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proof my audio crew is awesome

2010-04-22T18:03:00.001-07:00

so last weeks event was televised live on God.tv... which means there is proof that my audio crew is awesome. go here, click "encounter - 3" and start watching at about 79 minutes in. here's the brief recap:

79.10 - the last song ends and the band leaves the stage. that's when we start striking the wedges and band gear, and the crowd starts chanting for an encore and the host encourages
80.10 - i tell the host (who is my boss' boss' boss) no, we can't do an encore, we've already struck the stage... but it doesn't matter to him or the crowd and we start to reset the stage
81.30 - there is a great (however brief) shot of my counterpart who runs everything non-tech and one of my crew praying that we can get it done
82.57 - the stage is set and i tell the host we can go back on
83.27 - the band is back on stage ready to start again

good work peter, coach, curran, and marie! i couldn't do this thing without you!

ny battlecry

2010-04-20T11:11:00.001-07:00

this past weekend i put on the biggest event i've ever been in charge of. it even rivals any event i've ever been a part of - a total of 6 trucks (2 - 53' semis and 4 - box trucks full of rentals), 35 rigging points, 10 video screens, 10 cameras... it was a pretty big deal, put on for nearly 15,000 people at the izod center, just outside of new york city. it was a one off rig designed in the middle of a tour and pushed into a 360 degree event because we just kept on selling tickets. and to make it all more stressful, it was broadcast to live tv. those of you who tour know that's a giant headache, those of you who don't can just be impressed with all the numbers i gave before. all of it resulted in a total of 15 hours of sleep over the course of 4 nights followed by 16 hours of sleep the day i got home. here's a little sample of what it looked like:

load-in and points going up:

final product:

many thanks to all who helped make this event happen, and praise God it's over!

flat tires bring out the good in people

2009-10-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

so today i was riding my bike, and i decided to push a little further than i'd ridden around the streets of nashville. the greatness was that i got to ride a few more miles, the bad news is that the extra miles included a rough railroad crossing. i made it over in one direction with no problem, but on the way back, the crossing was so rough that it immediately knocked all of the air out of my rear tire. and i was about 5 miles from my car.

so i called my parents, because i didn't have a pump or tire patch with me and they were the only people i knew that would be able to come help me. but while i was on the phone with them, another rider stopped and asked if i was okay. and then he offered to help me patch my tire. but we couldn't find the hole. and then another rider stopped and ended up giving me a new tube. and then another rider stopped and let us use his pump, and then the first guy remembered he had a co2 cartridge that would pump my tire up to 80 psi in a flash.

so in a matter of 20 minutes, 3 people stopped to help me, and gave me a few dollars worth of stuff to get me up and riding. all this to say, i love nashville, and i love the community that is bicyclists.

the update

2009-10-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

here's a couple of pictures to update everyone on my last few months...

i finished up my summer with pureNRG. i seriously love these kids, and they taught me a few things about love. after only a couple of months, we had established a great relationship. they have such sweet spirits and a genuine love for everyone they encounter that it's impossible to not love them, and i pray that they can maintain their great attitude as they grow and continue in an industry that has, all too often, a negative effect on people.

the reason i'm not touring with pureNRG anymore is that i am now production managing for the encounter tour. we finished up a marathon 6 week pre-production last weekend...

and this weekend we finally had our first event. it's amazing how far a group of 34 interns who had little to no tour experience have come. seriously. my "crew" is a group of 19 and 20 year old kids whose only ambition is to serve Jesus, and in this season of their lives, they are serving in the industry i have chosen to spend my life in. so while i have spent the last 5 years of my life trying to become a professional, they are only 6 weeks in, and more often than not, they are living up to the extremely high bar that i am setting for them.

so there's the update. i spent the majority of the past 2 months preparing a group of youth, and myself, to put on a tour - a tour that could rival the many others in production quality - and we are well on our way.

i really hope i heard right

2009-08-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

today was a very bittersweet day.

as i blogged about a few days ago, i just took a new job that is going to keep my gone from home the majority of the next year. on the one hand, i have steady work until may - which is a big deal for guys like me who live gig to gig. on the other hand, i have given up A LOT of things, and today that was made very clear to me.

i spent about 5 hours preparing to train a group of interns about the things that i have been a part of, that they'll need to know to make our tour the best it can be, and i barely scratched the surface of what i need to have prepared. but i got a lot done, and i'm very excited for what i get to be a part of.

now - thanks to the feeling of safety i get from just typing my feelings, i am going to share that one thing i really want is to have a family. i really would like to wake up next to the woman prepared for me, to be honesty, sooner rather than later. and today i realized that in committing to being gone 4 days a week, i am committing to only being home 3 days a week, and 1 of those will be spent in meetings to get ready for the next weekend. that all but eliminates any possibility for a relationship... and that has me going to bed feeling pretty down.

i'm just hoping that it was truly God calling me out of what i've been doing the past few years into a new ministry, and that i'm being faithful, not stupid. here's to hoping!

big news

2009-07-30T18:39:00.001-07:00

now that everyone i needed to tell face to face has been told, i am ready to tell the entire world. last monday i officially accepted the position of production manager for the acquire the fire encounter tour. this is a huge step for my career on the road, as i will be in charge of an arena tour...

the opposite side of that coin is that it is a huge commitment as well. i will be flying to texas on august 16th, and will be there (except for a couple of side trips) until we fly to our first event on october 1st. after that i'll be flying out every wednesday and flying home every sunday until may. this has brought on a couple of big changes in my life.

first - i can no longer tour with pureNRG... it may sound silly to some of you, but i really have enjoyed working with those kids - seriously. i LOVE those kids, and i will miss very much carolyne, caroline, and jordan.

second - effective august 16th, i will be resigning from my position as youth ministry director at advent lutheran church.... which means leaving another set of teenagers that i LOVE. i have spent 3 years at that church developing relationships with some of the coolest teenagers - ever. i do feel like my ministry there is done - i knew that when we came to a controversial point while studying "the shack" and all of the students had no issues with it. and they used the same words i would have to describe why they had no issue with it. i have given them everything i could have, and they have a beautifully personal faith now.

the backstory - for a couple of years now i have been splitting my time between touring and local church youth ministry. this has left me not giving 100% to either, which isn't fair to either of them, and recently i have been feeling called to touring full time. and then i got a phone call asking if i was interested in a fall tour with acquire the fire. turns out it's really a much longer tour than that, and it is a youth-focused tour. after a good bit of prayer and conversation, it became clear to me that this was God making it obvious that this was the way i was being led. and while the past two days, when i had to tell 2 different sets of teenagers that i would no longer be working with them, have been very VERY hard on me, i have a peace that i am making the right choice, and following God's call on my life.

so now i ask that, if it's your thing, you please pray for me as i embark on an exciting new voyage.

i got called out

2009-07-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

for not blogging for a while, so here you go katie.

i've been in several different countries since i last blogged. instead of telling stories, here's some pictures.

elliot and josh in zurich. i'm starting with this one, because it's one of the best concert pics i've taken. thanks to the guy there who gave me some pointers.

jaci v with salvador in zurich. it's a confetti storm!

goofing off in oslo

the seaside festival in norway. it was kind of like a mini red rocks

the - newly updated with a wiimote, now wireless - david crowder guitar hero guitar

jaci v onstage at a mike silva festival in honduras

acadia - the purenrg mascot - at the park in oslo

acadia with natalie grant

one man band in oslo

the angry baby at the park in oslo

check da email

2009-04-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

here's how you know that it's been too long since you last checked your email.

luckily for everyone who sent me one of those emails, i had already gotten them on my other computer. but now i have to organize all 554 of those emails. yikes.

post tour depression

2009-04-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

so i've been absent from blog-ville for quite some time. it's all because, for the past 3 months, i didn't do anything that wasn't in some way related to "the wonder of the world" tour. well, the last show was sunday night, so monday morning we all went our separate ways. it's taken me the last few days to process all of the things that went on, and here's where i am now:

i am convinced that our community was a great example of heaven on earth, and here's now i got there - i believe that heaven is perfect community with God. i also believe that wherever two or more are gathered in the name of God, there He is also. and i believe that "God is love" (1 John 4). our little group was definitely gathered in the name of God, and as we loved each other, i believe we shared God with each other. all of this added up to such a huge, tangible presence of God that i'm sure we all got a glimpse of what heaven will be. honestly, look at the love on this face.

there are far too many memories for me to share here, but i do remember one night that i was in a bad mood, and it must have showed because joy noticed. when she asked me why i was in the bad mood, i answered "because i'm tired and cranky." and as soon as i said it out loud, it sounded so silly and immature that my bad mood went away.

all of that adds up to me becoming a bit depressed now that our community is no longer. don't worry about me, i'll get through it. i'm just wondering if this is something that happens at the end of every tour, because it hasn't happened to me before, but this was my first tour as tour manager. is it because for the past 3 months i spent almost all of my time i've been pouring my life into the 14 other people in our group?

in any case, thanks to adam, wes, kevin, jacob, jd, jamie, jimmy, tim, tyler, chasen, sarah, ben, joy, tim, andre', and everyone we encountered along the way. there's a good chance i'll never forget what we shared.

one of the best crowds. ever.

2009-03-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

this weekend we did a show in columbus, ga - home of fort benning. here's a view of the crowd from stage right

in a crowd of 547, the soldiers made up 312 of them. that's more guys in uniform than civilians. these guys were all in the middle of basic training, and the night was their first off base in several weeks. they ran a couple of minutes late, so i held the show for them. there's nothing quite as distracting as 300 people showing up in the middle of the show! it's a good thing i did too, because as soon as they started walking in, the rest of the crowd was on its feet cheering. after they were all in, we started the show, and when the emcee acknowledged them, they stood in unison and recited the soldiers creed. and not another single person spoke or made any noise through the whole thing. it was just that impressive.

the soldiers sat through our first acts with very polite cheering. at intermission, the soldiers got to go through their own, separate concession stand where they were able to get their first refined sugar since they entered basic training a few weeks earlier. that sugar, combined with some rock from rush of fools had the soldiers looking like this

unfortunately, since they were still in basic training, the soldiers had a curfew of 10:30pm, which meant they had to leave the show a little bit early. during intermission, i was talking with the chaplain, when a private stopped and requested to speak with him. when the chaplain asked him if his matter was urgent the private replied "actually sir, my battle buddy was hoping to request a song." well that's when i stepped in. i asked what song he was hoping for, and he told me "awesome God." that's definitely not part of our set, but the chaplain explained to me that it was the soldiers favorite, and they do it almost every sunday at chapel. i figured playing their favorite song would be a great way to acknowledge them, make them feel like a big part of the show, and put the focus on them so that when they got up to leave, it wasn't as big a distraction. i went and told the band, only to find out that they didn't know it, but they told me to remind them after a certain song in the set. when the time came, i shouted a reminder in their ears. since they didn't know it as a band, wes just started the chorus accapella. as soon as he did, the soldier were on their feet singing along and after the line "he reigns", the soldiers shouted "HE REIGNS" army style. after two times through the chorus, wes pointed at the soldiers and they took a time through the chorus by themselves. i'm not sure about the rest of the crowd, but i was moved almost to the point of tears. it was one of the moments that keeps me doing what i do. it was truly a great night.

yay hockey

2009-02-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

definition of a good friend... they call you when they have get free tickets to a hockey game and there's an extra. tonight i got to enjoy a game with my friends farns, nicole, and a new friend (who was actually the source of tickets) david.

there is a cheer here in nashville, and other places i'm sure, where as the opposing team is introduced, their names are followed by an enthusiastic "SUCKS" from the preds fans. tonight's intro was a bit different. when the announcer said, "and the coyotes are coached by..." there were far less "SUCKS"...

cause their coach was non other than the legendary wayne gretzky... who is pretty much the opposite of suckage.

oh, and then there was a fight.

can never be too organized

2009-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

i've set up a giant check list to keep me on track as i prepare for my next tour. hopefully a bit of uber-organization will help make my transition back into tour managing a smooth one. thanks to everyone who was involved in my "learning year", especially farns and mel. honarable mention goes to carter, snooch, darren, francey pants, and the rest of the crowns family. i'll miss y'all!

where's the water?

2008-12-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-10-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-31T09:16:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-07T00:15:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-05T00:49:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-02T21:25:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-21T11:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-07-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

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

oops

back where i love to be

2008-07-16T19:13:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-06-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

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.

no worries, we do it all the time

2008-06-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

so it was my first real gig as production manager. because i paid attention to the farns, i knew i needed to be sure that our hazer (like a smoke machine, but better) wouldn't set off the church's fire alarms. one of the first things i said to the church people was, "is there a fire alarm system that we need to disable while we run our hazer?" their answer was, "no worries, we run a smoke machine all the time"..... i'm sure you can guess what happened.

yep, the fire alarm went off, and the fire department showed up. but it didn't happen early in the day while we were setting up, or during soundcheck.... it went off 10 minutes after we opened doors so that everyone was already in the building and we had to explain what was happening to the audience... and delay the show. but anthony got to meet the firemen.

we called the alarm company to try and get them to turn the alarm off and they put us on hold... we called about our fire alarm going off and they put us on hold............... really?!?! so while we were on hold, we started brainstorming other options. here's the church's first idea.

well, after about 30 minutes of the alarm going off, we finally got it to turn off. as soon as they assured me that there was no way the alarm would go off again, we turned the hazer back on got the show started - only 18 minutes late.

thanks to travis honeycutt for making this church look great with very little gear. unfortunately, there was a guy in the audience who didn't agree. for the first time ever... the lighting guy got a complaint and not the sound guy. that's right - some old man came to front of house and whined about the light being in his eyes and no one came to the sound board to complain. some people even complimented me on the mix. it's really just cause i couldn't mix very loud. apparently people like it when the volume doesn't ever get louder than 95dB. i'll keep that in mind.

four 1-hr naps

2008-05-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

last night i had my youth group lock in at church. look at my great bunch of students (and my preacher). how awesome are they?! last time we had a lock in we ended up going to bed a little after 2am. well this time was a bit different. this time we hooked a wii up to our projector and one of the guys brought rock band.... all that fun turned into we didn't go to bed until 5am this morning. well at 5am i laid down on my makeshift bed made of chairs that was so narrow that i missed my bunk on the bus. i slept from 5:15 until about 6:15, woke up and then from about 6:25 til 7:25. that's two 1-hr naps. after having breakfast and cleaning up and driving home i laid down on my couch (my favorite place to sleep during the day) and caught another couple of 1-hr naps.

it was great fun, even though i am quite sore from wii boxing and baseball. getting old stinks. check here for more on the lock in.

nice version

2008-05-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

i was told just yesterday by an artist that i was working for that i was "the nice version of a sound guy". now, he wasn't telling me that i was a top quality sound guy, but that i was a friendly version. i do hope that i am a top quality sound guy too, but i have been striving to be the guy who can handle the techie side of things on the road and be someone who everyone likes working with as well. well, for yesterday at least, i succeeded. i love my job(s).

mirrors, mirrors, you are the walls....

2008-05-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

today was my first official production managing gig. i was very fortunate because this gig was in town, and at a tv station, so it wasn't as hard as it could have been. anyway, after plenty of phone calls and advancing and rehearsals we showed up for the gig. my first thought when i saw this place was, "i have to take a lot of pictures of this place!" then i thought, "i should just video instead"..... so i did. unfortunately i couldn't talk richie or jon into being our tour guide so you just have to listen to whatever was loud around me or my breathing.

so as you can see.... abour 80% of this place is mirrors floor to ceiling - even the bathrooms! at first is was weird, but then it was kinda fun....

i sure did have a good time. much thanks to richie, jon, josh, andrew, brandon, anthony, seth, lici, and everyone else involved.

thoughts from the tarmac

2008-05-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

i'm stuck on a plane on the tarmac in springfield missouri. apparently the weather in chicago is really bad. we were supposed to take off at 1:20, but were delayed and didn't get on the plane until almost 2. now it's almost 4 and that means i've had nearly 2 hours sitting in seat 10A already. here's a sample of what's gone through my head:

- i'm glad i got the seat that is both aisle and window
- wow, i took a 30 minute nap and we're still in the same exact spot we were when I fell asleep
- i think that the old lady in front of me may have just crapped her pants
- she's hurrying to the bathroom... she really may have crapped her pants
- ewwwww
- done with that album, what should i listen to next
- i wish i could blog
- i really like shane and shane's album "pages"
- wait! i can blog
- i hope i make it home tonight
- hooray! they started the engines
- dang! we were just moving so the other airplanes could get where we were
- these cashews are delicious
- i like southwest airlines way more than american airlines
- could it be true?!?! we're going to take off?!?! of course i'll turn off my elect.....

back to reality

2008-05-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

i'm back to being a road manager today. i do miss not having to know anything about where i am or where i'm going, but i do love being the guy that people can count on to have, or be able to get, the answers.

we flew in to springfield branson national airport today to do a show in springfield missouri at a church here. this is one of those really tiny airports that doesn't even have a starbucks and the food court consists of vending machines (okay, maybe not quite that bad, but they don't have a starbucks). they do however have a chapel.

hooray for having priorities, and ones that matter! here's a shot from tonight. it was a lot of fun, and i was super excited to get to work with Bruce and Dave again - as well as Twila of course!

arkansas common sense

2008-04-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

today we were in fort smith arkansas. i should have expected a bad day coming because every day so far this run has been really good. the first clue that it was going to be a long day was when the hired stage hands asked me which side was stage right, followed by hearing about guys having to be told three times what front of house was.

then came time to start putting together my lighting towers. i gave my hands a stack of bolts and showed them where the bases and truss were to put together. then i told them i would be right back as soon as i finished the other thing i was doing. the bolts have two washers and a nut on them. common sense says that one washer goes on each side...

so i finished what i was doing and went to check on their progress. when i got over to them, they had put both washers on the same side of the base. i told them that we had to take them all off and put one washer on both sides. this one guy said, "you didn't tell us that." my reply was "sorry. that's my fault. i thought it was common sense." the guy proceeded to look straight in my face and say, "not my common sense."

hooray for some days off.

hazy

2008-04-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

the haze hovering over our venue pretty much reminds me of the way my head feels about day 3 of most runs. today isn't too bad because we had a long drive last night and a late load in so i got about 7 hours of sleep. plus, yesterday mike, from leeland, pulled culmer over backwards in a chair while he was talking to his wife and culmer didn't even miss a word. and that was funny.

water(park) melon

2008-04-17T13:59:00.001-07:00

this is tim.

this is what tim had for breakfast. mostly the orange and yellow.

after one unfortunate bite, i think of the yellow, tim was heard to say, "this melon tastes like water park."

most days, when breakfast is bad, the whole day is shot.

luckily, the promoter brought us things to play with.

my release from my release

2008-04-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

this blog is just me feeling sorry for myself, so feel free to skip it...

ironically, this blog is coming just days after blogging about my release.

after being involved with kairos for somewhere close to 2 1/2 years and running sound for around a year and half of that, i got a call this weekend to inform me that the powers that be have decided that they are "going to go a different direction with the audio engineering." apparently all of kairos has been being evaluated, by whom i don't know, for the last couple of weeks. the word is that some aspects of the worship scored consistently very well, but that the sound was not one of them... hence their decision to can me.

after having a couple of days to think about it, here's what i'm feeling:
- i've never been canned for mixing poorly, and i'm taking it personally. especially since i checked with people every week to see how it sounded to them. i've never heard bad things, maybe because i asked my friends, but i asked the friends that don't hesitate to tell me when i suck.
- in addition, there was no hint at all to me that anyone was unhappy with the sound. i went from everyone was happy to fired without anything in between. also, the reason i mix the way i do there is because that's how the directors of kairos told me to mix, and because it's a worship service - not a rock show. any time the directors asked me how i thought it sounded, i told them i thought it sounded great, cause if i didn't - i would have done something different. and then i went on to ask them how they thought it sounded, adding "as long as you're happy, i'm happy." well now i'm not happy... i hope they are.

all this makes me hope that the real reason is not that they really thought that i was the problem. here's what i'm hoping the true reason for my release might be:
- they have someone else who they want to mix instead of me.
- i'm getting scape-goated. it's no secret to anyone who knows sound that the room and equipment i have to work with is not set up for big rock shows, or even full bands. it's set up for people to preach. instead of sinking the money to make the room into the venue that they want, they're blaming it on me.
- God is clearing time in my schedule for other things.

-- while i don't like any of these reasons either, it'd be great to know that they are the reason instead of me sucking at what i do to make a living.

i do want to be clear though... i still have nothing but love for kairos. if you live close to nashville, and have tuesday nights from 7 til 8:30ish free you should be at brentwood baptist for kairos. mike glenn is one of very few preachers that can hold my attention for 30 min and michael boggs consistently puts together an all-star band who check their egos at the door and give it all up for God.

after watching kairos grow from around 200 people a week to the 800 or 900 who show up regularly now, i am going to have a hard time moving on.

on another note....
this is my favorite album of the week. andy has reawakened and fueled my love of deep theological thought. listen to "give me grace"

give me grace for when i can't stop falling
give me strength to help me get back up
give me faith without proof
give me wisdom and truth
give me You

back home

2008-04-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

so this is going to be just a bit gross. you know when you go out for a while, maybe on a trip, or maybe just a long day at work and then you get home and you all the sudden need to poop? i got that feeling today when i woke up in knoxville. i really miss this town. some friends of mine stopped by and took me out to lunch.

this is one of the first things i saw when i woke up this morning. welcome to knoxville. that basketball holds the world record for largest regulation spec-ed basketball.

congrats to the lady vols too! 8-time champs!

back on the bus

2008-04-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

after 3 glorious days of sleeping in my bed and showering by myself, i'm back out. this is what my bunk looks like on the bus, and as you can see, there are 11 other bunks within about 10 feet of me. oh, and this bed is also going 80 miles an hour. now you have a better understanding of why all i want to do when i get home is get in my bed and stay there.

it's not the perfect situation, and i'm totally just whining about it... but the bus is much better than plenty of alternatives - and it let's me do what i love.

college hands

2008-04-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

a couple of days ago we were at stephen f austin state university and had the great fortune of having the SAA help us out instead of our normal smelly old dudes. what they lacked in concert experience they made up for with numbers and cuteness. i actually had plenty of help for the second time. unfortunately, the first time it looked like this...

see culmer's blog for more details, and some great pictures... including one of me with my hands!

"UT" confusion

2008-04-05T12:11:00.001-07:00

yesterday we were at "UT" Austin. it was a pretty cool venue, but the chairs said "UT special events center" on the back and i was really confused by their assumption that they were actually worthy of calling themselves "UT".

guess which chair is mine?

my release

2008-04-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

those of you who have known me for a while know that i have a need to run sound. i think it's because i love music so much and if i'm running sound i know that it'll sound good (to my ears at least). most of the time i get my fix by traveling with bands. this spring, however, i have taken a position as a utility tech - which doesn't include running sound. thank God for kairos, where i get to run sound every week, and satisfy my audio cravings. last night we had the pleasure of michael farren from pocket full of rocks leading us in worship.

spring break youth group

2008-04-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

so it was the first night back to youth group after lent/i've been on tour and not able to make it to church on wednesday nights for youth group. we've moved it to monday because i can make it on monday. too bad i forgot that this week was spring break. since i didn't anticipate too many showing up and because i haven't seen everyone in so long and i really just wanted to catch up....

don't hate

2008-03-31T22:09:00.001-07:00

props to this truck driver in baltimore. (click the picture and read the deflector) whether she meant to or not, she's totally preaching the gospel of love... if only by discouraging the opposite.

on the theme of music again.... go get this record. now.

no picture for this one

2008-03-31T09:51:00.001-07:00

last night I ripped about a 6 inch hole in the crotch of my pants while trying to climb from my lighting tower to the stage. I often refer to this as "gigging" my pants. I spent the rest of the night telling everyone I met about the giant hole in my pants, just to get the weirdness out of the way..... thanks to raleigh for being so cool

oh the choices

2008-03-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

today we're at the cricket arena in charlotte NC. on my way to catering, i stumbled upon a concessions stand and wondered what they had at this one..... not much.

oh, and if you like counting crows, you need to get their new album, saturday nights and sunday mornings.

1,333

2008-03-29T09:05:00.001-07:00

for those of you who don't talk to me, ever, i am currently on tour as the utility tech instead of my normal gig as something to do with sound. my responsibility during the show is to run mediashout (seen above). for this show, mediashout is responsible for the lyrics on the screen. during prayer time last night i pulled out my calculator/cell phone and added up how many times i press space bar - which advances to the next lyric slide. the numbers just kept adding up until.... 1,333! and that's just the space bar touches. sometimes i get fancy and press some other buttons to make it fade to black. but if we only count the necessities - 1,333. we normally do 3 shows a week. that adds up to 5,000 space bars every week. we will have done 48 shows by the time this tour is over, which makes -- 63,984 - only during show time. if we count rehearsals and sound checks this tour will have strengthened my space bar pushing finger over SEVENTY THOUSAND TIMES.

notice that there are no words run together at all in this blog... i am good at space bar

h to the izzo

2008-03-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

yesterday in baltimore i walked in and saw this. the orange tape was left over directions from the night before. normally the tape is already cleaned up from the last show before we get there. who was it?

need another hint?

that's right. the american gangter himself, jay z, was in the venue the night before. who says Christian bands don't play real venues?

dude, where's the edison

2008-03-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

sometime during load in, kenny finds some sort of fan motor. because kenny is kenny, he finds some 9 volt batteries and, together with carter, checks to see if it works. it does - the fan spins with just one battery. it spins faster with 2 batteries. then we hear kenny say "dude, where's the edison". for those of you who don't work with electricity very often, it basically means the type of plug and wattage that you have in your house. we all know that it's probably a bad idea for kenny to plug it this little motor in to that much power. but instead of stopping him - we all fumbled for our phones so we could take video of what was about to happen....

tastes of the road with Culmer

2008-03-22T11:54:00.001-07:00

Jeff Culmer, blogger extraordinaire, is always blogging about the lives of other people and it seems that no one ever blogs on him... until now. he will help us explore what it's like to eat on the road.

this face followed the statement, "i just ate a vegetable i've never had before and it tasted like oatmeal." forgive the poor picture quality... it was taken with the cell phone.

later, to make up for the lack of dinner, Culmer had some mott's strawberry applesauce. thanks to Christy for helping with this picture by holding a flashlight.

after a long night of work, culmer enjoys a snack. who knew that dipping spicy nacho doritos in dean's french onion dip could be so good?!? try it - it's worth it.

according to culmer links increase traffic... we'll see

not your average bathroom graffiti

2008-03-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

please ignore how creepy it is that i took a picture in the bathroom, and instead focus on the picture.

this picture comes from a bathroom in freedom hall in johnson city TN. the local crew told me that the venue is used for science hill (i think they said) middle school events and monster truck rallies. i normally am really annoyed by graffiti, but i kinda like this one. despite the fact that my young friend had a bit of trouble with the first cursive "l" -- i bove Jesus?!? -- i think he makes his point. thank you my young graffiti artist friend.

crew free time

2008-03-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

those of us who work on the road often joke about "living the dream". most often these jokes come up out of frustration because of conditions being crappy - like only being able to shower once every couple of days and sleeping on a bus speeding down the road. truth be told, there are plenty of times that we really are living the good life. this is what happens when we work hard and get done before lunch. we play hard too. notice that great form.

thanks culmer for the pics.

man lounge?

2008-03-14T13:48:00.001-07:00

every day Christy puts out tape arrows so that we can find our way around in a place that most of us probably haven't been before. i always look for the star, which we use for the crew room so that the local crew won't go in there, and catering... that's pretty much all i ever need. this day was a lot like the others. here's what the crew room often looks like.

on this particular day, there was a new tape arrow... one that intrigued me and the other guys. what in the world is a man lounge? and are we allowed in it, or is it just for the artists? when i felt sure that there was no artist in there i had a little peek inside. what i found was beautiful -- and was even better when i found out that crew was allowed in. there were couches, and cable, and even a hot tub!

here's to the man lounge. may we meet again.

beginning

2008-03-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

i blame Culmer, Farns, and Carter for my decision to begin blogging. they just make it sound so fun.