Audra & The Antidote

A couple months ago we got the call that we were chosen as one of the 10 bands out of a couple hundred to be included in the Florida Music Showcase. For one night at one club these 10 bands would play in front of countless A&R reps (record companies) and managers. Great! We had a month and a half to practice our fingers to the bone. Steve Lamm (on left) was temporarily filling the guitar shoes and two weeks before the show Derek Wolfford, our drummer of little over a year, decided to bow out. Luckily enough, J.T. Terrell (on right) was ready and willing to step in - and ROCK! Even luckier, J.T. had his house available for practice and his truck available to drive to Orlando pulling a U-Haul trailer.

We had practiced and practiced that 20 minute set until we just couldn't practice anymore (time ran out ;-). After work on Thursday, July 13th we began our 10+ hour journey to Orlando, FL from Nashville, TN. Unbeknownst to Edwin, Steve and J.T.'s secret plan for the trip was to "push him over the edge." We will get to that later.

We finally stopped in Valdosta, GA at 3:00AM or so and spent the night. The next morning we continued our trek to our final destination. After only one wrong turn and one traffic jam we made it! During check in we were greeted by Mark Harris (below), the producer of the showcase. It was weird meeting him in person after talking on the phone for months. We all liked him immediately.

We had no time to spare. We had less than 2 hours to transform into the glammers that we are. This is no easy feat, I tell you. Since this was J.T.'s first time playing with us, this was also his first venture into the fancy world of make-up. He was very excited. Kim was nice enough to help him out.

We made our way down to the club for our 6:00 interview with WB (this will only be aired in the Florida area by the way). After loading in the equipment and chatting with a few other bands we went to try to find some food. You'd think this would be easy. However, this was not the case. We finally ended up strutting into a Chinese restaurant in all our glam glory. Of course, we got more than one strange look and were seated in the very back.

The showcase started relatively early, but we came in to see and be seen. Of course, we wanted everyone to get a taste of a real band! Finally, our moment came. We had 10 short minutes to set up all of our stuff with an engineer completely unfamiliar with our set-up. No problem. Sort of. We were introduced, and off we went. First came "Jenny's Got a Boyfriend" complete with a telephone call to Jenny. Second came Sugardaddy performed with stool tricks and flips. Oceanside rounded us out, and The Urge capped off the set. After we finished, the DJ who introduced us said, "That's it. I'm moving to Nashville!" We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

The rest of the night was filled with "Thank you very much." Guys were buying the girls drinks and Steve (the only single member) was busy picking up "chicks." A la Motley Crüe, Audra was even asked by the last band's roadie if she wanted to meet the lead singer! Ha!

The next morning came early and we made our way to Daytona Beach. We passed the raceway - IT'S HUGE!!!! Unfortunately it was an overcast day but we laid out anyway (Audra and Kim used plenty of sunscreen). The ocean was freezing but we went in anyway. That night we went to the worst restaurant we could find. I didn't know you could put that much butter on one entrée. Steve made light of the situation with a green napkin on his head. Our waitress was not amused .

We went dancing at an cool disco club. Then on to two others. Kim did not want to leave. The boys were anxious to get to the ocean though. That's when Steve and J.T. informed us that we all had to go skinny dipping in the ocean. Kim and I declined, but the rest of the boys merrily ran to the water with their bare butts glowing in the moonlight Kim and I were shocked and amazed that Edwin actually cut loose! This was his spiritual awakening.

The next morning we ate at Perkins. Some lady came up to our table apologizing for her children staring, but she said they thought we were the cast of the Real World. Well, I guess that means we are MTV worthy! We've been trying to covince people of that for years.

We were a bit concerned that the brakes on the truck were not going to hold up but luckily they did and we made it back in record time. Monday morning came a bit too early for all of us. Back to the grind! Of course, we are preparing for our next journey to the Atlantis Showcase in Atlanta, GA Aug. 11. Stay tuned for details!