Nifty Noodles/ Minni Soda

4/30/04 Friday I think… two thousand dignitaries including the Governor of the big M… Lots of speeches… and testimonies…

And I sang three songs over the whole night… It was a fund raiser for Minnesota Teen Challege… at the Hilton Hotel … very classy gig…

Three hundred students of a one year long program of recovery sang with me on “Don’t Look Away”… and “America the Beautiful”…

These were the hard core… really hit bottom kind of folks and their testimonies were truly miraculous! Teen Challenge is on the front lines here.

Most were serious Meth addicts. I love people in Recovery .. you can’t be around too many people who are grateful to be alive! It rubs off on ya…

The New Governor of Minnesota was an outstanding guy… I liked him. The folks running Teen Challenge were exceptional as well. Down to earth true servants of God I think. I was happy to pull off leading the whole group in the patriotic anthem and it was the highlight moment as we added an extra chorus as they asked a newly returned soldier to come up front for a demonstration of our appreciation for the work done on behalf of our freedom.

On to May......................

Nifty Noodles/ Rythm Kitchen

4/28/04 Nashville, TN
I don’t mind that bone tired exhaustion that comes with time well spent… at least the first day was just that in Nashville.

I was in town to do a concert with a band during the GMA week. We played down town at a club now called Rhythm Kitchen… although the sign still declared the place to be Café Milano.

Rehearsal was actually more fun… just spending a little time with all the players and singers.

The show started and hour and ten minutes behind schedule as there were 14 bands playing on this one day. The show felt a little rushed as a result and I had trouble hearing what key I was singing in. That was distracting but I don’t think it took away from the overall relaxed feel of really good music and that’s the way it felt… the band made my stuff sound like real music!

All the guys from the Seattle shows (earlier this year) , joined me in the band… Phil Curry, Sam Mathews, Walter Finch and my friend Ricky B all held down the groove… we also had Fletch Wiley on flute and flugal horn… he did the solo in “I love You With My Life” it was great as we played it in the original style of the very first recording. Tim Gaines of the metal band Stryper sat in on Blue Skies if you can believe that… just to prove he can play groove stuff too… and his wife Renie joined four other singers backing me up.

Including the two singers from the group Forty West…and a couple of session singers in Nashville. Also joining us was a percussionist Mathew Burgess… who’s played with 3 Doors Down and Alien Crime Syndicate to name a couple. He added some fun moments too in a duet with me on the piano singing No Words…

“Never Lied to You” might have been a highlight song though as we mellowed out for a few songs. You may be able to decide for yourself as we are looking at this as a DVD for sale… another first in the redefinition of life as I know it.

The stage was definitely crowded but it had a better look about it than when we recorded at Heart Alive in Minneapolis.

By the third song of the show it was standing room only in this small club. I had reasonable expectations about this concert that may be exceeded greatly. Many in the audience were industry folks… promoters and such who gave me good marks as I hear it told. The greatest of surprises though was in the number of people from local recovery programs that heard about the show last week… I met in the back alley before the show to talk and have a little informal “meeting”… I feel so connected to people in recovery even when we’ve never met before. Most of em got to sit in the front rows ( and wait for an hour for the show to start). But they added a wonderful reception to the music and I felt very unpretentious which is a real accomplishment during GMA week here.

As always I ran into lots of old friends in the music biz that are genuine. (It took me several years to realize there is a good side too). Anyone who has survived in Christian Music long term has earned a hug from me and my deepest respect.

I am grateful for any chance to sing… and now too I am grateful for a chance to hear the songs and stories of others who struggle to be understood. Everyone is looking for a place to contribute and it is sometimes a painful search…. One that I am coming to the end of!!!!

I’m finding my place in this world and I’m loving it! Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Camarillo

Sunday April 25th Camarillo, CA Lamb Jam one day festival…
I was second thing on stage I think… and I got the best of the crowd too… played 25 minutes around 3:30

Didn’t talk much … did all hand clappin tunes … maybe one of my best and most direct presentations in years… no unnecessary baggage… Crystal Lewis was the only other band I recognized on the bill… some 50 churches participated… Crystal headlined the event … but at least a third of the crowd had left before she came on… what’s that all about?

I leave for Nashville tomorrow morning for a show with a full band… at the Rhythm Kitchen tomorrow night… I’m excited…

Let you know in a few days how it goes… O.K. bd

Nifty Noodles/ Awakening

4/21/04 Austin, TX…
I was invited back to do another T.V. show with host Randy Phillips in Austin… It’s pretaped. For air on TBN. I sat in the audience with about 500 other folks while they ran the top of the show and the worship music segment. There was an emotional enthusiasm going and I was determined not to try to rise to that occasion.

“I’m just gonna do my songs and be who I am” I said to myself… I opened with Blue Skies and Clap Yo Hands… and then we did a little talking with the host…who thanked me for the years of service in Christian Music … commenting on how overlooked I’ve been throughout my career in CCM… (oh really I hadn’t noticed).

He asked me to sing A Heart Like Mine after we talked about disappointments and resentments. I followed that up with After This Day is Gone… to my surprise I was met with a rather lengthy ovation… I was moved to tears… I hate that… you know for people to see me too close… I hadn’t expected the gratitude.

You ever have someone point out a pain in your own life that you didn’t feel until they put their finger on it? I realized then all the disappointment that I’ve been carrying, feeling like somehow I just wasn’t good enough for the Christian Community… not shiney enough… not happy enough… not spiritual enough… not sincere enough… it’s always been something… and I realized there’s been a lot of years where I felt almost invisible in the CCM world… and I could never quite figure it out… and now this show of appreciation years later… well I just couldn’t contain myself. Hopefully the tears won’t show up too much on T.V.

I had gotten over the oversights and written it off as just the way things are for most of us… I was “healed” I don’t need to revisit the past… and like always the past pays a little visit anyway and I was brought to tears…

I don’t like to cry really… and yet sometimes I still do… it looks better when your singin a song rather than going free style.

Anyway I note that I was loved to death at this gig… and I sold every record I brought almost… I left speechless… what was that? What just happened?.... I’m anxious to get back to being just fine if you don’t mind.

God forbid that I come across as needy…

Thanks for letting me share… Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Song Writing

Home… 4/18/04
Here’s an aspect of a music career you might not hear lots about…. I spent Saturday and Sunday at home cause I was off the road this week. I worked on one song for two days… listening to the same piece of music over and over… trying to get a feel for what the music is projecting emotionally… and trying to find the rhythm of the phrasing… and then what is it that wants to be said?

Song is called… “Deep Down” (where I’m afraid to go) trying to say something about the longing for connection in relationships… to know and be known… maybe it’s a little too broad for one tune… but then I over think all the time…

I was so confused at some point I did a whole Radio Rehab show on an entirely different subject Saturday.

I would pace around the yard and into the garage… singin in my head… and muttering…

My neighbors must think I’m delusional… talking to myself… and standing in my driveway lookin up at the sky…

I seem to get more phone calls when I’m trying to concentrate… 20 people called Sunday afternoon … I guess everybody was bored this weekend…

Anyway this is where the rubber meets the road… it’s the exercise in solitude that makes the bigger things happen.

I’ll be starting in the same place Monday morning only I’ll put the CD of the music in my car and drive around town… sometimes you get imagery from odd places when the scenery changes…

And to everyone around town, I’ll look like one of those Alzheimer’s patients who shouldn’t be drivin….

O.K. so there’s that bd

Nifty Noodles/ Discovery..........................

Discovery Church Easter Sunday Elk Grove, CA 2004

Stayed in the same hotel Saturday night with the Lakers basketball team. Shaq walked through the lobby while we were downstairs… and David saw Kobe Bryant just after I went up in the elevator.

I guess the last three years… I’ve played this church… I’ve been here for St. Patrick’s, Mothers day and now Easter… I guess I’m in the holiday rotation.

Talked to a non practicing Jewish guy who doesn’t go to church and not sure he believes in God… He was pretty forthright about it. He was shopping for some kind of religion for his little girls though…. He had heard me before and he liked my stuff “for some reason” he said and “accidentally” heard I was playing here. He came to the third morning service. I was energetic enough after three services to focus on one of several unique one on one encounters today…

Mind you I’m not one to look for evangelistic opportunities… and I didn’t give him the four spiritual laws either… he asked me about recovery… and I gave him my testimony of recent years…how I’ve had to redefine for myself the attributes of God… and seek to improve my conscious contact with him… and throw out all the cut and paste offerings of other people through out my life… but the conversation went well and I respected his honesty and I felt for him because I recognize that skepticism in my self. If there is a God I told him… he knows where you are…. I said leaving it at that… he waved in good nature and thanked me for the music as he walked away…

I talked to a 30 year old man who looked 17 …. Said he had a six year old daughter he was trying to raise alone… he picked my brain about how I got started in music… (we were outside during one of the services) rather than the usual music story… for some reason, I gave him more of the history of my failed job attempts in High school and the story of my wanderings till I was thirty… and he talked about his passion and confusion… again I shared nothing that started with “you ought to…”

I mostly heard his story of how his little girl makes him feel like life is moving too fast…

It was an unusual time this morning…one girl stood out to me too.. she was in the eighth grade, and there with her family…

She had that typical “I don’t wanna be here” look in her face when I said hi to her as they came in… they were sitting in the second row from the front when I came up to sing and after a couple of songs… I noticed her smiling… wow I thought now there is a small miracle. Loosening the muscles in the face of an eighth grader is a proud accomplishment in my book.

And so Easter draws to a close again… this year without eating a single chocolate bunny or Cadbury egg… just never found any this year. It seemed like a day like any other to me… another day on the job… but I pause now to realize that today represents the moment salvation was complete… for me… and the individuals who still wander around the world… alittle uneasy about who and where they are…. The fact that God would bring them to me says volumes of his confidence in his own love for them through me. And I let him love them where they were and speak to them as he would… I did not interfere.

Thanks for letting me share and for not interfering with my conscious contact with God myself…. Bryan D.

Nifty Noodles/ Redefined

4/7/04 Riverside, CA
I was inspired by a friend of mine, Ricky B… to just go out and do stuff cause it’s fun. I started writing songs for the fun of it.

And then I was looking at July of this year and there was nothing on the calendar in the way of concerts. So I thought:

….I’ll do a concert to raise awareness for Radio Rehab and the website….”celebrating a new independence… on the twenty- fourth of July…..” Me in concert to benefit RadioRehab

We’ll be giving away free 30 minute chips… donations at the door… seating is limited… be there early

At Pathway Christian Church 6755 Victoria Ave….in Riverside… 7: P.M. (we may do a second show)

Anyway it’s turning into quite a little affair… I agreed to do the Celebrate Recovery meeting at this church on Friday night and they will let me have the sanctuary the next night for a concert open to the public. The guys who help me with the Radio show and website and sponsor the local air time on KSGN on Saturday nights at ten p.m. have really jumped on board with this.

A new guy to recovery has volunteered to pay for the flyers, and 5000 “ thirty minute chip” buttons that I want to give away at the recovery summit in August. He’s also making a banner for Radio Rehab to hang in front of my keyboard on stage and backstage passes that we’re gonna give away on the radio… Oh… cause we’re gonna throw a little pre-concert party in the basement.

We’ll be inviting all the local recovery groups as there are many. I plan to give away CD’s of the radio shows too just for fun.

Money raised will go to pay for more CD’s to give away and perhaps to buy spots on search engines on line.

Of course I will be pushing Twin Cities Live CD as well. And promoting all the Celebrate Recovery programs in the area.

If nothing else it will give folks a chance to meet others who are working programs for dependencies and introduce folks to the possibilities to find new growth in their own life. I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately.. but I’m seeing God do for me what I have not been able to do for myself. (like changing my attitude and outlook generally)

I’m also now doing a festival of sorts in July up in Santa Cruz, Ca …. It’s like a Recovery Festival… put on by a CR group up there… they’re inviting AA groups and NA groups to have booths and there will be several bands there in the park.

I’m having fun today thinking about new things… redefining myself and my efforts…refocusing my motivations on a bigger picture than my personal career. I’ve found a great thing in doing something other people believe in enough to jump in and lend their talents to…and it promotes fellowship with my friends as we work step twelve… giving back to the program that has brought about miracles in our own lives.

Wow I’m so pumped and it is still only a small vision…except that there is no pressure to be the big deal. And the singer for the concert was available and is offering his services…. For the fun of it! …. What a great guy..

Thanks for letting me share….. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Real Noodling.........

4/5/04 at home on the front porch….
I’ve been on a songwriting frenzy for no particular reason except that my connection with Bob Carlisle and Rick B to name a couple have been triggering a new optimism about the potential to do something new.

So far I’ve written one song by myself on guitar called..” I’m lovin’ You”…

Another song a few months back called “this Christmas “

With Bob Carlisle: I’m putting finishing touches on “ Look what You Have Done”

It’s a rockin tune…and I’m close to finishing two love songs: “ I wanna hold your heart the way you hold my hand”

And “The Picture” about a fight between a man and wife… and just before he leaves he see’s her picture as a little girl and has a change of heart. Oh and I have a song from three weeks ago called “Somebody help me please”

I’ve got music for three more songs with Bob and at least two with Ricky B.

I’ve been writing with no particular boundary on the “message” and I’ve been more productive than I’ve ever been.

The idea here is to build a catalog of material that we can offer those who might need material.

Maybe someone else could tour their brains out and I could take gigs as I like.

One thing is sure… I can write songs without any money changing hands… I can be flat broke and still write songs… isn’t that wonderful… and man what a mood it’s put me in just to see where things go…

I’m kind of wide open in July and I’m looking at promoting my own concert to raise money for Radio Rehab… that might be the time to do it…it’d keep me busy… and I could continue to push Twin Cities. I’ve been operating on a shoestring the last few years… and I haven’t really minded it…. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself!!!

Now there’s another great song idea!

O.k. so there’s that!!! Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Celebrate Recovery

4/3/04 Lake Forrest, CA
If ever there was a gig that never gets old it’s Celebrate Recovery. Even when I only do three songs it’s always a pleasure. Just to identify with broken people, hugs are everywhere. It’s like old home week at Saddleback even though there are hundreds of new faces. The rescue mission guys are there every week. To me they are a band of brothers,

always happy to see me, and too, the familiar faces of the leaders of groups and the faithful servants of the bigger picture.

Met a 13 year old kid playing guitar in the Recovery Band with his dad… they showed me some new chords. I met the original drummer from a band called the Jaggers… they had a hit when I was in high school called the Rapper… you might be too young to remember that tune but it was a favorite of mine back in the day.

Met a young kid who enjoyed “my enthusiasm” he is 75 days clean from drugs trying to recover for the umpteenth time.

Bottom line is I am loved and loving others…I played: Clap Your Hands and Turning and I sandwiched in a new song written with Bob Carlisle called Chains… I was in a great mood… I announced that I had 775 days since I blamed someone else for my problems… it drew a laugh… “ I know this is gonna come as a shock to you” I said “but I have some relationship problems…. See cause I want you to love me the way I would love me if I were you”… it’s so easy to just laugh about painful realities here.

I have grown!! Not out of my sins really but into the realization that I am loved in spite of my sins here… I look no different than the people I’m facing. Somehow accepting my frailties and faults and being open to encouraging others brings a strong bond of fellowship from sinners longing to be loved. Sometimes the Christian standard is presented with the assumption that you should already have reached the pinnacle. It only drives people away who are the most honest with themselves.

I am finding a new gratitude and understanding of how the Gospel needs to be presented… in my own brokenness it becomes effortless to love others… I am not above them saying “when are you gonna get your act together! It takes almost nothing to affirm someone who is looking to be accepted in the place they are in… and they are willing to listen to a higher standard when they know you are on the ground floor with them as well. For me it is wonderfully relaxing just to be human and be alright with that, I am learning to let go of my own condemnation that I have carried because of my lack of righteousness. In a way I’ve been trying to pay for my sins when God has already covered them.

I am unreasonably happy! And my circumstances are no different than when I was miserable… now there is a miracle!

Thanks for letting me share…. Bryan D.

Nifty Noodles/ Bundle of Joy

4/01/04 L.A.
Finished RTR shows 33 and 34…. Wow I’ve been doing these for a while…33 is on “other people” and 34 is on the “Main Thing”… I thought they might be a little redundant but they both came out great… best selection of songs on any show I think… new music mostly… from my favorites… Sting…. John Mayer… on the secular side were highlights… you can check them out on www.radiorehab.com cause that’s all I have to say about that…

I’ve started writing lyrics on three songs at once … all relationship tunes… not really gospel songs at all…

Doing two with Bob Carlisle… “The Picture” and “Hold this Love”…. I wrote my first song on a guitar too at least since I was in college… a happy love song called “I’m lovin You”... it’s a cowboy shuffle… nothing like thinking outside the box…

I’m just writing what comes to mind in hopes to develop a wealth of songs that perhaps I could sell to someone who can hardly wait to get on the road and tour…

I’ve been scrambling to fill in my calendar and promote Twin Cities Live… I will be doing a concert with a full band in Nashville thanks to the help of bass player and recent friend of mine… Ricky B. who has organized the band and helped plan the event during GMA week…

It’s guerilla marketing these days as I’m on my own label… Red Road. I’ve never been more excited about the possibilities ….

So you can see I’ve been running hard… last couple of weeks… maybe that’s why I’m in this good mood… I have purpose…

OK so there’s that…. Bryan d

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