Hello and welcome to the 34th edition of East Side Storytellin’! I am over the moon excited to share with you the East Side Storytellin’ experience I had on April 1st, 2014! Whether it’s your first show or the 34th, like this guy here, I’m so happy to have you here to celebrate another round together. Right now, like the 33 before, you can click on the link below and hear a reading from a tremendously talented local author, followed by an original set of music by a local musician, and then a night capped creative conversation between all of the featured guests about their creative processes, journeys, and ties to Nashville. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to visit and appreciate everything we are about here.
Being that it was technically April Fools Day, I’ll admit that I was fooled a time or two throughout that day before the show started. What can I say? I guess I’m a sucker for believing in other people and what they tell me. One that specifically happened before the show was a particular post by our featured author and how his most recent business had made a deal with Walmart to expand his local business and ideas. I was taken, hook, line, and sinker. That said, I thought our sound man Tom Eizonas was pulling a fast one on me when setting up and not being able to fully connect the speakers to his sound system. The microphones were working, but no sound was coming out. It was cutting it close to show time, but, as usual, everything worked out just in the nick of time and better than expected- theme of this show.
The first featured guest of the evening was a local boy made good. In fact, he makes everything good that much better whenever he gets involved with anything creative. A keynote speaker and conference leader, I think the real magic behind this great father and husband is when he focuses his positive energy in helping start and implement new programs and business ideas. Founder of four successful companies and growing, including the co-finding (foundering?) of the non-profit called Cool People Care. On top of everything I’ve mentioned above, this guy has found the time to churn out 3 excellent books. A slacker he is not, I’m referring to the one and only Sam Davidson.
Sam jumped up on stage and never skipped a beat with any notes or papers in front of him. He didn’t need his book in hand to tell the stories that helped shape his creative works and his empowering words. Sam is a born speaker and inspiration to everyone he meets. He told a very cool personal story, one you can listen to in the recording below, about a business trip and an encounter with a taxi cab driver and how that affected the way he looked at our human experience on a day to day, minute to minute basis. I wasn’t the only one touched and moved by the story and the analysis of organizing, simplifying, and truly focusing on the passions in your life that deserve and need the most time and attention for us to all become the best people we can. It was a tour de force of positivity, and I’ll let you just listen to the man himself tell it below.
But first, before you get to listening just yet, the featured musician of the night is well on his way to become a Nashville mainstay in the music world and the community alike. Surrounding himself with nothing but good-hearted, highly talented people while creating his music, like in his latest record called “Hey Love,” and while working at one of the most original businesses in East Nashville and all of Tennessee for that matter in the unique establishment called High Garden, this guy is constantly creating a solid and soulful life for himself. This guy rolls together his major influences with his own sound with ease. A nod to Pink Floyd’s psychedelic swirl with that of Simon & Garfunkel’s acoustic wistfulness, he seems to effortlessly spin a new twist on some of the sounds you already grew up loving, consciously or not. Following up Sam, this guy was amped to share some of his latest music made in the past few years all the while being humbled by the experience as a whole. I’m talking about Mr. Charlie Whitten.
Charlie immediately took a step up to the mic and then back away from it to pause and show gratitude for inclusion on the event, the crowd, and the love all around. His personal introduction, to the personal stories behind the songs, to the stories within the songs, and the sensational skill that Charlie plays with, I can’t think of another concert that I’ve been to ever where I had never heard the music before and came away loving then entire darn thing so much. Again, I wasn’t alone. Like Sam, Charlie’s songs and being were so approachable and relatable for anyone who takes the time to experience it. That is a rare gift. And speaking of gifts, it seem like a rare treasure to have a line-up that was so gifted in their chosen, passionate, paths that they are carving out for themselves in this world. It was all around refreshing.
I let the recording and the time for recording fly on this episode because it seems like I didn’t want to change a thing about it. Both of the guests were such a pleasure to listen to, learn from, and be around. Word can’t describe how happy every single person in the crowd was that night to be able to sit and appreciate the moment and everything that East Side Storytellin’ 34 was about.
So with that, I’d like for you to click this link and listen to the edited version of East Side Storytellin’ 34 with the likes of Sam Davidson and Charlie Whitten. Please enjoy and feel free to share and listen to it over and over again!
https://soundcloud.com/eastsidestorytn/sets/east-side-storytellin-34-sam
I’d like to give another round of thanks for the likes of Sam Davidson and Charlie Whitten for coming out and sharing their stories and time.
You can read more about Sam Davidson here- http://samdavidson.net
You can hear more Charlie Whitten here- http://hearcharlie.com
Also, mad props to Tom Eizonas, for doing the sound and recording these shows for us. You can listen to these and the past shows on our SoundCloud and Noise Trade pages and our website www.eastsidestorytn.com at our “In Our Own Words” tab.
Smiles to Clay Brunton, the one who made the art prints for this evening.
And last but certainly not least, I’d like to give a big thanks to my wife and everyone else that came out and continues to support this East Side Storytellin’ idea. Nothing goes unappreciated.
But, we’re not finished …
The NEXT East Side Storytellin’ event will be …
Date- Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
Time- 7 pm sharp (Central)
Location- Mad Donna’s (1313 Woodland Street)- http://maddonnas.com
Need information or details about Mad donna’s, call 615-226-1617. Otherwise it is first come, first available seats.
Who will be featured- author Skip Nipper (http://www.sulphurdell.com/about_us_.htm) and music by Rebecca Frazier (featuring her husband John E Frazier III- http://rebeccafrazier.com)
Baseball and Bluegrass feels about right in April, and any month for that matter. That’s all for this show, but thank you for showing love. I hope to see each of you and more there next time, and remember to be nice to one another out there. Good day and thanks again, much love!