Saturday at TAXI Convention with Jared - Really Good Day!

It's 4:30 am, I think.? ...and there are still people up singing and playing! It's crazy!

I also went to the roof of the hotel because that is where the vending machine is (and the pool) and there were people up there singing and talking about their dreams of being the next big music discovery! The folks in the picture above were having a good time, playing and singing jazz stuff. Nice background music to my blogging effort.

Now, back to Saturday.

After the experience of yesterday's mentoring session, I decided to go directly to the class that would tell me everything that the big shots are looking for in a Christian Song. As the Lord would have it, there was in fact a class called, "How To Write Your Christian Song". Isn't it great that the Lord already had this going! Very cool.

Lynn, the woman with the red jacket, was the instructor. She has worked with many artists that I'm sure everyone has heard of. She explained the nuts and bolts of making a great Contemporary Christian Song. I not only learned a lot of really good stuff, but I also discovered that I was mis-representing my song. I pitched it as CCM, when in fact it would better be classified as Praise and Worship (which there is no market for). This made me feel a lot better about my song. Lesson learned, don't pitch your song in the wrong genre or in this case, sub-genre.

The panel in the picture above was made up of A&R Execs. Kara DioGuardi was supposed to be there, but was signed to a new show and was filming and couldn't make it. Taxi replaced her with two other folks who did a really good job. These were interesting people because they were the ones who picked the artists and pitched them to the big labels. Needless to say they had to slip out the back after this in fear of getting mauled by a crowd of hopefuls.

The fellas in the picture above represented the Video Game Music industry. These guys have done many projects like Prince of Persia, Beowulf, etc. Also, on the right is a contact that Jared made (which hopefully sticks!). He is the owner of a video game production company, which translates to jobs for Jared! Pray about that one! We listened to their work which was very good! Jared would be a good addition to the talent pool here (and I'm not just saying this because I'm his dad... well, I am, but it is also true!) It was amazing watching Jared network here in LA. It seemed very natural / he was in his element!

Since this was our last night in LA and the day went so well, Jared and I decided to go to the nearest good Italian restaurant to celebrate this weekend. We only had to walk about a mile and a half each way, but found one, and it was good!

Ah, spaghetti! Gotta love it!

So, it's Sunday. The people are still around the piano making music. My guess is that they will crash before too long.

It's been a good trip and it will soon be over. Praise God it has been a very valuable time for Jared and me. We have a couple more events this morning, then it's off to the airport for a very long trip home. We will be laying over in Chicago. I'm not sure if I'll blog about it, we'll see. Monday is coming soon and more travels are in store for work, reality. I'm so thankful for Lynnette, who encouraged this trip. It was everything she said it would be and more! Pickles, I can't wait to see you and Ab, Cecily, Silas, JoJo and Harry! Jared is excited to see you too (which goes without saying), and I think he is dying to see Olivia - just a guess:)