so i finished another song this morning...written out of psalm 69...i am excited to see where it goes. had a good time connecting with a possible producer, but i think the direction he wants to take the album isnt the way i want to go....so we shall see what happens from here.
so last week i finished some vox and guitars for oh blessed god and i like the way it is progressing. i talked to a buddy of mine, tyler, and he is going to come and produce the album. sweet! today he is coming over so i can play him some songs and we can map out what this project is going to look like and how many days it will take and such. so the process in moving along, i will give ya an update at the end of the day to let you know what we are thinking. i am excited!! ps - watch out for amanda to make her writing/singing debut on this record...YEAH!!!
today was the first day of recording 'oh blessed god', a song i wrote with ry last year. it was a good day all in all - didnt get started until 11am and we worked til 6pm. we tracked a couple of guitar tracks and my vocal. it was a great day of work! andrew and i are going to comp vocals on saturday - hopefully by then i can let you guys hear some of it. here are some pics for ya:
so today i am heading into the studio to try and make some headway with this lent project. i am going to record 'oh blessed god' (atleast guitar and vox), a song i wrote with ryan last year...also, amanda and i sat down last night and worked on writing some stuff - i am totally pumped to see what comes out of our time writing together!! i will keep ya posted...
so this week so far as been great here at church. on monday we had a brainstorming meeting about lent and i am really excited about where God is taking us. we are going to journey through 6 psalms from ash wednesday to easter; the focus being on prayer. so my vision for this series is to try and write 6 songs around the themes from these psalms as well as select some ancient prayers and compile them for our people to use as a prayer/meditation tool during this lenten season. also we are talking about asking different people come and talk/lead us in their prayer exercies, like a greek orthodox priest or a benedictine monk and such...this is gonna be sweet...now if only i was a good songwriter...
so we listened to the new derek webb album on the way to work this am...beautiful work. here are some of my fav lines... from -'a new law' dont teach me about politics and government, just tell me who to vote for. dont teach me about truth and beauty, just label my music. dont teach me how to live like a free man, just give me a new law. dont teach me about moderation and liberty, i prefer a shot of grape juice. from - 'a king and a kingdom' there are two great lies that i've heard; the day you eat of the fruit of that tree you will not surely die and that jesus christ was a white middle class republican. my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man. it's to a king and a kingdom. seriously - so great!! and the production and music is really great as well. be sure and check it out.
this looks sweet!!
when i met amanda she was singin rilo kiley's praise and now i absolutely love em! and now a solo record from jenny....yesssssssss. you can listen to a couple of tunes www.myspace.com/>here, the record drops jan 24th. pick it up!
if you are in the houston area, make sure you put feb 23rd on your calendars. a buddy of mine, travers will be releasing his debut ep and i will be playing with him! yeah! the show will be at the harbour in baytown. come one come all...see ya there...
been listening to a little alexi murdoch lately. great great stuff. also when we were in nashville i picked up charlie hall's new disc flying into daybreak and i absolutely love it. the songs on this record are great and i think touch on different subjects and imagery than most 'worship' albums. i reccommend it. also, i have been trying to finish reading rushkoff, but havent been too into it lately...he is going through a lot of historical stuff right now and i am having trouble focusing through it. church is going well - i am processing thoughts and procedures of how to hold auditions for the worship team here - i am really excited about forming a team of people who are passionate about what God is doing here and want to grow musically together. i think that has been the biggest thing missing for me here in houston - i have always had that community in past worship teams and here it has been so sparatic. my soul is longing for some consistancy and community. i pray it is coming...
a big thanks is in order to matt and allie for our christmas gift...Alias - The Complete First Season! since it was rainy and overcast on our day off yesterday - amanda and i opted for the alias marathon...and i am hooked!! i know i am like 3 years behind the times, but we have started watching the first season and i absolutely love it!! anyone else share in this fixation....
so i guess this has been available in the pc world for a while....but now it is here in the homeland - Google Earth! i must say one of the coolest apps for maps and such, seriously incredible. do yourself a favor and check it out!
so since i got a keyboard/midi controller i figured id try to put it to use like it was designed to be...so reason adapted came with the keyboard and a friend from work knows his way around it, so tomorrow he is going to show me how it works...anyone else using this? thoughts? also, today at work my buddy radkey got a quad g5 with 5 gigs of ram and 500gigs of hard drive space. oh yeah...and the final cut suite and a FREAKING 30' HD MONITOR!!! wow...he does video editing and such for the 11o5 service, i will definately be finding a way to use it when he isnt there...what a thing of beauty. so so jealous.
"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for injustice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. amen." - a Franciscan Benediction i read this benediction this week at the conference (actually on the inside of charlie hall's new album) and it struck me very powerfully. i pray this blessing over all of you...
i have been reflecting on our travels the past few days and i must say it was a blessing to be at the conference. the most impactful thing for me was singing hymns with matt redman and the nockles at the ryman on tues evening. seriously, a glimpse of what is to come...
and in singing these hymns i was reminded of the power that these words have and what wordsmiths these writers were. and how God's children have been singing these songs for years and years. very inspiring. and i know i say that about every month or so...we shall see if anything comes of it...i pray it does. one of my goals in 2006 is to write more. well, i guess just write in general. and one thing that i hope helps me do that is this:
yes, my wonderful bride got me a Oxygen8 for christmas and i am excited to put it to use. i have been taking piano lessons for a couple weeks and i am excited to see what comes of it...
here are some photos from our travels in nashvegas, enjoy:
so this afternoon amanda and are taking it easy, found some good coffee and free wifi at global cafe in downtown nashville. yesterday was great but long, the conference has been good so far. There are like 18,000 people here and they have set the stage up in the round, so that is a really cool. i think the highlight for me so far was being led by tim hughes last night. so great. after the main session we went to our breakout session - with tim and francis. that was from 10-11pm. then we got tix for crowder late night which went until 12.30am, and then our walk back to the hotel put us in bed at 1.15am. so needless to say us old folk needed to slow down a little. we are heading to grab some tix for matt redman and christy nockles tonight, so it will be another late night, but we cant pass this one up! i am anxiously awaiting being led by matt. i love learning from him and being led by him. i am also looking forward to a seminar tomorrow with tim hughes, should be cool! cheers from nashville...
we are here....what an evening, more details to come, i will say this, when we walked into our hotel room i killed a roach and amanda had to clean the bathroom...so after an hour or so with the hotel management and orbitz and my dad we are now in the embassy suites. more of the story later...
well, it is 2006...crazy...i can remember when the new year was 1990...i am leading at church this morning then right after amanda and i are hoping a plane to nashville. in nashville we will get to hang with todd which will be great. this morning i have been reflecting on my timber days...the instrumentation of the band this morning is the same as timber was (piano, violin, percussion, guitars) - so it is just taking me back big time. i am realizing how blessed i am and just wanted to say a big thanks to todd, ryan, brad, tim, and glenn. you guys helped shape and form me through a crazy transition period for me, and i am grateful for that. i pray all of you are well. thanks again...
