Well, this is it, there's just today to go! I just really want to give a shout out to all my friends and family who have been such good sports for the last 6 weeks about seeing my Facebook feed filled with contest info and hearing most of what comes out of my mouth talking about contest info. I imagine its very tiring, I know it is for me. I sometimes feel like a very broken record LOL But seriously THANK YOU ALL from the bottom of my heart, you'll never know what your support means to me.
I look forward to getting back to my normal life and being able to concentrate on the pony, the dogs, the lizards, and my painting in my spare time again. Trust me when I tell you that trying to win a contest of this nature where you are gonna have to put yourself out there to work for votes is nearly a full time job on it's own!
No matter the outcome, I do have a BTE concert in the near future to look forward to- I'll be attending one at The Vogue Theater in Indianapolis in October and am so excited, it will have been about a year since the last time I was able to see them. And due to a dear friend, I will finally have to opportunity to meet the band as she purchased an upgrade package for me as a surprise! It will be my first time in all these years that I will be able to meet them, I can't tell you how awesome this is!
Pretty please, if you haven't already, click on the pic below and just go LIKE the darn photo... and then SHARE or TAG it for good measure :D Give me one last chance to go out with a bang!
Just 1.5 more days roughly and this contest comes to a screeching halt... and who will come out on top? It remains to be seen... We're pretty sure the winner has already claimed his spot- due to having many (bought) votes, he's light-years ahead, but who will take the second place spot? Only time will tell. I won't miss the constant paranoia, though, I can tell you that LOL Always checking to see what the competition is doing is tiring!
To be sure, competing in this contest has evoked a rollercoaster of emotions, pretty much daily. First, the thrill of knowing your photo will be in the official "Crazy Lucky" video (the first 200 submitted, CHECK), then wonder when you start to think about whether or not you could start catching up to those 9 entries ahead of you. Enthusiasm for that job LOL Awe to find your friends behind you 100% and being exceedingly grateful that everyone puts up with your constant blather about it for weeks on end. The up and the downs, the frustration as your competition gains and passes you. The feeling of helplessness as you know you will never pass the guy who bought all those votes, and more frustration as you find the contest management won't do anything about it. Pride as your votes and shares and views rack up. All this and more wrapped up in the last 6 weeks... and it's nearly over. Now let's see if we can keep the momentum going!
When I first rediscovered Better Than Ezra, the next album that came out for me to buy new was "Paper Empire." "Absolutely Still" was the first single we were treated to:
The next single to be released was "Just One Day" and for me, it's a song which stirs up a lot of emotions. Some of them I don't even feel comfortable sharing, but suffice to say, the song is about choices and loss and all sorts of other feelz. As always, what you take away from it varies from person to person, but I get the loss part most clearly and I listened to it often when faced with the loss of a friend's life two years after the song's release. To this day, I always end up in tears by the end of it, no matter how I felt beforehand. I dearly love the song and I use it to try to remind myself to live by making choices that I won't regret. Even writing about it is enough to make me teary.
On a parting note, of course, if you haven't LIKED or SHARED my contest photo, I ask that you just take a little journey over here by clicking on the contest photo below to give it a like or a share. My personal goal is to have 300 shares of the photo before it's done and we are nearly there!
As I was driving home after work and after a stop at my favorite local gumbo joint, Gumbo Ya Ya, I started reflecting upon how I feel about Better Than Ezra's music, about what makes me love them so much.
One thing I have always loved about music is how the songs we we most associate with take us back to memories we may otherwise let slip away. One of the reasons that I connect so strongly with BTE's music is because I seem to find much to remember whenever I listen to them. I sure do have my favorite songs in any of my other beloved bands, but BTE holds the top spot in my heart.
I think any of us from a broken home or having had tough teenage years could listen to the lyrics of "Teenager" and remember the awful time we had during that time in our lives. It certainly hits very close to home for me. "This Time of Year" easily transports us to our first car, our first love, and those crisp days of Fall. "R3wind" reminds of us those awesome mix tapes we used to make of all our favorite songs before we had them all at our fingertips. "At The Stars" brings me back again to those teenage years in Florida, being with someone and begging them not to take me home after being out all night. I wanted to hang on and savor those long summer nights driving down the beach road with someone I cared for and not go back to the storms at home...
It's so easy to find myself lost in those thoughts and memories that BTE's songs dredge up for me, occasionally I find myself in tears when particular songs come on. Sometimes they are good tears, sometimes they are sad tears. But either way, I wouldn't change how I experience their music at all.
I've mentioned before in this blog (see: Scared, Are You?) how hard it can be for me to put myself out there. I've got a bit of social anxiety, people just thought I was extremely shy as a kid, but it seems to be more than that. I've always had trouble with this in life and sometimes working in a retail job with emphasis on customer service, I get really mentally drained before I'm even asking my co-workers to vote for me. I've had to really push the envelope with this contest, really get out there and push the fear of speaking to people to ask them for the favor of voting for me away so that I can get the info out.
Ever since I picked up the compilation release of BTE's "Artifakt" at a show, out of all their back catalog, I resonate most with a little known, beautiful and IMO poignant song called "Wallflower." I've never heard played it at shows and I don't even know the story behind it. I want to *ask* KG the story behind it and I will if I ever get the chance to meet him.
well you're in and out and up and down and halfway in between
you're holly-go-lightly
yeah i heard you played that scene
well you say that you're an actress
and a painter on the side
and you used to read the tarot cards
but you don't like what you find
but i suppose we both know your future anyway
hey hey hey
now do you forget who you are
when you're the last one in the bar
and then morning unfurls
on the wallflower
yeah yeah
wallflower girl
on the wallflower girl
This acoustic version is literally the only version of the song to be found online:
I've decided one place I can be myself without fear of reprisal is in my car. I recently got a new-to-me Mazda Tribute to replace my old wrecked Jeep Cherokee Sport. The Tribute, as a a surprising bonus has a great sound system in it... perfect for listening to Better Than Ezra, of course, in which "Paper Empire" was the first CD to be played in it... and most of the rest of the CDs that have been played in it have been BTE (I did throw in a listen to some Matthew Sweet one day, though). And singing to it, too, and believe me, I *never* sing in public LOL
I lived for several years without even a working stereo in the Jeep because I was always afraid to sink any more money in it than I had to to keep it running "just in case." Turns out I was right not to do so, since it died a slightly premature death. Of course, when the poor old Jeep went to the great big Junkyard in the Sky, it took along a great collection of stickers. Pretty recently I had run across a BTE sticker and had put it on there. Of course, buying the Tribute meant that I needed a new BTE sicker post-haste to put on it! That came in today so before any further ado, the Tribute got it's first sticker and I can proudly show off my BTE love where ever I go- take that social anxiety!
As always, if you like my blog and would like to help me on my quest to finally MEET THE BAND, please do head on over here to #BTECrazyLucky and LIKE my photo, and maybe even share it or tag your friends- only a few days left!!!
I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have not one, not two, but three early official releases of songs on the upcoming Better Than Ezra album scheduled to be out on Sept 9th. And yes, I pre-ordered the album literally the first day we could, I was at a hobby convention and made sure that I got the whole package as soon as I saw that email on my phone LOL
We were treated to "Crazy Lucky" back in the spring and it reminds me much of the songs on "Closer"that I love so much. "Crazy Lucky" is the whole premise of the contest that I keep pushing for votes for ;) Just a couple of weeks go, we got "Gonna Get Better" and I can so relate to that song both in the manner in which is was written, but as a daily mantra to myself. Yesterday heralded the release on Yahoo! of "Undeniable" which is so super catchy that I can't stop listening to it. It also has a little undertone of the song Kevin Griffin co-wrote with Blondie a couple of years ago called "Good Boys" which is a little treat for me as "Good Boys" is on my permanent playlist.See if you can catch it after listening to them both.
And in case you've missed it, they added the new song "Sunflowers" to their live show sets this year, I believe starting with New Orleans JazzFest.
I can't WAIT til this album shows up, I'm so excited to get to listen to it in full!
If you'd like to help me win the most amazing contest, please do take a minute to LIKE and even SHARE or TAG my photo to get your friends and family to help me out. I can't tell you how much all your support so far means to me, but we have 10 days to go and I really want to meet the band that means to much to me <3
Just CLICK on this photo and then LIKE or SHARE or TAG the photo to help me out :) Thanks soooo much everyone!
Over the last few days, my first place in the contest slipped to second, and now today I find that I've slipped to third as the guy who was running third with nearly 900 votes behind me suddenly has votes over 5700... and I'm now 200 votes behind the second place gal.
I'm scared, scared I won't come anywhere close to winning this. I've never even had the chance to meet the band at any of the shows I've gone to and that was what I was most excited about here, I want to have a chance to sit down and talk with these guys, to get to know them. KG and TD seem like such interesting people, aside from my love of their music. They hail from my most beloved city of New Orleans, they play the music that just seems to meld everything I love about a band, they sing lyrics I can relate to, they do good works... what's not to love?
This contest has made me step outside my comfort zone in a big way. I'm one of the quiet ones, an introvert. I like to people watch when I'm in a crowd and unless you get me engaged in a conversation about something I'm crazy about, I might be a little reserved with you until you get to know me. There's a touch of social anxiety, here, too, I hate to put myself out there because I feel like people are gonna judge me, and here I am essentially shouting from the rooftops "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT WHAT I WORE! LOOK AT WHAT I DID!" It's harder than you might imagine LOL
And here it might all be for naught... I know I won't be the only disappointed person if this is the eventual finish. But we've got 18 days, maybe something will change. Gonna keep trying!
Here is, hands down, one of my favorite BTE songs- it's about loving someone through all the good times and bad and remaining together. Wish the quality were a touch better!
As of tonight, the biggest voting milestone so far has been reached- 1500 LIKES/VOTES for my entry in the #BTECrazyLucky contest *whew* Maybe I'll take a couple of days off from kissing babies after this one... nah... no rest for me! Contest doesn't end until August 31st and I've got someone hot on my heels so no stopping here ;)
I can't thank my friends, my husbands friends, my friends friends, my family's friends, and just about everyone else I've come across on the internet for helping me get this far. This is one of the amazing memories that I will keep forever, the support that everyone has shown me <3
Anyways, if you've been reading along with my quest to win the most awesome contest EVAR and you haven't taken a moment to do so, please CLICK on my photo here and go LIKE it on Facebook. It only takes a couple of seconds, and if you're feeling it, a SHARE can help me, too. If you're feeling *really* generous, just take a couple of minutes to tag some of your friends in the comments to come vote for me :)
I do promise if I win anything out of all this, I will certainly continue the blog to let you know how it all goes!
Quite awhile back, my BFF/partner in crime, Heather, asked me what my favorite BTE song was... And I thought for a minute, surely I could pick just one? But instead I replied "Which album?"
I find something to love on each album, even if the overall feel of it isn't quite my groove. Each road trip anywhere always results in a cycling through of all my CDs, singing along with them all and rediscovering favorites I may have missed in my daily life.
I think that we all feel like our favorite band creates a soundtrack to our lives. Part of the beauty of music, like any work of art, is that it's subjective. Many people can listen to the same song and each one can take away a different message or put particular emphasis on a lyric in the song. Better Than Ezra's music is particularly good for that to me. Take the newly released single "Gonna Get Better." Obviously on the outside, it's about a long term relationship which is suffering a bit. I think any of us have probably had the same experience. Myself, while I can certainly read it that way, I can also read it as someone who has a hard time due to health issues and need the reminder that there are still good days to be had. While today and tomorrow and even a whole week may be physically rough on me, eventually it will get better and I'll feel all right for a bit and be able to enjoy life again. Thank goodness for BTE because sometimes I *really* need them when it gets rough.
I feel like I must tell you all about this BTE hoodie I have... I mentioned it in my photo's comments that I wore my BTE hoodie to the parades after our wedding in NOLA. Well, that poor hoodie has been through the wringer and I'm gonna be sad when it finally wears out! It's been worn just about everywhere I ever go, and on every road trip I've taken since it was purchased for me by Eli at the BTE show at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon back in January 2010.
It's inaugural donning was actually done by Eli when we were walking around the entertainment block and down by the river after the show. It was cool and foggy and Eli didn't bring a jacket, of course. We ran into Elvis, BTW ;)
Elvis and Eli duet
It gets taken on all the road trips I go on to the surrounding states for friend and hobby purposes. So most notably, it's been to four states in one day (GA, NC, TN, and KY) with a lot of amazing views in the Smokey Mountains.
...and been on the Appalachian Trail in several spots that same day. I was even wearing it when I got to see a herd of elk in the Smokey Mountains Nat'l Park!
Of course it went to Houma and NOLA with me for the wedding in March 2011, wearing it on the plane (so it spent time at multiple airports in multiple states in one day) and
to the Houma Mardi Gras parades first that week, I know it was present for my first shrimp po'boy! And then on to NOLA after the
wedding for the Krewes of Proteus and Orpheus as our "wedding
reception."
Mardi Gras has struck when even the lampposts are festive :)
Dragon Shotgun with Heather
It's been to zoos and aquariums in several states (Nashville and Cincinnati for sure). It's been hiking at Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge, in Slade, KY.
It's also been on tons of trail rides with my pony to awesome places to ride in Kentucky like Mammoth Cave Nat'l Park and Shaker Village. Chances are, if it was cool enough to need it in the morning when we headed out, then it probably got toted along, resulting in hundreds of trail miles with this hoodie in tow!
Competitive ride
One of the vistas it's "seen" on a trail ride
I wore it to the 2013 Kentucky Derby in which finally going was totally a bucket list thing to do :)
The famed Twin Spires of Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, behind me and my BTE hoodie :)
It even came BACK to me when it was stolen along with some other gear from my car a few years ago. I notified a nearby hotel to the business the Jeep was broken into and a few days later, everything not worth money to the thief was dumped behind the hotel and I got my hoodie back! It was honestly the thing I had been most sad to lose that day.
I was probably wearing it when laying my old Border Collie, Fred, to rest... I was probably wearing it the following week when I found Fred's successor, Griffin, at the local Humane Society. And no, Griff wasn't named for BTE frontman, Kevin Griffin LOL My husband dubbed him Griffin since, as a 7 month old BC pup, Griff had quite a mane of hair!
I was probably wearing it when I sold my horse, and I know I was wearing it when I tried out my soon-to-be new horse, Sully. I was certainly wearing it when I brought Sully home a week later!
Sully's first day home
Gotta say, I don't think many items of clothing see this much wear anymore... it still sees regular wear now, it's my first choice to throw on for those cool mornings in the spring and fall when heading to work at stupid o'clock and to cuddle up in on breaks when I get chilly. I'm sad, though, the elbows are finally wearing out, mostly it's the right side where I used to rest it on the center console of my old Jeep Cherokee Sport when I drove. That Cherokee is now sadly wrecked and gone to the great big junkyard in the sky... But I do hope I'll be able to replace this hoodie soon, I will feel lost when it's finally gone after 4 1/2 years together. So thank you Better Than Ezra for licensing the most favorite item of clothing I've ever owned in my life!
So on Monday morning, Lundi Gras local time, we got dropped off at the rental place by one of the parents on the way to work, we're expecting to grab a car, run back to the house and grab our gear, and be on the road to NOLA. Instead, I was expected to have an excellent credit rating by the car rental place (this has never been an issue before, is this a Louisiana thing?). Well, I don't pass that. Neither does the fella. Nor do J & H who were currently approved for a rather large mortgage. We couldn't get a car! We find that there is another rental car business across a four lane highway so we head over there. Same issue. WTH? We then start scouring the local agencies and manage to call a Ford dealership who will rent to us and were also nice enough to not only pick us up from our current location, but they also allowed us to get the birth certificate faxed *whew* We are running a bit late, but get on the road with no other problems and breathing sighs of relief that disaster had been averted. Yes, of course I spoke too soon... how did you guess?
So we grab some to-go food on the way and are happily driving towards NOLA and are nearly to the top of a tall bridge going over one of the bayous when an accident involving a flatbed toting tractor trailer happens literally just a few cars ahead of us. Yes, really. No one is hurt luckily, everyone was able to stop and I'm not sure what happened, but it ended up jackknifed back on itself and blocking the lanes and add to that, the bridge was narrower than usual due to construction on both sides of it which had the emergency lanes blocked so there was no going around any of it. I explained to the construction workers and police on scene that I was trying to get to my wedding that afternoon in NOLA and I don't know how, but eventually they got that truck moved enough to let us through!
Yes, really.
I was on the phone with the reverend up there, because it became painfully obvious that we probably weren't going to make our initial 1p.m. wedding time. Luckily since it was to be outdoors in a public area, we didn't have to contend with a venue, but we still had to get our marriage license and do it with a faxed copy of Eli's birth certificate which was an added consideration. Using J's smart phone, we had already decided to go by the Algiers courthouse, taking the ferry over once we got to NOLA. We got eventually made our way to a parking area to get on the ferry, but literally could not find a place to park and were stuck in a traffic snarl. In speaking to the reverend again, it turned out that the Algiers Courthouse was closed that day as other clients had tried the same thing and had to go elsewhere when they found it closed. So across the river we went to the Gretna Courthouse we drove! There it was a hurry up and wait situation, the same office that did marriage licenses was also responsible for a slew of other things so we took a number and waited for an hour. Once our number came up, our license was granted and we called the reverend to tell him we were ready. He suggested we just go to City Park since he was already going to be there doing another ceremony and we agreed. So our 1p.m. French Quarter wedding ended up a 4p.m City Park wedding!
So back across the river to City Park we headed, made decent time, even. Found the cafe and we ducked into the restrooms to change into our finery as planned. Met the reverend on a pretty concrete bridge and against the odds stacked against us that week, Eli and I finally tied the knot *whew* The smiles on our faces are smiles of relief that we actually did it!
Laughter, because otherwise tears.
That's what it's about!
So we thought it was all over once the wedding happened. Again, I thought wrong LOL So the cafe closed before we finished up and got all the photos among the live oaks so Heather and I had no place to change. The cleaners refused to let us in, we pleaded with them pitifully, but no dice. Here it is we rolled with it... I found a privacy fenced in area behind the cafe where they put misc. restaurant stuff and the gate wasn't locked so we ducked in there to shuck dresses and get into our jeans and such for parade viewing. During this short but necessary process, one of the cleaners came out and saw us so we just said "well, you wouldn't let us in!" She went back in, but once we left the area, she came back out and locked the gate on us. Good thing we didn't forget anything!
After that, believe it or not, it was smooth sailing, we found a parking spot easily in the FQ a few blocks from the parade route and started our fun trek over there and got a nice spot on the rail for the Krewe of Proteus and Krewe of Orpheus. Seriously, it was a grand time, and even after all the crap that rained down on us, we look back upon it now and laugh and say that we wouldn't have had it any other way :)
St. Louis Cathedral
Krewe of Proteus float
Two of the best partners in crime a gal could ask for- Heather and Jared
A look at Bourbon Street
So maybe now you understand why my contest photo means "Crazy Lucky" to me... it's an embodiment of what it's about- the sheer luck it takes to find someone right for you, and sometimes even to get and keep them. In that, my life is sometimes crazy lucky in the oddest of ways. It is in my husband and kids, in my horses and other pets, in my crazy friends who I sometimes take on adventures and who support me when I need it. You all know who you are, and you're awesome!
So, as I said in my first post that I'm not a lucky person. I'm really not, this isn't a "woe is me" post, it's just the truth in my life as I've learned to live with it. I've learned to (mostly) just cope with it. Sometimes I have my meltdown and get it over with and go on with it.
So when I say that I want to be "crazy lucky" for once in my life, I mean that I want things to go right with me for once. Just please, please, please let me get what I want this time (que up The Smiths, props if you love 'em). So my husband, Eli, and I were against the odds even meeting up in the first place for many reasons. And we beat a lot of odds in staying together for nine years, we even broke up once but within six months were back in each other's arms and married nine months after.
Now that wedding photo of ours deserves some explaining, I think. Those grins on our faces? I swear to you that it was mostly sheer relief that we finally pulled it off! We already had plans to go to Mardi Gras in 2011 with two of our best friends, Heather and Jared. Jared's parents live in Houma, LA and we were gonna go down with them and air mattress surf to have a cheap and fun dream Mardi Gras vacation. And Eli decided to finally ask me to marry him and we decided we'd to it quick and dirty down in NOLA during Mardi Gras... Cause that's how ya do it, right? I was finally gonna get to go to Mardi Gras and get married during it to boot! Seemed easy enough, I found a reverend who did weddings like I wanted which was going to be in the French Quarter, and on the day we wanted which was Lundi Gras (Fat Monday, the day before Fat Tuesday) and it turned out that Jared's mom is an amazing seamstress/costumer and she agreed to make most of mine and Eli's clothing as we wanted a quasi-pirate theme. She got our measurements and started work while I spent the time at home setting everything up and buying a particular bodice I wanted from a seamstress online and she had no problem with my time frame.
Well, the bodice didn't arrive in time so it had to be sent to Houma to await us. At least it showed up on time for that. Our flight, OTOH... we flew out at 6 a.m. and were supposed to land in LA at about noon. Instead on one of our legs, we were routed from Houston to College Station for fog. We sat at College Station for a couple of hours before we finally got to go on to Houston, where of course the airline had no idea what to do with us all! We got stuck sitting in Houston for about six hours on standby, bored out of our skulls. Eventually they put us on a plane bound for Louisiana and we arrived at about 9:30p.m. Meanwhile Jared and Heather and dad had been waiting around for us since, oh NOON, since J & H were scheduled to come in about the same time as us, but from a different state. But we rejoiced that we were finally there, though we'd lost half a day of fun.
Bored in Houston selfie
The next morning, we got up to hang out until it was time for our first parades in Houma and we had a blast despite some rain. Ate great food, got alcohol from the drive up daquiri places, enjoyed the nice weather, etc.
The hubby-to-be
Houma night parades with my bestie!
After a couple of days of that, on Friday we went downtown to pick up the marriage license and find that Eli hadn't brought his birth certificate, but some other form that wouldn't work. Now a judge could have by-passed that issue, but the only one on duty refused to be seen due to it being a long holiday weekend. Mardi Gras for us up north is just a blip on the radar for most folks, but down there, it's serious bizness. Apparently all Eli ever had was this unusable certificate and his mother didn't have it, either, so all we could do was work with his Aunt in his birth city to go to the hospital and get a certified copy to fax to us. Eli busted his butt with his Aunt's help and they got the darn certificate, but it wasn't gonna get faxed to us until Lundi Gras, yes, the day we are getting married! Also, the small town courthouse was going to be closed on Lundi Gras, so no getting our license there. We also needed to leave fairly early that day to get a rental car to drive to New Orleans which was about an hour and a half away. At this point, I'm ready to take the hints the Universe is shoving down my throat and give up on getting married anytime soon, but I reserved the rental car and hoped for the best.
As of this morning, I took over FIRST PLACE!!! I've got some simply amazing friends and family who are SHARING it all over and we got it up there. There is one gal who is rallying and almost into second place and I expect that the second place entry will be hitting back with something big soon. There are less than 100 votes separating us all.
If nothing else, this contest made me realize that I'm CRAZY LUCKY to have such an amazing group of people who have my back and make me feel loved and give me hope that I can actually maybe make this dream come true. Win or lose, I've got that :)
I'm also winning for just one day! Wow! Me winning at something! It's a great feeling LOL
I'm gonna be honest with you... I'm not the luckiest person in the world. I rarely have that kind of luck that others just seem to radiate. I have to work hard for everything I've got, I've never had stuff handed to me. Sometimes I wonder if it's just because I was never one of those cute girls who garner attention or if I just have some bad karma attached to me for something I did in another life. I feel like I'm a good person so I wonder how that could be?
Anyways, I try to just roll with the punches, what else can I do? When all the household cars break down at once or my dog requires stitches because my other dog played too hard and nearly tore his jugular or the typical "when it rains, it pours" feeling really hits from all the crap that seems to fall at once, I just put on some music from my favorite band and let it all wash away. My favorite band? Oh, I'm glad you asked! That would be Better Than Ezra, maybe you've heard of them... or maybe you haven't. But you've heard them, I guarantee it, even if you don't remember it. Hailing from New Orleans, they came out in 1993 with a hit called "Good" from their album "Deluxe," and on their next album, "Friction, Baby," it was "Desperately Wanting." In 2001, we were treated to the album "Closer" and the single "Extra Ordinary," though "Closer" goes down as one of my favorite albums of all time.
In 2005, we got another radio single in "Juicy" which sounds like something entirely not BTE LOL But it's a fun song and it made me sit up and take notice at a band that I honestly hadn't paid attention to for awhile. We also got a new incarnation of "A Lifetime" getting airtime, even though it was formerly released on "Closer." I went back at that point and made up for lost time by buying up every album I'd missed and in that, I somehow joined that group of hardcore BTE fans called Ezralites.
I was finally caught up for the brand new release of the album "Paper Empire" which featured the single "Absolutely Still" which is an amazing song. I also happen to love "Just One Day," in which I find I resonate with the message on that one so very much, but I bet most of us would. Oh heck, I like most every song on that album quite a bit, "I Just Knew" is an amazing romantic song which I know many fans have used at their weddings. I would have had I had a normal wedding ;)
I've chatted on the forum a bit, I've driven hours to shows, I watch all of their crazy blog videos and have all their music videos favorited on YouTube. I seem to be wearing either BTE t-shirts or the BTE sweatshirt my fella bought for me at a show in Nashville in almost every photo taken of me in the last nine years. I have stickered my car and truck, I have a framed art poster, I haunt eBay for old CD singles, I pre-purchase all their new releases, even the vinyl this last time around even though I don't have a turntable, I know darn near every lyric to every song they've ever done, and I think I have a problem...
What do I love about Better Than Ezra? Well, for starters, they are an honestly good band, talented across the board. While they have not garnered the fame of some artists, it's not for lack of trying. These guys have been out there busting their asses touring and making music that anyone can love and sing to for over 20 years. They've had some change ups- a suicide by the first lead guitarist, the first drummer headed out. The second drummer ended up doing double duty as drummer for both BTE and a little band called Sugarland and made the choice to drum for Sugarland full time when it came down to crunch time. But through it all, Better Than Ezra keeps bringing us the music that makes my heart sing.
Live BTE shows are nothing short of extraordinary. Kevin, Tom, Michael, and Jim really know how to throw down a party on the stage. You get more than just the same songs being sung as in a studio, you get impressions and segues and covers and cowbell. You get people asked to come up on stage, I've even seen hula hooping bar waitresses! It's to the point that I buy the NOLA Jazz Fest recordings so I can get the live show experience at home LOL
BTE is so much more than their own band, lead Kevin Griffin has co-written a ton of songs which you've probably also heard and had no idea he was behind them. He's written with Howie Day, Blondie, Sugarland (ever heard a little ditty called "Stuck Like Glue?"), etc, etc, etc. and currently resides near Nashville to be close to that action. The band is also responsible for several charity events and organizations to help underprivileged kids in New Orleans.
Well, anyways, to get the whole point of this little blog, it's to win a contest that Better Than Ezra is putting on to celebrate their new studio album, "All Together Now." The first single is entitled "Crazy Lucky" hence my blog name. I'll let Kevin tell you a little about the contest:
Now tell me that ain't worth trying to win??? Holy cow, I think I was one of the first to send in my photo, of course it was my favorite wedding photo with husband, Eli. We went down to New Orleans in 2011 during Mardi Gras and were married in NOLA's City Park and then went out for parades Orpheus and Proteus (with me in that BTE hoodie again!). It was an amazing time, but of course just getting there had Murphy's Law in overdrive LOL But we got there, it happened, and even before BTE wrote their latest single, "Crazy Lucky," I've always thought that Eli and I finding each other was against the odds... I really don't know how we did it, but we did and in that, found ourselves in each other. As for the rest, my whole unlucky self? Well, I wanna change that, I want to be lucky and work hard to win this contest and I hope I've garnered a bit more attention for it here.
If you like my blog and my little bit of BTE history, you can head over to Facebook and LIKE my photo at this link: #BTECrazyLucky
I'm standing in the top ten, but the top two currently have over 300 and over 400 votes so I really need all the help I can get! If you vote for me and need some help on a contest of yours, please put your contest link in the comments and I'll head over there and return the favor!
Thanks to everyone and go enjoy some good music now that you know what you're missing!
I'll also mention, should I actually get this meet and greet and
everything that goes along with it, I PROMISE you all that I will blog
about it. There will be photos and videos and anything that they let me
get away with!
