EARDRUM
Multiple Parachute cancellations leads to the discovery of Ian Axel
In May of 2009, the band Parachute released their debut single “She Is Love” and radio listeners around the country embraced the song, pushing it to peak at very respectable levels on both the U.S. Billboard Heatseekers and Adult Contemporary Charts. Just four months earlier, the band was known as Sparky’s Flaw and they were scheduled to open our Brendan James show at Fort Discovery Theater. Unfortunately for me they had to cancel just four days before the show. They immediately flew out to California, changed the name of the band and recorded their first CD “Losing Sleep.” Sparky’s Flaw was now Parachute and their first single was taking off. A few years later, in October of 2010, I received an email asking if we had any dates available for a possible Parachute show. Needless to say I was pretty stoked about the possibility of having another chance at this five-piece band. I threw out my offer and crossed my fingers. As fate would have it, they got an opportunity to open for the Plain White T’s and jumped on it, leaving me empty handed again. WTH? When their agent sent me the bad news, he ended the email with, “Very sorry it didn’t work out, but check out Ian Axel… he’s amazing.” So I took the “glass half full” approach and said goodbye to the Parachute plan, then clicked the link to check out Ian Axel’s music. The first thing that appeared on Ian’s website was the video “This Is the New Year,” a very catchy tune that hooked me immediately. After watching it a few times, I went to iTunes to see what else he had to offer. His songs “Say Something” and “Gone” were passionate tunes filled with emotion, while “Pacific Sun” was light and jovial and made me smile. Ian was now on my list of artists to get, and lucky for me we were fortunate enough to book him for a May 28 show earlier this year. A few months before his Downstairs Live appearance, I decided I wanted to try and recreate his video using the faculty and staff from my school. I’m a teacher at Garrett Elementary and the whole “This Is the New Year” message was a perfect fit for our situation. We had been displaced for two years while our new school was being built; and now that the new building was finished, we were all set to move in and start a new era in our little educational corner of the world. In Ian’s video, different people are lip-syncing the lyrics as they dance around to the song. I wanted Garrett’s new beginning to be special and inspiring, so I showed our staff Ian’s video and asked them if they would be interested in recreating it with all of us as the “stars.” I received a unanimous yes! The next week we started our video shoots, then I spent another week editing the footage. The finished product was fun and inspiring, and we were able to show it a few months later in August at our new school’s first open house. To check out that video, go to YouTube and search CRWconcepts. To watch Ian’s Downstairs Live concert, go justin.tv/downstairslive. Ian Axel
Chuck and his wife run Downstairs Live, a private concert series streamed live from their home. He also dabbles in photography and videography. For more info, go to crwconcepts.com or downstairslive.com.
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