Stephanie Smith’s Blog

Hiiiieee there!
I almost forgot to blog today- whoops. But I am watching a great show here in Nashville and I rememered- thankfully I have this nifty thing called an iPhone and I can post it right here while I’m watching a great band called Barcelona. Next up is Copeland followed by Relient K.
I decided to come check out Relient K because they have a new record out as of last week and I’ll be hitting the road with them next week. I had to do my research on their live show plus we shared a great producer, Mr Mark Lee Townsend. I just finished recording and mixing 6 songs (5 of which will be on my new EP releasing next month) which we will debut on tobyMac’s winter wonder slam tour this year! You all need to come check it out Alrighty kids. It’s back to the show for me! Have a great evening!

tues night, bare essentials, baltimore, writing, nap!
Oh what a week it’s been! I got in from Baltimore on Mon after spending several days with my Mom, her fiance and my brother, Matt. I helped him pick out new furniture at Ikea, and to save him a couple G’s, I recovered his over-sized couch so he could buy a 46″ flat screen It was good to be with my family! But it’s always good to come home! I missed my Nashville family.
On tues I had the chance to catch up with my sweet roommate Lindsey, and we decided we needed a little adventure. We wanted a little danger, a little laughter, a little unknown, so we left on a secret mission that I can’t tell you about, but had to abort mission half way through. Our alternative was cherry limeade’s from Sonic, and on our way to get those, we bumped into some friends working on a car outside of TobyMac’s studio… oh the adventure continued from there, but I’m moving on now.
Last night, my other roommate Emily won a Bare Essentials make-up party, so we got to go learn how to make our faces look pretty and cover our zits I got some new eye make-up for shows… I guess you’ll have to come check out what I do with it!
Oh you might be thinking I’m just playing all the time… let me assure you that is not true! I have worked over 30 hours at Starbucks this week, and I have had 2 writing sessions finishing up writing 3 new songs and I even took a nap today! Thats right kids, I met a friend for coffee today after opening at 5am, writing 2 songs with Stu G from Delirious, and cutting my guitar players hair, and I fell asleep in my rommie’s car on the 10 min drive home. So I took a 2 hour nap and woke up at 7:30pm with 6 people at my house and dinner made!
So thats a little about life right now. Hope everybody is doing well out there. Come see us play next week at Creation West on Wed morning at 11:15! Anyone have suggestions what to do with a free day in Seattle??!?!

Hello everybody! It’s me again blogging about the 2009 GMA’s. Today was Monday and this is my first moment to breathe since my lunch break! I started at 830am in the Gotee suite and haven’t really had an opportunity to stop since! It was a day full of interviews and an evening full of dinners and show cases. 

Ah there is so much to say. I’m starting to understand why people blog everyday! (…Brock Ahh, let’s start with yesterday… It was the last night of WinterJam 2009 and we performed at the Sommet Center in Nashville, TN. It was absolute chaos backstage because everyone and their brothers best friend stopped by to say hi, but that didn’t effect the show- it was top notch. TobyMac even pulled out pyro for the hometown show! We pulled into town at 7am from Ypsilanti, MI with a special guest in the van. Jon from Hawk Nelson chose to help drive and ride in the van with us through the night and gave his bus slot to my guitar player Albert. How awesome is that?!

(Pause, I just spilled coffee all over my carpet) 

I’m back.

Anyway, the whole day was bittersweet. JamChurch set the tone in the morning, as it was our last time together before the crazy day began. Francesca Battistelli lead us in worship, and then Tony Nolan shared some encouragement with us about being the body of Christ. Everyone was in such good spirits and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. As the evening progressed, gifts were distributed and pranks were pulled… one prank was in my favor… during my “pre, pre-show,” lights up performance slot, the crew gave me full sound and lights as one final “bang”…. thanks guys

As soon as Toby’s set was over, my team and I left to set up for the after party at Rocketown where B.Reith, myself and TobyMac’s Diverse City performed. Since I’ve lived in Nashville, I’ve wanted to perform at Rocketown, so it was game on. The performance was going well, and then Nathan decided to spit some water at me during the intro of the last song… which wet the floor. In response I tried to “air-kick” him, and slipped on the wet stage, falling HARD on my butt. I had to think quick as to how to respond to the obvious, so I posed like a model and got back on my feet in time to sing the first verse. It was hard not to bust out laughing as I looked over the crowd and saw them all trying to compose themselves for my sake. When the song was done, I decided to talk about the elephant in the room and I deemed my first fall on stage as blog worthy… so here you are people of the crowd- a blog…. If you have any of it on video, I would love to see it! hahaha, and yes, its okay that you laugh at it

I love you all! Pray for me and my team as we figure out what is next for us… 

Stephanie

Today I am at the Family Arena in St Charles, MO for Winter Jam 2009. It’s a special day because not only did I go to college nearby in Greenville, IL, I came to Winterjam 2006 here and saw TobyMac and Hawk Nelson play when I first got signed to Gotee. I remember this catering area where I sit right now to write this, and I recall the excitement and anticipation I felt wondering when I would get to do a tour like this. Well, here I sit today- Part of Winter Jam 2009 with both TobyMac and Hawk Nelson.

Hello people in the world,

It’s still a little crazy out here on Winter Jam, but I still love it. I had a hard day yesterday, no particular reason- I think it was just an opposed day. But the sun is shining here in Tampa, and its a little warmer…. I think it’s going to be a good one.

I have a funny story for all you TobyMac fans from sound check the other day. I was checking my vocal mic and I busted into an old dcTalk rap from 1992 called “Talk It Out.” The band joined in and we had a nice little beat going. Toby was in the arena listening to my sound check and talking to a few people. His son was with him too. In the middle of my “rap” Truett turns to his daddy and says “Dad, is she just making that up as she goes?!” Toby had to explain to his son that it was one of his own raps from “back in the day.” I thought it was hilarious! And I was pretty proud of myself for remembering all those lyrics… I mean, its not like I listen to it anymore….

S

One show down…. 30-some more to go! We had our first Winterjam at the Roanoke Civic Center last night. Fun Fact: My guitar player, Albert called his parents and told them where we were playing and his dad said “Your mother and I saw Elvis perform there in 1977 a month before he died, I believe it was one of his last shows!” We stood where Elvis stood. And it was our first show of the tour.

Anyway, considering everything, it went well… despite the confusing start to things. It wasn’t clear when we were supposed to go or what our cue was so when Toby’s video intro for me came on (which it 15 sec long), I literally ran to my mic! In the haste of it, I forgot to turn my wireless pack on, so I am pretty sure I sang some funky notes at first! We found our groove though and it went well from there. But I will feel better when it feels a little more routine. I lit my mic stand on fire, and it was amazing…. I can tell you that now because I won’t be doing it any more. I got reprimanded for not having a fire permit from the fire marshal and was told they could shut the whole show down because of that….. oops. Thankfully they didn’t and PureNRG, Francesca Battestelli, NewSong, Hawk Nelson, Brandon Heath and TobyMac came out and rocked the stage. It never gets old for me. I love this. I love to play music, so even if the lights are up and people have no idea who I am, I still enjoy myself singing my heart out. I get excited about rehearsals people. I am thankful for this opportunity.

I have to confess, as exciting as the day was for me, I had my moments of feeling overwhelmed. I feel inadequate. I feel like there is so much I don’t know or can’t do. And I feel this pressure to make this all happen and be worth it. Building an online “experience” for my fans overwhelms me because I don’t like to go online! Technology stresses me out. And I allowed part of the joy of this first night to be robbed from me because I was worrying about money. Am I going to go in the hole trying to make my dream happen? Is it possible to make a living doing this? I had hundreds of people tell me I had the most amazing voice they had ever heard, or that they were new “super fans” of mine, but most of them didn’t pick up a CD, just a free sticker.

Friends, it’s a battle for me, but I am still willing to risk it all and trust my Jesus. I don’t think its any coincidence that I am singing a love song to Him during the offering at WinterJam… I follow speaker Tony Nolan who challenges 8-10 thousand people to give freely and believe the Lord will replenish over and beyond what they have given. He testifies that EVERYTIME he and his wife give, the Lord gives them more in return. He is speaking financially, but that doesn’t exclude the Lord’s other blessings. If my God is who He says He is, He is Good. He is trustworthy. And I will follow Him.

Today He says: “Go to Chattanooga, TN and sing your heart out for ME” So I’m on my way….

Blessings,

S