Dump

I just typed up a bunch of stuff to share in my exciting return to blogging, and lost it all. And now i just don't care enough to do it. Sad but true.

Tomorrow I hope to return with what should be a informing and exciting post.

Stay tuned friends

North Carolina, cmon and RAISE UP!

I am back in NC. As expected, I still absolutely love Bojangles, Zaxbys, and other frieds foods. I really like my friends. I don't like the weather. So stinkin' hot. I have sweated more in the last four days than I have since about February.

I walked around UNC's campus yesterday. I forgot how pretty it is; the grass is so green and huge trees everywhere. Definitely don't get that in LA very often.

As far as music stuff goes, I "finished" the album before I came home. After listening to the whole deal a few times through on the plane ride, I decided it needs a bit more work. Two weeks; three weeks max. I need to adjust some vocals on a tune and do a little more mixing. The whole thing is a little quiet and bass heavy. But it is VERY close. Nick Burns has made some excellent artwork, I am really excited about that. So, the timeline looks like this: Finish up my part by end of June. Have hard copies by late July. It should be online in the iTunes stores by mid-August.

Awesome. I can't wait for everyeone to hear what I have been working on.

Awesome Things

So I haven't posted in a while, thought I should update my dozens of faithful readers. Things have been awesome. I will enumerate them:

1) NEW JOB(S): I got a "real job." I set up sound and video systems for clients who rent through JD Audio Visual. It is right up my alley and the other co-workers are cool guys. I think I will learn a lot about sound gear, which will be great. The owners are Christians and supporters of Young Life, so I hopefully I will be able to go on weekend trips with their support. I also DJed a wedding and a prom in the last two weeks. Both went great and I got lots of good feedback. I booked two more weddings in October. It is really fun, I get paid well, and I love every song because I am the DJ. SUMMARY: My new job(s) is(are) awesome.

2) NEW MUSIC: As promised, I will have my 9-track debut CD available in about two weeks. I should finish my part in the next day or two of mixing, and Nick Burns has created some awesome artwork. After that, we send it off and wait for it to get back to us! I am excited about it, I think it is really good. It will eventually be on iTunes sometime late summer, but if you would like a hard copy, let me know. We will figure it out. SUMMARY: My new music is finished and awesome.

3) NEW GIRLFRIEND: Yes friends, you read that right. I have managed to find an awesome girl who seems to like me. Crazy, I know. Her name is Vanessa. She loves Jesus, is smart, makes me laugh, listens to great music, has a great singing voice, likes fast food, and is beautiful. SUMMARY: My new girlfriend is awesome.


Alright folks, so I am headed back to NC in a few days for a slew of weddings and hanging out. I am sure I will see some of you during that time.

Tough Realities

I agree with this video.

I'm Unemployed-ish

Hi friends and faithful readers. Today's content will surely make my parents and you other parental-types cringe and tell me I should not do such foolish things. However, I probably passed that point a long time ago. Like when I got tattoos on my forearms and moved to California. Just so you know, Momma I tried to call you twice to tell you the news in person. Anyways, drum roll please: I quit my job at Starbucks today.

A quick story so you will sympathize with me. Friday night I was driving home from my friend's house around 10:30 pm, which was waaaay late because I had to wake up at 4 am on Saturday to get to my opening shift. Yuck. During that shift, I was asked to take over the drink-making after my break. There is a ridiculous line, the bar is a mess and I have two large cappucinos. For those of you who work at coffee shops (Melissa Turney), you know that the worse thing to have during rush time is a cappucino. And two large cappucinos? Even worse. So I finish the drinks, and go to hand them off. At this point I realize they should have been non-fat cappucinos; I used whole milk. I turn around, dump them out, and spin back around to make them again. As I spin, I knock over a full pitcher of hot 2% milk all over my apron and pants. Then a lady asks, "Excuse me, what is taking so long? Is there a nonfat latte back there?" I almost just quit right then. But I replied, "Sorry ma'am, it's all over my apron. It will just be one more moment."

Later in that same shift, a man comes in with a UNC hat. I am cleaning tables in the dining area and yell, "GO HEELS!" Turns out he is a 1996 grad. When I told him I was a grad from 2007, I realized that I need to move on. My parents didn't spend their hard-earned cash for me to come make minimum wage at 4:30 in the morning. So I quit. When I told the manager, he was cool with it. He actually said he was expecting this soon, because I "have got swagger and can probably do something better." So that was encouraging.

If your like my brother, you will ask: What are you going to do now? I'm not totally sure. I was already planning on quitting in late May, so that I could fly home to NC for a few weeks to visit and hang out with the hope that I would have found a job to come back to in the middle of June. That is still the hope, now I just have a lot more free time (and sleep) to find that new job. And I'm not totally cash-less. I got a recording gig and am DJing a wedding in May. Through those two avenues, I will actually make about 3x the money I would have if I stayed at Starbucks. I will also try to get two ore three subbing gigs during that time, so I feel pretty good about it.

For those who are still working the coffee shop grind, I will always have love for you. And I will not care if my latte doesn't have exactly a 1/4" of foam on the top. Or if my shot was 13 seconds old. And I will tip you well.

We Got A Kitten!

To answer a common question... yes I like dogs better. But cats are way easier, so that is the trade off here. Plus, we aren't supposed to have pets and cats are easier to hide / clean up after. Here is a video interview with our new friend "Rockstar."




By the way, that is my guitar amp he jumps up on. What a rockstar.

Over The Hill

I spend lots of time looking at bands' websites. Not only the "big bands" that I like, but every time I hear of a local artist I go to their MySpace. Each of these sites is linked to hundreds (if not thousands) of other bands' sites. Most of these are groups you have never heard of, and will never hear of. The majority of these groups have some type of merit; you may not like them, but somebody does.

On one hand it is encouraging to see so many groups out there chasing "the dream" and going on mini-tours and being able to make music. On the other hand, it is a little discouraging for me, because most of these jokers are young. Lot of teenagers, lot of early 20's. It makes me feel old, I am in my mid-20s now, and still haven't even got a full band together yet!

Don't get me wrong, I don't feel like I'm "too old" to make it. And it is nice that I have a college degree while alot of these kids just have their high school diploma. And I am really excited about my music. I have gotten some really great feedback from my friends out here in California. Most of them have never heard of Nine PM Traffic or any of my other musical endeavors, so it is always nice to see them surprised at my stuff, whether it's the recording quality achieved in a tiny bedroom or the song writing itself.

In other news, all the music is done for the album. I had vocals done on about 4 of the 5 songs, but I just bought a nice condenser mic for recording, so I might go back and just re-record them all to up the quality a bit. We shall see. At any rate, I should be able to meet my projected "release" date of middle to late May. Right in time for my visit back to NC. Awesome.