closed for bid'ness

sara mckinnon and i were scheduled to play at a coffee shop recently. when i called to confirm two days before the gig, they told me they were closed - as in out of business.

i was talking to another local shop owner about it later the same day. and it was like a mellow silence hit us all. as if we'd taken the hit too.

nobody likes to see a brother get shot down; especially when it's close to home. one more reason to despise the corporate conglomerate - the man, keepin' us down.

brand new start

i re-formatted my hard drive last night. and today i start with a clean slate. my puter seems so quiet and peaceful.

only bad thing is that i can't find my 'favorite places' to import them. so frustrating. but if that's the only thing i lost i'll be happy. at least i remember my blog address....

bookstore

so, my christian bookstore phobia aside, this was a pretty fun gig last week. the bookstore was right next to a walmart - and i was playing on a friday night, during christmas season.

it was pretty busy in the store and they set me up so i was singing directly to the people who were standing in line to check out.

so there i was. and there they were. they had no choice but to listen... and wait.

a couple of them gave me uncomfortable smiles, but most of them looked straight ahead, anxiously awaiting their turn in line. here were the two best things about the gig:

1. while parents shopped, some little kids came over to where i was playing. i got to talk to them and play for them. one of the kids pulled up an ottoman and started playing it like a drum.

2. i sold a bunch of CDs - two of which were sold right after i played elvis's blue christmas. random.

wahba crater

i was googling myself the other day (okay that sounds sketchy) - and found this!

apparently it's almost 2 miles wide and 700 feet deep. here's another link (scroll down to see some decent pics of it).

such great honor in my ancestry. maybe someday people will make pilgrimages there in my name?

kaja

had a great meeting with kaja brown recently. he's an ASU student that goes to our church - one who also happens to be producer of his own local radio show, and a semi-insider when it comes to the christian music industry.

he had some great pointers for me. such a smart person and great guy all around. the toughest thing for me to swallow will be to become part of several organizations in the industry that are centered in nashville. i've never been there and i had never planned on going. don't get me wrong - it's not that i don't like the city itself - it's just that i usually can't stand the music, artists, producers, or "sound" that come from there.

kaja also helped me figure out some realistic goals for my ministry over the next few years. so glad i ran into him - mad props to Providence.

microsoft good... gateway bad.

i spent two hours on the phone/internet between gateway and microsoft. somehow, my windows XP disc got lost. and it's definitely time to re-format the 80 gig.

so i call microsoft who tells me that i need to call gateway. i spend 1 1/2 hours in a tech support chat room with gateway who finally tell me that i really need to be talking to customer service, not tech support. customer service says it's microsoft that should handle it. finally, i got a supervisor at microsoft to give in and send me an extra copy of XP.

funny thing about the conversation at gateway. at one point i asked "microsoft would give me a new copy of this if i'd bought it directly from them - but you won't - as a customer, are my expectations too high?" they wouldn't answer.

discipline...

that's what i need. that's what i don't have right now (at least in blogging). discipline.

so, yes. there's much to say. and i'll do my best to keep the word-stream coming....