Slingshot Records Blog

Ricky,
Although you already know of this story, I felt compelled to share this event on the blog. Christmas Eve morning, Approximately 8 A.M. My friend Les Groom stops by the house to drop off a Christmas present of food and a few dollars to keep me going in spite of my plight of not being able to find work in recent months. And as we are talking about the situation I’m in. He states in such a prophetic way about his coming to Christ some 30 years ago, and about how even though now that I have been Baptized,I am not near out of the woods. Even though your soul is saved stated Les, The Devil is going to do everything in his power to make you, if you allow it, ineffective. Shuddered by this sobering statement, I thanked him for everything that he has bestowed upon me in recent months. As he left and I walked back into my house, I was rather stunned by his simple, but profound statement. It struck me with such a force that I called you earlier than usual to share this amazing moment. And as I am repeating the story just told. I receive another knock on the door. Having to drop my call to you, I open the door to see a man standing there apologetically asking if I was Jim Hayslett, and already knowing he was about to serve me papers on being delinquent on my house payments, I said yes. He apologized for having to this on Christmas Eve morning. And feeling so bad for him I said God Bless you brother for having to do this on these holidays. And as we started to speak I invited him into my house and we started to discuss the trials That I have had to endure over the past few years. After hearing some of my tribulations, he started to share some of his own problems that he had had in recent years. After about a 45 minute of conversation, we both wished each other a Merry Christmas and he left on his way back home. Within 10 minutes of him leaving, He returned, saying that there was an envelope that had fallen out of the paperwork he had given me. At the time I was back on the phone with you, relaying everything that had just transpired. And as I am talking to you, I open the envelope that I was just given, to find five twenty dollar bills. In tears, I’m stunned. Not believing the gift that was just given to me. He, the server not realizing that at that moment, I had no money to pay my electric bill. And also, no food in the house. Now I am bending at the knees, barely able to stand at the GLORY OF GOD’S MEASURE. Just when I thought that I was DONE, here comes the Calvary. The Kindness and Love was far beyond anything that I have ever experienced. It shakes me to the core of the possibilities of what can happen if you just believe and give yourself to GOD. This is just one of the many miracles that has happened to me since I gave myself to the one that has nothing but the best intentions for me. And as I write this still in dis belief of the preceding days, I’m just still blown away at the miracles that are placed in front of me. With that being said, don’t ever think for one moment that if you pray and ask, that those needs that you have won’t be answered. I for one, am living proof that prayer works. By the way, the person that helped me,his name is Steve Smith.

Keep on praying and asking for guidance, IT WORKS!!!!!!!
All my blessings,
Jim Hayslett

P.S. I did let Steve know that was the best Christmas gift that I ever had!

A few years ago we lead worship at The Lord’s Disciple’s church in Maryville, TN (Just south of Knoxville). This is a full fledged BIKER CHURCH complete with a pastor in riding leathers. And, when I say lead worship, I mean played our full 45 minute rock set… then they held church… for 2.5 hours.

REV21 is looking to perform at more biker events. If you’re a biker, know a biker, coordinate biker events, charity rides, etc please contact our record label’s booking arm at:

rhammond@slingshotrecords.org

Is that like Tora! Tora! Tora!?

Anyway, regarding the Iowa Caucuses, I found this to be too funny… you see… because it’s true!

From Michelle Malkin (01/03/08):
This much is certain on the day after the Iowa caucuses: There will be plenty of kvetching and moaning about the system. The winners will praise the Hawkeye State’s voters as the wisest voters in America and celebrate the process as a shining example of democracy in action.
The losers will assail it as unfair, exclusive, convoluted, unrepresentative, archaic and in screaming need of reform.

I’m not cracking on my Dad, But he has always been known as Robin. But, the family knew him as AWNRIE’.

(Henri’) That’s French is’nt it?

On a rare day, I decided to let my wife drive us to what ever errands we where to accomplish on this particular day. Now mind you, because I am a guy, this does not happen often. Probably because of the so-called primal urge to conquer all that is in front of me on the highway. That being said, I was in one of those moods to sit back and relax and let someone else take the wheel. And as we are completing our tasks as I saw it, or as my wife might say, in woman form, Let’s go do this, and we can do that, I reluctantly said Okay. So as the story goes, we are going down the highway and getting ready to get off on an off ramp To our next destination. And because it had recently rained lightly, I forewarned my wife to be careful of the slick roads ahead of us. In which I received an immediate response of “I KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!!!!!!” As we started to enter this off ramp I noticed she, my wife, was entering this exit a bit too fast. And in guy form, I wasted no time in orally making her aware of my concern. Just as a soon as I was able to get the words out of my mouth the car started to slide to the upcoming intersection, which by the way was a red light. As my concern of the situation rises, my wife releases her hands from the steering wheel and covers her eyes. I panic and go immediately to DEFCON 5 to respond to said situation. From the passenger seat I grab the wheel, turning in the direction of the slide, coming to a stop sideways parallel to the stop light. And as I breathe a sigh of relief, my wife is laughing hysterically, asking if we are OK? Needless to say, that is the last time I will go anywhere with my wife driving my car. It’s Not that she can’t drive, I just don’t have that kind of patience.

The “Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays” debate.

So many Christians are getting frustrated because
the very mention of Christ, Joseph/Mary, the manger,
etc being pushed out of the public square that
they won’t say any season’s greeting except “Merry
Christmas.” The concern is that if Christ isn’t a part
of the holiday greeting that the secularists have won.
Removing Christ from the Christmas season has now
become annoying to the point of almost laughable.
And, when I hear the Christmas season is reduced to
something like the “Winter Break” my left eyebrow raises
- (like Spock when he talks to Bones).

My point is that even “Happy Holidays” is under
suspicion by Christians because they’re afraid that
particular greeting is the 1st step in moving away
from Christ/Christmas.

I’m thinking let’s not fret Happy Holidays. It means
HOLY-Day…. Just say it with the emphases on HOLY!
HOLY: dedicated or devoted to the service of God,
the church, or religion. HOLY: Free from evil!

Hello Mr. Atheist, Happy HOLY-days!

I happened to be in a ritzy part of Nashville a few
weeks ago. I already knew it was a ritzy section of
town, but it was reinforced when I saw the cleaning lady
pushing her cart off the elevator. She had all the
cleaning trappings, tools, etc… and, hanging off
the side of her head was a nice Blue Tooth ear piece.

I bet when she finishes up at night she climbs into
her Lexus and maybe stops by the range to get in 9
holes before heading home.

In this edition of Southern Speak you’ll learn how to use
the phrases a) “Fine as frog hair” (pronounced Frawg Hair),
and b) “draw back a bloody nub.”

a) Let’s say that you’re eating one of your favorite meals
cooked just like you like. When ask if you’re enjoying the
food you should respond: “Yes, it’s FINE AS FROG HAIR.”

b) If you notice a family member, friend or co-worker admiring
your meal or snack to the point that you’re concerned that
they will steal it if you turn your back, you can warn
them to stay away with the phrase: “If you reach over here to
take any of my food, you’ll DRAW BACK A BLOODY NUB!”

The other day I was explaining some of the operations of Slingshot Records to an artist that’s contemplating signing on with us. Below is part of the conversation. And, I’ve attached a trackback article that discusses the current state of the music industry… which is very much
in FLUX!!!

**********
As an artist (I know because I’m one too) you’re focused on your songwriting/production/singing - your music. Slingshot Records (like most major and indie labels) takes care of most of the business side of the “music business.” We have our own publishing company set up through ASCAP, a data base of press/industry contacts, radio promoters, and are currently developing an in house booking agency. We help develop your web sites (artist, artist community, myspace, online press kits, etc). As an example of the diverse areas that we try to operate - We recently signed a song-plugging contract for ALL OF OUR SONGWRITERS with a Music Row company that sells songs to country/rock artists. I’m praising God because six of our songs are being considered by a major country and a major pop artist for their next CD!

That’s a bit of an overview.

Primarily, while you decide where you’d like your career to go, we stand with you and seek God for the wisdom/resources to help reach that goal.

Now, you can do everything I’ve mentioned above with out us. But, just like us it will take you several years to cultivate the industry contacts, etc that we’ve garnered. And tens of thousands of dollars to get the business in place. Or, you can continue seeking a major record deal… Or, we can continue discussing whether Slingshot Records is right for you… and us!

As for WHY we operate this way? I’ll try to be as brief as I can. Growing up playing in a top-40 rock band in SC, then moving to LA to pursue a career in hard-rock we’ve witnessed and learned a lot about the music industry. In a nut shell: Record deals are pretty fragile. I’ve witnessed many friends who have been signed to one major contract or another only to see their A/R person leave the label, or get fired, or the record label get bought out, or go belly up… and on and on. The artists are usually shelved or left waiting in limbo hoping someone notices them again… which is very rare. I truly hated the thought of an artist’s dream being in such unstable hands/circumstances. Example: TLC and Tom Petty both had to declare bankruptcy because their original record deals left them broke! Basically, the record label is a glorified lending institution… a bank. They’ll pay for your recordings, videos, touring costs… but, you’ll pay them back - FIRST… before you see any money. Slingshot can lend you money, too. And, we’ll have to recoup our investment. But, we try to be fair financially so that both artist and label win - ie: partners… not employer/employee. The music industry had approximately 30% less sales last year. And, notice that currently a lot of big name artists are forming their own indie record labels. Things are a-changing for indie artists!

** The “beneficial catch” is that our artist/label agreements are almost reverse the current industry standard. Right now, a major label contract will have the new artist splitting around 15% (at best) with the producer… and the label takes the rest. Because we encourage self sufficiency, our financial agreement is almost the reverse the industry norm.

What really matters? Have a child and you’ll know what really matters. Have your child get sick and you’ll get tunnel vision REAL quick. Nothing else matters. My youngest daughter is in Nashville’s Vanderbilt Hospital right now. She appears to be healing now. But at 4am this morning
that wasn’t the case. I see single parents (mostly mom’s, but a few dad’s too) juggle work, school, etc with no help — I have a new respect for them. I can’t imagine dealing with this without my wife.

You know, when Christ taught the disciples to pray “Thy Kingdom come…” How much that truth grows for me each passing day. This world is SO full of PAIN. I shudder to imagine what some people suffer through… Natural disasters… loss of family members… disease… war… the Holocaust… prison… POW’s… financial ruin… abuses… loss of a child… etc, on and on -
all part of the fallen human condition…

“THY KINGDOM COME.” (Matt 6) Where there will be “no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There will be no more pain for the former things have passed away.” (REV 21)