roommate from purgatory

talk about having a bad roommate. skull fracture? yikes.

coldplay

i've learned from gigging around Phoenix that around here, you can't have a large draw to an event simply because a band is playing, or because of any event gimmick. what seems to attract large numbers is an already established community. the 'build it and they will come' mentality doesn't seem to work here. flyers and advertisement just don't bring large crowds to see a band.... that is, unless, the name of the band is coldplay.



though I'm not a huge fan, my drummer josh dragged me to the show. front row!

i was pretty impressed. they had an enormous crowd. and they put on a really good show. chris martin is definitely an entertainer (though i've never seen a male skip as much as he does). the lights and visuals were tasteful and spectacular at the same time.

i probably won't buy their new album, but i'm glad i got to see them live.

gigs x 5

we're beat! just got done with 5 gigs in the same weekend. after the experiment on friday night, I led worship at crosspointe's mens breakfast saturday morning.

then we were off to tucson for a huge gig at The Cool Church (tucson community church - TCC - get it?). everyone at TCC was so great. warm, friendly, supportive.

josh shed blood yet again - from a splinter in his hand this time. and we were praying the whole night that he wouldn't fall off the back of his drum riser. he played so hard that one of the boom mics fell down. the pastor from TCC told him he was "an animal." we think that's a good thing.

this was probably our biggest crowd as a band. and we hit an all-time record for number of CDs sold in one night! super big thanks to ken and toby at TCC. hope to see you again soon!

next up was worship sunday morning at crosspointe - kurt led from electric while I played drums and sang.

and finally, this afternoon we played a worship set at eternal books music - a sweet PoMo christian bookstore with plasma screens everywhere and their own custom painted H2. Eric, our host at eternal, was the real deal, fo' sheezy.

they have a full band setup inside their store with speaker stacks, lighting, and a camera that feeds images of the band to a couple of the TVs in the store.


to sum it all up... we're tired. mad props to kurt and josh for hanging in there all weekend. you guys are the best!

the experiment

"good grief, it's a three-piece!" -abby 6

here are some pix from the gig in phoenix tonight. the kids there were fun and Mike was such a great host.

josh.

kurt.

paul trying to hide from the camera.

in other news, jodi had a makeover today. here is a picture of her goth-eye.

recording funk

sheesh! that vacation took some serious momentum off the recording process.

it has now been over a month since i've even recorded anything. i've been back for a whole week from vacation and all the busy-ness of life has kept me away from doing what i'd been thinking about the entire time I was away.

so here i sit, praying for motivation to get things kickin' again. except my whole guitar rig is at the church all week. and i'm working night shifts, so my voice is definitely not where it should be to record vocals. poor me!

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.