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.

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.

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.