Brian Wilhelm

20th Place

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0000

Well I finished 20th place in the big Capitol Records/Bix contest. I'm disappointed, mainly in myself for not posting a better entry. I know if I would have spent more time on the entry I could have finished higher, but it is what it is. Thanks to everyone who voted for me, I really appreciate the support.

As a side note I might get to go watch the final round live in person, since Capitol has extended the invitation to all the top 50 contestants. That would be great to see the process in person. I might even blog about it if I can take my computer with me. My wife is about to give birth to our seond son, and we are in the 4 week window in which he can come anytime, so I'm a little hesitant to leave town. Granted, it is only about 2.5 hours away, but still....

Anyway...stay tuned for more info from the front. Peace.

Last few days to vote

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 01:42:00 +0000

Well the second round of the bix contest is in the last 4 days, so excitement is building for the announcement of the top 10. If you haven't voted yet, check out Bwilhelm.net for information on how to vote for me! Here is my entry for the second round:

Vote for me on Bix.com!

Thanks for listening and happy voting!

Woo hoo! I made the top 50!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:20:00 +0000

Wow, so I made the top 50 in the Capitol Records "Road to Nashville" Contest on Bix.com! I get to move on to round 2, where the top 50 finalists do 1 video entry, and the Bix Community gets to vote on the top 10. Those top 10 go to Nashville and audition for the Capitol Records folks and chance to win a 3-song demo and $50K! This is awesome, and I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me. Now I really need your support! I'll post a link here once I get my round 2 entry online. Woot!

Karaos.com

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:25:00 +0000

Well I took some time out to do a little web programming, and created karaos.com, a website for people who like to sing and meet other people who like to sing. It includes a bucnh of features I personally thought would be cool for people who want to share their recordings in one place. Since all these online karaoke places have popped up, it becomes hard to jumpr from site to site and maintain all your friends on those sites. My goal with Karaos is to bring all those site members to one starting point for singing online. Those sites are great for recording and storing music, but the lack some functionality I think singers would enjoy.

Karaos includes all the features listed below:

- member profile pages
- track friends and their online status
- post mp3 recordings
- put your mp3s on Karaos Radio, a playlist of all member recordings
- member blogs
- member photo galleries
- Karaos email system for communicating with other members
- online paging system to contact other members
- receive email and comment alerts on your cell phone
- live chat rooms with webcams and audio for singing live online
- post your performances from bix, singshot and singstreet on the site
- community forums
- find karaoke bars around the world with our bar directory
- the list goes on and on!

Sign up today for a free account!

Lots of Competition, More Singing

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 03:22:00 +0000

Man, there are lots of great singers in the Bix "Road to Nashville" competition. When bix first started, there weren't very many country singers, but now there are quite a few, and a lot of great ones. I think my chances are slim to place in the top 10, but I'll need a lot of votes if I am going to make it.

I have been singing online at places like SingSnap.com lately, as they seem to have the best selection of music and a nice recorder. The site is in Beta right now, and you can't actually hear any of my stuff unless you are a member. To become a member you have to be invited or simply sign up for the Beta. If you want to be invited, let me know and I'll send you an invite to join.

I'm going to add some more music soon to the music player on the right of this page, so if anyone has listened to those songs, you'll get to hear a different batch. Peace out for now.

Bix Contest - Road to Nashville

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 03:28:00 +0000

Bix.com is having another $50,000 contest, this time for country music, sponsored by Capitol Records. There seems to be a lot of country singers all of a sudden! This time the contest is 3 rounds, the last round of which is judged in Nashville by expert judges. I have entered, so check my entries when you get a chance:

Vote for me on Bix.com!

This contest is a face-off format, where one entry competes against another. You decide between the 2 entries which is better, then pick one. Then you'll see 2 more entries. This goes on forever, but they show you the number of entries you haven't seen yet, so that helps you gauge just how long you would have to sit there until you saw all the entries.

As far the band, we still have yet to find another drummer, so we are practicing some acoustic sets, which actually sound pretty good and frankly are more up my alley. I like to be hear myself sing and not be drowned out by a drummer! Anyway, we have some leads on a few drummers and will hopefully get one soon. Stay tuned.

Time for Updates!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:59:00 +0000

Sorry it has been a while since I posted anything here...life has gotten in the way a bit. We have had about 5 practices so far for Busted Tractor Band (BTB), and the songs are coming together. We are playing a mix of country, rock, blues, some pop even. Its fun, and its shaping up to be a good band overall. We are in need of some serious focus howver in order to play the car show in June. We tend to wonder off into playing songs other than what we have on our list. It usually starts with someone playing a little riff from a song they like, everyone else picks up the song if they know it, and before long you are jamming on "knockin' on heaven's door", the guns n' roses version. In that partilcular case we added the song to our list because 1) its easy to play and 2) it sounded darn good.

In any case, we are making progress. I want to try to take some video at the next practice and post my first video entry. We'll see how that goes.

Busted Tractor

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 03:36:00 +0000

Its not official yet, but it looks like the name of the band may end up being 'Busted Tractor.' We all like it, and it fits with the kind of music we'll be playing, which is country and southern rock, with some other genres sprinkled in. Mike and I are going to put together a website, possibly even a blog to track the progress of the band, and let people who might be interested know when and where we might be playing. Stay tuned for more on that later. Look for a MySpace Music page as well in time.

First Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 03:28:00 +0000

We had our first practice on Wednesday...man it was pretty good! We pretty much nailed every song the first time we played. The guys and gal in the group are really really good. This is already a blast and its only been a week. Needless to say, I think we are going to be a great band in the end. Now we need to find a permanent practice facility. Our last practice took place in a community room that we rented for $25. While it was certainly big enough for us to practice in, its far away from were most of us live and we'd really like a place we can go anytime we want, leave the gear set up, and just walk in, practice, and not have to tear down every night afterwards. Those types of space cost $250 - $300/month in knoxville, but I think we are all willing to bite the bullet and pay the money. I think we all have the confidence after practice went so well to really think we should be able to cover the cost of the rental with money from any gigs we play. We'll probably keep working on the the first 6 songs on our own and come together again to practice in a few weeks, once we get the new preactice place lined up. More later...

And thus we begin...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:17:00 +0000

Looks like our first practice for the band is going to be next wednesday. We have chosen about 7 songs to "learn" on our own and be ready to practice next week. They are:

Long Black Train - Josh Turner
Every Mile a Memory - Dierks Bentley
Bittersweet - Big Head Todd & the Monsters
Wicked Game - Chris Issak
Run to You - Bryan Adams
Heads Carolina, Tails California - Jo Dee Messina
Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix

With any luck we can get these down in a few weeks and move on to another set. Looks like we might have a few gigs alread lining up! I'm just ready to get going!

Rehearsal Space

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 01:50:00 +0000

It looks like we may have found some rehearsal space finally. We are all anxious to get started. The next step is for us to select a few songs to start learning. I imagine next week will be our first opportunity to all get in a room and actually start playing some music...stay tuned.

The band

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:37:00 +0000

Sorry its been a while since I posted. Some new developments have inspired me to post here some exciting news. A few friends from work and I are forming a band. These are some really talented folks, so I am excited to get started. It looks like we'll have 2 main guitarists, myself playing some acoustic/electric, a bass player and a drummer. We'll also have a female singer to sing some backup and rotate off with me singing some lead. It should be a really dynamic mix and we can cover all kinds of music. It looks like we have a gig lined up in the spring for a bike fest, so we are looking forward to rehearsing and getting some songs down.

I had played in an acoustic band in college, and a few of us put a band together for the summer to play a company event, so this is nice to have a more serious band with the intent to play some gigs in the local and surrounding area. We live in Knoxville, TN, which is about 2.5 hours from Nashville, so feasibly we could play some in Nashville, provided we are good enough.

I'll keep you posted as to what's happeing, and where anyonw who wants to can find some more information about where we might play eventually.

New Song in the Works

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:00:00 +0000

I'm writing a new song...I have been working on it the past few days. I'm really liking it's feel and hope whoever is reading this blog will to. I'll post a rough of it on here when I think I'm ready to share it.

The song is called "Leaving Home"...basically it's about a man and a woman who each seperately escape from their challenged upbringing to only in the end find each other, and because of their past are able to understand each other more.

I think it will be a pretty good song in the end. Stay tuned.

Now Playing...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 20:46:00 +0000

I added a feature that will play some MP3s of songs I have sang on Bix.com. Look under the 'now playing' section on the right and click on the first song in the playlist. It will play all the songs in order....kinda like a radio station.

You can also leave me comments on any of these topics...just click on the title of the post, then scroll down to the bottom where you'll see a link thats says 'post a comment'. I'll be sure to check them and reply.

Also, you can subscribe to have any new posts to this site delivered to your email by entering your email address in the box to the right. It will let you know when a new post has been made and even include the post in the email. That's cool stuff.

The site gets a new look!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 03:32:00 +0000

I finally customized my blog template. It took me a few days of graphic design and some messing with code, but I think it turned out well. Let me know what you think.

In other news, I have had contact with a few people looking to give me advice on next steps for the doing the music thing. Most of the feedback I hear is that I really need to get a good original song ready and a demo recorded. I'm reworking a few songs I had written years ago, and toying with a new one.

On a sadder note, the Tennessee Volunteers lost to LSU today in college football. Knoxville will be silent Monday as fans all return to work. :)

The real journey begins...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 08:56:00 +0000

I have begun to send out feelers to Nashville people, mainly artist development people who can give me some feddback on what they really think of me and my abilities. The last thing I want to do is waste their time and mine if out of the box they don't think I have something to build on. You would be amazed as to what it takes to make an album, and how much money it takes to get started down the road of trying to become a star. In the small amount of reading I have done, one saying appears over and over again, which I have come to believe:

Stars are made, not born.

There is a lot of work to be done just to get in the door with a management company, let alone a record company who might take a chance on you. Thankfully there are people out there who will help you (for a fee) get everything ready so you can pitch yourself to the labels. Some will even do that for you as well. One thing is for certain, time and money are two resources you need to have to get started.

I think I might need to find a financial backer!

I'm waiting to hear back from the artist development people, I'll let you know what they say.

It's over...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 14:20:00 +0000

The contest came to an end and it appears that I haven't placed even in the top 3. By my calculations, it appears that some 140 votes of mine weren't counted, I assume because the people that voted didn't verify their email addresses. I can only assume also that the other contestants had similar problems with people not verifying, so I'm not sure it makes much difference.

I'd like to thank everyone who supported me in this contest and who voted in hopes that I would win. I'm not sure where I go from here, if anywhere. I'm entertaining the thought of going in to the studio to put down "What you mean to me" with a full band.

I'll keep you posted.

The end is near!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 14:51:00 +0000

Well we have come down to today, the final day of voting for the Bix contest. Tomorrow we will all know who the winner is. It's very exciting, and I'm sure whoever wins will be very deserving of the prize. It's seems the media blitz has begun and should drive a lot of traffic to all the entries and the site. Here are a few links to news about me:

Knoxnews.com

I'll post more links as I discover them. Thanks for all the support!

Here it is...my entry for the finals!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 12:51:00 +0000

Vote for me on Bix.com!

I'd like to thank all those who have lended support to me up to this point and who continue to support me in this contest, and in life in general. I'd like to thank my wife who has worked dilligently to get family and friends to vote, and offered words of encouragement when I haven't been so sure. I'd like to thank all my parents who have voted and gotten their friends and other family members to vote. I'd like to thank my co-workers, who have rallied behind me to cast votes to get me to the finals and who continue to offer support through this process. Lastly, I'd like to thank all of the people at bix who I have met through this process, and allowed me to meet other people in the community they created.

Lastly, I'd like to thank my son, who has given our lives more meaning than music ever could.

Round 1 is Over

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:59:00 +0000

The Bix Second Chance contest round 1 has ended. The Bix team is now going to tabulate the votes and notify the finalists. Hopefully I am one of them!

I have a full-blown cold now, so I'm going to use the video I recorded a few days ago as my entry for the finals. I have chosen "Come a Little Closer" by Dierks Bentley. I'll post it here tommorow for everyone to hear, or you can go to Bix.com and see it when the contest finals begins, provided I make it.

On a side note, I participated in the Fat Man Olympics today, and our team from Jewelry Television (my employer) won first place! The event was held to benefit the Knoxville Leadership Foundation. It was a fun event, and I can't wait until next year's Fat Man Olympics.

Take a listen..

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 02:38:00 +0000

This is a George Strait song I sang as one of my entries into the Bix contest.

Vote for me on Bix.com!

Bix Makes Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:07:00 +0000

If anyone came here from Bix, you may have noticed that they made some changes to the way their site displays votes, in an effort to curb cheating. Here is what they said on their boards...

This evening we rolled out lots of big changes.

(1) We are hiding votes for active contests to discourage voting fraud. Final vote count will be released after contests are over rather than during contests. Before final contest results are approved, we will conduct an audit and remove illegitimate votes and entries.

(2) Effective immediately, users will be required to confirm their Bix account via email for votes to count. Your current votes will stand whether or not they came from an account with a confirmed email, as long as they are legitimate. But from this point forward, we will only count votes from Bix accounts which have confirmed their email addresses.

(3) The order in which entries is displayed is now based on views rather than votes to discourage cheating.

(4) We have added the ability to click a photo to see a larger version in photo contests. Click a photo and it gets bigger, click it again and it gets smaller.

(5) We have rolled out updated search capabilities. Some little changes like better thumbnail choices and word matching.

(6) Want fans? We added the ability for users to import their Yahoo! and Hotmail address books to invite friends to vote for them. Upload your address book and get all of your friends to make you the coolest kid on the block. Available from your profile page.

(7) We have added video upload in addition to webcam capture. In addition to using Youtube to upload your movies, you can now upload directly to the site.

Honestly I think most of this will help. However I disagree with ranking by pageviews, as people who have been on the site longer will almost always rank first.

There were some good suggestions made on the baords on how to better organize the entries to still make some information available to the people participating in the contest. They are here.

Bix is good at listening, so I'm sure they'll make more tweaks to improve the experience.

On a side note, I seem to be getting a cold...bad news if I want to sing in the finals. Thankfully I uploaded an entry a few days ago for the finals, in case I do make it in. Stay tuned.

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wilhelm) — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 04:43:00 +0000

Hi, welcome to the blog of Brian Wilhelm. Over the next few weeks I'll be chronicling the events of me trying to win the Bix.com $50,000 Second Chance Contest. I currently am trying to make it into the finals. Hopefully, with a little luck, I'll make it and this blog will actually have a point!

I have decided to donate half of the money to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital if I win.

If you'd like to vote for me in this round, you can go here:

http://www.bix.com/entry/1740

Simply click the thumbs up icon. You will be taken to the sign up page. Fill in the information and sign up. Once you sign-up, your vote is registered. That's all there is to it.

My fingers are crossed.