where's the water?

hey bossier city louisiana, you forgot to hook the pipes into the faucet. i'm no plumber, but i'm pretty sure it's not going to work.

europe was fun

here's a few pictures

checking in for our flight to europe

it was too cold for haze in ireland

church in stoke-on-trent, england

the glamorous life of a traveling band

airport in copenhagen, denmark

rest stop somewhere in germany

heidelberg, germany

stuttgart, germany

stuttgart, germany

frauenfeld, switzerland

sunrise in karlsruhe, germany

no matter where we are

so i'm in arhus, denmark tonight, doing show 3 of my european tour with casting crowns. i've been working with them for almost a year now, and a good portion of that time i spent the whole show staring at a screen, pressing space bar, and reading the lyrics to the entire show, so it's not like i haven't heard these words before. but tonight i am having the chance to walk around a bit. i walked back to the lighting console to ask snooch to do me a favor while the band was playing "praise You in this storm." on my to the console there were several people in the audience with their lighters in the air, which I thought was cool in an 80's rock sort of way; then, on my way back, there were a lot of people with their hands in the air singing, "for You are who You are, no matter where i am." in that moment, God, being who He is, took the opportunity to smack me upside the head with some truth. this God, who i love and serve, is the same God who all these people in denmark love and serve. this God is bigger than our towns, or our countries, or what language, or even what side of the road we drive on. God is God, no matter where we are; and that is rocking my world tonight (from another part of the world).

atlanta to belfast

so yesterday, and a little of the day before that, i was flying from atlanta to belfast, ireland. in between we stopped in frankfurt, germany, and london england. along the way, funny things happened and, since i couldn't blog immediately, i wrote them down. so here they go:

i started the day with multi-grain griddle cakes, lots of coffee, and chick-fil-a, not a good idea when about to get on a plane for 12 hours or so show. just if you're wondering - the bad outcome, the one you would expect, did not happen. i'm quite proud of that.

in the course of the day i went through airport security about a dozen times. one of them i need to write about. we were going through to get on the plane in frankfurt and, after emptying my pockets (i am quite a pro at airports these days), i set off the detector... so i'm asked to step to the side so the guard can wand me. he asked me if i spoke german or english. i told him english, but (in german) a little german too. he laughed and asked "you know enough to order a beer?" after that he had me raise my hands and spread my feet a bit and starting waving the wand around me. i couldn't help but laugh when the it went off as it passed over my crotch. for those of you who haven't seen spinal tap this isn't as funny, but still... oh, and it wasn't a cucumber. it was the button and zipper. the guard didn't understand when i started laughing, but i couldn't help it.

the last i'll tell you about was going through london heathrow airport. as you go through now, they take your picture so they can confirm it's the same person using the passport when you go to board your next plane. i had mine taken, and the guy said it was fine, and when i got to the place where they checked my picture, the guy started laughing. apparently in my sleep deprivation i had closed my eyes and made a funny face. glad i could provide some entertainment in just passing though the airport.

thanks to mini-snooch for helping us load up before leaving out

111.9

so if you haven't figured it out yet, one of my favorite places to be in behind a console mixing sound. today's blog is a flash back to a show i did about a month ago. i've recently begun carrying a pelican case filled with microphones, headphones, and assorted other equipment that makes my job easier, or helps me do it better. one piece i carry is a sound level meter.

after conversing with several other audio professionals and doing some research, i've come to find that 111.9 db is pretty stinkin' loud. it falls somewhere between a jet taking off at 200 feet away and standing on stage at a loud rock concert. in other words, probably louder than jaci should have been. but my ears never rang post-show, and nobody complained about it being too loud... so maybe my meter is wrong? in any case, it was good times, and i really enjoyed the sound system at this particular event.

sponsor?

guess what... i'm a table sponsor! i didn't even know until we showed up. you're welcome everyone at my table that enjoyed a great meal, and some good tunes.

the return of pictures!

so i finally got a new usb cable... actually, i borrowed one from carter. in any case, here come the pictures. a couple of months ago, we had a show in the seattle area. since i'd never been, and my brother and one of my best friends live there now, i decided to fly up a day early and stay after for a couple of days to experience what i'd heard was one of the coolest cities in the country. i was not let down. here's the most touristy shot from my trip. i had pike's place blend from the original starbucks in pike place market.

words

now that i'm okay with not having pictures... let me offer this up for your consideration. i spent a lot of time thinking the other night and here's what i came to.

everything that is bad in the world was created by man (those of you who are sensitive to gender please just substitute human in place of man). the thing that sticks out most to me is how much we argue over words, and what things are called. i remember someone saying the other day, "words only have power because we give them power."

when God created, all He called it was "good."

He left what to call it all up to us. and that has served to separate us, because we all want to be right. why do we have to hold so tightly to the names we give things, when the things are the same? infant baptism and baby dedication are both the commitment of the parents and church family to raise the child in a Christian environment. (lutheran) confirmation, also called affirmation of baptism, and adolescent baptism are both a public profession of faith and subsequent ceremonies. if the ceremonies (dunking, etc.) are just a outward expression of an inward movement, WHO CARES HOW THEY ARE DONE? if you understand it one way, fantastic, and i support you in that. please don't tell anyone else that their way is wrong.

main point - let us stop fighting over things that we understand differently and begin loving anyone who doesn't yet understand.

photos not required

sorry for the extended absence. i let someone borrow my usb cable that i use to get the pictures off my camera, and my planned blogs are still on the camera until i get my lazy and poor behind to the store and get a new one. i was reminded this morning, not by someone but by his blog, that pictures aren't necessary for a fantastic blog. please, if you have 2 minutes, check out my friend casey's blog - "how big is your God?"

one down

so a couple of weeks ago, i posted about my new favorite hobby. well today was a sad day for that hobby. i lost my first disc. last time i played this course i had no trouble throwing through the trees and over the pond...

this time wasn't the same. i threw pretty much straight into the pond, got hopeful when the disc skipped, and then sad when it hit the bank and fell back in. as you can tell by the great picture of me searching (thanks chris), it gets deep pretty quick, and i never did find it. my first lost disc :(

i should be a boxer

i wish i could copy the video and put it on here, but since i can't...

http://crownscrew.blogspot.com/2008/09/its-time.html

that's the address for a great video of me and the production manager throwing fists. for the record: the last few punches he landed were only because i was trying to take my helmet off so i could see to continue pummeling him.

it's all about love

i'm blogging from my phone because i'm laying in my bunk and we don't have internet on the bus...

also, you can skip this blog if you're looking for something funny.

i've been thinking a lot recently about who i am and who i'm becoming. as i was updating my facebook status so that it said, "is excited to see some old friends and hoping they feel the same way", my first thought was that i was going to be made fun of for it. by one set of friends for being sappy and emotionally needy, and by another set for indirectly name-dropping because the old friends are from a band i used to work for. well to both sets i say - do your worst. i am coming to grips with the fact that despite trying not to, i do really care about what people think of me. and the couple of months that i spent traveling with that group contain some of my greatest memories.

i am also learning about myself that i genuinely care for most of the people i work for and with on the road. sure, a lot of times it's my job to make their life easier, but i am sure i could find another job. i just really like to serve other people, and i think that's a tangible outpouring of my love for them. so i guess i love to love people.

so you can make fun of me for my facebook status or for the soul bearing mush i just spent entirely too long typing on my phone when i should be sleeping.... but i feel like it's time for me to embrace what i've been created to do, and i believe that is to love people.

church recording

about a year and a half ago, my pastor and i were pushing for a contemporary service to be started at our church. in the discussions of who we could get to lead worship for us, there were two very clear favorites. chris smith (who will surely be blogged about another day) and hilary west. both were friends of mine from church camp, who are unbelievable talented.

i had the pleasure of recording hilary with another friend a few years ago, and we've been talking about recording some songs of our "praise band" so that we can introduce new people to "contemporary" music in church -- unheard of in many southern lutheran churches. one day after being more blown away than usual by the talent of ms hilary west i was reminding them that we needed to do some recording, and she said she had a song that she wanted to record.

today was the day. i hauled all my gear to church, and set it up for a quick hour and a half session, during which hilary amazed us and, in her ever-humble way, apologized for it being bad... which i am pretty sure she isn't capable of.

one thing she is, however, is quite gullible. we turned a few chairs on their sides and stacked them up to create a make-shift vocal booth for her to sing in, and then the aforementioned chris smith informed her that in order to achieve the best sound possible, she needed to wear a choir robe...

sorry hilary. it had to be shared.

my newest hobby

this post has been edited for errors. thanks to marsha for pointing out my mistakes.

is disc golf. i played once a few years ago, but for whatever reason didn't really get into it. i played again a couple of months ago and really liked it. it's much cheaper than playing regular golf -- i went and bought a few discs and a bag, for a total of about $50 - which is about two rounds of regular golf at a good course. and you don't even have to pay greens fees to play disc golf!

well, both of my parents are retired now, which means that i have someone to play with during the week when the rest of my friends are at work. my parents made fun of me for having a bag and being organized with my discs the first time we played. the second time we played i was reminded of how funny my parents really are. as we were about to head to the first tee, my dad pulled a cooler out. i thought, "great, they brought drinks"... i was informed that it wasn't a cooler.


it was their bag of discs. they had put all the old frisbees at the house into a cooler! there was a juice bars frisbee, a wheaties frisbee, a bellsouth frisbee, a nashville sounds frisbee, and even a soft a floppy mickey mouse frisbee (which i was informed was the putter since it wouldn't bounce of the chains as bad -- brilliant!) they were so committed to this joke that they played the first 3 holes with their frisbees, even though my discs were at least doubling their drives.

so to my parents - you get an A for hilarity and an A+ for commitment to the joke. top-notch work!

i love sharpies

just in case you can't read the little note on the side of the box there -- it says, "i just went through the washer and dryer!" and it's no lie. i kept hearing a lot of clanking in the dryer, and when i went to investigate, i found the sharpie shown above. it had already made it through the entire wash cycle and the clothes surrounding it in the dryer were very close to being done as well. but that sharpie shows no signs of being anything but as perfect as the day it was made. every time i think that there is no way i can love sharpies more, i am proven wrong by a miracle such as surviving the laundry.

free tunes!

a few months ago, i was walking out of my apartment on my way to a bus call and i heard a guy yell, "world vision!" it took me a few seconds to realize that i was wearing my world vision track jacket, which turns out to be quite a conversation starter. well the guy who had hollered to me and i started talking, and it turns out that i work for musicians who support world vision and his wife and he are musicians that support world vision. and they are good! i checked out their latest two albums, and i just got an email from him informing me that they are following in the footsteps of radiohead and derek webb, and giving away her newest album!! do yourself a favor and check it out - but hurry, you only have until november 1st.

just me and God

i'm in alaska to do a couple of shows with the band i'm working for (i love my job). today me and a couple of the guys from the crew and band left anchorage and went driving down interstate 1. at first i was mad that they made me drive, but after seeing the incredible views and being able to see out of the windshield instead of just a little side window, i was glad. our destination was a national park just outside the town of whittier to see a glacier.

i hiked up on the glacier, and you can see how far by how small the people are in the picture above. looking the other way the view was -

i don't talk much about my faith here in the ole' blog. but after today, i'm going to have to say just a couple of words. when i got up to the place where i was taking these pictures, and looking up toward the glacier and mountains, i could not see, hear, smell, etc. anything that wasn't God's creation. and i was not even minuscule in comparison to my surroundings. it was an unbelievably humbling moment. i tried to come up with some song or hymn to sing to myself, but nothing seemed appropriate. finally i just ended up kneeling down and whispering a quiet prayer of thanks. thanks for the opportunity to be present in that situation. thanks that in those moments i was in the presence of the Creator and felt completely fulfilled and wanted nothing but for the moment to last just a bit longer.

on the way to alaska

a few funny things happened. first, while we're waiting on our delayed flight in minneapolis on an airline that shall remain unnamed, i noticed that there was an outlet way out of reach. that's it in the top right corner above the logo of the airline that will remain unnamed.


well after we finally got on the plane, we started our nearly 6 hour flight to anchorage. i finished a book i was reading, napped a little and then decided to watch one of the movies i had rented on itunes. sticking with the theme of "ah, crap"-ness of the day, my computer died about halfway through. luckily for me i was sitting in a bulkhead exit row (even though i was supposed to be in a regular exit row (stupid unnamed airlines). and right across the aisle from me i saw an outlet! after checking with a flight attendant, i ran my power cord through the aisle and resumed my movie. another flight attendant came by and told me that he thought it was a tripping hazard so........


yeah, i gaffed my cable down. how lucky that i packed a roll of gaff tape in a carry-on!

check out the crew blog to see how i recycled the tape after i finished the movie.

sometimes not having internet is great

like today. i finally finished writing the sermon that i'll be giving tomorrow. you may ask, "where did you go to avoid the internet?" well... i went to starbucks. not only did i not have internet, and therefore was able to focus; i also had some pretty rockin' coffee (pike's place + hazelnut + a bit of sugar + a splash of half and half = enough energy to keep going, but not so much that i get the shakies). well the fact that i just finished it today means i'll probably preach from the pulpit - code for read my sermon - for at least the first service.

positive post (not) tuesday

so i have a friend that fairly regularly posts a positive post tuesday blog. today was a pretty great day, and i feel compelled to share a few of the things that made it so.


if we speak technically, today started while i was still up from yesterday. katie logan had a large part in keeping me up that late. it's not every day i'm in atlanta and get to hang out.

after ending yesterday around 2 am today, i got up stupid early (7:15 am) to spend some time with a great friend of mine from high school who has moved to atlanta. even at such an early hour and after a long night, it was totally worth it to hang with christie conner. after getting back in bed for a couple more hours it was time for...


mmmmm... sushi at ru sans. even better that the sushi was the company.


i do love me some oxner girls. after lunch it was time to head home. my cell phone was almost dead, and that was just the excuse i needed to finally go buy the power inverter that i've been considering. well best buy didn't have one i liked and neither did radio shack. on the off-chance that atlanta played host to one of my new favorite places, i used the last of my cell phone battery to google -this place is like best buy on crack. they have everything that a nerd like me could want. i got a great power inverter and spent about an hour perusing cds, games, computer stuff, books, flashlights, dvds. i even found a roll of white electrical tape that the guys at home depot said i would never find. then i figured it was time to start the drive back home. i filled up with gas and picked up a few long drive essentials.


diet dew and sunflower seeds. the sunflower seeds are actually what spurred the positive post. look carefully - after 3 hours of almost continuous seed-munching i still have nearly a third of the $0.59 tube left. what a fantastic value!

today was a good day.

i like jason mraz

i can't believe i waited so long to buy the new jason mraz record - "we sing. we dance. we steal things." i loved "waiting for my rocket to come" and "mr. a-z"... how did i not just go buy the latest when it came out. well i bought it tonight and i've been listening to it while i work on my sermon for sunday (the fact that i'm preaching may have cost me a couple of gigs on the road, but commitments are commitments, right?) and i'm pretty much loving it. so next time you see this
in the store, spend the money. or just go to itunes and get it for $9.99. it's worth it.

lost in translation

i saw this door hanger at a hotel i was at recently. unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me, just my phone. i'm not sure i would have been daring enough to snap a picture with my phone anyway. here's what went on in my head when i saw it.



"no moleste" = "do not disturb"...



proof that molesting is disturbing?!

what is the world coming to?

coming back around

around two years ago, i got a phone call from my buddy farns, who had worked with me a couple of times on the road. he told me that he had dropped my name for a gig and then told me he'd kick my butt if i said no. a few minutes later i got a call asking me to run sound for jaci velasquez at a festival in florida. i hesitantly agreed to do the gig... hesitantly because the only sound stuff i'd done was studio work and a couple of gigs with friend's bands at bars. i had never worked on a digital console, never run sound at a festival, and certainly never for a grammy-winning, platinum-selling artist.

-- a quick interjection to this blog --
when i got to the festival, the farns was there. he was running sound for anther band, and could have very easily run sound for jaci also. instead, he passed the job on to me so that he could help me get my foot in the door of live sound while he was around to be sure that i didn't fail terribly. farns = good people, and a great asset to the touring community.
-- interjection finished --

well i did the festival, more nervous that i'd ever been behind a console, but made it through the show and even had some random guy come and tell me that i did a much better job than the guy who had been there the night before. after that experience, i wasn't afraid to run sound for anyone on any console.

fast forward to about two weeks ago. i got a text from my friend brian. he told me that he'd dropped my name for a couple of gigs. a few minutes later i get a call asking if i can run sound for a couple of shows for jaci velasquez. unfortunately i was only available for one, but had a great time and hope it's not two years before i work with jaci and her band again.

sunday morning - 3 am

kroger on franklin rd in brentwood tn. i'm in a van with 5 other guys returning from a show in dayton ohio. as we pull up i see that the parking lot is full. since it was 3 am i wasn't as mentally quick as normal, but i did notice that the cars weren't parking in front of the kroger... they were parked in the extra spaces away from any of the stores in the shopping center. then i realized that all these cars belong to people that were doing exactly the same thing as me. apparently the brentwood kroger is the equivalent of a park and ride for professional touring folks.


i couldn't even get high enough so that i could capture the nearly unending-ness of the cars. seeing this really made me feel like i was part of something.

i had another thing i was going to blog about

but it'll have to wait, because i was doing my usual rounds of my friend's blogs and stumbled onto a new feature on the mercyme blog -- the "cover tune grab bag". so instead of spending time reading what i would bore you with

watch this

it may be funnier for those of you who follow christian music and know these guys for their own tunes.

when riding a motorcycle...

you should always wear gloves... but should probably also wear sunscreen........

oops

back where i love to be

it had been a while, but a couple weeks ago i finally got back to where i feel most comfortable, not to mention happy -- standing behind the console, mixing the show. people always ask me, when i mix, "how did it sound out front?" my reply is pretty much always along the lines of, "if i didn't think it sounded great, i would have done something different." it got me thinking the other day about how great my job is. i get to be around music, and i get to make it sound exactly the way i want it to. i'm not sure there is a better gig for me. thanks to anthony evans who made this particular day possible.

more camp fun

here's some more things that make camp fun.

sometimes when the chairs aren't comfortable you get inner tubes to sit on... and then sometimes the campers put somebody in the inner tubes.... and then we dare him to do a belly flop.....

and then other times... somebody falls asleep first... and the counselor tells somebody to get some toothpaste and some dental floss.... and then you put the toothpaste on passed out mcgee's fingers and tickle his nose with the dental floss.... and then the guy in the yellow shirt gets scared and runs as fast as he can...

camp is fun.

laughing til urination

so i'm at camp, and the youth haven't quite showed up yet. the staff showed up a few days early to do some training and some playing. you never quite know how much fun you can have taking pictures until you spend some time with "photobooth" and some people that work with youth... here's some examples.a big hug!


i could have been in kid 'n play

i sure am curious

brandon is so curious that it's making my jaw droop

brandon is.....

bandy has fantastic hair

remember harry and the hendersons..... i find inspiration there

regardless how scary we look, we can still make true art

i'm sure there will be more of these to come -- when the campers find out we have this, there will be no more sleep

crushers!

this past weekend i was back out on the road. carter, snooch, and i flew in to sacramento where we met the band and got on the bus. now, to get the bus to california, two drivers rotated between driving and sleeping so that the bus was always moving -- they said it took about 48 hours of straight driving to get from atlanta to sacramento. well in addition to those two, there were 7 band members and 7 crew people for a total of 16 people on a bus that has 12 bunks. even with the fact that the drivers didn't sleep on the bus, that left 14 bodies and 12 beds. luckily, i ended up not being stuck on a couch (thanks melanie and ed!).

after a fun weekend with that crew, we all piled off the bus at the phoenix airport at stupid early o'clock. right after we checked in, i ran into a band that i used to work for, and love. really... these girls rock! turns out they were also flying home to nashville, and we ended up sitting at the gate for about an hour chatting about old times and the fun we had. it reminded me that i probably still had a video from a show we did in japan.

check out the guy dancing in front of me during "miss difficult".

miss you ladies!

hard beginner to intermediate

i went hiking a couple of weeks ago and when i tried to find a map so i could give directions to a friend who was coming to meet me, i found out that the park i was at had just added a new mountain bike trail. that reminded me that i used to love mountain biking. so i decided to get back into it. after several weeks of bike shopping and a few test rides, i bought a new bike. later that day i went and rode the trail that i had just learned about. this trail was rated as beginner to hard beginner, and i rode straight through it with just a couple of problems. well that gave me a false sense of confidence and i decided to go to another trail i had learned of that was rated hard beginner to intermediate. it was also billed as one of the most technical trails in nashville. i know... i should have known better.

but i tried anyway. i got started fairly well, hardly having any trouble with the creek crossings or slight climbs. well, a little ways in, i came to what i think they called the "rock garden". when i first came up to it, i realized it was more than i should take on, and i stopped. i spent some time looking at it, and found a good line, and decided to try it. i backed up the trail a little so i could get settled on my bike before i hit the hard stuff. as i got close, i realized i was on a slightly different line than the one that i picked out, but thought i could still make it...


i was wrong. i got about half way down the rocks, and then my front wheel stopped. since i was on about a 40 degree downhill, the rest of the bike didn't stop, and i ended up vertical over top of my front wheel before falling over sideways. honestly... it was a pretty good wreck. all that really happened was a bit of blood, and a few scrapes and bruises... and a bit of scrapped paint from where the chain came off.

the best part was that as i was coming up and realized i was off course i thought, "maybe i shouldn't be trying this". then, as i started to wreck, i started to giggle and, when i hit the ground, i laughed out loud. it was really funny to me that i knew i shouldn't have tried but did anyway.