By Courtney Underwood, Williamson Herald
Randy Elrod
will be signing books, telling stories and sharing wine and cheese with
patrons at Landmark this Friday, Jan. 23, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Although available in bookstores worldwide, such as Barnes & Noble,
Books-A-Million, and even online at Amazon.com, Elrod chose to have his
first book signing at Landmark.
“Anytime I can, I want to help local businesses in downtown Franklin,”
Elrod said. “I love it here, obviously, since I moved here and I
really believe in downtown Franklin, it’s a beautiful place.”
All proceeds from the book will go to Kalein; Elrod’s own non-profit
Center for Creative Studies, and the inspiration for making the book.
Through this and several other fundraisers, Elrod hopes to make his
dream of building a permanent lodge for Kalein, where visual and
performing artists can work together and learn their craft, a reality.
“Kalein is a center for every kind of genre of art – from painting to
song writing, fashion design, even the culinary arts,” Elrod said. A
124-acre plot has been secured for Kalein in Woodbury, awaiting a lodge
that has yet to be built. But Elrod has a clear view of how he wants
it to be.
“There’s going to be a lodge for people to meet, with a full culinary
kitchen and open areas,” according to Elrod. “But there will also be
small cabins surrounding the area, secluded from each other, where the
artists can feel totally alone and, at the same time, know that in ten
minutes they can be in a community at the lodge.”
Elrod’s dream of Kalein sprung from his own experience as a self-taught
artist. At the age of 42, his love of sketching led his wife,
Chris, to give him his first set of watercolors. It was then that he
began creating the work that makes up Beauty is Calling, all on his own.
“I want these artists at Kalein to have a mentor that is a trained
master in their genre of art,” Elrod said. “I know I always felt that
I would have benefited from a mentor.” And Elrod believes that other
artists feel the same way.
“I asked some successful artists, like Billy Ray Cyrus, for example, if
he had a mentor growing up and he didn’t, either. He felt like if he
had, he would have maybe made some different choices in his career.”
To give aspiring artists the chances he never had, Elrod has already
begun work with Kalein through workshops such as a Songwriting Retreat
and Master Class, led by Mark Lee of Third Day and country music
recording artist Bryan White.
“Between the two of them, they have 5 Grammies and over 7 million in
album sales, so they’re very successful, trained artists,” said Elrod
of the master teachers.
Six songwriters were chosen by judges, who then led a master
songwriting class to further develop the group’s techniques and
songwriting skills. They were then sent out to write a new, original
song to be judged that would eventually be produced.
Fundraisers such as wine tasting parties in Elrod’s home, including one
on New Years’ Eve called “A Toast to 2009,” as well as silent auctions
of his artwork, are creating the opportunities for Elrod to help other
young artists, like those at the songwriter’s retreat, achieve their
dreams.
Posted on: 1/22/2009
Xbox 360 and PS3 can stream media from a PC to a TV (a Wii
can, too, but it takes some clever tweakery). No console? The recently
retooled Apple TV should do the trick. Its slick new UI, movie rental
options, and ability to operate sans PC is a home-entertainment
breakthrough. Caveat: Unlike the consoles, Apple TV's lack of native
support for DivX/Xvid means it's useless for all those Torrent files
without performing a warranty-busting hack.
