3/26

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my friend Jason Ray's death. If you were fortunate enough to know him, hopefully you can look back like myself and laugh at his outrageous personality. If you didn't know him, all of the pictures, Googling, and stories on the internet can't capture who he was. It's a bit weird to be so far away from all of my friends who knew Jason; no one in Los Angeles knows him, aside from maybe seeing the ESPN special. So, tonight I am going to grab some Guinness and video chat with Erik and Nick from Concord. I can't wait, it's gonna be awesome!

I wrote a song a while back about Jason, and finally got around to recording it this morning. It's a little rough, just a single take into a stereo mix, so no chance to add any "studio magic," but I wanted to just get it down for what it is. You can listen to it here, I have posted the lyrics below:

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Still I Believe

My eyes burn tonight as I walk past your empty room
I sit inside the silence left behind, and wonder why your gone so soon
And lately I've been too sad to cry, it seems that relief can't be found
But I remember the light and joy in your eyes; the way you would laugh out loud.

I could not believe what I'd been told. Only 21 - your hand has grown cold. Yet still I believe the Savior's peace you know, and a love as bold as life, and a life as bold as Christ.

Two years it's been since I've seen you my friend without a chance to say goodbye.
But when we meet again, there will be no more sin, no sorrow, nor reason to cry.

I could not believe what I'd been told. Only 21 - your hand has grown cold. Yet still I believe the Savior's peace you know, and a love as bold as life, and a life as bold as Christ.

You struggle no more, and victory is yours. Your hope's been realized.
Helpless in the flood, but through the gracious blood, you were brought to life.
And Christ says, "He is mine!"

Romans 8:1 - Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Your closed door reminds me...

I could not believe what I'd been told. Only 21 - your hand has grown cold. Yet still I believe the Savior's peace you know, and a love as bold as life, and a life as bold as Christ.

I'm a Professional!!

Saturday night I played again with Jeremy Graham. This time we got paid!!

We made 30 bucks. Total. And it cost $7 for me to park, so I made 50 cents. I'm thinking about giving Starbucks my two week notice.

Also, I posted a while back about a band called "Nural." They just released their new album on iTunes, it was produced by David Bendeth. Yeah, the guy who did Paramore and Underoath's latest albums. Not too shabby.

Anyways, Nural's new album is phenomenal. Check out the iTunes clips and download some tunes if you like what you hear.

Rappers don't like me

My good friend Jeremiah Vaught is in the Los Angeles area for the next few days. Yesterday I gave him a tour of some of the finer sights in the city, including the walk of stars down in Hollywood. As we were walking through, a tall man holding a portable CD player and a stack of burned CDs approached us. He explained that he was a hip-hop artist who was going to be featured on BET next month, then asked if I could listen to 30 seconds of his music. I agree, and throw on the headphones. It was much better produced than I was expected for someone on the street. He hands me a burned CD of 20 tracks and asks if I can help him out with some money...

"Yea sure man, I am a struggling artist too, I don't mind helping you out."
(I pull out a dollar from my pocket)
"One dollar? Man, that's insulting! Can't you give me five?"
*With a sense of shock* "A dollar is insulting?"
"That's insulting man!"
"Well then, I'm sorry, but I'm not giving you five dollars. Here is your CD back."

A little later on I saw him giving the "insulting" speech to some high schoolers who obviously felt intimidated and gave him two dollars instead. What a clown.

Hiking Pics

So I spent a week in Utah hiking, and I came back without hurting myself, despite what Jay Spencer might think.

The trip was incredible. On Tuesday I drove out to Las Vegas to meet up with the rest of the crew, then headed out to Mt. Zion. We had some flight delay issues, so we got to the park too late to do any hiking that night. We just set up a camp and got some firewood, thanks to Erik's awesome hatchet and Fel's ninja sword. The next morning we headed out into the back country. We hiked in 1.8 miles with big backpacks, then dropped our packs and went exploring. It was lots of fun and slightly scary at times since the mountain was just red rocks which slipped out under your feet a lot. We hiked about 8 miles and climbed around 1,000 ft in elevation during the day. We came back to camp exhausted and hungry. We ate some delicious stew created by Matt Harrell, the real Bear Grylls.

The next morning we woke up and hiked out of the back country. We headed into town and rented some dry suits. We looked awesome (check the pics at the bottom) and proceeded to "The Narrows," a small slot canyon with a river running through it. The suits served to protect us from the 33 degree water. Brrr. We hiked up a few miles, then found an offshoot trail. That took us to a big pile of snow that we created a slide on. Awesome times. The suits were so tight that you could lay down and the air bubbles in the suit would let you float. Unless your Rob, then the water leaks down your neck hole that you didn't tighten and soaks your back.

Later that night we find another camp site and gather some firewood. While hacking at a fallen tree log we found, a ranger comes and tells us that gathering wood in a National Park is a felony, even dead wood. He threatens us with a fine, then is about to leave when he spots Fel's ninja sword. When asked what it is used for, Fels replies, "Oh, for cutting down trails." Genius. The ranger gives another lecture and further threatens us for the firewood and a "quiet hour" fine. Fortunately we were all passed out by quiet hour anyway.

We woke the next morning to find snow covering the ground. It sounds cool, unless you have actually slept in a tent covered in snow. It's not cool; it's freaking cold. We packed up the snow-covered camp, jumped in the cars, and made one last hike up Angel's Landing. An amazing view on top. To get there, they have chains driven into the ground for support. Probably not the smartest climb when snow is on the ground. About half of our crew dared to challenge the elements, including yours truly. We made it on top and it was probably the most incredible view I had. On the way down we had a big snowball fight. The trail was essentially a lot of switch backs and made ambush attacks plentiful. We even almost hit some strangers at one point.

After Angel's Landing, we got in the cars and headed back to Vegas. We stopped off at a friend of Tim and Fels where we took very necessary showers. We killed some time then went to Outback, where I had the most delicious steak known to man.

If you are more of a visual learner, check out the photo album from Erik and Nick:
Mancation 2008

Pics!

Hey friends, made it back from Utah without hurting myself. A big achievement. Breathtaking pictures of that to follow. For now, feast your eyes on some pretty nice photos taken at the Whiskey show.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theodhners/sets/72157614799572746/show/

More posts to follow.

Golden Day in the Big City

I turned 24 on February 24. My golden birthday. The actual day wasn't that great; I subbed for some at-risk youth again, only to come outside and find a parking ticket on my car. Yuck. Then I had band rehearsal until midnight, slept for three and half hours then had to be at Starbucks at 5 AM. Double yuck.

BUT, last night I went out with some friends to celebrate the b-day. It was fantastic! I am so blessed to already have a great group of friends in this city! I never would have imagined it could be this good only 6 months into the LA adventure. So, for those of you who read this and came out to Barney's, much love. For those that would have if they could have, much love.

This will be the last blog for about a week. On Tuesday I am headed to Utah with my NC homies to go camping for a week in Zion Nat'l Park. I am pumped. When I return, I will hopefully have some good footage of the Whiskey show to share.

I can't believe my LA debut is tomorrow night, and at the Whiskey! It's gonna be a rocking good time.