fall has fallen

when I first moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania, I really missed autumn. I mocked the pseudo-fall in NC by saying it only lasted 2 weeks. then I moved to Arizona and seasons as we knew them came to an abrupt end....

and look at this glorious fall we're having in Carolina! this is a really cool tree in our backyard.

this is our whole backyard.
lots of trees = lots of leaves = leaf fight!

and as seasons change, we get older - even our babies. yesterday our baby became a little boy when he got his first haircut. kept the faux hawk, lost the curls (sorry bud, one or the other had to go!).

diagnose and adios....

worked my last shift at the 'vale last night. hopefully my last overnight shift ever :)

kind of sad to leave. I realized it was the longest I've ever kept a job (4 1/2 years; incidentally, the shortest i've had a job was 2 weeks. delivered chinese food in college).

they had a little spread for me as it was my last day. a gigantic cookie with a "we'll miss you" message and an icing-stethescope on it makes a guy feel good. I understood for the first time that i wasn't only taking care of patients while working there. that the staff were my patients too, in a way.

it was a good last shift to have. some new (disoriented) staff and a particularly slow night for lab & x-ray, along with a healthy dose of uncooperative patients helped remind me of the finer things I've experienced over the years. i was called a few choice words, had a patient vomit in front of me, smelled pus from an infected surgical wound, had family members get upset when I didn't know spanish. ahh, i'll miss this place....

beat boxing

jaw to the floor....

i used to think i could beat box. this french guy takes it to a whole nutha level!

turd

walked into the employee bathroom at my hospital and saw this:


are you kidding me?! was this a patient? a family member? an employee that did this?

laughter... followed by reflective sadness.

in other news, there's a great site when you have down-time at work. one that actually stimulates your brain instead of numbing it. one that actually has the potential to help others. how many grains of rice can you give today? a plethora?

marlow-on-a-mission

our dear friend, chris marlow is off to Africa for a 10-day mission trip and he needs your prayers....

lord, give them safety,
lord, give them guidance.
give them wisdom and reverence.
lord, send your spirit,
lord, send your grace.
send your providence and your peace.

see you soon, bro.

b-day

happy birthday, boston! we had a busy weekend. family from all over... baby dedication at hope... and lots of birthday cake with all our friends!

boston: jedi master

some consider this cruelty...

but being baby yoda has its perks. yoda got to ride his first carnival ride (at hope's harvest festival) and got to have his first lollipop!

one more to go...

i head home to raleigh today. i was just chuckling at two things:

-the southwest airlines clerk at the ticket desk is wearing a halloween costume. it's a head wound with a motorized rat gnawing away at it with bright red eyes.
-there are little birds inside the terminal. not flying around, but bouncing lightly on the floor; about three of them in all, following each other, startling weary passengers.

spending the weeks with Tim and Kristin this time around has made me wish I'd been able to every time (this would've been impossible as they just moved into the house). these two weeks, though heartbreakingly hard away from J & B, have just flown by. I felt so at home staying at the Ernst house. I got to see them every day. make human contact outside of work. have a home cooked meal every day, SITTING DOWN (crazy how this simple fact cuts way down on the drive-through quotient).

I stayed so busy I barely had time to read or play guitar - which is good and bad.

we're getting geared up for boston's first birthday party and baby dedication this weekend. should be loads of fun. pictures and stories soon....

birthday recap

for those who didn't know, yesterday was my thirty-#@!# birthday. here's an excerpt from my conversation with my mom:

mama wahba: happy birthday! thirty-#@!# years!
me: thanks mom.
mama wahba: now you're as old as Jesus was!
me: (puzzled) yeah... as old as he was when he was crucified....
mama wahba: uh. um. well. but that's how old he was.

ha ha. love you mom.

all in all, it was a good one. our close friends Tim & Kris (whose guest bedroom I happen to be occupying this trip to AZ) got me a cake with real candles and everything. and last night the folks at work chipped in to get some amazing mexican food platters from garcia's - including the mouth-watering Pollo Fundido.

I got birthday cards from most of my family that somehow found their way to me in Phoenix. and not one person sang an embarrassing, off-key version of "happy birthday" to me (that's a good thing).

thanks everyone. you made it a good-as-a-birthday-could-be-while-away-from-my-family.

come pick me up (live)

I accidently caught this on letterman one night a few months back. then I accidentally stumbled upon a link to it on a buddy's myspace page today.

one of the best, hard-core-yet-really-soft-core, broken-hearted love songs ever written. grab a hanky....

Ryan Adams Com Pick Me Up

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why philemon?

please don't misunderstand. I mean no blasphemy.

but as I read this morning, i sit and ponder, "why - tell me why would they bother to include the book of philemon in the new testament?"

random little letter (think email-length compared to the rest of paul's letters). written by paul, in jail, letting his buddy Philemon know that he is sending a slave, Onesimus to be a slave for him. that's it. random.

day without a mexican

anyone who knows Jodi and I will agree that we love mockumentaries. last night we got to watch one that's been on our blockbuster cue for a few months: A Day Without a Mexican.

while I'm definitely opinionated/passionate about the topic of immigration (both my parents immigrated to this country; I work at a hospital where 85% of the patients are non-legal immigrants; the list goes on), i'll do my best to refrain from this post becoming a PSA. here's my super-quick review of the movie itself:

the good: great premise. really good message. mockumentaries rock - especially with social commentary, comedy and a little controversy thrown in.

the bad: poor acting. multiple story lines that don't really go anywhere. really preachy. and apparently they got lots of their facts wrong.

overall opinion of the movie: watch the trailer online. then sit down with some level-headed friends/family and talk it out over a few beers and a game of cards. you'll get more out of it.

dc trip

this week, we went to visit our friends Alvin & Nicole in the DC area. so great to see them and their little Jeremiah.

we also managed to make it to Ikea.

Ikea... great furniture. cheap prices. huge migraine by the end. we spent like 5 hours there and had to rent a Uhaul trailer to get everything back home to NC. not to mention that we've been home for three days and I'm still putting furniture together....

we're finally settling into the house though (if you're a numbers person, we're about 95% done with the remodel and 60% done unpacking). can't wait till it's all done so I can get back to writing and recording again....

superbowl XL rematch - same outcome

steelers annihilated the seahawks 21 to zip today. my condolences to daniel - again.

the ladder

alright. so i've encountered a minor dilemma in my faith-relationships with a few friends.

god's been revealing himself so much to those around me, i could explode with my excitement for them and their growth. only weird deal is: I feel a little left in the dust - and I feel a little reponsible for said dusting.

i see growth in the faith as a ladder - all of us (or maybe just some of us) striving and reaching for the next rung. somehow in the mix though, it becomes easy to peek down at the lower rungs and be glad we're not on them anymore. be glad we're not the same person. be glad we're not at the same church. and openly criticize the leaders/churches/believers who still hang out on those rungs.

i've been totally guilty of this type of growth. yet at the same time, I'm learning a new humbleness. one that's helped me to realize that I was working out my salvation in pride and cocky-ness - not the inverse as I was instructed.

you know the type: "THAT's not where it's at! THIS [worship style, evangelism method, way to read the bible, holy spirit trick] is where it's AT." ... that was me.

this is merely a word of encouragement, not a condemning finger. i beg of you, my brothers, please don't make the mistake i've made. the mistake I may have taught you.

don't look back on the ladder rung you just climbed, the one without which you couldn't be on your present rung, and call it a 'bad one.' what then can be said about those who are several notches above us, yet who serve at churches that seem decades behind their faith? let's face it - we'll never reach the top of the ladder without Him anyway - and without the encouragement of those around us. so let's watch each others' back in His name, shall we?

home, sick

so i'm back home in NC and loving it! the house is about 90% finished before we start the fun part: unpacking.

only bad thing is that we're all sick. i came home with a virus. and jodi & boston each have one. we're guessing they're not the same virus since we caught them across the country from each other (different virus gene pool?).

but here's the question: can we now give our respective viruses to each other? you know, share viruses so we each have two?

if you know any smart medical person, ask them that question, would you? :P

3 and 1 - and it's all my fault...

had a blast with t-money at the game yesterday. it was so great to actually be there and watch my boys play. bummer they lost. i'll never go to another game and jinx them like that again... maybe.

going to see the black & gold

it's official: i'm going to see the Steelers play the Cardinals tomorrow!

i'm excited as a little school girl. I lived in Pittsburgh for 22 years and never got to see them play a regular season game in person. and now the time has come.

tomorrow should be a good game seeing as how the Cardinals head coach and offensive coordinator are former Pittsburgh coaches who each wanted to take Coach Cowher's place last year.


i'll probably have to tame down my excitement - seeing as how I'll be in enemy territory. the guy who sold us the tickets said their whole section will mostly be Arizona fans.

dear jesus, please don't let me get a black eye and beer poured on me at the game tomorrow.... in your name, amen.

back in phx

i've been in phoenix working again for the past week. we had just moved into our house - gotten our new bed, our internet and cable were finally up and running, and our counter tops were just being installed when... I had to leave again!

getting a lot done here though. writing some new songs on my backpacker. and getting to hang out with some AZ friends.

it's crazy how much you realize the value of your seemingly surface-friends once you move away. my buddy here in phoenix (co-worker) has been amazingly giving - he lets me stay at his house for free every time I come back to work my two-week stretches.

and I feel closer than ever to my old bandmates, tim & jonathan (see a video of them here). last night we went to chino bandido (yummm) and had a blast catching up and talking about the old times gigging around arizona.

i've got another 6 days for this little jaunt to be over. i miss jodi and boston like mad. and I just want to get home and sleep in my bed!

but my goal before I leave is to finish two songs I've been working on - even if they end up crappy songs - I'll be happy just to finish them. who knows, maybe you'll hear them someday. while you wait, here's another video to watch. I've titled this video: "OUCH!"

riches to rags (sorta)

so they just made an announcement at my job here in phoenix that we're all about to get raises. decent raises. that is, the job where I've just given my notice to resign.

it's a weird deal, the pay scale for healthcare in the southwest. what i do isn't much different from what I'd do at an emergency department pretty much anywhere in the US. but somehow, what started as a little higher pay 4 years ago has ended up in a *much higher* pay right now.

as the pay increases came, we (jodi and I) decided it would be best for our family and our ministry to just work fewer hours and try to make the same total income. and it worked. i was down to 30 hours or less every week - and living quite comfortably. i could lead worship as often as I wanted and still have time for vacation and the family.

so after a cross-country move, in an attempt to pursue what's best for our family and our ministry in NC, I find myself getting ready to work for nearly half what i'm being offered here in phoenix. and I'll have to work full time again! (i know, poor wahba - working 40-50 hrs a week like every other respectable person on the planet - he got raises while the economy of the rest of the country went to pot - poor, poor wahba).

i'd be lying if I didn't say it's tempting to keep my job here. my mind races to think of ways to keep working here, and working in Raleigh, and leading worship, and being a decent father/husband....

i guess the pious churchy answer is that Providence probably has more blessings for me once I begin work in Raleigh.

maybe not ones that affect our bottom line though.

wait and see. have faith. trust. that's all I've got. oh yeah, and an incredible wife and kid waiting at HOME for me. see you soon guys....

we're in!

good news: we're finally living in our house!

after months of living in our dear friends' basement (while still paying the mortgage on our new home), we've moved in.

still need some essentials - dishwasher, kitchen sink, countertops, a lot of paint. but it's definitely live-able.

so if you're in the area, please stop by. we'll fire up the barbie and watch some Baby Einstein on the gi-normous plasma....

new MP3 site - that doesn't start with i

so a pastor friend referred me to this website, mp3sparks.com - formerly AllOfMP3.com. i guess it's a russian site that allows you to purchase mp3s at a great price. here are the good and the bad:

hangups
-way-big learning curve for downloading. very tedious - pick the songs, put them in your basket, pick which kind of encoding and download each song one-by-one. then click and drag them into itunes music library. and if you're OCD like myself, you have to re-assign the music genre because they're all tagged with "blues" as the genre for some reason.
-awkward payment. you have to pre-pay a minimum onto your account, and are then charged as you download songs.
-limited and late releases. this site doesn't have everything. only one album by Passion, for example (though I did download some Radio-era Run DMC, some 70's David Bowie and some of Timbaland's new album). and new releases can take about 2-3 weeks to show up for download.

bonuses
-it's cheep! i downloaded about 180 mp3s (seriously) and still have a few cents left on my $25 initial deposit.
-encoding rate selection - i know, this was part of my criticism. but you can select the quality of encoding for your mp3 or aif file.
-it's legal. really. read for yourself.
-it's not itunes. share, burn and copy to as many machines as you like.
-it's not limewire. no viruses. no files that become static after the first 30 seconds

overall
i spent some time this week downloading songs and I'm impressed. it takes longer than itunes to download the songs, load them into itunes and re-genre them. but to be honest, it takes less time than Kazaa, Limewire or Soulseek because you don't have to weed through all the dirty files. and it's so cheap. give it a try. www.mp3sparks.com.

going home

sitting in the phoenix sky harbor airport right now. and boy am I glad to be going home.
it's been a long two weeks. a few personal successes and a few failures. a few drinks with good friends. and a LOT of work hours clocked in.

jodi and i figured out that by the time this whole phoenix-raleigh deal is done, I will have missed her birthday, my birthday, two national holidays (including turkey day) and 3 months of my son's life.

but there's good news. the end is in sight....

it's official: I have a job in NC! if all paperwork goes through - and believe me, there are stacks of it - i'll be starting work at my old job by early december. lots of prayers and airport blogs between now and then....

world numbers

my dear friend david sent me this link: poodwaddle.com

really interesting numbers. i just wonder a few things. like how up to date are these stats? why are internet connections right next to abortions? and how is bicycle production such a vital statistic?

anyway, some of the numbers really are sobering. i wonder how much our perspectives would change if we looked at these numbers regularly. i wonder if staring at them once a week would move us to act for preservation of what God created for us... or if it would make us more numb....

guns, spider webs and a special birthday wish

random news today.

turns out the US is by far the most armed country in the world. does this mean we can stop making an issue out of gun laws? please? (post-note. what i meant was this: now that we're armed to the eyebrows, can we stop politic-ing for our right to bear arms and get on to some more urgent issues?)

also, they found a 200 yard spider web in texas. guess everything's bigger down there.

and speaking of spiders, here's a huge, happy, very-late-twenties birthday wish to my favorite arachnophobe on the planet. well, she's pretty much my favorite person on the planet too.

happy birthday babe.

miss teen south carolina

i really feel sorry for this girl. praying for the school systems in the carolinas....

wahba: martin owner

while i'm out in the desert, I get lots of down time. which is good in a way. but bad in a way too. my love (jodi) made a way for me to take one of my other loves (guitar) with me.

ta daaaaa....

it's a martin backpacker guitar. one I can stow safely in the overhead compartment.

yes, i've entered martin territory. just gotta make sure I don't leave marty and taylor alone together. :)

the rocks cry out

jodi and I had an interesting experience this week. we went to pick out our slab (of granite) at a countertop warehouse.

the ultimate in environmental consumption - selecting which hunk of god-made volcanic rock will be most appealing for important tasks such as cutting bagels and making PBJ's.

as we were in the yard deciding among three slabs of granite, we were overwhelmed with the noise coming from inside the warehouse. it was the sound of several slabs of granite being cut simultaneously for various customers. each rock seemed to have its own voice. but when they all sang together, it was eerie. dissonant. i commented that it sounded like banshees (as in "you made out like a banshee", right jodi?).

anyway, i'm still haunted by the sound. it makes me wonder: were the rocks crying out like jesus predicted in luke 19.40? or was this a weeping? a chilling scream? the sound creation makes when it's consumed in mass quantities for everyday human use?

stooping to a new low

these past few weeks, boston has shown me something new. no matter what we do, his favorite time we spend together seems to be when i'm down on the floor playing with him.

he might crawl up to me and pull my leg hairs. i'll pick him up, but he'll still squirm. restless.

it's only when I put him down, sit or lay on the floor with him, and play on his level; only when he gets to crawl all over me or lift himself up to stand so he's taller than I am, that he's at his happiest.

this summer, I've been re-reading all the gospels, Message-style. the craziness of the gospel story is that such a huge God would want to lay on the floor with me. guess he knew I'd squeal with happiness.

better go. don't want a certain someone to think i love this laptop more than I love him.

no rock - remixed

hey everyone check it out. a rapper/minister named Vessel from phoenix did a remix (dare I say a Geeeeee-miiiiiiiiiiiix?) of "no rock".

click here for Vessel's myspace page, then click on "No Rock Remix".

new jams

here are a few artists that have become the soundtrack to my recent journeys:

phil wickham - i know i'm way behind the bandwagon on this one, but his voice and lyrics kill me. i find myself actually worshipping along instead of dissecting each chord change. start with "divine romance" and go from there.

rooney - there new album is less Beach Boys and more 80's new wave. but I likey.

a fine frenzy - we saw this singer chick (think Sarah meets Fiona, but with her own voice and stories) open for Pete Yorn. their full-length CD just came out. download "almost lover" and "hope for the hopeless".

other new ventures include the latest from velvet revolver, jonatha brooke and wilco.

wahba.net... interrupted

so i finally wiped the dust off the ol' website and updated it for this summer's goings-on. here's a quick run-down:

• new navigation bar - nothing fancy - just a little easier to navigate through the menus
• upcoming gigs - true, you only need one hand to count them
• award nomination - somebody nominated me for "Best Contemporary Christian Male Vocalist". okay.... but show some love anyway and vote here.

peace kids.

Mr. Short-term-band-relationship...

i'm finding myself in a little predicament. i've been invited to play a worship/concert gig in north carolina and I can't find bandmates to play with me!

one weird part of the deal is that the 3-4 people I had always hoped would want to jam with me again are, for one reason or another, less than enthusiastic. not that there should be any undue expectation or pressure on them. i shouldn't expect them to drop what they're doing and join forces with me again just because we've played together before. it's just a funny thing I guess.

it's definitely more of a pressure I put on myself. it unearths a lot of little regrets about mistakes I've made in the past.

for example: you know the guy/girl who gets involved in a spitfire, passionate relationship for a brief time, then dumps the other person and moves on? well i'm that guy, except with BANDS. i take these great band situations, write and gig and record and put on shows that impress strangers. then I leave - usually leave the entire state, along with leaving said band. it happened in pittsburgh, then in raleigh, then in arizona.

one good friend put this spin on my lack of band commitment: "at least you're able to find great bands everywhere you go."

so now i'm in a bit of a fog. waiting for clarity. waving my hand around trying to find God's hand so he can lead me along.

i do have this glimmer of hope: that it's His deal, not mine. that if I let him, he can turn my blunders into beauty.

NC = home

for those of you who haven't seen, here are some pics of the new wahba studio... ahem, home... in cary.

i know this sounds corny, but we're really excited about what god has in mind for it. in every room, we can picture what He's been putting on our hearts to do with our home - entertain, host the 'homeless', create, jam, cook, play....

the backyard makes us thankful every time we see it.

bi-coastal

so I'm getting into the swing of this working-across-the-country-from-where-i-live deal. it's a bit taxing on the body (sleep schedule, weird work hours, a bunch of 12-hour work shifts in a row) and on the heart (i miss the heck out of my wife and kid).

so when i'm in phoenix, i'll be doing this wacky work rotation: 2 day shifts, 2 swing shifts, 1-2 night shifts, repeat. and I can't complain, because it's the irregular work schedule that drew me to working the ER in the first place. but I must say, that it has been the single largest barrier to establishing any sense of routine or rhythm to my life.

so despite it all, and at the suggestion of a close pastor/friend, i'm attempting to get some rhythm back. over the past few weeks, I've worked regular devotions into the daily rhythm - it's easily been the most neglected, yet most needed in my life.

and over the next few months, i'll be trying to get back into regularly doing some more stuff.... playing guitar, eating a little better, moving a little more, and yes, hopefully blogging on a more regular basis.

true, in a prior post, I raised a toast to living my life instead of trying to blog every minute detail. now, we're onto a new season....

gasp!

okay, okay. so i've been neglecting you. it's not that i haven't thought about you. it's just.... well you know.

so i'm breaking the silence. and what better way to do it....

than with a completely useless, but clever youtube vid.

last AZ gig

this morning Tim, Jonathan and I worshipped our little hearts out for the last time together.

i'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a little empty inside. not only were these guys some of the best I've ever played with - but their overall comraderie and spirit were contagious. I was pushed to think of new ways to play our songs because I knew they could totally handle it.



i'll miss playing with them. I'll miss all the gigs we had. i'll miss all the relationships we've built with the local leaders here in the valley of the sun.


and I fully admit that I get some kind of weird self-validation through playing & worshipping on a regular basis. I'm used to having gigs booked for months ahead of time. and now I don't have a single gig scheduled.


maybe I'm wired to crave the stage because that's what I was created to do. or maybe it's a personality flaw.

i wonder what the future holds. more gigs? a better market for my ministry and music? or will the loss of momentum from this move be insurmountable on a mental level for me.

hey Man, it's in Your hands, seriously....

new CD on iTunes

check it out! my new CD, live @ GJ's is up on iTunes already. give it a test drive and download till you're all worshipped out.

oh yeah, here's the link.

new viddy-OH's

giver - with imperial march breakdown

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check out the videos we just added to the myspace page. I also put them on youtube if myspace isn't your bag, baby.

and remember: wahba's new indieheaven page is up and running. listen to new songs, buy the new acoustic album, and remember to leave nice little comments for wahba. pretty please? clicky here.

live @ GJ's - a new record from wahba

hey kids. just wanted to let you know about a new CD that was just released. it's a LIVE ONE!

all acoustic/live coffeehouse versions of wahba songs from prior albums. check out the press release here. and be sure to read the bit about the album cover - don't want anyone offended about the martini glass!

oh yeah... you can listen to some tunes and buy the CD here or here.

kole, a soul at peace

sad news, brothers and sisters. our dear friend kole passed away this week after a long bout with cancer. his passing was just 2 days after his 6th birthday. and just 4 days after the birth of his baby sister.

words can't really express the pain and sadness his family might be feeling. indeed, the passing of your own 6 year old child raises lots of questions. please keep them in your prayers.

read of kole's amazing story, and his family's incredible faith here on kole's blog.

picture pages, picture pages...

as an update to my video post. all the vids are also up on the wahba youtube page.

and I should have posted about this a wicked-long-time ago.... there's a wahba gig-picture website with pics from lots of gigs, past, present, and future. okay, not future gig pics yet. but check my smugmug page.

if all the pics are overwhelming, for you, FRET NOT. i'll be highlighting some past gigs and putting up links for us all to reminisce about....

wahba videos

well now, it seems we've finally entered the video age. and it only took us 17 years (that is, since MTV first aired, for you trivia buffs).

i've posted 4 dark, grainy, distorted, shaky videos for your viewing torture. they're up on my new and un-cluttered myspace page (if that's possible). editing video is definitely not my forte - but i'd like to think audio IS. so believe it or not, these videos sound way better than what we captured on our little digital camera....

click here to see all the action!

wonder years

jodi and watched the first two episodes of wonder years last night. such a great show.

it's crazy. we're 4 years apart and both clearly remember how much that one show rocked our worlds. it's one of the few times in my life I actually designated a time every week to watch a particular TV program.

anyhow, we both agreed that, although it seems wonder years was primarily aimed at baby boomers, it spoke to us right where we were. I was the same age as kevin's character and jodi was even a little younger. but the characters and dialogue went beyond just entertainment. they said something about growing up, about popularity, personal loss, hurting the ones you love and seeing those around you in pain.

in fact, as far as the appeal of the show, we think this is one of the select few shows that actually appealed to everyone. we're talking like ages 10-70. do yourself a favor. go rent season one....

gig catchup and wahba-tube coming soon.

new crowder

once again, mr. crowder is preparing another CD of blips and squeaks for all the worshipping young folk to salivate over while hopping up and down & clapping on every beat.

this time, they're not only showing 24-hour webcams of their recording house, they've compiled a clip of the day to document their creative adventures. the coolest of these so far is easily a bit where they have "the Nuge" come in and do a face-melting guitar solo.

again, i'm not too keen on crowder's style or 100% of his songwriting. but i'm envious they get to do all this goofing off for a living....

let's review....

true, it's been quite a while since I've blogged. and i'm totally embracing this "live-life-instead-of-trying-to-document-it-in-a-trendy-geeky-way" philosophy. but the 3 or 7 of you who stop by here every once in a while actually seem to care about what's going on in our lives so I'll, if only for a brief moment, indulge your deepest desires and fantasies.

albeit plain and boring, let's play some catch up, shall we?

magnolia - this is more of a side note. I finally got jodi to sit down and watch Magnolia. not that it was a struggle or anything - she's been wanting to see it and we just haven't had a chance. the whole frog plague at the end still baffled and grossed us both out. so I finally looked it up. evidently it's part of some recurring references to exodus 8:2 and the style/work of charles fort. anyhoots, after all that, jodi didn't really seem to like the movie anyway....

california dreamin' - boston visited his 5th state as of this past weekend. we hit laguna beach to see our dear friends, David and Air. then off to whittier where the folks at faith community treated us mighty kind for our all-day sunday gig. and finally to Santa Monica & LA to see some of my extended family and have them meet the kid for the first time.

gigs & our move to NC - still playing a whole bunch. but alas, all good things must come to an end. we're winding down as we prep for our big move. we've gotta be out of the house by may 1.

that puts jodi and B on a plane to PA to be with her family while I stay in the PHX and finish out my work contract until june. meanwhile, all our belongings will be on a moving truck, headed out to the greater Raleigh area. despite all this, we still had time to finish production on a live, acoustic, tribal, funky...

new CD! it's back from the presses. more about the new disc coming soon....

craigslist

craigslist is so great. i've found band members, house painters, landscapers, really good software deals and a cellist up there.

check out this ad though. i mean isn't it enough to just put the ad up? do we really need to post "glamour shots by deb" photos with our ads? can anyone please help pastor Jermaine out? ha!

ok now I feel bad.

giuliani on abortion

this here video is interesting.

as many of you know, jodi and I are advocates of adoption. giuliani is the first candidate i've seen who fortifies/balances his pro-life stance by promoting adoption.

most podcasted

by now, most of you know what podcasts are.

well... on a little site called the podsafe network (where they present and track indie artists for play on genre-specific podcasts), there's a little list of the top ten most podcasted christian songs. and guess who is on the list?

me! actually it's kind of rad - and definitely God - there are three of my tracks that made it into the top ten.

mac parodies (and a gust of southern wind)

i realize apple is pretty influential right now. and that the best form of flattery is imitation. but have we gone too far with the apple commercial parodies yet? sheesh.

mac = loser
environmental mac
racial mac
christian mac - i appreciate what they're going for, but it's still pretty dorky.

in other stories, we finally finished gone with the wind last night. yes, part 2 was just as long.

we totally appreciated the story line. and it's our guess that the saga/drama of it made this a timeless movie that ranks highly on a lot of lists. lots of people dying, a bloody war, prostitutes, and a love quadrangle very broken and realistic. it's a love story that doesn't end totally happy and that's why we liked it.

that's also why we're surprised so many others have liked it.

if this type of story has been so successful, then why aren't today's sappy-pathetic romantic dram-edies following suit? no, not with the pretentiousness of another 4 1/2 hour epic. we think they'd be much better off if they ended more realistically, in less of a girl-always-gets-the-guy scenario.

anyways, the filmmakers never really addressed the race issue. and although scarlet and rhett broke the mold of character-types, a few of the other characters, especially those portraying slaves, were pretty standard/boring. at one point, one of the slaves even made an expression (eyes looking sideways, mouth open in funny amazement) that we've seen on every african american sitcom that was ever made.

the writers had a chance to comment on a war and an issue central to the time it was portraying. they failed to make any comment. to it's fault, it's painfully obvious that this picture was written by white folks and aimed at entertaining white folks.

blowin....

jodi and I are in the middle of watching gone with the wind. epic story and movie. highly influential and award-winning... and we're trying to figure out why.

it's tough when you see something so old. you have to force yourself back to the time frame in which it was created. there's a lot of "great for it's time" comments you use to convince yourself it's a worthy piece of art.

it's also difficult when the movie is so stinking long. I'm not talking "long" as in one DVD for the movie and disc 2 for all the extras. I'm talking this movie takes up two whole DVDs. the thing has an intermission in it.

a couple of observations so far:

scarlett is a wreck. she's schizophrenic, attention-seeking and really annoying at times. and that's what we love about her. she definitely makes the movie.

and their portrayal of yankees and Abe Lincoln as evil, twisted foes is interesting, seeing as how the yankee side was fighting to abolish slavery. scarlett even makes a derogatory comment about old Abe.

we're most interested to see how they finish painting their picture of how slavery should be retrospectively viewed. will they paint it "as is" in lieu of the rebellious-romantic story line? or will they allow these enlightened starring characters to see the folly of their side of the war? so far, the painting is pretty grim.

disc two, here we come....

circuit bending

this is interesting.

must... resist... dissecting... boston's toys.

moving... somewhere

for those of you who don't know, the wahba's are moving. to exactly where we don't know. but the above picture creates somewhat of a situation.

i can't believe this is a picture of a home I (used to) own! here's the lowdown: we put the house up on the local market at a reasonable price - not too greedy. in hopes that we might sell by May and most likely move outta the AZ.

within 24 hours, we had 2 offers, both of which were at the asking price. with the buyer, we were able to negotiate, no doubt with the strength of the Big Guy, to stay in our house, rent & mortgage free, for 1 1/2 months after we close.

so now we're trying to figure out where to go. the obvious choice is North Carolina. and that's where we'll probably end up. but I don't have a job there. and as you'll recall we have a 4-month old guest staying with us. a guest that has certain living requirements... such as having at least one parent with a job. I've put in my notice at work and we're praying for God to show us what to do next.

so before Marlow chimes in with his "austin is so beautiful this time of year" comments, we'll go ahead and say we'd like to at least be in the same time zone as our families (EST). someplace that preferably employs PAs or wanna-be rockstar worship leaders.

prayers

sending a prayer up for the Marlows as they recover from such a tough ordeal....

U2be

i just installed a widget on my mac that posts the most watched & highest rated vids of the day from YouTube. check out these gems:

how embarrassing and why is this entertaining?

the ultimate worship song

so, in listening to chris tomlin's latest release, see the morning, I stumbled upon something that amazed me.

in one song, he managed to squeeze in every cliche from contemporary worship over the past decade. in fact, i believe he tried to squeeze them all into the song's title. this might perhaps be the ultimate worship song:

"Awesome Is The Lord Most High"

Great are You, Lord, Mighty in strength
You are faithful, as You will ever be
We will praise You all of our days
For Your glory, we offer everything

Raise your hands, all you nations
Shout to God all creation
How awesome is the Lord Most High

Where You send us, God we will go
You're the answer, we want the world to know
We will trust You when You call our name
Where You lead us, we'll follow all the way

Raise your hands, all you nations
Shout to God all creation
How awesome is the Lord Most High

We will praise You together
For now and forever
How awesome is the Lord Most High

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
How awesome is the Lord Most High
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
How awesome is the Lord Most High

Raise your hands, all you nations
Shout to God all creation
How awesome is the Lord Most High

We will praise You together
For now and forever
How awesome is the Lord Most High


how's this for a new wahba song title:
"I have come to worship you are mighty is our god of wonders".

the show

pete yorn rocked it last night. great 3-guitar singer-songwriter rootsy rock n' roll. so cool to see everyone in a tight band knowing their territory. not overstepping their boundaries. and knowing when NOT to play.

the opening band, aqualung amazed us by doing a whole set of piano-based radiohead covers! (that was a jab).

and we were floored by alison sudol, the lead singer from a fine frenzy, who did a piano-and-synth set. crazy voice and charming stage presence.

all that, an evening alone with Jodi, and a belly full of guinness & sushi = great night.

shows

not my shows - those of ones far greater than I.

jodi and I are going to see pete yorn tomorrow night. sooooo excited. he's definitely one of my faves as rootsy-singer-songwriters go. we'll do sushi, then go to the show for our annual non-valentine's day celebration.

and is anybody else excited about this?

the (left coast) windy city

just got back from our little trip to seattle to see Ken and Brenda.... oh yeah, and for Jodi to present at WCA (Western Communication Association conference).

seattle is really a fantastic place to visit (and probably to live). a few degrees warmer and we'd seriously consider living there - right, honey? bonus: getting to be with great people like Ken/Brenda/Trey all the time.

and seattle's perfect for those three. them's some coffee drinkin' folk. I still have heartburn from the every-6-hour dose of caffeine that seattle life entails.

otherwise, Ken extensively documented our trip here and here. enjoy.

starbucks town

so, to make you all happy, I'll break my silence.

right now we're in seattle with our good friends Ken and Brenda. hoping to drink lots of coffee and get rained on plenty. more stories and maybe pics soon....

-w

ken's links....

here's a really sweet story, courtesy of ken's blog. gosh, are we hurting for community.

while I'm gushing over ken, here's a link he showed me on his blog a while back. it's my new favorite Chris-Tomlin-and-Christian-music-industry-bashing site. okay, I actually really hold Mr Tomlin in high regard. but I do have a few beefs with the quality of his songwriting lately. definitely some issues with the overall quality of christian music these days. and these guys say it so well....

"...writing a heartfelt worship song is no excuse to suck."

weeeeeeeee!

jodi and I have always said we never want a boat. but we DO always want to have *friends* who have a boat.

well the same seems to apply to the nintendo wii. neither of us consider ourselves "gamers." and we never would have considered buying a game system. who has the time? the money? and who wants to push the boundaries of geekdom like that? all this seems to have changed....

this is nicole throwing a mean right hook while beating James' butt in the boxing ring.

this weekend we went to our close friend Alvin's birthday party. it was at James & Bethany's home. a home that was recently blessed with a wii.

we had such a blast! talk about a party in a box. the 6 of us had a hard time putting it down. we were neglecting small children. it's hard to even call it just a video game system because the controls are so stinkin' innovative.

so we're praying about all this. are we to become game nerds? would we be able to get anything else done with a wii in our home?

farewell coach cowher

i know i'm a little late - and i call myself a Steelers fan but....

we'll miss you bill! *sniff*

rocky balboa and bob dylan quotes....

jodi and I went to see rocky balboa the other night. great movie. had a bit of a slow start with rocky giving lots of pep talks that bordered on cheesy/cliche. but he's rocky. that's what we expect. and that's what gets us pumped up when we see him fight.

overall a really good movie though. stick around for the fun closing credits too.

and i've been watching a bob dylan DVD i got for christmas. it's a documentary directed by martin scorcese. really well done. gives a great insight into who he was as an artist. how prolific and new he was at the time. and how much he hated being labeled or pigeon-holed by the press, politics and even his fans.

I didn't realize that he played at the rally where Dr. King gave his "free at last" speech. I also didn't realize that Michael Hutchence was copying Dylan's video for "subterranean homesick blues" when he did the words on the cards for the INXS video!

he was really creative and witty - especially when the press asked stupid questions. check out some of these quotes:

"in those days, artistic success was not dollar-driven. it was whether you had something to say or not."

interviewer: "your songs are supposed to have a subtle message"
bob dylan: "subtle message?"
interviewer: "well they're supposed to"
bob dylan: "where'd you hear that"
interviewer: "in a movie magazine"

interview: "for those of us who are well over 30, would you label yourself and perhaps tell us what your role is?"
bob dylan: "well... I sort of label myself as well under 30."

interviewer: "why do you write surreal songs?"

interviewer: "how many who labor in the same musical vineyard in which you toil, how many are protest singers?"
bob dylan: "how many?" "about 136." "either 136 or 142."

bob dylan: "i'd had it with the whole scene.... I was looking to quit for a while"
interviewer: "what about the scene - what had you 'had it' with? what about the scene were you sick of?
bob dylan: "well, you know, people like you...."

jonathan's blog

hey everyone. my little nephew jonathan has started a blog.

this kid amazes me. he reads so many books it's sick! he'll plow through a 500-page novel in like a week - and he's only 9!

anyhoo, here's the link to his blog for reviewing books and video games.