So as some of you know, I was inducted into the Indie Music Hall of Fame this year, based upon the body of work I have produced in my career as a whole, which includes 10 Albums, 6 EPs, dozens of singles, 4 albums where I played as a guest, plus 2 albums I've produced for other people. I've contributed works to 3 charity albums and have collaborate with many of my peers. I have worked in many styles, from alternative rock to pop to AOR to Classical to New Age to Jazz and even Dance.
I'm doing all right. I'm not famous by any stretch and certainly not rich, but I'm doing all right.
Other than Artist of the Year and Album of the Year my induction was the last of the night. I had to follow an Oakland (and Atlanta as we learned that night) rapper named Ms. Kash, a towering and imposing woman of genuine talent who had the crowd, including me, on her side. Her story is so incredibly different from my own that we couldn't have contrasted further than we did, but she's fantastic. The night I won my one award for the song "Woke AF" 4 years ago she won FIVE.
Ms. Kash
To say the least, she's a hard act to follow. Hell, as part of the ceremony you're given a medal and the presenters gave up trying to get hers on her. They had no trouble with me and I'm 6 feet tall.
My medal.On a side note, I have to wonder if I'm supposed to wear this thing at every ceremony going forward, like they did at the Kennedy Center Honors before it all went to shit.
Anyway, I get called up, the M.C. reads off a list of accomplishments, from my astounding run on the Indie chart back in 2011, to the various genres I've worked in, I get a ribbon around my neck and get handed my actual award:
I give my little speech, which my older daughter calls "My TED Talk", but to be honest I don't remember everything I said. I do know I gave the proper thank yous and talked about the strange course my career has taken, and I know I made a point of talking about how it turned out that technology has allowed me to meet my musical goals as opposed to becoming a rich rock ster, but I need to take you back to the start of the night.
First of all, for the first time all summer, it RAINED in Los Angeles. The day before the temperatures reach 100 degrees and the day of the ceremony it's a good 30 degrees cooler and raining. Despite our hotel being only a few blocks from the venue we had to Uber over.
Because of the rain the ceremony began late. People got caught in traffic. But finally we get in and get our seats in what is basically an equity theater. Opening remarks are given and then we're off and one of my three nominations is in the first award, Alternative. My work, "The Reflection Song" is up for Best Alternative Song and you know what? I won.
I get up from my seat, give my daughter a hug, make my way past the other people sitting in my row and fail to realize that the seats are raised from the floor by about 3 inches. Yep, I stumble and fall, smacking my side into the top of a theater seat and spilling into the row across the aisle.
I don't recommend this. Like the man from "Burn Notice" said, no matter how much of a tough guy you are a cracked rib is a cracked rib and it hurts like hell, but I'm on so much adrenaline from winning that I fail to notice I've done myself some actual damage. I've brought the room to a complete stand-still and not in a good way, and that's the only though going through my head. I slowly get up and now the room is applauding for a different reason. I slowly make my way to the stage, nodding to my daughter that I'm okay. Oh, it hurt, but I'm okay.
They hand me the award and I step up to the mic and say, "You're not going to be forgetting this one now, are you." Tension broken, everything's fine. I give the appropriate thank yous and crack a couple of jokes, and knowing we have another few hours of this I get off the stage.
And sit right back in my seat again, cracked rib and all, waiting for the end of the night when I'll have to back up there again. Or sooner, should I win in the other two categories I'm in.
The night goes on and it quickly becomes clear that a Country/America album has won the night. An artist named Grant Maloy Smith, who has made the controversial move of NOT putting his album on streaming, takes award after award. After the 6th or 7th award he had won he would just climb up on stage, wave, and depart.
When we get to classical composition, It's me against a composer and pianist who recorded an album in Prague with a full orchestra - a Piano Concerto. I lost, and I'm not mad about it. Here is what his work sounds like, and the better work won:
I didn't win for best instrumental work either and that's okay. I'm perfectly proud of the music we put together in Frankfurt am Main. Over the years I've won three of these awards, 16 Radio awards and had a song at the top of the indie music chart for 28 weeks. I promise you, I'm fine.
So there is that cracked rib though. Because of travel deadlines it would be a few days before I finally got to see a doctor and that's okay as well. Not much to do about a cracked rib beyond pain management and thanks to other issues I've had in my life I know how to do that already.
Yes, I've seen a doctor and I'm on the mend. Pain has subsided quite a bit already and I never had any trouble moving or breathing or sleeping. Coughing wasn't fun for a couple of days but I'm past that point now.
But sometime in the next few years if I ever get nominated for one of these awards again, and I win, I get to look forward to the Master of Ceremonies joking if I plan on breaking anything else, Anyway, here's a few pictures:
I have never been a fan of country music, but Dolly was an incredibly good person. I lived in Los Angeles a long time ago so these aren't all that special to me anymore, but my daughter took dozens of pictures of them, having never seen them before. I took just this one.
We stayed at a hotel called The Whiskey. I had this drink on their rooftop bar and it was tasty but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called. The photo on the right is of course the Capital Records
Building, built and shaped like a stack of records with a phonograph needle at the top. My Grandfather was signed to that label in his jazz days.
The Equity theater where the event was held. Doesn't look like much on the outside but inside it's a nice, small theater.
This man performs under the name "Music For Winds". That is a Double Flute he's playing and he opened the show. He would go on to win several awards. In fact, I lost "Best Instrumental Song" to him.
This man in the amazing home-made suit (with earrings to match) is Tommy Beard. He is funny as hell and it hurt my side to listen to him accept the award for best R&B Songwriter.
Ms. Kash, fellow inductee and class act.
This Dipshit hasn't yet figured out that he just cracked a rib. He also hasn't noticed that the lanyard around his neck also broke. He's still kind of in shock that he won for best Alternative Song for a song he contributed to a compilation album.
And there I am, posing for press photos after the ceremony with all my take home loot. Don't I look happy? In all honesty I wouldn't really feel the pain of it until the following morning - I just don't usually smile for photos. That piece of paper I'm holding is the envelope that held the announcement of the trophy in my right hand.
Trans Rights are Non-Negotiable.
So here is the song I won for:
And here are the two that lost:
Like I said, I'm not mad about it.
One last photo. After the ceremony and quite late at night, knowing we needed to get some sleep before catching a train in the morning... we had pizza delivered to our hotel.
It was a good night.
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