So….I thought it was over. Then I get an email from Samme Palermo of HeirChex digital servicing. Basically, Samme is giving us a free promotion of the song we submitted. To quote Samme, “This press release will be transmitted to literally thousands of radio & music industry people around the globe.” There’s more involved, but you get the gist of it. Details are still being worked out, but this was extremely encouraging, and challenging. I especially appreciated Samme’s comment, “You have an extremely genuine sound and expressive talent!”. From someone in the “biz”, that was an uplifter. More details to come. Love to hear your thoughts. Just how much will come as a result is entirely up to you know who.
So, we were in the finals. I made calls to let the band know. And then Kevin posed the ominous question. “Um, Ken, what if we win?” Yikes, I honestly hadn’t thought about that. The winner plays at the festival, in like, 2 weeks. So, we need a PRACTICE. Like NOW. Scramble city. Schedules. Time frames. Song selection. There was missing info (like, what day would be play. We had no idea.) We could of course just wait one day (Monday), when we would be told if we won. But, planning is about excellence. And it’s about confidence. We were one of five. Three of the other five had concerts dates in other cities already. Concert dates….in other cities…..these were the guys we were up against. The finals were decided by a recording company, not votes from friends. The winner got an artist development contract with the recording company, and they I assume, being a business, would select the band that fit what they wanted. All 5 had unique sounds. One was a latin/R&B style. One was hard rock, almost scream-o. One was kind of a techno rock. One was a bit like Jars of Clay. And then there was us, the only one with a sole emphasis on worship music. If we were the flavor of the soup they wanted, we could win. Quality-wise, we had nothing to be ashamed of. The quality was there. Well, Monday came. Late Monday actually. An email from the Kingdom Bound CEO. Congratulations, it began. We placed 3rd. Okay, I thought, that changes things. I read further to see that we had “won” free passes to the festival. I called Kevin first, because I knew he was on the edge, waiting. He answered his phone not with a “hello”, but with “So..?”. Overall, I think everyone has had the same reaction. We did well. We accomplished a lot. And we really have no idea how much fruit we might see from it. Contacts were made. A recording company actually listened to the music. Many musicians will NEVER have that opportunity. And this recording company rated us third. Better than two others. Bands with actual cities they are playing in right now. I’d say, we did very well. Now, how disappointed am I? Extremely. How discouraged am I? A little bit. But, with that, I know we accomplished a lot. I don’t know how many, if any, opportunities will come again. All I know is, if they come, I’ll take them. My music is Gods. Any talent. Any ability. Any hopes and dreams. They all belong to God. Can you say that for yourself? I hope so. It’s quite freeing to live there. A number of years ago, I took our youth group to the local cemetery. One of the stones was for a pastor’s second wife, who married this pastor when he was quite advanced in years. I would imagine in the 1800’s, this was quite a practical thing to do. Here she was, buried with him and his first wife. And the etching on her stone by her name said, quite simply, “Abigail; She did what she could”. Isn’t that really it. I have done what I could, in this pursuit, and I hope in other areas of my life. A good question for you as well. Have you done what you could? Do you realize, that God is not asking you to do what you cannot do. Only what you can. The rest. The results. Well now, those are left to God. Thanks to all who have been supportive in this adventure. Let’s continue to do what we can, with whatever we are given