The Cast
Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 08:11AM Ok, so it's 6:30 am, and I've been up for an hour and a half feeding Ella, and I'm just waiting for her to fall back asleep before I let myself go back to bed. Just so you know, I am an official medically-recognized insomniac with a newborn, so many of the posts will probably be at weird "shouldn't he be sleeping?" times. And yes, I should.
I actually went to bed last night at 9pm. I was just so wiped out I couldn't stay awake. I haven't gone to bed that early in a couple years. I woke up at 2am when Alison came to bed after Ella's last feeding (we trade off in the middle of the night) and was awake for maybe an hour or so.
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to lay out a sort of "who's who" in my life these days, so people who read this, (if anyone will) can know who I'm talking about. This will be a general list of folks who I interact with on a fairly regular basis. Ok, here goes:
Alison Osenga - She is my wife of 2 1/2 years. She was born and raised in Durham, NC and is a die-hard Duke fan. We met in college almost eight years ago now, at the beginning of our freshman years. We began dating in the middle of her senior year, and we married on August 3, 2002. She is my greatest friend, one of the funniest people I know, and has been my strongest supporter over the last number of years.
Ella - is my baby daughter. Her full name is Elizabeth Claire. Elizabeth was her mom's middle name before we married. Claire was just pretty. She was born on March 16 of this year, and is, at the time I'm writing this, four weeks and one day old. She is very little and very cute.
Cason - was the keyboard player for the Normals, my old band, and he and I were roommates for four years. He's on the road a lot right now, usually with Griffin House, Derek Webb or Indelible Grace, and I'm excited that he's about to be home for a while.
Jason - is Jason Feller, who moved here (Nashville) from Austin a couple years ago and just released his first record a few weeks ago. He's over here a lot, cause he doesn't really have a job and I have a ping-pong table.
Clay and Sarah - are my brother-in-law and his fiance. They live here in Nashvegas and are getting married in May. They, too, are over here a lot. Clay for the ping-pong table, Sarah for our glorious company, I'm sure. Or maybe cause she rode with Clay. She likes our baby a lot, as well.
Weigel - is Chris Weigel, who is married to the lovely Meghan. Chris lived with Cason and I for quite a while, and he's been one of my best friends, and my go-to bass player, for years. They're about to have a little girl in a few months as well, and we're very excited for them.
Jeremy and Kierstin Casella - Jeremy, or Jerry, is another one of my best friends, and Kierstin is the best thing that ever happened to him. The most honest and loving people I probably know.
Andy P - or Andrew Peterson, as he is on his cd's, is a good friend who is currently recording in my studio.
Ben - is Ben Shive, who is co-producing that record, and is also a good friend, and one of the best musicians I know, maybe THE best, I'm not sure.
Dean - Baylor, my cousin. He's from Colorado but he sort of moved to town half a year ago. I say sort-of because he doesn't actually live anywhere. He was my guitar tech on the first leg of the Share the Well tour, and now he's a road manager for MercyMe and Jeremy Camp. Sell-out. He's the best ping-pong player of all of us.
Christie - is Christie Bragg, who manages both Caedmon's Call, my band, and Andrew Peterson, who I'm usually working with when I'm not with Caedmon's. She is married to Todd, the nicest guy on the planet, who I'll get to in a minute. They live here in town and are great, and Christie is constantly putting out one fire or another.
Mark, Mike and B.J. - along with Cason, were the other guys in the Normals. They all live out of town now, but we keep in touch, and I'm sure they'll come up fairly often.
Paul - is Paul Eckberg, who I met because he's a drummer, and we became friends and who, a year ago, bought a house caddy-corner to ours and is now our neighbor.
Cliff and Danielle - the leaders of Caedmon's. They live in Houston with their two, and almost three, children. Cliff is the most hyper-ADD person I've ever known, and also someone I respect a ton. A very loving family who have been great to Alison and I the past few years.
Todd (and Christie), Garett and Carrie, Jeff and Mel, and Josh - the other Caedmon's guys and their wives. One of the best parts about being in a band is the time you're forced to spend with people you don't always know, but who become great friends.
Rob and Candice - my brother and his wife. They live back home in Normal, IL, and we don't get to see them as much as we would like, but they're visiting next weekend and we're excited.
Bobes - is Mike Bobell, one of my best friends in high school, who now lives in South Korea and teaches English, but comes home in a little over a month and will start Seminary at Covenant in St. Louis. Good kid.
Mom and Dad - are Dave and Donna Osenga, who also live in Normal, IL, still in the house I grew up in, though with considerably less shag carpeting now.
Mike and Carolyn - Alison's parents, who are the best in-laws you could ever hope for, and who live in Durham, NC.
Brandon - is Brandon Whiteside, the Velvet Eagle intern. He goes to Trevecca Nazarene University here in Music City, and he does the grunt work.
The Velvet Eagle - my studio. A ltitle two-room basement ProTools setup strewn about with all sorts of guitars, amps, pedals, mics, pres, and other gadgets.
Billy Cerveny, Randy Goodgame, Will Sayles, Paul Moak, Andy and Jill Gullahorn, Derek and Sandra Webb, Mitch Dane.... and probably a few others will be the basic "first-namers" of my story. They'll be in and out enough that I don't want to introduce them everytime, so I won't. They were introduced here. Everyone, meet everyone else.
Well, that about sums up the cast, and Ella seems to be asleep, so I'm going to crawl back in bed for a few minutes.
Reader Comments (8)
I think you've got some of the best "support people" a guy could have, man.
Hey! My hubbin is in school at Covenant (doing distance program from Memphis). It's a wonderful place; your friends have good taste!
Welcome to the RMFO blogosphere! I'm looking forward to keeping up with you. Enjoy that little girl, man... it only gets better. (Our first is 8 months old now... so much fun!)
I love reading about people with newborns, my first should be coming in about a month now. They sure seem like fun (newborns, that is)!
Thanks for the introduction to the usual suspects! Wecome to the world of blogging.
Need any baby clothes??? Seriously! We have a two-year old daughter and an eight month old son... and they have more clothes than I think I've owned in my lifetime!
dude, you have an intern??!!!?? the velvet eagle is now kramerica! how long before you fill up a giant balloon with oil. lol.
I got to church with Mike and Carolyn... they're cool folks.
You should come play at CGS again... bring the band too.
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