New Beginnings

Today, I just want to thank God for new beginnings. Life has slowed down a little bit after a crazy weekend, and previous week. I'm back at the tv station now working 20 hrs, and doing a few freelance jobs on the side. I'll soon begin working on some custom music (sort of a 50's feel) for Layson's Restorations in Washington. I'm also beginning to look for some new show opportunities. Over the last 8 months, we have not been able to practice that often as a band. I think that was really seen at our performance at King College. My goal is to start practicing about once a week, if possible...while bringing in some new players, so that I have a larger "pool of musicians" to pull from. I still have my key players, but need to have some options when I've committed to a show, and not all of my "regular" band can make it. Far too many times, I've booked shows and have ended up with half a band the week before we're supposed to play. I'm also going to start researching information on concert promotion and concert promoters.

Although the King College show was a little bit of a disappointment (as far as numbers go), I think there's a lot to be thankful for. We did take some big steps with this show...hauling our own sound gear across the country, working with in-ear monitors (my first time), playing with supplimentary tracks (strings, loops, etc. from both albums...all triggered from my laptop). I think things can only go up from here. We have to get our songs down so much so we don't have to even think about the notes when we're playing. The more practiced we are, the more we can focus on interacting with the people we're playing for. I made some pretty glaring mistakes when it came to transitions while at King College. I personally need to practice more, that's all there is to it...actually speaking my transitions out loud, instead of expecting to come up with something fluid when I get to the stage. I can always change what I'm going to say when I get on stage, but I need to at least have something nailed down. Now with less hours at the tv station, I should be able to focus more on improving my own performance. I also want to get together with Rich Barrett (who played piano on my album) and work through some of the piano parts. Rich cannot always make it to our shows to play, so I'm often covering the piano parts myself. Ideally, it'd be great to have him there so I can put my full attention on singing, but unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way. He is a much better keyboard player than I am, and I'd really like to work with him so I can learn how to better emulate the parts he played on the album (and to learn to be a better player overall). I did come up with all the basic chord movements and melodies, but he then further embellished the piano parts that I had given him. He had to learn (and enhance) my piano playing and now I am trying to learn his playing. The best way to get better is to surround yourself with people who put you to shame. =)

The thought of writing some new songs has been in the back of my mind for quite some time, and I think I am now in the place where I feel ready to start writing again. Over the last year, I have been jotting ideas down, but haven't spent any extended period of time widdling ideas and concepts into actual song lyrics. God has put a lot of things on my heart, and I need a constructive way to vent both my frustrations and convictions.