Life is Good

Ladies and Gentlemen, I've been listening to the first mixes of my record. I’m glad that there are no big things to change, and I’m really hoping to have everything knocked out and ready to go by next month. We shall see if the universe cooperates with me.

That aside, I’ve been collaborating with a lovely and very skilled dancer for months now. I’ve been using my Vacant Outlet Tour setup to provide music while she moves. The whole thing is improvised, which has been a great challenge and tremendous fun.

We’re going to OFFICIALLY be debuting this thing on June 7^th at Wide Open Floor. Usually, our intergalactic jams are pretty epic in scope and length, but it’s been interesting to work within a timeframe of eight minutes. We’ve linked up a few times to try it out, and we’ve actually been able to translate everything without a problem. If you bring yourselves to next month’s Wide Open Floor, I promise that we’ll give you something to see and hear. You’ve got Your Friendly Neighborhood Christian’s guarantee!

Switching gears, this past Friday night, I had an unbelievable experience. I met with someone to talk about the layout for my EP, then made my way to The Hunter to hear Mr. Whitfield Lovell speak. He has a new installation at the museum that is PHENOMENAL, and he touched on it, the history of his work, etc. It gave me a good number of things to roll over.

From there, I left for Nightfall, where Cody ChesnuTT was going to be playing. Cody’s The Headphone Masterpiece absolutely helped me get through college (yeah, I said it). When I was in my first year of school in Tampa, I was the only person of color in the writing program (I think I was for all four years, actually). In my second semester, I ended up getting accused of plagiarism by a professor, and Finding Forrester kind of became my life for a little bit.

As fate would have it, Cody made this beautifully human record where he talked about being the only Black guy in a rock band, overcoming adversity, having confidence, flair, etc. and it really resonated with me. That album helped me develop tougher skin and not feel so alone.

So, as the rain was falling downtown, I stood at the front of the stage as Cody and his band came out and kicked out the jams. I sang along to each joint from the new record, and immediately after the show, Cody’s manager came up to me and thanked me for singing along. She said that she was going to hook me up with a copy of the record, have him sign it for me, and that she wanted the two of us to talk for a little bit. Huzzah! I was in another galaxy, brothers and sisters. Could. Not. Believe it.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for you lovely peeps today. I shall be in touch soon. In the meantime, stay cool, and if you’re in or around Chattanooga, make sure to pop by The Hunter to check out the Whitfield exhibit. You can thank me later.

Blessings