Today four bands will be visiting our balcony at the condo (thanks again to Kaiser Realty)…we’re gearing up right now to welcome the first, Delta Rae.  I had the pleasure of seeing Delta Rae in action yesterday at the Hangout Festival and they were awesome.  I’m really excited to see them play up close.

Here’s a pic of Delta Rae playing at Hangout yesterday:

Delta Rae

Also on today’s BalconyTV schedule is The Kingston Springs, Perpetual Groove, and The Revivalists.  Keep an eye on BalconyTV Charleston for new videos from our special Hangout edition.

We arrived in Gulf Shores this morning after a long late night drive and have unpacked and made ourselves at home in our condo (much thanks to Kaiser Realty.)  Becca and I are getting ready to go pick up our media passes in a few hours, but in the meantime we’re chilling in the condo and getting some work done.  The rest of the gang is dividing and conquering at Waffle House and Walmart.

The view is beautiful-bright blue water and clean white sand.  Thank goodness we’ll have four days to appreciate it (and of course all of the live music at Hangout Music Festival.)

Our home until Monday.

Heading up to the condo for the first time. Kyle is very excited about his new beach ball from Kaiser Realty...John is just excited.

One of the beach-themed bedrooms.

The view from our condo. (yes, that's Kyle lounging in the sand)

Checking out the water.

A gang of The Music Initiative Staff is packing up today…destination: Gulf Shores, Alabama.  This weekend Gulf Shores will be home to the Hangout Music Fest, so some of the staff will be cramming into two cars, filled with not only us but suitcases, cameras, computers and all the sound and video equipment we need to work from afar.  We’re excited to spend a few days hanging out at the pool and beach, soaking up the sun, and of course (a little) hard work in between.  While we’re at the Hangout Festival we’re going to be getting the inside scoop on some of the featured artists, spending some time on the balcony for BalconyTV Charleston, and getting some pretty legit pics of everything going down.

Personally, I can’t wait to see some of the great shows this weekend and get the opportunity to take my camera out for a spin in a different location.  Some of the artists we might have the opportunity to talk with and see perform include Dave Matthews, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, The String Cheese Incident, Switchfoot, Tauk, Rebelution, Jamie Bergeron & the Kickin’ Cajuns,  Delta Rae, and many, many more.  A couple of the staff will get to see the artists on stage and then have the chance to sit down and talk with them.  And a few artists are even coming to visit us and play on our personal balcony!  This is the first time that BalconyTV Charleston will be filming offsite of the usual balcony at Morgan Creek Grill and we couldn’t be more excited.

I hope to see you all in Gulf Shores this weekend, but if you can’t make it, be sure to stay tuned in to our blog and twitter over the next few days for updates on what’s going on.  And when we get back to town, you’ll have to check out the June Issue of the mag so you can really get a chance to see what we get up to this week.

This week, Abbie Geddings charmed us all with her original song.

If you love reading the magazine, then you won’t want to miss this!  We’re stepping off the page and onto the stage!

check it out on facebook!

Wow guys, Thursday night’s Eclectic Evening in Elliotborough was truly the definition of success!  The Music Initiative’s downtown office, which doubles as an intimate listening room for Eclectic Evenings, was packed as the audience enjoyed live music by Southwood, Tyler Boone, and Jerry Jacobs.  Also featured was photographer Chandra Smith, who passed around some of her photographs around for the audience to see.

At this week’s Eclectic Evening we were excited to offer some new custom benches that expanded our seating capacity.  The benches are different heights to give a stadium seating effect…so cool!  We also had some awesome refreshment provided by Holy City Brewing, who is now sponsoring Eclectic Evenings.  TMI’s lucky guests were able to sample one of Holy City Brewing’s delicious beers. Yum! At the end of the night, guests got to take home their Holy City Brewing glasses as a souvenir of their great night.

If you missed it, or just want to relive the night, here are some snapshots of the evening:

Guests took home these Holy City Brewery glasses after sampling their beer.

Jerry Jacobs pauses before playing another song.

-clp

Ready to make your Mother’s Day weekend plans?  Here’s what we’ve found going on Coast to Coast this weekend.

Saturday, May 12:

*In Atlanta, Georgia, check out the Riverfest Music and Arts Festival.  The Festival includes music, art, food, beer and wine, with activities for children of all ages.  Some of the performers will be Jimmy Hall of Wet Willie, with Drippin’ Wet and special guest Diane Durrett, The New David Decker Band, Jeff Robinson and the Barry Richman Band, The Bobby Martin Band, Danny Mote Band, Wasted Potential Brass Band, Geisha Hit Squad, and the Bolton Owl Orchestra.  It will be a long day of festivities at Argos Atlanta, lasting from noon to 10 pm.

*Center on Halsted’s Human First Gala will take place in Chicago, Illinois at Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.  Comedienne Wanda Sykes and singer Linda Eder will headline the event. The Human First Gala honors important contributions to Chicago’s LGBT community.  The reception and silent auction begin at 6:00 pm.

*In Charleston, South Carolina Dangermuffin will be playing at the Music Farm at 8:00 pm.  Dangermuffin was recently featured on BalconyTV Charleston.

*Jane’s Addiction is going to be playing at Bass Concert Hall in Austin, Texas.  The show begins at 8:30 pm!

Sunday, May 13th:

*Spiritualized will be playing at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, Georgia.  Doors open at 7 pm and the show will begin at 8:00.

*Drake will be performing at the Comfort Denial Ampitheatre in Denver, Colorado. It begins at 6:30 pm.

*Austin Symphonic Band will be performing an outdoor concert series at Zilker Hillside Theater in Austin, Texas.  They will be performing favorites including marches and show tunes.

T. Champagne, The Music Initiative’s Emerging Artist, sat down with Kyle to tell us a little bit about how he feels about the Blues. Although T. Champagne’s music doesn’t reflect the sounds of the blues, he has a clear understanding of where it all comes from, because after all, it’s not about the type of the music that’s made, but how the music is made.  T. Champagne told TMI that “the blues is the foundation of modern rock ‘n’ roll.  The blues is where it all started…The blues is about someone’s sad, rainy day, but it’s perceived as such a beautiful thing.”

Of course, T. Champagne had plenty more to say…to read more of the interview check out the Blues Issue below. 

Also check out T. Champagne performing on BalconyTV Charleston!

Hey all! Head on over to BalconyTV Charleston to check out Dangermuffin on BalconyTV! Their new Album Olly Oxen Free comes out this month!