Hi
“Wether you think you can or think you can’t, You are right.” Henry Ford.
I have to tell you. This has been an amazing few months. I have been busy with concerts and speaking events with youth, adults, and all kinds of different people. Last week as I was speaking to a high school choir group I had some major “Ahaa” moments. I had dug out old business cards, shirts, marketing ideas, old cd’s I made locally, newspaper articles, and much more. This was because many of these kids wanted a career in music and I thought it would be great to really dig in with my failures and successes with them. Some of the items were down right embarrassing but I felt I needed to share. One of my favorites I wanted to share with you now. I feel like it is important. You see I would not be here today without others supporting me. So many times we fail to achieve our potential or we fail to chase our dreams because we fear. We fear failure, rejection, or just have plain old self doubt. From day one I had people who cheered me on. Even looking back now I see I was not at the level I thought I was at the time, but because of my supporters I pushed through and got better. They helped me to believe in myself above all else. Here is the story and this is in my book as well. I was fairly new at singing. I had tried out for a local contest the first year I started singing. Whoever won this contest got radio airplay, newspaper press, and got so much publicity that I really wanted to try and win this thing. Well the first year I did not win and actually came in 8th out of 8 in the final round. The next year I worked really hard and hired performance coaches, vocal coaches, and I took every opportunity to perform that I could. I also made friends with a songwriter and helped co-write my first song called “It ain’t love”. The next year I felt ready. I tried out for the contest again. I made it through all the rounds and got to the finale. I did my best job and felt so prepared. When the announcement was made that I had actually won this contest I was so excited. I said to myself “this is it. I finally got my big break.” Cheers, hugs, and high fives all around afterwards. It was so amazing being a new singer and feeling this feeling. I knew from all the years past that the next day the radio station would be playing my song, my name would be announced for days on end, and I would finally have a career in music. Well as the next day showed up I eagerly listened to the radio and never heard a mention of my name. I thought maybe it would be the following day and so I would be patient. Then it would be in the paper as well. Well on day 2 there was still no mention of me winning this contest anywhere. Everything went silent. I was concerned and I emailed the station manager and asked him what was going on. He messaged me back and asked me to call him asap. I made the call and found out that the win I had experienced was surrounded by accusations and scandal. That some of the other contestants had complained and threatened to take action against the radio station if they gave me any publicity. He informed me that they had to re count the scores because some of the judges knew me. They threw out the scores from the high and the low judge and I still won the contest. Then the next accusation was that I had not wrote my song. That it was not an original and that I should not have gotten the extra points for this. I remember crying over this and feeling so hurt. I remember calling the songwriter that I wrote it with. He offered to call the station and set it straight. He did so and they said they were ok with me being the winner but would not announce it or play my song just to be safe. I was so hurt by all of this. I was very crushed and wondered why this had to happen to me. A few days later I saw a nice big article in the paper. It was about me winning and had a picture of me from the contest. I was so happy to see that they had let the accusations go and were finally over the problem. It was quite a while later that I found out that my family was responsible for paying and placing the add. They wanted me to have the recognition so bad and they were so upset at how everything had went, that they literally designed and paid for an add in the local newspaper. I will always cherish this out of all the years of articles I have got since as my most cherished and most important article. Thank you to my family, my friends, and my supporters over the years. The last line in the song “Just One Person” from my Fork In The Road CD says, “And when all those people believe in you,Deep enough and strong enough believe in you, Hard enough and long enough, it stands to reason you Yourself will start to see what everybody sees in you. And maybe even you, can believe in you, too.”
Thank you for believing. I attached the article from back in 2004 at the bottom so you can see it.
Please don’t ever give up on your dreams. Please support those around you in need of support. Ive been booed on the stage. I have been threatened. I have had some of the nastiest emails you have ever seen sent to me. I have had terrible phone calls. I have had my house defiled with terrible profanities. You know you are making a difference when people will go out of there way to try and stop you. Don’t stop. Keep going, and never quit. It is always easier to quit.
Thank you
Eric
We have our OC Tanner and gospel choir show coming up on May 31st out at Zion National Park at 7:30pm. Tickets are on sale at the door. $12 for adults. Family and children discounts will be given.
PRODUCT ALERT:
Also we are just about out of our Never Walk Alone Hymn CD. If you have not got this CD we will be out very soon. Make sure you get your copy today. We have less than 100 cd’s left.
Get the bundle with the Greatest Hits CD
https://ericdodge.com///products-page/product-category/limited-combo-special-free-shipping-jan-31st/