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Festival Fever! Wake Forest, Tarboro, Cary, Troy and MORE!!!

Well, I gotta say, the band is BIZZZZAY right now. It started at the beginning of May and we’ve been playing 3 times a week since! I can’t believe I can still talk much less sing. There have been ZERO Southern Soul gigs but the beach thing is blossoming. I’m just going to touch on the biggest ones. You can go to my Schedule Page to see the rest.

The first one is Downtown Live in Tarboro NC. Let me show you the flyer for this one. Then we will discuss…

Thousands of people attend this series every year. Take a look at the bands that are participating. Can you say LEGENDS??? The only thing that MAY throw a monkey wrench in it is that The Embers are playing in Wilson, literally 15 miles away on the same day, at the same time! 😦 BUT, they were just in Nashville, another close town, last weekend so hopefully folks will give me a shot.

Another added bonus is that I have a radio interview with my buddy Gene Coker, host of Carolina Beach and Southern Soul on WCPS radio 760AM and 96.3FM on Wednesday, May 17, at 5:00pm the day before the show. He’s going to spin a few of my tunes and it’s gonna be GREAT publicity for the Tarboro show.

Next in line is the Pimento Cheese Festival in Cary, NC! I have never been but I have actually watched our local PBS Channel when they featured this festival! Apparently there’s a lot of craziness that happens such as cheese carving… Who knew pimento cheese was so popular? This festival is only for one day and according to my agent, thousands of people attend this as well. Let’s go!

NOW THE PIECE DE RESISTANCE…. TOWNSTAGE TROY, NC

THIS IS NOT A GAME!!! Look at all the legends they have on this series! It’s like, did they mean to book me??? Band of Oz, The Embers, Gary Lowder and Smokin’ Hot, Jim Quick and Coastline and soooo many other awesome bands. This lineup really reads like a Who’s Who of Beach Music and little old me will be there….

That is just about all I want to write this evening. I have to get some much needed rest! I gigged Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and I had rehearsal last night on Monday. Like I said BIZZZZAY! I hope to see you at some of my shows. If you come, please come and say hi during breaks or at the end of the show! I really enjoy getting to know new folks and possibly gaining new fans. See y’all on the road. 🙂

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They Haven’t Met Me

Tonight I was rereading some parts of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. I needed some encouragement so I normally pick up one of my many self-help books to get my mojo back. The first two chapters of the book talk about how you must have a BURNING DESIRE to achieve a goal in order for the goal to become reality. That started me thinking about myself.

I started out as a teenager in my father’s band, Electric Image, over three decades ago. This is me and some of the band members with my mom. I cannot tell you what year this is! 🙂 R.I.P Donald “Bird” Bryant and my mother Joyce Vick…

Back then I was a nervous kid who didn’t trust her own ability but I always knew I wanted to be on stage. I hadn’t been on stage in that capacity before so my stage presence sucked and my voice was very green. Needless to say, I didn’t feel very good about myself. I was in that band until I was about 30. During that time, of course I got a lot better but I still didn’t really trust myself.

It wasn’t until I was about 35 that I joined another local band called Rhythm Express. Here’s a flashback…

I became close friends with the bass player in that band. He stopped and looked at me one day and said “What are you doing? Why are you in this band? You should have your own!” And he repeated it so often that I started to believe it. Eventually, he and I left that band and started mine together. I was about 39 by then and had finally begun to believe that I had the talent and the business savvy to pull something like this off. TOOK LONG ENOUGH! This was around 2015….

I decided to make a CD. Along with that same bass player, we created a 10 song really roughly produced CD called “Can’t Stop Me”. I did it myself but I’m not a music engineer. But, it was decent enough to get folks to listen to it so I set out to perform my originals and some covers live. I hit the Southern Soul circuit first but was encouraged by my good friend DJ Heavy, that I should go for Beach Music too, although he was booking me for Southern Soul gigs at the time. They are very similar so I thought, what the hell?

Obviously, since I was just starting out, these were very lean times! I decided to quit my job and focus solely on music. When I say I was broke… I WAS BROKE! I couldn’t really afford to keep good musicians because I couldn’t pay what they wanted. We did catch a break once when East Coast Entertainment took us on and gave us a gig. I thought “Finally, we can make some money.” Well, that quickly went south when three of my musicians didn’t show up for that gig. East Coast dropped us immediately and I was never given another shot.

Man, did I want to quit! But something told me I couldn’t do that. I just couldn’t. So, I kept rolling and got a couple gigs at Deckerz down in North Myrtle Beach, where the Beach Music scene is huge. Somewhere along the way, I ran into Mr. Neal “Soul Dog” Furr. He was an extremely popular DJ down in NMB who somehow took a liking to me. He said I reminded him of a younger Ms. Jody! (This wasn’t the last time I would hear that.) He started playing some of my songs on his show. Here we are…

Neal Furr and Miss Mini at the CBMA 2016

He invited me down to the Carolina Beach Music Awards in 2016, stuck an artist tag around my neck and acted as my tour guide in North Myrtle Beach. He took me around to meet more musicians, and I was allowed to do guest spots at Deckerz and the Spanish Galleon. I was allowed backstage at the awards and everything! It was great! Here’s me at the Galleon! If you want to see more images from that trip, head over to my Photos.

In talking to him one day I explained my goal to be one of the most popular bands in Beach Music. He said, “Beach bands with female leads don’t usually do too well.” I said, “They haven’t met me.” He smiled and said, “That’s true!” R.I.P. Neal Furr. You are missed.

That has been my mantra from that day forward. If anyone tells me what I can’t do in this business….THEY HAVEN’T MET ME! I went from doing free gigs whenever someone gave me a shot and losing musicians left and right to being choosy about what gigs I want to take now and having a wonderful group of musicians that have become like family.

I am so thankful for the journey and all of the experiences I’ve had. Seven years out here on my own and I’ve been nominated for a few awards in Southern Soul and my fan base is growing every day on both sides, BUT it’s not over yet. My goal is STILL to be at the TOP of both Beach Music AND Southern Soul.

There are venues that I have yet to play. There is still more money to be made. (Doing OK but there is still A LOT of room for improvement!) I know that to get where I want to be that I cannot stop. I will not stop. I guess you could say I have a BURNING DESIRE.

That is my two cents for today. Thanks for reading y’all and keep on listening…. Until next time…. And who knows when that will be?

My Favorite Bands in North Carolina

What’s going on, everybody? Hey, I’ve been cruising along still gigging when I can and still going through the motions but it looks like it has paid off at least a little. My band was recently featured on WRAL Out and About as THE R&B band you should hear in the Raleigh, NC area! I didn’t know why there was a huge spike in my website traffic until I clicked the source. If you want to read the article, click the pic. There are bands of different genres mentioned in the article as well. You may want to check out some of those if you’re in the area.

We’ve been playing a lot recently in Raleigh, NC with monthly gigs at the Tin Roof and London Bridge Pub. Those have been fun but I’m going to have to stop doing them. Inflation is a bear and they don’t really pay enough for it to be worth going anymore. I’ll let the younger, hungrier bands have those gigs. I no longer look for exposure so I’ll be alright.

BUT, since I’ve gotten a little shine recently, I’m going to pass along the light! I want to highlight some of the bands in North Carolina that I really like. First, let’s start out with jAndr (pronounced “yonder”). They are a young band in the area that describes themselves as psychedelic, Hip Hot and R&B. I happen to be a little biased because this band and I share a couple of musicians! We share a keyboard player, Santel Reid. We also share a drummer, Anthony Ward, aka Eclectic Animal. He really has a lot going on with sponsorships and interviews and all kinds of other good stuff but we would be here all day if I go into that. Just go follow his Instagram. @ianimal_23

Back to the subject, which is My Favorite Bands in North Carolina, jAndr in particular… The musicians are super talented and they just have a really cool vibe that makes you want to be a part if it! Don’t believe me, check out their cover of Zombie by the Cranberries!

Next up in the list of my favorite bands in North Carolina, SUMTHIN 4 THA PEOPLE out of Durham, NC. Now, this one is something serious. See, I grew up in the 90’s when boy bands were a thing and the R&B music was smooth and sexy. These guys bring ALL of that back for me! If you love groups like Jodeci, Jagged Edge, Silk, Boyz II Men, New Edition, etc., you will LOVE this band! Check out their cover of Can You Stand the Rain by New Edition!

They also like to bring a little church quartet flavor to their gigs. Now, that usually is not my kind of thing but somehow, they make me like it… Yeah, you and I both know why but (in my Little Richard voice) SHUT UP! 😜

Last, but certainly not least of my favorite bands in North Carolina is CRUCIAL FIYA! This is a Reggae band and I’ve always been a huge fan of the genre. These guys keep it pretty traditional with a lot of Bob Marley and roots reggae type stuff. They do mix in a bit of R&B and Rock but they give it a Caribbean flavor. I follow these guys as much as I can but when you are also a musician, catching other acts is hard because you are likely performing the same dates they are. These guys never disappoint and by taking my son to see them, he’s become a fan too! Watch them perform an original “Music High” below.

Of course, it goes without saying that my band is my absolute favorite! Depending on which side of the fence we’re on, we could be Miss Mini and the Sandman Band for beach gigs or just Miss Mini for Southern Soul but either way, we still kick ass!! Check out our videos on my website and you’ll see what I mean. I’m not going to post one here because again, I want the other bands to shine a bit!

I never know who might come across my blog so if this is your introduction to me, WELCOME! You can read a little more about me, Miss Mini, HERE. I hope you will subscribe so that you can keep reading my posts. AND if you need a great band for your event, give me a holler at missminimusic@gmail.com! Also, you can follow me on Instagram @officialmissmini Find me on Facebook and YouTube Bye for now and keep listening!

Big Wheel Keep On Turning

Man, it’s been a year since I did this! I don’t even know if I still have readers but here we are. I think the last one I did, I said I wanted to have a new CD done by this time. Well, that did not happen. I had lofty goals then too! Check out my last post.

Let me explain… I have the songs that I need to do my new CD BUT turns out that I need to do my first CD over again. I need to do that because my now producer took my CD to one of the execs at Malaco Records and in his words “He went crazy.” He loved it. All I have to do is complete the new version and there is a good chance that I could be signed to their record label!

I totally get that. I did produce the first one myself and I am not a trained engineer. But it was exciting that they were interested. It’s been slow going though. I started redoing it around February. I’ve only had two or three studio sessions so far and I’m starting to wonder if I will ever finish. Well, no. I HAVE to finish. It could be a really big opportunity for me so I have to get this done.

If you have never heard of Malaco Records, they are home to a lot of Gospel greats but also a lot of blues and R&B greats. They had the late Tyrone Davis, Mel Waiters, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Marvin Sease. They have David Brinston, Bobby Rush, Vick Allen and Willie Clayton. They are also the home to the late Big Cynthia, Denise LaSalle and Dorothy Moore. So, currently they do not have any female Southern Soul artists to promote.

I COULD BE HER… Now you see why I gotta finish it! This is pretty much all that’s happening right now on the Southern Soul side. I’ve got a couple of tentative bookings for the summer but nothing in stone yet. When they are firm bookings, I’ll update the Schedule so you can see them!

But, I’ve been staying relatively busy. The Tin Roof in Raleigh, NC has us on a monthly rotation. We snapped a few pics last time we were there. I like these the most.

While performing at the Tin Roof, of course the audience loved us and someone put me in touch with a promoter that books bands for the clubs in Raleigh and the surrounding area that have live music. I put together a crude little video of snippets of us performing. All of it was shot on a phone but it showed what we do pretty well. She loved it and has already started booking us! If you’ve got an extra 20 minutes, check it out.

I’m also just being introduced to a place in Portsmouth, VA called Roger Browns Restaurant and Sports Bar. We’re performing there on the May 20th. So yeah, everything is still moving along. It’s going much slower than I would like but I have to trust that everything happens when it’s supposed to.

BIG CHANGE… I have decided to do some local theater. It is stressing me the hell out and stretching me very thin BUT I’m committed to it and I think it will be a great experience. I’ve already met some great people and I’m looking forward to the show. The production is a musical based on Motown. It’s called the Motown Revue and is being put on by Vision Community Theater Group, Inc.

It is a non-profit theater group in Wilson, NC. I heard about it first through my drummer because he has agreed to be the drummer for the production. Then, I did a Karaoke night in Wilson and exchanged numbers with a lady, not knowing that she was a part of the theater group. When auditions for the play came around, she called me and asked me to come and audition. I did and the rest is history.

I’ve been assigned the lead on Heatwave by Martha and the Vandellas AND If I Were Your Woman by Gladys Knight and the Pips! I’m also doing background on seven other songs and having to learn choreography for AT LEAST 5 numbers. We rehearse 3 nights a week! It’s a beast but I’ll make it!

The show is Saturday, June 25th at the Edna Boykin Cultural Center in Wilson, NC at 7:00pm.

Therefore, between work, my band, the theater and my family, I have ZERO time for me! That’s OK though. I am best when I’m busy. No time for the anxiety monster to creep in and he needs to be kept at bay! I won’t take up any more of your time today. AND I need to go over some things for Motown rehearsal tonight. Bye y’all!

Back to Life… Back to Reality

MAN!!! It’s been two years since I wrote a post! All that’s happened is just really astounding. Not with my music career or anything… That shit is pretty much back to square one. With COVID-19 just barely loosening it’s grip I’m just now able to start doing gigs again. I have also realized that I need to record some new music. Good thing is, I’ve got possibilities coming from all over the place so I’m looking forward to getting work!

I actually had a 9-5 job for the last couple years. I gave that shit up last month. Regular jobs are just not something I’m cut out for. Luckily, with the stimulus money I am OK financially for a bit. I also still do some freelancing to make ends meet. I just can’t commit 40 hours of my week to a job when there is so much more I need to do now. I’ve made a promise to myself to finish another CD before 2022. It is now May 23 and I have recorded not one new song.

Anyway, lets talk about my next gig. It’s in Emporia VA with Big G, Hardway Connection and J. Red. Here’s the flyer.

Needless to say, it’s been hell trying to get the band back in shape. BUT everyone seems enthused to get back out there. I still don’t like having to manage this side of it. I haven’t been able to find a good manager yet so here I am. And since I’ve had a couple of bad experiences, I’m a bit of a control freak now so I don’t even know if I can have a manager. Scratch that, I can but they have to be a good one. If this show goes like I think it will, it should open up more gigs.

At least I can still use East Coast Entertainment as my booking agent. I’m still on the website so yeah…. They probably won’t be calling me for any gigs but that’s a whole other LONG story. No worries though. I’m going to focus on recording so if I don’t get that many gigs right now it’s cool. I’m not going to put the cart before the horse this time and try to get gigs without any music out there. I have to let the music drive the gigs.

I’m also going to call in a few favors. I’ve been told by so many in the business that they would do this and that for me. I know that’s just what happens. People make all kinds of promises to you and do NONE of what they said. I will be reminding some of them what they promised and do my best to collect. It may not result in anything but if it does, that would be great.

I just looked around on Facebook today for how the ticket sales for the show are going and it’s insane! I was only going to take 50 CDs to sell but it looks like I need more. I’ll be pressing those this weekend. I used Discmakers for the first 50 but I don’t have the cash for a re-print from them so I’m gonna do it myself. OK, this has become just rambling now so I’m going to end it. I hope to see you out on the road. Be sure to come find me and say hello if we run into each other!

New Year, New…..Everything!

Heeeeyy!!! Happy New Year ya’ll!!! I’m very excited about this year. Why? You may ask. Well, I’m doing some stuff I haven’t done before and I’m anxious to see how it plays out. On both the Southern Soul and Beach side, I’ve got stuff planned. Let’s jump right in shall we?

First, let’s talk about the beach side. I’ve FINALLY managed to create a promo video for the band. It was quite difficult to get everyone to agree on a date to film. And when everyone finally agreed to a date, the guy who was supposed to film it was out of town. My trumpet player also decided to quit me. That was a huge bummer. It came as a complete surprise and hurt my feelings a bit. I couldn’t let any of that stop me though.

If you know me, you know I will find a way to get something that I want. I decided to film it myself. I went down to Trade It and bought myself a camera and a tripod. I had been studying other bands videos so I kinda knew what I wanted to see and hear. I set that bad boy up and filmed it! I bought some decent video editing software and used it to edit the video. Although the video quality could have been better, it sounds amazing because my guys are AWESOME and the editing is pretty good. Here it is.

I felt the need to film it because (and here comes the new ideas part) I wanted to submit the video to East Coast Entertainment. I want to work consistently this year and they are the agency that can do that for me. I got the name of one of the agents from Lamar Brace, leader of Diverse Groove Band and upcoming southern soul artist. His band is booked through East Coast. He’s on J. Red’s Soul Mop label and J. Red and I have that song together…If you missed it, here ya go!

I called the guy up and told him that I was referred by Lamar. He seemed happy about that. I told him about the video and that I had submitted an application on line. He said he would intercept that and get back to me. He gave me his email address to send the video to him and I did. A week went by and I hadn’t heard anything so I emailed him again. He told me that he forwarded it to his colleague in Raleigh because they are much closer to me. He also wanted details about my next gig so he could send that to the guy as well.

He wouldn’t give me a contact name. He just told me the guy in Raleigh would contact me. I haven’t heard anything yet. BUT I have a sneaking suspicion that an agent will be at my next gig…. I really hope so. I don’t have another gig for a good while. Made some bad business decisions last year that lead to it but that’s water under the bridge or over the dam or whatever. I don’t live back there. I live here, in the present. Oh, here is the flyer for the show.

moose lodge 0126

If this doesn’t work out, there is a plan B. Although the loss of my horn player hurt me personally, it may have been advantageous from a business perspective. How? Well, last year I thought about maybe taking the band to play on a cruise ship. The booking agency didn’t want us because in my previous videos we had one too many members. There were seven of us and the max they wanted was six. Well, in the video I just finished there are six. I’m doing another application for that too. I would really LOVE for my backyard to be somewhere tropical for about 4 months out of the year. I’ve mentioned it to the guys and it seems like they would be willing to go! Either way, we’re working this year!!!

Now, for the Southern Soul side…I’ve decided to flood the market with my music. I plan to release quite a bit of music this year. I already have quite a few of them already written. I’m excited about these too! They are good if I do say so myself. I’m hoping that they do so well that the demand for me also grows on this side. I wanna tell you more about my first release. BUT it’s gotta be a surprise. I’ll release it in February and I think it’s gonna do well. I had plans to do another album and I will. But I think I’m just gonna release a boat load of singles until I have enough to put them on an album. That releases me from the pressure of a deadline to have it done.

Crazy thing is I never know what my music is doing. I just got a message from a guy on YouTube the other day about my song “Can’t Stop Me”. He said it plays every Saturday in Columbia South Carolina on 103.1 FM! I have always liked this song but it didn’t seem to go over as well with the public as some of the other tunes on the album. This is one of the songs that I’m gonna do over and release it again but it’s nice that they like it down there!

I do have plans to release some Beach Music tunes as well. I just don’t have a huge network of beach music DJs like I do with Southern Soul. I have to work on that. I REALLY love both sides of it. It’s like two sides of the same coin. I wouldn’t trade one for the other. The beach side brings a bit of nostalgia for me. It’s how I grew up in music. Going out and playing in a band on weekends for an entire evening and watching the people dance and have a good time. That’s home for me.

Southern Soul is also near and dear to me because it brings back memories of my grandfather’s juke joint. That was the only place where you could hear these songs. Somehow they were only on that juke box! The songs didn’t play on the radio but somehow they were popular anyway.

Oh and speaking of nostalgia…. I can hardly believe this myself but the manager and sax player from the band I was in as a kid, Electric Image, will be playing on my next gig! That’s right. James Parker himself will be on stage with me in MY band. It’s funny how things come around. He was soooo hard on me back then. But I see the value in it now and I’m exceedingly grateful to him for it. I wouldn’t be here now if not for him. I’m excited to be on stage with him again.

Well, that’s about it folks. Again, thank you for reading my rants and if you have friends that you think might enjoy them, tell ‘em to subscribe. This year, I’m also going to post more… It’s kind of like a journal for me. I think I need to do it. It helps to clear my mind. Lord knows I need that! As always, keep listening.

Lakefest and Other Stuff

Hello, hello…. Let’s jump right, in shall we? I haven’t been doing any shows for the last couple of months. The last thing I did was Lakefest in Clarksville, VA. That was July.

Lakefest

Obviously, it’s now September. Since I wasn’t so busy, I decided to take a small respite to work on recording and wouldn’t you know…My equipment broke down!

I think I may almost have it up and running again so hopefully, I can get something else out soon. Again, it will be updated versions of my old stuff that never got heard like it should have. Anyway, I’ll let you know some of what’s going on.

Will you really?

I have always been a person to give everyone a chance. Even though it rarely ever pans out for me, I keep doing it. If you tell me that you will do something, I take it on your word that you will.

BUT 95% of the time, when someone says they will do something, they don’t. I just wish I had a dime for every time promises were made to me and broken in this music thing. I’d be a millionaire many times over. I’m not too frustrated though.

I’ve learned to not have expectations. That way, if they do nothing, nothing changes. But if they actually DO what they said, it’s a wonderful surprise.

Live and learn

What I’ve learned is that I gotta rely on myself. I can’t have anyone to handle my business except me. I can’t rely on help from any one. I’ve lost so much this year by letting go of my control. I’m taking that back.

Doing all of it myself was stressful but at least I always knew what was happening. I can’t say that now. I’ll just have to learn to manage my stress better. I’m ready. I was causing most of my own stress anyway. I have learned to stop doing this.

This isn’t where I want to be. It doesn’t feel right. Hopefully, everything and everyone I left behind will still be there when I’m ready, which will be very soon.

New plans

I have also learned some new business strategies and marketing ideas that I will be implementing soon! I’m excited about the possibilities. I still won’t quit even though it would be very easy to do it. BUT I could NEVER forgive myself if I did. I’ve come too far.

That’s all for now. I don’t want to say too much just yet until everything is in motion. Stay tuned…

Eb & Flow…

Hello everyone! I’m just realizing that I haven’t done this since January. I hope you haven’t completely lost interest but whoever is still hanging in here with me, thank you. There’s just been so much happening and so many changes that I would have probably been posting every week if I told you everything. I don’t even know where to start right now.

Well, I guess I’ll start here. I have over 100 Southern Soul DJ contacts now. Of course I don’t know all these people but I got them in sort of a sneaky way. On Facebook, a popular Southern Soul rapper called Joe Nice made a post about him dropping a new song. And he told DJs to give him their e-mail addresses if they wanted it. The e-mail addresses started pouring in to that post and I took every one of them and added them to my contacts! Shhhhh…. Hell, once they put it out there on FB, it was public information, right? It has come in handy because my music gets out there soooo much quicker now. for example, when I released “Ride” I sent it out and it started charting immediately. What is “Ride”? Glad you asked. Here ya go. Miss Mini featuring Black Zack “Ride”

So, I got an idea from my new “found” contact list. My first album has some REALLY good songs on it but since I only had about 5-6 DJ contacts back then, not many people have heard them. Now that I have so many contacts, I’ll be sending that stuff out again. I gotta re-engineer them first because the production was not so good at the time. I was an amateur then. I know a bit more now so it won’t take long to make them sound really good. I’ll also be writing new stuff and sending that out too. My plan is to flood the market with Miss Mini until those who don’t know finally have to say “Who is that?” Once they ask that, I’ve got ’em! Oh, I just realized you may not have heard my first project. Here is a link to it. This will give you snippets but you can go to YouTube and hear a lot of them in their entirety. Miss Mini “Can’t Stop Me”

Now on to the business stuff….There has been soooo much turnover in my band in the last few months. I had to end up taking the meet the band page down because I just didn’t know who was gonna leave and who was gonna come. I think I’m just gonna leave it down and keep marketing with the logo because Pressure Point can honestly be anyone. The one constant though is ME! My picture can always be used because I will always be there. It’s really been so hard for me to handle this part that I honestly thought about giving up this whole thing. I wanted to scrap the band and go sing on a cruise ship. Then, the vodka wore off and came back to my senses! But really, I’ve wanted to give up handling the business side of things for a while now. I know I need a manager because my heart is too soft to handle business. I undercharge for shows and I am reluctant to remove musicians even when they are hurting the group. Luckily, I think I may have run into someone who fits the bill. He is now my bass player and has experience with this type of thing. He has traveled all over doing music and wants to do it again and take me with him. Hey, I’m all for that! I haven’t signed anything but it’s looking like I will have decent management very soon.

One thing remains the same, as rocky as it’s been, I STILL REFUSE TO USE DAMN TRACKS!!!! I just won’t do it. Live music is where it’s at for me, now and always. I understand this may slow me down in the Southern Soul game but I’m still gonna do it my way. I just gotta make ’em want me enough to pay for not only me but the band too. Of course, on the beach side, I’m set! Live bands are the norm. Dipping my toes into both pools is interesting though. On Southern Soul gigs, you get MAYBE 45 minutes on a show and you’re done. You get your $$ and you go home. On Beach gigs, you perform for 3-4 hours. You are the entertainment for the evening. I grew up doing this so it doesn’t bother me but the thing is… THE MONEY IS THE SAME!!! Strange but true… and ALL I’ve got on the schedule right now is Beach gigs…. This should change with my market flooding strategy. Anyway, I’ve got some work to do so I better get to it. Thanks and keep listening!

New Year, New Music!

Hey people! I have a new song. It’s not Miss Mini and Pressure Point though. This one is a southern soul song I was working on before there was a Pressure Point! It’s called “Ride” and it features Black Zack. Now, when I came up with the idea for the song, I knew it needed a verse of rap in it. I had no idea who would or could rap on a southern soul record so, I had to consult the experts. My good friend and DJ Dr. Nick, Southern Soul Rumpin’ 2pm to 4pm Saturdays on 89.3 FM Washington DC, ( shameless plug) recommended someone he hadn’t heard from in a while, an actual southern soul rapper named Black Zack. You could have convinced me that the Chupacabras exists before I would have believed in a southern soul rapper BUT there he was. So, I searched for him on Facebook and YouTube and I really liked what I heard.

I contacted him and he was willing to help me out. Now, when I tell you that verse is fire, I mean it’s 4 alarm inferno!

Fire pic

His verse is actually my favorite part of the song. I sent it out to the Southern Soul Djs that I know, which actually aren’t too many. If you happen to know some, share it with them! But first, I guess I need to share it with you! Here ya go! Miss Mini feat. Black Zack “Ride”

It’s only on SoundCloud right now. I haven’t put it anywhere else online yet. I only put it there because I had to have a link to share with you guys. It’s an exclusive! I am working on a new song now though that straddles the fence between Southern Soul and Beach Music. This one will be Miss Mini and Pressure Point. I’m gonna have to figure out just how this album is gonna go. Do I split it with half Miss Mini and half MMPP or do I just do two separate albums??? Decisions, decisions,

Gig updates… MMPP will be at Central Park Tavern 704 Rigsbee Ave. in Durham NC on January, 27th. Show starts @9pm. The other stuff is private so there’s no need to mention it. On the beach front, MMPP has landed a gig at Lakefest in Clarksville VA this year. This is up in lake country by Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston. I have been wanting to break into that market for a while because it is closer to where I live than Myrtle Beach. I love NMB but going there every week would probably not work for everyone in the band! That’s July 20th and the show starts @ 7:00!

I also got a text from Jim Quick this morning saying he was working on booking us for some festivals. That should be exciting. Stay tuned for that! Anyway, I gotta go get ready. I’m expecting some pretty exciting company today. The one who inspired me to go out on my own and do this thing is coming to visit me. I haven’t seen him in about seven months. I’ve missed him terribly. Today will be a good day! Thanks everyone.

Beach and Blues

I’m just now seeing that I have not done a blog post since September. I’m hanging my head in shame. I’m really only doing it now because I borrowed a speaker from James Parker, manager of the band I started out with waaaay back, and he told me that he actually reads these! So, I figure he can’t be the only one. I thank him and you for taking time out to read my posts. I would promise that I will do better but…..

Anyway, I’ve made a couple of staff changes since I last posted. I have a new keyboard player who is absolutely amazing. His name is Brian Pitt and he was actually playing for another local band, who shall remain nameless, when we met. I think I caused a pretty nasty split with him and that band BUT it worked out to my advantage because he’s now mine full-time! Everybody say hi to Brian…
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I also lucked up and got his buddy Brandon Farmer who is one of the best drummers I have ever come across. This is his first secular experience playing music. He has only played in the church before he joined us. So I’m scratching my head like they do this in church? Everybody say hi to Brandon….
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If you want to meet the rest of the band, here ya go Pressure Point

Now, the way that we all came together is so strange and magical that if I still believed in coincidence, I wouldn’t anymore. There is definitely some universal workings going on here. This has been shown to me again with a recent situation that happened which resulted in us getting two big gigs this weekend. Grab a drink and let me tell you this story!

I saw a flyer months ago about a Beach Music and Blues show featuring Pat Cooley, Theodis Ealey, Jim Quick and Coastline and Clarence Carter. I immediately said to myself “I would love to be on that show.” I made a small attempt to see if I could squeeze in there but when it failed, I wasn’t too phased because I wasn’t even sure if my band and I were ready to share a stage with Clarence Carter. My only interest in the show was Jim Quick and Coastline. He told me a little while ago that he would like to put us in the studio but he wanted to hear us play first. Now, if you know anything about Jim Quick you know he stays on the road. Seeing us live would be next to impossible with the schedule that he has. I figured if I could get on a ticket with him, that problem would be solved. But, we couldn’t get on the show so I let it go.

Fast forward to the week before that show. I get a call early Saturday morning from DJ Heavy, who is hosting that show and he says “You ain’t gon believe this.” Now, you know a story is good when they start off like that. I’m not going to type the whole conversation verbatim but here’s the gist of it. Turns out that Clarence Carter refused to do the show if Pat Cooley was also on the ticket. Apparently there was some situation that went down between the two of them a long time ago and he is still sore about how it turned out. Being that Clarence Carter is the headliner, they couldn’t allow him to just back out. So…..Bingo, Bango, Pat Cooley is out and I’M IN!!! Now, if that’s not divine intervention, I don’t know what is. I now have the perfect band for the job, Jim gets to see us perform and I get to share a stage with the legendary Clarence Carter….It doesn’t get much better than this folks. Oh, and as an added bonus, there is also a show in Yanceyville the following day that I picked up too. Here are the flyers.

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I’ve been trying not to let myself get too carried away because I may strip naked and run down the street from sheer happiness but I do understand what this means for me. It appears that I am actually getting what I asked for. I wanted my band and I to get so busy that we no longer needed regular jobs to make ends meet. This could very well be the start of that. All of the sacrifices are starting to pay off. Grateful doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling right now. Next year is gonna be a BEAST!!!

With that, I bid you farewell until my lazy behind decides to do another post! MMPPCP