Saturday
Apr082006
finally
Saturday, April 8, 2006 at 03:58PM
I've been in an internet/cel phone no-mans-land for the past few days, so here's my long-awaited catch-up post.
Where to start? Well, right now I'm in the dressing room at Northwestern College in Minnesota listening to mixes of an album I produced for Justin Branam. My neighbor, Stephen Gause, did the mixes and they sound really great. It's a cool, vibey record. We did the whole thing in a week and it's got a nice, loose feel to it. All acoustics, too. I resisted the urge to dump an avalanche of electrics on it and I'm glad I did.
I'm listening on the new in-ears I got today, because my old ones ripped in half and I had to superglue them in the middle of a show and then they sort of stuck in my ears and they hurt when I tried to take them out. That said, I'm glad for the replacements, even though I'm pretty sure I'm not hearing out of my left ear like I should be. I think it's my ear, though, not these monitors. I've been noticing it for a few days.
Cliff and Danielle's baby son Benjamin, 11 months old, came down with bacterial pneumonia earlier this week and had to be hostpitilazed. He was released a day later, but they have to have someone watching him 24 hours a day to make sure his breathing stays constant. Pretty scary. If you could keep Ben and the family in your prayers that would be great. He's doing better, but it's still not a good thing.
Cliff and Danielle missed last night's show and will miss tonight's as well, which means, you guessed it, yours truly is pulling a little lead singer duty. Last night it went all right, we just played a couple of the old hits (Hope to Carry On, Hands of the Potter, Share the Well...) and a few of the ones I sing (Bombay Rain, The Story). It's kind of a fun challenge, but I'll look forward to being back over on stage-right. I like singing and leading a band, but when they're half somebody else's songs it feels sort of weird. I think we might try to do a version of Mother India or something tonight. Make it a little more interesting.
Speaking of interesting, I had a pretty wild breakfast the other day. Mark and Brenda Whiten, friends from the Phoenix area who have long been great supporters of my community's music, were in town and we decided to meet up for a little sausage and Aunt Jemima at the Cracker Barrel down the street from my house. Alison said her car had been doing something a bit funky so I took hers to go pick the Whitens up at their hotel. Well, sure enough, on the way back, about a mile away from my exit, it started making all sorts of noise. At the top of the exit it just stopped. Brenda got in to steer while Mark and I pushed it all the way across the bridge that spans both sides of I-65 to finally land in a parking space of a garage station on our side of the road. Bear in mind, this is the first time I have ever spent more than four minutes with these people. Alison and Ella came in my car to pick us up and we ended up having a great time over breakfast, but Alison's car is spending the next week or so at the shop getting a head gasket re-tooled. Oh joy! Luckily, I'm on the road this week, so being down to one car isn't that bad, although my car is old enough to have its own drivers license. So any of you who own or manage a car dealership and want to give us a deal, let me know!
Anyway, I probably need to get to soundcheck. This tour is pretty fun with all the great folks out. Gabe and Bebo, Geoff Moore and his guitar player Dana, who I got to know when he worked at the late-great Broadway Music, John David Webster, Aaron Shust and assorted wives and crew. And I'll say it again, I love getting to play with Bebo. I just love his songs and his voice and it's an honor to get to be a part of what he does for this little span of time. I'm going to try to steal somebody's camera for a couple of hours sometime this week to give you guys a better picture of the tour, so keep your eyes peeled for it.
Until then, I'll be listening to the Cardigans, who seriously must put crack in their songs, because I just can't stop listening to them...
Where to start? Well, right now I'm in the dressing room at Northwestern College in Minnesota listening to mixes of an album I produced for Justin Branam. My neighbor, Stephen Gause, did the mixes and they sound really great. It's a cool, vibey record. We did the whole thing in a week and it's got a nice, loose feel to it. All acoustics, too. I resisted the urge to dump an avalanche of electrics on it and I'm glad I did.
I'm listening on the new in-ears I got today, because my old ones ripped in half and I had to superglue them in the middle of a show and then they sort of stuck in my ears and they hurt when I tried to take them out. That said, I'm glad for the replacements, even though I'm pretty sure I'm not hearing out of my left ear like I should be. I think it's my ear, though, not these monitors. I've been noticing it for a few days.
Cliff and Danielle's baby son Benjamin, 11 months old, came down with bacterial pneumonia earlier this week and had to be hostpitilazed. He was released a day later, but they have to have someone watching him 24 hours a day to make sure his breathing stays constant. Pretty scary. If you could keep Ben and the family in your prayers that would be great. He's doing better, but it's still not a good thing.
Cliff and Danielle missed last night's show and will miss tonight's as well, which means, you guessed it, yours truly is pulling a little lead singer duty. Last night it went all right, we just played a couple of the old hits (Hope to Carry On, Hands of the Potter, Share the Well...) and a few of the ones I sing (Bombay Rain, The Story). It's kind of a fun challenge, but I'll look forward to being back over on stage-right. I like singing and leading a band, but when they're half somebody else's songs it feels sort of weird. I think we might try to do a version of Mother India or something tonight. Make it a little more interesting.
Speaking of interesting, I had a pretty wild breakfast the other day. Mark and Brenda Whiten, friends from the Phoenix area who have long been great supporters of my community's music, were in town and we decided to meet up for a little sausage and Aunt Jemima at the Cracker Barrel down the street from my house. Alison said her car had been doing something a bit funky so I took hers to go pick the Whitens up at their hotel. Well, sure enough, on the way back, about a mile away from my exit, it started making all sorts of noise. At the top of the exit it just stopped. Brenda got in to steer while Mark and I pushed it all the way across the bridge that spans both sides of I-65 to finally land in a parking space of a garage station on our side of the road. Bear in mind, this is the first time I have ever spent more than four minutes with these people. Alison and Ella came in my car to pick us up and we ended up having a great time over breakfast, but Alison's car is spending the next week or so at the shop getting a head gasket re-tooled. Oh joy! Luckily, I'm on the road this week, so being down to one car isn't that bad, although my car is old enough to have its own drivers license. So any of you who own or manage a car dealership and want to give us a deal, let me know!
Anyway, I probably need to get to soundcheck. This tour is pretty fun with all the great folks out. Gabe and Bebo, Geoff Moore and his guitar player Dana, who I got to know when he worked at the late-great Broadway Music, John David Webster, Aaron Shust and assorted wives and crew. And I'll say it again, I love getting to play with Bebo. I just love his songs and his voice and it's an honor to get to be a part of what he does for this little span of time. I'm going to try to steal somebody's camera for a couple of hours sometime this week to give you guys a better picture of the tour, so keep your eyes peeled for it.
Until then, I'll be listening to the Cardigans, who seriously must put crack in their songs, because I just can't stop listening to them...
Reader Comments (5)
You'll have to admit, it was a great bonding experience. And my view of you and Mark from the rear-view mirror (chasing after the car) was exceptional! I would say that it was worth it because we made your blog, but then I know what the cost of the repair is, so I guess we got the better end of the deal. I gotta wonder, though, how long your car sat at the final coasting spot before you got it moved?
It was great seeing you and your family, getting a peek at the remains of the studio, and hanging out. We'll see you in May!
Sorry to hear about Alison's car. I think that you're right about The Cardigans...mmmm cardigans.
AO: http://rocksmyfaceoff.net/forum/index.php/topic,46349.0.html" rel="nofollow">The .net enjoyed the show, and they said you were great. I'm unsurprised, of course.
Much love for you. I'll see you ... sometime.
Check out the AO mention in the Grassroots newsletter.
Here's the link: http://www.grassrootsmusic.com/magazine/?DCMP=EMC-041106