i talk too much and i’m tired… beat… exhausted really… and i’m way behind on keeping you up to speed with the events of this week… so here’s some of the quickness to hopefully catch up…

first, about last night… we went to the songwriter’s showcase, an event i skipped out on last year in order to attend the indie community showcase… this year, i wanted to see the songwriters… so that’s what i did… hosted by Mandisa and Mark Schultz, the event was quite enjoyable… even when Mark was awkwardly and uncomfortably “hitting on” Mandisa… the theme of the first set was “alright” and it started on a high note with Sanctus Real’s acoustic version of “I’m Not Alright“… spectacular… the rest if the first set didn’t do much for me, but Mandisa closed it out with a new song – i think she said that it was the lead single – and it was cool and all, but my favorite part of that performance was Matthew West’s sweater which had a lightning bolt on the back…

Set two began with DecembeRadio performing “Drifter” and included Ian Eskelin trying to sing “Me and Jesus” – it was quite a strain – Chris Tomlin performing “Made to Worship”, which bled into “How Great Is Our God” and Mark Schultz closed with “I Am” the final set included BarlowGirl and ended with Mark Hall, who recently won the BMI songwriter of the year honors… good experience… and apparently the one and only Chris Sligh showed up, but i didn’t actually see him…

back to today’s past… still haven’t finished typing up the article, but i did interview Britt Nicole and got some great gangsta cookies and fellowship with the Scribbling Idiots, Ajax, Sintax, and the Illect Crew… thanks guys you’re an oasis where ever you go…

next came dinner with the amigos and a publicist, to which i was late for various reasons… we did have a great time though… we all seemed to fall right into step with each other and the conversation just flowed very nicely… good times and good food… and man, was that a lot of nachos… we ordered a “half order” of nachos for the table and it took up the whole center of the table… it was like a fruit basket but with chips, salsa, peppers, chili and the like…

after dinner we headed back the room for a little bit, planning on going to the Sanctus Real show, featuring NEEDTOBREATHE, This Beautiful Republic, Jon Foreman and Future of Forestry… we caught the shuttle and headed to the Exit\In only to find a line down the block and the knowledge that it was a 21 and older show – not a problem for me, mind you, but i remembered the line at the Exit\In from last year all too well….so we got back on the shuttle and enjoyed the comfortable round-trip ride…

Josh and I headed down to BB Kings to check out the Yellow Tangerine showcase – mainly for The Afters – and then Kevin Max’s closing performance at the Dog and Pony Show… The Afters were solid…they played some new songs and some favorites… Kevin was delayed because of people staying on stage too long or setting up too slowly or some combination thereof… and he started off really slow… i mean, really slow… i was about to conclude that he was past his time, but he really picked things up on the second half of the set… Luna Halo played the role of his band…

okay… then we tried to go to a gas station that has “Open 24 Hours” posted on its locked doors… i just wanted a soda… so instead we got change at the front desk and went to the machine where i got 2 sodas and all my quarters back… fair enough…

and now i’m done… seriously, i’m gonna crash… tomorrow is the earliest and busiest day of all… six interviews and a mini-showcase all before noon… then a 4-hour media block engagement followed immediately by a dinner cruise… then showcases… YOWSAS!… hopefully i’ll have a chance to get an update in there somewhere…

peace… love… bdg…