We rocked the R.E.M. tune “Losing my Religion” in church this morning. As much crap as Kevin received this week over his new MAN-dolin, it really was the key to covering the song right. It all came together and sounded really good. We were actually kind of surprised at the rousing clapping and hollerin’ at the end but I won’t deny that was really nice. It’s not about us of course but it’s cool to see people digging things.
Dave did a super job on the message. The other thing is that our stage crews and designers did a REDONKULOUS job putting together a beach theme. We had a grass skirt around the stage, tiki torches flickering, totem poles on stage as well as palm trees, real surfboards (a feat in north Alabama I’ll tell ya), leis, and a beached-out VW bug in front of the theater. We should have some pictures up from the day soon and if I don’t post them here, I’ll at least get a link to where you can see them.
*update - thanks to Jonathan Clifton, we have video now!
Last Monday evening, me and few of the folks from our band played at Rhodes Ferry Park as part of the city’s “Concerts in the Park” series. Despite the sweltering humidity, there was a good crowd of several hundred people there. Several friends made it out along with plenty from church. We don’t play a simplified setup very often at the theater, so it was nice for me to be able to just have one drum to play and one mic to connect instead of my BIG kit. It was a fun time for all of us - Brent on bass, me on the djembe, Kevin with his acoustic guitar, Amber rockin’ vocals and Jack “Randy Rhodes” Spooner on his electric guitar. We wrapped up the evening having dinner with a small group at Maria Bonita. Good times.
Sunday before last, we covered a song by the band Demon Hunter - One Thousand Apologies. Brent, our bassist, is a big fan of the band and I’m sure was a influence in getting the song on the set list. I like playing heavier stuff… lots of fun and energy to put into it. A big thanks to Chris Wilhelm for the “screaming” vocals 2/3rd’s through the song. That was the icing on the cake!
From left, it’s Jack on bass (so Brent could play leads) dancing around like it’s a bluegrass tune, Kevin on lead vocals, me drumming and Brent with leads and harmonies. In the video he kinda gets shafted as his head is obscured by the video projector.
Audio quality still leaves much to be desired - until we can run a separate audio mix for the video, it’s going to be hit or miss. I believe the audio here was from the on-camera mic.
What an eventful weekend! Friday kicked things off as Megan and I had dinner with another couple that were meeting each other for the first time. I don’t normally get involved with matchmaking, but this one time I did. They met and seemed to like each other so my job is done - whatever happens now is their business. Afterwards, we headed over to the Relay for Life event where Megan’s employer had a tent. She manned the cotton candy and snow cone stations like a pro.
Morning came early Saturday as it was Megan’s graduation day over at UNA. We picked up Jessica along the way and made it to the ceremony in the nick of time. Megan’s folks and Livvie met up with us there. Somehow, I found 5 seats for all of us in the crowded gym. Graduation went off without a hitch although there was an extremely funny moment when this one student’s name was announced followed with someone yelling “IT’S A MIRACLE!”… LOL! Everything paused while all involved regained their composure. Afterward, we all enjoyed a much needed meal at Rigatoni’s.
Sunday I had a bumpy time on the drums. I made it through okay but I wasn’t particularly satisfied with how I played. That happens sometimes. Amber didn’t make it through warm-up before falling ill. She’s okay but thankfully Pam was able to step in and sing in her place (Pam sang with us regularly in the past). Thankfully, the rest of the service went off without a hitch.
Ended the evening with a big meal of steamed crabs at Kevin and Stacey’s. Afterward, we played several rounds of Mario Kart on the Wii before calling it a night.
Monday morning was off to a good start… until my pest control guy left my gate open and my dog got out. Nothing like running 1/4 mile in your dress clothes to make you kind of grumpy. Finally caught up with Kelsey and dragged her back home. I was livid. Thank goodness for yesterdays message on forgiveness. Both my dog AND the pest control guy benfitted from me hearing that so recently.
Today in church, one of the songs we were playing was ended early by Kevin. I didn’t know it at the time, but he had broken a string on his guitar. I was glad I was paying close attention to what was going on because as the drummer… if you keep going accidentally - it’s kinda hard to cover up or make it seem as though you “meant to do that”. Anyhow, I’m trying harder and harder to not rely on written music as much as I have in the past. Today, I only had music for the two new songs in the set and played the other three older songs from memory. It’s nice to have the safety net of being able to look over at my music and see what I need to be doing. It’ll be a LOT nicer to know the song backwards and forwards though and not have to look at music at all. How can I do that? Practice more. On the weeks I play, I practice a couple of hours - more if we have new songs to learn. I could stand to add more time to that though. I mentioned to Kevin an idea we bounced around in the past, and that was to go to 2 band practices a week instead of the 1 practice we’ve been doing for years. If we really want to get better, we have to start doing things differently now. That’s really all it boils down to.
I was also the holdup during sound check today… not so much me, but the sound techs dialing in my mics. Things sounded “wrong” in my in-ear mix only to find out the channels I was using were still set for the other drummer… he and I use totally different microphones and also have totally different requirements for what we hear in our monitors. So… all my stuff was messed up today. In the end, everything seemed to work out but I can’t deny that it’s a little frustrating. Despite that, everyone stayed pleasant and got things worked out and that’s what really matters.
In other band stuff, Megan was up on stage today playing keys. She did a great job especially considering she only had 2 days notice. She put a lot of effort into getting ready - playing the piano at my house going over her parts for most of the day Saturday. She even had time to help me in the yard too…
After much wrangling, I was able to get some output from Final Cut Pro. I think the breakthrough was acting on my suspicion that the version of FCP I was using (5.0.4) didn’t play well with either my Powerbook or Leopard. I’m thinking the latter.
Anyway, from the left it’s Kevin on keys and vocals, Brent on bass, me on drums, Amber on vocals, Jack on lead and Will (although he was obscured by the projector most of the time). Enjoy.
After hitting around 80 last week, temperatures over the weekend dipped back to winter levels even prompting a freeze warning a few nights. How special is that? The cold was especially bad Monday evening when I brought my camera along to snap some shots of some friends playing their first softball game of the season. Wearing my winter clothes and wearing a toboggan is just plain WEIRD for softball. Things should be returning to more normal temperatures soon though. I hope that Saturday turns out nicely as I plan to head down to the Barber Motorsports Park (just east of Birmingham) for a Honda Superbike race. I’ll keep an eye on the weather report - even though they run in the rain, I’m not a big enough fan yet to watch motorcycle racing in the rain.
On the music front, we rocked some Switchfoot on Sunday. Big crowd there - 186 folks. No mishaps (that anyone noticed) despite having a slightly bumpy warm-up. A huge thanks to Chris W for getting my drums sounding good through the PA. It’s nice having someone that knows what all the sound gear does and how to get the best out of it. You really can tell when he’s driving.
On a separate subject, Final Cut Pro is kicking my behind. Never have I had so much trouble learning how to use an application. I’ve got a feeling that most of the problems I’m encountering are tied to issues with the version of FCP I am using (5.0.4) and the Leopard operating system. I’m going to load it on a Tiger system and see if I get better results. We’ll see.
I’ve gotta say, getting up this morning was tough. I had to get going though as no matter what my condition, I had to fill the drum throne today. Took my drugs, loaded up my stuff and off I went. I was the slow one today getting set up. I needed to set up all my drums today as we were playing Van Halen’s “Jump” as an instrumental intro to kick things off this morning. 80’s songs = more toms… LOL Finally, I got things setup and got rolling. Surprisingly, I don’t think we had a hitch in the music despite not having practiced this week. Despite being weak, I felt okay most of the morning and only started crashing after things were over and we were packing back up. I spent the remainder of the day resting as I was pretty drained from the mornings activities.
I plan on heading back to the office tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll be feeling better.
Last Sunday was a huge day at Crosspoint. My role in the festivities was to procure my buddy Brian’s NASCAR vehicle to use as an attraction in front of the movie theater we meet in. This car travels in style - it has it’s own custom 40′ trailer. Luckily, Jason (as a CDL holder) had experience towing long trailers so it was no problem for him to get it moved around. Having the car there was a big hit! A special thanks to Brian G. for his generosity in loaning that to us.
Between babysitting the car and taking photos, that had me tied up all morning. What does it look like to do church at a movie theater in Decatur, AL?
All in all, it was a great weekend despite not getting a break at all. I had a big photo session that Saturday that had me tied up for most of the day then the evening picking up and then storing the race car. This weekend looks to be a busy one also but with me still not back to 100% (I feel about 50% right now honestly) I may be taking a break whether I want to or not. All I know is that it stinks to be sick and I can’t wait to feel like myself again ASAP.
The wedding shoot last night went off without a hitch… except for when the bride and groom kissed at the altar, neither I nor Richard had a clear view to get the photo - a plant was in the way on BOTH sides. It was an important shot but despite the obstacles, a solution was found that worked for everyone.
On the way home, I met up with some friends at The Brick to hang out for a short time but ended staying out longer than I had intended. I’m not sure of the name of the band that was playing but the were really good. The drummer was also very good. I enjoyed that a lot.
Sunday morning came especially early with the start of daylight savings. After getting all my stuff set up, I downed a Monster energy drink. BIG MISTAKE. Now I was “too” awake. So much so that I noticed my hand shaking when I went for a second one. I thought better of that decision and stuck to water to hopefully get back to normal Mt. Dew levels of caffeine. When everything got cranked up, the music was rockin. Amber belted out the Martina McBride song and we pulled off the new “Rise” song without a glitch. We were definitely “on” today. Dave did a great job wrapping up the series on the book of Ruth and got everyone prepared for the next series on the schedule.
Spent the rest of the day with friends talking about drums and audio and then the evening with Megan. She was using me for my internet connection…
Oh, heres a sample from last evening. Congratulations to the new couple!
