can never be too organized

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?

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.