home sweet brick box

the tour/vacation is finally over! it's actually good to be home - our brick box in the desert. to sleep in our bed. to take a decent shower.

all in all, i loved being on the road. visiting with folks. playing a lot. people were so generous and kind. out of the 100 CDs we took with us, we only have 9 left.

here are some goofy pics of jodi wearing her grandmother's accessories....

nice shades.

members only. c'est tres chic, no?

07.29.05 - 07.30.05 - meadville, PA

here are some pics from meadville. everyone was so supportive and encouraging. the worship leader, Brent Henderson even took a back seat and played keys without singing a whole lot - very humble for a guy who toured the world and used to write with Steven Curtis Chapman. the worship band there rocked too.

07.29.05 - cleveland, OH

steve and I had one of our best shows last night. good turnout. great venue - the sound and lighting made all the difference. i screwed up a few lyrics, but the vibes were good in the room.

lots of great responses from jodi's friends and family... and from a few strangers. a curtain was up so that casual coffee customers could hear, but not see the show without paying.

our youngest fan, 3 week-old Keller. congrats Zack and Shelley - sorry the picture's blurry.

i guess the seekers stage has been graced with the likes of the ragamuffin band (rich mullins' former band), the lost dogs (kurt would be giddy), shaun groves, eli, zoegirl, and a few other national christian acts. hoping they get one of these in AZ - we could use a nice clean christian venue.

we played till 11pm, then packed up and drove from cleveland to new castle. got in at about 1:30am and we play meadville tonight. i'm LOVING life on the road.

more butt-arms

we had a little too much fun with the camera phone and our elbows.

reminder: these are the arms, not the back-sides, of adults and kids....

jonathan's arm.

our nephew luke. he's only six, and it's already hairy!

above is my butt-arm. kinda chunky, eh?

this is the most hairy and freckle-covered of them all. the butt arm of my brother-in-law, kosta:

anna

kelly and deke were so sweet. they let us crash in their basement when we played in columbus. the only condition was that their little anna had to show up on the blog....

anna too close.

upside-anna-down.

07.28.05 - columbus, OH

columbus was a blast. not the greatest turnout. but susan and the crew at the mustard seed were such great hosts.

got to have dinner with my sister and her family before the show.

steve and I are getting tighter as a duo. just in time for us to part ways after tomorrow's show. he's a great guy and an audiophile like me (e.g. he and i casually conversated about velocity-sensitive distortion on wurlitzer keyboard pads).

the road to columbus (leads to me?)

jodi driving - eyes on the road, girl!

capitalizing on god's wonders

the grand canyon
intimate human "relations"
niagara falls
worship

what do these things have in common? they're all god's creation, made for us to enjoy, and taken by us to make money and earn status.

i was thinking about niagara falls. how god made it for us to marvel at. to enjoy and appreciate. and then how we, mankind, have built up this shiny, ritzy, money-making frame around it.

i feel the same way about human "relations" - we've exploited it with pornography, entertainment, clothing.

and although worship music is an 'industry' i'm currently pursuing, I've started to feel similar vibes. guess it's one of the many things we'll look back upon from heaven, realizing that aside from jesus, we had it all wrong.

we play columbus tonight. praying I don't ruin it with notions of status and income.

the butt-arm

our 6-year-old nephew luke taught us how to make an arm look like a butt.

we're fascinated.

the falls of niagara

a rule of thumb on tours it to keep the overhead way low. we've not followed this rule very well. airfares, 2 days in cedar point, rental vehicles, eating out, and... a trip to niagara falls!

jodi and I went with her parents, and her brother's family, including their porcelain baby doll daughter, shannon. i'd probably been to the falls about 10 times - my family lived in ontario for a while growing up. but somehow, when my parents took me and my sister, we managed to miss a few fun things....

i finally made it onto the maid of the mist - fun and refreshing since it was a hot day. the horseshoe falls are fast, massive and overwhelming. can't believe god made something so huge for us to enjoy and appreciate.

and we went onto the US side for the cave of the winds tour. you have to do this! we were blown away by the sheer force of those falls. a great reminder for us to fear god a little more.

07.24.05 - new castle, PA

pastor mark and the gang at first church of god in new castle were so sweet! they welcomed me and steve back with so much enthusiasm.

the congregation responded so well to our tribal worship set (me on acoustic, steve on djembe). at the end, someone shouted out "tug!" - and we got to do one more song as the pastor dismissed the service.