This is my weblog, my documentation, my inside look at GMA Week in Nashville TN.
First we need a little background.
OK, my name is David Crowder and I’m in a band that holds the GMA title for Best Band Name Ever. Were proud of this, the GMA title for Best Band Name Ever. Actually, theres no such GMA title for best band name, but there should be. Wed totally win. Now, you should know that GMA stands for Gospel Music Association. That means that, for GMA week, everyone who is a part of the Gospel Music Association, and also some people from North Carolina who were walking by and saw everyone walking around with super cool lanyards and thought it would be fun to wear a lanyard, well, they are all here in Nashville. And I’m going to talk to these people, all of them. Well, some of them, probably. Regardless, for better or worse, you’ll get a peek at the week from my vantage point.
So, let’s do this.
I arrived last night by plane from Baltimore MD. Baltimore is a fine city. If you haven’t been, you should go. Very nice waterfront. You can rent these large aquatic dragons and peddle around the bay. I did this and was honked at by a water taxi. I mean how amazing is that? Being honked at by a water taxi while pedaling through the bay in a large purple dragon. in a word, awesome.
We arrived in Nashville early evening and after mistaking a Casting Crowns concert for a Predators (Nashville professional hockey team) game, we (Toni, my wife and I) were in our Hilton hotel room bed, eating grilled cheese, french fries, and mashed potatoes, by 7pm. Room service is awesome. There seems to be two hotels that most of the artists wind up staying in, one is the Hilton, and the other is the Renaissance. This will be our 4th or 5th GMA and heres what we have learned about the two options for lodging: If you want the best-club-sandwich-ever brought to your room and are willing to wait an hour for it, then you will want to stay at the Hilton. If you want your pants hemmed, well, youll need to stay at the Renaissance. Thats pretty much all you need to know about the lodging situation. Oh, also, the Hilton has less television channels.
This morning, lobby call (well talk about the lobby later) was 8:15am. I was scheduled for a sound check at 8:20. Mike McCloskey, who is with our label, sixstepsrecords, was waiting to take me over for it. I was late. Not good to start things out this way. My watch displayed 8:19 by the time I had purchased one 9-volt battery and 2 double A batteries from the hotel gift shop. I paid like 100 dollars I think. I arrived at sound check and realized I had neglected to bring an instrument cable to plug in my guitar. The guy with the audio company ridiculed me. He said, well, lucky I showed up with a sound system. In other words, I, being the guy that is supposed to play his guitar, should have showed up with everything needed to play his guitar, such as a guitar, a cable, a pick, etc.. Cool. Then I realize I didn’t have a guitar strap. This would also be something the guy thats supposed to be playing the guitar should show up with. So, I stole one out of Chris Tomlin’s guitar case that was in the back of McCloskey’s car. No one will know. I’ll put his back and buy one later. I doubt the hotel gift shop has one, but I’m totally checking.
Well, the sound check took all of 2 minutes once the funny audio guy who makes really smart passive aggressive jokes loaned me a cable. Leeland (a band from Baytown TX and also guy named Leeland) was/were setting up, getting ready for their sound check. They had all of their cables and did not get ridiculed by the funny audio guy. When I finished singing and playing a little, making sure I could hear everything and that the front of house audio folks had what they needed, Leeland’s drummer, who happens to be from Texarkana, and whose parents office I used to mow for 20 dollars a week when I was but a young tike (I am from Texarkana as well), said, in a really over-the-top ridiculously thick East-Texan accent, Hey, dyoorite that? Thats real pretty like. He was joking. He does this, the joking. I think this question must be an inside type joke for the band Leeland, as in, perhaps they’ve been asked this question before by someone with a really think East-Texan accent, because the rest of the band was laughing when he, Leeland’s drummer, said this. I told him, No, your Mom did. Shes got a real ear for melody. Mom jokes are always funny but rarely appropriate.
After playing Remedy for the Echo awards lunch I attended the artist/DJ reception. This is a very large room where all of the artists from each label stand around and chat with folks from different radio stations, and also people from North Carolina with super cool lanyards. I usually lose my voice during this little get together as you have to yell over the din of the room to communicate. But its great fun catching up with folks and good to see people you lay eyes on once or twice a year.
This same room is then converted into booths for the artists to sit at a table and read what are called liners. Each booth has a name over the table indicating what artist will be sitting there and then nice people from the radio stations line up with their portable recording devices and sheets of paper with verbiage of what theyd like you to read into the portable recording device, like, hey, I’m David Crowder from David Crowder Band and your listening to Bill and Kathy in the morning on WKZE, your choice for your favorite Christian music, or some such thing. It’s pretty fun, trying to read in a way that doesnt sound completely lame. It’s harder than it sounds and I think of it as a challenge. Its all a very socially mysterious exchange. Heres the most fantastic portable recording rig I saw today:
Also, something fairly notable occurred at a neighboring booth:
If you’ll notice, my mate Chris Tomlin’s (the guy who I, earlier in the day, stole the guitar strap from and who has written pretty much every song in the modern worship lexicon) name has a slight issue with spelling. Also, you may note the beams of light, as in, from heaven above, shining down on Mr. Tomin and Mandisa’s booth. This is significant, the light, I think. Also, that is an L handwritten on the sign with an arrow indicating where it is intended to be placed. I was told Chris wrote the L in himself but I can’t imagine how he’d be able to reach it. Mr. Tomin is only 4′3” tall, so I just dont see how it’s possible. I can say this because I’m 12′8” and were friends and he doesn’t like to stand by me in public because of this height disparity, and besides he has light from heaven shining down on his booth and stuff, so, in turn I get to make height jokes, which again, while funny, are rarely appropriate.
Well, Im off to the evening festivities. Stay tuned; well have more goodness tomorrow.