so…it’s almost 5am here in fort worth on a thursday morning.  i finally have a day off from my new job today, so i’ve stayed inside from the cold all night and watched crime shows.  not like the csi or the law in order genre, but like the forensic files and dominick dunne (old rich man detective type) shows.  the real ones.  the kinda shows that show you exactly how to get away with heinous things.  however, these idiots just never cease to amaze me.  they’ll do things like strangle someone, with whom they just got into a fight in public, leave a shoe on the victim with their dog’s hair all over it; a shirt with a picture of the actual crime taking place is left wrapped around the victim’s neck, the bill from the bar at which they fought (which the killer paid), and a tooth.  how a tooth?.  but these shows…they have such a buildup and try to twist the story around so it looks like it was impossible to solve.  and i guess some times they are, but what is the intrigue around watching one of these shows all the way through?  is it the fact you wanna solve crimes cause you think you can, or “something more sinister?”  that seems to be a common saying amongst all the “actuality” crime shows.  i don’t know…whatever.  either way, i’m hooked, lined, and sinkered on watching.  watch one if you haven’t already.  curious if other people have this obsession.

quick update:  waiting to hear back from the doctor on whether surgery is necessary to fix my throat.  sucks i haven’t really been able to perform or travel a little to play (especially with the recent mtv exposure, woulda been a great time to do that).  but i should know something soon, and i think all will be well soon either way.  there were two parts to the IMA awards program.  on the judge’s panel, i was a runner-up.  but being a finalist was a great achievement and it will bring great opportunity in the near future i believe.  on the second part, the voting (that you guys have been doing), i won’t know for a couple months, so keep up the voting and continuing to let others know.  i really appreciate all the recent support i’ve recieved from all of you.  i’ll keep you posted on the results.

talk to you all soon.

eric

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

I have been selected as a finalist in the Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album Category for the record The Twenties in the 8th annual Independent Music Awards program.  They are going  to use the song Smokescreen from the album for the IMAs to include the track on the next Independent Music Awards Winners CD compilation.  This CD will go out to a whole lot of people in the industry (i.e. agents, managers, labels, publishing co., etc).  So that’s pretty sweet as a first step.  The winner of this will be decided this month, January ‘09.  If I win, there are even greater things that will help me get noticed.  

So, this is where you come in.  If you wanna help and vote for me, it would be greatly appreciated.  Here’s what you’ll need to do.

First you’ll click on this link and then follow the below instructions:

• REGISTER (in the upper left “Login” box).
• Once you login or register, the same category page will refresh with the Star Voting/Rating system in place for you.  Just click on the star rating and that will be your vote.
• When fans rate a track and logout of the Jukebox, their rankings are “set” and cannot be changed later.
• The system is programmed so that fans can only vote/rate tracks one time (no ballot box stuffing!).  But if you have multiple email addresses….you can always register each one and keep voting.

That’s it!!!  Pretty simple.  Thanks for taking the time to help and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

So…another MTV licensing deal has squeaked thru for me.  My song, “smokescreen,” will be on the first episode of MTV’s acclaimed series “The Real World: Brooklyn.”  The first episode is tomorrow night, 

January 7th at 10PM EST

So, set your dvr’s and check it out.  Can’t beat being showcased on the series’ first time having a transgendered cast member.  Livin’ the dream!

NO bueno!  I haven’t been playing any shows for the past two months.  My ear, nose, throat doctor scoped my throat…(thru my nose, which is ridiculously uncomfortable if you’ve never had it done)…and he found scar nodules on my vocal chords.  So, I’ve been on a hiatus from even writing and singing at home, much less performing.  I’ve been going to voice therapy once a week for the past month or so.  My therapist is optimistic that I’ll be back to performing by mid february if I stick with the exercises…(which are awfully silly, but I guess necessary).  I just went back to my ENT doctor yesterday and he said that the nodules had flattened out, showing progress, but he gave me a choice to try and laser them off and/or continue therapy.  No guarantees I’ll be back to normal singing voice after, but I think all will be well.  I’ll keep everyone posted.  Thanks for the support.