LMP

I once again, have the honor of being featured on Spirit 105.3's Local Music Project. It used to be on the radio every day at around 5pm but now they have it online 24/7. Swing by and give a listen. http://www.spirit1053.com/content.php?contentID=30. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and the player is there.

I Need Your Help.

So this was pretty random, but I was nominated for an ITM Live Charity Music Award in the category "Best Male Vocalist". I'm not sure how I got nominated but it's pretty cool. You can help me out by clicking here and voting for me. Polls close June 30th. Thanks!

Another Great Day

We had another great day at New Life Church yesterday celebrating Mothers' Day. We have been doing a song called Reign in Us by the band Starfield and it's really catching on. I've been trying to get my mind prepared for youth convention even though it's not until October. I have been polishing up some new songs and will be trying to record them soon. I came up with a cool melody hook for one of them this morning, that was encouraging. I'm going to try to have a new CD available by Youth Convention.

Picks Down Please.

Yesterday after church we hosted a lead guitarists workshop with the intent of getting all the current and future lead guitarists on the same page. Essentially, the message was, "If you're going to play lead guitar at New Life Church, this is how we want it done." It went really well, Corey presented the technical aspects of technique, theory and tone, while I was there to provide demonstration music.
It was really an "Above and Beyond" kind of event. We have a wealth of quality musicians here and it would be easy to sit back and enjoy that fact but we want to go above and beyond just having quality musicians, to actually developing our musicians into quality worship teams. The hardest part was keeping 9 guitar players quiet long enough to say anything!

If you would like to learn how to play guitar, check out www.coreysublett.com

On the Online Radio

Spirit 105.3 is the local Christian music station in the Seattle area and they have a program called the Local Music Project where they play local artists and give a little bio. They have moved it to their website now and this week, I am being featured on the program. Give it a listen.
Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on My Everything.

New Year's Eve

I did not get to the gym today. I have been the last 4 days in a row. I generally go 3 or 4 times a week and exercise at home the other days with body weight exercises like push-ups, free squats and back bridges. It works pretty well for me. I always take at least 1 day off a week. I've been on vacation for a while now so I've had time to go. It has been nice going at around 2 in the afternoon since it's pretty slow. Today, however, I didn't feel like going. I'll go tomorrow.
Tomorrow night I am doing an acoustic set for a New Year's Eve party at a church in Puyallup. That should be fun. My bit is 45 minutes starting at 10pm. Then I have to run up to Renton to catch the turn of the year with the wife.

My Brain On Music.

So I started journaling again a little bit today. It has been quite a while. If you don't know, journaling is like blogging only you use paper and a writing utensil and no one else reads it. It really is great to get some of my personal thoughts out...other than on here.
I've been reading a book called "This is Your Brain on Music." It is an explanation of the science behind music and how your brain responds to, stores, and processes sound. It is pretty fascinating although it reads a bit like a music theory textbook in the first chapter. It reads like a neural biology textbook in the second chapter. We'll see in the next few chapters if it lightens up any. It is really interesting though how our brains process music. All kinds of neurons firing and such. Really the only things I don't like about it are that it reads like a technical manual and the author takes an evolutionary viewpoint in explaining the processes. Whatever; I can be mature enough to read an author I disagree with on a couple things. I'll let you know how the rest turns out. Unless my brain explodes before I finish it.

Another Great Sunday

I got home from church today and after a little lunch, headed to the gym because I didn't have to lead a service. Did 68 minutes on the elliptical machine, 1008 calories burned. So I got home today and I was thinking about the day; What a great church! I really feel like we are gaining momentum with our worship in the area of participation. We began a series on missions and today we had three church planters come and tell their stories and we blessed them. Sometime during the third service it became clear to me that we are a church that isn't simply trying to survive but we are the kind of church that really wants other churches to succeed. We aren't the kind of church that plays the jealousy game, but the kind that is outwardly focused. The fact that we are committed to missions the week after our own groundbreaking ceremony shouts volumes. I love my church. There has been a great feeling in the place the last 3 or 4 weeks and attendance has been up like crazy.
One student brought a friend today who had never been in church before. That's exciting by itself but his mother told me that the guest was impressed with the music. Man, that gets me going. There is sort of an expectation that music in the church is sub-par. I would like to see that change, and we are making progress.
One funny story: Right before the third service, one of the musicians, who shall remain nameless, said "Hey you haven't broken a string in a while." And another nameless musician said "Yeah, you're due." I said "What are you doing!? Quit jinxing me." So we went out and during the first song, guess what happened? Yep, broken string.

On the Radio Again

Well I found out that I will be featured on Spirit 105.3's Local Music Project Friday night at 5:25! It's pretty cool, they do a little bio and play a song and then recap the bio. It's fun to hear yourself on the radio. It is sponsored by www.track10.com which is a cool web-site for local Christian artists to post music and photos and event calendars. It is a great resource if you are looking for an artist for a service or event.
Funny Story: Brenda, who runs Track10, emailed me today saying that I would be on the LMP Friday. I glanced at my calendar and emailed back "Friday the 8th?" She emailed back and said "No, tomorrow the 5th." Then I looked at my calendar again and realized that I had yet to switch it to September. Musicians.

If you are in western Washington Friday at 5:25 pm, tune in to Spirit 105.3 and have a listen. If not you can stream it live at www.spirit1053.com, either way, I appreciate the support.

No, It's not named after the bad actor.

I got to break in the Keyano (see below) this morning as I was playing the keys for the Sunday morning main services. It worked pretty well. The only thing was that the stool was a little tall and my mic was rocking back and forth when I would tap my foot to the beat. It was way less cluttered than having the piano and keyboard on stage and it made transitioning between sounds quick and painless. All in all it simplifies things and it looks way more rock and roll than the grand. Now I have to sort through the thousands of sounds on the new software!

The Keyano

So the new project is finished. It is an old Baldwin console piano with the guts torn out and a 49 key midi controller mounted inside. There is a wireless keyboard and small touch pad controlling the Mac tower running Logic 8 and Mainstage. Oh and don't forget the Digi 002 interface/output. Here is is in all it's glory!

You Can't Do That On Telelvision

I just got finished with worship practice and got home. It's exciting to see the progress we have made and are making with the worship team. We are really getting things dialed in as far as our sound and excellence of our musicians. I was thinking today how blessed I am to be able to make a career out of the gifts, abilities and passion that God has given me and the fact that I don't have to break my back to put food on the table. I get to do what I love full time. So blessed.

My wife is watching the women's gymnastics right now on CBC. That's right; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. If you have never watched CBC it's kind of weird. It's almost like American TV except everyone has a slight accent and the sports they show are different. For some reason there is a maple leaf on EVERY logo. Even the Golden arches have a maple leaf on them. Have a headache? Take some Tylenol with a maple leaf on the bottle.

Now they are showing highlights of men's field hockey. Canada lost.

The New Project: When Baldwin meets Makita

So we have a new project. Brent and I got started on gutting this old piano that someone found whilst cleaning out a storage closet. Brent got the idea to gut it and put in a midi controller and mount the computer inside so it looks rustic but it's totally slick. We even hooked up the existing sustain pedal to a keyboard sustain pedal.

I apologize for the video being sideways; I always forget to rotate my phone when I take video. This is what happens when Baldwin meets Makita!

A quick plug

I want to give a quick plug to my friend Kory. He is an amazing guitarist and an all-around-good-guy. Excessive dashes again, I know. There is a link to his Youtube channel in my blog list. Check out his stuff, it'll blow you away!