As a Christian, the point of making music is not for the glory, right? Well let me just say that for us independent artists, there aren’t a lot of glorious moments. Or at least they are tempered by the not-so-glorious moments. When you play a gig, you schlep your own gear. When Amazon.com needs more CDs, you buy a padded envelope and send them out. And in spite of whatever a real rock star’s life is like, I still have to get my own mail, drive myself to the airport and brush my own teeth.
I’m not complaining but when an opportunity comes along to level the playing field a bit between the record label somebodies (them) and the indie artist nobodies (me), I take it.
Recently (I’m convinced by way of Divine intervention), I was asked by the producer of the Dove Awards pre-show to come and hand out some awards. That event took place just over a month ago on the evening of April 23rd, 2008.
There were a few highlights from that day that I wanted to share, with “not tripping on the stage” being in the top 3. Things started when I met a good friend downtown for some lemonade at Starbucks. I recognize the irony there.
12:02p - I return to my car, which is 10 minutes past due on the $4 parking spot and now has a bill for $23 under the windshield (independent artists pay their own parking citations too).
12:30p - I meet my sister at the hotel and I get changed. She paid for us to stay at the Opryland Hotel, which was a nice bonus, but each trip to and from the front desk is an Everest-esque trek.
1:20p - I’m 20 minutes late to my call-time at the Grand Ole Opry thanks to the hotel treks and other general lateness.
The time from now until 4:30p, when the Dove Awards pre-show begins, is unique and incredible and kind of boring. At first I was like, “Wow, I’m eating nachos with Phil Joel!” or “Hey, is that the guy from Mercy Me changing clothes in a tiny stall in the men’s room?” but after awhile it’s just crowded. It’s a crowd like any crowd you might find yourself in at the bank or Laundromat except the people have fantastic fashion sense and really great hair. Plus, you recognize most of the faces from your CD collection.
4:30p - The pre-show starts. This is the part of the show where they hand out most of the awards. Probably one of the weirdest moments is watching the closed-circuit TV in the greenroom with Jordan from PureNRG, Bibleman*, and Warren Barfield (among others).
4:35p - *I think to myself “I’m glad I don’t have to wear a purple cape tonight.”
5:02p – They call me backstage where I prepare to present with the guys from Need to Breathe. It’s funny how someone’s song starts going through your head when you meet them in person.
ME: Hey guys. How’s it going?
THEM: Good man. You?
ME: (thinking to myself) Yahweh, Yahweh!!
ME: (outloud) Good. Yeah.
5:08p - Bibleman comes backstage with the kids from PureNRG to get ready for their segment. He dons his “helmet of salvation” which looks a little like the “helmet of Power Rangers.”
5:10p - Overheard backstage: “So that’s Bibleman. He’s kind of a freakshow, isn’t he?” It wasn’t me. I’m just saying…
5:15p - The very funny host of the show, comedian Nazareth, introduces the guys from Need to Breathe and me. We all walk out without tripping.
5:15p - We’re at the edge of the stage now and each of us has a sort of “deer meets headlights” look as the teleprompter is slowly counting down from 30. Instead, it should have my first line, “The first award we have the honor of presenting tonight is for Country Album.” After what seems like way too long, I remember my line and the teleprompter people catch up to where I am. The 5 of us get to present 4 awards.
5:20p - I announce the winner for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year.
ME: And the Dove Award goes to “East to West,” Casting Crowns, blah, blah, blah (The blah-blah stuff is important, but it’s drowned out as the applause swells).
Mark Hall and Casting Crowns will win a truckload of hardware tonight. Odds were pretty good that we’d get to deliver some.
5:21p - Mark Hall takes a second before accepting his award to tell the guys from Need to Breathe that he loves their music and has it playing in his car. In his head, he’s going “Yahweh, Yahweh!!”
The rest of the show was great. Another highlight from the pre-show was when someone announced David Crowder as the winner of the award in a gospel category in which he wasn’t nominated. After a long awkward pause, they said, “Sorry, that was the wrong envelope. The actual winner is Mark Lowry.” It was a really good moment.
Of the whole pre-show, my favorite performance was Phil Wickham, joined by his brother Evan Wickham on keys and vocals. Evan is the only other indie artist I met that night.
Later, in the televised portion of the Dove Awards, David Crowder put on an amazing performance and I sang along during the Michael W. Smith tribute.
Overall, I had a blast. I got to hang out with my sister, which is rare enough. It was a big honor to present at the Dove Awards and I got to meet lots of nice people backstage. It did take some restraint to not hand my CD to every person I saw, but honestly I’m more comfortable making friends than “contacts.” And for the record, Robert T., the man who plays Bibleman, is a pretty cool guy. I just would have to ask him to leave the cape at home if we ever, say, go out for lemonade at Starbucks.
Popularity: 48% [?]
