Hello WorldWideWeb!
My Name is Kevin Gant, a guitar poet, from Austin Texas.
I began pursuing my music dream in 1988, after spending 8 yrs in the Air Force. I performed whenever, wherever, open mics and the like, essentially living as a "Starving Artist" until 1995. Then I stopped for 15 yrs! The reason why I stopped is a sorta long winded tale, and in some ways, I'm still discovering why I stopped, but the amazing thing is why I started back again!
In the early 90's, I was an open mic host at the now closed "Chicago House" in Austin Tx. (One day I'm going to re-open "Chicago House", but that's a story for a future post). One evening, a University of Texas college student (Jay Duplass) and his brother Mark (who was visiting him from New York), strolled by Chicago House during the open mic and peeked their ears inside. I happened to be in the middle of a song, and the rest is history! The catch is, I didn't know it yet, and neither did they. Jay and Mark never introduced themselves to me and It would be 15 yrs before Jay hunted me down via email/internet.
Sometimes, you do all you can in pursuit of a dream and when nothing happens, life goes on.......I put the guitar down in 1995, worked several odd jobs, eventually landing the graveyard shift at UPS, where I "gently tossed" all of your packages around for 8 yrs.....
Then came the email!
I didn't have a computer at the time, so I would go to the library, once every 50 yrs, to check my email. You can imagine the pages of spam that would build up every 50 yrs, but I would try and be patient and scroll down so I wouldn't miss any potentially important emails. Jay Duplass's email was important to say the least, and thankfully, I did not miss his email!
Since the time Jay had heard me in the early 90's, he had changed his major from Psychology to Film, graduated from The University of Texas, toiled with his brother Mark for over a decade, writing and producing their own films (Google "The Duplass Brothers"! One paragraph is too small to capture their history and current status in the Film Industry)
In short, Jay Duplass is my Hero! He heard something in my quirky Guitar Poetry way back then and never forgot me!
Fast forward to 2013, and I'm winding down my film festival tour in support of Jay's first documentary "Kevin". "Kevin" describes my starving artist yrs in Austin, and goes into detail as to why I stopped performing. I've been screening "Kevin" all over the U.S. ,Canada, and Europe etc..., performing at each festival and answering audiences questions; SxSW (Austin), Tuscon, Sarasota, Palm Springs, Ventura, Allison Anders "Dont Knock The Rock (Los Angeles) Columbia Gorge (VanCouver, Wa), Nevada City, Twain Harte, Big Bear, Hell's Kitchen & Harlem New York, Raindance (United Kingdom) Bumbershoot (Seattle), Okanagan (Kelowna Canada), Guam, Tacoma, Poppy Jasper (Morgan Hill, Ca) New Hampshire, Reel Dakota (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Ojai, Philadelphia, Big Apple (NYC), Alabama, Napa Valley, St Louis, SoAl (Alabama), RiverRun, Friars Club (NYC), Lighthouse (NewJersey), RxSM (Austin), Santa Fe, Victoria Film Fest (Victoria Tx)
Now, things are finally slowing down and I come back to reality.........
NOT!!!!
I've never been on a concert tour before, certainly nothing like this! If I had Mgmt or a publicist, they wouldn't even come close to scripting a tour like the one I've outlined above, why would they, I'm virtually an unknown artist.....
Now that I've had a taste of touring, I'm not stopping! Pls give me an excuse to come to your town and I'll be there with Jay's Documentary "Kevin", CD's and my story to tell...
My moral to the story is: Dreams do Come True! Even dreams that we forget about....
I say dreams never go away, sometimes they lay dormant for awhile, simmering....
In my case, the dream started at 6 yrs old, I didn't have the confidence to pursue it until I was 26, stopped at age 33, and now at 51(!) I'm finally embarking on my Guitar Poet Career! (Interestingly, everything was set in motion for my dream to come true, way back in 93, when Jay first heard me at Chicago House! I exhausted all of my avenues and attempts and let go of the dream, but the seed had already been planted!
Never Give up on your dreams! We never know why we them or how these dreams will eventually work themselves out........
Watch Jay Duplass's 'Kevin' on iTunes
Songs on CDBaby
YouTube Videos
Film Courage Interview, w/ Karen Worden
Jay Duplass Film Courage Interview
Jay Duplass's "Kevin" Q@A at Allison Anders "Dont Knock the Rock"
@Gantman on Twitter!
KevinGantFans, on Facebook
