Tracks and schedules

That has been my life for the last few days. I have been working on some backing tracks, been at a friends studio for some programming insights, and also making sure that all of our bases are covered for our 2 week trip to the west coast. I am the acting road manager for DDB and this trip is really the first time I have had to do more than just show up and play my parts.

We are playing 3 shows with Casting Crowns on this trip, then playing at a camp, and then stopping in at a church to lead worship on the way home.

Pray for Cassi's sanity as we are gone for 13 days on this run.

Peace

You have one life. Do something. Seriously.

Our country is influenced by society. Society is made up of people groups. People groups are comprised of families. Families are made up of persons.

The only thing wrong with our country is the way people act on their human nature. I have decided to work on my human NURTURE and see what we can actually change.

If we can change or influence people we can ultimately influence or change society and our country. We can do this one life at a time. If you find it in yourself to show love and kindness today it would really help. We also need to hold each other to a higher moral standard. There was a time in our countries existence that we did a better job of this. Corruption, greed, refusal of responsibility have all attributed to every scandal, crime, and not-so-moral decision we have seen.

Hey, you gotta realize, these are people breaking the law. That seems ridiculous to say that but if we had good, law abiding citizens then we would be a very different country. I will make a pledge to love, enrich, invest in and hold accountable those in my circle. If everyone does it we will change the world. I will make mistakes but I will have those that love and invest in me too, so I plan on growing myself.

Peace

Synthesize this!

I am a bit of a slacker. No new blogs in 6 days. I do have about 3 I am working on in my head. This first one is going to be light hearted and fun.

Derek, Joe, and I went on a "spot" date with Avalon to a suburb of Chicago. At the church we played at I saw this:

This real synthesizer was designed by Serge Tcherepnin and was built and hand soldered by Walter, the "worship dude" at the church, in 1974. Walter spent about an hour total with me and some of the other guys showing us the workings of this really cool synth. The modules alone cost about $4000 in 1974. Then he had to build it from the schematic, hand solder the points, and mount it in a custom case. Walter also wrote a symphony based on classical forms in the style of house music and even integrated the Serge throughout the 4 different movements. I want one now. Thanks Walter!

Peace

Cast and Crew

This was our entire cast and crew on the We Will Stand Tour. This picture was taken after the last show in McDonough, GA. What a motley bunch huh?

I just started reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity yesterday. My worship pastor, Ron Alley, and I got in to a discussion about it. Seems pretty good. I am a VERY slow reader and have read 5 chapters since starting the book yesterday. That is some kind of record for me. I am sure it will create all kinds of blog "goo" for me to talk about.

Peace

PS here is a pic of everyone's real personality! ;-)

I am on the road with a bunch of idiots

Man the last few days have been pretty fun. With the end of touring getting close there are plenty of shenanagins going on. Practical jokes are starting up. Everyone is trying to get everyone else to have a good time and laugh.

The culprits are Heath Hollensbe, Steve Hartley, Adam Brake, Joe Stevens, Derek Williams, Jeremi Richardson, Jana Long, Greg Long, Daniel Doss, and many others with an honorable mention.

Now, before I get fired 2 days before tour is over for insunuating that anyone from Avalon is and "idiot" I do apologize, that comment does not apply to you. :) Seriously though, we are all having a great time and enjoying each others company.

Here are some pics from today. Joe lost a game. The picture was shows what his penance was.

Pics from the road

On tour you make your own rules

I am not sure if you can readily see the irony in this picture. The sign says "NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT". Our bus was parked there ALL DAY. The crazy thing is that no one said anything. It is funny how a bus lets you make your own rules. There are times when we go to the hotel after the show and we just park on the road with the hazard lights on. We are blocking a lane of traffic usually. No one says anything. There are areas in the venues and churches that say "DO NOT ENTER" or "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY". If you are wearing a tour pass people think that you are allowed to pretty much do anything, or they are too "scared" to say anything

People are funny.

Peace

Almost there

We are over halfway done with the We Will Stand Tour. For those of you in the Nashville area, we have a concert coming up. We will be at Harpeth Heights Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN on Tuesday April, 29. I believe it is a 7 pm show.

Peace

My Typical Day (now)

A few people asked what a typical day looks like for me now. It is a little different from the start of the tour. Everyone is getting settled in on their own schedules.

I have found that in most cases the looks like this:

09:00 buses arrive at venue to unload
10:00 buses are unloaded and one bus heads to the hotels. If I go to the hotel this is the time to do it usually but…
10:30 I wake up. You will see why later.
11:30 Get my gear off the bus and in the venue
12:00 Lunch time
13:00 Setup my gear and possibly line check system
14:00 Get showers and start getting cleaned up for show
16:00 Sound checks for artists that want them. Lately all the artists have been happy with the mix so sometimes we do this and sometimes we don’t.
17:00 Dinner
18:15 Devotions, usually led by someone on the tour, but occasionally a pastor of the venue will lead
19:00 Show starts
20:30 Intermission
20:45 2nd half of show
22:00 break down gear
22:10 Meet and Greet
22:20 Sign autographs
23:00 Finish getting stuff packed and out of venue
23:45 Buses go to hotel to let crew shower
00:30 Buses head out for new city. Depending on the day we are not able to get out of hotel until 1 am. Some shows take longer to break down and such
01:00 go to bed if you can wind down enough
02:00 force yourself to go to bed so you can start the process again. I have gone to bed as late as 04:30, but that is not typical.

You wake up a lot at night without earplugs, Simply Sleep (or Tylenol PM), and the 62 degree air blowing on you and then someone gets cold so they turn it to 76 degrees. Touring is not as restful as one may think.

All that to say…today was completely different. It did not even look like this. I was up early, worked out, setup my stuff, worked out more. Talked with the local peeps, showered at the venue and wrote the blog (although I do not have a connection and will have to publish it later)

Peace

I got took, to uh ball game

We were at a minor league game between the Jacksonville Suns and the Carolina Mudcats. Our tour was the post game entertainment. We had no sound check and then we had to setup the show in 20 minutes. So, we set up the speaker stacks on utility carts and reduced the band gear to a kick, snare, bass guitar, acoustic guitar keyboard, and vocals. They pulled the stage trailer on to the field right in front of the dugout in this picture. An interesting mishap was when 5 of us grabbed the feeder cable, which is actually 5 power cables that carry 3 phase power to the stage from the generator. Unfortunately 5 guys running 50 feet with 40 feet of slack is not a good thing. The power distribution rack came off the stage and landed face first on the ground. I hope it is ok. We had to rig a few things to get power to work last night. I also hope that no one from the production company ever reads this blog. If they do then all of this was a joke, otherwise I am being completely honest.

We ended up having a great day. Free ball game, franks, fireworks, peel and eat shrimp, popcorn, etc. That has to be good.

Our hotel was amazing too. This is our view from the 9th floor of the Hyatt. There was a cool center about 3 blocks from the mall that had shops and restaurants. Joe and I had some great sushi for lunch. Derek caught up with us at the sushi place.

Days like today are relaxing and make it a little easier to be on the road. It is terrible being away from the loved ones though.

Peace