Drivin drivin drivin.

I spent Friday afternoon heading up to Nashville for a drum lesson. On the way up, I stopped in Franklin, TN for a bit to eat at the Atlanta Bread Co. there. After that, I went on into town and hit Fork's to pick up a few needed items. While I was there, I also checked out some new heads for my kit at church as it's time to re-head that kit. Got to attend to that soon. Chatted with Gary for a bit and caught up on some NAMM stuff. Tried out some cymbals with Jennie's help but didn't find what I though I wanted. Johnnie Rabb passed through and saw me and asked how my single-handed drum roll was going. He showed me how to do that a few months back. He was late for a lesson so we didn't get to talk much. Went next door to Corner Music to look and see what they had in the way of new stuff was. I found some REALLY NICE mic stands there. I forgot the name of one brand but the other one was by K&M. Very heavy bases and great build quality as well. A little on the expensive side though, $50 and $80 respectively. Kevin may end up getting one as when he's on the keys the boom on his stand is extended pretty far making the whole thing a bit unstable. Along the lines of music gear, I've just recently realized how the band members (in particular) have really been blessed to be able to get the majority of our music gear on our own. If the church had to buy us everything we used, that's some serious $$$. We got a good starting point by picking up the PA used at a good price. Included with that was a Mackie board, STRONG amp, some effects, case, and two JBL loudspeakers. Also, the church picked up a drumkit exactly the same as the one I had been hauling back and forth as well as an acrylic shield. That was a HUGE blessing as moving drums is no small logistical feat. Putting mics on the drums was no small expense either and now there's a first class complement of them surrounding my kit. Along the way came the concern of me going deaf - so picked up some in-ear monitors from a friend in another band that sold me his. Eric also picked up some basses along the way. First an Ibanez which was later replace by a Lakland - he's sporting some top of the line gear here. He also picked up an amp although I sneaky feeling that it's going to be replace with something else soon with more power/flexibility. Kevin had a lot of stuff already in the way of equipment although now he's in the market for a new electric guitar. He really needs one anyway so that he'll have a backup in case he breaks a string. He's coverd on the acoustic side of things with his Taylor. Recently, he threw down some serious coinage on his new Roland keyboard. That is da BOMB-DIGGITY (not bomb-diggy Kev...). Heh. Kyle also had a lot of gear already from his Mesa Boogie amp and effects to his many guitars, one being an Ibanez Jem. Suprisingly, he choses to play out using his hooptie Peavey amp that needs a swift kick every so often when it's output goes haywire. Everyone has their quirks I guess. I'm just waiting for him to put the new Honda in the garage and start driving the 200SX as his everyday car LOL.

But I digress. The worship band as a whole was no small feat to assemble. 3 years ago I had no drums. Eric had no bass. Kyle had no DVD player (and still doesn't). Pam was uncomforatable singing in front of crowds. She's WAY over that now. We've got STUFF now. All we need is a tour bus. Seriously though, what a long way we have come in what seems like such a short time. I can't wait to see what the future holds.

I was reading Dave's blog. Looks like he's going through a realization of his limitations. One thing he forgot on his suck list was clapping. He's like a Sears shop-vac when it comes to that. But there's a lot he doesn't suck at - being funny, preaching, UNIX, movie reviews, dealing with a concentration of estrogen at the homestead, and being a good listener just to name a few. So with all the negative air pressure, there are a few sources of positive airflow. Plus, you have a pool. That outweighs a lot of deficiencies.

Now where was I? Oh, I had my drum lesson then stuck around for some pizza before the drive home. It was a nice evening out and the drive back was uneventful. Talked to Kevin on the way home and found he was awaiting the arrival of his love muffin coming back from a business trip. I think the whole time she was away he accomplished two things, progress in computer games and stripping 1 (one) chair. Oh, he did manage to keep his daughter alive as well. You da man!

So far today I've raked the front yard and cleaned leaves off my patio. I'm going to need to rake the back yard AGAIN because of all the frickin trees in mine and the surrounding yards. I loathe raking leaves. Gonna take a shower then run some errands. Got a toilet to repair.