Hello, Country Bumpkin. How's the Frost Out on the CMA Awards After Party?
Nashville, TN - Well, it's offical. I live in an alternate reality. Now, I have long claimed to have the best worst luck or the worst best luck of any person I know. I am the only person I know that ever had two flat tires in a span of six minutes, but I am also the only person I know who was published in a national magazine on his first attempt ever to be published in a magazine. My life has been a constant see-saw battle with the best/worst thing.
For example, several months ago I had catastrophic $600 clutch failure in my pickup truck. The catch? I was coming down the hill less than a quarter of a mile from my house at the end of a 182 mile trip. Now, you tell me. Is that bad good luck or good bad luck?
Monday only solidified this best/worst thing. Let me begin by saying I don't have a lot of money. I have never had a lot of money. If I did, I wouldn't know what to do with it. I would hold it and giggle and then probably wallpaper my house with it. Anyway, several weeks ago I befriended a neighbor down the street here named Pepper who said she worked on famed Music Row in Nashville. This is cool. I love music. I love people. I love music people. Pepper is cool. She is from Australia which automatically makes you cool but Pepper is like...extra cool. Australia cool plus some. Anyway, quite out of the blue late last week Pepper informed me I was "on the list" for a party Monday night.
But this wasn't just any party. This was a party of Equity Music Group and Big Machine Records, and it was going to happen IN THE GAYLORD ENTERTAINMENT CENTER, IN DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE, AFTER THE CMA AWARDS!!!!!
Uh, yeah. So Jonathan, my roommate (he was on the list, too) and I went all out. I bought some new clothes and suddenly quite suddenly, we found ourselves at a back entrance on a rainy dark, street in downtown Nashville telling some rather cute girl my name...
and it worked. I couldn't believe it.
We proceeded up an elevator where we met another equally cute girl. From there we entered into an extravagant party room and into something the likes of which I never thought I would see.
Let me digress. Exactly one year ago I was in my uninsulated house in Waring, Texas, shivering my a** off, wishing that I owned a television just that one night because I wanted to watch the CMA Awards and had no where to watch them.
Now, EXACTLY one year later I find myself entering a CMA after party. Life is absolutely insane. Jonathan and I made the rounds around the room doing all the classic party moves. Talk to each others, separate and rendezvous elsewhere in the room. If one us meets somebody, that means an automatic introduction of the other person. Pepper also introduced us to everybody she knew. I have never met a celebrity in my life and Monday night I met the following (and by met I mean shook hands with):
1. Clint Black
2. Two-fourths of the band Little Big Town (they performed on the CMA's Monday night)
3. Taylor Swift (Her song "Tim McGraw" is climbing the country charts as we speak)
4. Laura Bryna (Equity Records newest artist..first single due out in January)
The list of stars I have crossed paths with but not officially met inlcude:
1. Alan Jackson (I said "excuse me" to him in Starbucks.)
2. Mark Wills (I said "excuse me" to him at the party Monday night. )
3. The little midget from Big and Rich's music videos. (I said "excuse me" to him in the elevator.)
All this being said, I told Jonathan I don't think I could be any further from the small town that I grew up in than I was last Monday night. There were big, sweeping search lights, camera crews, limos, red carpets, and a long list of stars everywhere you turned. I never imagined, in a million years, I would even end up in such a place. What makes it all the more amazing is that I left Waring exactly three weeks ago Monday night.
Wow.
Jonathan and I are already making plans for next year (hoping we get invited back:) They include a limo to the event, not a cab, and actual female dates. We were proud of how well we did with little advanced warning. Next time, Nashville needs to look at because we will know what to expect!!!
The funniest part? The best/worst luck of it all? I managed to pull off this little affair completely broke!
That's the story of my life...
For example, several months ago I had catastrophic $600 clutch failure in my pickup truck. The catch? I was coming down the hill less than a quarter of a mile from my house at the end of a 182 mile trip. Now, you tell me. Is that bad good luck or good bad luck?
Monday only solidified this best/worst thing. Let me begin by saying I don't have a lot of money. I have never had a lot of money. If I did, I wouldn't know what to do with it. I would hold it and giggle and then probably wallpaper my house with it. Anyway, several weeks ago I befriended a neighbor down the street here named Pepper who said she worked on famed Music Row in Nashville. This is cool. I love music. I love people. I love music people. Pepper is cool. She is from Australia which automatically makes you cool but Pepper is like...extra cool. Australia cool plus some. Anyway, quite out of the blue late last week Pepper informed me I was "on the list" for a party Monday night.
But this wasn't just any party. This was a party of Equity Music Group and Big Machine Records, and it was going to happen IN THE GAYLORD ENTERTAINMENT CENTER, IN DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE, AFTER THE CMA AWARDS!!!!!
Uh, yeah. So Jonathan, my roommate (he was on the list, too) and I went all out. I bought some new clothes and suddenly quite suddenly, we found ourselves at a back entrance on a rainy dark, street in downtown Nashville telling some rather cute girl my name...
and it worked. I couldn't believe it.
We proceeded up an elevator where we met another equally cute girl. From there we entered into an extravagant party room and into something the likes of which I never thought I would see.
Let me digress. Exactly one year ago I was in my uninsulated house in Waring, Texas, shivering my a** off, wishing that I owned a television just that one night because I wanted to watch the CMA Awards and had no where to watch them.
Now, EXACTLY one year later I find myself entering a CMA after party. Life is absolutely insane. Jonathan and I made the rounds around the room doing all the classic party moves. Talk to each others, separate and rendezvous elsewhere in the room. If one us meets somebody, that means an automatic introduction of the other person. Pepper also introduced us to everybody she knew. I have never met a celebrity in my life and Monday night I met the following (and by met I mean shook hands with):
1. Clint Black
2. Two-fourths of the band Little Big Town (they performed on the CMA's Monday night)
3. Taylor Swift (Her song "Tim McGraw" is climbing the country charts as we speak)
4. Laura Bryna (Equity Records newest artist..first single due out in January)
The list of stars I have crossed paths with but not officially met inlcude:
1. Alan Jackson (I said "excuse me" to him in Starbucks.)
2. Mark Wills (I said "excuse me" to him at the party Monday night. )
3. The little midget from Big and Rich's music videos. (I said "excuse me" to him in the elevator.)
All this being said, I told Jonathan I don't think I could be any further from the small town that I grew up in than I was last Monday night. There were big, sweeping search lights, camera crews, limos, red carpets, and a long list of stars everywhere you turned. I never imagined, in a million years, I would even end up in such a place. What makes it all the more amazing is that I left Waring exactly three weeks ago Monday night.
Wow.
Jonathan and I are already making plans for next year (hoping we get invited back:) They include a limo to the event, not a cab, and actual female dates. We were proud of how well we did with little advanced warning. Next time, Nashville needs to look at because we will know what to expect!!!
The funniest part? The best/worst luck of it all? I managed to pull off this little affair completely broke!
That's the story of my life...
posted by Winston A. Hall at 6:03 PM
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