Nifty Noodles
Nifty Noodles/ Parade Route
Nifty Noodles/ Thank God
Nifty Noodles/ Dagsboro
Nifty Noodles/ Ft Lauderdale CR
Nifty Noodles/ The New Bio
Nifty Noodles/ Buffalo Springfield
Nifty Noodles/ The New Bio
Nifty Noodles/ Middleberg Heights
Nifty Noodles/ Seekers in Evansville
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12/30/04 Thursday Calvary Chapel of Pasadena
The church is on Colorado Blvd… I drove right by it looking at all the preparations for the Rose Parade tomorrow night. Talk about prime real estate, front row seats. Campers were assembling on the side streets. And even as I was leaving town they were putting up fences around the buildings every available space has bleachers. I was amazed at the undertaking.
The church was full for this end of the year celebration. It was an unusually quiet crowd though. The pastor is very soft spoken maybe that has an affect. I played 45 minutes with my new version of the “Econo Band” all now on Ipod. I had a few problems getting around on it but all in all it is a giant step forward. The new frontier… itunes on line is a new reality. I’m gonna have to face that “one song at a time “ sales reality too… my kids both got ipods AND mountings for their vehicles. You can play the ipod through your car stereo on certain stations… Man the way we interact with music is changing. Don’t know what it means to radio and record companies but it won’t be business as usual… I’m excited though. It means there’s hope for peripheral artists…. Sorry for the ADD moment there.
The pastor was a Harley Davidson enthusiast… doesn’t ride anymore after an accident that broke his neck… he recovered fully… and is walking… again.. really a miracle all the way around. Of course he doesn’t ride anymore… I always hear these stories now right when I’m wanting to get a motorcycle. I get flack from everywhere. … o.k. I’ve gotten off track again.
The gig went well, never got to play the guitar songs and I didn’t have much to say really either. Folks were more gregarious after the gig. Played a request on the piano after the concert. “I love you with my life”. Met the members of a local club band. Gave away radio rehab CDs to a woman who runs a Safe house. Signed stuff and took pictures with people. And by nine we were out.
OK SOTHERESTHAT bryan D
12/27/04 Home
Christmas came and went in a heart beat. It came with some real highs and lows too. This was like no Christmas I’ve ever known.
I decorated a palm tree this year. I Helped cook and plan a Christmas dinner. I had genuine laugh time with my family playing a game called “Imaginif” (Imagine if). A game that focuses on the people you know including yourself and how your friends see you. It was insightful to say the least.
It’s interesting to see your friends and family laugh at your peculiarities. Everyone seemed to have me pegged. I was surprised to realize they knew me better than I could have imagined. And still there was love for me anyway. The game was a way to acknowledge how we all are and maybe even see room for improvement. I could also see that my opinions of others weren’t far from what others saw in the same people and somehow I felt just a little more sane.
The game is for people with a nominal amount of security in themselves I should add. The questions ask you to compare someone to a decade of movie titles or “if so and so was a hairstyle what would they most likely be?” It was a highlight of laughter and connection with my sons, my how they have grown.
There was, of course the reality checks at Christmas… family members missing. Feeling the distance from those who used to be close to you. The uncomfortable anxiety that with every Christmas something has changed for better or worse and some things will never be quite the same. It brought me the gift of tears at some unexpected times. I got more out of Christmas though because of the pain I did not turn away from. The reason I need to know a savior to begin with. Thank God for that.
Onward and upward… Bryan D
12/19/04 Sunday … Dagsboro, Delaware
Dagsboro of course is just this side of Hardscrabble on the peninsula by the Chesapeake. Never actually saw anything in Delaware as it was dark by the time we got in and it was foggy the next morning. I played the two Sunday morning services for Christmas. Turns out I was kinda babysittin the church while the pastor and his family skipped town for vacation.
It turned out pretty good. I played 50 minutes and used some of the commentary from my Christmas rehab show about placing value on your friends when deciding what to get ‘em…the Church of God would suggest a pretty narrow focus and I was surprised to be able to break the ice. I hadn’t planned to be “spiritual” but there was certainly a natural transition from song to song in the way of insightful commentary… all stuff I hadn’t planned.
I know I feel a redefinition coming… you know in my whole life…the mistake I’ve made it to think that I’m redefining it myself… I don’t think I have any idea where God is leading these days and still I “predict”.
OKEE DOH KEE… Bd
12/20/04 Monday night Ft Lauderdale
I donated my time to a Brass tacks recovery program in south Florida. One of the original Celebrate Recovery’s. Many here are the dregs of society…. Amazing guys with unbelievable stories. “King” looked like Santa in a tattered sort of way. There were a few guys here still drunk… they came for the free food. I walked to the store with a guy named Tattoo… he got caught in the crossfire with a friend who was shot to death for stealing a kilo from the Russian Mafia in New York. He was especially moved by “if you pray for me”. Bill was wearing a really nice suit, looked like a bank president. “I been sober six months” he told me… and “I’m not in charge of anything” he said referring to his look of importance. Cigarettes were plentiful outside the Salvation Army post where this concert was held.
I loved the hang time. Talked to a married couple recovering from drug addiction together and celebrating their fourth year of marriage. Inside, even during the sound check (while people were in the lunch line) you could see the positive appreciation for the soul music and the blues as I goofed around on the keyboard. One guy was matching my note for note… even the really high stuff… turns out he used to road manage for Billy Preston. I could here him singing with me on “this Christmas”.
I can’t tell you how much more in tune I am with the power of my own songs in this environment. I am more in tune with why I’m here and why my mistakes cannot be regretted. It is here where I can trust God fully to do what he needs and by pass me if he likes. Sympathy is not what these people need. Purpose and vision are in short supply. And I see something I have that I’m not always thankful for. I can’t see my purpose on regular days. I’m like a gun in the closet, useless I’m needed.
I went to a supper club after the show called Mango’s in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Had great food and heard an unbelievable band playing Jazz and Soul. They were perfect musically and the sound was fantastic and the environment was relaxing and still I thought “where is the impact of just playing really good music” I’m grateful for the middle ground at least for this weekend. Too Christian for the heathens and too good for the Christians. I was good tonight and in fine form…and I felt like a daisy on the side of the freeway. God plants a soul where he will. The best I can do is to bloom.
OK… so there’s that bryan D
12/17/04 West Coast Office
I’ve spent two weeks working through internet set up problems. I’ve moved into a new headquarters for Red Road and affiliated endeavors. New “warehouse” and office set up from the ground up. I’ve forgotten almost what it is that I do really… I’m being dragged kicking and screaming into a new definition of life. The good news is that I don’t have a lot of free time to think about the risks I have to take.
Like my bass player said once in jest as we were lost on the freeway in Seattle…. “I don’t know where I am, but I know where I’m going”.
I just read the new Biography written for the release of Music City and the announcement of Red Road Records signing a distribution deal and the announcement of the new band. I wept out loud for a brief moment as John the Bio writer put my current situation in terms that made more sense that what I’ve been able to see recently.
I think everyone should have a bio writer! Someone to lay out in good terms what your life looks like currently and how it makes sense when from your own perspective it feels like everything is completely unraveled. The future can look incredibly terrifying on any given day especially when after some twenty hours on the phone with the cable service you finally realize that the simple modem address code was misread from the beginning… what looked like the letter “G” was actually a “6” and it stopped the whole process from moving forward. Wow all that screaming and blaming the cable guys and the equipment and the service… was in the end… an “oh…. Never mind”.
One little thing…”a nickel holding up a million bucks” as my dad used to say.
O.K. so I’m back on line and the noodles might be more often forthcoming…. As I need this therapy these days… Bryan D
12/12/04 Springfield, Mo
I can’t remember being so “jet lagged” in America. I’ve played so regularly through out my career that I never really carried local time zones in my head. But recent trips I’ve found myself on the east coast still awake at 3 and 4 in the morning. Sleep on this trip first to Florida and then a day off to fly to Missouri I never slept more than four hours in a row.
By Sunday morning I was just dazed. Still I found the energy to take up the local promoter on an offer to ride his Honda 1800cc Motorcycle. Oh my!!! nothing like getting on a bike in the dead middle of winter to bring you out of a dazed and confused reality. I only stopped riding when I could no longer feel my fingers. What a gorgeous motorcycle! Smoothest bike I’ve ever been on.
The gig on the other hand was a tougher run than I’m used to… I struggled to find a fresh feel to the usual songs. The room was a library acoustically absolutely no reverberation. It seems like that would be a good thing but I felt like I was screaming into a pillow. It was an early show though and that left time for a little comfort food. I ate more krispy kreme donuts in one sitting than I can remember in the last five years. I even bought another coffee cup as a souvenir.
I got another coffee cup last night when we dropped in on the local Christian owned coffeehouse… called the Pottershouse… it’s across the street from the University and the place was full when we arrived. I brought my guitar in after a little chat with the owners.. looking for an opportunity to play on a really bad night off… And I talked my sound man David Rowe into singing a couple of tunes as well. We did a little impromptu “songwriter in the round” thing with some of the local college students. It was very informal and there was no p.a. system. It was like nothing I’ve ever done.
I’ve still got some work to do to get my guitar songs hammered into a coffee house presentation. It takes some getting used to… playing while everyone is talking and the noise of coffee makers drowning out every other word makes you realize why pop songs are redundant. NO BODY’s Payin That much attention!!!
I figured out that you kinda have to fiddle around some… the first verse goes by like nothing and the hook needs to be twice as long… It works too to sing the first verse again at the end of the song… cause nobody heard it the first time. 8)…. The local talent was really good by the way and I had a learning experience.
OK soo there’s that… Bryan D
12/11/04 Boca Raton, Florida (or somewhere close)
The real hit song at this two show event was when I launched into how easy it was to write a song with only two chords on the guitar…and I played “Horse with no name” by America… everyone knows the tune and they start singing the little hook. Neither show was full and I’m thinking it could have been a great One show experience. As it was, it was a whirlwind. I got in with no time to fix my hair!
I did a sound check and met with the Celebrate Recovery group before the gig. What a great attitude adjustment that is. I gave away some Radio Rehab CD’s and did the first show. It started slow and the folks were unbelievably quiet. I came alive about half way through the gig.
I signed autographs between the two shows and went straight on for the second act. By now I’m in a great mood and the show was more humor than songs. People were ready for Christmas tunes this week. There were some great moments too on a serious note… where the songs struck a meaningful chord with many.
I found time to play with a small garden snake outside in the parking lot who obviously couldn’t find his place. O.K. so it all went well.. maybe better than I realize really.
OkC ya …Bryan D
12/5/04 Cleveland, Ohio
Christmas came early at this gig… another Seekers coffeehouse. I was presented with a Seekers tour jacket. And of course I finagled some free coffee beans to take home.
I forgot to pack clothes for this trip, thought I had stuff in the bag from last week and never looked. This is when you know you’re on the road too much maybe. I got a great deal on levi’s and a shirt at the discount store next to Seekers. I’ve lost nearly thirty pounds in the last six months… the great thing about bein thin is you can pretty much throw anything on and look fairly presentable. There’s no “camouflaging” needed for those physical defects. I like that.
I did two shows to good turnouts for a coffeehouse. Still smaller than past trips. The first show crowd obviously hadn’t had any coffee and I turned into Barry Manilow by the end of the set. I got back on track in the second show. No one at any show seemed really all that interested in much Christmas music so I did maybe only four Christmas tunes.
I see more familiar faces in the crowds as my faithful fans turn out every time I’m in town. There’ s a ten year old girl who sits in the front row at the Seekers in Cleveland. She’s always there when I’m in town. Wow I’m watching other people’s kids grow up too. It was also good to see Radio Rehab supporters at the shows. It’s like having fans for an entirely different reason.
I got home to find it colder in California than it was in Cleveland.
O.K. So there’s That. Bryan D
12/03/04 Friday, Evansville IN
It’s perfectly placed between IHop and Krispy Kreme…. Seekers Coffeehouse in Evansville… flew in last night. Did the local T.V.newscast at five a.m. and the Christian radio station at 8 a.m. , Crashed through the late morning and had time to work on last years Christmas writing… finished the bridge to “This Christmas”. Managed to visit Ihop and The doughnut trap…during the day…
I was worried about the turn out for the show but by 8:30 the place was full. Once again I talked to people who came from 3 hours away.
I also ran into some early college friends I hadn’t seen since 1972. They brought a year book for my perusal. It was my first year of college.
I got suspended before the end of the first year there at Southeastern Bible College in Lakeland Florida. Interesting how one year can still produce aquaintences you don’t forget for a lifetime.
The show was one mishap after another but they seemed perfectly planned. The Econo Band was skipping on a poor read so I turned to the piano “unplugged stuff and while the tech help was fixing the band he inadvertently unplugged the keyboard right at the end of “don’t help the devil” … the commentary was priceless. I was just happy to be playing and nothing was gonna ruin the night for me. I grabbed the guitar after that and ran the famous 2 and a half songs I know how to play on guitar. It was a two hour show with lots of free flowing humor. The room was leaning in tonight and I wish all the gigs were like this one.
I wish there was a Seekers CH in every town. I love the intimate setting and the fact that I get unlimited lattes. I think I drank at least six over the day… latte’s are great with Krispy Kremes! And Seekers is like the greatest “living room” gig in the world. A relaxing place that lends itself to good music and a feeling that you know everyone in the audience.
OK so there’s that… Bryan D