Rodney Atkins and a NIght of Family Friends and Fundraising.

Saturday night March 29th I was lucky enough to stumble upon a great night for a great cause.  If you follow Rodney on Twitter or Facebook you know that he is raising money for Holston Home.  This is where he was adopted from,  being adopted myself this is an effort that hits home.  The show was on stageit.com and called "Rod & Roseys First Livin' Room Live Show to Benefit Holston Home".  I had never been on the Stageit.com site before so I wasn't sure what to expect.  After perusing the site for a bit I added it to my favorites bar.  If you have never been on it before like myself it is a site for artists to have live shows and raise money at the same time. Each artist sets the price of the tickets. The site uses a "TIP" program where each "note" to tip costs 10 cents. The minimum tip is 50 notes or $5.00 all ticket money and tip money raised with this show went to Holston Home.

The hour long show featured The HIMms, Rose Falcon, and Rodney.  From the first shot of Rodney sitting on their couch in a gorgeous living room you knew you were in for a fun family filled night and that is exactly what you got.  There were some glitches at first with the picture and sound completely dropping for around 10 minutes. During the blackout there was some good conversation to be had using the chat feature on the site, Hope who was acting as the spokeswoman for the show kept us up to date the entire time.  When the feed came back The Himms played a short 2 song ditty.  Due to the black out they announced after the 2 songs there was to be and additional 30 minutes added to the show and then some.

Rodney played and this is when the tipping became fast and generous.  They had a contest that if they raised $5000 the highest tipper would have a private show with Rodney and Rose with Stageit.com at a later date.  Rodney played a full hit set list over the time of the show.  The best part for me was to see him involve his family.  He played a song with his father and a  few with Rose.  Rose added a song with her father as well However the show was stolen by a freestyle rap performance from the 2 pimped out boyz.  It was a great show over all and one that I soon will not forget.

The point of the show was to raise money and that is what happened.  There was a contest with gift pack for the highest Pre-Show bidder and that raised $1800.  During the show they were taking requests of tips and people were paying upwards of $100 to hear a song what a great idea.  Rose showed a painting she had just finished that will be going on Rodney's EBay auction(  Rodney Atkins EBay Site ).  There are some great items up for bids with some signed items from artists like Justin Moore, Zach Brown, and Jana Kramer.  Rose also added 2 of her shirts for tipping contests both of which will be signed by Rodney and Rose.  The shirts went to the first person to tip 500 notes or $50.  I lost out on the first one by mere seconds but i really didn't mind because I was tipping to help the kids out.  If I had one the shirt I would have told them to put it up for auction anyways.  They added another gift pack to the highest bidders of the show and also the Encore show that was set up due to the blackout.  The night was a success,  the $5000 mark was not hit during the show but the final number has not been put up as of yet.

I am full behind this cause and will help out anyway I can.  I just want to thank Everyone that tipped and everyone that is bidding on items.  It is because of people like you that I am able to be writing this now.  I have no idea what my life would have been like if I were not adopted by such amazing people.

WYRK Fall Acoustic Show review

   

      This is the first time I have ever gone to any of the WYRK acoustic shows.  Normally the line up does not make me want to spend the money that I could save for a big time summer show.  However this line was a must see for me, Craig Morgan, Parmalee, and Cassadee Pope.  My daughter also really wanted to see  Cassadee Pope so I figured what a great show for her first true country concert.

       It was an intimate atmosphere very laid back and easy going. The show was at UB Center for the Arts.  It is a great venue for this type of show large capacity and comfortable seats.   All the artists took the stage at the same time.  I had a very good view of the show, we sat 3rd row to the left side of the stage.  Cassadee was right in front of us.  I am not going to lie I was not very familiar with Parmalee before the show.  That was a major my bad,  I am officially a big fan now.  Craig Morgan was sitting in the middle of the stage front and center.  He started out joking about the snow storm we had the previous day and how the owner of his label also owns the Sabres.  The Sabres for those you do not know is the NHL team here in Buffalo.

    He then made a joke about how is wife didn't like the song he was about to play until it became a #1.  The song of course was International Harvester.  You would not have known it was an acoustic show if you were to just hear it.  Craig brought his  mix of traditional style country and modern.  There were many times when the other artists on stage could be seen singing along with Craig.  There was definitely a shared respect of each other on stage.

      Cassadee Pope followed Craig in the rotation,  she did make a point to show her slight intimidation about that.  She had nothing to fear she blew the crowd away.  It was kind of nice to be able to just hear her sing since not many people knew her songs besides "Wasting All These Tears".  She would go on runs that brought the crowd to their feet.  It was incredible to see the reaction when she belted out her songs.  I feel she stole the show away from Craig and Parmalee.  She made one new huge fan in my daughter which is tough to do because she is not the biggest of country music fans,  a trend I am really trying to break.  However she liked Cassadee so much all she wants for her birthday is tickets to see Tim Mcgraw because Cassadee will be there.  I really need to meet Cassadee and thank her for converting a former Bieber lover to a country fan.

       Parmelee was last in the rotation and when they started the crowd was instantly divided between the young and old.  The younger people in the crowd went crazy when it was Parmelee's turn.  However by the time the full set was done the entire crowd was on board with them.  One of my favorite moments of the entire show was their cover of Miley Cyrus " Wrecking Ball".  I almost fell out of my seat with that song it was not only funny but hit home with my nights at the bar.  I could not help but show all my co-workers the following day.

       After the show they had a meet and greet with every single artist.  I asked my daughter if she wanted to meet any of them of course she said yes and chose Cassadee.  We walked over to get in her line and not only was it the longest line actually stretching out the door to the frigid cold but it was also cut off.  I guess thats what you get for great seats.  Overall this was a good show to be at.  It was a nice change from the normal summer shows.  I loved the intimate setting and calmer atmosphere.  The show was all about the artists and their songs and not the theatrics that normally go along with shows.  I will be at every acoustic show from here on out.  WYRK did not disappoint they continue to promote country music and newer artists.