Engaging

If one really wants to get technical, I have been in Tampa for half a year, officially. Because I arrived on a Wednesday.

Which strikes me as amusing, because I was born on a Wednesday morning in 1976. And coming to Tampa was kinda like a rebirth, in a sense, because while I spent two school years in Nebraska a decade ago, I was still considered a Minnesotan. Now I have a Florida driver’s license and I have no real desire to return to Minnesota to live.

Digressing, though…

I was remarking to Vas yesterday that I’ve spent more time participating in the arts in Tampa (being only a spectator, but still) in the past few months than I ever had in St. Cloud. [I've not been to the St. Cloud in Florida, but am from the St. Cloud area in MN, so when I refer to St. Cloud in this blog, assume I mean the Minnesota version, unless specified otherwise. 'Kay?] Wondering how so, think about this: I caught an entry in a Tampa community at LiveJournal about the sneak preview of Pericles at Jobsite Theater. So we watched this awesome musical for ten bucks. Then won tickets to see Pericles again a week or so later. Then I caught a mention of tickets to Wonderland for only ten bucks if one bought them in person as soon as they went on sale. And while the official cut off for buying happened when I was at the front of the line (I know! Stood in line for nearly an hour and wasn’t going to get tickets? I was annoyed) the staff there was awesome and let the few who didn’t leave after the announcement buy tickets anyway. AND we have great seats. Right where Sam wanted to sit.

Then! I won tickets to see Jamie Foxx this past Monday at TBPAC. Cause I looked up the answers on Wikipedia and answered the question first on Twitter.

The look on Sam’s face when I told him (after I had won, having not told him I entered the contest) was so awesome.

We’ve attended, or are going to attend some fantastic events, and spent about thirty dollars. If you don’t include parking, of course.

And Jamie Foxx was fantastic. We didn’t know the words to any of his songs, but we were right there when he did a couple Ray Charles songs and again with the tribute to Michael Jackson. And you know what? The fact that we don’t really listen to hip-hop or R&B on even a semi-regular basis didn’t matter. It was the energy of the show that mattered. Sam and I had such a fantastic time, even though we were both tired from not sleeping well lately, and being busy running around with chores all day. Everyone around us was so into what was happening on stage. Singing along. Waving their arms. Cheering and shouting back. Taking pictures. [And you know, it's hard to prevent pictures being taken with so many phones having cameras these days.] I snagged some decent shots and got some video clips. I’ll likely never post the clips anywhere. I got them so I could remember the energy of the show.

I think it’s been at least two years since the last concert I attended. VAST, August House and Point One. In St. Paul, MN. The energy of that concert was awesome, too. All three acts were so into the music and interacting with the crowd. They were also awesome with interacting with fans on a personal level with pictures and autographs and just brief conversations. I hadn’t heard of August House or Point One before then, but walked away from the concert a fan of both bands.

That’s the really important ‘thing’ that artists can do for their fans. Be engaging. Be their version of high energy. For an introvert, like me, it is a really big deal to let the inhibition go and get into the music in front of other people. At home, oh yeah, I’m singing along and bobbing my head to the beat. In public, not so much. In front of Sam, it is getting better. Singing along with the music is, in my opinion, an inherently personal thing. How I managed to be in choir for three years, I’m not certain. Cause it was weird for me to be in the concerts. And the fact that I’m not a strong singer doesn’t help. I’m weird about having attention paid towards me. At my wedding to the (now) ex-husband, I had to will myself to not cry or freak out, and there was maybe only 35 other people in the room. If you know me, can you imagine me in front of 100+ people? Holy crap.

Back to Jamie Foxx and his show. Already mentioned the amazing energy. I also have to mention the opening act. A comedian named Speedy. Who is exceedingly funny. He bounced off the crowd and just had us in stitches. Which Sam mentioned later as we were leaving. We talked about the concert yesterday, and Sam pointed out how Mr. Foxx said he didn’t care how people got his music, as long as they were listening. How he didn’t need the money, so however one got it didn’t matter to him. He was (and is) passionate about connecting with the crowd. If you think about it, anyone who has anything to share really needs to be passionate about connecting with those Havi Brooks calls the Right People.

I think those right people can be even the most unlikely. If you think Jamie Foxx, do you think of a couple of caucasians who mostly listen to rock and indie music? Probably not. And to be honest, I doubt we would have ever considered buying tickets to his show, not because of the money, but because even though we think he’s hilarious on television, would we ever think that we’d connect to his music? At first glance, probably not. But, because we scored an extraordinary opportunity*, we discovered that we can relate to someone musically, even though we don’t listen to his music. Our connection to Jamie Foxx is in the music. I am self-professed lover of all types of music, because I subscribe to the idea of it doesn’t matter what the genre is, to me the song either sucks or it doesn’t. Yes, most of my music collection is indie, rock, alternative, and country. A very small percentage is rap, hip-hop or r&b.

It is important to appeal to your right people, but don’t forget the “other people”. Because you never know where or how you’re going to find someone who gets what you’re about.

*Winning contests aren’t necessarily extraordinary, but think about it: giving things (content) away for free, even with a bit of effort on the recipient’s part (such as entering a contest) is a great way to open up your message to more people. One of the messages I took away from the show was anytime’s a good time be wild and crazy, not just the weekend. How many people do you know party it up on a Monday night? Exactly.