The following message is from Shawn- 

Yep. Turning out to be a hell of a year... 

Still can't sleep, and now it is the next day, so problem solved...

Wow. No really... Wow. 

"Thank you and goodnight."

Oooh, 88.5 FM Annual Tropical Heatwave, how we love you. How we love 88.5FM, and their new progressive attitude towards music (read:not just country americana and bluegrass) and how happy we are that so many people listen to the station. How we love to be involved in cool shit in our own backyard, which is right down the street, than having to drive across the entire country to do so.

For those of you who were not there this year's Heatwave was rainy, wet, and packed, with a ton of talent. And when we loaded into the ballroom 'cantina' there were maybe 20 people standing around at the end of the Pack AD's set. When we started playing there were even less. About 15 minutes later the place was well packed. Then the PA system stopped working right half way through. Great! Who cares! And people danced, and screamed, and a few drunk girls were acting really crazy in the front. There were people there that I have never seen before that requested songs and sang along. We said goodnight, some people left, and then a few dozen people kept yelling for more songs, so we played "the Accident" and "Gasoline". It was a great time even if the "Cantina" stage sounded like a tin can, I broke the tuning gears off of a nice Gibson SG guitar hitting the drumkit cymbals with it, our drummers thumb was cut in half with a razor blade and had to tape a stick to his hand, and Chris once again made me so mad on stage that we almost hit one another (we have been stuck in a van together for the past few days...).

88.5 was very hospitable and kind, and we saw some good friends and made new ones, gave away guitar picks and a set list, and sold a dozen or so CDs... how nice is that?

So what about  "Making old people mad at 88.5's Tropical Heatwave"

What does that even mean?
Hell I don't know, but that is the best way I can explain it. I got hate mail today. I think that this is the second time ever that I have gotten hate mail.
But this hate mail was way too thought out to be a mere complaint. The points are well thought out, and this person seems legitimately angry with us.

Seriously. Here goes:

"...the band was way too loud with no consideration to the audience, and I also thought your language and gestures were obscene and in bad taste. Your crass attitudes are completely uncalled for in the setting of such a positive festival. There were kids there, and you acted like alcoholics, more concerned with swilling from whatever bottles you could find littered on the stage than actually playing your instruments. I am going to let WMNF know how I feel about this as a long time supporter of the station..."

etc etc etc. there was a little bit more, mentioning that we had no talent etc. Nice!

Now, I know for a fact that there are a lot of people that really don't get our music, and never will unless someone bigger than our friendly indie record label signs us, markets us, and declares us groundbreaking and visionary, and frankly I am not holding my breath on that one.

Also, given the parental tones of the letter, and being a "long time supporter of the station", and the fact that someone actually went through the trouble of emailing me over it means to me that it was a very responsible individual that is older.

And that is fine too, people are welcome to their opinions, and I am in no way ageist. And also in a way maybe I can agree with them, find some common ground and see it their way... so in agreement with the letter-

Correct-
This band is completely inconsiderate of the audience. 
This basically means that when I sit down and write music, and book tours and play festivals, I am doing whatever I please, and if that means breaking things out of frustrations of the moment, or stopping the show in the middle because I need a glass of wine, I am going to do it. Because I am certainly not in it for the money. If someone wants to see a band that is contrived and concerned about commercial viability please google "Nickelback".

Correct-
This band is way too loud. 
I completely agree, we are really bloody loud sometimes, but for some reason in rock and roll music, that is when things start to sound really really good. Given-you have to actually like rock and roll music in the first place, and I suppose if I didn't like it so much I would probably start playing acoustic shows.

Correct
There were kids there. 
Yes. There were and they seemed to be having a good time, because if they weren't there were another 5 stages to choose from besides ours, all withing 30 seconds walking distance. Do you even know what the hell kids do on the internet and watch on TV nowadays? I mean come on....


BUT in spite of these agreements I disagree wholeheartedly on the following.

you acted like alcoholics, more concerned with swilling from whatever bottles you could find littered on the stage than actually playing your instruments.

Really? Did you actually watch the whole show? Do you have any idea how hard it  is to play guitar solos with one hand while using the other to upturn a wine bottle letting loose the fermented dionysean goodness into your chest? It is damn hard, and I do it covered in sweat because I refuse to take extended breaks unless I have to, and if that means soloing and drinking wine at the same time so be it.

Your crass attitudes are completely uncalled for in the setting of such a positive festival.

I do not think that we are crass at all, if anything I think our overwhelming honestly and dry wit should be terms of endearment. But then again, I am a songwriter and an artist. If you don't like the message, please go elsewhere; this music is not for you. If you don't want your feathers ruffled; please move on. If you want songs that have a perfect rhyme scheme that are easy to listen to and very familiar kind of like the top 40 modern rock hits of the late 1990's, please don't worry about us, there are plenty of other bands for you...

But if you feel so infuriated, by our live show or record to the point of needing to vent, please email me personally at

ShawnBeauville(at)gmail.com

And we can talk about this further, but please at least sign a name so  we can talk like civilized people. Who knows... I may learn something.

Sincerely,
yours.

Hi all, Shawn here.

Well, I have determined that Thomas Wynn and the Believers are just so above the level that I will be amazed if they don't have a record deal by the end of the year. If anyone from the music industry was actually at FMF (which is debatable if you read any bloggers or naysayers about the 'festival') they should have been signed on the spot.

Somehow or another they filled up the barn that is the Cheyenne Saloon
(please take a look at the virtual tour here:

http://www.webwizpro.com/Cheyenne/_flashvr/CheyenneFlashTour.html

And suffice to say they absolutely killed it. Unreal. I was sad to have to leave before they were done.

We played a band before them, and people had just started to file in.
We left all our merch in Jacksonville, so there were a few fans there really dissapointed and all we could give them were hugs, and not music to take home with them aside from in their heads.

Earlier in the evening Have Gun Will Travel played, and the Diviners and ourselves and a hand full of other bands were the audience. HGWT sounded better than ever, and I wish to god they had been scheduled on a later slot. We also went down the street to see GreyMarket, who were playing at the Back Booth, to less than a dozen people, and they just killed it as well, showing off all their licks and fancy computerized light show.

Sometimes I feel like Orlando has a bias against other cities here in the peninsula, but I am too busy playing shows other places to worry about that sort of thing. I am thankful to have played there in front of big crowds over the last few months with Dead Confederate, Enter the Haggis, and Thomas Wynn. Hopefully the home of the mouse will warm up to what the rest of the state has to offer.

I also ran into Sainboy, the well known concert poster artist. I am also a fan of his legendary duo band Nutra Jet (rip Jeff Wood). We talked for a while, and discussed one day working on music together. But we both are busy dapper gents. He just had a new book release of his rock and exploitation posters...it is phenominal and I got one from him and had him autograph it... Check his poster work here:

http://www.stainboyreinel.com/

I am sure you have seen it before.

Tomorrow is the 88.5 WMNF Tropical Heatwave. Promises to be a diverse crowd and a great time. Hope to see you there.

Shawn Kyle Beauvilles' Heatwave PicsFor the record, whenever Olivia Wynn of the Believers tells you to only eat 1 cupcake, please listen to her. I am sitting in the 3rd floor of the Cheyenne and I am just not starting to feel level headed.

I am lucky that one of the band didn't drown in the pool that night... at the 'classy' Scottish inn... where the continental breakfast consists of instant coffee and plastic wrapped honeybuns.

Jackrabbits is completely different than the last time I had played there. The neighborhood is renovated, they knocked down a wall and made the room 2x the size that it once was.

Turnout was very low, but everyone there had a blast none the less. TW&TB rocked like hell...or...uh I mean heaven. They are a completely changed band from the last time I saw them. I look forward to playing a slew of dates upcoming with them.

Christina Wagner was excellent as well. She gave up on Talahassee, and frankly I can't blame her. Jax's favourite daughter has come home.

We stayed late, mixing and shooting pool (I am still horrible). Craig cut his thumb open with a razor, and had it taped up. I am amazed he can play drums without the use of one of his thumbs.

I wish that more people had been at the show, It was one of the greatest we have played in a while, in the company of a few locals and fellow musicians we love. But Jax is Jax, and I think the city is on the way up...we will see how it goes with Shawn Fisher and the Jukebox Gypsies in a few weeks when we go back up there.

And oh, yeh, we left our merch all up there too. So please if you go to Jackrabbits and decide to take a shirt or CD, please leave an honest donation.

XOXO
Bvilles.