5.18.2011
5.17.2011
NEW SINGLE: Blessing Prod. by Prospek & E.F. Cuttin
track name:
Blessing
artist:
Heata Best, Jon Mercure, Elespee, & E.D.Nix
produced by:
Prospek, E.F. Cutin
available now @
http://thegpc.bandcamp.com/track/blessing?permalink
5.11.2011
5.10.2011
5.09.2011
the road to jazz fest...
i'd rather be lucky than good; blessed than lucky. fortunately, i seem to be all three. last year i enjoyed jazz fest as a spectator. i watched juvenile on stage, and tried to imagine what it felt like to be in front of that many people. this year, i got to find out.saturday i found myself behind the scenes at the Acura stage, pacing back and forth getting my 8-mile on. i barely noticed as jimmy Buffett passed me by to join the legendary Allen Toussaint on stage for a song. i was focused. and i would be next.
i'm still not sure how it happened. until the very moment i heard the opening chords of "hercules", i was afraid that it wouldn't. i thought someone would change their mind, come to their senses. i mean really. Mr. Toussaint. i'm your next guest after jimmy Buffett? i thought someone had to have been tripping, and for once it wasn't me.
even the rehearsals had been surreal. watching the man at work. the way he spoke softly, but with authority. no need to be loud or unkind. his way was just the right way. nobody argued.
the man thanked me! thanked me? for my verse? are you serious? you wrote "here come the girls", "mother in law", and damn near every other new orleans classic. how can you thank me for my time?
nonetheless, i'm there saturday afternoon, pacing back and forth, still getting my 8-mile on. and i hear the line start....."all you fear....is fear itself...." and i think to myself, "true". the breakdown starts, and i'm on stage. this is really happening......
"catch him chopping down mountains
with the edge of his hand
wrestle lighting and thunder
put'e, both in a can
here in the city down under
where its get what you can
however you live fam
what ever your plan
where they colder than a freezer
he stay cool as a fan
dead hand deadpan
smell like san fran
drop jewels nonstop
that they cant understand
most high wont land
most lie post spam
boast why? i am
bird, magic in they prime
jordan, the mailman
james, paul, or kobe
obi wan, annakan
star war 20 bar vet
never ran
yet ready to march
when his people take a stand
i am the wage workers back
the field hand's tan
marie leveaux's hustle
candle burning voodoo man
seven and a crescent
uptown to the twin span
the herculean being
making concrete sand
plus he manipulate matter
stretch time rubber band
naw, he ain't heavy
i think he my brother man
world on my shoulders
say it ain't none other than.....
i cant describe how it felt to make a few thousand people say "hoooo". i lack the vocabulary. all i know is that it needs to happen again, and sooner than later. there's nothing to fear, save fear itself, just do it, yadda yadda yadda. my advice to any one just starting out, wondering what it's like, to work with a man who has written more songs than you can name, to suddenly find yourself in front of a crowd too big for you to count.
from my perch on the mountaintop, i was able to see it all, every road that i had walked to end up there. every show with 10 or 20 people in the crowd; that i didn't get paid for. the times when they cut my set short, or put me on first before the crowd had gotten there, or last after it had already left, or the crowd just never came at all. and every time, regardless of circumstance, i have given my all. in six years i've never turned down a gig, and i am glad. each one was a step to reach this height. and while here; i have also been able to see how for i have to go.
the road goes on without end, right into the sunset.
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