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....

ikea

yesterday was the day ikea came to tempe.

today was the day Jodi decided we needed to go to ikea. chaos ensued.

there was a line of cars so long just to get off the exit ramp that they had to close the exit. we had to go down to the next exit and turn around. then, there was a long line of cars merging to simply turn into the ikea parking lot.

once parked, we packed our day-packs and made the trek across the great divide that is the ikea parking lot. finally inside, we waded through the herds of cattle, milling through the novelty of modern furniture and decor at decent prices. it was crowded in the main showroom. it was crowded in the marketplace. it was crowded in the warehouse area. we had to endure all three areas. you can't avoid walking through them in ikea.

fortunately, we knew what we wanted, so we went straight to get those things. I had to remind Jodi we weren't there to shop. we were there to buy - there's a difference. she did pretty well though.

the line to checkout wasn't actually all that bad. but once i'd walked all the way back to the car, there was another line, just to drive it up to pick up what we'd purchased. and yet another line to leave the place.

by the time we were done, we were tired, thirsty, grumpy and had to go to the bathroom. ikea must be doing something right.

norton anti-virus messed with my worship

had such a great day. truly a blessing. Josh (drummer) and I went to a local radio station and did a live on-air performance of "blessed one" and "tug on my heart." the show was such classic AM Christian talk-radio. Pastor Ernie Olea was the host. as he talked, there was dramatic music playing in the background. and at one point, he pulled out the oil bottle to annoint the airwaves while he prayed. he's such a kindred spirit. we were really blessed to be there. josh played some tasteful djembe and bongos.

tonight was the debut of my band, hopefully in this form for the next few worship gigs. carl, kurt, josh and me played together for the first time at about 5pm today. we then played at 7:30pm for our first show- a two hour gig! it was at an outreach house & branch campus for a local Calvary bible college. the vibe there was so great. our sound guy, steve, is a guitarist - and musicians almost always run sound better than your average church sound guy.

all went smoothly... that is, until norton anti-virus started automatically on the laptop in the middle of our worship set. freaked Jodi out a little. otherwise, things felt really good. sold a few CDs. made a few friends. got another couple of gigs. thanks Big Man.

back to the studio (your opinion, please)

i'm so stoked. just got back from the recording studio of a new friend. he is the producer for a worship CD that's being recorded among all the foursquare churches in AZ.

he said he wants to use one or two of my songs for the worship CD! and he wants me to play some guitar parts for the other songs that have been recorded.

this is so much an answer to prayers. the song he said would definitely fit on the CD is one i just wrote in august. i've been praying for God to provide me a way to record some of these new songs without having to pay for the musicians and studio time. this is just like Him to make a blessing happen this way. i just met the guy last month at a retreat.

what's starting to feel wierd is this: God blessed me by giving me this opportunity. and I am very thankful. yet there are people with whom i've talked and shared my vision for worship, songwriting, and recording over the past year - and i never really heard they were still looking for songs for the CD until last month when i ran into this guy. meantime, a few specific people have known what God is calling me to do, and have known that this CD project has been under way for almost 2 years, but have never told me about it. sheesh, am i whiny and bitter!

so should i call them out on it? if they comment about the CD or my song, should I tell them it would have been nice for them to mention it to me instead of leaving me to find out about it on my own? your opinions are welcome.