But I Didn't Know...

Friday was our last day to spend in the recording studio with Zac. This was going to be a big day where everything would be polished off and pulled together. We were so excited to see how it all shaped up. It was a hard day though. At the beginning of the week they had decided to put the song they wrote the day before we left on the CD, but because it was brand new they were not as familiar with that song as they were with the others. It needed more attention to detail and Josh was learning how to sing it for the first time. This was the song we worked on Friday, along with more back-up vocals, harmonies and a little bit of piano.

We worked for about five hours, and then Zac said we should listen to all five songs straight through to see if we were pleased with them. After each song he turned to the band and said, "Good?" With huge smiles and glimmering eyes, the boys nodded their heads and said, "Good!" 

As the last song started playing, I felt several different feelings coming over me. I've never liked the fact that I cry so easily, and I spent the entire last song fighting back the tears and pushing back the tidal wave of emotions that were crashing over me. It is hard even now that I'm home to sort through it all, but I'll try.

First and foremost, I was completely overwhelmed by Zac's kindness -- both the kindness of the gesture to mentor a garage band from Tulsa, and the kindness he showed the boys when they were struggling to hit their notes or stay on tempo. This has to be the most patient man on earth. Especially when you stop to think about what incredibly talented people he is used to working with. We will be forever indebted to Zac for what he did for us. He is amazing. 

Next, I was overwhelmed when I realized, We did it. We really did it. Somehow, dozens of paths converged together to pave a way for us to get Nashville. And then once we got there, the boys really stepped up and did a fantastic job under strenuous circumstances. It was harder than they thought it would be, and they did great. I was so very proud of them. 

Finally, it was definitely a full-circle moment for me. If you'll remember from the first several posts, Josh was an athlete. When the third knee surgery ended that path before he was even 16, we felt like we were parked in a dead end. That was a sad time to watch a dream die. 

But we didn't know.....we didn't know God had an even bigger dream with an even better ending. I didn't know Josh was musically talented to be completely honest. I can promise you that this past week was more fulfilling to Josh than if he had won several championship football games. Who knew?

What's troubling to me, though, is that I've had lots of "but I didn't know" moments in my life, yet I still doubt God's plan and faithfulness sometimes. And I still worry that things won't turn out the way I think they should, the way they obviously should, if they were going to turn out "right".

When Todd applied to OU medical school and didn't get in, we were disappointed and confused. But we didn't know that the OSU Osteopathic medical school was going to be a much better fit for our family. Josh was six weeks old when Todd started medical school and going to OSU rather than OU allowed us to stay in Tulsa near family and friends rather than having to move to Oklahoma City. We were especially thankful for this when we had two more babies in quick succession. 

When it came time to apply for residency programs, Todd had decided he wanted to be an Ears, Nose and Throat doctor. He chose that specialty mainly because he thought it would be family-friendly, and there was a program in Tulsa that took one person each year. He set his sights on that thinking it would be great to not have to move our family somewhere out of town. He still had to list a second choice though. I was getting ready for bed and he told me he was going to put radiology as his second choice. In the morning, he told me had changed it to anesthesia. It didn't matter to me -- I figured he would get the ENT spot. He didn't. We were going to have to move away somewhere with three small children.  

But we didn't know God had an even better plan. Todd ended up doing anesthesia at UAB in Birmingham. We didn't know that was one of the most prestigious programs in the country, and we didn't know how much Todd would enjoy being an anesthesiologist. We didn't know the St. John anesthesia group specifically tried to recruit new employees from the UAB residency which made our return to Tulsa pretty seamless. We didn't know how much our little family needed to move away from Tulsa and spread our wings and fly on our own for a while. We didn't know we would meet the McCrarys at Red Lobster and they would be lifetime friends who would set up a "green room" for the band at their house when we were on our way to Nashville to record a CD. We didn't know....

My question is, how many "I didn't know" moments do I have to have before I learn? I can be having a "full-circle moment" with one child while worrying about the path of another. Why is it so hard to trust God's plan for us when we can so often look back and see how the crooked road was the way to the blessing?

I'm glad the boys had a great week, and I can't wait to hear the finished CD, but my take-away is even bigger than that. Over a period of five years, I walked a road with Josh that was shrouded in a foggy haze of intense physical pain and desperate soul searching. And just because I couldn't see far enough down the path to catch a glimpse of the blessing, I doubted God's goodness and faithfulness. I'm not proud of that.

So this is what the past week meant to me and how I want it to change me going forward.....I don't want to have anymore "but I didn't know" moments where I humbly wonder how a lifetime of faith can still be so fragile. I don't want to waste one more moment thinking, ridiculously, that God doesn't know what he's doing, or doesn't know what's best, or doesn't know me at all for that matter. I don't want to shy away from challenging or even painful experiences thinking the easy road is the right road. And I don't want to be so ready to believe that what obviously seems to be good for my child is actually what is best for my child.  

Ultimately, my prayer is that our week in Nashville has changed my "But I didn't know" to "God, I trust you do."

How Much Is A Dream Worth?

Zac told the boys to get a good night's sleep and be ready for a long day. I think he plans to record well into the evening tonight (Thursday). Right now Josh is doing his electric guitar parts. 

Since there are only so many pictures you would care to see of these guys in the sound booth or playing their instruments, I'm going to back track to a part of the story I haven't had time to tell yet. 

If you'll remember, once we decided not to sign a contract with Stuart, I wrote to Zac about my idea to just get these guys to Nashville to record their music. Mainly I was asking him where we would do that and how much it might cost. I had no idea he had a studio in his house or that he would be willing and/or able to record them himself. When he called back to say he could help, he explained the recording studio situation and the costs to me. It was going to be very expensive. Very. Especially if you added trip costs to that total.

This is where my heart and my mind went to war. I was beyond excited that I figured out a way to get this band to Nashville, and the scenario was far better than anything I could have ever even imagined. But the cost of it seemed both irrational and insurmountable for a garage band. This is the point where, for most people, the dream would have died. But I just kept thinking, "How much is a dream worth exactly?" 

After much consideration, I came to my conclusion: A dream can't be put in a box or a budget. A dream often doesn't make logical or financial sense, which is why so many dreams go unfulfilled, I think. Maybe that's why a dream is called a "dream"....it's unrealistic, ethereal, a little fuzzy, and always just beyond your reach. I decided if an ideal opportunity was so perfectly laid out before us like this, money and logic were not going to hold us back. We were going to reach out and grab it. 

Now to convince Todd of this.....

As I waited for Todd get home from work, I practiced my "pitch" that I would give him hoping I could convince him to get on board. I knew that none of the four families could really afford the cost, even if we split it four ways. Todd knew this as well. So when I made my pitch, it was with us covering most of the cost and the other families doing whatever they could. When I finished giving him the most convincing spiel I could offer, he laughed and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm not paying that much money just for you guys to go to Nashville and have a fun week." My heart sunk. But I totally got it. 

Let me explain what he was saying and why I totally got it. As far as Todd and I are concerned, recording a CD in Nashville IS the dream. The End. We have no grandiose ideas that this week is going to launch them to fame and fortune, and we aren't disillusioned into thinking they are more talented than they really are. So in that sense, he was considering to what end are you spending all that money for? On the surface, it does look like all you are getting is a really fun time. End of story. 

But the more I explained to Todd how incredible this opportunity to be mentored by Zac was, the more he started catching the spirit of the dream as well. Case in point, this is just one of the really cool things hanging on the wall in the studio:

This is where Todd's wisdom came in. He said he could get on board with the idea, but he felt strongly that it wouldn't be right or fair for us to foot the bill for everyone else's part just so we could help our son's dream come true. He said each of them needed to be personally invested in it, including Josh. This would require them to work for it, and additionally they would feel more ownership in the deal. He said if each kid/family would contribute $1000, he would cover what was left, which would still be a substantial amount. I completely agreed. 

I COULD NOT WAIT TO TELL THE BOYS. We sat them down that night and explained the offer from Zac and the financial situation to them. We told them that they would each be responsible for $1000, and if they could come up with more than that it would be even better. The catch was, Zac needed a yes or no answer right away because he was going to set aside a week on his calendar, and he needed their music ASAP so he could start working on it. They either had to be all in or all out. You either committed to $1000 each, or not. There was no halfway on this deal. I told them all to talk to their parents and we would reconvene the next day to see where everyone stood. 

The next night, we got back together at our house and everyone told me their status: yes, yes, yes and yes. Everyone is all in! Oh my gosh....this is really happening.

Now they had to figure out how to come up with $1000 a piece. They said they had $300 in a band account from previous gigs, so they were already down to $925 each. :) But that is still a lot of money to come up with. And as I said before, we made it clear that $1000 each was the minimum....the actual costs for recording and CD printing were still more than that, and the more they could help the better. Plus gas, food and a hotel in Nashville for a week would not be cheap. We had some work to do. 

I laid in bed that night trying to brainstorm ways to fundraise. I was really torn about this because I was worried that asking people for money would be tacky. But I kept coming back to all the times I have given money to my friends' kids when they were raising money for a class field trip to Washington DC, a band competition, a soccer tournament in New Jersey, or a walk to raise money for a cure for diabetes. I have bought poinsettias and discount cards and gotten my car washed when it wasn't dirty just so I could help out a neighbor, a friend or a cheerleading squad get where they wanted to go.

Even wiith this in mind, I couldn't figure out a way to ask people to donate to the band's cause without feeling weird or guilty or embarrassed about it. Finally, I identified two factors in all of the above scenarios that made them seem more legitimate: 1) They were associated with an official school, group or organization; and 2) They were offering a product or service. 

Well, concerning #1, I had to lean on my new life motto, "It is what it is." We are not doing this through a school or a team or an organization. Not much I can do about that. It is what it is. Moving on. 

Regarding #2, they needed a product or service they could offer. Well, being a band, that one seemed easy....hold a fundraising concert. We had done that in our backyard before; we will just do it again. Then, serendipity surprises us again. Some friends of ours, Ralph and Daniele Bushong, had just moved into a house downtown that looks more like a loft apartment. Talk about a coolness factor. But even better than that, they have a rooftop deck that looks out over the Tulsa skyline. They offered their rooftop for the fundraising concert. Wow. Really fun idea. 

The only problem with the concert idea was that it was limited in its scope of how many people would/could come, and it most certainly was not going to raise $4000.00. Then we had a breakthrough......someone had the idea to set up a fundraising page at gofundme.com. This is a website where you set up a personal page explaining what you are raising money for and people can donate by credit card. I really liked this idea because we could ask for donations, and at the same time we were offering both a service and a product. Our service was entertainment at the fundraising concert which could be announced on the web page. Our product was a copy of the CD if you donated $50 or more. 

The band and I designed our web page at midnight one night, got it online, and we had our first donation within about 30 minutes. We were in business! The only limiting factor with the website was getting the link out to friends and family. Each kid and their family was given the charge to get the word out and rally their troops. We all put the link on our Facebook pages and emailed anyone we thought might want to support the band. We could see who was supporting us as the donations started rolling in. It was pretty amazing how fast they started coming. It was so fun to watch the boys light up when a donation was made by one of their friends or family. It was as if you could see them thinking, "My team is pitching in and doing their part. My friends and family are cheering me on." 

Everything about the fundraising concert was perfect. The rooftop was a fun and unusual venue, it had an amazing view, and it was strangely cool for a July evening. The picture on the main page of this blog was taken that night. The cutest thing was that the Bushong family set up a concession stand and they gave all the proceeds to the band. Both teenagers and adults came, and the night culminated with an unobstructed view of the fireworks over Drillers Stadium. We are so grateful to Ralph, Daniele, Jessica, Jacob and Juliana for being some of their biggest fans, and especially for providing a way for them to raise money. That night they made $750. THANK YOU BUSHONG FAMILY!

When we left on Saturday, I added up the total on the "go fund me" website with the cash and checks that people had given us, and then I added what they had made at several gigs they had done in the past few weeks. Would you believe the total was about $5000. Kind of amazing what these guys did when they put their minds to it. I also love to see the things people can accomplish when their actions are fueled by their passions. Magical things can happen when those two things are paired up. They are still a few hundred dollars short of the total recording/CD printing costs, but I'm thrilled with where they ended up. 

I am especially thankful to the boys' families who have contributed to both the recording and the trip costs. Their support means the world to the kids as well. Since the parents can't physically be here in Nashville, their financial contribution is their way of saying, "Son, I'm with you. I'm with you in heart and in spirit and in love. Take one week out of your life and go live your dream."

So in the end, as we are wrapping up our week in Nashville, if you asked me or the guys how much a dream is worth, I'm pretty sure you would get the same answer from each of us. It's priceless. 

Fleshing it out

Today (Wednesday) was pretty much more of what we did yesterday, but the excitement just keeps building as everything is starting to take shape. Songs I wasn't crazy about before are really starting to grow on me, and the songs I loved before are even better. We finished acoustic guitar tracks and did more lead vocals. We even did some back up vocals and harmony. 

I'm laughing as I realize I'm writing "we" as though I did anything. I often catch myself doing the same thing if I ever talk about how "we" went to medical school and "we" did a residency at UAB. That's definitely how it feels though. 

As I said before, I'm "riding tandem" with The Tandems, and I feel like I'm peddling just as hard as they are, so "we" just seems to fit sometimes. 

I tried to get a picture of everyone doing their thing today, so moms and dads of the boys, here you go:

When it's not your turn in the sound booth, you are doing this:

And here is my vantage point:

Not a bad place to spend a week, huh?

We finished up at 4:00pm today because Zac's son was in a musical tonight. We had talked about going back to do more after he got home but he felt like we were right on track so he said to take the night off. He told the guys to check out Fanny's House of Music:

It really was a house.

Of Music. 

And a picture of Andrew E's cousin was on the wall:

And some of them bought clothes:

Then we went to Loveless cafe for dinner:

The boys got to play games while we waited for our table:

Everyone was particularly impressed with Andrew E's perfect corn bag throwing form:

And then there's the obligatory wooden cut-out photo op:

Right now I'm enjoying a quiet moment in my room while the boys are swimming or hot tubbing or something outside. 

We start tomorrow at 11:00am and he said he was going to push them pretty hard tomorrow. Should be a fun day!

Living the Dream

Yesterday (Tuesday) was an amazing day. We were supposed to be at the studio at 10:00am. Andrew Beasley was the first one up to record the bass. He cranked his part out pretty fast on all five songs and it was laid down on top of the drum track. I don't know if I'm using all this music jargon correctly, but you get the idea. After all five songs were done with bass and drums, it was finally time to start fleshing them out with guitars and vocals. This is where it got super fun because the songs started to really take shape. It is pretty incredible what good sound equipment and an extraordinary mentor/producer can do. 

Zac has been unbelievable with these kids. The suggestions he makes are absolutely perfect and are just what the song needed. He is gentle and encouraging and is really bringing out the best in each of these guys. He is also very careful not to change their vibe as a band. They are learning so much! Every evening at dinner we kind of debrief about the day and it is fascinating to hear them talk about all the things they have learned while in the studio. I have really loved this time with them each day....lots of laughter and chatter and reflection. 

Boys before we got started:

Zac working his magic:

Here is Josh in the recording booth working on the guitar track. Do you have any idea how happy that smile makes me?? There is no better feeling as a parent than watching your child live their dream. Worth all the effort. Worth every penny. 

Here are Josh and Andrew E. sitting outside the studio practicing some of the changes. 

Josh got stung by a bee shortly after I took this picture. Ouch. 

The guys were in the studio for about 10 hours yesterday. Here they are right before we left for the night. Looks like they still like each other :)

I forgot to post this picture from Burger Up that I thought was so cute. Cousins and Friends...

Day One Down

Yesterday (Monday) we started the day off right at the Pancake Pantry, a Nashville tradition. Yum. We didn't have to be anywhere until 2:30pm so we got to do a few fun things after breakfast. We stopped by Belmont University which is one of the top music schools in the country. Someone said it was recently ranked above Juilliard. 

Then we went to Corner Music Store where the boys jammed out for a while in the acoustic guitar room. 

Next they wanted me to take them to Third Man Records which is Jack White's record label/record store/concert venue. The guys loved this. 

Before we went to the studio they wanted to work on some of the changes Zac had made to their songs so I pulled into a church parking lot and they practiced right there. 

Finally, it was the moment they had all been waiting for for months.....their first day in a real recording studio. As I said before, Zac has a studio in his house, but he does not record drums there, so we met him at a studio on Music Row called Omni Sound Studios. Rory was the drum expert at the studio and he was so great with these kids. 

I loved getting to see the looks on the guys' faces when we walked in. A real studio that they were going to record in! Very cool. Here they are getting Aaron's drums set up. 

We started recording about 3:00pm, and I got to stay in the sound booth and watch how everything was done. The other guys were in there too playing their parts which were not officially recorded but were used to provide scratch vocals and guitar for Aaron to follow along with. They started out by playing the song for Rory so he could establish the tempo and set a "click". This click is like a metronome that Aaron would follow along to when he recorded the drum track. Staying perfectly timed to the click is harder than you might think!

Rory and Zac watched intently on monitors while Aaron was recording, adjusting things and stopping to make changes and offer advice. Sometimes Aaron would be slightly ahead or behind the click, but he was perfectly and consistently ahead or behind it so Rory could select that section on the computer and shift it a tiny bit so it lined up with the click. 

This session was was incredibly tedious and precise. The drum track basically becomes the metronome now for all the other instruments and vocals, so it had to be done perfectly. There were times it sounded good to me but Zac and Rory picked up on things my musically ignorant ears couldn't hear. 

I think the intensity of this five hours was a little stressful for Aaron, but he was a real champ. You have to imagine him sitting alone in a room for hours on end with six people looking at him from a glass room waiting for him to perform his part perfectly. On top of that, he said after every take he would look up and see everyone talking, but he couldn't hear a word we were all saying unless Zac stepped on the pedal to open up the mic so he could talk directly to Aaron. Aaron said it was a little lonely in there. I was so proud of him. 

One bad thing was that we had eaten a late (and large) breakfast at Pancake Pantry about 11:00am. At 2:00pm, I asked the boys if they wanted to stop for a snack before we went to the studio. They said they were still full from breakfast so we didn't eat anything at that point. That was probably a mistake. As the band manager ;), I probably should have made them eat something. Aaron was recording drums from 3:00pm to 8:00pm, and I'm pretty sure the pancakes wore off around 5:00pm. The studio did have snacks, but Aaron probably should have eaten something before we went. It didn't really matter as much for the other guys, but that was a long session for Aaron. 

Overall, the drum recording session was probably harder than everyone was expecting. As Zac keeps saying, these boys are really "green" and they have never had anyone mentor them or push them to be their best. We are not nearly the caliber of talent that Zac is used to working with. With that said, I would have to be his biggest fan at this point. There were times I knew were frustrating for Zac but he didn't show it. Every piece of advice or change he made was followed by an affirmation, and he treated them as though they were professional musicians. 

We finally finished up around 8:30pm and went to Burger Up for dinner. When the waiter came to our table, he asked us if we had eaten there before. We said no, so he asked if we were from out of town, where we from, and what brings us to Nashville. Don't you know the guys loved saying, "Oh, well, we came to Nashville to record a CD." 

The waiter perked up and said "Oh yeah? What's your band's name? I'm going to keep up with you guys." Little things like this only add to the fun and are once in a lifetime experiences. I'm so thrilled for them that for one week in their life they really are "living the dream." 

Last night when we were finishing up dinner, one of them said, "Thanks Mrs. Beasley for doing all of this for us. You're a trooper." I said, "Are you kidding me? I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to get to be here with you guys." And I truly meant it. 

We love the McCrarys!

Last night we spent the night in Collierville just outside of Memphis at the home of Dave and Ashley McCrary. I love this family so much that whenever I talk about the impact they have had on my life I get choked up. Seriously. 

Todd did his medical residency at UAB in Birmingham. When we moved there our kids were 2, 3 and 5 and we didn't know a single person in town. The first Sunday after we moved there we went to church and then lunch. We didn't know our way around town but we had seen a Red Lobster so we just went there. 

To make this story very short, we saw another family at the restaurant with kids our kids' ages, and they were dressed up so I figured they they had just been to church. I told them we just moved there and we were wondering what church they went to. They told us the name of the church and then invited us over for dinner that night. They were our best friends from that day on. That cute family was the McCrarys. 

The McCrarys moved to Collierville not long after we moved back to Tulsa. When I realized we were passing through there, I thought it would make a perfect pit stop. As you saw in the last post, they made it a very special time for the boys. And they took such good care of me since I was barely getting around due to my back. 

When we woke up this morning, Ashley had made a big breakfast for us, then they sent us off with hugs and well wishes:

We checked into our hotel and went straight to Zac and Jennifer Maloy's house. It was so fun to see Jennifer and meet Zac and their two handsome sons, Ben and Jude. 

The studio is actually in the house so the guys went up there to hammer out some things with their songs and basically have a pre-recording meeting:

Jennifer made dinner for us and then the band and the Maloy kids made s'mores. 

Tomorrow the entire day is dedicated to recording the drum track, so it's Aaron's big day. Pretty exciting. 

Today my back was a smidgen better. Still uncomfortable but can get around a little better. 

I've written these last few posts on my iPhone late at night so they are not that great but I wanted to keep everyone updated on what's going on. I should have lots of free time once the guys start recording. Can't wait to see what that's like! 

Made it to Memphis

I left this morning with Josh, Andrew B. and Aaron. Andrew E. was leaving from Florida today and we planned to get him in Memphis when our paths crossed there. We left at 9:00am exactly as we had hoped with just one little (big for me) hiccup.

This morning my back got out of whack. What was I doing to make that happen? Nothing. Except being 41 years old, I guess. Moms, if you were getting ready to leave for a week, what would you be doing the morning you left? Maybe getting every last dish in the dishwasher and and every last piece of laundry washed. So I was scooping laundry detergent out of the box. That's all. And I've barely been able to walk since then. I'm sure getting in the car to drive six hours immediately after it happened was no help either.

Here we are about to pull out of the driveway. Can you tell I can't even stand up straight?

And a car full of instruments. We had to put our bags in a luggage carrier on the top of the car which is a real drag, literally and figuratively. 

Once we got to Memphis we toured the Gibson Guitar Factory:

Then we met up with our friends at the world famous Rendezvous barbecue restaurant. 

My friend Ashley told our waiter why we were passing through town so then he wanted a picture with the band. He said he wanted them to send him a framed autographed copy of the picture; which then prompted the table of people next to us to ask how they could look them up on the Internet:

As if that didn't feel rock star enough, my friend Ashley (whose house we are staying at tonight) had called me a few days ago to ask what each person's favorite snacks and drinks are so she could have a real rock star "green room" ready for them. So, so fun. 

I think the boys are already having the time of their lives. I'm trying really hard to not let this back pain steal my joy, but I gotta tell ya, I'm pretty bummed. Please say a prayer that it will be better tomorrow!

When we get to Nashville tomorrow (Sunday) we are supposed to go straight to Zac's house for some pre-recording meetings including deciding which five songs will be on the CD. Josh wrote a new song on Thursday when he was procrastinating from doing his summer reading. When Andrew B. got to our house that evening he added some lyrics and boom, a new song is now in the running. I really like it too. Yay for summer reading being so bad it drives you to go write a song instead read your book! :)

Serendipity Times Two

The way God works is fascinating. We would never be making this trip to Nashville if it weren't for Stuart Singleton. Kind of a round about way to get there, but we'll take it. Now, there is another very important thread to this story, but I wasn't sure how to weave it in yet so we'll try here. We'll have to backtrack a bit though. 

Around Christmas time, my nephew Andrew was talking about coming to live in Tulsa this summer with his grandparents (Todd's parents).  He is from Kansas City and was a freshman at Mizzou.  He thought it might be fun to spend a summer with all of his extended family in here.

We loved the idea. Let me tell you a little bit about this extraordinary young man. Andrew Beasley is brilliant. He is a National Merit Scholar, and he was recently chosen as one of the Top Fourteen Freshman at the University of Missouri. You might not realize how smart he is though because he is just so normal and relateable. He is thoughtful and unselfish, flexible and easy going, and he keeps us laughing all the time.

And guess what else.....he is musically talented. Yep, pretty much the perfect kid. And pretty much the perfect addition to The Tandems.

Andrew got an internship downtown and basically lived with us this summer. When he got to Tulsa, we were in the Stuart Singleton stage, so he has been a part of the dreaming and planning since May. He has been a wonderful addition to the band and, once again, I'm in awe of the way it has all come together.

Serendipity

Okay folks, I'm going to have to crank this one out fast because it is 10:00pm and we leave in the morning. Woohoo!

So, the boys had put their songs on a CD that they passed around town at potential gig sites and they also got it posted on websites such as itunes, spotify and reverbnation. One day this past spring Josh came in and said that someone had contacted them through their reverbnation account and he told them he really liked their songs he heard online. He even said he wanted to talk to them about coming to Nashville to record their music. Of course Josh was super excited, but I saw red flags all over the place.

I'm going to be brutally honest here. I think this band is good, but it is my son and I'm just a wee bit biased. I think they are good for a garage band. Who had been together for three months. In Tulsa, Oklahoma. Get my drift? :) I tried to diffuse Josh's excitement a bit by pointing out that it doesn't really happen that way. Really talented people work really hard to break into the music scene in Nashville and still never make it. I told Josh that was very flattering but this whole scenario was way too easy. 

The guy who contacted them said he had just started his own record label called Mattress House Music and he was the CEO. His name was Stuart Singleton. Josh and Stuart communicated back and forth for several weeks until finally the entire band got together to have a conference call with him. When they finished the call they came in and told me he had sent them a contract and they needed to find a time to go record this summer. They had one foot out the door.

At this point, I knew I needed to get a little more involved. This was a very difficult line for me to walk. I want to do anything and everything I can to make my kids' dreams come true, but I also needed to be the voice of reason and reality. I knew we needed to make an educated decision about this, but I didn't know how to get educated about it. I approached it from three different angles.

The first was to send the contract to a lawyer friend of mine for him to look over. The second was to contact anyone I knew who knew anything about the music industry, and the third was to google Stuart Singleton and Mattress House Music. I got to work.

My lawyer friend called me after he looked at the contract and said it was pretty typical, but you were basically giving up control of your music, your band, your scheduling, etc. He said some people would do anything to get a contract like that but he couldn't recommend it, especially for high school kids. Strike one.

Next step was to talk to people in the music industry. That was a little harder because I don't really know anyone in the music industry. I was talking to a friend of mine, Linda West, about this and she reminded me that a friend of mine from high school was married to someone in the music business. Jennifer Doss was in Todd's grade at Edison and I was good friends with her in high school. Her husband is Zac Maloy, who was the lead singer for The Nixons, but now they live in Nashville where he does mostly songwriting. 

I emailed Jennifer and asked her if she would ask Zac if he knew who Stuart Singleton was and what would he recommend we do in this situation. She emailed right back and said she would have him call me when he got home that day. Zac was so kind to visit with me for a while and he basically said to just be sure what you are getting into and trust your insincts. Since he didn't give the idea a resounding yes, I considered that a strike two.

The most interesting information I found out was what I learned when I googled Stuart Singleton. It took a lot of digging, but I finally found out a huge factor of this equation. Stuart Singleton, the CEO of Mattress House Music, was 18 years old. He turned 18 in March and started his label the next day. Okay, so this is starting to make a little more sense now. This information might have put the kabosh on the whole thing right there except for one intriguing thing.

The reason I found out Stuart was 18 is because his birth was announced in the April 1995 edition of Billboard magazine. Why, you ask? Because his father was Shelby Singleton who owned Sun Records from 1969 until his death in 2009 of cancer. This is the record label that launched Elvis. After his death, Shelby Singleton was honored at the 2010 Grammys. That was a game changer. Maybe this was something we should consider.

To make a long story short, I talked to Stuart, I talked to the lawyer again, I talked to the band parents, and no one felt really great about the whole situation. The main drawback was having to sign a legal contract. We all decided it was probably not the best scenario.

Once we made that decision, I could sense how let down the guys were. I felt so bad for them. Their dream was in sight and then we had to tell them no. I was right there with them. I've been "riding tandem" with these kids all the way and so their dream has become my dream for them too. 

I thought this through for several weeks and the conclusion I came to was that these boys didn't care about making money on their music or being promoted or any of the things that Stuart was offering with his services. I knew really all they wanted to do was to get to Nashville, get to experience the real recording process and come home with a CD that was a better quality than what they were making in the garage. They just wanted to live their dream on the ultimate Nashville road trip.

Figuring I had isolated their basic desires, I decided to email Zac again with my new idea. What if we just made a road trip to Nashville and paid for them to record in a real studio? Where would we do that and how much would it cost? Zac called me that evening with a proposal that I had no idea was even a possibility.

Zac proceeded to tell me that when they moved to Nashville they bought a house that included a recording studio in the home. The guy who lived there before them had used that studio to record people like Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts. He said he would love for them to come and spend a week with him and he would mentor and record them. 

I knew a little bit about Zac, but after I got off the phone with him I looked at his website to learn a little more about him. Here is what I found on his website:

Zac Maloy is an acclaimed, award-winning songwriter and producer whose songs have been featured on numerous top-charting albums. Born and raised in Ada Oklahoma, Zac began playing music at a very young age. After graduating high school Zac formed a band, The Nixons, while attending the University of Oklahoma.  After playing hundreds of local shows they decided to tour regionally, then across the country. Several radio stations began playing the band’s indie album which led to offers from multiple record labels.  The band inked a deal and released three albums on MCA/Universal Records.  Their first album, Foma, scored Rock hits  "Wire" and "Happy Song."  Their 3rd single from Foma, "Sister,” reached the top of the Rock charts and eventually crossed over to Top-40 with heavy rotation on MTV. The success from Foma paved the way for several more chart toppers, including the Rock hit “Baton Rouge” and Zac's solo release "Early Morning Phone Call."   The Nixons toured relentlessly and quickly developed a reputation as one of the hardest working bands of their genre, completing worldwide tours with Radiohead, Soul Asylum, No Doubt, Kiss and Bush. 

Once The Nixons went on hiatus, Zac began writing and producing for other artists. After writing for and producing several rock projects, Zac signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV and decided to take writing more seriously.  Sony tapped Zac as a writer in large part because of his unique ability, as a former artist, to relate to artists out there living the life Zac knew well. One of his first cuts after signing to Sony was "Used To" on Daughtry's eponymous first album, which has gone five-times platinum worldwide. This opened the door for Zac to score singles in a range of genres, including Carrie Underwood's # 1 Country single "Temporary Home," Cavo's Top-5 Rock single "Crash," David Cook's Top-5 single "Come Back to Me," and Black Stone Cherry's Top-5 Rock single "White Trash Millionaire." This success solidified Zac’s move into the songwriting world and prompted a relocation from Oklahoma to Nashville, TN. Now viewed as a multi-faceted writer, Zac is called upon to write a wide variety of music from Underwood to Orianthi; Adam Lambert to Shinedown; Michelle Branch to Blake Shelton.
 
Earlier this year Zac signed with Warner Chappell publishing.  He currently resides in Nashville, TN, where he continues to collaborate with various artists and songwriters in his Forest Hills studio. Zac co-wrote the current singles for Barenaked Ladies, "Boomerang" and Skillet, "American Noise," which is currently Top-5 and climbing.

Zac had said for us to all talk about it and decide, but to let him know as soon as possible because if we were coming he wanted to start working with their music right away. After I saw his website, it was hard not to call him back right then and say, "Um, YES!!" The only thing holding me back was that it is very expensive to record a CD like this. We were going to have to brainstorm creative ways to make this possible if it was something the boys really wanted to do. 

I'll go into more detail more later about telling Todd and the guys about this incredible opportunity, but I've got to go to bed so I can drive this band to Memphis tomorrow! We are going to meet some good friends on Beale Street to hang out, eat dinner and then spend the night at their house. The adventure is about to begin!!

Looking for Magic

Josh spent the next year (10th grade) "jamming" with different people and trying to find that magical combination. To be honest, I don't really know much about this time. I saw lots of different people come and go out of that band room, but nothing really gelled I guess. The group that stuck together the longest actually went to audition for "America's Got Talent" in St. Louis and they did pretty well there. 

I wasn't the one who took them, so I don't know many details except that they got called back for a second audition the next day. I think there is a judge named Nigel who really liked them and was talking them up to the other judges. When the band went back the next day they were escorted past a long snaking line into a special holding room. They said it was probably the closest they will ever be to feeling like real rock stars. Alas, they did not get called back to the next level. 

In November of Josh's junior year, he connected with a guy named Andrew Eaton-Clark who was in his grade at Booker T. Our family actually knew Andrew fairly well already because he had been on Luke's club soccer team and we carpooled with him. I was used to seeing him hanging out with Luke and wearing a soccer uniform; it was strange to now see him hanging out with Josh and holding a guitar. We couldn't be more thrilled though. He is a great kid.

After a couple of months, a new guy from Josh's school started showing up. Josh introduced him to me as Aaron Hockett. The wheels in my brain started turning. Hockett.....Hockett.....Oh! Hockett!! "Is your dad a TU professor?" I asked. I take classes at TU every now and then for fun. Three years prior I took an American Government class and Dr. Hockett was my teacher. I remember him talking about his kids to our class, and back then I connected that both of our boys were in 8th grade (at different schools) and would be freshmen together the next year. I remember wondering then if our paths would ever cross at school events or if our kids would be friends. Funny now here we are a few years later and I'm taking his son to Nashville. Life can be so crazy!

It is also interesting to note that Josh had his first knee injury while I was taking this class. I remember telling Dr. Hockett that I was going to have to miss class one day because my son was having surgery. Isn't it bizarre to think that that very knee surgery would one day have a ripple effect that would ultimately ripple it's way to his house. I love mulling over deep thoughts like that.

Now we are to January of this year. It was immediately clear that these three guys were clicking. One thing I took note of right away was how quickly they were churning out original songs. And this was in the middle of a very busy school year. I was also a little bit surprised by how much I liked their music.

They tried on a few different band names but finally settled on The Tandems. Once again, I don't know how or why they chose The Tandems, but I'm learning that I'm not really supposed to know the origin or meaning of band names. Or song lyrics for that matter. Apparently they need to maintain an air of mysteriousness about themselves in order to be true musicians. 
 
The guys used a computer software program to record a demo CD of their songs to pass out around town along with "The Tandems" business cards, and they put their music on websites such as itunes, spotify and reverbnation. One of these avenues is what led them down the path to Nashville....

 

Pictures

My computer wasn't working when I started the blog and I couldn't upload some of the pictures I wanted to, so I'll catch up a little bit now. 

Remember how I said Josh was born an athlete?

 Here he is doing push-ups at 6 months old:

 Just kidding. He was trying to crawl here. 

I don't know how we managed to catch him at this moment, but isn't that hilarious??

Remember how I said Josh wore football uniforms ALL THE TIME? And if I wouldn't let him wear it he would carry his helmet around with him:

He even slept with balls and had soccer sheets:

Here he is watching Monday Night Football:

 I think you get the idea.

Here are some pictures of Josh (#22)

playing Quarterback for Edison:

Here are my boys going through their awkward stage with long hair and a puppy in their pocket. That doesn't pertain to anything whatsoever but it is pretty darn funny.

Here is Josh running the flag for the Varsity team his freshman year at BTW:

When Josh's Freshman season was over he continued to practice with the Varsity team. This allowed him to suit up and be on the sidelines for the state championship game that was played at OSU's Boone Pickens stadium. BTW won! State Champs!

Here are some more cute pictures I found of the 7th & Boulder band:

Here is the detached garage and the band room upstairs:

Alrighty, that should get you up to speed. On with the story....