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 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.
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!
As I suspected, it was COLD this morning. In the teens even. It was time to break out the SERIOUS thermal underwear. What do I mean by that? I had some Patagonia Capilene 4 bottoms going on. Long ago I found out that if you really want to be warm, take a good hard look at the stuff people in extreme sports or on expeditions wear. There are ways to stay warm AND DRY without bundling up to look like the Michelin Man.
For the most part, church went well. Had a funny moment when all but Kevin left the stage… apparently, we had one more song to do but according to what we had been informed, we were done. I was 3/4 of the way to the back of the theater when I heard “the band has one more song to do”. Um… we do? So - BACK to the stage we went while everyone got a good laugh and we played the last song of the set before Dave came up.
When we started the first song, my kick drum sounded REALLY weak. I thought to myself, “surely they turned on my kick mic as it’s pretty obvious if its off”. When things are working properly (which is becoming a rarity these days unfortunately) I can feel my kick as the stage moves with the beat. Not so the first song or two. My concerns were confirmed when I asked about it later. Not only was my kick mic off, but my snare drum mic also - probably the 2 most important mics for the drums. Sigh. Topping that off, there was a hum coming from two of the channels on the soundboard I use. Unplugging my mics and cables from the affected channels didn’t change anything so I knew the problem wasn’t on my end. I hope that through all this our sound folks are learning more and more about what they do to make these situations occur less in the future or at the least speed up troubleshooting them.
Anyway, I got a chance to visit a different church this evening to listen to another friend of mine play drums there. SHE did a great job. They played a lot of the songs we’ve played in the past but in a bit of a “tamer” style if you will. Sitting in the crowd was nice for a change.
Okay, I got too busy again. Thankfully I’ve been able to squeeze in a quiet evening or two to recuperate when I haven’t been out with friends. I’ve got a good circle of folks I hang out with that are easy-going and funny to boot. It’s refreshing to be able to kick back and just relax outdoors in the cool evening and make each other laugh. The other night, a bunch of us were at Maria Bonita out on the patio at a table. The sun had set and the wait staff were lighting the candles on the tables but didn’t light ours. I stopped a waitress and asked if she would light our candle and my buddy Jonathan P. immediately said “Actually, what he’s trying to say is would you light his fire?” I think the people at the next table even got a laugh out of that one.
Earlier in the week, several of us had gotten together at The Brick to commemorate 1 year since the old Brick burned. They had a great free buffet which I took advantage of. Went home early though since it was a Monday night - not a usual party evening.
Switching gears, my friend and pastor, Dave had to undergo emergency surgery last Saturday for a perforated colon. Let me tell you, after visiting him in the hospital and seeing what you have to deal with after that procedure, that is not a fun experience by any stretch of the imagination. He’s since come home now where he’s recovering. Get well soon bro.
On a lighter note, I did go and visit Dave that Saturday he was in the hospital. Dave and his wife Dana are only a couple of years older than me, not much at all. Why this is significant is because after I left, the attending nurse asked Dana if I was their son… I can only imagine the look on her face at this point, but she said “no” but followed that up with asking the nurse how old they thought I was. “Sixteen.”
Wow.
Dana has now asked that I try and look older around them. I do call her “mom” now though whenever I call over to their place.
This past weekend was a BBQ competition called Riverfest that happens here annually. It’s an event put on by the Decatur Jaycees. I went out both days to enjoy the food, music and also to take a few photos. It was a good time for sure but it made for a packed weekend. Next weekend is Big Spring Jam over in Huntsville. That’s a Friday through Sunday event. There’s bands performing every day that I want to see so I’m thinking I’ll be over there most of the weekend. I want to see: Joan Jett, Breaking Benjamin, Seether, Skillet, Foreigner, Barlow Girl, Jars of Clay… that’s just a few of them. We’ll see what develops.
And that’s just what we did to kick off our new series at church “Pure Sex“. Right before Dave came on, we performed John Mayer’s version of “I’ve got a Woman”. I’ve seen the video that was shot and can hopefully share that very soon. It was a lot of fun to play - big props to Jack and Brent for their parts but especially to Kevin for singin’ it. Great job fellas!
Even though the temperatures weren’t up the the triple digits, it was still hot and humid. Like always, I was wondering why I even took a shower by the time I got my drums and mics set up - my shirt was soaked with sweat. Lovely. I’ll sure be glad when fall arrives and I can stay drier.
I spent last Friday evening with Jordan - trying to scope out some locations for her senior photos. I think we’ve found some good spots to as long as the weather cooperates next weekend, I can get hers and another girl’s shots knocked out. Ate dinner at Mama Fu’s on the way home. I wish we had one of those here in town.
I think Saturday, I worked a little bit on dozens of projects but didn’t complete a single one. I hate it when that happens. To me it feels like I didn’t accomplish anything I wanted to. I did get a lot of rest though.
