Happy New Year!!

I just wanted to wish all my visitors a safe, happy, fun and healthy New Year. I enjoy writing about all Taylor Hicks happenings on this blog. When I started this blog October 16th 2006, I wasn’t sure how far it would go or how long I would keep posting to it but now it is nearly 3 years later (boy it doesn’t seem that long) and I am still following Taylor Hicks news and music and enjoying every minute of it. Thank you all for the visits and comments to my blog. Some of you are friends who I really am so happy to have gotten to know. Through the music of Taylor Hicks we have not only discovered a man with an awesome voice and personality to match, we have become a fan base filled with people who have made friendships that have uplifted us and enriched our lives.

When something good happens for Taylor, you can feel the excitement the fan base feels as a whole. When we are awaiting new music or videos, such as the upcoming CD the anxiousness and excitement we all feel comes through. We all have a common bond and it brings us closer.

I can not wait to see what the future of 2009 holds for Taylor and to experience all the joy and excitement that will abound in the Soul Patrol.

A Soul Patrol Themed Holiday Candle

I have a friend that makes christmas candles and every year she makes me some scented brightly colored candles to display around my home during the holidays. Today she brought me a new candle that she had made for me. I wish my digital camera was not broken, so I could show you this beautiful candle. I am hoping to get a new one soon and will post the picture then. For now I will just describe the candle. It is a bright green and it says Soul Patrol. The candle sets up and there is a wick to light on each letter. Sort of like in the middle of the letters going the length of the candle in bright red is written Patrol Your Soul. So the candles reads Soul Patrol, Patrol your Soul. She said when she hears me speak of the Soul Patrol it makes her think of something religious. Because she says you need to always Patrol (monitor) what is in your heart and soul. I will not be lighting this candle even though it has a delicious cinnamon scent. I want to always be reminded to Patrol my Soul.

Where oh Where is Heart Full of Soul?

Here it is July 11th and I still have not been able to locate Heart Full of Soul. I have checked in the town I live in, at Wal-Mart, the library and our local bookstore. I have even called the town next to us. The bookstores said they would only order it if someone requested it and then they would only order the copies requested. The woman said that if a book doesn’t get a lot of publicity from company that markets the book then they don’t order it. She said she had no idea Taylor Hicks had a book coming out. I then called the Wal-Mart in that town and they will have it Friday, she also said they have had about a dozen people come in to the store in the last day requesting it. She is not sure how many they will have but she took my name and said she will hide one back for me just in case.

I never thought it would be hard to find a copy, so I did not preorder. I have learnt my lesson. From now n if I want something really bad I am not going to count on my local stores having it I will pre-order. However at least I know Friday I can purchase the book. Three more days, I can surely wait that long, I think. Another good thing came out of calling and trying to find it. Our library is going to request copies for each branch, there are four branches so at least their will be chances for people to find the book at the library and read what Taylor Hicks has to say.

I have seen several threads on boards with spoilers of the book. I read a couple just to get me a small Hicks fix. I have since stopped reading these threads though. When Taylor’s CD was set to come out a site had the whole CD where you could listen to it. I could not resist the temptation and I listened many times to each and every song.

I then went to Wal-Mart at midnight the night it released and purchased two CDS. I was so very excited to have the CD in my hands; however the excitement of putting it in the CD player and hearing Taylor’s soulful voice was gone. Now don’t get me wrong. I loved listening to it on the way home. I still play it everyday but the initial excitement was not there because I had already heard each song many times. Except for Hell of a Day, I had not heard the new version of it, so there was that thrill of hearing it for the first time. Noticing the new verse that had been added, it was amazing hearing it that first time.

I ignore the book spoilers, because I want the excitement of reading each and every line for the first time. I want to read Taylor’s Hicks story from beginning to end and let me mind freshly picture each life story he takes me through on my own. I want to be in those moments and not stop and realize I have already that part. I want the fresh excitement of discovery.

It is like at Christmas when you want to know what you are getting. If you find out before you open the gift it is great to know what is ahead for you, however when the time comes to open that gift and you know what is inside even though you are happy about what it is and you know you will use, wear of play with it many times, that initial excitement, when your heart races and you feel like jumping up and down because you got what you wanted, that excitement is gone and cannot be recreated again.

I want that heart pounding feeling when I begin to read Taylor’s book. I want to draw my own conclusion and thoughts on what I read. So even though it is hard to resist the temptation to read the spoilers, I will, I will avoid temptation and Friday Night when Heart Full of Soul is my hands, I will find a nice quiet place and I will sit down and read Taylor’s book from start to finish and then I will reread it again. My excitement will be fresh and new.

Taylor Hicks Columbus Ohio Concert

April 24th I attended my first Taylor Hicks Concert. It was in Columbus Ohio. To say I was impressed does not even correctly describe the night or My Taylor Hicks Concert Experience. One thing that I did notice right off the bat when Taylor came out on stage, keep in mind I was front row standing in the pit area no one was in front of me. I was no more than about 5 feet from Taylor. When he walked out and I was watching him, my first feeling was like I was watching a friend up there living his dream. I saw him smile the whole night. You could see the pure joy on his face. I was entranced at first at just thinking ok I feel like I know him. Yes I know I don’t, not claiming that I do. I am just stating what my initial feelings were. It wasn’t like I was looking at this famous unattainable star. It was like I was watching someone who I cared very much about up there living his dream and I was so happy seeing him doing it.

Now of course after a song or two than the fangirly side kicked in. You can’t help it when Taylor Hicks is up there singing and dancing and jumping all over the stage. He puts so much into each song and he tags it to another great song when you least expect it. Taylor Hicks knows exactly how to grab a audience and shake them up and make sure they do not turn away from him at all. You never know what he is going to do next and you don’t want to take the chance of missing out on something and hearing the crowd go nuts just to realize you missed it.

I learnt one thing. Do not try and spend the concert getting great shots of Taylor. If you do this as I did you will miss things and you do not want this to happen. The next Taylor Hicks Concert I will take a couple shots soon after the concert starts, maybe a couple in the middle and a couple near the end. But other than that the camera will be kept put away so I can thoroughly enjoy watching and hearing Taylor Hicks.

I have written and published My Taylor Hicks Concert Experience, if you would like to read more of what my experience was you can find it here.

Taylor Hicks: Soul Patrol Women Alabama Man

Taylor Hicks tour is going great. Soul Patrol Women are loving every show their Alabama Man Taylor Hicks does. I have created a theme song for the Soul Patrol. I took the song Louisiana Woman Mississippi Man by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty and changed it to Soul Patrol Women Alabama Man enjoy the video.

Taylor Hicks: Soul Patrol Covention

Taylor Hicks fans have come together to try and get a Soul Patrol convention going. Proceeds from the convention will go to Kid One Transport. Here is the release please contact those given in the release to find out more.

We are Harmony for the Soul and would like to introduce ourselves to the legions of Taylor Hicks fans across the planet. We are dedicated to organizing a National Soul Patrol Convention. We were founded with the objective of being a fund raiser for Kid One Transport, a non-profit organization which provides free medical transportation to children and expectant mothers in Alabama, allowing them to receive the essential health care and checkups they need and deserve.. This is a charity Taylor Hicks is very involved in and holds near to his heart. All profits from the convention will go to Kid One Transport.

Plans are currently underway for the convention in Birmingham, Alabama, to be held tentatively on October 12-14, 2007. We are planning multiple activities, a musical extravaganza, and a chance for friends old and new to gather and share the common bond of love for an artist and great soul music. Many of us have wanted a place to gather and meet our fellow soul patrollers and see friends we've come to know along the way who share our love of the music and the artists who create it. Provide the soul and they will come. Venues in the city are being reviewed, however, and we need an idea of attendance and therefore need your help.

We are sending this to inquire how many of you would be committed to attending..depending on the responses we receive, we will then get an idea how and if we shall proceed.

If you are interested in attending this event, please send an email to our secretary at harmonyforthesoul@earthlink.net. We will keep your name and address on record and will continue to keep you updated with developing news.

Please remember we are constantly working behind the scenes to make this a great event for everyone and all information will be provided as it becomes finalized. Anyone interested in helping to organize and assist in future planning of this event, please send an email to our president at onefussybg@aol.com for details on joining our group.