October, 2004

The wonder of music

Posted by Evan at 11:56 am

Today on the way to work for no apparent reason the Seal song “Kiss from a rose” came into my head. I decided that once I got to work that I was going to listen to it. I’ve always liked that song since the first time I heard it. There’s something about Seal’s voice and the voice of his backup singers that I really enjoy listening to.

I get to work, put on my headphones and start the song and I’m instantly transported back to the mid nineties to a time when I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach with my family. There were a lot of things that made that time special (though conflicted), but one of the more visceral memories I have from that vacation was me sitting on the beach listening to that song on my headphones and trying to cope with issues of the day. I developed a very strong emotional connection with that song. To this day every time that I listen to it I’m taken back to that time and those issues. Music can be a beautiful thing.

I wonder about these days. What memories am I encapsulating within songs? I remember two years ago about this time of year listening to Jeff Buckley’s “So Real” and Janet Jackson’s “Doesn’t Really Matter” but neither of them conjures up the same emotion of Seal.

I guess it’s wonderful that I spend most of my day underneath a pair of headphones.

Home, work and play

Posted by Evan at 9:27 am

it seems like there should be lots of new things to talk about right now. I know that things have been very busy lately and there have been lots of developments, so I’ll try to remember everything and get it listed out here for you.

First of all, perhaps the biggest news is that Kristen and I went to the bank and talked to someone about getting a home loan. It was a very eventful meeting. We now have an idea of what we need to save for a downpayment as well as about how much we can afford for a home. We’re planning on not buying anything until we find something out in the country in Centerville. We have lots of plans for a house like that, many of which include the youth group and various musical activities such as bands. We’re very excited about this.

The plan right now is to start saving money and hopefully by late winter or early spring we’ll be ready to buy. I can’t wait.

In other news the band performed at the EvangelFest service and it was wonderful. I’ve never played in front of a group like that and not been focused so much on the music that it ends up causing me to make more mistakes. I was actually just playing, like I would at home. It was wonderful. It feels so great to be playing for Christ and not myself. This is how it is meant to be.

The band is going to continue playing, but there is a lot of sound gear that we need to purchase before we can really play many more services or shows. I’m considering selling the bass I just bought so I can purchase a mixer. I’ve found the perfect mixer that is going to save us TONS of money down the road. It’s a mixer that has build in effects so you don’t have to purchase expensive effects units. It would be wonderful. The mixer itself is only about $500, so if you’re interested in making a donation to the band, please contact me and let me know, we would be very grateful.

In the meantime, I’m going to be playing some acoustic music with two of the other guys in the band. We’re planning on doing some arrangements of the Christmas songs and playing at some churches and even coffee bars closer to Christmas time. We have two events that we’re playing at so far, and I’ll keep you posted if others come up.

I believe that’s it for now. There have been some great things going on at work, but I won’t go into all of those here. Ask me about them sometime and I’ll tell you all about it.

A few things

Posted by Evan at 9:47 am

I’ve been making some changes to this site lately. For one, I added a “Who’s Evan” section, which serves as a place to find out a little more about me. Another thing that I just completed last night is a dynamic photo gallery. You can check it out by clicking here. Basically it allows you to browse through various categories of photos. Let me know what you think! Sorry if they take a long time to load, my host doesn’t have the software that I need to do image resizing with PHP installed. I’ll try to work on that.

Some other news: The band is coming along very well. We had another practice last night and it went pretty good. We finally know all of the songs and I think we’re ready for the service. I’m very excited to get this service and start doing some long-term planning for the group. I have some big dreams for the group and I think that everyone else is on board too.

One of the things I’m really torn about with the band right now is the PA system. I just recently purchased that bass guitar, but I find myself feeling like I should re-sell it and get us started with a nice PA system. You can’t have a high quality group and expect to play good shows without a nice PA system. Also, one of the reasons why I purchased the bass in the first place was because I didn’t know if we’d be able to find a bass player for the group. Well, we found one and I don’t know how much I’ll actually play the bass. I’ll keep thinking about it.

Kristen and I are going with my mom and step-dad Saturday to the Black Walnut festival in Ohio. We’re really looking forward to it. We both really enjoy festivals like that and I’m very excited to look around at the pottery and even the crafts sound fun to look at.

Guess that’s it for now, not much going on.

New bass, and other happenings

Posted by Evan at 9:19 am

My bass came on Saturday! I was so happy to see it sitting on the porch waiting for me when we got back from the Church planning retreat at around 12:15p.m.. I played it on and off over the weekend and I’m very happy with it. I don’t yet have an amp that can really work as a bass amp, but then again I’m not really playing with it that much yet either, so I’ll just wait until I need one.

This was a great weekend. There was plenty of rest, some fun and it felt long. Friday night we went out to the mall and shopped around a bit. Kristen got a few books for her classroom library and we went out to eat. When we got home I played Rise of Nations for about four hours while Kristen prepared for her BSF leaders meeting, which takes place very early on Saturday mornings.

Saturday morning/afternoon was the Church’s long-range planning retreat where leaders of the church get together and discuss ideas for the near future of the church. Lots of great things came out of the meeting, one of the things being that the church is going to start a website and I’ll be creating it. That should be fun!

That’s about it for now. Just another Monday so far.

Making the band

Posted by Evan at 9:21 am

Most people that know me know that music is pretty much at the core of my personality. I’ve been a guitarist for around 10 years and a drummer for around 15 years. When I was in high school I played in a band that started out alternative and ended up being a Pantera-like heavy metal band. But, for the last 5 or so years of my life my musical involvement has nonexistant. That’s about to change.

I started practicing last night with a group of guys to perform for a church service taking place at the end of this month. There were 4 of us there and one of the vocalists showed up even though we haven’t started practicing as a full group yet. We took a couple of hours, ran through the songs and tried to get everyone familiar with them so our future practices could be more streamlined.

Overall it went extremely well. The fact that it was our first practice and everyone knows the songs is a big relief. That means all of our future practices can be used for polishing and minor changes. It’s going to be great.

I’ve had this vision lately of a christian rock band. I’ve envisioned highly publisized shows that attract large crowds of people all aimed at showing people that being a Christian doesn’t have to be boring and drab, it can be exciting and fun. I hope that it comes to be. I know I’m ready for it.

We’re going to be practicing every Tuesday and Thursday from now through the 24th to get ready. We’ll be ready too. The only thing we have to worry about now is how we’re going to get a sound system. Without that, there’s no way for all of the band members to be mixed together so the sound is coming from one place instead of each players amp. I’m sure it will work out. It always does.