How I Got Into The Music Industry

I’ll start with the basics. I grew up my whole life in. Ohio County, KY. For those of you that do not know about Ohio County, it is the same county that the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe was from. Between my parents I was exposed to all genres of music known to the mainstream radio industries in the U.S.A as well as many genres that were not mainstream. This would later define how I would approach others when talking to them about my own personal music preferences and the reasons behind them.

I began my journey basically as a street-teamer/life style music promoter for Kentucky Bluegrass artist Ally White in 2003 when I would run into to people that claimed they did not like Bluegrass music and learned I had an unknown talent for bringing people that would not ordinarily listen to Bluegrass much less purchase a CD from a Bluegrass artist to embrace the unique sound that Ally White brought to the Bluegrass music genre. 2004 brought a new music movement called the Muzik Mafia where I served for 2 years as a Mafia Soldier and continued on with street teaming and promoting for artists such as Big and Rich and Gretchen Wilson and continuing to bring some of Kentucky's hard to reach fans around to the concept of truly giving music an in depth listen before judging an artist or their style based on what their peers or upbringing had molded them into thinking about music.

After a 2 yr stint working as a street teamer for the Muzik Mafia I branched off into the Hip Hop industry where I actively worked the Nashville and Los Angeles circuit as music promotion and Public Relations representative for Pow Shadowz all the while never leaving the city of Nashville or for that matter my own chair. This job allowed me to explore the different avenues that are out there to gain an artist more exposure among fans and industry businesses as well as learning the administrative responsibilities that are generally reserved for personal assistant or small time artists managers.

Currently I have my hands full at any given time. From managing and maintaining the MySpace site for local Bowling Green, KY Christian band, The Tim Long Band, fulfilling my responsibilities as Head of Operations for Hazard,KY based independent gospel record label Porch-Lite Group, serving as fan club President for Nashville recording artist Trey Jewell and most recently accepting the position of personal assistant for Nashville’s music story teller Bobby Pizazz, I also recently accepted the position as moderator for country music chart topper, Little Texas’ street team. Even with all these activities I still find ample time to spend with my family which is the best treat of all.

Fooled on April Fool’s

We all know about the jokes and pranks that have been played on us often on days that are not anywhere near April 1st, but it seems that April Fool’s Day is the holy day of all things jokes, pranks, and just out right lies that people can get away with. Though I’ve always been a fairly intelligent person I can name 3 specific April Fool’s jokes that were played on me and to this day it still makes me laugh.

The first ever April Fool’s joke that I can remember falling for was when I was in my early teens. I was living with my mother and step-father and received a call from my father telling of how a tornado had just ripped through town and completely leveled his house. Keep in mind that my father was a minister all my life and prided himself on not ever lying to us kids because he himself couldn’t stand to be lied too but I guess since it was a special day to lie to someone he thought it was OK and he got me good. Without any hesitation I started asking him how he was, if the rest of the family was OK, and just the general worried kid type of questions. He had me going for several minutes till he asked me what day is today? I quoted the day of the week. He said, “What’s today’s date?” I didn’t think nothing of it and said, “It’s April 1st” He said right, he said, “April Fool’s!”. I was so caught up in all the supposed damage that he had told me about that I still didn’t get what he meant by joyfully exclaiming that it is April Fool’s. Well he finally convinced me he was only joking but I still had my doubts only because I’d never had my father lie to me before no matter what kind of day it was.

The next April Fool’s day that sticks in my mind is again when I was in my teenage years. Looking back I can see that adults are right when they talk about how gullible teenagers are. My step-father who was a life insurance agent had a client that ran a furniture store by day but was a professional wrestler by night. He was also a good friend of mine and knew many of the wrestling superstars that I idolized at that time. It for me and my friend to talk daily about upcoming shows or review past shows therefore when he called me on April 1st, 1995 to discuss this “supposed” run in he had with one of my favorite wrestlers I didn’t think anything of it. He goes on to tell me that the guy got too smart for his own good and that he didn’t mean to but that he accidently hurt the guy and that he had to go to the hospital and was in really bad shape. Naturally, I was very upset that he could do that to my favorite person and not even seem to show any remorse for it. I wasn’t hearing anything in his voice except pure joy and in my teenage mind and emotions I wanted to rip this guy to shreds and cease talking to him for the rest of my life. I hated this man at this point. The madder I got the more he’d laugh. This went on for several minutes before he yells out “April Fool’s!” and I realize real quick that this was all a joke and how much this guy must be literally about to wet his pants from laughing so hard. Of course then I didn’t want to talk to him for the rest of day for embarrassing me so much but even pulling a joke like that but I got over it and still laugh at that one even now as I’m nearly 30 years of age

Last nigh these two jokes I just spoke about came to light to me again I read a blog from my all time favorite country music band and how they really got not only us fans but the media as well. Yesterday morning all of us fans and media awoke to a new blog on their MySpace page that they were going to be making a new album but it was going to a heavy metal album featuring various heavy metal music icons. Of course all of us were super excited and fans shared the blog with all their friends on their MySpace pages and the news spread like wild fire. Then suddenly at around 9pm last night the band posted another blog about how this was their first ever attempt to play an April Fool’s joke and how great it was that they not only dooped the fans but the media as well and were really enjoying the realization that they really got us. At the end they stated that there was a hint to the fact that the original announcement was not legit and the first person to respond with an answer of what hint was given that it was not legit would win a CD. Well, I decided to play along too cause I know I’d passed along the original announcement too. I looked it over carefully and noted that in the original announcement they stated that his new “supposed” CD would be released on Nov 31st and my gut told me that this must be it because everyone knows there’s only 30 days in Nov. So I submitted my answer that it was the discrepancy in the release date all the while thinking ok, now that was too obvious and most likely won’t win that CD simply because it’s such an easy guess. Well, apparently simple is the “in” thing because I received notice from the band this morning that I won the CD because I was the first one with the correct answer.

In closing I know these are 3 April Fool’s jokes that I will remember for a life time and will be able to pass on for generations to come. I also suspect there will be many more times that people will find ways to get me on this special day but I know I’ll take it all in stride and who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll be creative enough to pull of a prank on this special day too.

Jamie Coulter: little man wtih a BIG heart

I ran across a page this week on MySpace of a guy who has fast become one of my own heroes because even though his entire life has been filled with struggles that I cannot even imagine he has maintained a very strong faith in God and lets God use him to touch the hearts of others. His name is Jamie Coulter who was born with Osteogenusis Imperfecta, which in short term is brittle bone disease.
This disease resulted in him never being able to walk or be able to do a lot of the things that those of us take for granted. This disease did not just leave him not able to walk but it has resulted in him suffering over 300 broken bones in his life time and if memory serves me right our bodies are made up of only 206 bones which means he's had more bone breaks than he has bones yet he is probably the most optimistic,non judgmental, and caring individuals that I have run across in a very long time. To know him is to know that he truly sees things from a Christ like point of view. Jamie also sings and has had a 22 year long career in music that has not only given him a place in the hearts of those in the Christian music world but also in the general Country music world including Country Legend, David Frizzell who took an instant liking to Jamie Coulter one night when Jamie performed on the Grand Old Opry, and even with film stars from all over.

Please visit his MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/evangelistjamiecoulter and say hello.
His video A Crippled Boy's Prayer can be seen on YouTube by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6E228G1II4.