Taylor Hicks ~~ victories...

Funny how something wends its way into our lives. Before we realize it, we are engaged and obsessed.

Mr. Twitter USA was a “little” contest, but there was Taylor Hicks on the first page. The Top Twenty would put him on the “Tweeter Wall.”

The Soul Patrol knows how to vote. Top Twenty was a short vote away.

Funny how we always want something more. The Top Ten seemed doable. No. 1 was a bit of a stretch, but then No. 2 was doable. Taylor finished No. 3 in Mr. Twitter USA competition.

Those in the Tweeter Wall suits knew a good thing when they saw it—one more “ultimate” worldwide competition. WORLD-WIDE—the planet! Taylor was automatically entered and was again on the first page.

Funny about a challenge. It takes on a life of its own and compels us to take up the fight—one victory at a time, one competitor at a time. The Top Twenty was doable—again. It was a short vote away.

We manned the voting button, and our resident researcher checked out the competition. We learned about Celtic Thunder and the Green Eyed guy. We hoped that they were checking out Taylor Hicks like we were researching them.

We tweeted and rallied. And The Soul Patrol found common ground on which to support Taylor—and they were doing it on a worldwide stage!

Funny about victories. They can’t always be seen in the final tally. In whatever ranking Taylor finishes, perhaps the greatest victory is in The Soul Patrol’s coming together for a common purpose.

Taylor Hicks~~The Ultimate World Mr. Twitterer? If I were in his fancy boots, I would feel like a winner wherever I finished. I think he will.

Funny how we show our love. At this writing, Taylor is No. 11 and has more cute little red Tweeterlove hearts than anyone else—180. On Thursday night, he tweeted his thanks for our votes.

IT’S NOT OVER… Vote this weekend and until Wednesday when the contest closes. Use our Easy Button above or this link:

http://tweeterwall.mallplace.com/tw/worldwide/ultimate-world-mr-twitter

Show the love.

Who knows what The Soul Patrol can do?

Together.

Photo courtesy of 4tay, Smith's Olde Bar, Atlanta 8.16.09

Taylor Hicks ~~ the chant in the stadium

Taylor Hicks makes the music, we make the chant.

The world talks on twitter. It’s a place for Who’s Who in the World and for Who’s Who down the street from you.

Social networking on twitter is a global community and a world forum. Bob Lefsetz, a widely read writer and blogger about the music industry, recently wrote about the relevancy of social networking:

“The power of social networking sites are in the PEOPLE that comprise it. From a marketing standpoint, twitter is best viewed as the ultimate in word-of-mouth amplifiers.”

He posted this “Email of the Day” in which Chris Schetter described the power in social networking like a chant.

“Twitter, in this sense, can be condensed to a stadium full of people. Most everyone's yelling something, and as a whole it's an incomprehensible wash of noise. Every once in a while, someone will start a chant...others pick it up and it grows...maybe to the point where it's audible over the rest of the noise to a good portion of the stadium, causing other people to take notice of something they otherwise might have missed.”

Lefsetz also has advice for the artist:

“Don’t lose touch…If you're a musician, focus on music. Sure, make it available, get your fans excited about it, but no matter how much you talk about it, it's not as powerful as actually listening to it. Don't forget, Led Zeppelin got lousy reviews. But the public spread the word, the public loved Led Zeppelin. If you release music the public loves, the public will spread the word, you don't even have to.”

Taylor Hicks is staying in touch. He was in touch Sunday night at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta in an intense performance of music from his latest album, The Distance. Every time he visits a local club, sits in with a band, or jams with the best, he is staying in touch with his music. He listens to it, he makes it. It is that powerful focus from which he doesn’t stray.

This is where the fans come in.

The Taylor Hicks Team is starting the chant in the stadium. We want the rest of the stadium and the world to know about Taylor Hicks and his music.

We start it, others pick it up, and it grows.

Follow The Taylor Hicks Team on twitter---takin’ it to the Tweets!

Taylor Hicks will make the music, we will make the chant!

Join the chant…

http://twitter.com/TaylorHicksTeam

Quotes: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

Taylor Hicks~~Atlanta revisited...

Taylor Hicks returns to Atlanta this week.

It was cold in Atlanta even in a wool turtleneck and leather jacket. In March, 2007, spring hadn’t arrived yet. A fast road trip from Nashville, with lunch from a convenience market/gas station, put us in line by mid afternoon.

Whatever you may save on General Admission tickets, you spend for food and drink while waiting in line, and you are very happy to do so. A couple of eating establishments close by were real bonuses. A rock ledge along the sidewalk even gave us seats for the long wait outside The Tabernacle. And it gave us a good vantage point for the tour busses. Taylor Hicks and his entourage had arrived. We had a good position in the line and a good shot at the front row.

Atlanta promised to be good. And it was.

After a five-hour stay in the line and a dangerously mad dash for the front, we were in the second row. It was close enough to never again be satisfied with further back! It was close enough to get fabulous pictures if your camera captured fast moving targets. It was close enough that others wanted your place. That was when “stand your ground” took on a whole new meaning.

It was close enough to see the passion that Taylor Hicks has for his music!

Although it has only been a little over two years, Atlanta seems like a long time ago. What a difference two years makes. What a long road it has been for Taylor and for us. There have been other GA lines—New Orleans where we had dinner in the French Quarter instead of waiting in line and had to settle for places in the back—Tempe, Arizona, hotter than blazes outside in the line before it got hot on stage—and most recently, first in line outside Roxy’s high above LA. We were front row center.

Close enough…

Atlanta was the first and the coldest.

I can still stand for more hours that I thought possible. I can still “stand my ground.”

I can still see the passion that Taylor Hicks has for his music.

Time doesn’t change some things!


“Grease” starring Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel opens tonight at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

Taylor brings his music to Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta Sunday, August 16, at 8:00 p.m.

Go see the passion for yourself!

Tickets for Smith’s Olde Bar:

http://order.ticketalternative.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3ATAUSA%3ATA09%3ATAY0816%3A&linkID=tausa&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode

Photos by San, from Taylor’s Modern Whomp Solo Tour, Atlanta, 3.9.07. (photos originally published in The Soul Connection, May, 2008)

"Grease" DJ is living the dream...

Taylor Hicks is living the dream. So is Dominic Fortuna who plays Vince Fontaine in “Grease.”

Dominic answered questions for TTHC about his career, living the dream, and Taylor Hicks.

The Michigan native who also played along side Taylor in “Grease” on Broadway, was asked what would be his “dream role” in theatre.

“This might sound funny, but it really is Vince Fontaine! And doing the warm-up and everything. I can't imagine anything fitting me so well! I'm living the dream! :)”

Dominic is the welcoming face and voice of “Grease” as the charismatic DJ who warms up the theatre crowds and then steps into the role of DJ for the Rydell High School prom. With a strong, dramatic voice mimicking the recording artists of the era, he brightens up the theatre before the lights go down. You would swear you were in the back seat listening to the Top Twenty! Even his instructions to turn off all listening devices are entertaining!

Dominic is friendly and personable off stage, and is so much the character that he plays, it is hard not to call him “Vince.” He attended Taylor’s show at Roxy’s and told fans afterwards that it was “great.”

Read more about Dominic’s other musical ventures, his entertainment idols, how he relaxes, and what it’s like to work with Taylor Hicks.

What is his review of Taylor’s music outside of “Grease”?

Check out the interview with Dominic on our TTHC discussion board:

http://taylorconnections.com/topic/2098274/1/

Photo courtesy of broadwayworld.com

Taylor Hicks ~~ "I Live on a Battlefield"

Talk about a dark horse coming on strong!

The visual imagery conjured up by the lyrics of “I Live on a Battlefield” is stunning. But this track from The Distance, by Taylor Hicks, was not a first favorite.

On first listen, “I Live on a Battlefield” has a dark, morose feel from the first dreary drum rolls. Notes are bent all out of shape with “waaaaaahs” from nowhere. It’s a fierce lament of doom, desolation, and devastation…a scene of a vast field strewn with junk…a battlefield with sharp, jagged pieces of bygone love. It’s not the usual image of lost love in musical poetry. It is a dark scene.

“My new home is a shattered field…with tears and muddy waters and yes and bits of a broken heart…all around there is desolation, scenes of a devastation of a love been torn apart…

“I live on a battlefield, waaaaaaaaah…live on a battlefield, waaaaaahh.”

The mental pictures of this piece were so striking that they obscured the musical nuances. Like a shadowy dream you can barely remember but can’t put out of your mind, my first impression of this song was all a blur—a field strewn with debris not distinguishable, but sharp, jagged, and hurtful. I couldn’t get beyond it.

Then I saw Taylor Hicks perform the song and started listening to the sounds and not just the lyrics. The music began to grow on me. Taylor does amazing things with his voice—screams and cries, bending notes that tear through the darkness.

Suddenly, this was the song playing over and over in my head!

“I Live on a Battlefield” is a sensory experience. There is a building rhythm and intensity. After lyrics paint the painful images of destroyed love, suddenly the music takes over and takes off with guns blazing. An angry guitar sends pieces of broken heart flying and a pounding piano beat breaks through the smoke and rubble and you feel things coming together. The music fights back—a rocking band in the middle of the battlefield damning the doom. And if the hearts don’t mend, you forget to care. It is rabid revenge in a war of love.

What is touted as the traditional blues song on the album is what sounds like blues lyrics wrapped up in bent out of shape rock vibes! “Battlefield” struggles from cries of devastation to pounding rhythms and sounds that hang together, even if the hearts don’t!

“I Live on a Battlefield” is a dark delight that wends its way into the mind. It is not a song of the heart but of the senses. The sensual assault of the music and Taylor’s powerful vocals bring this song off a dark battlefield and onto a favorites’ playlist!

If you don’t like “I Live on a Battlefield,” give it a few more turns. Taylor Hicks knew what he was doing with this one.

This dark horse is on the track to stay!

“I Live on a Battlefield” is from Taylor’s album, The Distance, out now on Modern Whomp Records.

The music video for the current single release, “Seven Mile Breakdown,” from The Distance is No. 1 on AOL's “Most Viewed” music video list!

Click on our widget above to watch “Seven Mile Breakdown” on AOL.

Photo courtesy of Gabe Ulloa and Spence Nicholson Productions