RagsQueen & The Traveling Circus

The Traveling Circus Believes Charity Begins at Home

2011-06-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

The Traveling Circus spent the week-end in Birmingham participating in several charitable events promoting help for those whose lives were affected by the recent tornados. Charity should begin at home by helping our neighbors restore some sense of normalcy to their lives.

As I was driving into Birmingham Saturday afternoon, I was shocked at the devastation I witnessed. I had seen the Tuscaloosa pictures but I didn’t realize that the Birmingham area was also hit during those same storms. Roofs were covered with tarps, trees were ripped apart and littered the area, and one subdivision was completely gone with only foundations remaining. This was why I had come: to help bring relief to the area.

For the admission price of a few canned goods, I would have an almost front row seat to a free concert in Linn Park with music featuring Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard, my two favorite American Idol winners. It was hot Sunday afternoon, and the sun was bright as it looked over City Hall. Armed with two bags full of groceries to help restock the local food banks, my trusty scooter and I headed to find a spot in front of the stage. Billed as One2One, Neighbor Helping Neighbor, the community had the opportunity to come together as one to help those in need, even if they themselves were in need.

At 4:00, only the most astute Taylor fans had taken up residence on the front row; I parked on the second row. Within a few minutes, others began to arrive; Ruben Studdard’s grandmother unfolded her chair next to me. Slowly the crowd began to gather, and by the time the music started, the park was packed with people standing, sitting, or walking about.

Vendors lined the streets beside the park: Full Moon BBQ and Dream Cakes to name a couple that I remember. I was there for the music, not the food and besides, it was way too hot to eat. In between performances of a local flutist and a jazz group from the local School of Art, presentations were made to fire, police and city workers who were first responders to the citizens when the storms passed that fateful day. The people of Birmingham can be proud of these individuals who worked tirelessly to help the survivors even when faced with the loss of their own homes during the storms.

Taylor Hicks and his band were first up since several band members had other engagements later in the evening. Taylor performed such favorites as “Compared to What”, “Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”, “Battlefield”, “What’s Right is Right”, “Seven Mile Breakdown” plus whatever tags he could fit into his almost 45 minute show, such as “Birmingham”! The Soul Patrol cheered on their leader as those who hadn’t seen Taylor before were ready to jump on board with the Traveling Circus! Before finishing his set, Taylor even tried to show the Mayor a few of his dance moves!

Next was Ruben Studdard with his band. Not being familiar with his music, I can’t tell what he sang, but I can tell you, the crowd loved him! At the end of his set, Taylor joined him on stage to sing “Sweet Home Alabama”.

The donations of canned goods totaled close to 3 tons! The concert had been a success, and fans had had the opportunity to see their favorite Idol, be it Taylor, Ruben or both!

While the Traveling Circus was in town to participate in charitable goodwill, it also got the opportunity to hear other Birmingham musicians, such a Rolling in the Hay and Frankie Velvet, as well as sample the fare at Ore, Rogue Tavern and several local BBQ establishments. If you have the opportunity to hear Rick Carter and these bands, please take the time to do…you won’t be disappointed! Monday was a day of rest in preparation for the Tuesday night event for which the Traveling Circus had originally planned to attend.

Tuesday rolled around and we picked up our Bama Rising VIP tickets at the BCJJ will call window. We made plans to arrive later around 6:30 for the before show festivities. It was a good thing I had the scooter because the walk between the hotel and BJCC was quite a hike, especially the route we decided to take. With the heat, we tried to stay inside only to discover there was no way to get to our destination! We retraced our steps and made the trek across the street, down the ramp and across the courtyard.

Many local eateries had furnished food for the pre- and post-show receptions, with different groups serving each time. It was a great way to sample the wares of many fine establishments in the city and for these places to do their part in helping to raise funds to restore their city. Tonight, the evening was about Bama Rising from the storm ruins to once again be home to those residents who had suffered much from the devastating storms.

The lineup was a who’s who in country music, names that were not Alabama natives but who willingly donated their time to the fundraiser. Before the end of the night, over $2 million dollars would be raised!

From Fort Payne, AL, the band Alabama came back together to spearhead the event. Joining Alabama were Rodney Atkins, Dierks Bentley, Bo Bice, Blind Boys of Alabama, Luke Bryan, the Commodores, Sheryl Crow, Sara Evans, Taylor Hicks, Little Big Town, Martina McBride, Montgomery Gentry, David Nail, Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker, and Ashton Shepherd. With the exception of Alabama and Brad Paisley, each artist sang two songs chosen for the evening. Alabama and Paisley sang additional songs for the event.

Most artists brought their own bands although it seemed there was a house band for those who needed it. It was great to see Taylor’s band with him; it was such a great opportunity for all of those guys to perform together at an event like this! For over five and a half hours we were treated to exceptional performances. If you weren’t a country music fan, much of the evening may have been boring, but if you could open your mind and be there for the artistry and talent, it was an enjoyable evening! I came away a new Bo Bice and Brad Paisley fan!

From the Blind Boys of Alabama version of “Amazing Grace” to Alabama’s “My Home’s in Alabama” to Taylor Hicks’ “Nineteen” and “Seven Mile Breakdown” to the Commodores’ “Brick House”, the crowd watched and danced and cheered as their favorite artist performed. There were several standing ovations during the course of the evening, one of which went to Taylor Hicks for “Nineteen”.

For a night filled with country music stars, Taylor Hicks seemed as much at ease on the stage as he did at Linn Park on Sunday and as I’ve seen him in many other places around the country. He was in his element and seemed to be as well received by the attendees as any other artist there for Bama Rising!

It was a great evening for the City of Birmingham and its citizens. They can be proud of the event. Aside from a few members of the Traveling Circus, I heard there were guests in attendance from the Bahamas and a number of other states! Fans of these bands came together to help, and citizens of the area, even those affected directly by the storms filled the arena to capacity, anywhere from sitting on the main floor level to the filling the seats in the rafters. It was a wonderful crowd, and the Traveling Circus was happy to do its part!

Pictures from Linn Park, Sunday night

Pictures from Bama Rising, Tuesday night

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Bama Rising, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Whoops It Up In Manistee

2011-05-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Tucked up in western Michigan on the shore of Lake Michigan is the port city of Manistee. It’s a quaint little town with Victorian houses and shops including an iron sign pointing the way to main area of “downtown” where the storefronts reminded me of the small town where I grew up.

As I drove from Grand Rapids, I was amazed by the farms and landscape. Flat lands and mountain areas, spots that I had no idea it they airports or levees, and tree-lined highways through a national park kept the drive from being boring. In spite of the rain, it was a pleasant drive.

The Little River Casino, just outside of the main thoroughfare on US 31 was a rustic log resort that was built on immaculately groomed grounds. I dropped the car with the valet and headed inside to check in. It was gorgeous inside – very rustic yet modern. Once I got my key I headed for my room, rather suite! A sitting area with TV and fireplace, bedroom with fireplace, kitchenette with bar and two full bathes were mine for the price! I could get lost in there quite easily! Too bad it wasn’t winter and I wasn’t there just to sit back and relax with a good book. Maybe another time!

In spite of my love for food, the Sunday night special on the buffet was prime rib which I generally just pass right on by. But for the price of dinner, I decided I’d give it a try. Good choice – the rib was so tender a regular knife could cut it! Add a side of mashed potatoes and green beans, the buffet was\the perfect way to get ready for the concert!

Once through dinner, we made our way to the concert hall. Behind the doors that stood guard were rows and rows of seats ready for the patrons to fill. Reports have it that there were few empty seats. I can’t attest myself because I was closer down front, and frankly, it didn’t occur to me to check out what was behind me!

Soon the house lights dimmed and the announcer let us know it was time for Taylor Hicks to take the stage. I wondered what all the newbies were thinking – I’d met quite a few before the show and they were all so excited to be seeing Taylor for the first time! That always excites me, and when I see them in the autograph line after the show, with new merchandise purchases, I know right then and there that Taylor has won them over!

Taylor opened the show with “Rockin’ Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu”. The crowd quickly got into the mood with shouts of “woo” and “ooohh” and heavy applause. With a substitute drummer and bass player (Sam & Brian were there), you’d never know there was band change. These guys were tight and playing with everything they had!

With a mix of music from his different records, we heard “The Deal”, “Battlefield” and “Gonna Move”. Several covers on the 2011 Tour That Never Ends like “Back to Louisiana” gave rise to more enthusiasm from the audience. Reaching back to his American Idol days, “Living for the City” received great response. One of my favorites, “What’s Right is Right”, was performed with Taylor’s usual passion. “Nineteen” ended with Brian playing “Dixie” on the organ and keyboard, but not at the same time. It gave a different feel than when Jeff plays the flute, but it was riveting just the same. The crowd loved it gave Taylor a well-deserved standing ovation!

Taylor Hicks again brought the crowd to its collective feet as he rocked the house with his final song of the set, ”Seven Mile Breakdown” with tags from “Valley Road” The encore, “Taking it to the Streets” again got the audience to its feet clapping and cheering!

There was a lot of harp tonight, including getting down on his knees at one point! I hadn't seen Taylor do that in a long time!

After the show, the line at the merchandise table wound around the lobby and back to the theatre doors. Security was strict, if you purchased merchandise, you could greet Taylor. I bought the poster for a change, and waited my turn. As I waited I saw the couple I had sat next to waiting to meet Taylor. All I wanted to do was to tell Taylor how much I had enjoyed the show and to thank him for delivering another great show. Taylor was more concerned with my flight there! Such a sweetheart, really.

A group of us went for a late night dinner and dessert at the nearby bar. From there, we saw Taylor with a group of friends head into the casino area. We chatted about the show and decided this show really was different. While we were disappointed that the regular band members weren’t there, we realized that Taylor’s voice was more the focal point. With the great acoustics, his voice was clear and powerful. I don’t know who the sound guy was, but he did a great job of making sure that Taylor’s voice would be heard over all the instruments!

This was a show I almost didn’t go to, and had I missed it, I would have missed a great performance! No matter the circumstances or changes, Taylor Hicks always gives more than 100% and that makes him the best American Idol in my book!

More Manistee photos

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Celebrates Mother's Day with Taylor Hicks and Lobster

2011-05-13T23:31:00.000-07:00

The words to that familiar song…”if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with…” would be the theme for Mother’s Day me. I knew my daughter would want to spend the day with her family, so I boarded a jet plane and gave myself the treat of a week-end in Maine! I’d never been there before, but my father swore the lobster up there was worth eating three times a day. He was right!

Arriving Friday night, I had plenty of time to get my fill of lobster and sightseeing. Saturday was spent driving around the Ogunquit area, a quaint town near the ocean. Homes ranged from the typical New England abode with the weathered shingles to more modern residences of brick and wood. Depending on the route, the road might be winding and narrow, with peaks and valleys, and just a marvel to view. The ocean waves were lapping the shore and the rock ledges that dotted the coastline in many areas. It made me wonder how the ships from England were actually able to make port and dock during the colonization of our country.

The resort where I was staying recommended Billy’s Chowder House for lunch, so off I went in search of sustenance as my late night snack dinner had long worn off. The restaurant was situated near the inlets outside of town. I fancy myself a connoisseur of clam chowder, so a bowl was the first thing I ordered. It was a thin creamy broth with enough butter to make a moist pound cake that reminded me of the oyster stew my mother used to make. The clams were whole and not the type I was familiar with. The chowder did have the potatoes and clam chunks I was used to. I loaded up the bowl with oyster crackers and additional pepper and I was all set! It was heavenly to say the least!

Now in ordering my soup, I really had to decide if it would be the lobster stew or clam chowder. One bowl of soup wasn’t enough, so for dessert I ordered a bowl of the lobster stew. The broth was the same as the clam chowder only now I had lobster meat! I’m not particularly fond of lobster claws, but the meat in the stew was tender and cooked to perfection! There were smaller chucks of tail meat as well. The lobster took up most of the bowl so the oyster crackers had to go in slowly! So good that just writing about it makes me want to head back to Maine for another bowl!

The rich soups made me sleepy and if I wanted lobster for dinner, I’d have to be well-rested to tackle the crustacean. A couple of miles from the resort was the Ogunquit Lobster Pound, a wooden cabin looking place nestled in a thick grove of pine trees. The lobster tank greeted the patrons so you pick out dinner before you even walked through the front door! I opted to see what else was on the menu before deciding how to have my lobster served. Coward that I was, I played it safe with two stuffed lobster tails with the usual sides. Turned out to be a great choice! But the raspberry cobble, recommended by the guest at the next table, was supreme! The cobble was juicy, sweet and juicy, and I would have gladly settled for a glass of the warm liquid!

Sunday finally rolled around and a drive to Kennebunkport was the destination. I stopped at an omelet shop before leaving town. Yum! It was thick with veggies and shrimp (no lobster available) and very satisfying. It was a small place, owner-run, with just a few tables. After a satisfying breakfast, I hit the trails for the next historic village. The welcome sign said the village was established in 1640 and it looked like some of the original structures might still be there. It was quaint and clean, lots of tourists walked about taking pictures. I drove to the ocean parking lot and sat for a bit watching the waves crash around the beach and a father help his daughter climb down the rocks between the parking lot and sand.

As I drove back to the resort to take another quick nap before meeting friends at Jonathan’s for dinner, I reflected on what the New World settlers thought as they landed along the Maine coast over three hundred years ago. There was a serene tranquility about the towns and villages, the buildings with the expected coastal appearance, the boats docked along the waterways, and the waves as they ebbed and flowed to the shore. I considered the area as a retirement option and a nice place to visit with my grandchildren. Hard winters are not my bag, but I do love snow and a blazing fireplace, so maybe I’ll have to check it out again during the winter months.

The New England Soul Patrol, one of the many fan groups that has followed Taylor Hicks’ career was there running a drive to help raise awareness of the needs of Safe Haven Humane Society, a no-kill cat shelter. Being the cat lover that I am, I made my donation to help further their cause. Besides cash, the group received food, litter and toys for the feline residents at the shelter.

Jonathan’s was having a special Mother’s Day dinner, two whole Maine lobsters. We all ordered the special so when the lobsters appeared we weren’t sure where to put everything! They were decadent – moist and perfectly cooked. First went the claws, the goal being to get the claw meat out in a single piece. Forget it; I was just happy to get the meat out! The tail was a whole different experience! It was lift, pull, break, bend, snap and voila, the tail was separated from the body. A dinner at the next table had to help us get the tails opened, but once the meat was exposed, the rest was easy!

We finished dinner in time to go to the room upstairs for Taylor Hick’s concert. Dessert or a glass of wine was part of our dinner package. I opted for a lemon tart. The tables were close together, and I was seated at the table right in front of Jeff Lopez. That would prove beneficial before the evening ended.

The guys came out, dressed in black, with Jeff and David wearing ties. Jeff Lopez on horns (sax and flute), David Keith on percussion, Leif Bondarenko on drums, Brian Less on the keys, Sam Gunderson on guitars, and Brandon Peeples on the bass started the warm up intro as Taylor made his way to the stage amid applause and excited shouts from the sellout crowd! There wasn’t a lot of room to move about the stage, but what room there was, Taylor made the most of it!

Cowbell and drumstick in hand, Taylor Hicks opened the show with “Compared to What”, a song guaranteed to make you want to stand up and dance, or at least dance in your seat. Other songs for the evening included “Soul Thing”, “Just to Feel That Way”, “The Maze”, and “The Deal”. I was nice to hear the older songs again since Taylor hadn’t performed them in quite a while.

“Maybe You Should” brought out a wishful pose that the song would soon be recorded by someone out of Nashville. “What’s Right is Right” and “Battlefield” kept the audience at full attention with lots of applause and cheering. “Nineteen” garnered a standing ovation by the audience, both young, mid-thirties, and old. No show is complete without “Seven Mile Breakdown”. As the song ended, Brian shouted to the band to remain and “Stay with Me”. That was the encore song. Instead of leaving the stage and coming back, they rolled right into the encore. Perhaps because of the close tables it was decided not to risk life and limb going back through the narrow pathway from whence they had come in the beginning.

Taylor was animated throughout the evening, chatting with the audience and teasing about his “Grease” tour run. Said he sang “Beauty School Dropout” about 585 times, and the next time he sang it, if there was a next time, might be for his kids. Then he sang the opening bars! For me, this was the highlight of the show!

When the show ended, Taylor Hicks headed straight for the merchandise table to sign and take pictures with those wanting such souvenirs. It looked like everyone in attendance was in the line which snaked from the table at the back of the room to the stage Taylor had just left.

It was a great show, the last of a very busy week for Taylor. In spite of any tiredness, Taylor gave everything he had to make sure everyone got the show experience they came for. I don’t think anyone left disappointed. At least I didn’t!

Additional Pictures from Jonathan's

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Bids Adieu to 2010

2010-12-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

Another year comes to close for the Traveling Circus, and looking forward to 2011 see more traveling in the works. Before looking forward, though, a look back at the year is in order. Here are my favorite memories from my travels.

Grease hits the road for the final leg of the national tour and the Traveling Circus meets the show in St. Louis. It's the first time for my younger granddaughter to see the play, and she sat through two back-to-back performances without moving a muscle! We wore the poodle skirt I made for her mother when she was younger, so the skirt had seen a lot of years!

Spring comes with fun events, like the singing competition at Wind Creek Casino. After a flight into Pensacola and drive to Atmore in the lower part of Alabama, the Traveling Circus arrives in time to visit with friends and make new ones while waiting for competition finale to begin. Sinbad is the host, and it was fun to watch the interaction between Taylor and him. Between competition sets, Taylor Hicks performed a few of our favorites, one being "Maybe You Should".

Grease finally comes to a close, and our traveling minstrel promises to take time off, but before you can turn around, a summer tour is announced, and the Traveling Circus is packed and ready to go! First stop, the High Line Ballroom in New York City and front row seats with friends! Taylor Hicks called it his "Bad Ass Tour" and I have to agree.

Taylor would play some great places as he crossed the country. There were many shows I wouldn't get to attend because of timing, but when I could go, the bags were grabbed and planes were caught and I was transported to musical heaven. Sometimes it just plan bad karma for a corporate tax accountant with a September filing deadline and a busy summer. But week-end shows would be hard to miss and after a month-long draught of no shows, a trip to Kansas City, MO would have to get me through until another show came along.

Knuckleheads was an interesting outdoor venue so close to the railroad tracks that when a train came through I'd swear you could just reach out and touch it! As Taylor was singing "Nineteen", a train came through, blowing its whistle as Jeff Lopez was playing "Dixie" at the end. Taylor, in his usual style, never lost the beat or seemed phased by the train while we were struggling to make sure we could hear every word of the song he played as a tribute to our service men and women.

Of course, after that night, all it took was one invitation to go to the Aquarius Casino and I was there! What a show that was! Taylor Hicks was the most talkative I'd seen in quite a while, and he was having such a good time! It's hard to explain the energy and vibe of the different shows, and for certain shows, that energy and vibe is just higher than other times. The Aquarius was one of those higher times. You had to be there to see and feel it. I'd seen it before, and I'd see it again before the year would end.

Back to the land of the working stiffs for a few weeks and one all the major returns were filed and a short vacation was in order. Time for the Traveling Circus to hear north and catch the last three shows of the tour. Watch out, New York, Taylor Hicks was working his way back to you! And the Traveling Circus was back on the road too!

Bay Shore and Tarrytown would not be the same after a visit from Taylor Hicks and the Traveling Circus. Time to meet up with friends again as we made the circuit with our fearless leader. The week-end would be a trifecta of winning shows. Rutland (VT) would finish out the week-end and even being stranded at the airport for hours and missing my connecting flight would not put a damper on the trip! Some of my favorite songs had been performed over those three days, and I was on a musical high! At Bay Shore, the stool of soul made an appearance as Taylor sang "The Fall", one of the earliest songs he had pinned. Reminisce with me as we return to that evening.

Halloween would find the Traveling Circus visiting the land of Mickey and Minnie Mouse for the International Food and Wine Festival and the Eat to the Beat Concert Series. Taylor Hicks had been so well received the year before, he was invited back to perform six shows in two days. Hot sunshine and warm evenings didn't hamper our gathering under trees and the benches to catch all the shows he would offer. Fans came from all parts of the country to enjoy the music and food, fireworks and a few Disney characters, although the most interesting ones were the one in line at the outdoor theatre. Yes, the Traveling Circus spent a fair amount of time in that line as well!

Before the end of the fifth set, a new ride, 'Flying Plexiglass', had been designed and tried out of stage when the drum surround tumbled over, barely missing Taylor Hicks while he sang. Fortunately the only thing hurt was perhaps the Leif's feelings, but the smiles that erupted from the band said all was fine, including the red guitar which hit the floor as well!

The Traveling Circus is well acquainted with Taylor's charitable side. The late fall would find him doing several charitable events. The Big Oak Ranch for orphaned children near Birmingham, AL would be one of the first. The Dawn of a Dream Gala, raising funds for the Children's Cancer Research Foundation would soon follow. Both events were sell-outs and much needed funds were raised. Being in the room for these events was well worth the price of admission and the Traveling Circus was happy to help support these wonderful events.

As 2010 was coming to a close, one final show would make the end of the year bittersweet. Birmingham's Workplay would be the scene of the final gather of the Traveling Circus. Before a sell-out crowd, rules were broken and surprise guests would receive a wonderful Holiday gift from Taylor Hicks and his band. The opening act, Carson James, a 16-year old with cancer would have Taylor join him on stage for his final number, "Superstition". Carson would later join Taylor as he closed his portion of the show. Ruben Studdard, another American Idol winner, would join Taylor for a duet of "Woman's Gotta Have It". What an evening to remember!

And that folks, is the year in review for the Traveling Circus.

We look forward to what 2011 will bring, first the Jam Cruise which I won't be one because of work (time to consider retirement!) and a couple of Mississippi casino shows popping up in late February. Taylor Hicks is promising an exciting year, and the Traveling Circus will be a long for the ride whenever there's room on the bus (and work and life don't interfere!)

By the way, here's wishing each of you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Closes the Year at Workplay

2010-12-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

How better to end a year than to travel to the city that gave forth the talent of Taylor Hicks and watch him perform on the Workplay stage! It was a night to remember for all who attended, not just in terms of Taylor Hicks, himself, but in terms of what the show was really all about – the music. It was chance to greet old friends met over the years of traveling. From opening acts to special guests, Taylor showed us his musical spirit and generosity, a rare opportunity to see him give to others their special moment to shine.

The opening act was a young man, Carson James, only 16 years old, has had struggles few of the Soul Patrol have known. While battling cancer this past summer and undergoing chemo, still managed to write music and be a typical teenager. It was his girlfriend’s 16th birthday and he dedicated a song to her as she stood near the stage among the many Taylor fans.

The highlight of the evening with Carson was Taylor Hicks taking the stage with him to sing “Superstition”. Carson wanted Taylor to play the harp, but Taylor was content to sing. I’ve seen lots of opening acts for Taylor, but seeing him perform with the opener was first. Carson was just glowing as the two of them teamed their voices to close out Carson’s performance. Here’s to recovery for Carson and long career for the talented young musician we have the opportunity to enjoy!

It was soon time for the leader of the Soul Patrol to take the stage before a sell-out crowd. Taylor Hicks came out in a dark brown shirt, jeans and dark boots. Ah, boots! Luckily, I had a table close to the action, ready to capture the evening with a tripod, video camera and trusty camera. So I think I will let the captures of the evening tell the story for you. But for me, there were highlights of the evening. The first highlight was Ruben Studdard taking the stage with Taylor to sing “Woman’s Gotta Have It”, one of my favorite songs off “The Distance”. They did a wonderful job on this number! Ruben was my favorite on Season 3, so this was definitely a treat! The second highlight was seeing Clay Connor on the red guitar during “Scarlet Begonia”. Clay, a talented musician and songwriter in his own right, works right beside Taylor as security, personal assistant and stage manager. The third highlight was seeing Carson James comes back out to sing with Taylor during “Bulletproof”, the only top 40s song Taylor performs.

Until next year, when the Traveling Circus hits the road again, have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

Pictures from the evening

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Workplay, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Escapes to Maplewood

2010-11-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

Most days, I really enjoy my job, but when the timing of special projects coincides with Taylor Hicks concert dates, it can be a real drag. The Maplewood show was one of those times. Taylor Hicks was playing November 5, and the tax budget was due the same day. The Traveling Circus isn’t one for waiting until the last minute to plan a trip, but this time, it would. It wasn’t until Thursday night that there was a glimmer of hope that the show would be a go.

Come Friday morning, we made our final push to get the tax numbers together. I was actually working ahead, something that generally doesn’t happen because of the nature of the work we do. A few phone calls to Minneapolis were made and Delta was checked for the availability of last minute frequent flyer flights. Test first the earlier flight. In the process, the last available seat was sold and that flight was not a possibility. OK, let’s try the next. That was good. A seat was available.

It was nearly 11:30 when the call that would be the deciding factor came in. Yes, there just happened to be a seat left at the Dawn of a Dream Gala on Saturday night. One down, two to go. A call from the boss – numbers are good, put the reporting spreadsheet together and file the budget. Next to secure the flight on Delta. The 4:00 flight was still available and would arrive in Minneapolis at 6:15 pm. For $5 and 25,000 frequent flyer miles the ticket was now mine. The Traveling Circus was going to Minneapolis.

A quick review of car rentals on Travelocity and a rental car would be ready to go. No time to make hotel reservations right now, because I have to finalize the budget workpapers. I’d just wait until after the show and see where everyone was staying. At least my camera was charged and a small bag was packed. Wait! Only enough clothes for one night! Well, a little light sink washing would make it all work, and the outfit I was planning to wear to the Friday night should could also work for Saturday night. It was settled.

The final numbers were off to corporate headquarters and I was off to the airport! Parked at my favorite car parking lot, boarded the shuttle and the next stop was the airport. Had to wait for a wheelchair attendant, but I had a little time to spare. Oh no! With a last minute ticket, would I have to go through extra security? No! Thank goodness, not this time, and I was soon at the departure gate. On-time flight departure meant on-time arrival, and I was golden!

Unfortunately, in Minneapolis, the wheelchair attendants only go between gates, but the electric carts would get me closer to ground transportation. The driver I found was the perfect gentleman – he got me closer to ground transportation than usual by taking a shortcut through the terminal. I soon had my car and with the phone GPS, was quickly on my way to the Maplewood Performing Arts Theatre.

It was now 6:45 pm and I had no idea where I was going. My GPS did, thank goodness, and before 7:15 we were parked and making our way into the theatre. The stage was set with a castle for an upcoming community play. That made a nice backdrop for Taylor Hicks to perform in front of. Right at 7:30 we were taking our seats and the theatre lights were starting to dim.

The band came out: Sam, Jeff, Brandon, Leif, and Brian. Brian announced the leader of the Soul Patrol and Taylor Hicks came out, walked up the steps and touched the top of the arch in front of the castle. The spotlight found him and then he was down on the stage!

Everyone was very casual. Not the usual men in black wardrobe. This was going to be a very relaxed show, and one I would regret missing. But here I sat, ready to be taken to church, to be mesmerized and left wanting more. The opening number, “Love the One You’re With”, had us dancing in our seats! The Maplewood theatre may be small in terms of the number of seats, but the lighting and sound system was one of the best I’ve experienced!

The theatre lights came on after the song, and Taylor says he just wants to see us! He received a thunderous applause! He liked the venue because he could actually hear us. Someone called out to Jeff, and that made Taylor laugh! “The Deal” is next. There were
small bongos set up in front of Jeff, so he played them in between horn parts”

“Dust My Broom” is fantabulous as always, and has been missed at least by the Traveling Circus! “What’s Right is Right” and “Battlefield” from “The Distance” were performed next. These are great songs and aren’t to be missed. Somewhere in these songs, maybe “Battlefield,” Sam was featured on the guitar. Brother, that man can pick with the best of them! And Taylor harp on “Back to Louisiana” was fantastic! Church, here we come! He’s taking us there!

At some point between songs, Taylor grabbed a bottle of Disanti water and told us a very cute story from his American Idol days. Seems Coca Cola delivered cases of the bottled water to the show and tour, but couldn't figure out why the contestants weren't drinking it. Taylor says it because someone told them there was gas in the water and the "kids" were leaving the stuff alone! Taylor took some of the water and put the lid back on!

“Nineteen” gets a well-deserved standing ovation, after its soulful and heartfelt message. It was that performance that brought home the loss of Matt who normally played the chimes several times during the song. He was missed, and most of the Soul Patrol who follows around made similar comments. Rest in peace, Matt, you are missed.

“Living for the City”, “Hold onto Your Love”, and “Soul Thing” continue the program. Taylor starts hopping on one leg, trying to zip his boots, when he says with the dancing he does, his boots come unzipped. Someone suggested he take them off, but he quickly came back with if he did, the room would clear quickly! I doubt it, but Taylor was taking no chances.

Jeff and Taylor were playing off each other a lot at Maplewood. Jeff would shake the tambourine and Taylor would give his the “eye” and go back to the song. Jeff would shake it again, and again Taylor gave him the “eye”. Finally, Taylor took the tambourine from Jeff. But the game wasn’t over yet.

Taylor asked if we’d ever seen someone play two horns at once as he pointed to Jeff. Jeff quipped back that he could do three at once! Well, not quite yet! Before the night was out, Jeff would demonstrate his ability to play clarinet and sax at the same time!

“Scarlet Begonias” was next. First heard performed by Taylor Hicks at EPCOT, this is becoming a show staple. Nice beat, and I’m liking it very much.

Don’t remember after which song, but Taylor placed his red guitar (the one almost ruined at EPCOT) in the stand. The stand wasn’t secure and the guitar began to slip. Taylor stepped back and tightened the stand screw. The guitar was uprighted again as Taylor pointed his figure and ordered the guitar to “stay”!!!

Most of the band headed for the shadows as Taylor and Brian remained in the forefront. “The Border Song” was coming. Not a sound could be heard. Just the two voices blending with ‘let us live in peace’. Someone had tweeted the request earlier in the week, and Taylor made someone’s night with the song. Bless their golden hearts!

“Stay With Me” and “Seven Mile Breakdown” finished the show. Near the end of “Seven Mile Breakdown”, Taylor picket up the tambourine and held it over Jeff’s head like a halo. We knew better, but it did give us a peak into Taylor’s sense of humor. There was no encore tonight but that was fine. Almost 90 non-stop song-filled minutes had passed. The audience was happy, and left satisfied.

When the show ended, many gathered to discuss just how relaxed and fun the show had been. I got instructions for going to the Mall of America and found out where everyone was staying. With the help of a couple of friends, I made my way to the Hampton Inn where they were staying, and fortunate they had a vacancy. I would change hotels the next night to be closer to those going to the gala.

Yes, Taylor Hicks and his band had delivered a great show. It was well worth the effort I’d made to get there at the last minute. As we made our way to our cars, we paused to watch Taylor greet fans for autographs and pictures. The line was long, but the smile on his face said he was happy. And that’s all that really matters in the end!

Pictures from Maplewood

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Paying it Forward - "Nineteen"-style

2010-11-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

Nationally, today is Veterans' Day, but it should be everyday for the service these men and women have provided and continue to provide for our great nation. As Taylor Hicks reminds us during a recent show, stop to thank a soldier. It's a small gesture on our part that means a great deal to the one receiving it, especially when they give so freely of themselves for our freedom.

On a recent flight, I had the privilege to witness a small gesture of kindness from a fellow passenger. The man had received an upgrade to first class while his friend was sitting in coach, just a row up from me. He was chatting away, when a soldier boarded the plane and headed for the seat the man was standing near. Without hesitation, the man gave the soldier his seat in first class and then proceeded to take the soldier's seat. The soldier was tall, and the extra leg space in first class was probably much needed. The soldier tried to refuse, but the passenger wouldn't take no for an answer.

The men took their seats, the flight attendant retrieved the man's newspaper, and the doors to the plane were shut. The flight attendant, in gratitude to the passenger, provided him with whatever he wanted or desired in terms of beverage and snacks.

I don't know what he had, but thought about his gesture, and wondered, "what I have been able to do the same?" Would you?

To all the men and women who serve in our military, and to their families and friends, I say thank you for a job well done. To those who have gone before, like my father, I say thank you for a job well done. To those who will provide our military protection in the future, I say you have some mighty big boots to fill, but thank you in advance.

Let every day be Veterans' Day, for every veteran has earned that honor. Thank you for your service, now and forever.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

30th Anniversary Dawn of a Dream Gala

2010-11-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

It’s the story of “a child shall lead”. Before her death at age 13, in 1979, leukemia patient, Katie Hageboeck asked her parents to donate the money she had saved for a new bike to a group struggling to raise funds to fund cancer research. That donation would be the impetus for her parents to found the Children’s Cancer Research Fund in her memory.

Katie’s gift of $500 has grown to provide nearly $80 million dollars to provide funding for doctors and researchers at the University of Minnesota for their work in pediatric cancer research.

Their first fundraising effort in 1980 netted $50,000. This year’s event raised over $900 thousand dollars, actually going over their goal by $100 grand! The 30th Anniversary Dawn of a Dream Gala, held at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis was a “sold out” event where a thousand guests gathered to celebrate the work of the Research Fund and help raise funds for another year of its remarkable work.

Silent and live auctions were part of the pre- and post- dinner activities. The live auction raised an amazing amount of money. A couple of vacations netted $13,000 or more. A three-month Maserati lease fetched a tidy sum for the charity.

The most amazing part of the evening was observing the raising of $250 thousand dollars for a high-power microscope to be used in the research performed at the University of Minnesota. By the time the auctioneer was finished, the funds were raised, and possibly even exceeded. I couldn’t keep the addition going in my head that fast! One pledge of $20k lead to four pledges of $15k which lead to perhaps six pledges of $10k. There were even more $5k pledges and $1,000 pledges that seemed to take five minutes to be recognized. And some of these donations came from winning bidders in the live auction who had already paid substantial amounts for the live auction items.

The host for the evening, and her name escapes me, provided a couple of songs over the course of the evening, one of which was “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. She had a beautiful voice to go with her beautiful heart.

In a surprising moment during the program, Taylor Hicks, along with Jeff Lopez and Brian Less, took the stage to sing “What’s Right is Right”. Sitting on a stool, Taylor sang the most beautiful version of the song I’ve ever heard. I’ve always thought the song was about love for one’s partner, but as I listened to the words for the thousandth time, I realized it could just as easily be about a parent’s love for a child, especially one that has a dreaded disease. While Taylor sang, pictures of Taylor with the children at the University of Minnesota were displayed. The kids loved the opportunity to meet an American Idol, and Taylor seemed to be taken by the spirit of these children.
The family that used their daughter’s death and meager savings to seed the Research Fund, Diana and Norm Hageboeck, were introduced and spoke of the work done by the University of Minnesota. Their goal is simple: eradicate childhood cancer and spare other parents from losing a child to such a devastating disease.

Our feelings were not spared. We heard of successes and losses. We were introduced to the doctors and researchers. We heard from the heads of the organization and the committee putting together the gala. In the end, hearts and wallets were opened and goals were met for the event.

To close out the anniversary gala, entertainment was provided by Taylor Hicks. Tables emptied and guests rushed towards the dance floor where guests filled the area. Some danced, others watched, but all enjoyed the music. Taylor performed such concert favorites as “Love the One You’re With”, “Back to Louisiana”, “Living for the City”, “Seven Mile Breakdown”, “Takin’ It to the Streets”, and my favorite, “Bulletproof”. All the music was perfect for dancing and working off the excitement of the evening.

The evening had been a success! The goal of the gala had been surpassed. And a powerful microscope would be purchased. It was a fun event, and I was glad to be part of a wonderful event.

To make a donation to the Children's Research Cancer Fund, please visit their site at:

http://http//www.childrenscancer.org/support-our-work/individual-giving/index.html

Additional pictures from the Gala

I'll be back later in the week with a recap from Maplewood, and another story of paying forward, "Nineteen" style so keep checking back.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Learns About the Big Oak Ranch

2010-10-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

John Croyle, a football player at the University of Alabama under the leadership of Paul “Bear” Bryant, was looking at the opportunity to play professional football or start a children’s home. Croyle, along with his wife, Tee, made the decision to open a children’s home and established the Big Oak Boys’ Ranch in 1974 in Gadsden.

The Big Oak Girls’ Ranch, founded in 1988, was established in memory of a 12-year old girl who was beaten to death by her parents. Croyle tried to convince the judge to let the young girl come to the Boys’ Ranch but the judge returned to child to her parents even though she had been physically and sexually abused by her father. Three months after pleading to take the child, she was dead.

In 1990, Westbrook Christian School was acquired. It is the source of education for the Ranch children as well as children from the local community. Tuition, fundraising events and contributions fund the school.

If you are interested in learning more about the Big Oak Ranch or to make a donation, please go to www.bigoak.org for more information.

On Thursday, October 21, the Big Oak Ranch held their gala at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. Over 50 tables, each prepared for 10 guests, filled East 3 Exhibit Hall East. Following dinner, John Croyle spoke about the Ranch, introducing a young couple who spent their youth at the Ranch. These two young adults who met at the Ranch, were educated at the expense of the Ranch, and later had their marriage blessed in a wedding provided by the Ranch, were a testament to the success the Ranch has experienced over the years. The basic premise is one of family and Christian values.

Following the speakers and short videos, Taylor Hicks and his band took the stage to entertain the guests. There was plenty of applause and cheers for each song, and several songs had the guests on their feet. One of the favorites was “Nineteen”. Taylor’s set lasted about an hour and included such favorites as “What’s Right is Right”, “Maybe You Should”, “Seven Mile Breakdown”, and “Takin’ it to the Streets”.

Pictures from the event

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Eats to the Beat at EPCOT with Taylor Hicks

2010-10-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

For the second year, Taylor Hicks has been part of the Eat to the Beat lineup at EPCOT during the International Food & Wine Festival. For you foodies and wine lovers, it’s a great opportunity to try food and beverages from around the world. I sampled a lot of different fares, including the escargot at France. Not bad when coated with lots of butter and garlic. Last year, my favorite was the Shrimp Cheviche in Chile and this year, it was again at the top of my list. But enough about the munchies!

The advantage of seeing Taylor Hicks at EPCOT is you get three shows for the price of park admission and six shows in just a little more than twenty-four hours! Each of the shows is always different, just like they are when Taylor is touring. Taylor brought his kick-ass band with him: Jeff Lopez, Sam Gunderson, Brian Less, Matt Kimbrell, Leif Bondarenko, and Brandon Peebles. These guys are tight and follow Taylor’s leading like they’ve been together since the beginning of time!

The American Gardens Theater was packed to capacity with people sitting on the walls lining the sides of theater. Few empty seats could be seen. Aunts, uncles and nieces were adopted so they would have a place to sit (I had handicapped seating). Discussions about what Taylor had been doing since American Idol were shared while we waited between shows. Lines were long and packed, just waiting to sit down and enjoy some good music.

During each thirty-minute set, Taylor Hicks delivered his musical message while the audience danced in their seats. Songs included “Taking it to the Streets”, “Bulletproof”, “Use Me”, “Nineteen”, and “Seven-Mile Breakdown”. Taylor added a new song, “Scarlett Begonias”! At the end of various songs, people stood and applauded their appreciation for such a good performance. That’s always a good sign that Taylor is really touching and reaching his audience!

Taylor Hicks never missed a beat throughout the shows, even when the Plexiglas screen came crashing down during “Hold On to Your Love” at Sunday’s second show. The screen had been wobbling continually up until that time. As it slid to the floor, the band continued to play while Taylor appeared oblivious to what was happening. The last thing to fall was the red guitar. Taylor finished the song, turned around, and talked about “bringing down the house” and a new ride at Disney called “flying Plexiglas”! Although it didn’t make an appearance at the last show, I have it on good authority that the red guitar is just fine!

When it was all over, I left the park wishing next year to come quickly so I could do it all over again! Let’s hope Taylor Hicks becomes an annual entertainment for this EPCOT event!

Link for Saturday’s pictures

Link for Sunday’s pictures

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Wins the Trifecta! - Part 3

2010-09-21T05:26:00.000-07:00

The Traveling Circus is always in awe of what happens at a Taylor Hicks concert, and "Nineteen" at the Boulton Center in Bay Shore, NY was just the performance this song needs and deserves. The audience loved it, including the dedication to the military who protect our freedoms.

This time, the song brought more emotion than usual. Taylor announced that he was looking forward to a USO tour in Afghanastan and flying on a C-130. Tears of pride for the young grey-haired singer formed during the announcement.

The curtain behind Leif was alight with stars. On the stage by Jeff Lopez a small American flag sat waiting to honor the song about a fallen soldier. So as you watch the attached video, watch for the end to hear Jeff's flute solo that adds a special touch to the song.

2010.9.17 Nineteen Bay Shore NY from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Wins the Trifecta! - Part 2

2010-09-20T18:36:00.001-07:00

The best way to tell you about the last three shows is to show you video. I wanted to take pictures as well as just sit back and watch, so the videos are limited. But what there is, I think you will enjoy!

Bulletproof is great anytime, whether part of the main show or encore!

2010.9.16 Bulletproof Tarrytown NY from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

Back to Louisiana - both rocking and riveting!

2010.9.16 Going Back to Louisiana Tarrytown NY from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

Maybe You Should - soft and heartfelt

2010.9.16 Maybe You Should Tarrytown NY from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

If you be with the one you love, then love the one you're with! Tarrytown, NY was the place to be!

2010.9.17 Love the One You're With Bay Shore NY from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

My favorites of the three shows were the acoustic encores! Hell of a Day and The Fall, with just Taylor and his guitar and harmonica sitting on a stool. These were fabulous!

2010.9.17 The Fall Bay Shore NY from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

2010.9.18 Rutland VT Hell of a Day from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Wins the Trifecta! - Part 1

2010-09-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

When one is a corporate tax accountant with a September 15 filing deadline, taking a lot of time off in the summer, particularly during the week, it nearly impossible. So when Taylor Hicks added Tarrytown and Bay Shore to his tour list between Norwalk, CT and Rutland, VT, it was just too much for me to pass up! I had purchased a Rutland ticket when they first went on sale, as well as a ticket for the original Norfolk date, but with the changes in the dates, work and life, it didn’t seem I was destined to go. Since Taylor had withdrawn from the SOS show in Philly, and I had an airline ticket to Philly, how better to make use of it, so New England, here comes the Traveling Circus!

There were three great shows, so don’t ask me to rank them – just know it was a wonderful trifecta event! Taylor Hicks was at the top of his game, smiling and having fun on the stage. The theatres were full and the audience was appreciative of what Taylor was giving. Cheers, applause and standing ovations were observed each night.

Ages ran the gamut and there were plenty of both genders! Even the men were yelling out to Taylor, which is always great to hear! Lines were long after the show for the impromptu meet-and-greets, and I’m sure lots of merchandise was sold. Clay was working the table as hard as Taylor was working the crowd!

From “Battlefield” to “Soul Thing” to “What’s Right is Right” to “Seven Mile Breakdown” we were thrilled and entertained throughout the evening. The encores involved a stool, a black guitar and a solo with Taylor Hicks; “Hell of a Day” and “The Fall” were performed depending on the night and location. The encores were as powerful as the regular show. One of my tour favorites has been “Bulletproof”, a La Roux top 40 song. I’ve listened to both versions, and Taylor’s version is much better!

Some of the tags have been amazing: “Running on Empty” is stuck in my head right now, “Lonely Avenue” another tag, has been a surprise. The combination of “The Runaround” with “Not Fade Away” is pure musical genius – a talent that Taylor Hicks definitely possesses.

“Maybe You Should” quiets the audiences as they imagine the pain of losing one’s partner. “Nineteen” brings out the patriotic spirit and a standing ovation from many in attendance. The harmonica is top shelf, and finally in Rutland, we got more cowbell! The jeans and boots were standard, but the shirts were always in keeping with the area: a button down in New York and plaid flannel in Vermont. I know, it’s really about the music, but hey, I noticed!

Three great days, three wonderful shows: a true trifecta in my book! Now to wait until the next round of shows!

Tarrytown, NY pictures

Bay Shore, NY pictures

Rutland, VT pictures

Video will be attached in the next blog entry. One video is extra special!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Finds the Age of Aquarius is Taylor Hicks

2010-08-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

As I made plans to attend Taylor Hicks' show in Laughlin, NV at the Aquarius Casino, the old song "Age of Aquarius" would run through my mind. Might even give you a clue as to my age! But regardless, it was a show I was glad I had not missed.

The Pavillion is a large room where chairs can be set up to seat up to 2,500 patrons. There weren't that many chairs there for Saturday night, maybe half that, and few were empty. The mix ranged from able to walk to able to roll around in a scooter and every where in between. Pretty even gender mix too.

When Taylor Hicks takes the stage smiling and his eyes twinkle, you know you are in for a treat - a show to remember. I still get goosebumps just thinking about it! From the first song to the last, the energy was high, the voice perfect, and grins could be seen behind the microphone. Taylor was wowwing the audience, he had them in his hands, and was toying with us - always keeping the show about the music. And the music was superb!

From "Bulletproof" to "Nineteen", from "Maybe You Should" to "What's Right is Right", from "Seven Mile Breakdown" to "Taking It to the Streets", Taylor Hicks stayed in control, directing the band as needed and giving them spotlights to shine. The guitar duel with Sam or cheering on Brian on the keyboard, playing with Jeff on the sax or Leif on the drums, and teasing us with his own harmonica proweress, it was all good!

In the end, I left satisfied - satisfied that I had just witnessed one of Taylor's best shows! The energy would keep me up late and not let me wind down to sleep. I would think about it on the way home on Sunday and wish it had lasted longer.

Taylor Hicks may be a man without a home, but his tour bus, band family and music must keep him fully charged and grounded. It showed in last night's performance. He was going from fast to slow, hands over heart, dancing and wiggling when appropriate, and never lost a beat in changing the pace of the show. I want to see it again, and again; not just tonight, but the next show I see, and the one after that!

I spoke with a band member after the show and expressed what a great show it was. And that person's response, "Yeah, it was", let me know right there that even Taylor and his band knew that had given more than 100% and that the show had been fabulous, and they were proud of the results.

Any way, enjoy the pictures from the fabulistic show (I know, it's not a word) which is totally appropriate because the show was fabulous and fantastic all rolled up into one!

Aquarius Casino, Laughlin, NV

Like the words to the old "Summer Love" tune, I'll see you in September!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Knocks on Heads at Knuckleheads

2010-08-16T22:49:00.001-07:00

It may have been hot temperature-wise but it didn't matter to those brave enough to sit outside to listen to Taylor Hicks perform on the outdoor stage at Kansas City's Knuckleheads. I'll be back later with more, but for now, enjoy "Nineteen" from the show.

2010-8-14 Nineteen Knuckleheads Kansas City MO from RagsQueen on Vimeo.

I took a bunch of pictures at Knuckleheads. Taylor was on top of his game, as the expression goes. I'm always amazed at how he can reel them in just by flashing a smile, touching of hand to heart, or just pumping his harmonica. Comments after the show included "had no idea", "man, he's good", and "WOW!".

What some called a biker bar, Knuckleheads made up for in ability to enjoy a close and intimate show with Taylor. The train tracks were just the other side of the stage, and the occasional train did blow his horn as it passed by. Even "Nineteen" captures the moment of the train whistle as Jeff Lopez played.

The entire show was energy packed, with Taylor never still for a second. I later heard Candye Kane, the first performer of the evening, came out to watch Taylor perform and really enjoyed him. Or maybe it was Jeff because she wanted to get her picture with him! Speaking of Ms. Kane, she gave a great blues performance with lots of upbeat music. Her guitar player, Laura Chevez would give Josh Smith a run for the money in a guitar duel!

Rather than bore you with details, have a look at the photo album attached. And if so inclined, leave a comment or two!

Knuckleheads Photos

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Enjoys the Start of the Bad Ass Summer Tour at the Highline Ballroom

2010-08-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

When Taylor Hicks announced he was doing a Bad Ass Summer Tour, he wasn't kidding! The tour opened at the Highline Ballroom in New York City on Sunday night, July 25. What a night it was!

Here are my treats from the show, which speak for themselves!

Pictures Galore! Enjoy!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks Announces Summer & Fall Tour Dates

2010-06-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

If it looks like a tour - a number of concert dates spread around

If it smells like a tour - clubs, theaters, festivals

If it acts likes a tour - Taylor on a stage

Then it must be a TOUR!

Looking forward to a fun summer and fall with Taylor on the road (again!)

6/13/2010 - 31st Annual Jamesville Balloon Fest, Jamesville Beach Park, Jamesville, NY, 6:45pm EST

6/25/2010 - 7th Annual Rocky Mountain Power Jam, Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom, Denver, CO, around 11:30pm MST

7/25/2010 - Highline Ballroom, New York, NY, 8pm EST

9/18/2010 - Paramount Theatre, Rutland, VT, 8pm EST

9/29/2010 - Around the World Kickoff Concert for SOS Children's Villages, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 8pm EST

10/9/2010 - Eat to the Beat Concert Series, Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL , 5:15, 6:30 & 7:45 pm EST

10/10/2010 - Eat to the Beat Concert Series, Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL , 5:15, 6:30 & 7:45 pm EST

More dates are bound to follow and will be listed as available in the Schedule Section of the blog!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Remembering Our Military

2010-05-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

Join me in remembering our military, not just for today, but everyday, for their service and dedication to our country and freedom.

Thanks to IdolMashups

You can also help Taylor Hicks and the Proud of Our Troops Drive by sending a copy of "The Distance" to Soldier's Angels to be forwarded to active military. If you purchase from Amazon, they will ship it to them for you, saving you time and additional mailing costs.

Soldiers Angels

914 Tourmaline Drive

Newbury Park, CA 91320-1206

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Sing Your Way to $100k or Where Better to See Taylor Hicks

2010-05-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in LA (lower Alabama) lies a nice casino called Wind Creek that sits just off I-65 in the quaint little town of Atmore. The downtown reminded me of my hometown: older store fronts tightly spaced together, a local diner, a couple of shops and a number of empty windows. It actually borders on the Florida state line, less than 50 miles west of Pensacola.

The drive from the Pensacola airport was easy. The roads were dual lane and once on US Hwy 29, I felt like I was at home! I’ve driven that part of the US route that runs between Greensboro and Reidsville in North Carolina many times. I was surprised to find part of it here! Actually, US 29 begins in Pensacola, FL and runs northward to Baltimore, MD, covering just over a thousand miles of US country.

When I made my left on to SR 97, still in Florida, I found myself in farm country. Beautiful and lush green fields, corn standing a foot high and the occasional horse farm in between. It was peaceful. But the speed limits would require cruise control use to make sure I didn’t get stopped! Some areas were 45, other 55 and about 1,000 feet was 65! The sheriff departments could make a killing just off the tickets!

As I approached Atmore, I was greeted with “Welcome to Alabama” and “Thanks for Visiting Florida” signs. And a road number change did nothing but mess with my mind! I was on AL 21 and hadn’t made a turn. I felt lost so I called the hotel – just keep coming the way I was – it was just before I-65. I found Wind Creek Casino first, then the Holiday Express just before the interstate. Poor marking for where to turn to get to the hotel had me passing by it, but a quick turn around and I was in the parking lot in less than 60 seconds. The hotel is relatively new and you could almost smell the fresh paint and caulking.

After a quick check-in and a welcomed nose-powdering, I was back in the rental car to head to Wind Creek. First stop, valet – it was full unless you were a member or high-roller, neither of which qualified me for the service. On the highway side was parking for the amphitheater and really quite close. I found a good spot to park, set the alarm and headed to get in line with friends.

The doors opened before the appointed 7:00 which was good because my back was about to go numb from the 15 minutes I’d been standing. (Just before Christmas I learned I was born with a congenital birth defect that will require surgery to relieve the intense pain so I can just function, but that’s for another entry). I found my seat and decided to stay put until the very end – no drinks for me because the potty was a long hike and I would have to wait for the show to end.

Now mind you, this was a singing competition, down to the final two from the nearly 2,000 original contestants. Comedian Sinbad was the host for the show and the famous judge of the event was the leader of the Soul Patrol and a former singing contest winner himself, Taylor Hicks. Other judges seemed to be heavy hitters in the music industry, such as someone from CMT and I forget who the other two were.

I’m bad – I was there for Taylor Hicks who was rumored to be singing 6 songs. That was fine. Plus I was going to be entertained by Sinbad and the final two contestants, Holly and Christina.

Sinbad was a hoot, asking where in the world he was – Taylor could have told him LA just for laughs (but he didn’t)! Time to meet the contestants and have them perform a duet. It was going to be a tough night because both of these young ladies could belt a tune. Holly was into country while Christina was R&B. Finally Taylor was introduced and went right into his first two songs, “The Distance” and “What’s Right is Right”.

Taylor Hicks - The Distance - Wind Creek Casino - 5-21-2010 - RagsQueen

Taylor Hicks - What's Right is Right - Wind Creek Casino - RagsQueen

The contestants then came out to each sing a song in their genre. Couldn’t tell you what they sang, but I wasn’t about to envy the judges. I figured they ended the first round even. After that round, the sixth through third place contestants each sang a song. I don’t know how the judges managed to narrow down the field because these were excellent performers, especially the guy who played the keyboard and sang an original tune about his brother. The CMT judge later told him to see him after the show! Woo Hoo! Someone had made a score!

Taylor Hicks did two more songs, “Battlefield” and “Maybe You Should”. Taylor and Sinbad played quite well off each other. Taylor suggested he be the next American Idol judge and Sinbad said he could replace Randy Jackson, giving quite an impression of Randy! Sinbad hinted at Taylor to do a variety show or something like that. Comments flew about being ADD and off meds – we know that one quite well!

Taylor Hicks - Battlefield - Wind Creek Casino - 2010-5-21 - RagsQueen

Taylor Hick - Maybe You Should - Wind Creek Casino - 5-21-2010 - RagsQueen

Before the final round, Sinbad gave a couple of people from the audience a chance to perform. Not bad – they had been cut earlier in the completion. Finally the two young ladies came back to out to sing their final songs of the event. Taylor made a good judge, giving careful thought to what he had to say. I was proud of how he handled himself in that role. With Christina, he commented on watching her toes and noting that she felt the music all the way down to them! Taylor should know – he’s the same way!

Taylor Hicks did his last two songs: “Nineteen” and “Seven-Mile Breakdown”. I was sitting just behind Christina’s support group, and when Taylor began to belt out “Seven-Mile Breakdown”, those supporters were on their feet and dancing to the music! It was hard to see Taylor, but I have to admit I was enjoying their enthusiasm!

Taylor Hicks - Nineteen - Wind Creek Casino - 5-21-2010 - RagsQueen

Taylor Hicks - Seven Mile Breakdown - Wind Creek Casino - 5 -21-2010 - RagsQueen

The votes were tallied, and we’d been warned before the show that in the event of a tie, there would be a text-voting to decide the winner. I was glad that wouldn’t happen – Holly’s supporters took up an entire second while Christina’s took up just over two rows. It was a tight score: 127 to 129. Christina was crowned the winner! She and Holly hugged for a long time – they had become friends and family. Tears were flowing as well as relief. I figured it was the last song that pushed Christina ahead.

Of course Sinbad had to have the final word – cash your big check on Monday! And it was big in size as well as dollars. And well deserved – for either young woman! I’m sure we’ll hear more from both of them in the future. The lights went down and the crowd dispersed over towards Taylor’s merchandise table. It looked like a mob scene from where I was sitting, and hopefully it would be a profitable night for Taylor from the sales of “The Distance”. He’s seen my old mug enough, and I was in need of sustenance from sitting there for three hours, so I went in search of dinner and friends, and some time with those thieving one-armed bandits!

A few pictures to go with the video

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Poodle Skirts Revisited (or Seeing "Grease" in St. Louis)

2010-01-31T17:03:00.000-08:00

It really started thirty years ago when John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John hit the big screen as Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski in the movie, “Grease”. Something about that movie caught my daughter’s attention, and every chance she had, she watched it -sometimes several times back-to-back. Back then, Blockbuster was into rentals only and getting your own copy was hard to come by, but we managed. By the time she outgrew the movie, the VHS tape was practically bare (Yes, that was way before CD & DVDs!).

Back then, I enjoyed sewing for my daughter and myself. Today, I know where the alteration shops are – the idea of doing anything with needle and thread sends me into total panic. My daughter wanted her very own poodle skirt. So the good mama that I was, we went to the fabric shop and picked out the fabric, gray wool, and the fleece needed to make the poodle. Knowing how I worked back then, I’m sure the skirt was completed before I went to bed and ready for her to wear the next day.

As the years passed and we made several moves including the big move from North Carolina to Tennessee, the poodle skirt was always gently packed to make the move with us. For years it hung in her closet and survived many spring cleanings, even after she had married and moved out of our home into her own. Two children later, it still hung in the closet just waiting for the day it would be revived and worn again.

Fast forward to the summer of 2008 when Taylor Hicks joined the Broadway cast of “Grease” as Teen Angel. About the same time, my younger granddaughter discovered the “skirt” and began to want to wear it. It was about six inches too loose in the waist and down to her ankles. She didn’t care – she admired that skirt with all her little heart.

Then when Taylor Hicks joined the national touring company of “Grease” as Teen Angel, I’m sure the younger one was sure she’d get to go. Not so fast, little one. The older one got to go first, just before Christmas to Durham to see the musical. She enjoyed it, so why not take a trip down memory lane with the younger one.

After much thought about it, my daughter gave her blessing to take the little one to see “Grease” in St. Louis, provided she got treated to the show as well. Now I can’t just take mama and baby without taking the older granddaughter, so it was going to be a girls’ week-end. We were all going to go to St. Louis to see “Grease”. The poodle skirt was about to get packed again!

As we prepared for our trip, I thought long and hard about the “skirt”. It was just hanging on the closet door, ready to make its way into my suitcase. I knew it was still too big for the younger one, but I also knew how much it meant to her to have the opportunity to wear it. And maybe for me to have the chance to relive those “Grease” days of my daughter again. It was carefully folded and placed on top of everything else. I would surprise her Saturday morning with it.

While the younger one was showing us her week-end choices to wear, it was obvious she really didn’t have the right top to wear with the skirt. Not yet fashion-conscious, she put the skirt on over her long top and tights, slipped into her boots and announced she was ready to go. The skirt was quickly sliding down her hips. Quick thinking (I knew I would probably need safety pins) and with three safety pins, the skirt’s waistband was now in the proper place. There would be no convincing, bribery or anything else to get her to leave the skirt behind.

Anyone who stopped to speak to her found out the skirt had been her mother’s many years ago. She was as proud of that skirt as her mother had been when it was first made. And I couldn’t help but feel pride in the way she wore it and made me feel about her wanting to wear it and tell its story.

For anyone who has seen “Grease”, you know the story quite well. I’m not going to confess how many times I’ve seen the musical, but let’s just say this was a magical week-end to see it.

In December, Ace Young, another alumni of Season Five of American Idol, joined the cast as Danny. He did such a good job as Kenickie in the fall of 2008 that he was asked to come on the road as Danny!

From his first scene to his last as Danny, I would have sworn John Travolta was back on the stage. Ace’s voice, being a bit higher in pitch, sounded so much like Travolta that it was eerie! I was as taken by Ace’s performance as I have been by Taylor’s Teen Angel. After the matinee my daughter asked me if Ace was playing Danny – she thought it sounded like him and it also reminded her of Travolta. She told me I was a bad mama – I had failed to tell her Ace was in the cast! I had told her, but she wasn’t paying me attention!

As the musical continued, both granddaughters were glued to the stage. The older one would later describe the show as “beast” (I think that means good in teen terms today). For a kid who talks a blue streak on any topic without taking a breath, it was hard to get anything more than one-word descriptions of the musical out of her. She liked it, Ace was ‘beast’ and her favorite scene was with Taylor and Frenchy when she was all over him. After that, she went back to taking about anything and everything else non-“Grease”.

The younger one, now she was the real critic. During the drive-in scene when Danny is trying to kiss Sandy, all I heard was “gross, yuck, too much kissing, stop…..” OK, so she’s only eight! She laughed when Danny was trying hard not to “touch” Sandy’s chest, but I don’t know if she really understood what was going on. But then, at her age, she thinks kissing is sex (don’t tell Bill Clinton).

On the ride home, we were discussing the musical. The younger one summed it up quite nicely. We were laughing about what Frenchy has said as she saddled up to Taylor in their scene. You know the part – she makes different comments, like “nice butt, hot damn, cute tush…” The younger one laughed and said “she said ‘hot man’”! We left it alone at that!

St. Louis was a good stop for the show. When we came out after the matinee and evening performances, the crowd to see Taylor Hicks was six or seven deep and the line for getting their CD signed was so far back in the lobby that I couldn’t see the end. It seems like we waited for thirty minutes or more before we could get close enough to see or snap a picture or two.

If you haven’t seen “Grease”, especially since Ace Young joined the cast, please go. He is terrific as Danny. I’m delighted he has been given the opportunity because he deserves it. Of course, Taylor Hicks is wonderful as Teen Angel with that blue sequined suit with the wings studded on the back of the jacket. Don’t leave before the curtain call – you don’t want to miss Taylor singing “Seven Mile Breakdown”.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Whomp at the Warfield Now Available for Purchase

2010-01-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

The much anticipated and long awaited for "Whomp at the Warfield" Concert DVD is now available for purchase! Recorded May 9, 2007 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, the DVD contains a mix of favorites performed by Taylor Hicks and his tour band from 2007. Sure to please the most avid "Soul Patrol", the DVD can be ordered from Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and Amazon or found at your local Best Buy and other stores with DVD are sold.

For a sneak preview of the DVD:

Be sure to get your copy today!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

May 2010 bring you prosperity, joy and happiness as well as lots of times to gather with your Taylor Hicks family!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

To all those who have touched my life or have yet to do so,

I wish you and your loved ones the Merriest Christmas

and a properous New Year

Click the link below for a special Christmas Card

The Christmas Tree

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Braves the Elements for the High Noon Saloon

2009-12-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

The die-hard old ladies, as we’ve often been referred to, braved the wintery elements and frigid temperatures that hit Madison, Wisconsin this week to meet up for the last Taylor Hicks shadow show of the year. There may have been 17 inches of snow with 3-6 inches of packed snow and ice on the roads and temps in the single digits, but inside the High Noon Saloon, it was toasty warm by the time Taylor Hicks took the stage.

Now back home where I live, when it snows or sleets, it’s time to head for the house and stay put. Maybe even to make a quick stop by the grocery to pick up milk, bread and soup makings before locking the door for the night. Turn on the gas logs, the TV and laptop, cover up with a quilt and enjoy a warm bowl of soup. No one is going to be out tonight, at least I’m not. Maybe not even the next day unless my boss picks me up – I just don’t drive in the mess.

But for Taylor Hicks, I put away the sensibilities for a few days and headed north to where the winter storms had recently dumped snow and frigid temperatures. Before you say anything, yes, I’m very well aware of the fact that I’m a bit on the crazy side, daft at times, but to see Taylor Hicks perform acoustically, well, I’m not going to sit it out if I can help it. Anyway, the ticket and airfare were already paid for so I might as well go. Right?!?!?!

But here I was in the land of cheese and snow. The drive from Milwaukee was like driving through a Christmas card. The branches of the fir trees were hanging down from the weight of the snow. Only the interstate and main roads had been seen the snow plows and salt trucks. The fields were covered in pristine white snow and no animal tracks. Hay bales looked like bases of snowmen waiting to be completed. Roof tops were dripping with icicles that looked more like daggers and still covered with thick blankets of snow. I didn’t stop to capture the Kodak moment, but any Christmas scene will bring back the memory.

Once I made my way to Madison and left the interstate, I was beginning to question my sanity. Here I was driving on ice and packed snow. Me. I had no idea what to do – go with the skid or go against it. Hit the breaks or pump the breaks. Thank goodness I had paid for the collision insurance on the rental car – it looked like I might need it when I couldn’t get stopped at a red light with several cars in front of me. Pumping the break, I stopped just short of the next bumper.

Finding the hotel was the next adventure. The small courtyard in front was easy to see, but which building was the hotel. Twice I circled around, going up grades that only a goat would love and hoping no one would be stopped behind me. Finally, I figured it out (after a phone call) and made it safely to the correct door and inside the warmth of the hotel. This was a night for cab fare and drivers far more experienced with the elements than this old bird.

The group of ladies I was going to see Taylor with finally arrived and were of the same mind – cab drivers would be the way to go. We decided to go to the early show to see Shaky, a Neil Young Tribute band. For $5 and pizza, we decided we’d check it. They were an older group. Not being familiar with Neil Young music, I had no clue what they were playing but some of it was really good while the rest was nothing more than noise.

After a break and stage reset for Taylor Hicks’ show, the opening act, Mark Harrod took the stage behind his keyboard first for a couple of songs. Later he would use the guitar as accompaniment. I enjoyed Mark’s kind of music. He was very articulate in both his conversation and lyrical style. I didn’t buy his CD while I was there, but I think I may have to order it online. Mark’s a Madison native and former banker who decided a career in music was more to his liking. He definitely has the chops for the gig and I certainly wish him great success.

The table of ladies behind me gasped, and as I look around to see what it was about, I see Taylor in toboggan and wool coat with his entourage head for the room behind the stage to get ready for the show. It wouldn’t be long now before Taylor hits the stage!

Finally Brian Less leads the pack out followed by Jason Parker and Sam Gunderson. They take their places and with a quick musical interlude Taylor Hicks bounds the stage steps with his jack open to show us the holiday-looking lining! He looked happy and excited to be at the High Noon Saloon and his audience was equally as happy and excited!

Sitting down and grabbing his shiny black Taylor guitar, the opening number was “Gonna Move”. The songwriter may have been talking about moving, but the Traveling Circus was about to be moved. Now I’ve heard the song a number of times but acoustically, it is mesmerizing as I watch Taylor’s fingers glide or strum the guitar strings. No pick. Just his bare fingers or nail beds, I can’t tell just which. The man is happy to be singing for us. Just as happy as we are to be there! And I’m like right at his feet – if my table was any closer, I would be sitting on the stage! When “Gonna Moves” ends, the band and Taylor move effortlessly into “Soul Serenade” as if it were part of the first song.

Telling us the next song was from an earlier album when he was a kid, “In Your Time”, the audience is expecting the title song until Taylor Hicks says the song is “The Deal”. Someone says it’s from “Under the Radar” and he jokes with the crowd about knowing his music better and just keeping us on our toes. “The Deal” is perfect whether performed acoustically or with a full band.

Not a song expected to be performed in an acoustic set, “The Runaround” works its magic just fine with just guitars and a keyboard. After all, the intro features the ivories so to include the number makes sense. Taylor Hicks says it has a Billy Joel feel to it, so why not.

One of the evening’s highlights and crowd favorites is “Maybe You Should”. Perfect for the keyboard, its soulful melody is both haunting and reverent. Whether the partner will leave or not is not known, but the lyrics are enough to make one rethink leaving. Taylor has said a number of times that the song is on hold for another artist and hopes it will be recorded soon. An audience member even asks if Taylor wrote the song and said it was a beautiful song. He was right….it is a beautiful song!

Other songs for the evening included the Beatles, “Don’t Let Me Down”, “I Live on a Battlefield”, and “Forever Man”. Sam Gunderson was featured in a guitar solo during “Don’t Let Me Down” which was wonderful. I’m used to hearing Sam with an electric guitar and to hear him on acoustic was a treat. “Forever Man” is an old song back the days when Taylor played with Sam and Brian on a nightly basis. Taylor thought it sounded pretty good, and so did the audience.

Dedicated to our servicemen, “Nineteen” is a beautiful tribute to the sacrifice our military make to keep us safe and free. Performed acoustically is best because it brings out the reverence intended by the melody and lyrics. And Taylor Hicks performs it just that way. It’s one of his best songs on “The Distance”, his latest CD.

The first single off the last album, “What’s Right is Right”, is another beautiful song for an acoustic set. Taylor calls it a soul song, but I think it’s a great love song. It’s the kind of love that I want and I’m sure Taylor is looking for. (Sure beats getting “The Runaround”!) The harmonica was excellent tonight. Throw in “Tupelo Honey” and more harp to make the number complete and show off the musical skills of Taylor. I’m always amazed at how the musicians can anticipate and keep up with Taylor.

Rounding out the set were “Feeling Alright” and “Seven Mile Breakdown”. Taylor called the first song a ‘piano song’ and the second ‘a roadhouse song’. Both were great songs. It was great to hear the ‘hiccup’ in Seven Mile Breakdown again tonight! He even referred to Wisconsin in the song – glad he know where he was!

After chanting for Taylor to return for an encore, Brian Less comes out alone and begins to play the keyboard. Taylor joins him on stage for a duet of “The Border Song”. As the lyrics state, “Holy Moses”, was what went through my mind as Taylor sang the song. A fitting ending for the evening, the song was as much about peace as the holiday season we are in with the “Let us Live in Peace” lyrics. When the song was over, Taylor Hicks stood and wished us Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas as he left the stage. Same to you Taylor – we’ll be back in the saddle with you next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!

Pictures from the High Noon Saloon

Additional Videos

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Eats to the Beat at Epcot

2009-11-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

Epcot – Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow – is home of the International Food and Wine Festival which this year ran from September 25 to November 8. In addition to foods and wines from around the world, there are seminar and demonstrations, festival shopping and the famous “Eat to the Beat” concert series. Musical guests included such greats as Richard Marx, Billy Ocean, Sister Hazel, Kool & the Gang, and of course, the Traveling Circus’ favorite artist, Taylor Hicks!

Two nights of the festival, Sunday, November 1 and Monday, November 2, were dedicated to the music of Taylor Hicks. Six shows over two nights with each show about 30 minutes in length. Six songs per show, including Taylor’s famous tagging and dancing! Some old favorites and some new songs to entertain the masses were part of each show’s set list.

And speaking of masses! As I pass the line for the first show on Sunday night, the line stretched for as far as I could see – I heard it went all the way down to Germany! I waited outside the barrier ropes at the back and just hoped I could find a place to park at the back of the America Gardens Theatre that backs up to the World Showcase lagoon opposite the American Adventure Pavilion. In just a few minutes the rope where I was came down and I found a place at the back to park my scooter.

As I scanned the seating area in front me, the benches quickly filled up as fans new and old gathered to see and hear Taylor Hicks perform. One of the things I found great about Epcot and the America Gardens Theatre was the efficiency in clearing the staging area and setting up for the next show. People lined up quickly and once the line started to move, the crowd quickly found seats and others waiting to sit down were able to get in. Each show was probably filled between 75-90% capacities depending on the particular show. And probably the times at which I looked around, which was generally before Taylor took the stage.

Each show was different – as only Taylor Hicks can make them. There were standards at each performance like Taylor’s last single, “Seven Mile Breakdown” and “Nineteen” which is to be released to the Armed Forces Radio on Veteran’s Day. New for me to hear was a Marshall Tucker cover, “Can’t You See”. I enjoyed Taylor’s version of the song. But then, I tend to enjoy whatever song Taylor chooses to sing.

Other songs included “I Live on a Battlefield”, “Use Me” (Bill Withers), Taylor’s own “The Deal”, “What’s Right is Right”, “Rockin’ Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu” as well as others. The audience seemed appreciative of the music, and the Soul Patrol was all over the place, jockeying for the good seats from which to watch their musical leader. I was just happy to find a place that would let me remain on my scooter and shoot some good pictures which you will find linked below.

Monday afternoon before the Eat to the Beat Concerts, I decided to check out the American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Rumor had it that Taylor Hicks might make a showing at the one of the performances. I went to be there for 1:00 but that show was cancelled. A little bird told me to wait because Taylor would be there at 2:00, so I decided to hang around a bit longer. The wait paid off! Taylor came out for about 90 seconds to plug “Grease”, his latest CD, “The Distance” and to encourage those competing at the exhibit.

For the next 30 minutes, we were entertained by two gentlemen from England and a 17-year old from the States. The young man won the 2:00 competition and was to come back to compete at 7:00 pm. The winner of the final show of the day would receive an ‘ultimate golden ticket’ that would entitle the person to jump the line at any future American Idol tryout in the city of their choice.

Each day as I made my way to the America Gardens Theatre and then out of the park, I stopped by the various food vendors to sample such delicacies as Crawfish Etouffee from New Orleans, Rock Shrimp Ceviche from Santiago, Chile, and a Greek Salad from Athens, Greece. It made for expensive dining but a great way to sample foods from around the world. After all, if it weren’t for the festival, Taylor Hicks would not have been at Epcot and neither would the Traveling Circus either.

At the end of each day I thought about the other meaning of Epcot – Every Person Comes Out Tired – as explained by one of the bus drivers. He was right – I was pooped at the end of each day!

To all the Soul Patrol that I met for the first time and to others I had met previously, it was great seeing so many fans there to support Taylor Hicks. I had a lot of fun sitting with a number of you and meeting you by the various food vendors to share a bite. Hopefully, we’ll meet again and enjoy some more blue-eyed soul from our favorite soul man, Mr. Taylor Hicks!

Sunday, November 1 pictures

Monday, November 2 pictures, including American Idol Experience

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

With the Traveling Circus, It's Always an Adventure!

2009-10-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

For her thirteenth birthday, I promised my older granddaughter a trip to see Taylor Hicks in “Grease” when it came close to Memphis. Birmingham seemed like the logical destination until Taylor added two shows at Workplay. Actually, I had bought tickets for her but when the second show was added, it was decided that her mom (my daughter) should go instead. I would take her somewhere else.

Durham seemed like another logical place, especially she would be on fall break on Monday – we could attend both of the Sunday shows. I knew I would have to work late on Friday plus by Red Hat luncheon was Saturday – not something I wanted to miss. But on Tuesday night, I made the decision we would go to Durham if I could get everything worked out.

I checked my frequent flyer miles – enough for two tickets. Then I checked Ticketmaster to see what sort of seats might be available. Next I had to make sure I could take Monday as a vacation day. Once the vacation was approved, within 30 minutes the plane tickets were secured, hotel & car reservations made and tickets to “Grease” were purchased.

Finally it’s Saturday afternoon and we get to the airport in sufficient time to get through security and down to our gate. The first leg of the flight would take us to Atlanta for a plane change. And a pleasant surprise! As the gate attendant scanned out tickets, new tickets were printed out – we had been upgraded to first class! My granddaughter was elated! Thanks to my elite status, the airline made me look like a ‘can accomplish miracles’ grandmother!

By the time we arrived in Durham and picked up our rental car, it was quite late. And rainy. And pitch black. My first mistake was leaving Madge (my GPS) at home. The second was expecting my granddaughter to be the navigator. We tried to use the Yahoo directions I had printed out, but we kept going in circles and making wrong turns. Finally, we tried my iPhone which has GPS. Nearly 30 miles and one hour later, we were safely at hotel, which was really 16 miles and 20 minutes from the airport (perhaps as the crow flies, but that’s another story)!

Now my granddaughter is not the easiest kid to wake up, but she set the alarm so she could get up and go down stairs to enjoy the free breakfast. No time to wait for me to get ready – we kept in touch my texting. She had a great time making herself a waffle and even brought me juice and bagel.

Once I was ready, we left for another adventure – driving to the Durham Performing Arts Center, or DPAC. According to Yahoo, it should be a 30 minute, 20 mile drive. Forget it – 45 minutes and three re-routings – we made it to the theater! Thank goodness I had given myself at least an hour to get there!

While my granddaughter was getting a pre-show snack, I was talking the security guy. We discussed that the theatre was new and that I was from Memphis. Wrong person to tell that too! More later as to why!

We found our seats, center of the third row! We would see their pupils as well as the color of their eyes! Vince Fontaine started off with the pre-show revue to get the audience ready for the show. The usual dance routines, where the audience was from, birthdays, etc. I tried to get my granddaughter to dance, but she wanted too much of a bribe! And that was in addition to the “Grease” sweatshirts I had purchased for her and her sister!

The matinee was definitely the show to pay close attention to. During the first day of school cafeteria scene, as Patty Simcox is about to make her appearance, Rizzo announced that Patty was getting close because she could smell her coming. I snickered – that was new! In Marty’s bedroom, the radio was working properly and she had to ad-lib a bit until it started working again!

In the second half, with THE ice cream cone in place (I can only imagine what the Teen Angel did when he heard the goof), Sonny calls Frenchy “Sandy”! Then poor Roger is slinging his antenna around when it slips out of his hand and lands near the curtain behind him! He had the “what the heck do I do now” look, although I doubt that’s what he was thinking! He picked it up and the scene continued!

Finally the moment I was waiting for – the cone is opening! Now I’ve seen the show (covering my mouth as I say how many!) a number of times, so I know what to expect and what may get changed up. I was disappointed at the initial response and had to remind myself that North Carolina is home to three other Season 5 top 10 contestants.

But WOW! Frenchy and Taylor went all out during the matinee! As Frenchy did her “I voted for you” and ran her fingers up Taylor Hicks’ chest, she then put her finger on his nose and rubbed it! Taylor seemed to be surprised by that move! Then when they did the ‘hair & sizzle’, Frenchy said “hot diggity dam” when they did the side bump and she tried to pat Taylor’s butt! The audience chuckled!

After Taylor gets back in the cone to finish “Beauty School Dropout”, the audience does give him the applause he was due! Too soon Taylor was gone and the show continued! Taylor came out for the encore and then to sing “Seven Mile Breakdown”. As we all know, Taylor can change up a song at will, and at the matinee, he did just that! I loved what he did – a bit of higher notes at the end!

For any lack of cheering during the show, the audience made up for waiting in line to get a CD signed! It was orderly and moved quickly, in spite of the number of people waiting! I was very pleased to see the crowd. My granddaughter wanted to have her sweatshirt signed and became concerned when the theatre usher said Taylor would only be signing the CD or his merchandise. I kept telling her to lay the shirt down and that Taylor would sign it. He didn’t disappoint – he even signed it to her! While he was doing that and I was trying to catch a quick picture, the security person I had talked to earlier informed Taylor and Clay that I had come all the way from Memphis to see the show! I’m sure I was blushing while Taylor and Clay just smiled! In the end, all that really mattered was that my granddaughter had gotten her shirt signed! Nanee ruled!

We left the theatre to see what was close by for an early dinner, but downtown Durham was pretty much dead except for the Mellow Mushroom, a pizza place across the street. I must confess, it was a great pizza! By the time we finished eating, it was time to go back to the theatre for the evening show.

This time, my granddaughter took her sister’s hoodie to be signed. We found our seats, still center, but eighth row this time. Now after the matinee mishaps, I waited to see what would happen that evening. Nada – everything went off without a hitch!

When Taylor Hicks made his entrance, the audience was much more receptive than the matinee crowd, and it felt like the usual appreciation I had come to feel. Frenchy didn’t rub Taylor’s nose or add the diggity when they did the bump, just “hot damn”! And when Taylor sang “Seven Mile Breakdown” I didn’t notice any of the nuances I had heard earlier.

Again Taylor was signing CDs after the show. With this the final show and a Sunday night, the waiting crowd was smaller, but still a number of people. The hoodie was signed and I got a better picture of Taylor before we left.

By now, the navigator had figured out how the GPS on my phone worked and we were ready to head back to the hotel. This time we made it in record time! Well, record for us but not according to Yahoo time.

Our flight home was scheduled for sunrise (7:05 am) so we had to leave the hotel very early. As we were driving to the airport, we passed the Cheesecake Factory. My granddaughter pointed it out and informed me she had seen it last night. What! She didn’t mention it! That’s where I wanted to take her to dinner! Because she took the name literally, she didn’t mention it! I can’t really blame her – I hadn’t told her I wanted to go (not to mention I had no idea where it was much less that it was on the same street as our hotel!!!!)

Because of the weather, our flight was late leaving. I slept during the wait. My granddaughter read and chatted on the phone with her mother several times. We were finally airborne and on our way home. When I asked her if she’d had a good time and wanted to go somewhere again, she said she let her know when!

By the way, she really enjoyed the show! Both times!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Happy Birthday Taylor

2009-10-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's wishing you the best birthday ever, Taylor Hicks! Enjoy your day! Thanks for the wonderful music you have brought to us and for the fun role of Teen Angel in "Grease"!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Goes the Distance and Gains New Found Freedom Part 2

2009-10-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

The Traveling Circus didn't enough of Taylor Hicks on Friday night at Workplay, so we went back again on Saturday night. Knowing that Friday had been spectacular and that Taylor never does the same show twice, we really didn't know how he could top Saturday night. But he managed!

Saturday nigth was over the top - spectacular - wonderful - energized (and after two "Grease" performances) - better than ever - top of his game - full of surprises - well, you get the idea. So here are the videos from that great evening!

Boogie Woogie Flu with Hey Pokey Way

The Distance

What's Right is Right

The Runaround

The Deal

Once Upon a Lover

Maybe You Should

Battlefield

Nineteen

Woman's Gotta Have It with Ona Watson

Seven Mile Breakdown

New Found Freedom with the UAB Gospel Choir

My Sweet Lord

And now for the Traveling Circus to recuperate before the next adventure at Epcot the first of November! We need it after this week-end! What a glorious week-end it was!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Goes the Distance and Gains New Found Freedom

2009-09-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this is more about Taylor Hicks going “The Distance” to gain “New Found Freedom”. Just when I think Taylor has given his best, he pulls out the stops again and leaves me realizing the best is still to come.

I am seldom at a loss for words, but after this week-end in Birmingham at Workplay, I suddenly find ‘the cat has my tongue’ and I’m at loss for words. Both shows were fantastic, awesome, fun and energized. Taylor Hicks was home and the joy he felt showed.

As I said, I’m at a loss for words this time, so I will let the videos tell the story for me. So grab your favorite beverage, sit back and enjoy Taylor Hicks as you’ve never seen him…he has truly gone the distance and in doing so, has gained new found freedom!

I was able to video tape both shows in their entirety. As I get the videos converted over the next several nights, I will be adding them. So keep checking - the best is yet to come!

Pictures - Workplay - Friday Night

Pictures - Workplay - Saturday Night

Boogie Woogie Flu & Hey Pokey Way, Friday, September 25, 2009

I Live on a Battlefield, Friday, September 25, 2009

The Deal, Friday, September 25, 2009

The Runaround, Friday, September 25, 2009

Maybe You Should, Friday, September 25, 2009

Don't Let Me Down, Friday, September 25, 2009

What's Right is Right, Friday, September 25, 2009

Once Upon a Lover of Mine, Friday, September 25, 2009

Nineteen, Friday, September 25, 2009

Dust My Broom with Billy Earl McClellan, Friday, September 25, 2009

The Distance, Friday, September 25, 2009

Gonna Move, Friday, September 25, 2009

Seven Mile Breakdown, Friday, September 25, 2009

My Sweet Lord, Friday, September 25, 2009

And that, folks, ends Friday night's concert at Workplay! Stay tuned - Saturday night's performance will be up before the end of the week-end!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community, Workplay

The Traveling Circus Feels the Heat in Atlanta

2009-08-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

Back in 2006 I made myself a promise that if Taylor Hicks ever made a return stop in Atlanta and was going to be at Smith’s Olde Bar with his guitar and buddies, I was going to be there too! And now, three years later, I was finally able to make good on that promise when Taylor brought his “Grease” Shadow Tour to Atlanta and Smith’s Olde Bar.

For the Smith repeat, Taylor Hicks brought with him John Kulinich (guitar), Jason Parker (bass) and Brian Less (keyboard). Taylor, of course, would be on the guitar, harmonica, tambourine and shaker. While Taylor can almost be a one-man band himself, the other musicians’ added beautiful accompaniment and energy to the fully-Taylor Hicks charged show – acoustic style – just the way Taylor is meant to be enjoyed!

For a late Sunday night show, Smith’s was about half-filled depending on how spread out the audience was. The crowd make up was more women than men (but there were lots of men), and the age group varied from barely 21 to late sixties or older. Several members of the “Grease” cast came after the final Atlanta performance, including Dominic Fortuna who plays Vince Fontaine. Of course, Taylor wasn’t going to start the concert until after “Grease” closed and he had met fans in the lobby after the show, so the concert wouldn’t start until 10:30 or so anyway.

Wearing gorgeous boots, jeans and black short sleeve shirt, Taylor Hicks greeted the cheering and screaming audience with “Atlanta, GA…How are we doin’ on a Sunday night!” With 3 guitars and a keyboard, the show opened with the title song from Taylor’s second album, “The Distance”. There’s just something about that song played acoustically that is chilling and mesmerizing at the same time. To me, this is the best way to perform this song.

After thanking us for coming and letting us know that we were in for a lot of music, including special guests, Taylor sang “I Live on a Battlefield”. The guitars are very strong and at one point I was expecting to see smoke because of the all the rapid strumming that both John and Taylor was doing! Taylor seems to be much more comfortable playing the guitar in acoustic settings – it still amazes me that he doesn’t use a pick!

I Live on a Battlefield - Smith's Olde Bar - RagsQueen

“Written by an old buddy…tongue-in-cheek song about going to somebody’s wedding and running away with the bride”, Taylor Hicks sang “Wedding Day Blues”. Such a fun and lively song, and perfect for some melody variations and harmonica! A sly look at the part about “throwing the groom out of the limo”; a great way to get to ladies to raise the scream level up a notch or two! Even Taylor said it ‘was fun’!

Wedding Day Blues - Smith's Olde Bar - RagsQueen

A pre-Idol song written by Taylor, “The Deal”, is beautiful when played with just the guitars and keyboards. Made me feel like I was back in the days when Taylor played the local bars in Birmingham as well as Smith’s Olde Bar in the early days. The guitars gave a certain twang that adds to the enjoyment of the song, particularly when performed live. Taylor even chided about deal makers and deal breakers at the end, adding a sense of fun to the performance.

The first single off “The Distance”, “What’s Right is Right” was next. Taylor asked to have the volume of the keyboard turned up. Hearing the song as recorded on the album or the video or played with a full band doesn’t really give Taylor’s voice the listening to that it deserves. Played acoustically though, Taylor’s voice is front and center. Beautiful song, and even more beautiful when played this way.

What's Right is Right - Smith's Olde Bar - RagsQueen

Paul McCartney was in Atlanta for a big concert in Piedmont Park, and on Friday night, Taylor Hicks said he ran into “Sir Paul” during the sound check. In honor of that meeting, he threw in “Don’t Let Me Down”. A great song for an acoustic set and Taylor’s voice is perfect for the song. I swear the guitars even sounded like a Mariachi band was in the room. Don’t know if it was John or Taylor that was giving off that sound, but it was a great addition to the song.

From his self-titled album, recorded with a full drum corps led by Taylor Hicks himself, “The Runaround” is a song generally played with a full band, and sometimes even a marching band. Before starting the song, Taylor told a story about Brian Less having to play the bass sounds on his keyboard when the bass player didn’t show up. Brian would respond he could and asked if he was going to be paid twice! The audience loved the story and Brian was grinning ear to ear! The musical intro featured Brian on the keyboards for the acoustic performance of “The Runaround”, and nothing was missing from the song! Actually, the vocals ‘popped’ in this version! Taylor and Brian, together, it just doesn’t get much better than this! Taylor brought the house down with his ending chat…“has anyone ever gotten the runaround? It sucks! That’s why we write the music!”

The Runaround - Smith's Olde Bar - RagsQueen

Taylor Hicks has often said that when he heard “Nineteen” for the first time he had tears in his eyes and that it really touched him. Taylor announced that the song is to be released to the Armed Forces Radio around Veterans Day. A beautiful song, made even more beautiful with less instrumentation, was dedicated to our troops.

Nineteen - Smith's Olde Bar - RagsQueen

If you dream…if you visualize it…it will come true” were Taylor’s opening remarks for “Gonna Move”, a song that Taylor has performed for years, and seems more like his personal mantra because he’s always on the move. No regular address, hotels rooms are his home, and he’s said in interviews that his mail goes to his parents’ home. Before ending the song, Taylor tagged about ‘calling the bar owner about 10 times a week to let him open’.

He continued to talk about calling the bar owner to beg to let him open for someone and finally ending with he was closing the bar tonight! “Cheers, everyone!” Taylor talked about being on one long continuous journey and then about giving him two months with a real estate agent and he’d be ready to get back on the road. I think he may have been tuning his guitar as he continued to talk about the current shadow tour where he could strip down the music and trying it out with less production. And he thanked the “Grease” cast for coming and about them teaching him how to act.

A song that many fans have hoped would be the next single, and one that Taylor himself has said could be the song that establishes his writing skills, “Maybe You Should”, we were told was on hold by a ‘big country singer’. And no, Taylor did not reveal who it might be, although the gender is female. While Taylor was chatty and talkative, he didn’t have loose lips!

“Maybe You Should” is perfect for just a keyboard and a couple of guitars. Actually, the live version is even better than the recorded version, if you can imagine that! Everyone needs to hear that song live at least once so enjoy the attached video to get a flavor of a live performance!

Maybe You Should - Smith's Olde Bar - RagsQueen

A bit of Spanish flair and written with Simon Clime during a visit to Southern France, “Once Upon a Lover of Mine” is a great Latin-calypso style song, perfect for acoustic performances. The opening featured Brian on the keys. Taylor picked up the shaker while John and Jason backed up the vocals with guitars. Even a few ‘trrrrs’ with senorita got the audience into a frenzy of squeals! The higher pitched notes were hit with perfection! I didn’t realize the vocal range that Taylor had to sing with this song, even though I’ve heard it a number of times! WOW, Taylor really does have a wide vocal range!

As the original set was ending, Taylor quipped, “what to do next” and to shouts of love and adoration, responded with a high-pitched, “I love you too!” Also thanked us all for coming and for the support and to let us know that an encore would take place with a few more friends joining him on stage.

The final song, written by George Harrison, “My Sweet Lord” had been the encore song for concerts earlier in the year. Now it seems to be the last song in the main set. As he put it, the song had migrated from George Harrison to Billy Preston to Taylor Hicks. I always enjoyed the original George Harrison version but Taylor’s is more irreverent and fast, perfect for clapping and patting the foot to the beat as well as a bit of chair dancing (at least for me, anyway!)

After a brief intermission, the stage was reset to add Wynn Christian and Quinn Boyland of Spoonful James (who by the way had played earlier in the evening). The first song, Eric Clapton’s “Why Does Love Have to Be So Sad”, obviously a standard for Spoonful James, featured Taylor Hicks on the tambourine. John was featured on the guitar! And Wynn was singing harmony with Taylor. Quite a nice performance of just vocals, guitars and keyboard – I love acoustic Taylor Hicks! (Sadly, my video was in the air with a great view but dingy me forgot to turn it on, so no video. Mea culpa!)

Written by Wynn Christian, “Seven Mile Breakdown” ended the show. Taylor left the guitar playing to everyone else while he picked up the tambourine. I miss that little hiccup when the words ‘might make you loose your mind’ but even without it, it’s a great song, and one I’m sure that having Taylor put on “The Distance” has surely made Wynn very proud!

Seven Mile Breakdown - Smith's Olde Bar - RagsQueen

And so the curtains were closed and what few light were in the bar came up as the crowd began to thin. Some of us sat for a bit to wait for the bar to clear and chat with friends and compare notes. But since I had to fly home and go to work later in the morning (it was after midnight after all), I had to get back to the hotel to get some sleep, as if sleep was possible after a Taylor Hicks concert!

Enjoy the pictures and video! Smith’s Olde Bar with Taylor and friends was a wonderful experience, one I hope you get sometime, and in the meantime, you can enjoy the videos posted!

Pictures from Smith's Olde Bar

ETA: Videos are also on YouTube for those who can't view the Vimeo ones!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Grease Comes to Birminham, AL

2009-07-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

Would you like to have the opportunity to get tickets to see "Grease" in Birmingham before they go on sale to the general public next Friday, July 31? Well, here's your opportunity to get choice seats before then!

Seats are available for the Saturday, September 26 2:00 matinee and the Sunday, September 27 1:00 matinee at the group rate below plus a $3.75 service fee! You save on the price of the ticket as well as the usual Ticketmaster service fees!

Saturday, September 26, 2009, 2:00 matinee
$51.50 - Continental seating rows AA-KK
$42.50 - Orchestra rows A-X
$42.50 - Grand Tier rows AA-QQ
$33.50 - Balcony rows A-W
$24.50 - Balcony rows X-Z

Sunday, September 27, 2009, 1:00 matinee
$57.00 - Continental seating rows AA-KK
$47.00 - Orchestra rows A-X
$47.00 - Grand Tier rows AA-QQ
$37.50 - Balcony rows A-W
$27.00 - Balcony rows X-Z

When you click on the link below, you are taken to Broadway Across America where you will sign in with your special code - soulpatrol. Next you are taken to Ticketmaster to actually purchase the tickets. You may need to create a new account if your regular Ticketmaster account doesn't let you log-in. This special pricing is only for Broadway Across America!

Click here to access Broadway Across America-Birmingham for priority access to the best seats! Remember - the password is: soulpatrol!

See you there!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

Enjoy your 4th of July! Remember what the day really means and what it has taken to get where we are today.

"Nineteen" from "The Distance" by Taylor Hicks - Video by godhand06

If you have a few extra dollars and want to do something meaningful, why not send a soldier "The Distance", the latest CD from Taylor Hicks. Click here for more information.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Gets Magic at the Bag

2009-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

For the Taylor Hicks’ purest, Ferndale, MI was the place to be at a club called the Magic Bag. We were promised an acoustic Taylor and that’s just what we got. Not only that, but this show in my opinion, was the BEST ever – live Taylor Hicks – what he must have been like pre-Idol.

The band was small – Brian Less on the keyboard, John Kulinich on guitar, Jason Parker on bass, and Taylor Hicks on guitar and harmonica. These were ‘his boys’ and Taylor had ‘hand picked them’ for this show. The Magic Bag, a small theater with tables and chairs, seats around 300 patrons with standing room for maybe another 100 in the pit in front of the stage. With a funky cat and big round fabric lanterns, the place was intimately cozy and perfect for this acoustic show. THE show of shows!

The show opened with glad applause and cheers as Taylor entered from the back of the stage and took a seat at the front. Tonight, Taylor Hicks sat while the audience stood near the stage or sat in the seats. With his guitar resting across him, his harmonica case ready on his left, Taylor shouted out “I love Ferndale” and then started the concert off with “The Distance” from his latest CD by the same title.

Per Taylor Hicks, “the next song was off “The Distance” which can be found in any record store!” Not that he was hawking his new CD! “I Live on a Battlefield” followed. With just three guitars and the keyboard, the song had a different sound, and one that I really liked, and actually liked better than when I’ve heard it with the full band. The musical interlude with just the musicians was fantastic and the various guitars could be distinguished from each other which really intensified the sound. Hopefully, we hear this version again – and real soon!

From the first post-Idol CD, “The Runaround”, a song with a drum corps beat, performed acoustically, was a special treat. With Brian on the keys, and Taylor, John and Jason on guitars, no other instruments were necessary. The music was just as funky and Taylor’s voice was better showcased!

The first single from “The Distance”, “What’s Right is Right” is perfect for an acoustic show. Taylor told us that he’d been told us he’d heard it was a great song for weddings, and that “Do I Make You Pride” was a good mother of the bride song! And I have to agree!

Taking from his Beatles collection, Taylor Hicks performed “Don’t Let Me Down”, a song he did frequently during the Season 5 American Idol Tour. The guitars and keyboard kept the song from overpowering Taylor’s voice and Brian’s vocal accompaniment. It was a good choice to add to the acoustic set because of its lyrical simplicity. The musical interlude was a good way to feature Taylor and John on the acoustic guitars.

An early original, “The Deal” is perfect for an acoustic set. Tonight was probably much like hearing the original Taylor, before he became a household name and celebrity. Close your eyes and you can probably hear the song, the guitars playing in harmonic duel without overshadowing each other, but rather in accompaniment and compliment.

Written by a friend, and given to Taylor Hicks when he was about 20, the song is about what happens to many a young man when a former lover gets married. Except this time, the ex-lover gets the bride! The first time performed live, “Wedding Day Blues” thrilled the audience! When he got to the part of the song about “tossing the groom out of the limo and making love to the bride”, he gave us a sly but mischievous look. Amid screams and applause, laughter and fun, one can image how the story might play out if it really did happen to Taylor or one of his friends!

“Once Upon a Lover”, according to Taylor Hicks, was written while in France while he was working on the material for his latest CD. Several times throughout the song did a ‘trrrrrlll’ with his voice. I don’t know how else to describe it! The guitars had a Spanish twang that complimented the theme of the song. And with a Spanish flair, at the very end, Taylor stood up and did a ‘mock fandango’ move. Not just once, but twice! And too quick for me to capture for posterity!

Taylor thanked us for coming, not just to the Magic Bag, but for supporting “Grease” and Detroit! Having a bit of fun with the audience, he asked us what was next. With shouts of various songs, he said we sounded like we were heckling the Penguins, and then Brian said it sounded like the audience shouting out prices of prizes on “The Price is Right”!

The song that brought tears to my eyes, “Nineteen” was next. This wasn’t the first time Taylor Hicks performed it, but this was the best performance. Brian’s keyboard was the most prominent instrument during the song, but I’m sure the guitars were strummed as well. Taylor’s voice was strong, and at the end, he signaled to John to finish the number with a solo guitar.

Paul Pena’s “Gonna Move”, a frequent song on Taylor’s set list, and admittedly his mantra because he’s ‘always on the move’, featured Brian on the keyboard and Jason “the Kid” on bass. Some dueling guitars between Taylor and John would also thrill us. Taylor’s comfort level and guitar skills shined through his ability to hold his own with another equally accomplished guitar player while Brian’s fingers flew across the keyboard at a speed that would rival the fastest race car driver’s! Before it was over, some “Soul Serenade” and “Sugaree” found their way into “Gonna Move”.

Something we should all practice, “Indiscriminate Act(s) of Kindness”, is the perfect song for an encore. But instead, we were treated to this song as part of the main concert. And we heard it first here, at the Magic Bag! Performed predominately with just guitars and Brian singing harmony along with quiet keystrokes, the crowd was remained quiet and mesmerized – as least I was – by Taylor’s voice.

Another new song, “Maybe You Should” was performed before a hushed crowd. Taylor admitted that this song made ‘the hairs on his arms stand up’ the first time he heard the song. And for those of us there, we could understand that statement. With eyes closed and arms resting on his guitar, Taylor sang the song softly and with feeling and emotion. This was a song we’ve waited for since the first shadow tour in January, and it was worth the wait. I hope we will hear it more often. It’s a great song!

The song most recently associated with Taylor Hicks show encores, “My Sweet Lord” was great acoustically as well as giving Taylor a chance to play some harmonica, assuming he had the right harp, that is! Grabbing harmonica after harmonica and testing, Taylor quickly realized he didn’t have the one he needed. Finally making the “A” gesture to Clay Connor, tour manager, and shouting to get him an “A”, Clay ran back stage and came back with the right harp. Taylor poked fun at himself about being the band leader and yet never missed a beat in the song!

“Seven Mile Breakdown”, Taylor’s most recent single for the country stations, was the last song of the main show. At times the guitars were able to give it a country twang like a banjo might have been added to the mix of instruments. Again Brian was singing backgrounds, and for a moment there, I thought the woman who actually did it was singing along as well! Before the song was over Taylor was ‘sucking and blowing’ on his trusty harmonica. Once more Taylor thanked us for coming and bid us good night before leaving the stage.

After a very brief intermission, Taylor came back to give us “Feeling Alright” as the Magic Bag encore. Brian was giving the ivories quite a workout as he played the keyboard. That man can play those keys with such speed that I wonder if the keyboard will catch on fire!

And speaking of fire, during the first couple of songs, I would swear I saw smoke coming out from behind Taylor! I’m sure it was just the lighting but for a couple of moments….

Almost as quickly as Taylor took the stage, security was scouring the crowd making sure NO video was being taken. For that, I’m very sorry, because this was THE show to video tape. Pictures without flash were fine, so you will have to enjoy those shots included throughout the recap and at the link below.

Tonight, it was all about the music. Pure. Unadulterated. Raw. Gritty. Emotional. Intimate. Taylor was in his element. His comfort zone. Into his music. If you were there, you know what I mean. If you missed it, well….I’m truly sorry.

Pictures from The Magic Bag

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, Magic Bag, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel - Happy Anniversary!

2009-06-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of TMO & Soul Connection

One year ago, Taylor Hicks surprised by taking the role of Teen Angel in the Broadway production of "Grease"! Many of us traveled to New York City to enjoy this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Or so we thought!

Then last fall, Taylor Hicks announced he would be reprising his role as Teen Angel in the touring cast of "Grease" with many stops across the country and a stop in Canada. And recently Taylor Hicks let us know his contract extends to June 2010. That's a lot of time spent in a blue sequined suit with angel wings, gray pompadour in an ice cream come above the stage floor!

Taylor Hicks says he is enjoying the role, and that the "Grease" tour is allowing him the opportunity to add his style to Teen Angel as well as sing one of his singles from his latest CD, "The Distance". For the first part of the tour, he sang "What's Right is Right" after the "Grease" encore, and now he sings "Seven Mile Breakdown".

So enjoy a clip of the touring "Grease", courtesy of the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington!

5th Avenue Theatre - Taylor Hicks Grease Montage

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Keeps the Triple Door Open

2009-05-29T22:14:00.001-07:00

The Emerald City, the Rain City, the Gateway to Alaska, the home of the Mariners and Seahawks, the birthplace of Starbucks and UPS, and the location of the Triple Door – Seattle was the place to be to see Taylor Hicks. From around the country, the Traveling Circus flew into town to catch the show, and what a show it was!

The Triple Door was a fantastic venue for an intimate club show. Dinner and drinks before the show, plenty of time to chat with friends and neighbors. The food was what I’d call Asian, served with rice and vegetables cooked with garlic and ginger. My pea pods were exquisite! And those princess prawns – I recommend them! Excellent service from friendly staff as well. But enough about the food!

The place was quite interesting. There are four rows of four half-moon booths that seat four persons each. Behind each row of booths are long tables that seat parties of varying numbers, as well as a row of single-seat tables at the foot of the stage! Tables line the sides so that there is no bad seat anywhere because everyone faces the stage! There’s also seating in the bar area if all you want to do is listen. There was an upper level that could look down on the stage, but appeared to have limited seating.

Since my reservation was for one, the hostess asked if it would be fine to seat me with other guests. Sure, no problem. I was led to my seat at table 6, front row, at the foot of the stage just a little left of center. What a treat because I was seated with other fans I have met during my travels. You might say, there were a lot of members of the Traveling Circus there for Taylor Hicks!

The opening act was Keri Noble, a very talented singer-songwriter from Minneapolis. With just her voice and a keyboard, she entertained the crowd and warmed us up for Taylor. Her music was pleasing to listen to, and I’m sorry to say, I didn’t get one of her albums. She’s the kind of entertainer one would enjoy while curled up in front of a fire with a glass of a nice mellow wine, just listening to her music without the desire to move. Keri was one of the best opening acts I’ve seen Taylor use in quite a while – actually her style and music reminded me of Michael Warren, another Birmingham musician that had the opportunity to open for Taylor during his 2007 Spring Tour.

Following a brief intermission, the house lights grew dimmer and Taylor’s band took the stage before a full house – the show was sold out! After a few warm-up bars, Taylor Hicks took the stage and “The Distance” was the opening song. Wearing the usual gray shirt now covered with a gray vest, black jeans and boots, silver hair glistening, Taylor Hicks owned the stage and would continue to do for the next hour and a half! “The Distance” was a great song to open with, a way to bridge the gap between all people whether at the show or just in the world in general. With a shout out to “Seattle” and grinning ear to ear, Taylor knew he had an audience that was ready to be entertained, to hear him sing and enjoy an evening of good music!

Continuing with his latest album and the first single, “What’s Right is Right” was next. A wonderful song about love in its purest form, performed live, transforms into the memory of the music video that accompanied the single’s release. Taylor sings with heart-felt emotion and passion, leaving the listener knowing that this is the type of love that Taylor is looking for and desires.

From his first album, “Taylor Hicks”, tonight would feature “Heaven Knows” and “The Maze” with lots of other songs tagged within them. “Ain’t it Funky” and “Inner City Blues” found their way into “Heaven Knows” while “That’s Where it’s At” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoe” were included with “The Maze”. For over ten minutes Taylor continued without stopping to even gulp a drink of water! Two funky songs with lots of dancing and pure energy!

What Taylor could easily call his own mantra, “Gonna Move” was dedicated to the memory of its writer, Paul Pena. Taylor cracked his own joke about moving, ‘gonna move to where...’! A standard of Taylor’s from his early bar days, is still just as fresh today as it was then. “Old Weakness” was also incorporated into the song before it was over. Also, one of the musicians from “Grease” joined the band for the song, Josh was all I caught. Taylor was going to play his guitar but the guest was using Taylor’s amp, so he had to put his guitar back down and shouted out ‘guitar players’ to get the crowd to laugh!

From the recent album, Bobby Womack’s “Woman’s Gotta Have It” was next. From the first time I heard it live including the recorded version, I find this song is perfect for Taylor’s voice and style. Hopefully, one day we will get to see Elliot Yamin join Taylor on stage to perform it as a duet!

It’s always nice when Taylor performs one of his earlier works, such as “The Deal”. With a big standard guitar, one that almost looks like it might overtake him, Taylor plays his own simple accompaniment to the song.

The bonus track from the Wal-Mart release “Hide Nor Hair” was a crowd pleaser! The young woman sitting with her husband on my left remarked afterwards that “Hide Nor Hair” was her new favorite! It’s been one of mine since the first time I heard Taylor perform it before “The Distance” was officially released! Taylor definitely does Ray Charles proud with his version – I’m sure Ray smiles down on him every time he performs it!

For those who’ve found love and lost it, “I Live on a Battlefield” might bring back those less happy memories. But as Taylor Hicks sings, those memories quickly fade as watching Taylor brings smiles to the faces and hearts of the listeners.

Almost an hour later, the show end with “Seven Mile Breakdown”, almost eight minutes of pure country rock pleasure! Watching Taylor play the guitar during this song made me wonder if his fingers might bleed from the sheer speed with which he played! While this version wasn’t as ‘country’ as the latest single mix is, it’s still a great song performed live, and one that serves Taylor well in his set list.

After a few minutes to catch his breath, Taylor came back for one more song, George Harrison’s, “My Sweet Lord”. I love Taylor’s version which seems faster and maybe a bit jazzier than the original, but definitely a great listen! That is definitely one song I would love to know why it was chosen for the encore (not that it really matters) and one that I look forward to hearing again real soon!

Leaving the stage one last time, the house lights came up and everyone was ushered out the door because the parking lot next door was closing at midnight – not because we would all be turning into pumpkins! Several of us stayed behind to compare notes on the performance, chat with other guests who found Taylor’s performance to be amazing, or just try to figure out where to find some of the many pictures that were taken during the show! For now, the Traveling Circus just needs a little rest before the next adventure, so until then, enjoy the pictures and video that can be found below!

Triple Door Photos

ETA: More fantastic Triple Door pictures courtesy of 4tay

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Remembering Our Military

2009-05-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

On this Memorial Day, remember to take time to thank our military for their unfailing sacrifice for our freedom and say a silent prayer for those who have given their all.

While you celebrate the holiday with picnics, bar-be-ques, family and friends, enjoy the following version of "Nineteen", performed by Taylor Hicks at the Roxy on Sunset which was written by Tom Hambridge, Gary Nicholson, Gary and Jeffrey Steele after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Towers.

The story of a young man, only 19, with the opportunity to play football for Tennessee, who chose instead to enlist in our armed forces to fright for our freedom. Whether he saves another soldier and loses his own life or survives to return home to a hero's welcome is open to interpretation. No matter how you think it ends, it's a wonderful story and tribute to the men and women of our Armed Forces.

To them, I say "Thank You". May you be safe this day and every day that you selflessly serve our great nation.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Wishing all you ladies a Happy Mother's Day!

Myspace Graphics, Mother's Day Graphics at WishAFriend.com

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Seven Mile Breakdown - The Video

2009-05-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

While Taylor Hicks is making his debut on the Country stations, he's also giving us another great video! Here Taylor is with his latest single, "Seven Mile Breakdown", which was filmed just a few short weeks ago.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks - Back Where It Began on American Idol!

2009-04-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Picture: KarinP from Canada TV

Taylor Hicks brought his latest single release, "Seven Mile Breakdown", to the stage of American Idol tonight. Performing his new single before the live audience, Taylor wore his usual trademark gray shirt and jeans but spiced it up with boots and a beautiful gray vest!

With his gray hair short and neat, glistening with a coating of gel, Taylor Hicks took the stage with his golden guitar while a harmonica was safely stashed for later use. As the cameras moved in for a closer view, Taylor eyes were sparkling with excitement and he was grinning from ear to ear! He was ready to rock out the Idol house with his latest masterpiece!

Sitting on the stage, playing the steel guitar, was Jay Leach, who is also featured on "The Distance" and helped back up Taylor at the Roxy last month. Other musicians looked familiar but I can't tell you who they were. Doesn't really matter - I was really more focused on Taylor!

Keeping the dance moves to a minimum, tapping his foot to the beat, Taylor plucked his guitar while singing and smiling at the same time! No need for lights on the stage, Taylor's excitement was bright enough to light up the entire place! During the musical interlude, Taylor brought out his harmonica and gave it his famous suck and blow. Once he had used his trusty harp and was ready to go back to the guitar and vocals, he tossed it into the audience for one lucky person to grab!

Taylor was performing with an attitude of excitement and showmanship in a manner that only Taylor can do! That side-to-side movement of his head said it all - "I'm an entertainer, the whole package, watch me show you what I do best!" The foot tapping and leg movement must be his new country swagger which added to the excitement of the performance.

In the end, the entire audience was standing - yes, even Simon Cowell! And applauding for Taylor's terrific performance! No pitchiness! No forgotten lyrics! No missed notes! Even as Ryan Seacrest was interviewing Taylor, Taylor commented with excitement that even Simon was standing! Woo Hoo!!! And Taylor Hicks said it was good to be home, back where it all began for him as well as thanking the audience for making his dream come true!

Taylor gave the contestants good advice about picking the right songs, having the right moves on stage and showing America that you are a performer. He spoke about having fun with "Grease" as Teen Angel and his enjoyment of interacting with his fans as well as reminding us that he had out a new album, "The Distance", that he's promoting during the "Grease" tour.

With his usual grace under pressure, Taylor Hicks paid his respects to the stage of American Idol, the very stage that lead to his Season 5 victory. And true to the performer and entertainer that he is, Taylor Hicks gave his best performance on live TV that I've ever seen! Once again, seeing Taylor Hicks on American Idol gave me more confirmation that America did get it right in May 2006 which Taylor Hicks was crowned the Season 5 winner!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Wait is Almost Over!

2009-04-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

The day the Traveling Circus has been waiting for is finally here! Be sure to watch American Idol tonight on your local FOX station to catch Taylor Hicks performing his latest single, "Seven Mile Breakdown"!

Written with college buddy and friend, Wynn Christian, the song is the subject of Taylor Hicks' second music video which was filmed earlier this week in Ojai, CA. Be on the lookout for this video to be released soon!

The song will be officially released to country stations around the country next week. Be sure to catch it on your local radio station!

I'll be watching Taylor Hicks on American Idol tonight. Will you?!?!?!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Rocks at the Roxy

2009-03-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Roxy was the place to be to hear the most new music from Taylor Hicks. That’s what I had heard from several reliable sources. Armed with airline ticket and hotel reservation, the Traveling Circus set off for a West Coast adventure with our honored ringmaster, Taylor Hicks.

The Roxy, a small club on Sunset near Hammond, had reserved seating for VIPs and standing room only for the rest of us. The place was packed – another body near where I was positioned would have forced the crowd into the entrance area – oh wait, there were a few people sitting out there when I ventured to the ladies’ room! It was a full house, and maybe even a sell-out! The crowd appeared to be equally male and female, younger couples matched to older couples, groups of guys and groups of gals, former road band members, “Grease” cast members, and lots of Soul Patrol.

Curtains closed the stage off from the standing room only area. When the band finished cuing up for the show, the curtains were raised and Taylor Hicks was front and center, ready to entertain us, and perhaps even ‘take us to church’ as he’s often known to do. This would be the night to premier most of the songs from his latest CD, “The Distance” as well as songs from “Taylor Hicks” and “Early Works”!

Amid squeals and applause, the sweet melody of “The Distance” let us know that tonight would really be a special show! With that song, the distance between singer and audience subsided and crowd swayed to the music, video cameras popped up and cameras were clicking away. The press was in full force right up front with the hard core Soul Patrol who wanted the best places to stand. Live, “The Distance” is riveting and this listener was extremely proud to be sitting in attendance and excited for the success that is so due Taylor Hicks.

To keep us in suspense, familiar standards from his first CD, “Taylor Hicks”, “Give Me Tonight”, “Heaven Knows” and “The Maze” allowed us to rock and sway, and maybe even sing along. Original tour band members, Josh Smith and Brian Gallagher, were accompanied by additional musicians, many who were playing live for the first time with Taylor. Being top-notch musicians helped give the band their tight playing edge so that the novice attendee would never guess this band hadn’t always played together.

My favorite bonus cut, found only on the Wal-Mart CD, “Hide Nor Hair” left me as breathless and begging for more as it did the first time I heard Taylor Hicks perform it live in Cincinnati in January. This time, Taylor added the pedal steel guitar sounds of Jay Leach, giving the song a country feel. Mr. Leach can also be heard on several songs on the new CD, so check out the credits to find out which ones!

Letting us know the song had been well received at a San Diego Naval Base just a week or so earlier, and dedicating the song to our troops Taylor sang “Nineteen”, a ballad about a young man’s choice to give up a scholarship to enter military service after the Twin Towers were brought down. His hands on his chest, Taylor sang the song with the same emotion and poignancy reminiscent of the American Idol tour when he performed his coronation single, “Do I Make You Proud”. Performed live, the song, I’m certain, produced more than a few tears for some. Even as I write my recap I can still hear the pedal steel guitar of Mr. Leach, and feel the same emotions I felt that night hearing Taylor sing “Nineteen” for the first time.

Going back to his old bar days and his post-Idol CD, Taylor Hicks performed “Gonna Move” next. I never tire of hearing Taylor’s version, and often find myself wanting to sing along. Hopefully, if I did at the Roxy, no one heard me! Tim Carmen, another artist that was part of the “The Distance” recording sessions, was featured on the keyboard and organ. Quite an accomplished musician that I hope we get to see more of at future shows.

A song that surprised me the first time I heard it at Martyrs’ in January, and one that Taylor recorded as a duet with Elliot Yamin, “Woman’s Gotta Have It” followed. Taylor left off the spoken intro found on the CD but did start off with the high-pitched ‘woo-oo-oo’ to get the musical juices flowing. I still want to close my eyes and sway to the music as I remember the sweet melody and Taylor’s soulful voice singing that song.

Sticking with his recently released CD, Taylor next sang “I Live on a Battlefield”, a song about the pitfalls of fighting for love. I can still see Taylor moving and grooving as he directed the band while catching his breathe in anticipation of finishing the song.

An original, written long before becoming a household name and recorded originally on his self-produced “Under the Radar”, “The Deal” provides a great way to slow down the pace before upping the pace again. A simple song with a soothing melody has a great saxophone feature that showcases the talents of Brian Gallagher.

Co-written with Wynn Christian, an old band mate from Taylor’s days at Auburn, “Seven Mile Breakdown” is a funky rocking song about traveling the roads in the Mississippi Delta and a stretch of highway that includes nothing but flatlands! It’s the perfect song to feature the talents of Jay Leach and his pedal steel guitar. The drumming makes me think of a speeding train or galloping horse which only intensifies the rhythm for me leaving me needing to stand up and dance! The song also featured Taylor on the harmonica before finally taking us home.

Originally written for Ray Charles but never recorded by him, Taylor Hicks put on his Ray Charles persona as he performed “The Right Place” from his self-titled CD released two years ago. Amid squeals of excitement and female woo’s, Taylor once gain did the song the justice it deserved while Tim Carmen put his touches on the organ solo just before the song ended.

With its salsa and Latin beat, “Once Upon a Lover” is a fun song both for the CD and live performance. Brian Gallagher starts off with his flute and the Conga drums become more noticeable. Taylor hit the higher notes with perfection as his voice spanned the musical scale from high to low. I waited to hear him roll his r’s when he sang ‘senorita’ and I don’t think I was disappointed.

“What’s Right is Right”, the first single from “The Distance”, lets us know the show is winding down. The song about the perfect relationship, laughing and crying together, feels right when Taylor sings it. It was hard not to ‘play’ the video in my head while Taylor was singing, reminding me of the iconic images that Jake Davis sought to bring us in Taylor’s first musical video.

Once more there’s some early Taylor Hicks as he sing his original music, “Soul Thing”. Throw in some “Mama Said” and “Eastbound and Down” tags and the song is a crowd pleaser. Even the audience got into the song singing along with the “Mama Said” tags. When it was over, Taylor bade us good night and left the stage in a teasing manner, but for those of us that had attended other concerts knew an encore would be just moments away.

The encore, George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord”, was played with a mix of speed and irreverence that left me begging for a repeat performance. Taylor said he was going to do a ‘Billy Preston’ version, but this was really performed Taylor Hicks style. This is a song I hope to hear Taylor do again – I loved his interpretation of the song. As he left the stage for the final time, Taylor was blowing us kisses – he was happy with his performance and our responses and it was now time to relax and reflect on the music.

For almost two hours we had rocked, danced, clapped and cheered and yet it was over way too soon. For those who had the next day off (this was a Wednesday night performance after all), we stayed long after the majority went home and compared thoughts on the concert. Everyone was happy and pleased to have been there, glad they had traveled the distance and used coveted vacation days, and no one wanted to see the night end. For those few that stayed behind, the wait was rewarded with Taylor coming out to sign CDs and accept praise and thanks for the great show. It was all worth it! As Taylor would say, “it was all good”!

Pictures from the Roxy on Sunset

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Part 6 of The Troop Drive Has Started - See Contest Prizes!

2009-03-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Part 6 of the Proud Of Our Troops has begun with Taylor Hicks' new CD titled "The Distance." Jewelry Sprout is sponsoring the Proud Of Our Troops drive. We are asking everyone to please support and uplift our troops by sending them the CD from American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. The CD is titled "The Distance." Show your love and thanks to our troops and give them something that will lift their spirits and give them musical enjoyment during their off time. Some of our troops do not receive any mail. It is very sad. Please show you care and join in our drive. Soldiers' Angels, at www.soldiersangels.org, is taking care of shipping the CD's to the troops. We appreciate everything that Soldiers' Angels does to help with the Proud Of Our Troops drive!

This CD includes a great song for the military titled "Nineteen." Such a touching tribute to the heroes of our military who gave their lives for our country.

The Proud Of Our Troops drive started in June of 2006. Since then, over 6,000 of Taylor's CD's and books have been sent to soldiers overseas, and also to soldiers who were wounded in active duty and who recuperated in hospitals.

All information on how to send the CD's is below. Thank you very much!

Instructions:

You no longer have to ship each CD separately. Also, you no longer have to pack each cd in a manilla envelope before inserting it in a box. You can put all the cd's in one box. The purpose of individual packing was so that each soldier received a note or letter with the cd. You can still do it that way if you choose, however it is not mandatory.

If you would like to ship the CD's from an online store directly to Soldiers' Angels, that is fine too. Amazon.com and other sites have a free gift card option. Please utilize this feature so you can add a little note for the soldier who receives the CD. It's nice for them to have something to read to go along with their CD.

Please do not send anything else besides CD's. Our drive is only for the "The Distance" CD by Taylor Hicks. We do not want to be responsible for anything sent that is illegal or that other countries might consider offensive material being shipped into their country.

Please do not send homemade CD's or anything that is burned. They are considered bootlegged CD's and are illegal.

Many people have asked if it is okay to send CD's that have been opened. That is fine, as long as there are no scratches on the CD.

You do not need to fill out a customs form, as Soldiers Angels is taking care of all the shipping to our troops.

If you have any questions or comments about the Proud Of Our Troops drive, please email customerservice@jewelrysprout.com. You can view the Proud Of Our Troops drive page at http://www.jewelrysprout.com/taylor-hicks-cd-drive.html.

Please ship CD's to this address only:

Soldiers Angels
914 Tourmaline Drive
Newbury Park, CA 91320

Proud Of Our Troops Drive Contest!

The Proud Of Our Troops drive is holding a contest from March 10, 2009 to April 10, 2009. Simply purchase the Taylor Hicks CD titled "The Disance" and send the CD to Soldiers' Angels at the above address. Email a copy your CD receipt to jewelrysprout@aol.com and you will be entered in the contest. You can block your address off the receipt if you are not comfortable with sending that part. Enter as many times as you wish. Your name will be entered each time you send a CD to Soldiers' Angels. The prizes are below:

Sterling Silver cuff bracelet signed by Taylor Hicks. Coated over signature with a strong clear finish so that the signature becomes waterproof and the bracelet can be worn. Light silver smudge over a bit of the bracelet, as the bracelet had to be signed twice. The first time was signed in liquid silver but did not show up very well, so the liquid silver was taken off and the bracelet was signed in black instead. Smudge adds some "Taylor charm" to the bracelet! Bracelet donated by Jewelry Sprout.

Barbie as Sandy from Grease. Celebrating 30 years of Grease. Barbie comes with a stand and plays the Grease theme song. Box was never opened. Barbie was donated by the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Grease CD donated by the Brooks
Atkinson Theatre.

The contest begins March 10, 2009 and ends April 10, 2009. There will be more troop drive contests after this one with lots of great prizes!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

What's Right is Right - The Video!

2009-02-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

The wait is over - the video from Jake Davis and Taylor Hicks is now available for viewing! What an incredible video these artists have put together!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

The Traveling Circus Takes Over Baltimore

2009-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

WOW! What a week-end! And I’m still having moments of recurring memories and giggles to go with them! Baltimore will never be the same after this past week-end. No sir or ma’am – the city won’t be the same after the Traveling Circus converged at the Hippodrome Theatre and Rams Head OnStage!

Nice thing about an early flight – I can usually take a nap in route! Good thing I did, because I certainly wasn’t going to get much sleep in Baltimore! After arriving at the Baltimore Airport, I made my way to the auto rental place and picked up my car. With Madge riding shotgun, I finally found the hotel and checked in. No time to do anything but freshen up and head for the city.

Once in downtown Baltimore, I found the Hippodrome Theatre and its attached parking. I made my way inside and then to my seat on the left side of theatre, about ten rows from the stage. Great seat for the show and watching Taylor Hicks descend from the ice cream cone over the malt shop! I’ve seen “Grease” before a few times, and I still find it fresh, even seeing things I hadn’t seen before. Quickly the first half is over and it’s time for intermission. Time to chat with people close to me and a few familiar faces before the second act starts.

Finally the moment the Traveling Circus has waited for – Frenchy is sitting on the table outside the Malt Shop wishing for her Guardian Angel to help her decide what to do! I can only imagine what Taylor Hicks must do while he’s waiting above the stage to open those cone doors! The doors open and the audience goes crazy (at least I think they did!) Taylor sings “Beauty School Dropout” and plays a bit of harmonica before stepping back into the cone to finish his performance and then leave the stage.

After the show is over and curtain call takes place, Taylor has changed to jeans and dark tee shirt with the Teen Angel jacket. When the finale starts, there’s no Taylor and Danny is now singing the “Grease” part that was formerly Taylor’s. When the finale is over, Vince the DJ steps forward and announces Taylor Hicks!

Taylor comes out and sings his new single, “What’s Right is Right” from the soon to be released, “The Distance”. While Taylor sang, the audience was very still and quiet! When Taylor spoke, the applause and cheers were thunderous! And when he started to sing again, the audience was again quiet. After the song was over, there were cheers and applause, and I’m sure a lot of new fans wanting to get their hands on his single and new album!

But the highlight of the evening and week-end would be what was going to happen at Rams Head OnStage in Annapolis! Of course dinner first at Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs which was excellent! Our hostess planned a wonderful buffet for those in attendance and those ribs were terrific!

Rams Head, with its Tavern and concert area, is a very nice venue for an intimate performance with Taylor Hicks. Lots of seating at tables placed close together so that patrons can enjoy drinks and appetizers before and during the show.

The band, Brian Gallagher, Josh Smith, Kenny Crouch, LaMar Carter and Mike Mennel (I think that’s his name), took the stage first around 11:15 pm and after a few measures to whet the musical appetite, Taylor Hicks bounded the ramp to his place on the stage! Without a word, Taylor strapped on his guitar and the band dove into “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”. Taylor was wearing a black jacket with a sheen that made it look like leather or shark skin, jeans and a black tee shirt. Before finishing the first number, “Hey Pokey Way” was thrown in for good measure. Taylor was nothing short of a bundle of perpetual motion – move over Energizer Bunny – you have new competition for going and going and going!

Next was “Soul Thing” with Taylor Hicks on the tambourine. I decided to scan the audience and there were very few empty seats to be seen! A sign on the door indicated the show was a sell out, and I believe it! Some “Blues You Can Use” and “Can’t Trust Your Neighbor” were tagged with the song before coming back and finishing out “Soul Thing”.

Taylor talked about Rams Head as being a nice intimate setting, one of the smallest places he’d played but then he had played smaller! His comments brought some chuckles from the audience, and the Soul Patrol knew the real meaning of his words. If I had to guess, the audience was about a third known Soul Patrol and the rest were probably natives of the area with a good mix of men, women, young and older.

Now we know about ‘chicken pickin’’ and when Taylor is about to introduce it, you never know what you might get! Tonight was a ‘history lesson never learned’ according to Taylor because he wanted to know how close to the ‘Mason Dixon line we were’! As Josh Smith began to play, Taylor Hicks was doing his ‘chicken strut’! Taylor referred to the playing as ‘Chicken Pickin’ 105 not 101’! And then the band went back to more “Soul Thing” and threw in “East Bound and Down” for good measure! The song sure gave the Bandit a run for the money!

Playing the keyboard and causing it to go psycho, Kenny Crouch started the intro to “Give Me Tonight”. Taylor said we were going to ‘party tonight’ and made reference to being ‘a little pitchy!” With a gold shaker in hand, Taylor gave it to us alright! After he finished the number, he put his guitar back on and introduced the next song as ‘one he wrote when he was 45’ called “Heart and Soul”. This version was complete with a guitar duel with Josh Smith!

The next song was introduced as a Bobby Womack song, and “Woman’s Gotta Have It” featured a saxophone solo by Brian Gallagher. The entire time Taylor was performing this song, he was bouncing up and down, full of excitement! This song is destined to be a favorite for the show and until you can actually hear Taylor perform will have no idea how terrific this song is!

Like a true entertainer, Taylor had to start “Heaven Knows” with the call and audience response of “ohs” and “oos”! Lots of funky keyboard sounds and interaction with Kenny Crouch on the keyboard and organ!

Taylor introduced “The Maze” but started with something else I wasn’t familiar with and then went into “The Maze”. “Dirty Lowdown” was added to the song, and perhaps something else I didn’t catch. Then Taylor tried to ‘figure out the rendition’ of the next song but kept tripping over his words and ‘trying to get it out’ before just hitting the guitar and doing “Going Mobile”! Taylor’s fingers were flying, sans pick, over the strings of his guitar! And Kenny had his keyboard was ‘talking’ the entire time! Taylor stopped playing the guitar only long enough to play his trusty harmonica, and his sucking and blowing was so hard and fast that I thought he might actually eat the harmonica! Taylor was so into playing his guitar that at times he was playing it as if it were a machine gun constantly firing rounds of chords!

After each song, Taylor wiped the sweat from his face and turned up a bottle of water, drinking big gulps each time, to keep his throat wet. He had to have gone through several bottles of water and I bet the towel would later need to be ‘wrung out’! As he pulled up his jeans, he remarked that after ‘doing three shows today he was about to lose his jeans!’ Someone in the audience close to the stage made a comment about taking them off and Taylor came back with ‘he wasn’t that desperate yet’!

He introduced the next song as a Ray Charles song and we got “Hide Nor Hair”! For this song, Taylor had his harmonica in his left hand and a shaker in his right. And he even played the harmonica during the song! It’s a catchy tune and I loved it - could easily be another single someday! It’s definitely a great ‘got to hear it live’ song!

Taylor Hicks said ‘he was going to slow it down just a little bit’ and wanted to know if he was ‘wearing us out’! His introduction to “What’s Right is Right”, the new single off the record, included telling us he had worked with Simon Climie by way of France on the song. Taylor frequently placed his hand against his heart. The song was well received by the audience, and it made me proud to see their reaction! Incidentally, after each song, many stood and applauded, most of which was the Soul Patrol. Standing wasn’t allowed during the show and this was their way to show their appreciation to the Soul Man!

Taylor told us we were a great audience and that he appreciated it. Also he thanked us for making the show a sell out, telling us that it means so much to any artist to see that, repeating again that it means so much!

No performance is complete without “The Runaround” and tonight was no different. “Call Me Willie Brown” was tagged into the song. Taylor played his harmonica off Josh’s guitar, and before the number ended, it was a full jam session with the keyboard, drums, guitars and saxophone! Waving bye and saying ‘Thanks’, Taylor left the stage and left us wanting and begging for more!

After five long minutes everyone was back on stage. Taylor was again thanking us for coming and said he’d back soon after doing a West Coast swing. The encore was going to be ‘an old jazz standard from Les McCann, “Compared to What” and Taylor said something about having a fever that only more cowbell could cure! He beat that poor cowbell until it cried for mercy and then he beat it some more! The lights were flashing red and green as Taylor shouted ‘red light’, ‘green light’, and ‘shake ‘em on down!’ Boy, was he shaking us down! With an additional “Good night everybody!” Taylor left the stage for the night, nearly an hour and a half after he started! The band finished the song as if winding down and melting!

“Stick a fork in me, I’m done! I needed a cigarette and glass of wine, and I neither smoke nor drink! A spoon would have worked just as well! It was a satisfying night and over way too soon! The theatre slowly emptied of the locals while the Soul Patrol and Traveling Circus stayed behind to chat, compare reactions and wait to see if Taylor would pop out to sign autographs and take a few pictures. For those who waited patiently, the wait was rewarded with opportunity!

When I got back to my hotel, quite a few member of the circus were in the lobby enjoying snacks and conversation. I sat down with my late night dinner and joined them. We were there until the wee hours, or better yet, until time for the lobby to be prepared for breakfast! I went to my room to catch a few hours nap before time to head to the airport for my return flight, leaving a few die-hards to continue the party. Flying back home gave me time to get another much needed nap! So I’ll catch up on lost sleep over the next few weeks before I head out again!

All I can say is this: seeing Taylor Hicks live in these small settings, giving his new music a chance to grow legs of their own, has been a wonderful experience for this die-hard fan! I’ve missed the traveling and the live shows and I’m happy to be able to have these experiences again! And seeing Taylor in “Grease” is also worth the price of a ticket to the local theatre where the musical is playing! Viva le “Grease”! Viva le shadow tour!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks - From Chi-town to Cincy

2009-01-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

From the time Taylor Hicks announced he was joining the touring cast of “Grease” and the gradual release of ‘shadow tour dates’, I repeatedly told myself I was only going to go to Tucson with friends to see the show. Honest! I was only going to see “Grease” in Tucson. But as the shadow tour dates were announced, I felt something was missing, and finally the nudge I needed happened!

From fans at meet and greets to MySpace announcements, there would be a complete media blackout of video, pictures and cellcerts at these performances. New music from the soon-to-be-released “The Distance” would be introduced. Taylor wanted to keep secrecy surrounding this release to enhance the hype and asked the Soul Patrol to honor his request. If I wanted to know the scoop, I would just have to be there to find out, camera left in the cold!

Just the week before Martyrs’, everything began falling into place. Frequent flyer miles were sufficient to purchase a free ticket. A hotel near Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre was found. Next to Ticketmaster for a tickets to Martyrs’ and “Grease”. In hopes that perhaps Taylor Hicks would perform his new single or another song during the play, I purchased tickets for both the matinee and evening performances. After all, this was my birthday present to me, and on my birthday no less!

The touring version of “Grease” is much like the Broadway version, with a few noticeable changes. Doody’s scene where he dreams of being a recording sensation has a few changes that really improve the scene. And the ice cream cone looks more like a sundae that fits the Teen Angel to a tee! The sequined suit with angel wings is back as well as the harmonica! Taylor plays the part to perfection and receives the greatest applause for his performance! There is additional time for Taylor to be part of the finale which was fun to watch – be sure to catch Taylor in the finale’s reprisal of “Greased Lightnin’”! To get to Martyrs’ to get a decent place to plant my feet, I left the play before it was over.

Martyrs’ is a dark bar in a residential area somewhere out from the Chicago city lights. As I walked in the door after 10:00 pm, the ticket taker informed me of the ‘No Media’ policy for the evening. That was fine with me – I was there for the experience! Finally at 11:20 pm, Taylor and company took the stage. Old familiars, Josh Smith and Brian Gallagher, joined Taylor on stage. Additional musicians were Kenny Crouch, a phenomenal keyboardist, and memory fails me as to the drummer and bass guitarist.

As Taylor Hicks performed the evening’s lineup, my head bobbed about to get a better look between the bodies standing in front of me. I was sitting down about half way back to the right side of the stage. What I saw was a very happy and excited Taylor doing what he enjoys most: performing good music and entertaining those in his presence!

The set list included songs from the 2007 tour and “Taylor Hicks”, the post-American Idol album. Finally it was time for some new music from “The Distance” which is scheduled to be released March 10. The first single, “What’s Right is Right” was performed with little introduction. Amazon has the song for release on January 27. What a perfect song for Taylor’s voice! Like a home run, he knocked it out of the park! I can’t wait for the song’s release and radio airplay!

Later the announcement of a Bobby Womack song, “Woman’s Gotta Have It” signaled another song from the forthcoming “The Distance”. WOW! This was an incredible song and I wanted to hear it again! After a few more numbers including an encore, Taylor left the stage and moved into a safer zone to revel in a successful evening! At least I was going to leave satisfied. What a wonderful birthday I had had!

As a matter of fact, it was such a good week-end, even going to Chi-town by myself, that I came home, fired up the laptop and made arrangements for tickets to Cincy and more “Grease” and then a night cap at the 20th Century Theatre.

This time, I made it to the theatre before the doors opened and was able to grab a seat on the second row! A local musician, Kevin Fox, was the opening act. I enjoyed him – his repertoire included songs that told stories and were full of humor. Some were so true to life you had to be there to get the full flavor and enjoyment of his music. Just a man with his guitar and some taped music needed for accompaniment.

Shortly after 11:00 pm, Taylor Hicks bounded the steps to give us everything he had to give! Full of energy and excitement, Taylor didn’t stop moving, dancing, playing guitar, shaking the tambourine or shaker, and giving his famous harmonica its due! Tonight, we would have three songs from the new album: “What’s Right is Right”, my wish granted to hear “Woman’s Gotta Have It” again, and an old Ray Charles song, “Hide Nor Hair”.

“Hide Nor Hair” was incredible! I want to hear it again – it continues to rumble through my head even now. Should a second single be released, this is the song I pray for! All three songs from “The Distance” were performed to perfection! Did I mention the band seemed tight to me, as if they had been playing together for weeks!

Once the show including encore was over, we rushed outside to the lobby to see if Taylor was come back to sign autographs like he did at Martrys’ the week before. We weren’t disappointed. Taylor signed a few autographs, chatted a minute or two and was gone as quickly as he came. The glow on his face was one of satisfaction with a job well done, and this fan is now looking forward to Rams Head in a couple of weeks!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

"What's Right is Right" - New Single from Taylor Hicks!

2009-01-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

Coming January 27, 2009 on Amazon!

I get giddy just thinking about it, so what must happen when I actually hear the new single! Thanks to Amazon, I can listen to a short snippet of the song whenever I want, and what I really want is to hear the entire song! In the meantime, I'll just go have a listen and enjoy what I can hear - click below if you want to join me!

"What's Right is Right" snippet

ETA: Keep checking back with Amazon - the clip may come back up later the week before release. And this seems to be the link where you can purchase the song beginning January 20!

ETA: The snippett is back! Go listen to this wonderful new song from Taylor Hicks! Listen all you want until the song becomes available on January 27!!!!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks - 2008 - A Year in Review

2008-12-31T18:54:00.001-08:00

As the day winds down and 2008 comes to a close, I look back over the year to see what has happened. From political elections to economical woes this year has been full of surprises and struggle. But one person stands out in the entire year, and that’s Taylor Hicks with the twists and turns his career has taken this year. And as Taylor himself would say, ‘it’s all good!’ Yes, indeed!

January found Taylor Hicks in Charlotte at Palm Night where he sang to a charitable crowd raising funds for The Family Center, an organization formed to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect. With Taylor’s seeming love and warmth towards children, it seems quite natural for Taylor to share his talents to help much needed funds.

But like all of us, sometime pleasure needs to be mixed with fun, and that’s what Taylor Hicks did when he participated in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in beautiful Palm Desert and La Quinta, CA! I even read where he enjoyed a big stogie after one of the matches he played while he was there!

February had to be a very special month for Taylor Hicks! The Alabama Music Hall of Fame located in Tuscumbia, AL, opened their display honoring three young Alabama men who had made their name a household word on the stage of American Idol: Ruben Studdard, Bo Bice and Taylor Hicks. Later that same night, in Montgomery, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame awarded Taylor the America’s Music Award for upcoming and outstanding new musicians from Alabama. Taylor Hicks was able to play with the likes of Tommy Shaw, Clarence Carter, Percy Sledge and other famous musicians from Alabama.

March would find Taylor Hicks again celebrating children when he performed on the Orlando stage for the Children’s Miracle Network. Taylor would later perform for the Green Hills School Gala in Addison, TX, at the school’s annual fundraising gala.

NASCAR and Talladega in April would be the place to find Taylor Hicks. He started the race out right when he performed “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Hopefully Taylor was able to stick around to see whether his favorite driver won the race or not!

Kentucky in May is the place to be for the famous Kentucky Derby. Taylor Hicks was an honored guest as he attended the Derby and Grand Gala VIP Reception the first week-end in May. Taylor was found sporting a beautiful white suit that would later be the focus of a wonderful career opportunity!

Before May was over, Taylor Hicks supported another Alabama charity, Hannah Homes Shelby where he was the featured artist for the Boots, Blues and BBQ fundraiser. This event, hosted by Governor and Mrs. Bob Riley, drew attendees from all around the country. The highlight, besides Taylor’s performance, was the chance to win dinner for twelve of your closest friends with the Governor and his wife. I tried to win a gorgeous pair of diamonds earrings but lost out when someone topped by bid before the third count!

Ah June! The white suit returns to grace the skyline of New York City as the Brooks Atkinson Theatre announces that Taylor Hicks will be making his Broadway debut as the Teen Angel in “Grease” for the summer! The Soul Patrol and New York City theatre goers loved Taylor Hicks in this role as evidenced by lots of positive publicity, including calling 2008 the Year of the Teen Angel as portrayed by Taylor Hicks! That gray hair in a combed back pompadour and the blue sequined suit with the sequined wings on back were perfect for our guy as he descended to the stage in the Ice Cream Cone from Malt Shoppe heaven!

And as with other golfing opportunities, Taylor Hicks was able to participate in the Autism Speaks Golf Event in Mamaroneck, NY outside New York City. Since the golf event was on a Monday when the theatre would be dark, it was the perfect time for Taylor to pick up his clubs and swing for a worthwhile charitable venture.

Celebrating our Nation’s July 4th birthday in Washington, DC would find Taylor Hicks performing on the stage with Jerry Lee Lewis and Huey Lewis and the News as thousands of people braved the city and rain while thousands of others sat at home as PBS televised the festivities and show. I was one of those souls who decided the televised version was for me!

While performing on Broadway, Taylor Hicks released his “Early Works”, a compilation of songs from his two CDs prior to winning American Idol, “In Your Time” and “Under the Radar”. The CD was released in August as a Target exclusive. We would later learn that Taylor had signed with Artist 2 Market to release his next CD.

After Taylor’s stint on Broadway in early September, Taylor returned home to write music and prepare to record his next record, “The Distance” which is due out March 10, 2009. When he had some down time, Taylor Hicks was found performing with Rick Carter and friends at the War Eagle Supper Club after an Auburn game or Marty’s in Birmingham with other musical cohorts.

By December, with the new CD almost finished, Taylor Hicks joined the “Grease” National Tour where he would reprise his role as Teen Angel. Beginning in January 2009, Taylor will begin incorporating his new single into the show as well as after shows in clubs where the tour will stop. Hopefully, the Traveling Circus will be able to make a stop along the way as well!

For 2008, not everything involving Taylor Hicks was about music or golf. Taylor generously donated autographed items to the Grammy Foundation, LIFEbeat for the Bid2Beat Aids campaign, KOPS for their Holiday charity fundraiser, and Pawz4Music to raise money to buy harmonicas for children. Items won in these ventures, I’m sure, will be treasured keepsakes for those lucky enough to win items. I know the items I won will certainly be!

So as 2009 quickly slips in, we can look forward to Taylor Hicks appearing in “Grease” on the road through the end of May, some concerts after the show in various cities along the way, a new CD in March, and finally the release of the long awaited “Whomp at the Warfield”. Maybe the year will end with another solo tour, but my crystal ball is out for service so I can’t make any prediction with certainty. But whatever Taylor Hicks has in store for us, you can be sure that the Traveling Circus will be along for the ride and enjoying every minute!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

New Year's Resolutions - Taylor Hicks Style

2008-12-29T22:08:00.000-08:00

As 2008 quickly comes to its close, it’s time to make my resolutions for 2009! And what resolutions I have made! It was impossible to rank them because for me, these all take top priority to have a great year. I’m sure you’ll agree with me, and you might even be able to help me add to the list!

My New Year’s Resolutions for 2009

See Taylor Hicks as ‘Teen Angel’ at least one week-end as he makes his way across the US in the “Grease” National Tour
Spend lots of week-ends enjoying my granddaughters and have them spend the week-ends with me when possible!

Finally put together my scrapbook of all the Taylor Hicks concerts that I attended in 2007

Walk a little more and eat a little less, which includes more cooking at home and less eating out

Watch Taylor Hicks in as many concerts or after-shows as possible, given the current state of the economy

Make sure that everything I do is both purposeful and fun!

Make sure I get at least two copies of “The Distance” when it’s released in early spring – one for the car and one for the house!

Give thanks for all blessings that I receive during the year, and remember the source from which those blessing come

Support those that need it with my time and resources, whether it’s a contribution to Kid One Transport or sending Taylor Hicks’ CDs to our troops

Watch “Whomp at the Warfield” at least 10 times and enjoy it more each time!

Live each day to its fullest and say “thank you” at the end of each day

Travel with friends and family whenever the opportunity arises, especially if a Taylor Hicks performance is part of the activities!

Live well, love much and laugh often – because these are the secrets to a happy life!

Happy New Year Everyone!

May 2009 be the best year ever!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

2008-12-24T08:01:00.000-08:00

The Traveling Circus wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May all your dreams come true as we celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of a new. Let's remember the reason for this season and give thanks for both what we have received and what we didn't.

To good friends, good times, good memories and much more Taylor Hicks!

With love,
Mandy aka RagsQueen

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

12 Days of Christmas - Taylor Hicks Style

2008-12-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “The Twelve Days of Christmas” so I thought I’d have a little fun with it and make it about Taylor Hicks! Hope you enjoy! And also have yourself a Merry Little Christmas too!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

12 Taylor Hicks concert tickets
11 airline vouchers
10 restaurant gift cards
9 hotel room keys
8 tickets to see “Grease”
7 digital camera cards
6 tickets for Taylor’s after shows
5 different Taylor Hicks’ CDs
4 new outfits to wear
3 new Taylor Hicks’ tee shirts
2 meet & greet passes
And 1 special Taylor Hicks’ autograph!

Merry Christmas!

Pictures & Video Courtesy of TNT & blondi0001

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks "The Distance" - Coming Febuary 10, 2009!

2008-12-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

Taylor Hicks has gone the distance from ten years on the bar circuit to winning American Idol to a national solo tour to Broadway to a national Broadway tour. Now Taylor is putting that distance into his latest project, his second album! With music and lyrics written by Taylor and other collabatours, the new album will be release on Taylor's own label, Modern Whomp Records and distributed by Artist 2 Market. Taylor Hicks has certainly gone the distance, and now "The Distance" will be released February 10, 2009! Taylor says the style is going to be a little bit blues, little bit country, and a little bit gospel!

Check out the video below from PRO 92-FM in Providence, RI and pictures from Taylor Hicks' MySpace photobucket

THE DISTANCE

coming February 10, 2009

from Taylor Hicks!

In the Studio - Taylor Hicks' MySpace Photos

Interview credit: PRO 92 FM, Providence, RI & willgilbert1969

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks, "Grease" and Providence (RI, that is!)

2008-12-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

As the sky darkens to indicate night is covering the ground, I realize that I am missing the opening night of the "Grease"National Tour, staring Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel, which starts tonight in Providence, RI, at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Instead, I'm having to remember those times I watched Taylor Hicks slide across the Broadway stage in an ice cream cone in New York City! It's not quite the same as being there, I know, but it will have to do for right now.

In just minutes the Rhode Island crowd will be witnessing Taylor Hicks open the doors of that ice cream cone suspended twenty feet or more in the air. They will watch him as the elevator lift descends to the floor where Taylor will croon "Beauty School Dropout" to Frenchy, trying to convince her to go back to high school to earn her degree. And the audience will be mesmerized by the glittering blue suit adorned with sequins to form the angel wings on the back of the jacket.

And by the time I get through dinner tonight that same audience will have watched the finale and curtain call where Taylor Hicks once again gets to perform a solo part and do some hand-jive as he dances his way to the end of the show. They may even get a special treat of a new song from Taylor that will be on his latest CD to be released in February 2009! Taylor Hicks has said in a number of recent interviews that he will be performing a new song from the CD at the end of each show. Sort of like a Taylor Hicks mini-concert coupled with a musical - a way to experience Taylor as an actor, singer and musician!

Yes, I'm wishing I could be there. But I'll wait for the reviews from fellow Soul Patrollers who are going to be there to cheer Taylor Hicks and applaud his performance. I hope they receive the treat of new music that is going to be incorporated as part of the show. No one knows for sure when those extra performances are to start, but I sure hope Providence is the starting point! Maybe as the name implies, providence will take over in Providence. A Soul Patroller can only hope!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, Grease, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taking Time for Being Thankful

2008-11-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

The leaves are turning magnificent colors, the air is getting that nose nipping chill, the pumpkins are plump and the shops are decorating for the holidays. Our last holiday of the fall season is next week, a day of bounty, family, friends, memories, parades and ballgames. A day to reflect on what we have to be thankful for. For some, it may not be a good day, for others, it will be a day to be as stuffed as the turkey, and for others, perhaps just another day.

As I sit here right now, I have a lot to be personally thankful for. I have a good job that covers the bills and allows me to travel some, especially when I need to hear some good music and see that ‘handsome brown-eyed man’ named Taylor Hicks! I have a healthy family, two beautiful granddaughters who light up my day and two gorgeous cats that have to be with me constantly when I’m home. My home is warm and dry and the pantry is well-stocked. My SUV runs well and the tank is nearly full. Yes, I know I am blessed, and equally as bless as others. We are alive and we are free.

Perhaps as we sit around the family table this holiday, there are other things we can do to help others have a better holiday season. Taylor Hicks has brought a lot of us together through his music, and we are so much better for it. Our circle of friends has widened and made our lives more full.

This year, two fan boards have gotten together to help spread that joy to several less fortunate children in Taylor Hicks’ Birmingham hometown. The Official Soul Patrol (TOSP) and The Taylor Hicks Community (TTHC) have teamed up together to bring Christmas cheer to several Birmingham Salvation Army Angels this year. No donation is too small and any donation will be appreciated. If you’d like to help, go to one of the following site to sign up or donate – just remember – Taylor Hicks brought us together, and together we can Tay-it-Forward!

TOSP: http://www.theofficialsoulpatrol.com/Angel_Tree
THHC: http://thetaylorhickscommunity.com/angeltree

And one more thing that will also cost very little and will mean so much – saying thank you to a soldier healing at Walter Reed Medical Center this holiday season. To participate, send your cards and greeting to:

Recovering American Soldier

c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center

6900 Georgia Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Finally, from the RagsQueen and the Traveling Circus -

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks and Supporting Our Troops

2008-11-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

November 11 is the official day to remember our veterans, those men and women who have given their time and lives to serve and protect our country. As member of the Soul Patrol it’s also a time to remember how Taylor Hicks has supported our troops.

Shortly after winning American Idol Season 5’s contest, Taylor Hicks performed at the “Stadium of Fire” in Provo, UT in celebration of our armed forces. On the stage that night Taylor performed “Takin’ It to the Streets”, his original “The Deal” and his first single, “Do I Make You Proud”.

For those that attended a show during the Season 5 American Idol Summer Tour, you will recall that Taylor Hicks always dedicated his hit single, “Do I Make You Proud”, to the our troops. The first time I actually heard Taylor perform the song live and made the dedication I was deeply moved by his simple gesture of honoring those men and women of our armed forces.

Just before the winter holidays, Taylor Hicks performed at a USO show aboard the USS Ronald Reagan while it was docked in San Diego, CA. I’m sure those men and women along with their families enjoyed their time listening to Taylor’s music as he sang for their entertainment.

Taylor Hicks has continued to lend his support in honoring our troops by allowing his name to be used for the ‘Taylor Hicks, Proud of our Troops Drives’ where fans have sent books and CDs to our troops overseas and at Walter Reed Medical Center. The troop drive, started by Purplebutterflies, or Jean to those who know here, is a great way for Taylor’s fan to help share Taylor’s music and story with others.

When “Do I Make You Proud” was first released in the summer of 2006, the first CD drive took place. Later, when “Taylor Hicks”, Taylor’s first post-Idol CD was released, another drive occurred to send our troops copies of the music. Then in the summer of 2007 when Taylor’s memoir, “Heart Full of Soul” came out, a third drive was set up for books to be sent to our troops and a later drive helped send books to Walter Reed Medical Center for troops who were there for treatment from military injuries.

Solders’ Angels, a nonprofit organization located in Newbury Park, CA helps distribute those books and CDs to the troops. Amazon will actually ship books and CDs ordered directly from them to Solders’ Angels so that postage only has to be paid once, saving the sender additional money and hopefully allowing them to send even more CDs!

With the upcoming release of Taylor Hicks’ sophomore album in February 2009, I feel certain another drive will take place to continue spreading the music of Taylor as well as a way for us to support our troops.

So as Veterans’ Day approaches, may we remember those military personnel who have gone before and those who continue to support our country, to defend our freedoms and protect our safety.

And keep in mind that if you want to do something special for our troops, send copies of Taylor Hicks’ music or books to our troops to honor them and give them music to enjoy.

For additional information, please visit the following websites:
Taylor Hicks – Proud of Our Troops Drive
www.jewelrysprout.com/taylor-hicks-cd-drive.html

Soldiers’ Angels
http://www.soldiersangels.org/

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Our Own Taylor Hicks Journey

2008-11-02T00:05:00.000-07:00

Taylor Hicks has been on his own personal journey, but so have his faithful followers known as the Soul Patrol. And man, what a wonderful journey we, those fans, have had……

Have you ever read something that left you with that ‘wishing you had written that’ feeling? Well, just the other day I was reading a new blog and that day’s entry at http://thetaylorhickscommunity.blogspot.com/ and that’s just how I felt after I had finished reading it. I immediately contacted the writer and requested permission to repost it here because I felt her words were exactly what I was thinking and she had said it the most eloquently!

"We've come so far....."

“Taylor has come from a young, hopeful musician recording his first album at 19, to the svelte, hand-jivin’ star of Grease! He has gone abroad, gone jamming, and gone to Broadway. He has parked the old van and has ridden beside the driver on his own luxury tour bus. He’s been in a bubble, a golf cart, and an ice cream cone. He’s been on the 5-story billboard on the corner of 47th Street and Broadway.”

“We have come from routines that sometimes bordered on boring to dealing with “general admission” and standing in one place much longer than God ever intended. We have boarded planes and trains, driven back roads, gotten lost, found our way and, in the end, always made it to wherever Taylor was. We know whomp, swamp rock, and blue-eyed soul. We read Rolling Stone—don’t tell the kids!”

“We’ve learned to live in cyberspace. We can upload, download, and overload. We blog, post, and embed. We write html, create videos, store pictures in a bucket, and respond to 253 emails while eating dinner.”

“What’s next? We went to Broadway to see Taylor as he invited us to do. Now, he is bringing Broadway to many of our hometowns! Spring will bring us new Taylor music. We see exciting prospects for the journey ahead. We’ve said it before…we will be there.”

“We know one thing for sure…our way will be inspired by Taylor Hicks. His quest for something more in his life has made our lives richer. Someone has said that it is not the destination but the journey that matters.”

“We’ve come so far. We still have far to go. Taylor recently wrote with the release of Early Works, “Thanks for coming on the ride.”

“Thanks, Taylor, for taking us!”

Ah, yes, thanks Taylor Hicks for showing us, particularly us older fans, that we aren’t dried up old prunes, that we still have lots of get up and get, and that we stand ready to take up any challenge you present us. Thanks for coming into our homes, our hearts, our minds, and our lives. You have enriched us with new music, new friends, new opportunities, and new prospects. You’ve shown us that gray hair can be an asset, that dreams can come true, that hard work pays off, and that “the road can be your friend” and ours.

If you are looking for more information on what Taylor Hicks is up, make some new friends, or just hang out, there’s a great place on the web that will fill that need. Please stop by thetaylorhickscommunity where you are always welcome!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks: His Trip Around the Sun

2008-10-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

I bet with a title like this you think Taylor Hicks is about to board a spaceship for a trip around the sun! And the past couple of years may just seem like he has been skyrocketed….to stardom that is!

You see it takes 365 days and nights for our planet to make just one trip around the sun, or a year. Considering all that has happened for Taylor Hicks during his latest trip around the sun, it has been a whale of year for him. Taylor’s 32nd year on this earth has been astounding! What will come with his 33rd year?!?!?!

Back last October, just a short year ago, as Taylor was starting his 32nd trip around the sun, he was just finishing up his first solo national tour. He’d opened for Earth, Wind and Fire over the Labor Day week-end which really marked the end of the summer portion of his tour, but in October and November he was still making a few last stops. Like Millersville University where Taylor was the entertainment for their homecoming week-end.

And had Game 5 of the 2007 World Series been played, we would have seen Taylor Hicks singing our national anthem before the first ball was thrown out! Too bad the Boston Red Sox won their fourth game in a row on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies!

November was a dry month for Taylor Hicks fans – his only performance was at the Silver Star Casino in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Not knowing when Taylor might appear again, a number of Soul Patrol made the trip and the huge ballroom looked filled to capacity. Taylor did not disappoint as he was joined by former band mates, the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra and Josh Smith.

As the year was coming to a close, Taylor was still in the first quarter of his trip around the sun. December found Taylor in Indonesia and the Philippines to be exact, where he spent several days entertaining his Asian fans. As part of that trip, Taylor Hicks appeared on the final show of the season of Asian Idol where he performed a couple of songs including “Heaven Knows” from his self-titled CD and “Takin’ it to the Streets”, a song he performed during his competition on American Idol.

The end of the 2007 found Taylor Hicks in Memphis, TN singing for his dinner, and ours, at the Liberty Bowl President’s Gala the night before the Auto Zone Liberty Bowl. After his performance at the gala, Taylor was awarded the 2007 Outstanding Achievement Award, a beautiful crystal pedestal bowl. The next day, at the actual game, Mississippi State beat the University of Central Florida, 10 to 3. I may not be much of a football fan, but with Taylor Hicks as the half-time entertainment, I put on two coats, scarf, ear muff and gloves to brave the cold. It was well worth it to hear Taylor Hicks sing “Heaven Knows” and “The Runaround” while young patients from St. Jude Children’s Hospital danced on stage with him!

The New Year rolled in and in mid-January Taylor Hicks was hitting golf balls at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Springs, CA. I’m sure the warmer weather helped him finish thawing out from his Liberty Bowl performance in frigid Memphis! Other famous golfers included Alice Cooper, Meatloaf and Kenny G.

February, the month of love, found Taylor Hicks in the studio of Regis and Kelly where Taylor sang “The Right Place” just before the wedding of Kacy Hardenbrook and Jordan Edsall. Taylor’s fans will remember that before the originally scheduled wedding that Kacy and her two daughters were burned when the furnace in her mother’s home exploded. And they will also remember his dance with Kelly as he sang “Takin’ to the Streets“ at the reception!

Just a few days after helping the bridal couple celebrate their marriage Taylor Hicks joined the McDonald’s NBA All-Stars Celebrity basketball game in New Orleans where he suited up to shoot a few baskets. Before the game Taylor was found lending a helping hand in cleaning up and making repairs his Day of Service site. Let’s hope Taylor’s ability to use a hammer and handle a paint brush is as good as his cowbell and guitar playing!

For me, and I might guess for Taylor, the highlight of February and probably the his whole year, was being awarded the America’s Music Award at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Montgomery, AL. Taylor performed his own music, “Soul Thing” and the later joined Chris Tompkins and others to sing “Before He Cheats”. It was a night of honoring Alabama’s best and famous musical talent, from writers to performers.

March and April were light months. At the end of March Taylor Hicks performed at the Greenhills School Gala and in late April sang the National Anthem at Talladega before a NASCAR race.

As the Kentucky Derby was getting under way with parties and other festivities in early May, Taylor Hicks was spotted in his dapper suits of stripes and solid white. In retrospect, that white suit was alluding to something new and exciting about to happen!

Back home in Birmingham, Taylor Hicks lent his voice and support to Hannah Home Shelby, a shelter for abused and homeless mothers. At an undisclosed horse farm surrounded by a beautiful setting, guests dined on bar-be-que and baked beans, participated in live and silent auctions, and entertained by several bands before Taylor Hicks closed the event. With Jeff Lopez on sax and Brian Less on keyboard, Taylor Hicks with his guitar and harmonica gave a down home performance that included “Where I’m From” and “New York State of Mind” as well as “The Runaround” and “Soul Thing”.

In mid-May, on the Today Show, Taylor Hicks made surprise announcement! Taylor Hicks was heading to the Big Apple, the Great White Way, Broadway to appear in “Grease” as Teen Angel to croon “Beauty School Dropout” to Frenchie, encouraging her to return to high school and earn her degree. Beginning June 6 and ending the run on September 7, Taylor would perform eight shows a week as Teen Angel. The publicity blitz that followed was grand, and the public was able to enjoy a bit of the musical when Taylor appeared on Regis and Kelly a week after his Broadway debut!

The fireworks were plentiful as our country celebrated its birthday in style in Washington, DC. More fireworks were found on stage as Taylor Hicks helped celebrate by singing at a Capitol Fourth, televised by PBS, “Soul Thing”, “Dancing in the Dark” and “This Land is Your Land”.

Under his own Modern Whomp Records label and with an exclusive Target distribution deal, on August 12 Taylor Hicks released “Early Works”, a compilation of two early CDs that he had self-produced and distributed, “In Your Time” and “Under the Radar”. It is anticipated that the CD will be available for online purchase later in October.

As the “Grease” run was coming to a close, Taylor Hicks was saying he would be spending the next several months in a recording studio putting together his next album. After some much needed vacation time, Taylor Hicks made several wonderful and exceptional announcements.

First, he would be part of the touring cast for the national “Grease” tour, reprising his roll as Teen Angel. His time with the Broadway production had been wildly successful. Rumor has it that ticket sales experienced a $150,000 per week increase while Taylor was part of the cast! While fans were quietly and not so quietly waiting for word of a spring tour, this announcement caught them all by surprise!

By the time his 32nd birthday rolled around, Taylor Hicks had more announcements to make. On his birthday, fans received the gifts as Taylor announced that he would be releasing his next album through Artist to Market on his own Modern Whomp Records label and the drop date will be February 10, 2009! Taylor has a record deal and an album in the works!

But the best news of all was that as part of the Grease tour Taylor would be performing his new single in a new cutting edge way to market an artist and his music and Taylor Hicks was going to be part of that cutting edge! According to Taylor, about twenty minutes after the leaves the famous ice cream cone in the sky over the malt shop he will be singing his new single as part of the touring stage production!

So Taylor Hicks’ trip around the sun, that year between his 31st and 32nd birthdays, has been marked with all sorts of good news, opportunities, and successes. For a young man who had struggled to have his music heard, not only is it being heard now, but he has a record deal and an upcoming “Grease” tour to help spread his music.

Congratulations, Taylor Hicks, for a successful and wonderful year! Hope you had a great birthday, and may your next trip around the sun be just as wonderful and successful as the last!

Now sit back and enjoy this video made by KarinP, and used by permission, as she pictorially showcases Taylor’s “Trip Around the Sun”, sung by Jimmy Buffet and Martina McBride. You might want to grab a hankie first!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Happy Birthday Taylor!

2008-10-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Wishing you a great birthday!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Those Summer Nights - A "Grease" Review

2008-08-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

After returning from a fast trip to the Big Apple, the words kept going through my brain, “Those Summer Nights” (all 3 syllables of summer) followed by the quick beat of “You’re the One That I Want”! The more it played, the more I began to see a pattern – a blog title! So how I would I write such a recap of the week-end, seeing the musical twice in a span of eight hours?

Just like the words imply, the one I wanted to see was Taylor Hicks, of course, giving me one last week-end of bliss watching him sing “Beauty School Drop-Out” and doing the hand jive in the finale. And to catch up with friends who would be in the city for the same reason!

Our flight was on time, our hotel shuttle was prompt, and with a quick freshen up and clothes change, the bellman flagged a black town car to take into Manhattan, arriving just in time to hear the 5-minute to curtain call chimes. We had no matinee tickets purchased so we quickly finagled two seats in Box A for the price of two back row Mezzanine seats and hurried inside the Brooks Atkinson Theatre to take our places. Box seats, hovering just a few feet above the left side of the stage! Box seats! What a perspective that would give, and quite a contrast from our floor seats for the evening performance!

The steps and entrance to Rydell High on the screen touching the stage floor soon lifted and the stacks of lockers representing the inside of the high school opened up to produce the guys and gals of Class of 1959 singing the opening number and title song, “Grease”. As I watched Kenickie (Matthew Hydzik), I felt I was watching James Dean from the same period. Same suave moves, long thin legs, and sandy hair in a pompadour style. Yes, if Taylor Hicks could channel Elvis and Ray Charles, Kenickie was certainly channeling James Dean!

The rest of the guys, Doody (Ryan Patrick Binder), Roger (Will Blum), and Sonny (Jose Restrepo) finished out the opening set as the gals, Rizzo (Janine DiVita), Marty (Robyn Hurder), Frenchy (Kirsten Wyatt) and Jan (Christina Sivrich for the matinee and Lindsay Mendez for the evening performance that day) took their places inside the open lockers. Each time I’ve seen the musical I’m drawn to Rizzo and Frenchy as they shimmy inside the doors – it’s something you have to see live to understand – with their energy and glow that quickly lets you know they enjoy their parts. As they finish the scene, cafeteria and front door steps are moved into place

The gals of the Pink Ladies meet Sandy (Ashley Spencer) for the first time. She joins them for lunch as blonde Pink Lady wanna-be Patty Simcox (Allison Fischer) makes her entrance. She’s quick to pretend to be flattered to be nominated as Vice-President of the student council and then eyes Sandy as a contender for the cheerleading squad. While the gals continue lunch, the guys, Roger and Doody, are on the front steps eating their brown bag lunches.

Kenickie soon joins them with his lunch of what appears to be a pink snowball (a pink sugar-coated marshmallow treat). Sonny soon join them, and declares he’s not going to take any crap from anyone, particularly the English teacher he’s had for more years than he’d like. As he finished, Miss Lynch (Susan Blommaert) opens the doors and wants to know why Sonny isn’t in class. With a trembling body, he heads inside the doors and then comes back out to tell the gang to ‘shut up’ as they raze him about ‘taking no crap’! Danny comes up and they start digging into his summer love life!

“Those Summer Nights” begins the story of their summer romance, down by the beach, where both Danny and Sandy found young love. Sandy sings of their innocence while Danny suggests maybe something more. As the song ends, the girls can’t believe Danny Zuko was such a gentlemen and takes Sandy off to find the guys. When they do, Sandy is thrust out the main entrance into Danny’s waiting arms where they hug. That is until Danny sees his friends watching him and drops the embrace to act all ‘big man’! Sandy is mystified as the reception in the end.

The guys head off to the locker room when Doody comes in swinging his guitar. He’s been taking lessons, and when they ask him to sing, he starts a little number where he’s calling out the chord names before taking the spotlight to sing “Those Magic Changes”. We watch as he becomes a seasoned musician, playing the crowds, looking more like Elvis than Elvis, right on down to the gold lame jacket. As they finish the song, Miss Lynch grabs Doody by the collar and he’s quickly returned to reality.

The gals have gathered at Marty’s house for a sleep-over. They quickly realize that Sandy lacks any sort of experience and decide to see what she capable of doing, from choking on a cigarette, drinking a bit of wine and maybe having her ears pierced with Marty’s ‘virginity pin’! Now Marty is a Marilyn Monroe look-alike from the blonde hair right on down to the fur-trimmed high-heeled glass bedroom slippers. She announces she has a boyfriend, a Marine, who sent her not only a beautiful silk robe, but a diamond ring as well. Marty tells in song, “Freddy, My Love” what she writes in her letters to him. After the song, the girls fall asleep, and as Sandy comes out of the bathroom, Rizzo is leaving to catch up with Kenickie.

The guys take the stage with some nice shiny hubcaps freshly stolen off a beat up convertible. As they try to figure out how to fence the goods, the car comes up with Kenickie behind the wheel, driving his soon-to-be jazzed up “Greased Lightning”! As the guys are razing Kenickie, Rizzo finds the guys on the street corner. Rizzo makes plans to meet Kenickie and takes her leave. Kenickie tells of his plans for the car as the mechanics appear and with the help of the guys, the car is transformed into a sleek driving machine! With all the guys, and Kenickie in the lead, “Greased Lightnin’” is the song of the scene, and a real show-stealer.

It’s the next day, and Sandy is doing her cheer practice when Danny walks by. Their private time is quickly interrupted by Patty Simcox who tries to hide her own infatuation with Danny. Danny, in a macho moment, declares that he can do anything the jocks can do, and says that he will go to the next try-outs to prove he can! That just gives Patty her in to getting Danny to the track team try-outs the next day, much to Sandy’s dismay. As Danny leaves the stage, Sandy and Patty have a duet with the “Rydell Fight Song” and it’s obvious that Sandy is much ticked at Patty, and maybe even Danny!

The gang heads to the ballpark for a late night rendezvous. Roger and Jan get into a discussion of their not-so-flattering nicknames and Roger defends his reputation as being the mooning champ of the school! At first Jan is disgusted until she lets it slip that she wished she had been there to see him moon a little old lady or teacher. With that, Roger and Jan sing “Mooning” which more like mooning over the love of the other person. Sandy comes along on a leaf hunt with the school nerd, and quickly leaves to go find more leaves with Sonny! Sonny thinks Sandy may have the ‘hots’ for him!

As they leave, Rizzo begins to chide Danny about his little ‘Sandra Dee’, pure as snow, and just as annoying to her. Rizzo immortalizes Sandy in her rendition of “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee”. The gangs is enjoying her play with the song until Sandy returns and blasts them for making fun of her, and Danny not standing up for her. Rizzo and Kenickie have a fight, and Rizzo asks Danny to be her date for the dance on Saturday night. Kenickie, her regular steady, has a date from across town. Before the scene ends and the curtain falls for the intermission, the guys and gals sing “We Go Together”, the rama-lama-dinga-shoobop sha wadda-shebop song that leaves you wondering how they string all those words together in the right order and still keep time to the music!

Once intermission is over, there is an intensity in the air, anticipation of waiting for an ice cream cone that holds the Teen Angel, or a gray pompadour haired Taylor Hicks! Sitting in the box seats have given me a whole new look at the musical, just like sitting in the mezzanine a few weeks ago did. While I like the orchestra section, the opportunities to sit in other places has afforded me with views that I might not have otherwise had. Close proximity to the stage and facial expressions of the actors being the main one for the box seats, and the ability to take in the entire stage including the orchestra pit from the mezzanine. You have to try it to understand!

Act II begins in the school gym for the dance and Sandy’s bedroom as she listens to the radio broadcast from the school gym. Vince Fontaine (Josh Rouah for today, Jeb Brown usually) is the DJ of the evening. Along with Miss Finch, he will judge the dance contest later, but starts things rolling with “Shakin’ at the High School Hop”. He flatters Marty by asking if “her parents knew he came into her bedroom at night” and she flirts right back with him! Later he introduces the talent winner, and as Patty heads towards the steps, Jan is announced the winner. While Sandy in her bedroom at home, she and Jan perform “It’s Raining on Prom Night”, a song of teen frustration at missing the big dance due to the flu and a drenched dress.

Kenickie soon makes his entrance with Cha-Cha DiGregorio, a snobbish student from a private school where she is the queen of the Cha-Cha! Her complaints about the decorations drive Kenickie away and back to Rizzo where they kiss and make up. As it’s time for the dance competition, Danny is left to partner with Cha-Cha. Everyone participates, including Miss Lynch. The hand jive and “Born to Hand Jive” is a real audience pleaser, and even gets a few laughs as Miss Lynch tries to figure out the hand moves. When the dance is over, Danny and Cha-Cha are announced as the winners. Everyone except Patty is pleased. Danny and Cha-Cha leave just Sandy arrives at the school’s steps. She watches them walk away and sings “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, a song of love’s hurt and hopelessness when the love seems to be one-sided.

As the Burger Palace is moved into place and the ice cream cone makes it debut, Frenchy is outside lamenting her situation as the guys arrive and tell her to go inside because a rumble is about to take place. Seems Danny was with the steady girlfriend of a rival school’s gang leader, and he was out for blood. Danny jogs by as the guys tell him they need his help to defend their honor. He’ll be back later after the race is over. The guys take attempt to hide their fear – Kenickie with a stick, Doody with a chain, and Sonny with a gun. Now Sonny is so scared that the gun actually rattles, and the audience gets a chance to enjoy a good laugh. Roger arrives with a broken antenna but the guys decide that perhaps a good mooning would be better to end the battle.

Frenchy comes outside just as they drop Roger’s pants and the guys run away. Frenchy laments about how to tell her friends she’s dropped out of beauty school and wishes she had a ‘guardian angel thingy’ to tell her what to do. As she finishes, the ice cream cones lights up and it’s doors open to reveal Taylor Hicks as her Teen Angel. Dressed in a royal blue ‘silk’ suit with lots of sequins, Taylor sings “Beauty School Dropout”, telling Frenchy to go back to high school. Riding down the elevator to the floor, Taylor makes facial expressions designed to get laughs, cheers, woos, and applause! Dancing around the stage and singing to Frenchy, and then strutting back to the cone to leave, reprising the song as the elevator returns him to his position high above the stage, Taylor pulls out his harmonica and does a bit before finishing the song and leaving the stage.

At the Drive-In Movie, Danny is trying to make up to Sandy but she’s not so forgiving. Finally Danny takes off his ring and gives it to her and all is forgiven. At least until Danny starts to kiss her and take a few liberties that Sandy is ready to give. It’s another scene stealer with Danny wanting to place his hands you-know-where but won’t until he finally gives in and clutches his own chest. Sandy is repulsed and jumps out of the car, dropping his ring on the car seat as she goes. Danny realizes that he has deep feelings for Sandy as he sings “Sandy”.

The show is winding down as we see the gang minus Danny in Jan’s basement recreation room. Doody and Roger are singing “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party Doll”. Rizzo is not at all happy and when Marty asks if she’s having her ‘visitor’, Rizzo says she ‘late’ but asks Marty to keep it a secret. Concerned that Kenickie is the father, she tells him, and then Kenickie blurts out the news. Rizzo stuns him with he doesn’t know the ‘father’ and Kenickie leaves. Soon the others do as well. Sandy is left to gather up her records and tells Rizzo she’s sorry. Rizzo jumps Sandy as if a lecture is coming, but when that doesn’t happen, Rizzo sings a griping song of “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”. As Rizzo leaves, Sandy reprises “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” before making her decision and calling Frenchy for help.

The guys are gathering at the Burger Palace and just settling in as the gals arrive and make the announcement for Danny to look at the new Sandy. Danny gets all excited and with Sandy and cast, sing “You’re the One That I Want”. Sandy has been transformed from a pony-tailed innocent into a curly-haired leather sporting babe! When the number is over they leave the Burger Palace and head for the bleachers where the final song “We Go Together” is reprised. As they finish, the curtain falls for only a moment.

The entire cast comes out one and two at a time to take their bows. The audience applause raises a few decibels when Taylor Hicks makes his quick run and bow, generally with a wave and sometimes a Ray Charles sway. After Danny and Sandy take their much earned bows, the entire cast returns to reprise several of the songs, “Grease”, “Born to Hand Jive” and “You’re the One That I Want”. Taylor Hicks gets to do a solo in the beginning and after some hand jive, helps to close the show with more harmonica. As he sucks and blows, the cast is glowing as they watch him, and the audience enjoys wild applause. The orchestra is saluted and the cast takes a final bow while the orchestra finishes up. Soon the house lights are up and the audience is ushered outside the theatre.

After the show many fans of the cast, including Taylor Hicks, quickly head for the stage door to find a place near the barriers already set up. As the cast leaves the theatre, many stop to chat and sign Playbills. Everyone is patient until their favorite comes out and the squeals signal someone important has exited the theatre. This continues until people get what they want and leave or until Taylor Hicks makes his appearance. The squeals then can be deafening! As I watched, I chatted with the husband of a woman standing near the front. He was amazed at how she reacted and when he found out I too was a Taylor fan and had flown up for the day to catch two performances, I think he decided maybe his wife was saner than he thought! I moved into the crowd to try to capture a quick shot, but being short, heads kept getting in my way. A few people moved so I could get closer, but that didn’t help much.

Anyway, I got what I came for in the first place: two chances to catch the musical and watch Taylor Hicks perform on the Broadway stage. I left satisfied and must tell you that the entire cast is very good. All are very talented singers and dancers in their own right, and have much to be proud of in their roles! Contrary to what might be thought to be a cheesy musical, “Grease” is very entertaining! Each time I’ve seen it there have been additional nuances in each show. This week-end Taylor Hicks was cupping his hand at his ear as he ascends back into the ice cream cone so that the audience appreciation goes up several notches. I noticed several times in the earlier scenes that a couple of guys pulled up the skirts of the girls as they were singing and dancing to harass them. It all made for a fun and wonderful theatre experience!

As I was studying Taylor Hicks from the box seats, though, I couldn’t help but wonder if that pompadour was all his hair or if some hair had been added to give it body! Maybe sometime I’ll get the right answer! Ah, those summer nights in New York City, walking along Broadway, seeing Taylor Hicks' name up in lights! The Soul Patrol has had a great summer, and Taylor has had a great Broadway debut! Whatever the next adventure is, you can bet the Soul Patrol is ready!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks and "Early Works"

2008-08-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

On August 12, 2008, Taylor Hicks fans were able to purchase “Early Works”, a compilation of pre-America Idol recordings previously only available from limited sources. If you weren’t lucky enough to know about Taylor Hicks before he claimed the Season 5 American Idol crown in 2006, weren’t a bidder on eBay or didn’t attend any concerts during Taylor’s first solo national tour, where these early recordings were often available, now is the chance to own a piece of musical history.

“Early Works” has been released as a Target Stores exclusive with some distribution available from Best Buy and Amazon (at least from Amazon International). After the initial pre-sale on Amazon and later its removal, fans clamoring for the CD were aghast at what had happened. With the announcement that Target would have the exclusive sale of “Early Works”, fans settled down to wait for the Taylor Tuesday drop this past week. Yes, I was in the rush myself to get my copy before there was any chance of a sell-out at my local Target.

Once home with my treasure, forget that I already had copies of these early CDs, I proceeded to open the package and carefully place the disc in my CD player. I was primed to hear what had been promised as remastered tracks of the original songs. For those unfamiliar with the term, remaster, it means that the original recording is enhanced using current technology to improve the sound.

According to the history of these recording, the original “In Your Time” CD, recorded in 1997, was actually recorded during a live performance. When listening closely to several of the tracks, you can actually hear the audience applause and chatter. At the time of making this CD, having written four original songs for the CD, Taylor Hicks was nineteen years old. “On Broadway”, a rather prophetic song for its time, didn’t make it to “Early Works”.

Eight years later, in 2005, “Under the Radar” was recorded in a studio setting with Taylor Hicks and his musically talented buddies, with all seven of the songs written by Taylor Hicks himself. The only song from that CD to not make it to “Early Works”, “”Hell of a Day”, was released as a bonus track for Taylor’s first major CD, “Taylor Hicks” which was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart with the bonus track.

With that said, as I listened to the latest version of the songs, I closed my eyes to enjoy the rich warmth of Taylor’s voice. The remastering of the early recordings seemed to have lifted his voice up and make it front and center for “Early Works”. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, nor do I really care, I just liked the clarity of the music and Taylor’s voice.

I tried to picture what must have been going on in Taylor’s life that led to the lyrics of many of his songs. What must he have been feeling as he wrote the words, where he saw his career heading, and what he expected musically for himself? I tried to imagine what it was like in the early days when the bar crowds might be small or almost non-existent. Did he feel like giving up? Would he be able to hang in there until success would someday be his?

So much has happened since those early days, those early works. We now know what Taylor Hicks has experienced as success, and now we get to watch how this new national release of his “Early Works” will pan out.

In looking at the songs on the CD, the way they are arranged, mixing them up between the original recordings, it reminds me of perhaps sitting in a bar, watching Taylor Hicks perform with some friends, singing his original music with a couple of covers thrown in for good measure.

“Soul Thing” starts the CD set, setting the stage for what’s to come. It has sufficient beat with its jazzy sax and guitar twang to make you want to dance as well as just sit back, sip your drink slowly, and just listen. “Soul Thing” would later be re-recorded for “Taylor Hicks”, Taylor’s first major release. “The Fall” follows with a slowed down tempo and string fret, that when you realize Taylor Hicks wrote this song before he was twenty, you can’t help but wonder about the heartbreak he must have felt as he ‘climbed the ladder’ while his lady love ‘took the fall’ as he sings this song almost apologetically to her.

The tracks come back to a later time with “Hold on to Your Love”, “The Deal” and “Heart and Soul”. All three songs make you feel good, wanting to sit back, and reflect on those around you, such as that special man or woman in your life. The clarity of the recordings is there, and the instruments are in fine tune with Taylor’s voice. “The Deal” was also re-recorded and made part of “Taylor Hicks”, Taylor’s 2007 major release.

The tracks take us back in time again to “In Your Time”, a song that winds up with another song embedded within it. If you’ve stopped imagining yourself in a bar, this song brings you back quickly when your realize Taylor is doing his famous tagging. Back to the future, with “West Texas Sky”, my favorite, with its Spanish feel and finger cymbals or castanets.

It’s the next track, “Somehow”, that truly shows Taylor’s talent as a songwriter. A truly perceptive 19-year old writer, looking to figure out how to get by and knowing he will do so ‘somehow’. If a single is to be released from this compilation, this song is definitely the one to be that single. With its country flair, it would make a great cross-over song between easy listening and country.

Sometimes in live performances Taylor has gone off in different directions with his music and “Tighten Up” is just another example of that happening. He introduces the song, not verbally spoken, but a sing-song way. Here he lets you know who the musicians are as he gives each a solo spot to show their talent. Not one of my favorites, but with the remastering of the track, it’s growing on me.

“Son of a Carpenter” brings us near the end of the set. As a song that appears to have a message but not one that can be clearly defined, some think it has a religious meaning while others proclaim it’s about his father (who is really a dentist). And then the set end with “My Friend”, a jazzy, New Orleans, blues sound. By the time it’s over, we too are ‘sharing that smile’!

But it doesn’t end there, because like a live performance, there is often an encore, and this particular track has been performed by Taylor in just that way. I imagine this song, much like the familiar scene at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta, Taylor Hicks is sitting a chair, Billy Earl McClelland with his guitar is sitting beside Taylor, as Taylor closes his eyes, channels Ray Charles and sings “Georgia”. It’s a beautiful way to end a beautiful night of music.

When it’s over and I come back to reality, I’m ready to restart the CD, relive my dream and listen again to the crisp voice, to enjoy it all over again. And with some of these songs, I have the opportunity to remember concerts where Taylor Hicks has performed these songs, such as “The Deal”, “Soul Thing” and “My Friend”. Other songs, such as “The Fall” and “Somehow”, were reserved for encores where Taylor would accompany himself with a guitar and sometimes still on a stool.

Perhaps the release of the CD is to whet our appetites for the next major CD to be released later in the fall. Maybe it’s to help bring in new fans that have the privilege of seeing Taylor perform the role of Teen Angel in the Broadway musical “Grease”. Whatever the reason, I’m glad it’s out there. It’s a great way to combine two early CDs into a single compilation that gives a flavor to what Taylor Hicks is all about.

If you haven’t already gotten your copy of “Early Works” by Taylor Hicks, head on over to your local Target to pick one up. In the mean time, if you’d like to hear samples of the songs, stop by The Taylor Hicks Community’s Discography (http://www.thetaylorhickscommunity.com/discography) and select your CD to hear!

ETA: string fret - that scraping metalic sound you hear when the guitar strings are rubbed harder than plucked or strummed.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

It's Show Time! "Early Works" Now at Target!

2008-08-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

By the time you read this, "Early Works" will be sitting on the displays at your local Target!

Hear Taylor Hicks sing his own original music as well as a few covers. Notice the gravelly voice of a young Taylor and the bluesy soulful voice of Taylor just before his American Idol audition. As you listen, close your eyes and envision yourself sitting in a small, smoke-filled bar as Taylor Hicks performs these songs. Some of the tracks were actually recorded live.

Celebrate with Taylor Hicks the national release of his "Early Works"! Let's make this CD is a big seller for Taylor Hicks and Target! Be sure to get your copy today!

Buy an extra copy and send it to:

Taylor Hicks Proud of Our Troops Drive
http://www.jewelrysprout.com/taylor-hicks-cd-drive.html

Taylor's Angels, in partnership with Taylor Hicks Community, for international fans who have no access to purchase the CD
http://taylorconnections.com/forum/359053/

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

If You're Doing the "Hand Jive" Then "Grease is the Word"

2008-07-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

What a whirlwind week-end in the Big Apple I had! When I came back from seeing Taylor Hicks in “Grease” a few weeks ago, my daughter thought a trip to New York City would make a great birthday present. After all, “Grease” was her favorite movie when she was just a kitten. Being the terrific mom that I am, she got her wish!

As long as we were going to the Great White Way, we might as well make the most of the trip and see “Grease” twice. I know that sounds a bit much, but it’s hard to see it all the first time because so much goes on.

For the matinee, we had seats in the third row of the mezzanine balcony, almost center of the stage. Later for the evening show, we had row E, center section but closer to the left side. By varying our seats, we were able to see the whole show, taking in the action on the stage and the orchestra pit-in-the-sky as well.

First, when you attend the musical, be sure to watch the opening act and the orchestra at the same time. It won’t be easy, but it will be worthwhile. The conductor is something else, let me tell you! As the music started, my daughter wanted to know if Taylor Hicks was up there directing the band! The conductor couldn’t stand still! He was even using the pole beside him in his routine!

When I saw “Grease” before, Max Crumm was Danny and Laura Osnes was Sandy. Now the characters are portrayed by Derek Keeling and Ashley Spencer. Both new actors were finalists on the TV show, “Grease: You’re the One That I Want.” Derek and Ashley are very talented and just fell right in with the rest of the cast. This was their first week-end for their Broadway stint in “Grease” which unless you knew that, would have though they had been in the cast since its revival debut! They were excellent!

The usual Kenickie and Marty performed for the matinee but their understudies took over the roles for the evening performance. Except for the fresh face of Kenickie, it was impossible to tell the difference between the characters’ performances! Both Marty’s looked alike and had the change notice not been in the Playbill, I wouldn’t have known it. As I watched the evening Kenickie I wanted to call my sister to make sure her son-in-law hadn’t become a Broadway actor because this guy looked just like him! He was a real cutie!

All the performers are very good! So good in fact, that during the matinee I actually forgot I was there to see Taylor Hicks! I was so mesmerized by everything from the balcony because I had full visual of the entire stage! It wasn’t until Frenchy was finishing her lines and the ice cream cone opened up that I even thought about Taylor Hicks and his Teen Angel persona! Now that’s a first for me!

I would have to swear that the entire section of the mezzanine was taken over by the Soul Patrol, given the squeals of pleasure as the ice cream cone opened! Watching Taylor ham it up as he descends from the Malt Shop in the Sky brought laughter from the audience. I loved how he held out his hands, looking skyward, with only the whites of his eyes showing! A little step here, another step there! “Beauty School Dropout” continues to play through my head, even now, two days later! Well, I guess I deserve that for seeing the musical twice in one day!

Both performances were great. I watched for differences but didn’t really notice any. Instead, I was surprised by how close to each the characters were, even with the understudies! Now that takes lots of practice and talent!

The finale changed up a little for the evening show, but only a little and that was because of Taylor Hicks! The devil must have gotten hold of the Teen Angel because as he came out from the back of the double line to sing his solo in the finale, Taylor grabbed his ankle and bent his knee, moving the leg back and forth while standing on the other leg! The audience loved that, but I’d swear I thought I saw someone close to him perhaps “dare him” to do it!

What I noticed was how everyone in the cast brightened up in the finale as Taylor Hicks blew his famous ‘harp’ (what other instrument would a Teen Angel play!?!?!). Their faces glowed with pleasure as they acknowledged their cast mate. That made me very proud for Taylor.

Watching the “Hand Jive” and other dancing made me want to jump up and dance right along! Instead, I kept hearing the music continue to pulse through my brain. I didn’t want the finale to end because it was fun, and so was watching the orchestra section! The conductor was up there dancing in such a way that John Travolta would have envied his moves and wanted to use them back when he did “Saturday Night Fever”! Too quickly it was over and the house lights came up.

As we left the theatre, I couldn’t help but mentally plan my next trip. Oh, you can be sure I’ll see “Grease” at least once more before Taylor Hicks finishes his Broadway run! It’s hard to get enough of my favorite Teen Angel! And it’s just as obvious that Taylor Hicks enjoying his role in “Grease” and is getting lots of great exposure and making new fans!

Catch Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel in “Grease”, now playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Taylor’s last performance is Sunday, September 7, 2008.

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Exciting News - "Early Works" is Releasing Early!

2008-07-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Start spreading the news! "Early Works" from Taylor Hicks is going to be released earlier than expected! The new release date is August 12, 2008!

Now if you want to pre-order your copy or copies from Amazon.com and can't seem to find the soon-to-be-released CD, never fear! It looks like Amazon.com has pre-sold all of their initial pre-order of "Early Works"! Now that's some really good news for Taylor Hicks! I would expect Amazon.com should have more available real soon!

You can still pre-order Taylor Hicks' "Early Works" from Barnes & Nobel and AOL Music.

AOL Music
http://music.aol.com/album/early-works/1411252

Barnes & Noble
http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.asp?qsrch=A&WRD=taylor+hicks+early+works

Unlike Taylor Hicks who usually sings the blues, I won't be because I'm excited that "Early Works" is pre-selling so well!

Have you reserved your copy today?

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Then & Now: Supporting Taylor Hicks

2008-07-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

It started with a simple introduction almost three years ago, between Simon Cowell and Taylor Hicks. For the Soul Patrol that conversation was a conversion. It went something like this:

Simon Cowell: "Why are you here?"
Taylor Hicks: "Because I want my voice heard."
Simon Cowell: "Why's that?"
Taylor Hicks: "Because I think I have one."

Taylor's audition was almost over as Simon Cowell uttered those unspeakable, but incorrect words, "They'll never put you in the final ....." but with Paul Abdul and Randy Jackson in his corner, Taylor Hicks was going to Hollywood. Not only that, he would later leave victorious as the the winner! American Idol! Simon may think America got it wrong, but when you see all that Taylor Hicks has accomplished these last few years, I believe Simon was the one who got it wrong!

Enjoy a look back to the 'then' days before American Idol when Taylor Hicks with a few friends performed at Zydeco, a Birmingham, AL haunt. Fast-forward three years to 'now' where Taylor Hicks can be found on the Broadway stage as Teen Angel in "Grease".

Get ready to continue the journey with Taylor Hicks as his "Early Works" is released August 19, 2008. This release should tide us over until his new CD comes out in the fall with another tour to follow!

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community

Taylor Hicks & the Early Works - Track List

2008-07-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Amazon, the list of songs for "Early Works", the latest CD to be released by Taylor Hicks on August 19, 2008, is now know! It most of the songs from "In Your Time" released in 1997 and "Under the Radar" released in 2005. Missing are "Hell of a Day" and "On Broadway" for those of you who need the additional details!

1. Soul Thing
2. The Fall
3. Hold On to Your Love
4. The Deal
5. Heart and Soul
6. In Your Time
7. West Texas Sky
8. Somehow
9. Tighten Up
10. Son of a Carpenter
11. My Friend
12. Georgia (with Billy Earl McClelland)

The Editorial Review from the Artist, Taylor Hicks, states:

"First and foremost, these two albums represent who I am and who I am trying to represent as a songwriter. "In Your Time" was a first attempt at recording songs that I had written at the time. Some songs that were really hitting home with me at the time. "Under the Radar" was a second attempt at a first attempt to try to record an album that resembled the production quality of Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat." The songwriting was getting better and my direction as an artist was getting clearer. Warmth in the production was the main goal; "nostalgic" and "endearing" are the terms that I like to use for these two records."

"Thanks for going on the ride!"

"Taylor"

And what a ride this has been for Taylor Hicks! The Traveling Circus is tagging along just to see where the roads will lead!

Click below to vote for your favorite song:

http://www.neomyz.com/poll/poll.aspx?1baee5eccf0bff09

Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Soul Patrol, RagsQueen, Traveling Circus, Taylor Hicks Community