Grrr...my friend's music ALMOST made it onto SYTYCDFollow

So...I've mentioned my old high-school friend Casey Stratton here a number of times, and the fact that he's an independent singer/songwriter barely scratching out a living with his music because he just doesn't have the name recognition that comes with being signed on with and promoted by a big-name record label.

Well, this week he had a couple interesting offers. So You Think You Can Dance contacted him to ask for the rights to use his (excellent) recording of a cover of U2's "With or Without You" in the Sept. 29 show, which would have been a HUGE amount of exposure for him. I imagine one of the dancers must have used it for their audition, since the show is still in the first audition rounds. That isn't nearly as exciting as it would have been had he gotten the song/artist label had the song been used in a choreographed routine in the performance rounds. But still, there are blogs dedicated to identifying the more obscure music used in the show for those who are interested, so it still would have gotten his name out there.

Well, Casey signed the paperwork, but because the recording was a cover of a U2 song, they needed permission from that end as well. The episode is in the editing stage, and if they didn't hear back from U2's manager yesterday by the end of the day, they were going to move on and use different footage. Alas, the manager never got back to them, so Casey's music won't be on the show. Damn shame.

However, he was asked to submit ten songs for use in the FOX series Lie To Me, which he has done, and they are presently being reviewed by the music supervisor for that show, so he's still got another exciting offer on the table. It just would have been nice to see his music on my favorite show...and on the episode airing on my birthday, no less.