City of Dreams

The Bluebird Cafe,
Nashville Tennessee USA
5.30pm Monday 11 October 2010.

This is what the singer songwriter dream looks like. A long, long long line, a long, long wait.... and so many singer songwriters waiting to get the chance to play one song at the legendary Bluebird Cafe.

I was curious - why the Bluebird Cafe? - I went to the start of the line and started asking the folks standing there some questions while I shot a vid on my iPhone video - which I may post one day. I asked where they came from, how long they had been standing there and why they were here.

Here's some of the answers.

First in line was Billie Galloway from Indianapolis and he had been here at the front door waiting since 3pm, He said he was here to listen to his son Joel pick, play and smile.

Jeremy Joe from Washingon in his squeaky clean cream cowboy hat and nifty brown get up arrived at 4.30pm.

A young harpist singer sonwriter gal from Gainsville Florida got here at 4.30pm

A singer from Kentucky got here at 4.30pm. Another named Steve from Ohio arrived at 4.15pm.

Tyler a handsome young lad of around 17 years dressed in a blue checked shirt sitting on the floor cradling his guitar arrived with his mom and dad at 4.30 from Hendersonville.

A blonde smiling gal with a guitar from Sweden with a bunch of people from her hostel. She may have travelled the furthest and said she's here at the Bluebird to play saying "I love this place - lots of people come here, great talent and its legendary."

Another player remarked "I come here to play at the Bluebird because it's a much more appreciative audience - everyone is there to listen quietly to you play and it's very special".

The line and my video continued - I estimated there were at least 80 people there in the line up to play and to support their friends.

One tall young guy with a deep speaking voice and long straight brown hair falling onto his face and wearing a checked shirt said he was here because 'talent spotters' were in the audience here.
He was a man on a mission to be discovered.

At 6.15pm someone from the Bluebird came out and lets the line enter the tiny cafe. All those who can fit inside can put their names in a jar and 60 or so names are then randomly drawn. Outside we inch towards the door but once the room is full they stop the line and close the door. A Bluebird lady then comes outside and gives stamps to those who waited who wanted to play but could not fit inside.

We were one of these people. The stamp lets players return the next week and go into a separate first draw for playing that night. There are no guarantees you'll play but it's a sure thing that you'll be let in first to go into the first draw to play. We'll be back because those are good odds.

So with that Bluebird stamp in our hand we left to go play at Picks open mic at the Best Western Music Row. We arrive at 7pm.

This place is entirely different. It's a bar and it's half empty (or if you are an optimist half full) and people are there to drink and talk. And they're not here to listen to two-bit players. But the appeal here is the host Ray Giles lets players perform 4 of their songs. That's more like it.

And we don't have to wait till 10.45pm after the scheduled writers rounds finish to get a spot to play one song. And so we stay, write our names on Ray's play list and whoohoo!! we were 3rd to play.

I think Pal my singer songwriter husband did a pretty good job of winning over the hard-to-please crowd.

After about half an hour I recognised a few of the Bluebird's players who couldn't get to play arrived and put their names on the list.

The players played, the drinkers drank and everyone was happy. And we got to hear some great music and met some awesome people in a more relaxed setting.

It was time to leave and I was saying my farewells to everyone in the bar cos by now we were all like friends.

One little young blonde thing who managed to hustle her way up the play list and take someone else's spot took to the stage. She yelled at the crowd "Hey everyone be quiet cos I'm gonna sing" so with that insult we left her to work the room in her sweet style.

Here's what I make of this.

1) Some places are just too famous and legendary - and the lineup is too long. Is it worth the wait?

2) Some dream cities have a lot of competition. And Nashville is one of them.

3) There's always next week. If you wait you get into the smaller draw bucket with better odds.

4) Winning over the tough audience has it's own special rewards.

5) There are ways to win over an audience and demanding their attention is not one of them -
You have to earn their respect and attention.

6) Being content to be just a plain kind-hearted human is still the main game.

Living the Dream

It's a beautiful day in Nashville Tennessee, and I'm feeling a long way from my home in Sydney Australia.

I'm blessed to be living my dream life.

Today I'm songwriting with Pal my husband and we're at ASCAP Nashville writing room #3 with our cowriter Stan Garland.

Stan it turns out has written a number one hit song. This is a big deal for me cos this year I set a goal to be writing songs with hit songwriters, to learn from them and to get better at the craft and write a bunch of great songs. When I wrote down that goal I didn't put a time limit on what year that songwriter had the hit - but that's OK - a number one hit is still a number one hit in any decade! And that's more than I have ever achieved. I can still learn a lot from these awesome hit songwriters like Stan.

I love the title of Stan's hit "The More I Turn The Bottle Up The Further Down I Go".

And there's a really neat story that goes with this song that Stan told me today.

Stan recalls he was on a tour bus with the famous band Alabama when a singer named George Strait (who is arguably among the world's most successful country singers) came up to Stan and shook his hand saying "Stan, I've just found out who you are and I want to tell you that I would have given anything to have recorded that song of yours before Mickey did". At that time George already had recorded over half a dozen number one hits.

So I tell myself - here's a lesson or two to learn from Stan the man with the number one song in 1982.

1) You've got to be QUICK sometimes.

Remember what George Strait said - he wished he'd recorded it first before the other guy cos that song was a number one hit that year. And that hit could have been George's.

2) You've got to be SLOW sometimes. Slow at passing on things like invitations and opportunities.

Opportunities come along in the weirdest disguises - like crazy invitations to cowrite with old hit songwriters from 3 decades back, like opportunities to record a song that comes along, and it ends up going to number one.


3) You've got to say YES sometimes. Like getting out of your comfort zone and going to see the world, meet people, live a crazy life for a few months, spend a bit of money you have saved for a rainy day.

4) You've got to say NO sometimes. No to life's push and pull, no to that pesky accusing voice that lives inside your head that says - "get real dreamer! you'll never make it". Or saying no to giving up on your crazy dream. Even saying no to that part of yourself that stops you doing the stuff that nourishes your very core.

5) You've got to be true. True in the purest sense, like a true friend, a true human being with a heart, a true spirit who's yes is yes and who's no is no. Cos life can come along and trick you into thinking that your only option is to bend the truth, lie and cheat and be mean spirited.

At the end of the day when I lay down to sleep at night I still need to live with myself. And be happy with the choices I've made that day.

I am no fortune teller and how can I ever know when a good opportunity comes along that could change my life - for better or worse. But I'm a believer in living the dream - that I'm a winner, a lover and a grinner - no matter what.

Today I'm feeling my way through this crazy life, living the dream and going for it.

Hugs

Zelda Sheldon

Hugs are the universal medicine.