Our local Parrothead (Jimmy Buffett Fan) Club throws a luau every year
benefiting a charity, because that’s one of the things Parrotheads do.  Yes, we 
do throw a heck of a party, but always with a purpose, giving back to our 
community.  Previous luaus raised funds for a local children’s home, women’s 
shelter, cancer center, and Alzheimer’s research, among other things, and more 
recently, The Wounded Warrior project has been the beneficiary.

In 2010, we had three bands scheduled to perform, with about a half hour 
between them for switching out.  Edward volunteered to play on the back deck
 of the Marina Bar and Grill during those breaks, just to keep some live music going.  
The owner, John Bull, himself a blues musician, heard Edward tuning up, and when the first band
 took a break, he hauled Edward up to the main stage instead.  So, rather than the 
20 or so people he thought would hear him clearly, it was closer to 100.  He impressed
 the other bands, as well as the audience, and at the end of the day, John offered 
Edward any breaks he cared to take on nights when the regular house band was 
playing.  Edward took him up on the offer a few times, and even ended 
up with the house band playing behind him one night, jamming to one of his 
songs.  We held the Candy For Bread Map CD release party there,  and Edward got 
the stage to himself for a couple of hours.

This year, our local Mellow Mushroom Pizzeria closed for the day, on a 
Saturday, no less, to let us throw our luau.  Edward opened for the same band 
he’d taken the break for last year, and again impressed them with his stage 
presence and talent.  The audience loved him and one woman squealed like a true 
fangirl when she won a copy of his CD and a tour shirt in the raffle!

Both bands that followed him play a variety of party tunes and Buffett 
covers, so it was nice to ease into the afternoon with Edward’s blues and folky 
guitar picking.  His covers also pleased the crowd, who were, as usual, stunned 
to learn his age.

We had a great time hanging out with about 375 new friends and fans, and 
though the totals aren’t in just yet, I’m sure the Wounded Warrior Project will 
have a nice donation again this year.

That stands for Birmingham Arts and Music Festival, a project started by a 
couple of Birmingham musicians who love SXSW and thought something similar would 
go over well in Alabama.  Apparently, they were right.

2011 is only the second year of BAAMFest, but in the short span of a three-day 
weekend, almost 200 artists of all kinds (music, dance, visual, kids, etc.) 
shared their talents in 21 venues across the city.  Edward had the privilege of 
opening the Fest at Rojo, a Latino/American restaurant and bar on Highland Ave.  
Over the course of the weekend, six more artists performed there, winding up on 
Sunday with a live streaming performance from Amsterdam by Fat Form.

The folks at Rojo were terrific, very receptive and accommodating.  In 
particular, Berkley, the bartender and Clark, the owner, were extremely helpful 
and supportive.  We hope to be back with them for another gig soon.

Because of neighborhood noise ordinances, the bands at Rojo had to finish by 
10, so Edward only had an hour to play.  He worked it well, though,  which 
prompted an attendee to shoot a note to the BAAMFest Facebook page, calling his 
performance ‘fantastic!’  I couldn’t agree more.

We were only in town for the night, but did manage to catch the tail end of 
Lee MacDougall’s set a few blocks away.  It was nice to finally hear him live, 
even if it was just one song.  Not sure what the bookers were thinking with him, 
though. The rest of the bill at his venue were thrash metal bands.

Still, even with a few bumps and some occasional late starts we heard about 
at other venues, BAAMFest seems to be off to a terrific beginning.  The social 
media certainly seemed enthusiastic in their online reports. We hope to be a 
part of it again.

Our wonderful tour manager, StellaWiki, has an equally wonderful family.  

Her husband, Cyrus has big dreams, too.  He wants to make movies.  Towards that end, he 
signed up for the Richmond, VA 48 Hour Film Project, an international endeavour 
that gives production teams in 100 cities one weekend in which to make a movie, 
from genre selection through story, scriptwriting, casting, filming, scoring, 
editing, rendering and final submission.  A pre-selected character name, prop and 
line of dialogue are required to appear in each film. It’s a challenge that 
tests any group’s talents and patience, not to mention stamina and ability to 
function on little to no sleep, but Below the Knees Productions managed it, with 
eight minutes to spare.

Cyrus had fallen in love with one of Edward’s songs, Waffles at One, and 
asked permission to use it in the film, called ‘Samsara’.  Flattering as that 
was, Cyrus also had other music scored, using elements of the song.  The score 
and soundtrack flowed beautifully into the song itself, which plays throughout 
the closing credits of the short film.

Edward and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to Richmond for the 
premiere of ‘Samsara’, along with other films submitted to the Virginia project. 
A total of 47 films were screened over two days at the beautiful Byrd Theatre, 
an old movie palace that is being lovingly restored to its former glory.  Ours 
was in the first set of films, and it was tremendously exciting to meet so many 
other people who worked on the film as we gathered in front of the theatre on a 
Saturday afternoon.  There may not have been a physical red carpet, but the 
excitement and ‘dressy clothes’ were definitely there!

‘Samsara’ actors, crew, friends and family alone filled three and a half rows 
of the theatre, and the house was nearly to capacity.  Films that represented 
Science Fiction, Romance, Comedy, Film de Femme, Musical, Suspense, Silent, 
Period Piece and Action Serial were screened with ours, which filled the Time 
Travel niche.  Several of us were a little overwhelmed as Edward’s music, and 
then voice, poured forth from those big screen speakers.  It was a proud Mom 
moment that I wouldn’t have missed for anything.

After a short Q-&-A period with the directors of all the films, we headed 
out to a lovely French bistro down the street to celebrate.  So many people came 
up to congratulate Edward and express how much they enjoyed his music in the 
film, marvelling at so much talent in such a young man.  He took it all in 
stride, as he does, graciously accepting the compliments and redirecting their 
focus to Cyrus’ vision.

The results of the judging will be announced on August 14, again in Richmond. 
We won’t make the trip this time, but our fingers are crossed for good news.  
The winner of each city’s Film Festival goes into the international competition, 
the Grand Prize of which is $3000 and a screening at the Cannes Film Festival.  
A selection of the Best of the Festival will also be screened at Cannes, so even 
if we don’t take the Grand Prize, there is still a good chance we might have to 
get passports!

Tremendous thanks go out to Cyrus and the terrific members of Below the Knees 
Productions for putting together such a great film, and for letting Edward’s 
music inspire you all.  Best of luck on the 14th!

Extra love and thanks to Stella for feeding us and the kids for letting us 
take over their rooms for a couple of nights.

‘Samsara’ is viewable at  http://vimeo.com/32693359.