Wow. Just wow. I am thrilled beyond measure how everyone stepped up to the plate, went above & beyond the call of duty, and the amazing turnout and vibe we had at the show. 2016 Lexi-Fest Festival was a raging success. Full house, no cancellations, almost stayed on scheduule (haha!), and raised a small chunk of change so we can add some up-grades to the 2017 Lexington Music Awards. I’ll up-date with an exact number soon.
MASSIVE thanx to Thompson Law Office and The Botany Bay for helping make my little vision and huge reality. More to the point, I want to thank my friends Eddy Thompson and Ginny Saville for believing this thing could fly. And then giving it wings.
HUGE thanx also to Dave Medley at WLEX-TV, who called me 2 years ago when no one else did to say he thought the awards idea had legs...and then lived up to his pledge as few are willing or able. And Ange Canessa at Classic Rock 921 WBVX for standing right by me all the way down the pipe. And Rich Copley & Jane Ashley Pace at the Lexington Herald-Leader for all the incredible and incalculable support.
I also want to thank the entire crew - as well as Tommy Walters at Proud Mary BBQ for offering his incredible establishment. That crew includes Chloe Golding and her volunteers from Music Industry Organization from EKU, Richard Easterling of Third Sky Studio on sound/video/audio capture, Marvin Gilbert for the best PA this side of the Mississippi (as well as his honesty, which allows me to improve), Damien McLean & You Can Only Imagine for the graphic design & event photos, Mary Mannis for stepping in as a last-minute volunteer just when we needed it, Heath Hope for his promo machine, Kay Foley & Rich Copley for even more photos, and the folks on-site who jumped in to lend a hand where and when it was needed.
I also want to thank every single musician who performed. Again, the acts were:
2pm - MC opening announcements
2:20 - Logan Smith
2:40 - Red Car Bad Car
3pm - Taylor C. Hughes ***
3:20 - Driftwood Gypsy
3:40 - Rhyan Elizabeth Sinclair ***
4pm - Alan Robinson
4:20 - Huck's Creek
4:40 - Beth Dean ***
5pm - GFYEntertainment ***
5:20 - Gone to the Dogs ***
5:40 - Songbyrds
6pm - Osland/Dailey Jazztet ***
6:20 - Vagabond Fire
6:40 - Paulie Felice ***
7pm - The McLain Family Band ***
7:20 - Lissy Taylor
7:40 - Devine Carama ***
8pm - PointSeven
8:20 - Daisy Helmuth
8:40 - Soljam ***
(the *** denotes Lexington Music Award nominee and/or winner)
I also want to thank thr SDML Biz Crew - including Matthew Florez, Nathan Eisenberg, Marcie Timmerman Mha, @Missy Foley, Paulie Felice, and Jennifer Mae Hurst - for being there months before to bounce ideas around. And my bandmates in Gone to the Dogs drummer Marsha Thomas and bassist Paul Reich for proppinig me up and allowing me to enjoy a few minutes ON the stage rather than just back-stage!
And EVERYONE who attended (and in some cases, tried to attend but couldn’t find parking because the lot and street were FULL).
AND, last but certainly not least, my manager and production partner Angelee Caidyn Feltner. It is no exaggeration when i say we would NOT have pulled it off without her at the wheel!
I’m sure I forgot a dozen or so people. My apologies in advance, though in my defense I haven’t slept much since!
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Which brings us to the LEXINGTON MUSIC AWARDS! Visit our page Lexington Music Awards -LEXI Official or join the group to enter the discussion at Lexington Music Awards - LEXI.
Nominees voting is LIVE right NOW! GO VOTE!
That’s right: YOU vote. Not me. You. So go vote. And tell your friends. And family. And strangers on the street. Blog about it. Share the link.
We’re adding a “Critics’ Choice Award” and “Album of the Year”, plus re-arranging a bit of the 4 sections (insustry, performance, style, and special) in which the individual awards are categorized.....AND we’re adding a professional panel (that rotates annually) to choose a “wild card” addition to each category (to go alongside the popularly voted nominees) AND vote for the Critics’ Choice Award.
As I write this, I’m firming up the proposed line-up, working with our non-profit on up-dating the web-site, and prepping my list of improvements so I can chat with several key people (including our house band, MCs, Lyric Theatre director Donald Mason, and a few more).
I’ll up-date this note (or put in the comments below) when we have the 2017 awards event page ready on FaceBook (and other social media).
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In the interim, we’ll be planning more of the Lexi-Fest Concert Series (including, we hope, a monthly “dance party”, several themed shows, and more multi-artist & multi-genre shows), reaching out to other orgs to expand our current work, and much more....all while we still try to make a living and Angelee books our songwriting & improvisation workshops, school clinics, and acoustic performances around the region (KY. OH, IN, WV, TN primarily), I grab the occassional studio or live gig, continue to teach weekly guitar lessons, and we build our little Skinny Devil Music Lab empire (see Skinny Devil Mobile Recording, Skinny Devil Booking, Skinny Devil Magazine, SDML Academy of Guitar, and our other SD projects).
Please join the group and share any ideas you may have...or message me directly to share/discuss any ideas you may have.
Thanx - and see y’all soon!
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