is, uh, today a week day...?

so its been a long few weeks since i have last got on here to fill in the rest of the world as to what has been going on in my world. im sure you have all been holding your breath.

i have been to ...

denver, co
hays, ks
fort worth, tx
fort madison, wi
saint louis, mo
newkirk, ok
council bluffs, ia
peoria, il
columbia, mo
little rock, ar
austin, tx
harker heights, tx

...all since i have been on here last. our touring schedule has been pretty full lately and we are on two days off in the middle of about a four or five week run. we have quite a few southeast shows. you know, just in time for hurricane season. we have three or four mississippi shows, a couple louisiana shows, a show in houston, maybe. that hurricane ike really made a mess of things down there. jeremy, the bass player in the band, lives in montgomery, tx just outside houston. his wife sent pictures showing huge trees snapped in half, debris strung throughout the property. here in new braunfels, we got a tiny bit of rain and just a little wind. no big deal.

anyway, on to whats been happening. our booking agency, the people that determines our schedule of when and where we are going to do shows, needs to invest in a map. the last few runs we have had, we have had to leave texas a day ahead of time to get where we are going. there is nothing more mind numbing than sitting in a bus for thirty-six hours. twice. in two weeks. then there is the constant puzzling question of why we will play a show in "state-x" , then go to "state-y", then go right back to "state-x". what gives? with gas mileage for us working out to roughly a dollar a mile, bouncing back and forth between states like that has to be a serious waste of money...

after being in a bus that long, getting a few shows under our belts, and being away from home for awhile, you get a little restless. then things like this start happening...

well, what can i say you only live once. for those of you who dont know me, or havent seen me in a long time, i'm the skinny kid that walks on first, the bigger guy that walks on second is our road manager, bert. im far from, in todays words, pu$$y whipped, by any means...but i did feel better knowing i called my wife first to see if she would kick my ass for doing that. she wasnt thrilled about it at first, but with the mention of a little cash for the birthday-suit walk, she wasnt so against it. long story short, we opened up for our pal dierks bentley at red rocks, co. i used to work for him as his lighting designer. cody, our lead singer and guitar player, has been friends with him for quite a few years now. the guys in the band and crew have been friends with him just as long...the reason i specifically mention cody, is that it was his mischevious side that started this whole thing!! i mean, it didnt take a lot of arm twisting, but it was quite nerve racking before we walked on stage...during the walk it was an adrenaline overload...and afterwards, well i felt like i could have taken on the world!!!

well, we did a few more shows, some big, some small.

our show in council bluffs, ia we opened up for gary allan. thats always a pretty good time. garys guys are pretty easy going and straight forward. lots of people, decent weather. we had the next day off there in town. for those of you who arent huge geography buffs, omaha, ne is on the other side of the river from council bluffs. on our day off a few of us went and played golf right across the street from our hotel.

when i say WE went golfing, i mean THEY golfed and I played caddy. im not much of a golfer. ive only really played putt putt. grady, the rhythym and acoustic guitar player, turned out to be the best golfer that day. it was grady, the rhythym player; coit, our merchandise guy; bert, our road manager; brian our production manager / monitor tech; and myself. i had a blast just being outdoors, doing something we dont normally get to do. it was a nice cool, brisk day with plenty of afternoon sunshine after a rainy morning...perfect golf weather.

its nice to change up your routine every now and then. had this conversation with my brother in law the other day. sometimes i get the feeling that i need to make sure im taking the time to do the things that make me tick in the first place. i got into what i do for my love of art and music. music is obviously an art, more aural than visual. i appreciate things that appeal to two or more senses at a time. thats why i like live music so much. the obvious reason of hearing good music, then there is feeling good music too. i love when the low end of the sound spectrum thumps in your abdomen. you feel the music. i love the visual accents that lighting adds to the emotion behind the song you are hearing. the use of colors, angles, timing, transistion. anyway, back to what i was saying about not thinking about work so much...right...

work to me isnt so much work...its just that the time between actually programming and running shows. coming up with all the ideas and actually executing these ideas, turning them into visual compliments to the music...thats not work...thats my canvas, my opportunity to share with the audience some visual representation of what the music is conveying. the work comes in getting it all set up, torn down, making hundreds of phone calls and emails to get things taken care of in advance....boooo.

i need to get back into my more traditional artistic side. my painting. my drawing. my photography. its all so time consuming and costly. but like my brother in law, miles, said ,"work doesnt make me, work makes me the money i need to do the things i want to do". okay, that may not be verbatim, but you get the idea, right? i take a sketch pad on the road with me and try and use it whenever i can. i got my new digital camera. just a point and shoot sony. i shouldnt say just a point and shoot. its a damn good camera, but you know me, always looking for the professional version of things. i would love to have this particular model of digital SLR that an amazing photographer friend uses. check this out.

pretty amazing guy. small world though. my brother in law i mentioned above was friends with this guy before i met him. i met carl through the band. he comes out to shoot the guys whenever we have a big or special show we want documeneted. after knowing both carl and miles for about a year, we all discovered that we already were a part of a small circle of people. pretty small world. wich takes me to my next bit of rambling.

being a small world....getting older....thinking less about yourself and more about your children...things like that, make you think about whats going on in the world and how it affects you and the people you love and care about. getting older has even made me care about people i dont know...cant say i saw that coming! it is a small world. that being said, it makes me wonder...if it really is a small world like everybody says, everybody doing a little bit really could go a long way. my two things that i have been very intersted in lately are not necessarily two things that will change the world, well maybe one...but it just makes me wonder why people cant get past their selfishness and work together. open your minds and your heads. think about what your actions or lack of action may be doing to our world. from a sociological point, a physical point, and everyting in between. all i am saying is that i see issues differently the more i research them. if people werent so easily swayed by the media and f-ing celebrities and actually took a little time to think on their own two feet, i think peoples point of views would be different. in the same breath i would like to also comment on the underhanded motives of so many of todays leaders. and by leaders i mean everyone from your local police departments to the president of our country, to the leaders of the rest of the world. children are taught from a very young age that these are the people you should look up to and model yourself after. these are supposedly the people you turn to in times of need for some guidance, security, and well being. the older i get, the more i learn, the more i read, the more i get involved, the more i realize too many of these "leaders" are solely in it for personal satisfaction and gain. they dont truly care to look into what might be best for the world or the current times, they care about their well being, their bank account, their reputation. but, those are twio subjects for a later entry.

well, its my last night at home. the girls are tucked in after a great dinner from vanessa. i think now would be a good time to get off the computer and enjoy some time with the only person in the world who knows me the way she does and still loves me despite how well she knows me!!

ill try and not make it so long between posts.