6 am couldnt have come any sooner on the morning of April 15th, 2009. My coffee tasted particularly good that day and the morning sun hit my drums as I polished them and put them carefully in their cases. Without a clue of what the day had in store for me and my band. I finished my coffee, packed up the rest of my gear and headed out to meet the rest of the band for what was to become the gig of my life.

Upon arriving in Atlanta with Tarnished, we were instantly greeted by friendly and very professional event security, GA State Police and staff and immediately noticed how great we were treated. By this time it was around 1 pm or so, the stage was still being constructed, camera crews were positioning themselves for the perfect shot, light riggers were hanging lights and everyone was buzzing on what they were there to do. As over 20,000 people from every political party, every race, gender and religion began converging around the Georgia State Capital Building for the Tax Day Tea Party of 2009! And so it began….

As sound check started, I kept looking up and noticing all of the kids in the crowd, it really impressed me that this “protest” was turning into a family get together of people from all walks of life to simply tell Republicans and Democrats “Enough is Enough”! Stop spending our Grandchildren’s future on bailouts and a bloated Government full of pork spending that will eventually bankrupt our great Nation and leave our Grandchildren owing TRILLIONS. Give us term limits for Representatives; give us a fair tax so that ALL Americans can strive to live the American Dream. Stop selling our Sovereignty to the European Union simply to appease fascist régimes that want nothing more than to kill Americans. The theme of the day was definitely that of Unity, and regular hard working Americans celebrating their FREEDOM.

After sound check we had some time as a band to tune, warm up and let the butterflies build. As I looked up from the steps of the GA State Capital (which was really the backstage area) I was floored by the amount of people that were gathering not only in front of the stage, but wrapped for blocks around the downtown area of Atlanta. At that moment I thought back to a time when I was younger when I would lay in bed at night and think about what it would be like to perform in front of that many people. Then as quickly as those thoughts came and went, (and came and went again), I remembered staring down the sights of my M60 Machine Gun as a member of the US Army 10th Mountain Division (I was 19 then) and having that feeling in my gut that I might have to pull the trigger in defense of our Constitution or die defending it (or whichever came first), and it hit me like a Mack truck, instead of looking down the barrel of a gun for my country because I took an Oath to protect it, I would now be looking out at 20,000 people from behind my drums playing my heart out for my country and what I believe in.It was an amazing day that I will never forget! And to me that’s what America is all about.

A beautiful rendition of God Bless America was performed, and then Tarnished was introduced. We kicked into Freedom, and as I look over at Saad, I knew it was going to be a special show. All four of us were nervous, but once the first chords of Freedom rang across the City Of Atlanta and I could hear my snare drum echo back to me from all of the buildings, and I heard my singer belt out the first chorus of Freedom, I was home, it was as if everything I had ever dreamed of was happening right before my eyes. Then the crowd followed along vocally and honestly, I was in rock heaven! Goosebumps I tell ya.

This is not (by a long shot) me sitting here saying that “Woo, now I’m a star” or that I have crossed over the “Hey look at me I’m famous now threshold” I’m just a hard working musician who finally got to have his day in the SUN (AND LIGHTS). And although we opened the show early, and missed out on most of the TV coverage, it was an honor to have been asked to play for such an historical event.

And for those of you that are ignorant enough to think that the TEA Parties across the nation were nothing less than a racist Klan rally, keep drinking the Kool-Aid and the Government will keep taking your money, more and more every month. I know why those people were there and so do they. Our Government is a collection of career politicians whose corruption gets worse every year and is threatening the very freedom that in 1989 I took an oath to defend, till the day I die, Yes that means you, Replicrats and Demicons! Your BOTH part of the problem!And Im sick of you ALL!

Oh yeah, one more thing to mention, having an all access pass allowed me to walk around and talk to people, regular people like me and you, famous people, and ‘Washington Dignitaries’ and not ONE time did I hear the name Barrack Obama mentioned, it wasn’t about him, not even close.

Time for talk is over America. Next time I might not be looking out over my drums defending my Freedom, I might have to be looking down the sights of something else. Saying?.....
Hey, I'm just a musician, I got the chance of a lifetime (at least in my eyes). I will end on this note, if you know anything at all about Tarnished, then you know how perfect our song Freedom was for this event. We are trying (as any band would do) to perform the song on a major TV program on Fox ,any help with that from any of you would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading my rambling. I do appreciate it very much!

Edward Williams
Drexel,NC
myspace.com/tarnished2005
myspace.com/eddw2112

"Through music, all things are possible"