Thanks CASA for posting this for me!

I don’t know how to write this article without sounding like I’m bragging, so I’m just gonna go ahead and brag.  You know, I’ve been busting my rear doing a cappella for 20 years, paying out of my pocket to travel and gig, sometimes singing for audiences smaller than the group I was in, etc. so maybe I’ve earned the right to brag…a little.  I do realize, of course, that it is not my doing.  I’m just fortunate to know talented people, and we are all fortunate that NBC took the risk and put together this great show “The Sing-Off”.  And of course, ultimately, all the glory goes to God.

But back to my bragging…

Street Corner Symphony was formed on May 28, 2010.  One year later, to the day, we performed for Tony Romo’s wedding.  Not bad…  It was a wonderful way to celebrate our first anniversary (and Mark’s birthday)!  However, the journey here has not been easy.  It has often been discouraging, with disappointments far outnumbering the successes.  I have often thought of giving up.  I have made every mistake, and feel like I’ve experienced every setback that this industry can throw at you.  But I wouldn’t change a thing.  Those failures are what’s making this payoff that much sweeter.

Someone mentioned to me recently that failure is easy, the true test comes when you succeed.  Indeed!  The exposure from the show, and our rapid success, has brought with it many difficult challenges.  Before the show, the goal was to simply have money left over after a gig.  Now the challenge is to not completely screw up a good thing!  There is an incredible amount of pressure because things have happened so fast.  Pressure from opportunities, pressure to make big decisions quickly, pressure from outside the group as well as from inside.  With so much at stake, trying to get six people to agree on something is simply impossible.  We all, at times, just have to take one for the team and get over it for the greater good of the group.

Prior to the formation of SCS and “The Sing-Off”, I had worked with a couple of pro groups and had found it challenging to get the attention of good representation, much less partner up with a good agent.  Over the years, I have sent out countless press packages, demos, made phone calls to agents, etc. and have been turned down more times than I care to recall.  Post “Sing-Off”, the tables were turned!  We were inundated with offers from some of the biggest booking agents in the world.  We had agents calling US, wanting just a ‘few minutes of our time.’  And we are still trying to get this ironed out.  (I would really like to write a note to all the rejecters and say I told you so, but I don’t have to because they probably saw me on TV singing with Neil Diamond.  Ha!)

However, it’s not like before when we needed an agent to go out and get us gigs.  Booking for SCS right now is easy.  It just involves answering the email requests we are getting from our little booking form on our website, and making deposits to your bank account.  Even while trying to take it slow and keep our calendar manageable, we have filled it up and are now declining a number of offers just because we are already booked.  We have even begun booking things into 2013.  We are able to live in different parts of the country (I live in Montana), commute for engagements, and are setting money aside for retirement.  We were even invited to open for Jay Leno in Vegas, but we said no.  If your name is not Conan O’Brien, we’re probably not available.  Nah, seriously, we could not justify it financially because it would have cost us money out of our pocket.  We decided, after many years of struggle, that we will never pay out of pocket to perform with SCS.  So far so good.

The church I work with (the Church of Christ) sings all a cappella.  Before “The Sing-Off”, that was viewed as strange by outsiders.  Thanks to “The Sing-Off”, people are now intrigued and want to know more.  I see no end to the benefits of this show.

Well, I am beyond thrilled to be a part of SCS and a movement that is bringing a cappella more mainstream.  We are getting the kinks worked out of this machine, beginning to stabilize, and finding more and more common ground within the group.  It’s very exciting and just a lot of fun.  What is happening to SCS, on one hand, is surreal (Tony Romo?  Did that just happen??).  But at the same time, it’s what I’ve been working for my whole life.  I had the vision for this group years ago and it makes perfect sense to me that people want to hear us do what we do, and that they really enjoy it, because what we do is stinkin’ cool.  We sold out two shows at the Exit/In in Nashville and burly dudes were drinking beer and cheering for us when we sang “Creep”.  It’s about time.  And if not for “The Sing-Off”, we would still be doing nooners at community college cafeterias.  Thank you NBC, Joel Gallen, Deke Sharon, and Rithmaly Hay, for helping bring America to its senses.  (We’re available for a Season 3 appearance…just sayin’.)

http://streetcornersymphony.org/

About the author:
Jon McLemore began his career in a cappella at age 19, an intern for the Acappella Company in Paris, TN.  Since then, he has vocalized for hire in every U.S. state except Hawaii.  As a member of Minneapolis based groups Go Fish and Four Shadow, Jon’s original tunes garnered numerous CARA nominations and awards as well as time on the contemporary Christian inspirational chart.  He has conducted workshops on harmony, arranging, and songwriting at schools across the country as well as at festivals such as SoJam.  His recording as half of the McLemore Brothers, “Sunday Drive”, won two CARAs in the religious categories. His current group, Street Corner Symphony, was the runner-up on season 2 of “The Sing-Off”.

We were honored to perform for Nashville’s 4th of July celebration this year and it was amazing. I could not get a flight in time for sound check, so the guys took care of it and I arrived Monday afternoon. Dropped by Jeremy’s house en route to the park and met up with one of my favorite people from the Sing Off, Kenton Chen (Backbeats). He showed me a few of his loops that he uses for opening for Ben Folds and we were off to the show. I was blown away by the crowd, they say there were 10k+ people there. We had to walk through a crowded area to get to the gate and a few folks recognized us, wanted pictures, etc. Never gets old. On our way to the stage, we threw together a set list, were introduced and away we went. Crowd was amazing, sang along, showed us lots of love. We did about 35-40 minutes and went over the the VIP tent for food and drinks. We listened to Darius’ set which was especially strong, great songs and his voice was sounding good. We got a good pep talk from our booking agent from William Morris Agency, and we talked a little business about the future/Christmas tour, etc. We watched the fireworks from right beside the water. This was hands down the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen. It was really wonderful to experience this with some of my favorite people in the world and when it was all over we couldn’t quit hugging each other and talking about how perfect the day was. We then piled onto a golf cart and sang patriotic songs through town.

Here is a video that Kenton put together that sums it up pretty well. Thanks Kenton!

Kenton\'s 4th of July Video

This is just a temporary list to get folks informed on where we will be this year.  We are working on a more detailed list/calendar on our website (which we are also working on).

June 28 – Orlando, FL – Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center (Private)

July 4 – Nashville, TN – Riverfront Park

Aug 13 – Madison, WI – Alliant Energy Center

Aug 17 – Nashville, TN – Opryland Hotel (Private)

Aug 20 – Knoxville, IA – Celebrate Community Church

Aug 29 – St. Paul, MN – MN State Fair

Aug 30 – St. Paul, MN – MN State Fair

Sept 8 – Greeneville, TN – Tusculum College

Sept 22 – Perryville, MO

Sept 23 – Dixon, IL

Sept 24 – Clear Lake, IA

Sept 25 – Hutchinson, MN

Sept 26 – Sheboygan, WI

Sept 27 – Medford, WI

Sept 28 – Conway, AR (T)

Sept 29 – Hibbing, MN

Sept 30 – International Falls, MN

Oct 1 – Thief River Falls, MN

Oct 2 – Valley City, ND

Oct 3 – Suak Center, MN

Oct 4 – Redwood Falls, MN

Oct 6 – Shenandoah, IA

Oct 7 – Kearney, NE

Oct 8 – Burlington, CO

Oct 9 – Craig, CO

Oct 11 – Anaconda, MT

Oct 12 – Lewistown, MT (T)

Oct 13 – Williston, ND

Oct 15 – Newcastle, WY

Oct 16 – Mobridge, SD

Oct 17 – Shedon, IA

Oct 18 – Albert Lea, MN

Oct 20 – Chanute, KS

Oct 22 – Mediapolis, IA

Oct 23 – West Salem, WI

Oct 26 – ‘Off the coast of Italy’ (Cruise Ship – Private)

Nov 5 – Cerritos, CA – Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts

2012

Mar 3 – Dallas, TX (T)

Mar 4 – Dallas, TX (T)

Mar 6 – Lebanon, MO

Mar 8 – Holyoke, CO

Mar 9 – Hot Springs, SD

Mar 10 – Redfield, SD

Mar 11 – Slayton, MN

Mar 12 – Brainerd, MN

Mar 15 – Hicksville, OH

Mar 18 – Bartlesville, OK

I was putting together links to our videos today and started reading some of the comments that we are getting. There are some serious heated discussions going on about who should have won and why. Some comments are very encouraging. But for some reason, I mostly enjoy the ones where people are making fun of us. Here are a few good ones.

“They had no chance at winning because they are white.”

“Love these guys but sadly the lead guy cant dance poor baby”

“Adam, don’t take offense, hon, but we need to find a hat that better suits you. On Richie’s long, I-can’t-believe-how-much-he-re¬ally-looks-like-John-Lennon head it works, but on you…well, Wile E. Coyote after the anvil hit him on the head came to mind. You guys sound great but that kept distracting me, and you’re way too cute to bring up that image.”

“They shredded the gnar, then gnared the shred at the ” Street Corner Symphony ” part.” [What does this mean?]

“is it just me or does the lead singer sorta look like bono, and the second singer sorta look like john lennon?”

“tell me why the kead singer looks exactly like the lead of rascal flatts???”

“wow that bald “nigga” can sing like a mutherf***er! LOL” [Why thank you... I think.]

“I thought this was pretty good, then remembered it’s a cappella… nuts.”

“And one of them looks like a crossover between Jack Black and Leonardo Di Caprio.”

“Jeremey is the only guy in the world that can wear sunglasses inside and not look like a total douchebag.”

“This is like porn for my ears”

“I want a hug from Jeremy before I die.”

“Good grief that guy is perfect at what he does.” [Referring to Jeremy's Fix You]

“Guy on the far right does nothing for the group…he should leave” [hahaha Referring to Little John, if they only knew...]

And the winner for best post…

“BTW, on the subject of skill, what about that perfectly smooth transition from one beatboxer to the other? All the talk of ‘un-practising’ is clearly only one part of their story. To me, these guys are like magicians, making what they do appear effortless and off-the-cuff; while secretly being complete masters of the art that conceals art. Their seemingly-unpolished shtick (e.g. no frocks, no synchronised movement, nothing too-overstatedly ‘ta-daaa’ at the ends of their numbers) is just genius.”

I feel like that last guy really gets it. Thanks everybody.

Coolest gig of the year indeed!  What an honor to be a part of this wedding.  Not just because Tony is the Cowboys QB and famous, but because he is genuinely a great guy.  So let me tell you all about it.

I arrived at Dallas Friday evening and was picked up in a limo.  I like to tip these drivers well and it dawned on me that being kind of famous is getting to be kind of expensive, but I am not complaining.  I was dropped off at the Warwick Melrose Hotel, a very nice place.   Got together with the guys to run over some tunes and then some drinks.  We got to sleep in and were picked up to go to the venue around 11 am.  We arrived for sound check, were given a brief tour and rundown of the order.  The event coordinators were great, very organized and treated us very well.  All the sound was provided of course, even in-ear monitors for each of us because we had to move around (3 stages) and they did not want floor monitors and cables all over the place.  We went back to the hotel to get dressed.  When we arrived back at the venue, we went to the dressing room and began running over Drift Away.  Suddenly we were joined by about 20 large dudes who looked like they would rip their tuxes to shreds if they so much as sneezed.  Tony came in as well and they all seemed as much in awe to see us as we were to see them.  Jason Witten (Cowboys tight end) immediately came over and said hello and introduced himself.  Then they asked if we’d just keep singing.  They all joined in on the chorus of Drift Away and we were having a great time.  There were cameras going off constantly wherever Tony was and we got a few shots with him.  While we were hanging out they wanted to hear Fix You, With or Without You, and our Flo Rida medley.  We were happy to oblige.  We were even being ushered out but Tony wanted to hear one more, so Tony got one more.

We then moved to the stage to sing for the guests as they arrived.  Apparently, Tony had purposefully mislead the guests to believe that the ceremony started at 6:30 (it really started at 7:00) so that they would arrive early and get to hear us for half an hour.  (We were told repeatedly that he really likes our music!)  So we performed about 5 or 6 of our Sing Off tunes.  We then went into Fix You and while singing, we lead the guests into the ceremony hall/tent.  There were a lot of guests so we had to keep singing the chorus over and over until everyone got in.   We then made our way over to the orchestra pit for the ceremony.  A string ensemble provided most of the music.  Dr. Tony Evans delivered a wonderful message.  Then we sang ‘Everything’ by Michael Buble during the lighting of the unity candle.

After the ceremony, we performed for the guests again as they made their way from the tent to the reception area.  I saw Troy Aikman during this set and we thought about bringing him up to sing with us, but thought better of it.  While the guests went to the reception, Tony and Candace had a table set up for them to have a few quiet moments alone before going to the reception.  They requested that we come in an serenade them while they ate their dinner.  It was very informal, they invited us right in to eat with them, have some pizza, etc.  They kept telling us how thankful they were that we came to sing for them and how much they enjoyed us on the Sing Off, how they had tried to sing along with us but could not… ha.  We just hung out and chatted it up a bit.  Then we sang ‘With or Without You’ for them.  They made sure we had a table at the reception so we made our way over there after unwinding a bit.

A cover band called the Zippers played the reception and they were quite good.  We said a few final thank you’s and good bye’s to the Romo’s and Todd (event coordinator) and made our way back to the hotel, where we found out that our gig (which would have been our highest paying gig to date) for the next day had been canceled.   haha  Oh well, it did not kill the mood for me.

Hanging out with Tony before the ceremony.

Quick review of last weekends shows: AWESOME! Thank you all for coming out and for your amazing support for our music. Our thurs evening show was a corporate engagement for the CORE training seminar. These folks were so appreciative, after we had exhausted our repertoire and then some, they would not let us leave the stage. It was the most genuine encore I’ve ever been involved in. We took requests and ended up doing Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2. Jeremy showed Adam the bass line real quick and then he pulled up the lyrics on his iphone and away we went. It turned out really well. After the show we all went to the dueling piano bar and were forced upon the stage there to do a song. While hanging out here, we got another 5-6 contacts/offers for shows in the near future. Very nice. Did I mention this was at the Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa? Amazing place, check it out.

Next day, a short trip over to Greeneville, TN to sing for the crowd at Ella’s. The Green Room was a very nice motor home parked behind the venue. Upon entering, we decided we really do need one. The guys with laptops immediately started shopping. A couple of my friends whom I had not seen for many years came to the show and made it pretty special for me. This crowd was amazing as well and probably one of the best singing crowds we’ve had. We ended the show with ‘Drift Away’ and they really sang it. Ella’s has invited us back for Valentine’s Day 2012. Better get your tickets now, they only have 100 seats!

This weekend we are singing at a famous person’s wedding. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say who it is. Security is nuts, they will not let us take our cell phones in. I will report back and let you know who it is after we get paid. Also, we are singing on Sunday for a large hotel grand opening in Oklahoma. Next is Orlando on June 28 and then Nashville on July 4. The show in Nashville is FREE, please come out!

In other news we are working on our record and are shooting for an August release. Stay tuned and thank you for your support!!

Seriously, without giving away too much of our surprise, we are in need of someone who can make really good puppets.  Of us.  We are going to have a fun show.  We need these done by September of this year.  What do puppets cost?

Hello friends.  I have neglected my blog.  I hereby repent and ask for your help!  We are starting work on our record and I would love to hear what songs you think we should include on this project.  We will likely be doing some originals but want to do some great covers as well.  I am hoping the album can be done by August 15 (in hand that is).  Album deadlines are rarely met, but we have to have one.  Anyway, please post your suggestions below!!

We have links on our front page for donations toward this project.  We are producing this all ourselves and are going to need at least $10k to make this happen.  THANK YOU for your support.

Also, if you are a graphic designer and would like to bid for the job of designing all the artwork for the album, drop me a line.

This record is going to be amazing!!  Can’t wait to share it with you.

Wow. What an honor to get to sing with Alison at the Exit In the other night. She was so gracious and patient with us. We had trouble keeping the tempo down, probably because we were so excited to be singing with her… But she kindly reminded us to slow down and I think by the second show we settled into a good tempo for the song. Sure felt good to me anyway. It was also a pleasure to sing with Ben again, he’s practically one of us now. What a guy. I also got to hang out backstage with Mindy Smith. What a voice!! And she’s pretty fun too. You should check out her tunes Come to Jesus, Jolene, and the song she wrote to her mom (but only if you feel like crying).

Alison has often been appreciated for helping bluegrass reach mainstream audiences. We are hoping to do the same with a cappella. I believe that we accomplished something amazing the other night in Nashville…honestly something that I never thought I would see. Now, I’m not saying that we are responsible, but really credit needs to go to the Sing Off, other groups who are reaching audiences of popular music, Ben Folds, etc. But we sold out two shows in a rock venue and we sang 100% a cappella. What is going on?