I’m sorry my blog has fallen a bit by the wayside as of late, but I’ve had less time lately to spend on it. If you’re following me on Twitter though then you’re up to date on the day to day stuff. Several of my close friends are on Twitter and that’s how we’ve been keeping up with one another for the most part. To that end, I’m still digging my iPhone. So far, it’s the coolest little piece of technology I’ve got. The Blackberry 8700G I had before it served me well, but it’s time had past and it was time for a technology upgrade.

I briefly played around with another “look” for my blog, but it turned out to need a whole lot more time to keep it looking good so I dumped it and went back to this one for now. WordPress (my blog software back-end) is about to upgrade to a new version any day now and I think this current them I have going will transition well once the upgrade is released. That’s not something I could say for the one I was trying out.

Church was great today! We started a new series titled “Inked : Leaving your Mark” complete with a real tattoo artist and a live tattoo session on stage. You can check out the service HERE. You can also check out the intro video HERE. In that last video, you’ll see Stacey (Kevin’s wife) then Megan (my chica) and then Rodney (Jenny-Fur’s Hubby). Incidentally, Rodney was the one getting the tattoo work done on stage. He’s no stranger to tattoo’s. Check out the intro video and you’ll see.

Kevin was a trooper today. He was actually less fussy despite him fighting pneumonia (or so he says… heh). The band made it just fine with a limited number of “brown” notes. Thanks to Chris for holding down the low end and to Tony for showing us that those guitar effect pedals have more than just a “clean” and “distorted” setting. I’m just saying – if you’ve got technology, it’s amazing what you can do if you learn how to really use it.

Had a great afternoon hanging out with friends for lunch at Rodney’s place. KILLER potato soup over there. WOW. Alexis (their daughter) had an incident with her bike though. She was riding it down her driveway then suddenly forgot how to ride. That’s never good. Funny, but not good. Back home for some laundry and nappage then met up with a crew at Cracker Barrel to get abused by a Dutch waitress. Good times.

Back to work tomorrow which means it’s past my bedtime.

Friday last week ended a busy few days for me. The big news is that my parents are in town for a visit. Picked them up from the airport Thursday without incident, but had to put up with the minor inconvenience of VP Dick Cheney’s motorcade returning to Air Force Two – they temporarily shut down a few roads which caused some delay but nothing unreasonable. Anyway, I spent Friday evening with friends relaxing at Maria Bonita. Megan was under the weather and stayed in that evening to get some much needed rest.

Saturday was a big day of football. Alabama won, the Vols got smushed (I am NOT at all happy with that NOR am I impressed with our new QB) and Auburn fell to LSU. A mixed bag for sure. I spent the evening photographing a surprise birthday party for my friend David’s 30th. His wife did a great job of planning things out and keeping it all under wraps. I was pleased with my photos although the more I look at the images coming from my 5D, I really only turn to my old 20D for backup purposes as the quality difference is monumental. Speaking of 5D, Canon announced the newest iteration of the 5D, the 5D Mark II. Full-frame and 21 megapixels has me (and plenty others) drooling. It’s got a spot on my wish list for sure.

Sunday morning came early. I was on drum duty so that meant I needed to get there by 6:30 am. Due to some logistical challenges, the mood was not its normal cheery albeit groggy self. It was crotchety. Not one to let other people’s moods influence mine too much, I went about my normal setup routine which went off without a hitch. My audio setup was even smooth which was a pleasant surprise. Almost as quickly as it began, church was over and it was time to pack up and leave. Our lunch crowd avoided the regular restaurant choices and instead opted for Pizza Hut. As a result, we had food in front of us after only a few minutes then were headed home in no time. MUCH better than burning 2+ hours at most other places.

Ended the evening having a nice cookout with the family.

After a short week that still seemed like it was a full one, Saturday was a welcome break. The overcast morning made sleeping in even that more enjoyable. I did get up to watch qualifying for the Belgian grand prix then snoozed a little more before REALLY getting up and making breakfast. My big acheivements for the day were vacuuming my car and checking the tire pressures (all were about a half-lb. down). Oh, I also picked about 2 lbs. of mushrooms growing in my front yard. Nothing exotic like Morels or anything so everything went in the trash.

Later that evening, Megan’s class reunion was going on. I got a chance to meet several of her old classmates and make new friends. Afterwards, we and another couple headed over to Cafe 113 for a little more to eat and a few drinks. We called it an evening before too long though as an early morning was coming up.

I woke up around 4 AM for some reason and dozed on and off till I finally got up at 5:30, made breakfast and loaded up my drums stuff. I played the same setup as last week. so no changes there. Once I got going things were business as usual. Everything went extremely smoothly today which unfortunately, is surprising (LOL). Musically, things went great too – everything was on and there weren’t any noticeable bobbles. With the 2 meeting times Sunday, we do now have room to grow once again. Attendance overall was up too! We weren’t sure how many folks would show up for the new 9 AM service but there was a good group there.

Afterwards, it was off to Logan’s for lunch. That’s when getting up as early as I did really started weighing on me. I was spent. Megan was too. Had a moment of comic relief though when Layla, Alison and Jeremy’s infant daughter, spit up all over Alison after a bottle. The first wave (heh) saw about a mouthful of formula come up and hit her on the shoulder – moments later, even before she could do something about her shoulder, about a HALF CUP comes up and hits her on the neck and runs down… well… everywhere. I couldn’t stop laughing. Now, while I’m laughing, the other girls there are trying to help and not laugh too hard either but the way it all played out was just hilarious. In the meantime, the other kids are running amok. Good times.

I went home and tried to watch the Belgian race I recorded from the morning but my bed won out and I soon found myself asleep without setting an alarm. About 5 hours later I wake up. Great.

It’s no big secret that I get up at the same time every day, even on weekends. On some days – like the weekends, I may go back to be afterwards but I’m up and about at 6 am everyday. It sure makes Monday mornings a non-issue. Well… that’s about to change. Starting this Sunday, my church goes to 2 services: 9:00am and 10:15am. What that means is that on the Sunday’s I’m scheduled to play, I have to be there at 6:30′ish. To be honest, that’s a little early to be thinking about banging on some drums. With this challenge though comes the realization that we’re growing – to continue that growth, things have to be done to accommodate it, in this case, going to a second service.

If technical gremlins can be kept to a minimum, mornings usually go well. It’s when things go south that things get interesting. Yesterday things went pretty smoothly for the most part, at least from my perspective. We were actually done with warm-up with almost 45 minutes to spare. That was a nice change. I played my full kit this go around… 2 rack toms, 2 floor toms and of course my kick and snare. I went with my birch/maple Masterworks snare for today. Depending on what we’re doing I can pick from the latter or my Steve Ferrone, copper piccolo or my Dunnett titanium snare. Each has its own “voice” so it’s nice to have the flexibility to pick from a couple. Honestly though, sometimes I just bring whatever is in a case as I head out the door. Cymbal-wise, I had my usual crashes but went with my 14″ Zildjian A Custom hats and 21″ K heavy ride mainly for the Decemberadio tune (it was a little on the heavy side). When I want a “crisper” sound, I turn to my 13″ K/Z custom hats instead. The 14 inchers just “slosh” better. My mic setup stays the same in any case – Shure Beta 98′s on the toms, Beta 91 in the kick, KSM 137′s for overheads and of course the venerable SM57 on the snare.

All the above has to be unpacked, set up, mic’d up and plugged up before we’re ready to go. Mix that in with a groggy drummer and you’re in for some fun. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

We started off a new series at church this week called “Deadliest Catch”. It centers on the book of Jonah. As a result, we covered Hoobastank’s tune “Running Away”. Thanks to Jonathan Clifton for the video work. Things are getting better and better in that area. I LIKE IT.

Crosspoint HD from jcride442 on Vimeo.

That’s the title of a Dave Matthew’s Band song and album by the same name. It could also be used to describe my DVD player – dangit. Jason was over here the other day so I was going to show him something I had on DVD only to find it wasn’t working. When you put a disc in, the player would try to read it then after a minute, display a cryptic error message. I Googled the error message and found the problem – the spindle motor was dead. There was a slim chance that it had frozen in place and by removing the player’s cover, manually turning the disc could free up the mechanism and you could be back in business. I did all that to no avail. It’s really dead. I hate it when my technology malfunctions.

While things are going down the tubes, I noticed my car being a bit sluggish when starting Tuesday. Progressively, it got worse throughout the day but I was always able to start. This morning though, it was REALLY sluggish so I headed straight to Sears for a battery and called the office to let them know I would be in later. Turns out going to Sears was a great idea. Once I got there and turned the car off, it wouldn’t crank. It was indeed the battery and nothing more serious (or expensive) like a starter or alternator problem. Got a new battery and now I’m back in biznass.

Switching gears, I got a new wide-angle lens. I actually got it in an equal trade for another wide-angle lens I had. Me and this guy on one of the photography forums I frequent luck out as he was looking for the lens I had and I was looking for the one he had. They are both equal in value (+/- $10) at about $700. So after checking him out (he did the same on me) and looking legit, we each shipped our lenses off to each other. Everything went smoothly and we were both happy with the trade. Just goes to show there are indeed still some honest folks out there that you can trust.

Looks like my 3-week break from drumming at church is over as I’m back on deck for this Sunday. In the very near future (2 or 3 weeks), things will be stepping up as we’ll be going to TWO services on Sunday mornings. I have to say that’s pretty exciting. The move to two services was prompted by a good problem to have… more and more people coming to make room for. I’m really looking forward to it.

For those of you that don’t know, the church I attend meets in a movie theater. In a nutshell, we’re there because we outgrew the building we were in prior to the move and there are no other locations suitable for us at this time. Here’s the thing… we just rent the theater. We have to bring in and set-up/take down all lights, sound, staging, music gear, projectors, kids areas, coffee bar, etc. every Sunday. There’s a lot involved. From what I’ve heard, we may have a big influx of volunteers that will make the logistics a little less demanding on individuals. That’s a good thing…

That’s me in the spot… light…

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!

Crosspoint band from jcride442 on Vimeo.

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.

*thanks to Lexi Culp for the photo

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.