I've been following many singer/songwriters throughout the years and most would say it is my favorite genre of music. There's something about going to a small, intimate venue to see a stripped down performance of a true, talented musician that is good for my soul. It's an escape from reality. In those few hours, I forget about any stress or worries I'm having and I get carried away in the music. For the last couple of years, I've heard about a weekend festival called Hotel Carolina which is held down in South Carolina. I've always wanted to go because I've heard great things about it. Most of the musicians I'm interested in and see when they're in the Philadelphia area, are usually at Hotel Carolina. I had heard that it's a full weekend of music, getting the chance to hang with those musicians, and playing games with them and other fans who are just like you. Since I had never been to South Carolina for this fantastic weekend, I jumped at the chance to attend the first ever Hotel Carolina in Philadelphia on January 27th and 28th at The Grape Room in Manayunk. This was a dream weekend for me and my friend, Joanna, who went along with me (she's my go-to person when it comes to these singer/songwriter shows). Hotel Carolina did not disappoint. Not only was there fantastic music both Friday and Saturday night, but there was also mingling with the artists when they weren't on stage. We also met a few new friends. On Saturday afternoon, we participated in Camp Carolina. Camp Carolina had all of us fans split into random teams with a different musician acting as a captain for each other. I was paired up with two of my favorite musicians, Ernie Halter and Tony Lucca. We played Fact or Crap, Pictionary, and a version of Mad Libs. For Mad Libs, Tony had a popular song (ours was "Bad Romance") and then had to change many words in the song. It was our job to give him random nouns, pronouns, adjectives, etc. to fill in the blanks. Then when we were done, Tony and another artist, Sarah Miles, had to perform the new song (I included the video to this lovely, random song below).
Overall this was a weekend filled with wonderful memories that I'll never forget. A favorite highlight was getting to spend time with some of the artists, especially Tony Lucca. He was the main act I was excited to see since he is probably one of my top five favorite musicians of all time. It was so cool to spend so much time with him because as most of you know, he auditioned for NBC's The Voice and his blind audition was aired after the Super Bowl. All four judges ended up turning their chairs around wanting him to be on their team. In the end, he picked Adam Levine. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he does on the show and what the future holds for him. I've been going to his small, intimate shows for a few years now and I'm so happy that he is getting the national attention he deserves. Like so many of his fans, we have all known how rare and precious his talent is ever since we first heard his voice, so I can't wait till the rest of the country jumps on the Tony Lucca bus for the ride we've been enjoying for many years. I'm just glad I had so many moments with him after those small shows, because I have a feeling he's going to be big soon and he may not have those opportunities to share with fans anymore.
Even though I went into some detail about the Hotel Carolina Philadelphia weekend, a friend I met that weekend, Jen Carroll, actually does an even better job explaining the weekend in full detail. Jen writes reviews for the Indie Music Reviewer and I have included (with her permission of course!) a link to her article/review on Hotel Carolina Philadelphia. Please take some time to check out this link. She does an amazing job describing the whole weekend through the eyes of a music lover just like myself! Here's the link to her article: http://www.indiemusicreviewer.com/welcome-to-the-hotel-carolina/
Below are the YouTube links to the videos I took all weekend. They may not be the best quality, but they're not too bad. I also included some other videos that other people took all weekend. Check them all out! :-)
My Videos from the weekend:
Say Chance performing Duffy's "Mercy"
Keaton Simons performing "Unstoppable" w/Tony Lucca
Ernie Halter performing "Whisper" w/Tony Lucca
Tony Lucca & Sarah Miles performing the Mad Libs song
Caleb Hawley performing Destiny's Child's "Say My Name"
Delta Rae performing "Bottom of the River"
Tony Lucca performing "Like Love"
Tony Lucca performing "Death of Me"
Matt Duke performing "Rose"
Other videos shot by other fans:
Matt Duke & Tony Lucca performing "Sex and Reruns"
Ernie Halter performing "Blue Dress"
Matt Duke performing "I've Got Atrophy On The Brain"
Matt Duke performing Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"
Matt Duke performing "Lover I Don't Have To Love"
Caleb Hawley's version of "I'm Sexy and I Know It"
Tony Lucca performing "Pretty Things" w/Keaton Simons
Tony Lucca performing "Foxy Jane" & Stevie Wonder's "Superstition"
Ernie Halter, Tony Lucca, & Keaton Simons performing Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me"
Matt Duke performing "The Father, The Son, and the Harlot's Ghost
Grand Finale w/all artists to "Tiny Dancer"
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