Holiday Childress singing with The Goodies
A lot of people may be familiar with
Holiday Childress from when he was the lead singer for
The Goodies who definitely had a strong cult following. They were a vaudeville rock band with a strong, memorable theatrical presence. The Goodies originated in 1993 in Atlanta, Georgia founded by childhood friends Childress and
Mike Allen soon joined by their friend and bassist
Patrick Kelly. They played together into the late 90s during which time they toured the Southeast and discovered Asheville where Childress then moved to in 1995 having fallen in love with our little town. The Goodies broke up for just under two years around 1999 then reuniting when they released the
Postcard EP in 2001. They continued to tour off and on and eventually released
The Goodies LIVE! in 2004. By 2007, Childress began to play more solo shows and perform in the theatre. Most recently, Childress is working on his solo album which he has launched a kickstarter for.
I know Childress in a different light, as a co-worker, friend, and confidante. A smiling, happy presence to greet me most days at my job. Always the performer, Childress never fails to arrive in character, ready to bring on the slapstick humor or anything to maybe catch you a bit off guard and make you crack a smile. Arriving every day in a button down shirt, a button down vest, a tie, slacks, and leather loafers, his mustache so carefully waxed and curled upwards at the end, he is picturesque and brimming with personality.
Holiday Childress at Adorn Salon with youngest son
Because I know Childress on such a personal level, I've been witness first hand to all the neurosis that went into not only the making of the album, but the eventual decision to launch the
Kickstarter in order to make it a possibility. Because despite his flamboyant appearance, Childress is actually a very humble person, not wanting to ever come across as insensitive or ingenuine, instead just extremely passionate about the work he does and wanting to share it in the best way that he can. His project will only be funded if at least $10,000 is pledged by Monday, October 20, 2014.
Holiday Childress performing with eldest son
Childress has just released a music video promoting his efforts which he made with
Anthony Shane Meader and you can check it out below
. Holiday explains how the video came to be by saying:
Anthony Shane Meador emailed me about a year and a half ago and asked me if I would be interested in a collaboration. We both decided that a music video would be the best medium. Halfway into making my record, I realized I was going to have to start a Kickstarter campaign to finish it. That was when I ask Shane if he would be interested in collaborating on a Kickstarter video, came up with a script and then we went to Marshall, North Carolina where there is an old high school on an island in the middle of the French Broad River. He took the script and completely went over the top with it. I knew I wanted an old schoolhouse, a chalkboard, and fast motion effects. I knew that I did not want to say anything in the video either. I just wanted music playing. He expanded on this idea and did a fantastic job with the direction. It took from 7:30 AM to 9 PM on a Sunday in August. We went back for one more reshoot that took about three or four hours several weeks later because we lost light at the end of the day as the sun was setting behind one of the mountains. Shane had two talented assistants with him, great equipment and fantastic ideas. We look forward to making a full length music video together after the album is finished.
Childress’s Kickstarter awards includes opportunities like recording a song together, having The Goodies play at your event, or getting original album art by
Leif Erik Johansen.
Help Holiday make magic
here!