Sang and signed

What an incredibly busy week last week was…non-stop all the way through Sunday p.m. I know that you all want a report on Brittany’s competition. I do have video, but I haven’t had the chance to download or put it on youtube yet…the quality of the video isn’t that great, though.

Brittany, however, did fantastic. Her performances just keep getting better and better. While the competition didn’t seem to be as good this year as last, there were still some very talented kids performing. It also never fails that I hear some song for the first time during the process of the Mid-South Talent Fair…and then within the next day or so, hear it on the radio.

No sooner did we get back from Brittany’s competition than I had to turn around and head to Jackson for the autograph signing at Van’s Comics. I went earlier Friday than I really had to, but I was able to meet my long-time friend Steven Butler in Jackson for lunch. We spent the next 5 hours hanging out in Shoney’s and catching up. Man, but it doesn’t feel like we were roommates 20 years ago! Steven and I stayed with my other very good friend, Ashley Koostra. Ashley (pictured at right) is also a former roommate of mine. In fact, for 12 whole months in 1989, the three of us were roommates, along with David Rogers. With the exception of having no hair now, Ashley looks no different than he did back then. Steven and I have both added a few pounds since then…but just a few.

After dinner, the three of us sat up at Ashley’s reminiscing about so many things that we lost track of time. He had to work the next morning and Steven and I were slated to be at Van’s at 9:30. I shan’t say at what time we finally hit the sack, but it was later than it should have been!

The next day Steven and I set up at Van’s. I’d never been to Van’s and really didn’t know what to expect of the day. The day was really spearheaded by Andy Childress, a comic creator out of Louisville, MS. Andy’s got a fire lit to promote Mississippi comic talent. His driven energy reminds me much of the old Silverline gang and the reasons it was formed to begin with. Way back then, Steven and I also thought that Mississippi (and surrounding areas) had an incredible wealth of untapped talent. Thus Silverline was born.

Sales-wise/customer-wise, the day was very sad (I often wondered where . It was a beautiful day, but the store had very little foot traffic and therefore we had very few folks to come by and talk to us. The comic creators, however, had a grand time, talking uninhibited about all things comic and geek! It also gave me the opportunity to meet some Mississippi creative talent I’d not met before. I had the chance to snap a few photos during the day, too. Pictured are: Steven Butler (seated) and standing L-R: Andy Childress, Chuck Jett, Shane Sullivan, Kevin Hayman.

Afterwards, bemoaning our lack of sales for the day, we headed next door and grabbed a sandwich and continued to geek out. All in all, a good time was had by all.

I returned home late that night in order to get up the next morning and take Brittany to her first practice for Southern Sounds. They’ll be performing in Jackson soon…more on that in a future blog!

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Singin’ and signin’

For those of you in the Memphis, Tenn. and Jackson, Miss. areas, listen up!

First, the Memphis areas folks: Today, Thursday, October 1, 2009, my incredibly talented daughter Brittany will be competing at the Mid-South Fair Talent Show at the Desoto County Civic Center. While I’m not sure exactly what time she goes on, her registration papers say she’ll be on with the 7:30 p.m. group.

Brittany will be singing Fly On The Wall, a Miley Cyrus song. She’s been singing it all summer long at the various county fairs and has the song down pretty well. What she’s really been trying to work on is the “performance” part of it. Judges in the past have told her she has a good stage presence, she’s hoping she can put them all together tomorrow. It won’t be easy, though. At 14, she is competing in the 13-21 age bracket. Last year was her first year in the Senior division and we were really surprised at how polished some of the older kids were—I mean, some of them were college kids! So she’s been working hard to up her game. Of course, she’s just getting over H1N1 and is still feeling kinda puny. But we think she can bring up enough reserve energy to knock them dead for the 3 minute song!

For those of you in the Jackson area: On Saturday, I’ll be taking part in the Artist Alley day-long autographing in Ridgeland. Spearheaded as a way to promote Mississippi comic book talent, the event will feature about a dozen comic book creators from around the state of Mississippi. I will be there, of course, and my long-time friend Steven Butler will also be there. I’m sure Steven will be doing his usual gig of caricatures throughout the day. Bring your comics to get them autographed or pick them up at the show.

The event has been really promoted and pushed by Andy Childress, a relatively new comic creator out of the Kosciusko area. He produces BubbaWorldComics, so if you enjoy yourself Saturday, be sure to thank him and the store owner, Van.

The show will be held at Van’s Comics in Ridgeland, Miss., and will last from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Don’t be late as I’m sure we’ll be tired as heck and will get out as quickly as possible!