Craig McClellan

Music Recommendation

2009-06-17T18:57:00.004-05:00

Alright, as an experiment in my plan to update this blog more frequently, I thought a semi-regular music recommendation post might be something fun.

Today's spotlight will be on Parachute and their album Losing Sleep.

On Sunday, Laura and I went to Nashville's 3rd and Lindsley to hear one of our favorite artists, Andy Davis play. Parachute was the opener for this show. Laura was excited to hear them because she had downloaded a song of theirs from iTunes for free, but I hadn't really heard of them.

They took the stage and opened with their song Ghost and I was instantly hooked. The band was tight, the melody was catchy, and the lead singer sounded great.

Song after song I was continually impressed. So much so actually that I bought their CD on my iPhone while they were still performing.

I've now had a few days to listen to the album and I have to say there is not a bad song on the album. Their sound is not completely original. It fits in with most current pop (a la Coldplay and The Fray), but their melodies and the lead singer's voice make them stand out in my mind.

I'm going to be on the road a lot over the next few weeks and know that I will be listening to Losing Sleep for a lot of the trip. It's great driving music and just an overall good listen. I haven't heard a bad song.

Rethinking my Social Media

2009-06-17T01:36:00.003-05:00

I know that not many people read this blog. I'd say a main reason is my lack of any content.

Now that I'm graduated and have a little bit more free time in my life, I'm in the middle of rethinking how I want to do Social Media.

I've realized that I spend a large amount of time on the internet, but I don't do much worthwhile with that time.

Twitter has become a main outlet for me, and I love it. However, I want to get away from the constant tweets of what I'm doing (though not completely), and try and make it more worthwhile for people to read.

The same will go for this blog. I feel like I have some things stirring in me right now that will make this blog more interesting and a real thing. We'll see. This post could just be one lost among the few dozen that I have put on here since I started this a year ago.

For tonight though, I have a new layout that I like and that's enough for me.

Blessed

2009-05-21T00:13:00.002-05:00

I graduated from college on Saturday. It's crazy, but true.

As the craziness has subsided and relaxation begun, I've decided to get all of my thoughts together into a blog post.

First of all, I am blessed to have been fortunate enough to go to college, much less graduate. It didn't really hit me when I was in school, but when people started congratulating me for graduating, I realized that it really is a big deal. It's not something that everyone does.

Also, tonight I was rehearsing for a show I'm playing next week. I'm playing 3rd and Lindsley (here in Nashville) with my friend Amy Stroup. It's going to be broadcast live on Lightning 100. If you're in Nashville, you should be there. If you can't, at least tune in and listen. If you're not in Nashville, listen online at lightning100.com. We'll be playing at 8PM Central Time. I'm really excited.

That being said, tonight, while we were rehearsing, I thought to myself "I'm setting myself up to make a living doing this, and look how much fun I'm having!" Now I know that not every gig I play will be as fun, but as I rehearsed in a room with my friends, I couldn't help but think of how blessed I am to have the opportunity to hopefully make music for a living.

Anyway, that's all I really have to say. I just wanted to say that. Thank you and have a good night.

A List

2009-05-12T19:40:00.002-05:00

Here is a list of things that I am excited about/enjoying lately:

Playing guitar for fun
Ableton Live
American Idol
Finishing School
Kings of Leon
Having my iPhone back
Ordering TOMS Shoes
Playing with Carl this summer
New bedroom furniture
Cleaning my house
Actually trying to make music
Laura coming back to town tomorrow
A few weeks of relaxation

Umm, that's good for now. I just wanted to update my blog.

Pittsburgh Update

2009-04-24T16:03:00.003-05:00

I started this entry when I was actually in Pittsburgh, but had very little time while I was there, so I will finish it now.

Friday started at 4:15 when I woke to leave for the Nashville airport for my 5:50AM flight. Originally, we were going to be flying ourselves, but a trailer was going to be taking our gear up to Pittsburgh. I received a call at 4:30 from one of the vocalists telling me that our truck had broken down 2 hours outside of Nashville. They had gotten some of our gear off of the truck (enough for us to get through the first night's set) and we were going to fly it. So my pedalboard and Tele made the flight with me.

After a relatively uneventful flight, I found myself in Pittsburgh.

We took a cab from the airport to the convention center where we were performing. If you haven't been to Pittsburgh before, it's a very bizarre and cool experience driving in for the first time. From the airport, you drive on the freeway through some hills for probably 20 minutes. Suddenly, you come upon a tunnel through a mountain. When you come out the other side of the tunnel, downtown Pittsburgh is in front of you. It was a really pretty looking city with lots of bridges (apparently more than any other city in the world but Venice).

When we got to the venue, we began setting up our gear. I opened up my pedalboard to find that it had been searched by the TSA. Yet not only had they searched it, they had torn it up.

They ripped up the velcro carpet which keeps the pedals locked down. They tore up one of my patch cables. It was very frustrating. I've file a complaint with the TSA. Hopefully I can get some money toward my new pedalboard.

Frustrated, I sent a message to my friend Phil Baquie who I knew was sponsored by Pedaltrain pedalboards. He got me hooked up with Pedaltrain, and I am now a Pedaltrain artist. My new Pro-HC case should be here today.

For anyone who doesn't know, we were performing with DayOne Music at an Amway convention. It was a surreal experience. We did motivational songs and fun covers. The people I played with were very fun, but the audience was just weird. They got very excited over cheesy motivational songs.

The show that night was a bit rough as we were all working with gear that we were not very comfortable with. We made it through though. After the show, we were all hungry. Yet Pittsburgh is a very weird town. Downtown shuts down almost completely after 8PM even on weekends. Very few places were open any of the time we were there. I will never understand that. We did eventually find a suitable restaurant.

Saturday was a lot of fun. I got to spend most of the day hanging with Matt King and Seth Marcum. If you don't know them, you need to. They're really funny guys and absolutely incredible musicians.

Sunday Morning we did a worship service, which was interesting, because the rest of the time the convention had been about worship of stuff and money, but I won't say anymore about that.

I flew home after and have started my last full week of college now. 2 papers due this week and I'm essentially done with the stress of school.

The Best Video of the Day Ever

2009-03-28T11:31:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I've been watching Crowder Band's Clip of the Day every day that they've been in the studio for the last couple of weeks. The most recent one has been my favorite by far.

Things to pay attention to:

Mark playing Family Force 5 on his guitar
Crowder's Obsession with Salsa
Crowder dipping cheetos in Salsa
Crowder's freakout at approx 1:20 in the the video
Shane Wilson's Dance as Jack records.
Cute babies
Hearing new music from Crowder Band

I present to you, Church Music Recording: Day 16

Out of the Box

2009-03-18T23:05:00.002-05:00

First of all, this is my third blog post in a week and I'm not out "touring." I'm very impressed with myself.

Now onto the real content...

Any of you who are musicians I'm sure get into a creative rut. I find that it's a really easy place to get into for me, especially playing worship music. This has two reasons for me: 1) I often play the same songs over and over again and have created my parts for these songs. 2) Worship sets are usually only 4-6 songs. I have a "bag of tricks" that will get me through that big a set without challenging me to keep working beyond that.

That rut is not a good place to be, especially when I aspire to doing studio work and having to be creative on the fly.

Tonight, I resolved to take steps to move out of the rut, and I have to say that I'm really happy with the results.

The first step in the process began a few days ago. I've been listening to a few albums lately that have been blowing my mind. The main one is a Belmont band called Lorien. I played in a School of Music ensemble with their keyboard player last year. They just released that CD a few weeks ago and I have been listening to it non-stop. There is some fantastic guitar work on that album. It's not incredibly difficult, it's just tasteful. That statement is what I hope people say about my playing, so I took some ideas from them.

The other album is U2's No Line on the Horizon. The Edge is still one of the most amazing guitarists out there in terms of sounds and tasteful licks. I love Magnificent off that album.

The second step was taking myself out of my comfort zone gear wise. For most worship sets, I use the exact same setup: my Les Paul and my Dr. Z Maz 18Jr. This afternoon I was learning a country tune, so I had my Tele plugged into my Dr. Z Stangray.

For those of you who aren't guitar geeks like me, the Stangray was designed by Dr. Z and Brad Paisley. A tele plugged into that amp is pretty much instant amazing country tone. This is not generally ideal for worship music.

As I was playing this afternoon, I tweaked some settings on the amp and my pedals and ended up with a great rock tone. It was completely different from what I was used to, but worked strangely well.

Every few weeks I play guitar for the youth group at my church. Youth group is a great place to experiment guitar-wise because most of the time, the kids don't notice what you're doing. As long as it's loud, they're happy. I decided I would take my Stangray (30 watt amp = loud) and tele and see what happened.

We played some pretty standard songs:

Everlasting God
Blessed Be Your Name
Jesus is Lord (I didn't know this one)
The Wonderful Cross
In Christ Alone
Jesus Paid It All

I challenged myself to do something different from what I normally play on those song and had such a good time. I hope that this trend continues. I'm playing at big church this weekend. I'll see what I can do.

Spring Break and Growing Up

2009-03-16T12:31:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, I finished my last spring break ever. While it was a sad thing, it's a sign that I'm growing up, and in many ways that's exciting.

The closer I get to graduation, the more grown up moments I start having.

Two weeks ago I got a Nashville cell phone number. I'm officially a Nashvillian for a least two years phone wise. It was the strangest feeling signing up for something that I will get the bill for every month for two years. I also gave up having an iPhone in favor of something with a cheaper monthly bill. I'm trying to be responsible and do like Dave Ramsey says and "Act my Wage." Since I don't know what my wage will be (though most likely relatively small), I'm trying to prepare well.

Spring break itself led to feelings of adulthood as well. On airplanes and in my ski lessons, people would ask me where I'm from and for the first time ever, I said Nashville. It was me setting up my own identity outside of my family. I know people do that when they go off to college, but it's even more so now as I seek to be free from the monetarily as well.

I also turned 22 on Friday. It was the first birthday that isn't really fun. 21 is the last one that anyone looks forward to. After that, you just get old. I don't say that to be Debbie Downer, it's just true. I'm not a kid anymore.

Amongst all of the thoughts of growing up, the rest of my break was fantastic. I learned how to ski decently, had a great time with Laura and her family, and had a great birthday. I was skiing green hills decently by the second day. I would definitely go back, and apparently that means that my first ski trip was a success.

Now I'm back at Belmont in constant rehearsals and busyness, but only have 2 months (to the day) before I graduate. It's a really exciting time and I'm having to trust God immensely, but it really is all good.

Company Tour

2009-03-10T12:41:00.000-05:00

I’m writing this blog entry from a plane on the way to Salt Lake City. No, I’m not cool like Jontay. My plane doesn’t have internet. I’m going old school and just typing this in my word processor. I’ll post it later.

It is currently my spring break. Break began early Friday morning when I had to be at school to leave for Company Tour. We drove to Indianapolis Friday, performed a few times, went to Columbus, OH on Sunday and performed there a few times.

Overall the trip was fantastic. I got to know some people in the group that I didn’t know well before, and overall, I would say we became quite unified.

Yesterday, Company performed at the high school one of our members attended. The band had an hour or so to kill that afternoon, so Travis (one of the keyboard players) and I spend time hanging out with some of the high schoolers.

I had an epiphany while I was with them that I have a camp counselor personality to comes out when I’m around kids. It is an overly excited and enthusiastic version of myself. It makes sense at camp because you are under pressure to entertain the campers for the most part. It is not necessary however when you are hanging out with a high school show choir. Then it’s just awkward.

Hopefully I can get rid or that personality before I play at camps this summer with Carl.

Now I’m on my way to Salt Lake City to go skiing with Laura and her family. I’ve never been skiing before, so wish me luck.

For the love of music

2009-02-19T00:56:00.003-06:00

There were several things that I should have done around my house after class today. I have a friend coming to stay with me tomorrow and I needed to do a small amount of cleaning to make it sanitary for him.

However, over the past few weeks I have been going pretty much non stop in order to get ready for my senior recital, other Belmont performances, school, and everything else I'm involved in. Since I didn't have a rehearsal or much homework, I decided to be a slacker tonight. I set up my amp, busted out a guitar, and for the first time in months, just played guitar for the sake of playing. I wasn't trying to learn a song. I wasn't stressed about having to perform for a grade. I was simply playing for the fun of it again.

I fell in love with guitar all over again tonight. It is amazing to me how much having to do guitar for school can stifle the joy playing can bring. I hope that playing for a living is not the same as school.

A little later, I decided to attempt to write a song. I had a little bit of an idea stirring around in my head and wanted to mess with it. For those of you who don't know, I don't write much. I let my perfectionism get in the way and can't get anything out. But, with no particular pressure to write, I grabbed an acoustic and started playing.

Shortly, I had a chord progression that I was happy with. I decided to try a new method to help me write. I grabbed my laptop, opened up Ableton Live, and started having it loop my progression back to me. As the progression looped, I started singing. Over and over I sang until I found melodies that I liked. Then I added a few words before I had to leave my house.

The song isn't finished, but I have started something that I don't completely hate. That's saying something for me.

It was so satisfying to make music for the love of doing it. I hope that having a career in music allows me the freedom to have more days like today and less months like the past couple.

I've waited 4 years to see this...

2009-02-12T10:49:00.001-06:00

Fail

2009-01-21T09:19:00.003-06:00

If you haven't ever been to Fail Blog, you should make it a top priority. It's an incredibly funny website.

This video is one of the funnier ones that I've seen on it. I liked it enough to put it up here. Make sure and watch to the very end.

Hoooooraayyyyy for yooooooouuuuuuuu!

Funny picture

2009-01-18T21:45:00.001-06:00

I was just flipping channels in my hotel room and this picture was
frozen on channel 10. I do not know why.

Crossroads Winter Conference Day 2

2009-01-17T08:55:00.003-06:00

After going to bed at 1 AM, I had to get up at 7. After the long day that was yesterday, this was not pleasing to me.

I tend to shower pretty much every morning for 2 reasons. 1) To fix my bedhead 2) I function better after a shower. So since we had to be at breakfast at 7:30, I decided to get up at 7 for a shower.

I walk into the bathroom, turn on the shower, and nothing comes out. Not only was there no hot water, there was no water at all. I turn on the sink, and a trickle comes out. There is no water. Apparently there was no water in the hotel. Eventually, the sink got a large stream of freezing cold water coming out so I washed my hair in that. Not fun.

It wasn't the best start to the day, but the conference is going well overall.

Last night we played our first set which went really really well. I feel like the band is really tight. The kids seemed to really enjoy it as well.

This morning's set wasn't as tight. Well, at least on my end. I just haven't woken up yet. The speaker is speaking right now, and we have one more song to do.

I'm really enjoying being here and getting to know these guys. I'll try and update again later with some more pictures.

~Craig

The Auditorium Fills Up

2009-01-16T19:58:00.000-06:00

Yes, you do see a boom camera out there.

The Stage

2009-01-16T16:00:00.001-06:00

My Synth Rig

2009-01-16T15:59:00.001-06:00

My set up

2009-01-16T13:34:00.000-06:00

Trip to Gatlinburg

2009-01-16T08:10:00.001-06:00

I really like this new iPhone application. I'm currently writing you from the back of a van on the way to Gatlinburg, but I'm using my
laptop.

I'm on the way to play guitar at a youth retreat with Carl Cartee. Carl is one of the worship leaders at Fellowship and was nice enough to ask me to come play with him. I'm really excited about the opportunity. Apparently there are going to be about a thousand kids
there.

I'm getting to play with some cool guys too. Carl is great, and he brought his wife Heather, and his sons Oak and Ezra. Seth Marcum, who also goes plays at Fellowship, is playing bass. The only person I don't know is the drummer, Ben Showalter. I think it's going to sound great.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to finish packing and to load my car with all my gear. I had to be at Carl's house at 6:45. I actually watched the sun rise this morning which is ridiculous to me. We'll drive for 3.5 hours, unload, soundcheck, rehearse, and play sometime tonight.

Until then, I'm going to work on recital stuff.

I should have a decent amount of free time on this trip too so hopefully I can get some work done for my recital and also keep my blog updated with how the trip is going.

~Craig

Save Broadway

2009-01-12T00:56:00.002-06:00

This is one of the funnier things I've seen on SNL recently. I had to post it here.

Edit: Ok, for some reason, Blogger is cutting off the side of the video. You should just go to HULU and watch it.

Jury Duty

2009-01-06T21:39:00.002-06:00

In November I voted for the first time. This week, I participated in democracy for the second time by paying my dues with Jury Duty. I thought I'd share my experiences here.

In Gwinnett County, GA, you receive a jury summons for a week. Every day that week you must call in the find out if you must report the next day. I was juror number 4 and had to report in Monday morning at 8AM.

I arrived a few minutes early, went through security, and got checked in. Afterwards they showed us a video of how the process works, then began to separate us into groups. My group would be the pool for one trial and the other group would be for another trial. We were then led into the courtroom. In the courtroom was the judge, the Assistant District Attorney, the Defense Attorney, and the Defendant. The judge welcomed us and told us about the case.

Each Attorney then questioned the 60 person group as a whole. We had paper numbers that we would hold up if our answer to a question was yes. I answered yes to knowing people who had been convicted of felonies because of all the people I know through the prison ministry my parents and I were a part of.

Then they divided the 60 person group into groups of 12. I was in the first group (which was nice) and I was questioned individually relatively quickly. It was really intimidating sitting in there being questioned by the attorneys.

One thing I had not counted on during all of this was that the defendant would be sitting in there through the whole process. I just assumed his attorney would be taking care of jury selection for him. Yet there he sat. It dawned on me that this guy's fate could be in my hands. As I sat there being questioned individually, I actually made eye contact with him. I have no idea if he was guilty or not, but it gave me chills thinking that I might have to decide. I began to pray then and there for God's guidance and providence in the jury selection and my possible decision.

After my individual questioning I was sent home and told to come back at 8:30 this morning.

I arrived this morning nervous. I had a sinking feeling that I would be put on the jury. As I sat in the Jury Assembly Room, I began to talk to the woman next to me. I had talked to the women to my right the day before, but not the woman to my left. We talked about Belmont and Nashville.

Before long, the Bailiff came to get us and take us back to the courtroom. There, the attorneys began making their strikes. They had a sheet of paper with all of our names and numbers on them. Then they passed it back and forth striking people that they did not want. Each attorney had so many strikes. Whoever was left was the jury. After a few minutes wait, they announced that they were ready.

I was not selected, but the 3 women that sat around me and I got to know were all selected. I felt really bad for them while relieved for myself.

I'm technically not done as I still have to call back for Thursday and Friday, but I was told that chances were slim to none that I would have to go back.

All in all it was not a terribly unpleasant experience. I was payed $50 (25 for each day that I had to go in), and I got to see how the court system works. I probably would not be saying this if I had been selected though. I can say that I've done it now, and hopefully won't have to any time soon.

The experience was a very humbling one. As I sat there looking at the accused man I realized how much this decision would affect the life of another person. I began to pray constantly that God would work through me and that it would not be my decision, but His. I hope that this becomes my way of thinking more in the rest of my life and not just in Jury Duty.

iPhone app Test

2009-01-06T11:00:00.004-06:00

I'm currently testing a new iPhone application that will make it
easier for me to blog when I travel and don't have wifi. That's not a problem now, but it will be pretty soon. I could always just e-mail in my blog posts from my iPhone, but I don't like typing them on there. This way I can type them up on my laptop and use the iPhone to send them.

I've had jury duty this week and intend to do a post about that
sometime today, but for now I just want to do this test.

~Craig

John Mayer has a TV Show

2009-01-05T21:54:00.002-06:00

This may not be interesting to any of you. It however is hilarious to me. While John Mayer is getting laughs at the expense of other people, he still is very funny. I do like it when he gets laughs at his own expense though. It's just funny. Enjoy John Mayer has a TV show Circa 2004.

Also, the second half is probably funnier than the first half.

Be Still My Soul

2009-01-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

I love hymns. They may have cliche chords and melodies, they may be predictable at times, but often times lyrically, they speak incredibly profound truths about God.

At Fellowship, it is common to sing a least one new arrangement of an old hymn each week. A couple of months ago, I was playing with Ronnie Freeman at church when he brought out a chart for a hymn I was unfamiliar with called Be Still My Soul. I was playing and only had a chord chart so I never focused on the words. I remember seeing one of the verses up on one of the screens and thinking that at some point I should look up the lyrics.

Tonight I decided was a good time to do this and I was amazed by what I found.

1. Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to your God to order and provide;
in every change God faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: your best, your heavenly friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: your God will undertake
to guide the future, as in ages past.
Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
the Christ who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
when we shall be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow for forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I love the line "Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know the Christ who ruled them while he dwelt below." I'm sure anyone reading this can see that this is my current facebook status. I can't see it enough though. It paints such a beautiful picture. I just had to share it on my blog.

Too much time on my hands

2008-12-18T22:01:00.004-06:00

So I had a little too much fun tonight with this while I was bored. I am posting all 3 because they all have things I like about them. The first one I made is disco...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I like that one a bunch just because of all the disco dancing.

Next is the Charleston. I like this one because of how perfectly it ends...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Finally is the country one. I like me doing the fish dance with Laura in it.

I hope you all found this as funny as I did.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

And the semester is done...

2008-12-18T15:43:00.002-06:00

I can't believe I only have one semester left in college.

During this past semester there were several moments that were very frustrating, but I think when I look back on this semester, I think it will be one of my best.

First of all, I got really good grades. It was probably my best semester of college grade wise, and I had some pretty difficult classes.

Secondly I learned a lot about myself and my talents and skills. I had never done much in the way of composing or arranging before, but it turns out, I'm not bad at it. I took a film scoring class which to begin with I was terrified of. I had never composed anything before, and to have my first experience with it having to match film was very intimidating. But as the semester went on, I became more and more comfortable. I already posted my final project on here. I'm really proud of how it turned out.

The same went for my arranging class. I had never done anything like that before, but it turned out to be something that I really enjoyed. I arranged two pieces, Pennies from Heaven and Chattanooga Choo Choo. The Belmont Jazz Band played them both, and it was very cool to hear something that I arranged played by them.

I think I'm really starting to figure out where my passion and talent lies musically which is a very exciting thing. I'm so thankful that God is teaching me in that.

I have plenty of things I want to write about, and now that I'm home, I'm hoping to update a few more times. Be on the lookout for that.

A few end of the semester goodies...

2008-12-12T14:47:00.004-06:00

This semester I took a film scoring class. At first I really wasn't looking forward to it as I had no interest in the matter. While the class was a bit tedious and way more time consuming than I imagined it would be, I did enjoy my work. It still isn't my life's passion, but it's fun none the less.

For our final project we were giving a knock off star wars piece called "Duality." My teacher then took the sound out of it so we could score it. I'm posting what I did with it on here just for the fun of sharing, and I'm pretty proud of it. Know that were it a real movie it would obviously have sound effects.

I also wanted to use my blog as a plug to all 3 or you who read this and already know about what I'm about to talk about. None the less, if anyone else does make their way to this blog, I want this on here.

Back around Christmas of last year, my girlfriend Laura exposed me to the music of Derek Webb. Over the last year, I've become a huge fan of his music and him as a person. One of the things I like about him is his view of the music industry and music in general. Derek started a website called Noisetrade as a tool to help artists get their music out there. Fans can either get music from artists by paying what they want (anywhere from $1-25) and the artists get 90% of all the profits. Or they can send a link to the artist's noisetrade page to 5 of their friends. This helps get the word out on the artist to potential fans. Also if you download the music, your e-mail address is stored so the artist can contact you when they are in your area performing. This helps show attendance.

All of that to say, you should check out Noisetrade. You can check out Derek's newest album the Ringing Bell below.

That's all the sharing for now. Enjoy

I walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes...

2008-12-04T23:30:00.001-06:00

My Mom always gets very frustrated with me and Dad because we never see things that are right in front of our faces. We'll be looking in the pantry for food or through drawers for a certain document, but we can never seem to find them. We'll then ask Mom where they are and she pulls it out from under our noses.

I should mention as an aside that I am much better about this than I used to be. Now I just dig through everything until I find it instead of glancing around.

Perhaps what I'm about to write might be something that you has been completely obvious to you. It might seem ridiculous that I never realized this before. However, since this was pointed out to me last night, it has been an absolutely incredible revelation. Where better than to share incredible revelations than my blog, right?

I've been reading in Ephesians a good bit over the past few days. Yesterday, I was struck by the phrase in Chapter 2, Verse 8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith." I have read/heard this phrase hundreds of times, but never thought much of it. When I read it yesterday I honestly did not quite understand it.

The problem was my understanding of faith. I had always been taught that faith (at least in terms of "Christian Faith") was essentially just believing in God and Jesus. While this is true, there are many implications of that definition, and also more specific definitions of faith that fall under that.

When I tell a friend that I have faith that they'll get their work done, I'm telling them that I have confidence in them. While this is the same thing as telling them "I believe in you," confidence has a much more direct meaning.

With this meaning for faith, verse 8 makes more sense. By the grace of God, I am saved from my sins through faith. By placing all of my confidence in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross, I am saved.

But placing my confidence in Christ means having no confidence in myself. Actually, not even enough confidence to place my own faith in Christ. The second half of verse 8 and verse 9 say "And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

There are hundreds of different directions that I could go with this. I think for now though, I'm just going to leave my post with that. I thank God for that free gift that we can have every confidence in its sufficiency for us in all of life, and pray for the grace to receive it more daily.

My Annual Thanksgiving Thankful List

2008-11-27T17:46:00.003-06:00

So I typed the title of this post thinking that I did in fact do this annually. Then I went back to old blogs and looked for things that I had been thankful for in the past. I came to find out that I actually haven't done this in several years if ever. I got tired of searching and gave up. Anyway, maybe this will be my First Annual Thanksgiving Thankful List.

As cheesy as it sounds, I'm thankful for Jesus. I'm thankful that though God would be completely just in condemning me, he loves me enough to come to Earth and die for me.
Laura. I'm thankful for the love and companionship that she has shown me for the last year and a half. I'm thankful for the laughter she brings me. And I'm thankful that she points me toward Christ constantly.
Fellowship Bible Church. I'm thankful for an awesome church body to be a part of that challenge and encourages me constantly.
My friends
As much as I dislike some things about it, I'm thankful for Belmont. I'm thankful for the education I've received there.
I'm thankful for my family.
I'm thankful for all of the ways God has provided for me. I'm thankful that I get to live in a cool house. I'm thankful that I drive a nice, reliable car. I'm thankful that I won't have to deal with student loans when I leave Belmont. I'm thankful that I have a lot of nice music equipment.
I'm thankful for all of the opportunities that I get to make music.
I'm thankful for apple desserts
I'm thankful for my pets
I'm thankful for it being Christmas time now
I'm thankful that I'm finding my niche in music and really honing in on what I'm passionate about

I'm sure there is more. I just wanted to put it up here. I hope you all have had a great Thanksgiving.

My November Update

2008-11-10T23:53:00.002-06:00

I have been wrestling for quite some time with how to put my recent thoughts into a blog entry. A blog written by my pastor Lloyd Shadrach today has finally pushed me to actually write.

Having grown up in the church, I have a "decent" head knowledge of what Christianity means. I feel like I have a good basic understanding of some fundamental doctrines of the faith like justification, sanctification, and our redemption from sin. Yet I've got very little heart knowledge of any of this.

I am quick to try and solve the problems of my sin on my own. I am quick to become depressed when I cannot solve these problems. I am far too self absorbed. I do not rejoice in my own justification, sanctification, or redemption by the cross of Christ. I do not live out a life that reflects any of this.

All of these thoughts have been stirring all this year and continually breaking me down. I think it began for me when my girlfriend Laura began reading a book called "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. As she told me about its contents of radical love in the name of Christ my stomach sank. As sick as it is, I wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to just live my happy middle class American life. If I'm honest, I still do care more about that than helping others.

Then we began talking about the same thing at Fellowship on Sundays and reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love. Bit by bit, week by week I have been worn down. Some days I have missed the big picture of God and not remembered the grace he extends towards me in my weaknesses. Some days I have felt strongly driven to help out my fellow man.

The problem though is that while I want to change these outward factors about myself so much, I'm not focusing on the inner problem of seeing myself properly in relation to God. This is what Lloyd wrote about today, and this is where I want to find myself:

"For me it felt not so much like I was charging forward, as I was limping forward – broken, wounded, repentant and dependent. It is true isn’t it, unless He builds the house – the church, the people, the kingdom – we labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1) I’ve made a few “charges” in my lifetime and found that much of the progress I was making outwardly was not coming from changes God was making inwardly. I’m going to stick with my limp."

With this realization does come some pitfalls however. I cannot take this to the extreme and use this as an excuse to not attempt to change my outward behavior. I don't want to excuse myself and say "I'm busy working on my relationship with God right now so I can't help you." I feel like this has been the story of my life so far.

I also cannot forget the exact words Lloyd used "the progress I was making outwardly was not coming from changes God was making inwardly." I need to remind myself that it is God Himself indwelling in me that truly makes the changes. I just need to seek out what he is doing in me and become more in tune with that.

Just a quick one...

2008-11-07T00:19:00.002-06:00

I've had a lot of things swirling around in my head lately that hopefully I'll try and get up here this weekend. For now though, I just wanted to post this CNN article. I actually liked what it had to say.

I'm not trying to defend President Bush. I don't think he has been a fantastic President and I disagree with several things he has done. On the other hand though, there is a Congress to be blamed as well as just bad things happening while he was President. I just don't think he deserves to be called the worst President in history.

A short political rant...

2008-10-23T12:58:00.003-05:00

I don't want to post too much on the subject. I don't really care who you vote for. I've made my decision, but I don't even think he's that great. What I want to talk about is this video...

The video simply made me sad and I wanted somewhere to get my frustration out. I just want to yell at her that the Christianity that she's talking about is "not the Christianity I know, and is not the Christianity that's in the Bible." I know that I struggle with living a loving life like Christ, but this is not what we are called to be as Christians.

If you watched the video straight from my blog, you missed the caption that the YouTube poster added. It said this...

"Religious Voter: I can't imagine a President being named Obama. This dumb religious zealot seems out of her mind. Funny how the really religious people are the intolerant and ignorant assholes."

People like this are why so many people are turned away from the Gospel of love and freedom that we are offered in the Bible. Once again, I don't have this right myself, but my heart breaks for the people who see this and are turned away from Jesus.

I know that I haven't said much worthwhile in this post. I simply needed to get this out. Thanks for reading if you did.

Fall is here!

2008-10-20T11:01:00.002-05:00

I started this blog when I was traveling as a way of updating my friends with what I was doing. As I'm not traveling right now, my life is not interesting enough to blog about thus the lack of updates. I don't want this blog to completely die, so here I go.

I love fall. I always have. There's something about the feeling in the air that I associate with fond memories. I love fall clothing, especially the jackets, and there's always joy in breaking those out.

Also, for some reason, fall makes me want to listen to John Mayer's Heavier Things album. Not that I don't listen to Mayer all the time anyway, but Heavier Things comes into the rotation far more frequently.

This year, I've already started making some great fall memories. This weekend for instance, Laura and I went down to Franklin to watch the sun set behind the Natchez Trace Bridge and enjoy the wonderful weather. Then Saturday, a group of us went out to Walden's Pumpkin Farm and bought pumpkins to carve (we also ate some fantastic caramel apples).

God has also been shaking up things Community Group wise. Last year, I co-led a group of my close friends. In reality, my co-leader Brett actually led more and I just helped him. Every fall, the leaders of Inversion relaunch community groups, adding people and starting new groups as necessary. This year, it became apparent that our group was going to be too large to be effective. What has since happened is that my roommate Taylor and I have split off from our old group and are co-leading the group of new guys.

It has been an interesting change. I miss the group that I had become so close with over the last couple years terribly. Yet even before I met the new guys, I felt a God given excitement for the opportunity to lead this new group. Now having spent a good amount of time with the new group, I feel very fortunate, humbled, and glad to be leading this group and call these guys my friends. I'm so excited to see what God's going to do through this group.

In other news, I registered for my senior recital last Monday. Everything that I've been working so hard for here at Belmont will culminate on February 27, 2009 at 10AM. It's exciting, but extremely scary as I realize how much work I have to do on it. It's going to be very cool though if I can pull off everything that I want to.

That's all I've got for now. Hopefully I won't do too many posts that just tell what my life is like and I'll actually have some interesting content. For now though, I just wanted to write.

Rest

2008-09-13T00:48:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged anything substantial in a long time. This is partly due to busyness, partly exhaustion, and partly because I haven't known exactly how to say what I want to say. Well, tonight I have the time, and though I am still tired, hope to find the words that I'm searching for.

The summer was a struggle for me. It was a struggle of being away from the familiarity of camp. It was scary, yet exciting getting a good look at the music industry and trying to see if I can fit somewhere into it. It was a spiritual battle hearing lies that I will never succeed in music or life in general being responded to by God assuring me that 1) He's got a plan for me and is in control, but 2) that my concern should not be worldly success, only His glory. These are both hard truths.

I did learn a lot though. I took an Audio Engineering class here at Belmont just as an elective to better learn my way around the studio. While this was good, I learned way more from my internship with Dennis Dearing at Menace Music. He was very gracious to take me on this summer and I definitely learned a lot. Dennis is mainly a producer, but the cool thing is that he does smaller indie projects so he does a lot of everything. I saw a few projects through several different phases, including tracking, overdubs, programming, mixing, and mastering. It was a great experience.

(I write what I'm about to write, not for pity, but to share with what God has been teaching me.)

Still, through all that learning, I left the summer very ready for school to start. I thought that a routine and having all of my friends back around me would put me into a better place. I tend to be able to quiet my mind if I can keep busy. Unfortunately, my mind has just found other times to wander, namely when I'm trying to sleep. I've been really tired physically, emotionally and spiritually.

To top all of that off, classes have been really frustrating. I have had several classes that I have fell that I was back in high school in how I'm treated. Everything is just tedious. I should not have reading quizzes every week as a senior in college. Thus my time has been consumed far more with things that I don't want to do over the things that I want to do senior year.

All of this together has led me to just a lot of unnecessary stress. Yet over this week, God has managed to throw some things at me that have led to a lot more freedom in my life. I was reading this Piper talk and was my mind was blown. One of the main things I've struggled with is how my sin fits in with my being reborn. I would keep reading all over the New Testament that I was no longer a slave to sin, yet felt claimed by it still. Then Piper said this:

"The answer of verse 7: [death with Christ] goes first to the deepest root of slavery - not the lure of sin, but the blinding and hope-destroying guilt of sin, and says, "He who has died is justified from sin." The guilt is taken away before the lure is broken."

Now, if I take this into account and fully focus on my justification, I can realize that I am forgiven and stop striving (and consequently failing in that striving) for perfection on my own. My eternal future is secure, what is this life if that is true?

The next day, in my time in Scripture, my study plan pointed me to Hebrews chapter 2, where I found these verses which say the same thing.

I know this has become long, but the point is to say that I am learning to rest in Christ and not rely on myself. This is something that I know will continue to be my battle all my life, but I praise God now for what he has shown me this week.

Only in Nashville...

2008-08-27T11:40:00.001-05:00

This picture was taken in MPAC on Belmont's campus. Really?

Excitement!

2008-08-18T10:25:00.007-05:00

I am currently still trying to figure out what I want this blog to be. I have realized though that I am a musician and this is a musician's blog. One thing that I have noticed about the blogs of other musicians is that they talk about their gear, especially if they get new gear. At the moment, I know that my readers are few, but I want to keep writing and updating, so I think I'm going to give this a go.

Last night, Guitar Center had an after hours event for "their best customers." They even gave me a $20 gift certificate to spend. Needless to say, I was excited. However, when I got there, the manager was standing in the doorway in a suit. He was offering me free refreshments and handing me a sheet of paper with all the items on sale. I looked down at the sheet to see in amazement that all software was 25% off, plus I had the $20. I have been dying to buy Stylus and EZDrummer for my home recording setup for a couple months now. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. So I have Stylus to do really awesome drum loops, and EZDrummer to actually program drums for me. Now I just need to put some work into some of the demos I've started.

Wow, summer's almost over! I'll try and do a summer recap post soon.

Election

2008-08-12T19:09:00.003-05:00

Very rarely am I ok with someone calling my house or coming to my door to try and sell something or promote something. However, if the sales people were as respectable as the girl who just came to my door, I wouldn't have much of a problem with it.

I was sitting here in my living room watching the Olympics when a knock came at the door. Outside, I could see the face of a girl I didn't recognize. I had been playing guitar loudly only a few minutes before and was actually afraid that somehow it was a neighbor come to complain. As I unlocked the door I could see the name Obama plastered all over her.

I opened the door and she gave her spiel, followed by a plea for me to donate $100 to Obama's campaign ($2 for every state in the Union). I respectfully said no thank you. She then asked me if I had decided who I would be voting for in November. I truthfully told her that I was leaning toward McCain, but had not made a complete decision and certainly not enough to support anyone monetarily. She said she understood and hoped that I would at least continue considering Obama and thanked me for my time.

Never once did I feel pressured and my differing opinion was no issue for her. She understood that I at least cared about the election and respected my stance. I may not end up voting for Obama, but his campaign people aren't that bad.

An example of my Mom's obsession

2008-08-06T13:30:00.002-05:00

This sign is on the door to my parents' bathroom where Phoebe is currently living. Oh man...

Kickin' it in the ATL

2008-08-05T20:34:00.003-05:00

So I came home to Atlanta today to hang out with my family and some friends this week. It was the best time since I finished my class yesterday and didn't have much else to do this week. Not only that, but Camp Glisson just finished for the summer and some of my favorite people are done with camp, but haven't gone back to school so I can see them. Hopefully all the planning will work out.

I'm going to say something now that needs prefacing. That preface is that I love my mother. She has raised me well and taken care of me. My mother however gets easily attached to things.

We have a cat. A 16 year old cat named Phoebe. I really think that Mom might like that cat more than me. The issue is that the cat has been dying since I went to college. She has somehow managed to keep this cat alive for a few years. It's incredible. However, my Dad and I have been dreading the day that Phoebe dies because my Mom will be an emotional wreck. I have had the advantage of being in Nashville most of the time. Last weekend however, Phoebe took a turn for the worst. We thought on Saturday she was going to have to be put to sleep. Somehow she's managed to make it.

My prayer, as selfish as it may be is that I am not here when Phoebe dies. I will be sad when Phoebe dies, but she has lived a long happy life so it'll be ok. I just feel like I can handle being home as long as the cat stays alive.

Give this a read...

2008-08-04T11:33:00.002-05:00

Not that many people actually read my blog, but I thought that I would share this with the few that do.

My friend Adam from the worship team at Fellowship has a fantastic blog. I look forward to his weekly posts. He's a great writer. He's really funny and has a cool way of taking everyday things and finding Christ in them. Go check out his blog Toy Train New Toothbrush.

Third Day

2008-08-03T14:18:00.002-05:00

I have an obsessive personality. Rather than constantly trying new things, I tend to find a very few things I like and allow them to consume me. This probably comes as no surprise to any of you, as you have experienced my obsessions with John Mayer and FRIENDS. My first obsession however, was with the band Third Day.

When I was in middle school, a new christian radio station was started in Atlanta called 104.7 The Fish. It was upon the inception of The Fish that I really began listening to CCM. I remember one day in the car, hearing the live version of "Your Love Oh Lord" from the Offerings album being played and instantly knowing I had to buy the CD.

Offerings, though it did not grab me completely at first, slowly became my favorite CD. It was around this time that I was fortunate enough to see the band perform at Atlantafest. After that live performance, I was hooked. I purchased all of their CDs and drove my friends crazy with their music.

I began to surf the message boards on their website and became a Gomer, or a Third Day superfan. I was #259, Still Listening Gomer and I was proud. I also became fascinated by the guitarists, Mark Lee and Brad Avery. They had something cool about them, and I wanted to be like them. I began looking at the message boards to see what gear they used. I didn't even play guitar, but I had to know.

In 10th grade, I got my first guitar and immediately began learning all of their songs. I even met them later that year and told Mark and Brad what inspirations they were to me. I continued to love the band all throughout high school.

My freshman year at Belmont, Third Day released their Wherever You Are album. In my opinion, that album was not up to par with the rest of their albums and Third Day fell out of fashion with me.

However, recently the band has caught my attention again. I have been reading articles of them changing management, and Brad Avery leaving the band. Then I read about their newest album, Revelation. They had worked with a new producer in order to push themselves as a band. The album dropped on Tuesday and I have to say that I'm impressed. This is by far one of the biggest stretches for Third Day. They have definitely managed to make an album with a very current sound as opposed to the 5-10 years behind that Christian music seems to fall. I recommend it.

The album also features some interesting collaborations. Chris Daughtry and Lacey of Flyleaf lend vocals to the album. Neither of these people are my favorite vocalists, but combined with Mac Powell's voice, they sound fantastic. Robert Randolph also plays steel guitar on the song, Otherside.

I will say that my favorite track on the album is Give Love. This song is very different for the band. It features Banjo, and actually has a very Guster like feel to it. The tune is catchy and Mac's vocals are fantastic.

It is exciting to see a band that was so integral in my musical foundation still making good music. Third Day and their music radically changed my life. They inspired me to play guitar. Had I not done that, who knows what I would be doing now. Definitely give their album a listen, especially Give Love.

I'm participating in Third Day's blog about Third Day on the third day of the month thing for this month. Go check out their blog for more details.

Wow

2008-07-20T17:57:00.000-05:00

Blair in makeup for the TV shooting.

This show...

2008-07-20T16:10:00.001-05:00

I realized I've been blogging all day without saying what I'm doing.
Blair who played drums on the Dana gig called me on Monday to do a one-
off with a girl named Joanna Martino. We're at a camp on my Mom's
college campus (Berry College) called Camp Winshape.

Joanna also hosts a show called Steel Roots and they are filming us
perform tonight which is awesome. It's a fun trip and I will blog more
later.

Rehearsing

2008-07-20T16:04:00.000-05:00

This is Kyle and Mandy rehearsing with Joanna while cameras film them.

Stage Picture

2008-07-20T14:12:00.000-05:00

Soundchecking

2008-07-20T14:10:00.000-05:00

Last balloon pic

2008-07-20T07:24:00.001-05:00

More balloons

2008-07-20T07:21:00.001-05:00

Live Road Blogging

2008-07-20T07:06:00.001-05:00

So as is standard with me being out, I like to take pictures on the
road and blog them. This picture is over Cool Springs in Franklin, TN.
Hot air balloons were out this morning!

Psalm 42

2008-07-16T13:13:00.002-05:00

My focus lately has been seeing God's faithfulness, and then living my life in response to that. For me, one of the best places in scripture (besides the cross itself) to see this is the Psalms. This post has been a long time in the making (a week exactly), but hopefully more will follow on how different Psalms have been impacting me. Today is Psalm 42.

I am an incredibly insecure person. I don't know why I never noticed it before, but this year it has become incredibly obvious. I've watched it effect my self esteem, my music, and my relationships with my friends, family, and girlfriend. yet most tragically, I've seen it tear me away from God.

I've come to discover that the reason for this is that my insecurity stems from a lack of trust in God. I see the depravity, and complete lack of an ability for good in myself, without seeing the ultimate good of my God. This is where Psalm 42 has found me.

I have recently heard 2 messages on this Psalm. One of them by CJ Mahaney, given at a conference that many of my friends attended, and one by John Piper a week later. The main focus of the Psalm was verse 11. "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." I love this. The psalmist is literally talking to himself. He is reminding himself of the character of God and in doing so, giving himself hope in his affliction.

Why should my soul be downcast? Why should I be discouraged? God has proven himself more than faithful in my life on a daily basis. How can I not trust the maker of the universe to provide for me? How can I not trust someone who loves me enough to die for me? So I must remind myself that my hope is not in myself. My hope is in my Salvation and my God. I must fall before Him daily seeking His grace to face every moment of the day.

As a side note, the Piper message can be found here.

New post

2008-07-04T19:08:00.000-05:00

So I started a post last night and didn't get a chance to finish it.
Now I'm in Baton Rouge seeing some friends get married. I'll post it
when I get home Sunday.

Psalms

2008-07-02T15:40:00.002-05:00

If I ever pick up my Bible and don't have anything in mind to read, I generally end up in the Psalms. I love the honesty and pain in them, but also the joy and the amazing expressions of the character of God.

Right now, John Piper is going through a series on the Psalms called The Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God. It's amazing to me how week after week he chooses one of my favorite Psalms, and ones that I'm reading a lot right now based on where my heart is. I'm going to save my comments on some of them for a little later, but go look into these messages. They're great.

Blair doing his butt out stance

2008-06-29T12:51:00.000-05:00

Bowling pictures

2008-06-29T12:23:00.000-05:00

I realized that I forgot to blog the pictures I took while we were
bowling last night. This one is Kyle. I know it's blurry, but the
thing to take away from it is look how far back he is and he's already
almost thrown the ball. It was ridiculous.

Another bored update

2008-06-29T11:57:00.001-05:00

Just so you know, our dead deer count is 20 for the trip. Thank you
for your time.

Funny trip quote

2008-06-29T11:48:00.001-05:00

Me (after seeing a Kerry Edwards sticker on a car): Honestly, who
still has a Kerry Edwards sticker now?

Blair (in his Australian accent): Oh, is that a country singer?

I hope you enjoy.

Thoughts from the road

2008-06-28T21:48:00.002-05:00

I get to go home tomorrow. That is a beautiful thing to say. I miss Laura. I miss my bed. I miss privacy. I miss friends and people my age in general. I cannot wait to be in Nashville again.

I've been trying to figure out exactly what I would say to sum up this whole experience. I don't know if a lot of what I want to say is appropriate for a blog. I just know that in a lot of ways God has reassured me that I don't have to worry so much about my future. I came into this experience terrified that I wouldn't be able to do this and I think that I did a pretty darn good job all week. This of course was not of my doing. God totally pulled me through stuff. Thus the comfort. I just need to keep reminding myself of this week. I just need to remember...

Jesus Jesus how I trust him

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er

Jesus Jesus, precious Jesus

O for grace to trust Him more

This is who I've been on the road with this week...

2008-06-27T21:28:00.003-05:00

This is Blair. He plays drums. This is what he does on one of our nights off...

Edit:

Apparently he took it off Youtube. I apologize to anyone who missed out on it.

WTF?

2008-06-27T13:19:00.000-05:00

The Wall Ball Gang

2008-06-27T11:20:00.000-05:00

The story of Julia's fall...

2008-06-27T08:17:00.002-05:00

I feel now that enough time has passed that I can talk about Julia's injury.

Many of you may not know that the configuration of where the strap pins are on 335 style guitars is not one that leads to the strap staying on the guitar very well. It's also one that doesn't lend to using strap locks either. This is what caused the accident.

Yesterday morning in rehearsal I was playing Julia. I leaned over to pick something up and not one, but both ends of the strap let go. The guitar fell to the ground and landed first right on the cable going into the guitar. The force of this shoved the cable and jack up into the body of the guitar. I think that it will be repairable, but I probably won't be able to gig her as much ever again.

Let's all take a moment of silence for Julia. She was my favorite guitar, and will be greatly missed in her place as my primary guitar.

If you missed it, there is a picture in the post previous to this one.

The result of the accident with poor Julia

2008-06-26T19:27:00.000-05:00

For anyone I haven't told the story to, I'll post it later. My heart
is broken.

Eddie Munster

2008-06-25T16:03:00.007-05:00

So yesterday I was walking through the cafeteria here at Bridgewater College when some of the parents volunteers that came to the camp stopped me and asked me if I knew how the theme song from The Munsters went. For those of you who don't know, the Munsters was an old Black and White TV about a family of monsters (ie, Dad is Frankenstein, mom Mrs. Frankenstein, Grandpa was a Vampi

re, and the son was a Vampire). I didn't really question why they asked me this, I just assumed it was a friendly debate amongst them.

Then it happened. Everyone at camp started calling me Eddie Munster. Apparently I rem

ind everyone of Eddie Munster. It is because I have a widow's peak in my hair. However, this is not a compliment. Let me first remind you

of what I look like.

Next, let me show you Eddie Munster.

I don't feel that my widow's peak is nearly exaggerated enough to be Eddie's. Plus with my bangs, the lowest point is on the side. I don't think that's right because I definitely do not want to look like Eddie Munster.

Thank you for your time.

Lots of blogging...

2008-06-24T22:45:00.002-05:00

I know I've posted 25 times since Sunday, but I'm bored and have some time on my hands. I'm also experiencing cool things right now that are worth blogging about.

Today was a pretty easy and typical day. I thought that I would tell an amusing story from today though...

You may know that I posted on my twitter feed that I played Wall Ball with some of the kids at camp and was beaten by 2 girls, ages 12 and 13. Yet that was not the most demeaning part of that game. At some point in the game, I looked at them and said something to the effect of "They should call us the Wall Ball Gang" to which one of them responded "Yeah, because that would make us sound cool."

Other than put downs from 7th graders, the night was a success. I'm just kicking back and chilling until it's time to wish Laura a Happy Birthday at midnight! Good times.

Two Craigs!

2008-06-24T21:42:00.000-05:00

Raising the bar

2008-06-24T21:31:00.001-05:00

An amusing picture I took with a few campers and one of the leaders
tonight. The tall guy next to me is 7ft tall. The shortest girl is 4'11.

States visited?

2008-06-24T13:35:00.001-05:00

I decided it would be fun since I'm a bit bored and have been traveling a lot to write all of the states I've been to in my lifetime. I count going to a state as getting out of the car or off the plane. If you drove through it and didn't stop, or landed but never got off the plane it doesn't count.

Georgia

Florida

Tennessee

Alabama

Mississippi

North Carolina

South Carolina

Virginia

West Virgina

Louisiana

Kentucky

Indiana

Illinois

Iowa

Maryland

New York

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

Connecticut

Texas

California

Hawaii

Total: 22

That's almost half. That's not too bad.

I think it would be cool for everyone to post where they've been. I would get amusement out of it in my boredom. So do it. K thanks.

Ed Newton bringing the word.

2008-06-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

The kids

2008-06-24T10:43:00.000-05:00

Morning Setlist

2008-06-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

We ended up adding Mighty To Save to the end of it as well...

The living room

2008-06-24T09:39:00.000-05:00

Our Kitchen

2008-06-24T09:35:00.000-05:00

My bedroom for the week

2008-06-24T08:36:00.001-05:00

How do I even begin?

2008-06-24T00:39:00.000-05:00

For anyone who doesn't know, I'm currently on the road with Dana Jorgenson, a Christian artist from Nashville. This is my first time on the road really and it's been fantastic and crazy.

Here are a couple stats on the trip...

States Performing In: 2

States Travelled Through: 6

New States for Me: 3

Number of Deer seen as Roadkill: 19 (No Joke)

Number of Hours in the car so far: Approx 30 in 3 days.

We left Nashville Saturday morning to head to Mason City Iowa. I posted some pictures of the trip. I'm not going to lie, for a state that has Chicago in it, Illinois might be the most boring ever. All it is is corn. I hope I don't have someone read this at some point from Illinois. We spent the night in a hotel in Mason city on Saturday night.

Sunday morning we played for a church's Sunday worship. We didn't play at the actual church though. It was apparently the church's 5 year anniversary and they were having a celebration a middle school gym. For some reason, I thought that there would be a stage in this gym. This was incorrect. The congregation sat in the bleachers and we played in the middle of the floor. It was interesting to say the least. We had a few flubs as a band. It was just interesting playing some songs we had never played together with people that had never played together before really. It worked out fine though.

The people in Iowa made that possible really. They were so appreciative and nice to us. It was amusing to talk to them with their midwestern accents. They wanted to talk music and see if we knew any people they knew in music in Nashville. Of course we didn't, but it was fun.

After church we drove for maybe 700 miles to Louisville and spent the night. We drove today the rest of the way to Bridgewater, VA. We're playing at a camp at Bridgewater College all week. For you Belmont people reading this, it's kind of an MFuge thing. We lead worship twice a day, 11AM and 7 PM. It's pretty nice. We get plenty of free time during the day and hang out with kids too. It's the best stuff of Camp Glisson without the stress and exhaustion.

We played tonight and it was great. I've forgotten how much I like leading worship for youth. Tonight we mixed a few old songs with new ones. We played:

Salvation is Here

Undignified

Every Move I Make

Trading My Sorrows

Mercy Is Falling

Mighty to Save

It was a lot of fun and went really well. I'm excited for the rest of the trip. I have a few more posts planned, and of course will continue taking pictures. This should be fun!

Done for today.

2008-06-23T20:05:00.001-05:00

So we just got done for tonight and are off to Wally World. Turns out
we need Ethernet cables to access the Internet from the place we're
staying. Who doesn't have wireless? Honestly? Once we get the Internet
up and going in my apartment, I will finally post for reals.

The Room

2008-06-23T15:08:00.001-05:00

The stage

2008-06-23T15:03:00.001-05:00

Done!

2008-06-23T14:40:00.001-05:00

This is Blair and Kyle's thank goodness we're out of the car face.

So bored in the car!

2008-06-23T13:19:00.001-05:00

Driving Picture

2008-06-23T11:45:00.001-05:00

Blair, the drummer, driving us through WV.

Greetings from West Virginia

2008-06-23T11:41:00.002-05:00

I'm currently sitting in the van in West Virginia. We are 213 miles
away from our final destination for the week, Harrisonburg, VA. It's
been an interesting trip so far to say the least. I have added 4
states to the list of states I've visited. I've sat in a car longer
than anyone should ever. I've also learned a ton. I don't really know
how to write it all in an email from my iPhone so I'll try to do more
when I get there tonight. Your prayers are greatly appreciated. More
later.

Louisville

2008-06-22T23:28:00.001-05:00

So I'm in a hotel room in Louisville right now. It's late and I'm tired so I won't post much. I have a lot to say about the touring and how it's going so far, as well as a lot of work to get this blog working how I want to. For now though, I'm just going to go to bed. Tomorrow, we're on to Harrisonburg, VA. I'll have way more time once I'm there, so hopefully this will get set up the way I want it to.

Cool Picture

2008-06-22T19:35:00.001-05:00

Bugs on the front of the van.

2008-06-22T19:28:00.002-05:00

The ONLY thing you see in Illinois

2008-06-22T19:05:00.001-05:00

Wind Turbines in Iowa

2008-06-22T18:53:00.002-05:00

Giant Cross in Illinois

2008-06-22T18:44:00.003-05:00

Saw this yesterday. It was huge!

Another new blog for Craig

2008-06-22T18:42:00.001-05:00

I am the king of starting blogs and not really updating them. I
apologize for that. I really loved doing the iWeb thing, but it was
impossible to update from anywhere but my house. That's no fun. I'm on
the road and bored so I want to update. That's what the next few posts
will be.