Yeah, so I was in Birmingham for the Taylor Hicks Workplay weekend last month. Took a crap-load of pictures and a few videos. Had every intention of writing a thorough recap, full of my impressions and reactions, along with some (hopefully) witty thoughts. But you know what? The words just wouldn’t come.

My muse has gone silent over Workplay. Maybe she’s just overwhelmed by the multitude of sights and sounds and emotions experienced those two evenings in that packed little theater. Or maybe she’s too busy constructing a quilt of memories from the daylight explorations and the nighttime musical buffets. Perhaps she’ll gift me with that quilt when it’s complete. Hand it over to me in one of those gossamer moments when I float between asleep and awake and whisper just the right words in my ear.

Or maybe she won’t. Maybe the perfect words to describe those days and nights in Birmingham will never come. And that’s okay, too. I’m happy either way. Because my response will be the same. Whether to the muse or to all of those who created those moments for me, my words would be simple and heart-felt. And they are these:

Thank you.

Van Morrison celebrates his 64th birthday today. I thought I’d feature a few of my favorites from his vast library of songs as a sort of tribute to this one of a kind troubadour.

From all accounts Van is a prickly guy and doesn’t suffer fools gladly – or many other folks, for that matter. And he’s very diligent about keeping anything “unofficial” off of YouTube and other media sites. He wishes to control his art and I can respect that, even if I don’t quite understand his reasoning. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by Taylor Hicks’ generosity in allowing his fans to gather and share so much media from his tour stops and shadow gigs.

The one thing Van can’t control is the way in which his songs and his performance of them have inspired so many musicians who’ve followed, and perhaps none more than Taylor Hicks. Rarely does one of his gigs go by that some of Van’s work doesn’t make an appearance in a song or two. Most times it’s a tiny piece – an incomplete verse or the turn of a phrase, a tag. Less often it’s a full-out cover like Naked In the Jungle or Moondance.

I have no idea when Taylor made his musical connection with Van, but the results of his discovery, and its impact on Taylor’s own style of writing, singing and performing, is significant. Anyone who’s listened to the Open Door Cafe set from 2004 or the Nashville set of ‘05 and who then pops in Van’s A Night In San Francisco (or vice versa) can tell you that.

I’ve long suspected that while Ray Charles may have been the musical root of Taylor’s growth as an artist, the work of Van Morrison brought unique and beautiful blooms to the tree that sprung forth.

Taylor covers Van …

credit to Lh1100

credit to edjorg

And tags him, too ..

credit to Skeeter226

credit to Skeeter226

credit to GailCC

Audio of an interview with Van that aired earlier this month on NPR.

Taking it to the tweets!

It’s a twittering world out there…

The social networking site, Twitter, connects us with the world.

Twitter provides us a unique opportunity to join together to actively promote Taylor and support him in bringing his music onto the global stage.

Be a part of the Taylor Hicks Team…

The goal:

*Build a united community of fans working together to represent the Soul Patrol on Twitter.

*Create a strong, enthusiastic network of fans that will be a significant presence on twitter to attract new fans, as well as provide a unified base to follow radio stations, media outlets and other members who may have an interest in Taylor in the cities where he will be appearing.

The way we do it:

*Most importantly, this effort is not intended to spam businesses or groups on twitter.

*Send out tweets with news and media relative to Taylor. Followers can then re-tweet that information to their followers to create a twitter “buzz.”

*Follow the radio stations and media outlets on Twitter in cities where Taylor is headed, letting them know that he has a fan base following him to their market.

*Provide a resource for new fans who have heard or seen him, but who are not familiar with his large online presence.

*Follow sites of his future appearances, such as EventPhoenix, which promotes all happenings in that area.

By following local sites in areas where Taylor is scheduled to appear, we let them know that he brings with him a contingent of followers interested in the music and events they represent.

It will also allow Taylor Hicks Team followers to keep up with anything that these sites may post without having to join each individually and receive all of their tweets.

We only follow music related sites, and we are not mass marketing Taylor in any way that might be considered spamming. We ask our followers to do the same when they re-tweet the news.

We want to be a worldwide presence on twitter that says we are there to support Taylor Hicks—the man and his music—wherever he goes. We can be the “good baggage” that he brings with him!

If you don’t have a twitter account, join this global phenomenon and set up your account at www.twitter.com. It is easy.

Then, follow www.twitter.com/TaylorHicksTeam. We are building the team now so that we will be a notable presence when launched in September 2009.

Follow TaylorHicksTeam on twitter NOW and be an integral part of the Taylor Hicks experience on the global scene! Together, we can make a difference!

Let’s talk Taylor Hicks and tagging, shall we?

Way back, way back, when many of us first discovered the pre-AI live sets on Gray Charles, much of the discussion of that music revolved around a particular thing Taylor seemed prone to do throughout the songs we were hearing. Every once and awhile, seemingly out of nowhere, he’d throw part of a different song into the one he was singing. It became a sort of game trying to identify the bits of those songs he sprinkled here and there.

“Why does he do this?” people wondered. There seemed to be no rhyme or rhythm to it. “Just how extensive is his musical knowledge, anyway?” others thought, as their admiration for him grew. “What exactly is this called, this thing he does?” We had to find an answer. We needed to put a name to this musical tic of Taylor’s.

Through some kind of group-think, the consensus was that it would be called tagging. That seemed appropriate enough. And so when he began his 2007 solo tour, set lists compiled on the various board through cellcerts or recaps began to include those tags. When he made his way to California that year, the one of a kind (and dearly missed) Basenji flew all the way over from Japan to see him perform in concert. She was also lucky enough to score a M&G with the man. At which time she presented him with a list, numbering in the triple digits, of all the songs (and the artists) he’d tagged on the tour so far.

Basenji explained what it was and he took a minute or two to look it over. The resulting conversation went something like this. Paraphrased of course, because my memory ain’t what it used to be…

Basenji: “What do you call it when you do that?”

Taylor: “I dunno.”

Basenji: We all call it tagging.”

Taylor: “Works for me.”

And so “tagging” it was. Up until a couple days ago, when Rodney Ho published a blog in which Taylor agreed to answer a few questions submitted by fans. One of those questions was about the tagging, and asked by Judy Morton:

I love how Taylor “tags”, “blends” songs together. I have always wondered if he knows ahead of time what words will come out of his mouth or is this somewhat ad libbed?

Taylor’s answer was this:

“I have musical Tourette’s Syndrome,” he said. “Van Morrison did tagging a lot. Sam Cooke. All the greats. They are all musical enough to incorporate other songs. Let’s face it. Songs come from other songs. And no, it’s not preplanned. It’s spontaneous thinking.”

I was tickled to see him use the term “tagging” in his answer. I guess his conversation with Basenji stuck. And so now, after three-odd years, we have a definitive answer to one of life’s little mysteries. It’s not simply a tic. It’s more than just the quirky and endearing behavior of a guy who eats, breathes and sleeps his art. It’s an actual syndrome. And Taylor has a bad case of it. Good thing for the rest of us that he’s never sought out the cure.

This bit of Chuck Berry’s Brown-Eyed Handsome Man is the first tag many of us ever heard Taylor do.
credit to skeeter226

Grease shadow gig tagging …
credit to RobinAgain

Some great call and response here between Taylor and Josh Smith.
credit to pboyers

Van the Man tagging is always nice.
credit to taytay72

Sweet …
credit to edjorg

Who doesn’t love some Pink Floyd?
credit to Geanna5876

Hold on To Your Love always gives us great tags.
credit to idolmashups

Thanks to Peece for helping me hunt these down.

Rodney Ho’s blog can be found here:
http://blogs.ajc.com/american-idol-blog/2009/08/10/taylor-hicks-interview-for-grease-show-at-fox-theater-august-11-16/?cxntfid=blogs_american_idol_blog

A comprehensive list of all the songs (tags included) performed during the 2007 tour is available as a pdf file on the Tay-Online website. Look for the link to Song List on this page:
http://tay-online.com/th_2007_Tour.htm

That was the declaration Taylor Hicks greeted us with when he took the stage at the Magic Bag last Monday evening. And his enthusiasm showed in spades. He was loose, happy, chatty, surrounded by talented old friends, and in the best voice I think I’ve heard from him in quite some time. I don’t know if it had to do with the acoustic setting, which prevented his fellow musicians from overwhelming his vocals, or simply that the energy he usually expends moving around the stage was instead channeled into his voice.

Whatever the reason, Taylor was phenomenal. Accompanied by Brian Less on the keyboard, John Kulinich on guitar, and Jason Parker on bass, he remained seated (barely) for over 90 minutes. We were treated to several songs from the new album, The Distance, a few well-loved covers from the 2007 tour (Don’t Let Me Down was especially nice to hear again) and the live debuts of Wedding Day Blues, Maybe You Should and Indiscriminate Act of Kindness.

I can’t say enough about IAOK. I honestly didn’t know if he’d ever do it live, given the length, the wealth of lyrics to remember, and the attention from the crowd this song demands. I have to give Taylor credit: he brought it beautifully. And the audience was equally respectful, falling silent just moments into the first verse. It wasn’t until the final notes that a female fan felt compelled to loudly declare her love. I don’t know that I can be too harsh on her; what she did outwardly is what I was doing inwardly. And though he joked with us at one time, loudly shushing us and saying “Be quiet,” he followed that with a devilish grin and a “Just kidding.”

I wish I had video to share with you. But there were conflicting answers about whether it would be allowed, and I chose to play it safe for this gig. But I did manage to take several – ok, close to 200 – pictures. Once I got home and managed to whittle out the blurry ones and the dark ones, I ended up with a pretty nice gallery of memories from the evening. I’ve included a few of my favorites below, as well as a link to the full album. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did taking them.

Thanks for the incredible evening, Taylor. You wear acoustic very well. Hope you do it again soon!

And the rest of them:

http://photobucket.com/sos_photos

Dear Taylor Hicks fans -

This is to all the folks making their way to Taylor’s acoustic shadow gig at the Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI this coming Monday, June 22nd. I have only one request of you and it’s a very simple one. It’s so simple, in fact, that I’m going to let these photographs convey that request for me. Because a picture is worth a thousand words.

And just in case that’s not subtle enough for you ….

As an aside, this request applies only to those times when Taylor is singing for us or talking to us. Hooting and hollering is, of course, expected and encouraged when he’s not doing either of these things.

I hope to return with some really good media, some of which I’ll be posting right here on this blog. It’s my most sincere hope that any video I get will be free of those annoyingly loud declarations of undying love and devotion that have ruined so many quiet musical moments in the past. Thank you and good night.