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I’m just going to go ahead and begin with it – How ’bout them Irish?! Notre Dame is finishing the season at #1 and going to the National Championship! What a crazy, fun season it has been! It’s been great to see this 2012 team be so bonded together and supportive of one another!
Living in Tennessee, all we hear about is SEC, SEC, and some more SEC, so it will be an interesting game whether Alabama or Georgia wins this Saturday… It’s just going to be hard to wait until January 7th for the game. Let’s go ND! (Cue motivational Rudy theme song!)
Also need to give a shout-out to the ND Men’s Basketball team who beat Kentucky last night! I loved seeing the support from Manti and the entire football team, too!
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I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a Tokens Show at the historic Ryman Auditorium the other weekend. It was a nice variety of great music, comedy, and theology. Not too happy about some Catholic jabs (as it is a protestant-based show), but it was good especially since one of my all-time favorite artists, Vince Gill, performed a couple songs! The theme of that night’s show was about coming home, so it was fitting for him to end the show with “Go Rest High On That Mountain”!! The Ryman is where the music video was shot for this song years ago, so it was pretty amazing to hear him live at such a special venue! The only thing missing was the amazing harmony on the chorus, though! If you’re not familiar with the song, you need to check it out now! Close your eyes and listen! You will get goosebumps – guaranteed!
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So… my husband is turning the big 3-0 this coming Monday! I know that 30 is not old, but something about this age just makes you stop and say, “Wow, I’m really an adult now.” I’m only one year behind, so my time is coming soon! I’m so proud of how hard my husband works for our family and what a great father he is to our daughters! I’m very blessed to be married to him. Happy Birthday, Adam! I love you!
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Speaking of Adam working hard for our family, he really has been working his butt off, especially the past few weeks! For example, the guy worked a full shift Friday evening and then worked a double-shift Saturday, slept on the couch at the office overnight (otherwise he only would have gotten 4 hours of sleep at home), and opened the building early at 6:30 am. He then worked another double-shift to cover for a co-worker. Needless to say he was very sleepy Monday morning. Thanks to my mom for offering to watch the girls all day so Adam could get some extra Zzzz’s! Working behind the scenes in the music industry is definitely a service-based job. Plus most days of the week, my husband watches both girls before going to work, so he doesn’t get too much time to rest.
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And just in case you Nashville fans are interested and missed a previous post, Adam works at Soundcheck where several scenes are filmed. He worked there one day when all four of the large rehearsal rooms were being used for the show and he couldn’t believe how many people are involved in production, etc. I have to say that I’m kind of surprised that Adam is hooked on Nashville now. I didn’t think he’d watch it. A recent episode actually featured a song written by someone that he played guitar/sang background for and my cousin toured with as a drummer for awhile – Sean McConnell. Adam recognized his song “Kiss” as soon as Avery started singing it. Oh, and you should check out Sean’s music! He’s had several cuts by major artists, including Rascal Flatts and Tim McGraw. He’s absolutely one of the truest artists and best songwriters Adam and I have ever heard. You will become addicted to his honest, passionate voice!
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Changing it up… Now that our oldest daughter is 3, we’re trying to figure out just how to handle the whole Santa Claus thing. I’m not one to lie, but as a child there is a certain special magic and mystery when it comes to Santa. Adam found a good book called A Special Place for Santa that starts with Santa feeling bad that so many people are focusing on him instead of Jesus. It then discusses a little bit about the history of St. Nicholas and how he evolved into the Santa legend. It’s a nice book. We also had a family friend give us a book last year that is similar but goes into more detail about how different parts of the world have different names for Saint Nicholas and different traditions. Anybody have any stories or tips about how they portray Santa to their children?
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And just since this is so cute and makes me laugh, I have to share a photo of my 3-year-old’s Christmas tree decorating!
Her younger sister has pulled them all off a few times now! Good thing for soft, non-breakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree!!!
Be sure to check out Jen’s and today’s other 7 Quick Takes posts at Conversion Diary!
A Dreamer's Wife 
Anything You Want: Creating an Independent Artist Utopia
5 OctHave you heard of CD Baby? This company sells independent music online and was founded by Derek Sivers in 1998 and, despite his intentions, became a multimillion dollar business. A few months ago, I read his book Anything You Want that detailed what he learned about starting and running a business, etc. His book is not the typical business leadership book – and I loved it! I often find myself coming back to some of the nuggets of wisdom in this short read when making plans and goals for our future, especially in regards to Adam’s music career.
I love that Adam and I can create his own “musician utopia.” There are no “rules” that we have to follow. There is no record label dictating his schedule and how he spends his time. He is not confined to a specific genre and does not have to fit a certain type of mold. Our family can still be a priority and he can write songs about his faith without being confined to the Christian music category box.
Recently, I ran across an old post at Indie Vision Music that asked people what they thought of an article written by artist Gungor on his website, titled “Why the Christian music category shouldn’t exist.” The post brought up some intriguing points and the comments that followed were pretty interesting, as well. I know that categories can be useful, but they can be limiting, as well. Also, it seems odd to me to confine songs about God to a small section of the music industry… Let me know what you think!
A big part of creating our utopia is figuring out how to use Adam’s talents to help others. I love the following quote by Aristotle.
If we focus on how Adam’s music can be used to help others, then I think we will be on the right track. We used to be so consumed with how and when Adam could be a big enough artist to support our family, but now we’re not focused on the money aspect. Money and fame are not motivators for Adam. I, personally, just want Adam to be able to enjoy doing music without putting additional pressure on himself. We are both blessed to have jobs and be able to spend so much time with our daughters. God has provided for us time and again financially and I know that He will continue to do so.
Also, Adam wants to be true to himself and his beliefs and sing about things that matter. He doesn’t like how the music industry panders to a certain demographic. Country music is a perfect example of this. Many (superficial) singles on the radio right now have to do with trucks, dirt roads, and drinking. What happened to the country music of 10 years ago that inspired Adam to move to Nashville? What happened to meaningful songs about love, faith, and family? I like a fun, upbeat song as much as the next person, but seriously, where is the substance? Even Vince Gill, Adam’s musical idol, has commented on this topic.
In addition, while social media has given artists more ways to connect to people than ever before, it also forces one to constantly be promoting and thinking of the next gimmick to get everyone’s attention. From trying to make viral YouTube videos to coming up with a unique merchandise item to sell, it almost seems like there is more effort put into “attention-getters” than the actual music itself.
Of course, doing things on our own is more challenging and time-consuming than if we had a team of professional industry insiders to guide Adam’s musical dreams, but how much would we have to compromise? How would our marriage endure? Would our family suffer? I’m so excited that Adam can release an album (yes, he’s working on a full-length album as opposed to the popular 5-song EP in this radio single-dominated market) full of whatever music he wants. Some songs are upbeat with irresistible melodies. Others are thought-provoking, insightful and inspiring. We are learning how to do new things in order to be creative and professional on our tiny budget. The freedom that we have is definitely worth the extra time.
Welcome to our utopia- where God, family, being real, and figuring out how our dreams can help others rules our ever-expanding little world!
What does your utopia look like?
Tags: Adam Shick, Anything You Want, Aristotle quote, CD Baby, Christian music, country music, Derek Sivers, family, Gungor, independent artist, inspiration, utopia, Vince Gill comment