Mr. Jones & Me…

Tonight was the monthly Texas Songwriters Night at Casbeers in San Antonio. Tonight marked my fifth appearance at said gathering of songwriters and it was a very special one for several reasons. Let’s review, shall we?

1. Tonight was the first time I actually didn’t have to wait for someone to get off work to drive me or ride with me. Yep, aside from my first appearance at Christmas, I was actually able to arrive BEFORE it started and I got to see ALL of Kim & Glenn’s set! It was pretty darn cool! I know Kim and the gang (that sounds like a bad ’80′s reference, huh?) were surprised to see me there that early.

2. Rachel Laven performed as usual tonight, but this time with the local FOX News channel’s camera on her. I could tell she was a bit nervous, but who wouldn’t be? She’s freaking 12, for crying out loud and got the big press out for her OPEN MIC, gig?? HELLO!? She’s going to be even more of a little super star when she turns 20 or something. Gosh – If I could have only been playing and writing like she is now when I was her age!

3. Jeff Jacoby of Time And Again surprised me (not with his normal last minute request for me to play something I wasn’t prepared to this time) by informing me he had been “cracking” my songs for a couple of weeks and was prepared to strum along to “Broken Spoke” if I was cool with it. I was a bit nervous about it because it was unplanned and all, so we stepped out back to run through it on his guitar and man he had it nailed!! So I said, HELL YES! He got up there with me and we did that tune first. Now, bear in mind that Chris wasn’t having the best night behind the sound board, so we lost each other in his mix, but by the time it was over, he had us worked out and it actually turned out pretty decent. Not really decent enough to post, but I will say this…Mr. Jacoby will be in attendance on Saturday at Graffiti’s show here in Austin and if you’re not…Well, you’ll miss you’re chance to see me with a real guitar player! I’m stoked! I’m hoping to get Oscar (pictured above with Jeff) up to sing some background stuff with me too as he is planning on coming up with Jeff and Tenna! YAY! San Antonio will be in the house!

4. I got to meet my new friend Edward tonight! He and I had been chatting via the wondrous Internet for a month or so now and sure enough, as he promised, now that school was out at UT, he had moved home to San Antonio, and so he came out to check out my three song performance at the Songwriter’s night! Edward said he was impressed by my performance. I was more impressed that he speaks Chinese! He’s a film student at UT and he’s going to be a big movie critic one day – mark my words! Anyway – He hung out with me and my buddy Roman, who also performs sometimes at Casbeers. We talked movies in between acts and then after TAA (that’s short for Time And Again) he took off. Thanks for coming out Edward! You rock! (I was expecting other guests, but alas, they were no-shows. Maybe next time?)

5. After my performance, I got to stick around for the rest of the night because I wasn’t in a hurry to get someone home for work or back to their normal non-San Antonio lives. This was particuarly cool tonight, because it gave me a chance to introduce myself to someone else that I didn’t know, Rudy Jones. Rudy has been at every single Texas Songwriters Night I have attended, and apparently is a standard fixture at Casbeers. What I didn’t know until I introduced myself and offered him a CD is that he was going to change the way I think about gigs, building a fan-base, and performing in general. We spoke as Casbeers began to wind down, until I thought Steve was going to push me out of the door. Rudy told me he really enjoyed my tunes and my style. “You’ve got the soul of Joe Cocker, but the emotion of Billy Joel, ” he says to me. ***OK- That’s like officially one of the best comments about me and/or my music EVER!*** He went on to talk to me about various venues in the Central Texas area and the possibility of getting into the much chased after “Texas House Party” gigs. Mr. Jones really did have a very powerful impact on me tonight. (Hence the title of this post.) We talked a lot about gigs, but a lot about strategies and what to be focused on right now in my career. It was as God said, “OK – Could you communicate with Nakia the stuff he has been asking me about…Ease his mind a bit and show him the way for me? Because you know if I did it, his face would melt, and that wouldn’t be cool. Look what it did to those guys in Raiders of the Lost Ark!” So, I must say, Rudy – if you are reading this – THANK YOU. I am forever indebted to you for imparting your wisdom, some of your valuable contact info, and most of all for reminding me that I was born to do this, my life was meant for music, and my talents do not fall on deaf ears. Lastly, Rudy told me about House Concerts!! Places where people come to hear and LISTEN to the songs. Graham did some research and emailed about 15 different ones in Texas tonight! Keep your fingers crossed.

In other news…As if this stuff isn’t important…

I spent Monday night with some new friends. The Will Taylor & Strings Attached Street Team! Yep. Me, Larry, Glenda, Elliot and my good friend Loretta who also volunteers for SIMS were all on hand to fold, label, stamp, and dot newsletters for Will’s upcoming show with Shawn Colvin. Will and I have also discussed the possibility of working together on a Strings Attached show for my material. Don’t get your hopes up yet….OK, at least say a prayer and keep your fingers crossed, but if it went down, it would mean a lot, I finally got to hear him tonight online and damn he’s GOOD! He takes songwriter’s material and arranges it for a more “classical” feel, is the only way I can describe it.

Over the weekend, Mark Cunningham of Aware Records and I fleshed out the details for him to produce my first EP. Because he’s in Chicago though, we are going to do it via the net. I set up a special page for him to download the tracks as they come along and for him to grab lyrics and send me feedback. Pretty damn cool if I say so myself…And I do. I mean, Mark is a good friend, and having him on board as the ears behind this project means the world! We decided this EP would be a stripped, sparse production with just me and the piano. Let the songs and my voice speak for themselves. I haven’t felt this good about recording in a long time. Lowell Rice (who engineered last summer’s demo sessions) is back onboard for the ride too. I figure we are going to pick songs out of my current set list and a few that aren’t being played (because they are just that new, y’all!) and end up with about 5-6 TOPS! The key thing here is URGENCY. The point was made that if people are hearing me on the radio, seeing me on TV, etc and I don’t have a CD at Waterloo and other outlets, these people could easily me. So, expect to see some entries about recording and mixing, and mastering, and designing CD’s and stuff!

This will also give me a chance to finish up the Glen Phillips cover project I am a part of! I have kept this one on the DL until tonight as well because…Well, mainly because I waiting to find out which one I was going to do for sure. I was torn between Train Wreck and Throw It All Away. The former won. I can’t wait for you all to hear it. Should have it done really soon. Going to preview it at the show on Saturday night. This is truly an honor for me, as many of you know, because I am such a big fan of Glen’s and over the last few years I have been able to be a part of his career and watch him go from a self-exiled artist to this whole other level, where he is excited and working and now he’s been signed to Lost Highway and I am just absolutely thrilled for him and his family. He deserves the best, because he’s one of the best. His new record is going to blow you all away. From the scoop I have, Lost Highway is really going to get behind him. I think that’s great. And of course the long-awaited release of his collaboration with Nickel Creek, Mutual Admiration Society will be released next month! BOOYA! Talk about red tape! It took them 4 years to release this record…DAMN! I can assure you from all encounters I have had with Glen, and the Nickel Creek gang – This record means a lot to them and I am sure they are really stoked!

~Kia

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