“THE GARY JOE MITCHELL PROJECT” via Indiegogo

                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                        http://igg.me/at/wtj/x/5184610

A Leader In Search Of Leaders

Put me in Coach

My professional music career began in 1974. I played keyboards and sang backup vocals for many cover bands, both locally and on the road, for the next 35 years.  My dream from childhood was to someday hit the big time and become famous. As a youth I studied classicl piano for 10 years and every competition I was involved in, the judges who mostly were college music professors, always at some point in their critique would make a comment of some kind or another about the fact that I should pursue a professional music career. My intention upon graduation from high school was to enroll in the school of music at the University of North Texas to study jazz. however, after 2 years at the university I dropped out, spending the next 20+ years on the road playing country music. i found this to be very unrewarding and extremely boring, although I did like the lifestyle of pumping my body full of massive amounts of narcotics and alcohol 6 nights a week, 8 to 10 months out of the year. I vaguely remember playing  some of the venues but have no clue as to what cities they were in. I traveled and played in some of the most beautiful spots in the country, so I am told. I remember none of the scenery. I feel that I subconsciencely kept myself in this state simply because I was fighting with myself in my head about the fact that i could never become what I had dreamed of becoming as long as I continued to play covers and as long as I was a backup musician and backup singer. I recall in 1999, just a few months before my father passed away, both he and I were in Denton and before he headed back to Olney he took me to a gas station to fill my car up. I looked at him and said “Daddy I really had no intention of being 43 years old and you still having to fill my car up w/ gasoline and basically still having to help suppot me. I thought I would have made it in the music business by now”. His reply was “Gary, you have already made it in the business.  You have a whole network of folks behind you and now all you have to do is to follow through. It is right in front of you on a silver platter”.  I did not understand. I might be full of confidence and have a little bit of an ego, but in all reality I was very naive about the world and the way things worked.  Also I didn’t sing and thought I was not capable of being a lead singer. I had mentioned this to him on many occasions and of course his usual response was You can too sing. All you got to do is just do it.  And then my next obstacle was that I had never written songs and once again I thought I was not capable. He would then start making up silly verses on the spot and sing them to me and they were corny as hell I thought. My dad was a very wise man. But I thought he hadnt a clue about my capabilities or about what it would take to achieve musically. So he passed away. Then I spent the next few years  taking care of my mother due to her poor health and loneliness. They always believed in me and there was never a doubt in their minds that I someday would reach my destination that i had always dreamed about. My mother then died and after 5 years of sitting in BFE, w/o a dime and w/o any purpose in life whatsoever, I decided that I had to do something even if it was wrong. I thought about how my dad grew up w/ nothing and how he overcame the odds and became a very successful individual. It was then I realized that he had instilled in me the morals, values, character and the drive necessary for me to succeed. I sat down and wrote a song and it sucked  and so did the next one and the next one but then after about a month went by I found myself writing 4 or 5 songs a week and at least one of them was kick ass. No one had heard any of my music so all I had to go by was my emotions. I found that I would write a song in 5 or 10 minutes and then when I went to play and sing the whole song through for the first time, my emotions would get the best of me and here came the tears…that is how I knew I had a great song sitting there in front of me.  I began to sing 4 or 5 hours a day and before long I had developed some sort of style of my own..although I did not know if it was suitable for anything or not.. I never have had a problem w/ pitch, I just felt I didnt have a lead vocal quality voice.  Now here I am w/ a record contract 3 years after taking my dads advice and running w/ it. I have one album under my belt and a brief case full of hit songs. I found my niche and also found myself surrounded by many people wanting to jump on the bandwagon and they all have an opinion and some are cool but most are haters. As soon as they realize I do not care about what they have to say,  they come in for the kill  knowing that their opinions mean nothing to me. There focus then becomes to screw me over at any given opportunity. I will admit that I misjudged a handful of peoples motives however,and thanks to their persistence, they led me to where i am now.  It is not easy being a band leader after all those years of sitting back and playing the piano as a backup musician. I have kicked most to the curb due to their insinceremotives. I want to thank those of you who put up w/ me during the times that I might have doubted your motives , later discovering that I was wrong. You and I both know who you are and I want you to know that I love you. So now I have surrounded myself w/ leaders in hopes of gaining more leaders to work with us all as a team. I am a team player and always have been. I feel if you want someone to put in 100% effort, then treat them all the same. I am a “co-op” kind of a dude.As I said already, you know who you are and it is now time to put this plan into action. We are in for the ride of our lives. I believe in you all 100%. I beleive that you believe in me.  To become successful all it takes is to just BELIEVE. I have wanted this my entire lifetime. I survived a coma and cured myself of an incurable disease. I am one passionate motherfucker. You ALL have heard me say it over and over again..”I WILL REACH MY DESTINATION W/O A DOUBT”. The only thing that could stop this from happening would be a bullet through my head, an accident or Jesus Christ returning…and you all know how I feel about the latter. So bring it on. I would like to reap some of the benefits before taking up residence at Swinging Oaks Retirement Home.                                                               

Shitty attitude…you blame me?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox GJM