FILM INDUSTRY HEADLINES
It was a great honor to share headlines with Steven Spielberg, actors from his film Schindler’sList, and the always beautiful Raquel Welch. It was awards season and our film “The AnimalBand Imagination Dance”, had just been released, selling out all Regal Cinemas in major citiesaround the country.
A TRUNK FULL OF TALENT
In 2001, marketing officials at the beautiful Phoenix Zoo, in Phoenix, Arizona, booked me for aspecial after-hours concert, to raise funds for the zoo. I flew in from Nashville, and upon myarrival, officials gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. One of the zoo residents that Imet, was Indu, an Asian elephant that had a very unusual hobby…painting! He was discoveredusing a tree branch to draw in the sand and dirt in his enclosure. The zookeepers gave thepachyderm a big brush, an oversized palette with different colors of paint, then put a largecanvas in front of him. They showed him what to do, and he began expressing himself throughpainting. He loved creating, and his original canvas art, along with prints, was a huge success,and the elephant artist’s work sold for some big bucks, helping to pay for his upkeep, andenhancing his enclosure. The concert/event was a major success, and…
FINDING KIM’S BIRTH FAMILY
Kimberley Ann Carpenter and I were married on July 2, 2014, we both had grown children, and sheproudly became grandmother Kimmie to my granddaughters. Kim and I talked about our life stories, andmy heart became obsessed with the fact that she had lived in an orphanage as an eight- month- oldinfant, until her sixth birthday. Kim’s social worker had tried to place her in foster homes, but theorphanage was the only home she had ever known, so she had difficulty adjusting, and always returnedto the children’s home. While at the orphanage, Kim remembers spending her days playing with a bigdoll house that had a little plastic father, mother, brother, sister, and dog. She loved that little family somuch that when adopted in 1962 by Forrest and Olwyn Carpenter, The Chambliss Home for Children lether take the little toy family with her.In 1983, following the birth of Kim’s son Kyle, she…
THE ANIMAL BAND ON COMEDY CENTRAL’S DAILY SHOW
The Daily Show offered us a comedy sketch, after reading the article “Animal BandPhenomenon”, in the New York Times. A. Whitney Brown (Saturday Night Live, Daily Show),along with producers, and a camera crew, showed up at our double sellout show at (AtlantaSymphony Hall). We had no script…but Brown got all the ammo he needed during the interview,to run with a funny storyline when I jokingly said… “I’m not comparing us to The Beatles,well…yeah I am!” We were portrayed as a grizzled rock band, looking for an audience. Camerapanned on kids filing down the venue isles, only shooting from the knees down. It was hilarious,and we had a blast, and made it through the sketch with just a few snickers, but having a goodlaugh…after the interview, realizing that millions of viewers were going to see us on the populartelevision show. The sketch opened with host Craig Kilburn doing the intro, and…
PONTIAC AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL
PONTIAC AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL(1998) VIRGINIA BEACH- PONTIAC AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL What an honor and thrill to have been in this line up including: The Doobie Brothers, KC & TheSunshine Band, Little Richard, Poco, Firefall, Atlanta Rhythm Section…too many to list butcheck them out on this cool event poster.As I look back at my journey, I realize that there was definitely a reason for the way the cardsfell. This poster and back of the event’s T-shirt…once again, placed us among some iconicnames in the music industry. We follow Chubby Checker, Marshall Tucker, and Rare Earth. Thisevent lineup was at one of the largest, and oldest music festivals in the country.The Animal Band was there because we were different! We rocked, with our trademark positivemessage songs, wild stage antics, and fun audience participation. We challenged our audiencesto think, made them laugh, and for a moment in time…they forgot their problems!
First Recipient of the Media & Entertainment Excellence Award
In 2004, I was invited to Washington D.C, to attend a very special event on Capitol Hill. My driver was late getting me from the airport to the venue, due to the traffic and maize of government buildings. When I finally arrived, officials were standing outside waiting to escort me quickly through all of the usual security stations, and into a large event room. It was a gathering of members of the U.S. Congress, rows of reporters, and television cameras, unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Jim Havey, my publicist, was very familiar with all of the Washington “hoopla” as he called it, quickly pulled me aside and said “savor this moment, and always remember you are the first recipient of this prestigious honor!” As Senator Clinton came to the podium on the stage, she stated the reason for the event, and a large video screen began featuring some of my…
JAMIE’S HELICOPTER RIDE
In my life, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting all kinds of kinds (title of my friend Don Henry’s song). During my music career, I lived in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and was blessed by having a lot of friends there. One day it was brought to my attention that Jamie, a little local girl, battling a brain tumor, loved my songs. It was arranged for me to visit her home, during the course of that year, we became pals. Her mom, dad, sisters, and I watched her health fail, but she always kept her great smile and sweet, sassy attitude. One day she told me her dream was to ride in a helicopter. I picked up my phone, called my detective friend Wes, and within an hour, secured a Metro police helicopter. The big day came, we picked Jamie up in a patrol car with lights flashing, and she was…
DID YOU GET MY BABY?
In December of 1989, we moved from Ocala, Florida to Mount Juliet, Tennessee, a town located between two lakes, and near Nashville. I relocated my company, Diversified Optical Sales, to Franklin, TN, so that I could learn more about the craft of songwriting from the treasure trove of great writers in the Nashville area. I chose Mount Juliet because it was a great place for families with young children, and a short commute to downtown Nashville. A few months after moving into our home, I was at the grocery store in Hermitage, and as I drove out of the parking lot, made a last minute decision to return home on a route that took me by Old Hickory Lake. Driving by the lake, I came upon a house that was on fire, with heavy black smoke billowing out of a window. I hit my brakes, jumped out of my car,…
CARTOONS LIE
At 8 years old, my imagination was bolstered by cartoons on our black and white TV, and one of them was a blind character by the name of J. Quincy Magoo (Mr. Magoo). I was fascinated that he could step off a building or a hill, and float to the ground unscathed with his umbrella . One Saturday, my curiosity weighed heavier than my good sense, and I drug our old wooden ladder from the barn, put it up on the side of our house, then climbed to the roof with mama’s umbrella. There wasn’t much room between the side of our house and a fence that divided our lot from my Uncle Cecil’s yard. My calculations told me that a running leap, would carry me over the fence, then float down to the ground somewhere near the cherry tree in his lawn. I thought about how the newspaper and…
Saving a Drunk Man from Alabama
I grew up in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, a small town near the banks of the Tennessee River, and a short distance down Hwy 72, to the Alabama state line. As a 16 year-old, I remember that nothing exciting ever happened there…except during football season, when the entire town turned out for every game. Then one day, three Asbury Seminary students visited our little town turning it upside down with their clever music, stories, and conversations about God. It was a gathering unlike anything we’d ever seen before, and young folks came from all around the area, some just curious, others wanting to be a part of something big. The message of peace, love, and God, was delivered to packed congregations via songs, and captivating stories. The youth revival started at the Holly Avenue United Methodist church then after the first night, moved to the larger First Baptist church, due to…