Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Joshua James story for yah

So. My life is a little out of control. But it usually is this way and I like it.

I've been working at Starbucks and its been around 35 hours a week. That doesn't sound like much, but almost all of my days off have been for the 3 weddings I've had in three weeks. So, getting started on my own business has been so hard, but I'm still moving forward. I'll try to do a life update on this blog deal soon.

But I am choosing to tell of the Joshua James concert I went to a couple of weeks ago. You probably have never heard of him, but he is an awesome singer/songwriter from the Midwest. Joshua posted a Myspace bulletin asking for any fans to give him and his band a place to sleep (a total of 6 guys). Since this is his first tour with a full band, they are not really reeling in the cash (by any means) and can't afford a hotel, so they just sleep in their car. It sucks that musicians have to do this, but that's the way it is. So anyways, my buddy Owen and I decide to contact them and tell them they can stay at my place. Well, my place is actually my parents place, so after my mother's approval we were golden.

The day of the show I worked from 8-430 at Starbucks. I came home, ate a quick meal and headed down to Baltimore. The venue was called 8 X 10 and was a really cool place. The concert was great. There were 3 openers, who all played great sets, and then Joshua James played an entertaining show. But here is where it begins to get interesting.

Now I had just gotten back from a wedding a day before and had worked the whole day (as I said). I left the concert immediately after the show and had Owen stay and make sure the band knew how to get to my house. The reason for this is because I was working the next morning. At 4:45am. Yikes. So I got home at 1:30am, in bed at 2 and was back up at 4 so I could leave at 4:25 to go to work. It seems many of my "night's sleep" are naps anymore. And there is more drama. Joshua James' van and trailer ran out of gas on the way to my house, so Owen had to go back and get them gas. They didn't end up getting to my house until around 3 in the morning. I tried to get up to say hi, but it didn't work out so well. But more...

That MySpace bulletin that Joshua had sent out had some good responses. So Joshua had a notebook with everyone's names and numbers for when he gets to the town. The problem: someone in the band lost the notebook. So, the band just plays the show and hopes that someone will show up to say "hey are you guys coming over tonight??". Hilarious.

I worked from 4:45am until 10:15, so I was home at 10:30. Everyone was still sleeping except for Owen, who looked like he had died and gone to Heaven. He was so excited to be sleeping under the same roof as Joshua James. When I got home, everyone was still asleep. So I fell asleep for 45 minutes and sent Owen out to get breakfast. I woke up to everyone hanging out in my kitchen and Owen and I served some killer omelets and toast for the guys. We chilled for a few hours and had a lot of fun. My parents found it hilarious that they left for work around 8:30 and there were 7 men in their house who they did not know at all. Beds set up everywhere. What a great time.

So the point of this blog is just entertaining, but also just to realize how hard it is for quality musicians to try and make a career. So many people I know always complain that there is nothing to do. Here is my attempt to tell you to go to concerts and have a good time. Has anyone ever been inspired by a random blog story though? Well, let this be the first.

2 comments:

benjamindavidbrown said...

Word son. Sounds like a great time. I almost pee'd my pants when I saw that you had finally posted a new blog haha. Get me a record deal.
Love,
Ben

Unknown said...

cool story. btw, what's Henry doing at your house?