Zoe loves 'The Office'

Weigel and his new baby, Zoe, just left. They came over to watch the US version of 'The Office' with us. It's not as good as the BBC version, but still quite hilarious. I thought this week's, the first episode of the second season, was particularly funny. Awkward moments and political incorrectness, such an unusual show, how can you not love it? Actually, I bet lots of people wouldn't even think it was a comedy, but Steve Carell rapping over OPP by 'Naughty by Nature' might have been one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

This past week of Andrew Peterson shows was really quite fun. The band was really great, AP, Ben Shive, yours truly, and Paul Eckberg and Jeff Irwin as the ryhthm section. Paul played wonderfully, and creatively, as usual, and Jeff did a really great job. He's a guy who've I've loved watching play with all sorts of my friends, but have only played with myself one or two random times. I enjoyed his playing and getting to know him a bit better.

Andrew was really on all week. He has such a gift of communicating to his audiences. He's just a natural in front of a crowd. Me, I'm only comfortable when I'm in the middle of a song. He just stands there and tells stories, and has people eating out of his hand, laughing at everything. It really creates a cool intimacy with an audience and it makes it really fun to be a part of.

We had dinner at Sonic, so classy, with the Shives. They have cute kids.

Our Ella is just awesome these days. She just smiles all the time, and sat up on her own today for the first time. Sure, it was only six or seven seconds, but there was much rejoicing in the Osenga household. I've got to get some pictures off the camera, and I'll find a good one to post.

Tomorrow I go back to work, going to be mixing Jake Randall's project. I'm heading over to do a quick photoshoot for Jill Phillips' new record, which I'm playing on, and our new neighborhood fellowship group will have our second meeting tomorrow night. And then, of course, season premiere of 'Lost'. Don't bother calling then, I won't answer.

My pirate name is:

Mad Roger Kidd

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

I found this from a friend of mine. I have to say, I like the double "d" at the end of Kidd. Very tasty.

Thank You, Apple

Apple rocks. Seriously. So they built this generation of computers with a weird logic board flaw, but they fix it for free, and fast. If I hadn't been on the road they could have picked it up a week ago, but they got it on Friday and I got it back today (Tuesday). And everything was free. That's customer service. I tell you, when nobody wants to hear me sing or play anymore, I'm heading straight for the Apple store for a job.

However, since I've been without a computer for almost two weeks I have over 200 e-mails to sift through. If you've written me in that time, I'll hopefully get back to you today. That's my goal for the rest of the day. I've got a bunch of thinks to write about, so I may post a few times throughout the day. Feel free to drop a comment and say hello. It's good to be back!

Thank You, Paul Eckberg

for the kind use of your immaculate computer. I am breaking one of the ol' Ten. I want this computer. G4 Powerbook. Dang. Anyway, thanks for letting me hop on and update a bit.

I'm in Albertville, AL, where I played with Andrew Peterson (and Ben Shive, the afore-mentioned legendary Gospel drummer Paul Eckberg, bass player Jeff Irwin, and sound guy/road manager/occasional bass player and cousin Dean Baylor). Last night's show was fun, I haven't played with AP in a while, and he's only ever played with a band once a year, at the Nashville Christmas show. It's really great to hear these songs with a band, but I don't feel I played too well last night. I made a few dumb mistakes, I think I was just a little too tired from all our driving. Still, the show was great over-all, mainly because all the other guys played wonderfully, as usual, and I got to chat with a few familiar faces from the on-line communities. It was good.

I haven't really gotten to tell you about my solo show in Baton Rouge the night before yet. It was really an amazing time, at least for me. Paul played drums, Dean played bass, my good friends Jason Feller and Jeff Pardo played guitar and keyboards, respectively. Jason also did a set in the middle of mine, playing two songs from his new album "Goodnight Moon" and a new song that was incredible. We all played on that one with him. It had the line "like a car crash kills the mood" which I think is just amazing imagery. Good writer, that Jason kid... Anyway, the crowd was really nice, although they said that post-hurricane they've been running fairly small, and people actually cheered for the old Normals tunes. That never happened when we were together in the first place! Because we had to drive instead of fly,, more on that later, I got to bring my big pedal board, the BadCat, and a slew of guitars. Always fun. It was really great after always standing off to the left or the right, and having to play parts for songs I wasn't a part of creating, to be back in the middle, taking it wherever I wanted it to go, being free to add a few bars here or to try a little guitar lick there. I just had a blast. Our set list was:

The High School Band
Romeo on the Radio
The Best I Can
Man of the House
When Will I Run
If I Had Wings...

Jason's set

The Phoenix
Kara
Bombay Rain
Mother India
Following the Blind (a new tune)
Less Than Love
These Times

The opening band(s) played a nice set as well, and they did a version of the Normals version of Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees." That was surreal. Their guitar player was doing Mark's parts, and they went to our ending. It was wild, and they did a great job. So thanks to everybody who came out, and stayed, and bought cd's. It was really fun, and we hope to do it again soon, and more often.

Due to the rescheduling, we weren't able to get flights for a few of the guys, (apparently you can't fly through New Orleans anymore, what's up with that??) so we rented a van and drove. We had to pull two mornings in a row where we started driving at 6am, once to get to Baton Rouge, and once to get out of it. I had to sleep on the floor of a hotel tonight, typically that would make it hard for me to sleep, but I got a good ten hours straight. Yeah, wore us out. We (Andy P's band) are playing another show here in Alabama tonight, so we don't have a big drive today. That is nice. I feel like it will be a better show, just because I now have an attention span....

In quick other news, Alison started a blog a few days ago, which has been fun for me to read. She's such a great writer. It's pretty much all about her and Ella and all that they're learning together. It's fun to see her enjoying writing about it. Ella ate her first fruit yesterday. Pears. She loved them. Ah, life is good. Well, we've got to head out. Thanks for reading this, and I'll write more when I get a chance.

(too) early in the morning

Hey everybody,
I only have a quick minute here, it's 5:55 am and we're about to leave Baton Rouge to get to Andrew Peterson's show in Alabama, and then get the rest of the guys back home to Nashville. Last night's show went really, really great, I had a blast and the band did too. Thanks to everybody who came out, and to everybody who said hello. That was so fun, and we all want to do it again. Often. Also, I gave $520 worth of gift cards to the folks here and they really appreciated it. Thanks to everybody who helped out with that! All right, off to the van. I'll write more when I get a chance.