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!
