

 

And, by the way, here’s an update on our filmmaker buddy Brandon McCormick; he is recovering from a Vespa scooter accident last week in which he apparently had to slam on brakes while going 50 mph.  He will have to have teeth replaced and some facial reconstruction.  He’s covered with road rash, and has two badly sprained wrists.  He reportedly looks like death.  But he should fully recover. 

 

Anyone else want to tell us what you have going on musically right now?  Or, for you non-musicians who read this blog, you can tell us what you’re up to as well….

 

 

 

 

Access

So, Rudy Vaughn and I were in the band at Access Church in Jacksonville yesterday.  Rudy led worship.  Access Church is in a great venue, the Fine Arts Center of the University of North Florida campus.

 

We’d never met the other three guys in the band before, but they were interesting cats:

 

Mike VonBalson, of Jacksonville, used to be the drummer for the band My Hotel Year, who were no strangers to the Atlanta music scene and worked here with producer Matt Goldman of Smalltown Poets.

 

Will Hill on bass is a part of The Doorpost Film Project, which is a pretty exciting opportunity for filmmakers.  

 

Darin Peckham on guitar is now on staff as the music director for Access Church.

 

And, though he wasn’t on stage with us, we met a local musician who gigs a lot in Jacksonville/St. Augustine named Charlie Walker.  Check him out.

 

Finally, we met Derrick (spelling? sorry, man) of Anthem Church, a new Northpoint startup campus in Gainesville FL that launches October 5th.

 

These were good guys and we had a blast.  Hats off to all of them and to Access Church, who hosted us extremely well.

 

 

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