California Fire

This update is mainly for the Non-californian readers.

I don't know if they have news of the LA fires in NC, but you should look it up if you haven't heard. It is burning 30 square miles of forest right above La Canada, which is where I lived for the first month and half I moved here. It is the craziest thing I have ever seen; to be driving down the street on lunch break and look to the right and see 15 - 20 ft flames just a few miles away. I snapped some pictures on my camera to share, but they don't do it justice at all.


This is a shot from Pasadena, about 5 miles away from the blaze on Friday.


This is from the 101 Highway about 30 - 40 miles away from the fire. You can see the width of the smoke from this shot, and even this shot doesn't capture the magnitude of the smoke column.

Lastly, here is a video from the AP that shows some closer images. Only 5% contained; scary.

Woodleaf

Just got back last night from a week of Young Life camping at Woodleaf. I absolutely love it; hanging out with kids for a week doing ridiculous things and talking deep things about life and faith. Incredible. Makes me wonder why I work the 9 - 5.

Hung out with some 15 - 16 year olds who have gone through stuff that I can't even imagine. I cried just hearing their stories, I think that is the first time that has happened to me. This world is janked up friends, if you trust anything here you will be disappointed.

That's it for now. I am getting anxious waiting for the CD to pop up in the iTunes store; as soon as it does I will let you know. I am also looking into breaking my way into the ringtone industry, as I have made some for friends here in Cali and they are loving it.

FB Fans

For all you facebookers, join my fan page!!

Local Rockstar

Done...for real.

Yes, you read that right friends. After a few months of being "done" and still tinkering, I decided to just bite the bullet. This past weekend I uploaded my songs to TuneCore, which will pass it on to iTunes. So, by September 12, 2009 you can download "Local Rockstar" to your computer for the ridiculously low price of $7.92.

I have made some good friends here in the area who are pretty knowledgeable about marketing and artist management, so I am going to try and hook up with them. Pretty exciting; now I can find some other musicians and go do what I moved to LA to do.

I have put three of the songs up on my MySpace page (along with some album artwork done by N. Burns) so check that out if you have some free time.

www.myspace.com/thelocalrockstar

I would love to hear your thoughts on the new stuff.

New Design

So, if this is at least your second visit to the blog, you will notice the silly emo picture of me is now gone from the top. That haircut was a good idea for maybe 3 minutes. Gross. Now my page is the proud home of a piece of Nick Burns' digital genius.

Anyways, things are excellent in my life right now. I mixed down the final tracks finally for the album today. All the recording and tweaking is done. Next week I am going to upload it to iTunes and start looking at options as far as CD pressing and artwork printing. Exciting times; I will upload a few of the tunes on MySpace as well so you can hear them in MySpace lo-fi glory. The extra time on the reocording was well worth it. I got to lay down a bunch of harmonies that really help the songs stand out, as well as take some good criticisms from friends who hear the "almost finished" versions from back in June.

Tonight I ran a "Dive In Movie" at a pool in Pasadena. I got paid pretty decent money to set up and then watch "Kung Fu Panda" on a 10.5' x 14' screen with Vanessa. Not too shabby, sure beats making lattes at 5 in the morning. Yuck.

I should be sleeping because it is 1:22 in the morning, but a few minutes ago I awoke to something crawling across my chest. It was a spider, so it gave me the heebies jeebies. Since I can't sleep, I thought I might as well update the blog.

Alright, that's all for me folks. Thanks for reading.

Oh yea, BubbleGum Booty is done and available for download here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=272904&songID=7853882

I have gotten quite a few requests for ringtones for that little diddy right there, so perhaps next time a spider crawls across me in the wee hours of morning I will make that happen.

Chase comes to LA

Hey friends, so my bro came to LA for a few days on his way out to Sydney, Australia. The much hyped "BubbleGum Booty" finally became a reality. Check out the preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z9Gbdfq69k

You should ALWAYS drive with your license!

So friends, I had other plans for this blog entry. But due to an unfortunate turn of events this evening, I have an exciting and gripping story to share instead.

Wednesday night is Bible Study night, which I always enjoy. I was coming home and had just pulled off the freeway when I noticed a cop car next to me at the light. We both turn left. I always get nervous when cops are behind me, especially in CA because I think they are going to pull me over for my NC license which was registered in September. Anyways, As I turn left I am looking in my mirror to watch his movements. I should have paid closer attention to the road, because I kept turning after arriving in my lane and crossed the double yellow line. About a mile later, the cop flashes his lights. As I mumble obscenities under my breath, I look for a good spot to pull over. It takes a bit and the cop is obviously annoyed because he shouts "Pull Over" at me from his cool cop megaphone thing.

As I pull over and park, I reach in the glove compartment for my registration. Check. I pat my pockets for my wallet. Not there. Check the compartment in the middle. Not there. Check beside the seats and the floorboard. Not there. Excellent. So the two police officers walk up and ask for my license. I explain that I left it at my friends house. They say they noticed I crossed the double yellow line, which is why I was pulled over. They then tell me they can impound my car because of it is registered in NC and I have been in CA for over 21 days. They then ask if I have been drinking. No. They don't believe me. They make me follow their finger with my eyes without moving my head. Dumb. Still don't believe me.

Get out of the car. Follow the finger again. Cop #1 - How many drinks have you had tonight? None. I can smell the alcohol on you. I haven't had anything to drink officer. Sit on the curb.

I sat on the side of the road for a few minutes while they did their police officer radio calling stuff. After a few minutes, they tell me that the registration checks out, and that I need to get it switched over to CA ASAP. They also warn me against driving without my license, and then let me go ticket free! Unbelievable!

After arriving at home, I call my friend Jeremy Graham to have him check his couch for my wallet. He can't find it, so I decide to check my car again. It was lying on the floorboard of the passenger seat the whole time. Crazy.

Tune in later this week to read the exciting story of how the new guy at work put a big dent in the van.