This was my sixth rally, each year I feel more and more "complete" so to speak. Attending the rally is like starting or re-kindling a love affair. The feelings and emotions of love, comfort, friendship, excitement and belonging all come up for me. I get to see all my friends, I get to make new ones. Everyone is so supportive. This year was even better because I finally let all the progress I made sink in. People were coming up to me to meet me and to say how inspired they are by me, and how far I have come. I am usually like "Who me???" and will try and say something negative about myself to distract from the attention.. This time I would say "Thank You" and "I appreciate it". I still don't think I realize how far I've come. This is all due to TAXI and the Rally. I still had to do the work, there is no magic bullet, but TAIX is more than just forwards and deals... It is about building a community, networking, doing the work, accepting criticism, learning, making friends, being gracious, helping one another. This is family. This is a place where we can be ourselves and finally belong.
This year was really great for me because I got to meet up with new bandmate Nathan Nasby. We met while doing the GYWAS (get your ass writing song contest) on Facebook. (This was started by taxi members and here is the link if you are interested https://www.facebook.com/groups/gyaws/ ) We decided we sounded good together and formed a band called Blu Cedar and now 6 songs later will be coming out with an album in a matter of weeks. We got to meet at the Rally and perform at open mic, Film our first video AND be on TAXI TV!! It was all so awesome!! I am really excited about Blu Cedar . You can follow our shenanigans here! http://www.blucedar.com
I also noticed that when checking out the mentors and panelists that I knew most of the people personally and/or had direct connections with them. That is a great place to be and a great feeling to know you have reached a certain level. I am not being big headed here, I am just in awe of how all this has evolved. Back in 2009 when I first joined TAXI, I had been writing , but didn't really know much about the industry at all, and my songs were not the greatest, ok they were crap really. TAXI opened my eyes to a whole new world
and new people. I don't think I EVER would have gotten to where I am today without this community.
For those of you who think TAXI is a scam, it is NOT! If you are serious about advancing your song writing career,
writing for film and TV, are open to critique, want to meet a ton of industry people, make new friends and move forward, then this is the place.
The classes are also great! I love Ronan Murhpy's production classes, so awesome! Fett has a great mixing course! Casey Hurowitz teaches music business and song structure, Chuck Schlacter has a great motivational course on building your catalog and managing your time. So much great material!
The only sad thing for me is leaving the rally. I get emotional, I feel like I am breaking up with someone. I want the happy feelings I get from the rally to continue forever. This sadness can really lead to feeling stuck if you let it. While on the plane I started to write out lists. Lists of all the new collaborations, lists of all the marketing I need to do, lists of things for the new album. I started to get really motivated and excited again. So I figured writing this would help get me started now that I am back. I hope that by reading this and writing your own experiences we can keep this family going. Hit me up if you need a pep talk or advice!!
I write a weekly blog about writing and licensing for Film & TV that also includes how to persevere in this business. I thought about putting this post in my blog, but I thought it would be good to have my friend (and Michelle Michelle bandmate) Michelle Murray write about her experiences. This is her second year at the Rally and she says it is LIFE CHANGING for her!! So I am letting her write the blog this week and will post a link here as well. For new folks I think it will be great and inspiring.
So if you have been lurking in the shadows, watching what was going on, or maybe you had a bunch of returns and just want to give up or think it is a scam, keep with us, keep reading the forum, reach out to those of us who have been where you were. Almost all of us were there at some point or another.
If you think the above was a bit melodramatic, just remember, I am a songwriter, I write what I feel
Love you all!
-Shell
http://www.michellelockey.com
http://www.blucedar.com
http://www.michellemichelleband.com
Casey