As we sat next to Fort Sumner in Derek’s backyard we discussed the whole fiasco with the man who was one of about three folks driving the Stockholm Syndrome train. As things came out this thing got more and more beautiful. But I digress. Let’s go back to the beginning of the night.

Going into the event at The Rutledge in Nashville, even Derek didn’t know how many (if any) people were going to show up. Rest assured, folks showed up. From as far a way as Seattle, folks lined up to get into an event that they knew little to nothing about. Such was the spirit of Stockholm Syndrome.

As we were let in, the place filled up quickly. In fact, the floor and walls that lined the place were filled too. There was a screen and two microphones on stage. I was pleased that the event got started pretty quickly as Derek stepped out into the spot light and up to the microphone. “Well done,” he said. “”Well done everyone for making it out here.” He said they had many things including a few more surprises in store for us. First, though, he wanted to bring Jeff Moseley (head of INO Records) out to say a few words. Mr. Moseley said that he had read things describing the label dispute that caused this as ‘fake” or a “sham.” He assured us they were not (more on this later). He talked about how what transpired was two stubborn men butting heads, but it had all “worked out.” I have to admit that even in this little bit of interaction, it seemed that their relationship was still suffering some strain and ill-effects from all that had transpired.

As Moseley left the stage, Derek introduced an hour-long documentary of the making of Stockholm Syndrome. Edited and mostly filmed by Brannon Mcallister, the film documented the making of the record in a barn outside of Austin, TX. For the most part, Josh Moore (of Caedmon’s Call) and Derek wrote and recorded the album in the said barn. The video also documents the beginnings of the viral twitter campaign that was so central to Stockholm Syndrome as well as showing what amounts to “music videos” or song performances (the highlight of which is an acoustic performance of “American Flag Umbrella,” the album’s last track, which is worth the price of the movie by itself)

As the movie was going on, however, the @ssyndrom twitter account put up a tweet:

THE BARTENDER CAN SEE IT. MAKE THE CALL.

When I saw this, I left the table that fellow dw.net’er Geof Morris and I were sitting at and headed to the bar. Across from the bar a row of posters hung on the wall. One of the posters was actually one of those pull-tag posters advertising a bulldog named “Patty” for sale. The poster had the now very familiar barcode with a heart. I called the number and an automated message told me to “find the person wearing their heart on their sleeve and ask them for a ticket to ‘the white noise.’” It said that I could bring one person with me but that both of us had to be present. Immediately, I ran and grabbed Geof and said, “I found a clue.” We walked over to the bar area and began looking for the person wearing their heart on their sleeve. Geof spotted her. A young woman wearing a black shirt had a white ribbon tied around her sleeve. We asked her for a ticket to the white noise and she gave us each armbands telling us that we were to meet outside the venue ten minutes after the event and look for the white noise. We were also allowed to bring one person with us since we each got armbands.

As we went back to the table, it was hard to focus on the rest of the documentary as my mind was going 100 mph trying to imagine what might be in store for us.

I must say, at this point, the room was “A-Twitter.” A local Nashville artist named Matthew Smith said it well that “If Twitter were audible the roar in that room would have been deafening.” Even later, Derek mentioned that none of this would’ve been possible without Twitter.

After the movie finished, some lights came up and Derek came out and introduced Josh Moore. They then took some time to answer some questions. One man asked about a particular line in the record sounding pro-choice. Derek said that he has learned that he doesn’t like giving “short answers to long questions” but that if the guy asked him in a one-on-one discussion, he would be more than happy to discuss it with him. This led Derek to say something about this record that did a very good job of putting it in better perspective. He said that this record was one of his most personal records and on this record there were moments that he was using his art as a shield between his community and people that he loved. To me, this is what Derek meant when he talked about this being his most important record.

Some weirdo (wink) even asked him, “with the news of Sarah Palin’s resignation, will you be heading up to Alaska to run for the governership of Alaska?”

Right as Derek said that they time for one more question, a voice (the same voice I heard on the phone message) came over the PA announcing that the event was over. It gave instructions for folks to head to “the beginning” and that those who were involved the “white noise” should meet out front in ten minutes. So the majority of the audience, headed to Ugly Mugs Coffee Shop, while those of us with tickets to the “white noise” met out front. After about ten minutes, a white van pulled up outside The Rutledge with a white sign in the front passenger window that said, “THE WHITE NOISE” and had the barcode with a heart. Those of us with tickets (except for Geof Morris, who took his own car) loaded into the van, which was driven by Derek’s manager, David McCollum.. David drove us into East Nashville and we pulled up to a gate behind a house and he said, “here is your gate.” Derek let us into his backyard, but not before I impatiently tried to break in. After saying hello to each one of us, he let us into Fort Sumner, which is his home studio. He then told us that he wanted something special for the most diligent followers of the whole Stockholm Syndrome process. He told us that a lot of the record had been made in this room and that he couldn’t think of a better place for us to hear it. He informed us that not only would we be listening to the record, and would be receiving copies of it, but we each would also receive the top tier pre-order as well.

As I sat in the back of the room sipping one of Derek’s Yazoo Dos Perros and watched each of the 17 people’s heads bob up and down, I was glad that I was here at what J. R. R. Tolkien would call, “the end of all things.” I can think of no better ending to this “hostage situation” than that. After asking us about ourselves and thanking us for our involvement, he led everyone back to the van to be taken across the river, back to The Rutledge, back to their cars, and ultimately back to their daily lives. Since Geof had driven, however, he and I got to stand around and laugh and reminisce about what had transpired these past few months.

This post is already going to long, so I will come back in Part 2 and discuss the reality of the label troubles and tie up a few more loose ends. Thanks for reading.

MT

Had I known Joe Bassett was going to open, I might have actually made the trek over to see the show. (Actually, it was a family picnic that prevented my attendance).

• Sara Groves
• Brandon Heath
• Charlie Peacock
• Derek Webb
• Sandra McCracken

For a little on the show, we talked to David McCollum:

As to this tour, the general concept of the night will be in support of IJM and Food for the Hungry, it will feature Sara as an emcee or sorts; then each of the artists will have their own time on stage to walk through their experiences in relation to the social justice and poverty issues addressed by each organization.

Dates are being booked from 18 Sep 2008 – 26 Oct 2008. A number of shows are already booked, but there are still slots available. The man to contact for booking is Bryan Myers of Creative Artists Agency.

If you want a banner for your Web site to support the tour, snag one. You’ll want to fix the URL to point at the Art * Music * Justice tour page on MySpace.

• Akron, Ohio on April 23rd
• Cincinnati, Ohio on April 24th
• Gahanna, Ohio on April 25th
• Huntington, West Virginia on April 27th
• Vienna, Virginia on May 1st [a makeup date for the February show where they both ended up sick]
• Nashville, Tennessee on May 3rd
• Birmingham, Alabama on May 4th
• Memphis, Tennessee on May 6th

And before anyone asks: yes, my recording gear and I will be at that Birmingham show. [You wanna drive me back from Birmingham that night? Cool!]

Here’s the Info:

April 12th, 2008 – 8:00pm

Cordova, TN – Hope Presbyterian Church

Tickets are $20 and $25 at the door and group tickets are available at $17 for 15 more.

Tickets are available for sale at Family Christian Stores and Lifeway Stores and online through www.thinkhope.org

They are looking for local churches and groups to help promote the event and get word out there. They have 11×17 posters and 5.5” cards that are available to hand out. Any help in plugging this event it would be greatly appreciated. They can deliver the posters and post cards to you to hand out, if you are interested.

They are also on FACEBOOK…so you can invite all our Memphis area Friends via the Facebook event page

For more info on Habitat for Hope, the cause that this event is supporting, click here.

Tuesday: Actually, now they’re all sick. So there’s no show on Wednesday.