Nifty Noodles/ Christmas Mayhem
12/21/05 West coast office….end of the “Christmas Tour”
I finished the last date on the “feel the Joy” tour last weekend. Came home to find my Christmas tree dead as a doornail and the lights don’t work either. The power had gone off and all the clocks were blinking and the cable t.v. was out. It’s taken me three days to dig out from under the mail after three weeks of inattention. Email was on overload too.

I have nothing to say about the last Christmas date in Lakeland… “success has many fathers but failure is an orphan”.

I’ll just leave it with some key observations: 1) no matter how big the church is… if the gig isn’t free nobody’s comin.

2) Black Gospel and CCM don’t mix. there’s a reason we have genre’s!!! 3) Worship music will always make “real music” look terribly unspiritual. 4) People who sing worship music will always appear closer to God than the rest of us. 5) appearing more spiritual to others is often seen as “condescension” 6) working through wrong decisions is always hard but it’s no reason to quit 7) I can’t always see the reason for my circumstances but it doesn’t mean that God does not love me and is making me pay. 8) Commiserating does not embrace a solution and Blaming someone does not make the pain go away. 9) Risk is not always rewarded but Risk is still necessary for success

10) Mistakes give us the opportunity to change something!!!!!

O.K. so there’s That…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ T.V.
12/14/05 Nashville, TN
Two weeks after seeing the Johnny Cash movie I found myself standing at his grave site in Hendersonville. It was just a half mile from the TBN studios where I waited for two days to do a show with Russ Taff. What a great line up this evening. Ashley Cleveland, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and the Clark Sisters were among the presentations. I think both groups are in the gospel music hall of fame and I got to meet em all back stage. I’d played once with the Clark Sisters at my last show in Disneyland before the Sweet Comfort Band broke up. But tonight is the first time to play on the same show with the Mighty Clouds…it was up there with my chance to play on the bill with the Five Blind Boys From Alabama.

Best response to a three song set I’ve ever had too. The crowd was instantly in to the first song from a Charlie Brown Christmas.. Christmas Time is Here. I talked over the solo about the scripture being read on the t.v. special with nothing added or taken away about the real meaning of Christmas… the improvisation of the event fit perfectly over the solo of the song and got a spectacular response. From there I went into “This Christmas” another semi secular sounding Christmas tune that had everybody standing tonight. That’s a first for my new song in concert. I followed that with the song Peace, which has become the tune I sing in private all the time. My new theme song for Christmas. “Have Yourself a merry little Christmas and keep the Presence Coming”.. is how I signed off and it was a nearly perfect little set. With no time wasted.

Back stage I got kudos from my precontemporaries the Mighty Clouds asking about the tracks and arrangements and Dorinda Clark wanting to make contact in the future.

I also met a nephew of John Cash who was hanging around back stage. He wasn’t happy about the portrayal of his grandfather and Johnny’s dad. “its hard to tell a life story in an hour movie” I told him when he asked what I thought of the film.

I’m so ready to go home for a couple of days…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Feel The Joy
12/7/05 Houston Texas is a sprawling metropolis, fourth largest city in the U.S. I think… but flat and boring and covered with strip malls.
No Rhyme or reason to the layout that I can see…Tire stores next to beauty salons.

Nestled among scores of apartment complexes is Chapel of Praise, home of the first of only three tour dates on the “Joy To The World tour… most of the world has apparently unraveled. The hope was for 16 dates on this ambitious undertaking.

The tour now includes Kurt Carr, Rachael Lampa, Myself, Martha Munizzi, Jontez, Heather Powers, and Jeff Moore. I arrived for a five day stay at a two star Holiday Inn. I’m early and the first day is spent standing around.

I have only a brief idea of the songs I’m singing… seven of em from my two Christmas CD’s. There is some trepidation on the part of the players.. learning some thirty songs in three days.

12/8/05 Rehearsals in the hotel with vocalists these days is quite different… it’s IPods and Laptops seated around a conference table… running through arrangements and lyrics. Nicole and Yvette from Kurt Carr’s group are doing background vocals with everyone. Also singing BGV’s with them are artists Heather Powers and Jontez. Vocals are picked up instantly with professional singers.. I was impressed.

Rachael Lampa sits in the lobby with her laptop writing out lyrics… she’s doing my arrangement of Silent Night. I will join her on it “Somewhere” I’m told. The show is closing with another song from my nehoSoul Christmas project “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. Bringing to nine the songs of mine we’re doing on the tour. Also included is Christmas Time Is Here, Come’s But Once A Year, Wonderful World, this Christmas, Took the Form oF Man, Please Come Home for Christmas, and Chestnuts…the last three from my earlier project.

Lot of down time yesterday…gig in Houston seemed to be in Jeapordy over back line rentals for a while… couldn’t get necessary equipment. Had dinner with the band guys Roger Wood, Ricky B, Sam Mathews, and music director former Earth Wind and Fire member,Sheldon Rynolds.. as well as singers mentioned earlier…Chris Redner tour promoter and tour manager Scott….

We ate at “Duncan’s Restaurant”… in the hotel. We’re becoming something of a permanent fixture here last two days. I’ve passed out Christmas CD’s to the help here as a tip of sorts.

This afternoon we will run rehearsals on the stage till 11 p.m. that oughta be fun….

12/09/05

Nothing has gone on schedule… I ran a couple of songs with the band… and we’re so behind that I’ve ended up doing the first four of my songs to tracks. The show on Friday went some three hours… attendance was low and, except for the time on stage singing, this was an endurance of enormous proportions. It was a dress rehearsal though and worth the effort. We play again tomorrow night at the same location. God helps us.

12/10/05 Still in Houston…I bought the shirt yesterday. To say the least these gigs are off to a rough start. The Devil is in the details, many of which are slipping through the cracks. I find myself asking “who’s in Charge of this”? who’s supposed to be taking care of this? Seventeen people on tour and a serious lack of job description. It’s every government in a nutshell. I’m asking myself what can I change to make this better at this point? My attitude is the first thing that needs work. I feel unplugged and lazy. There is a disconnect on the road that brings on a tremendous lethargy. I feel “doped” after four days of mostly standing around waiting for someone else to do their part. I’ve grown seriously quiet. I think about going home mostly. And I feel my loneliness.

There were no lights for this show last night. (church can’t handle the power surge for lights and sound) Only a single spot light… it was like playing on the street corner under a street light. The music and the singers though were incredibly good. The talent was there. The audience was not. Martha and Kurt are outrageously Pentecostal Gospel. They kept asking for the lights up in the hall… so there’s a tension between having more of a show and actually having a church service. The show was no less than three hours long. I circled the outside of the church for hours between my parts… brooding, trying to come to terms with my own decisions about what I’m willing to be a part of.

The bright spot today was a shuttle driver from Kenya named Mobley. I found myself in a conversation with him on the ride over to rehearsal. He kept talking about our “papas”. I finally interpreted his accent… he was saying “purpose”. What is our purpose? A timely subject when things are not going as we planned. He took me out of my particular moment of frustration as we talked about how small things lead to greater things… we have to start somewhere and figure out what needs to be done. Our failures must be built upon to make things better.

I’ve dug myself out of a hole emotionally by connecting with others and seeing their struggles in the same situation… gives me a drive once again to embrace the solutions rather than the problems. Good reading too… two devotionals and a book called “telling yourself the truth” are helping me find sanity.j

12/11/05 The second gig in Houston was a little larger crowd and they were enthusiastic but the numbers really were not good. Seven artists on the bill and we couldn’t draw a full house. I made the best of it shaking hands and talking to adults and singling out little kids who seemed too awestruck to talk. The good news is it’s done now and I can move on.

There is clearly a hard road in mixing Contemporary Christian artists with Black Gospel artists at least in the presentation. There are perhaps to many cultural differences in the delivery. I think Black Gospel presentations place more expectation on the audience to embrace a frame of mind. If I was an outsider I might feel put off by the assumptions. Even worship music insists upon your immediate embrace of the spirit of God that some people are not ready for. I guess that’s’ why we have genre’s.

All that said… the show had some of the funkiest numbers I’ve ever heard. Rachael Lampa really impressed me with her first song. Kurt Carr had some infectious gospel funk tunes and Martha Munizzi (mah knees E is how it’s supposed to be pronounced) had one particular song that was off the chart great sounding worship. I felt like the librarian doing all the soft stuff in mostly low keys but I didn’t mind too much. For whatever reason Kurt and Martha’s stuff seemed more alive even with three of my band members playing with me on my songs. I imagine it’s the idiosyncrasies of my song structure that seem to inhibit the presentation. They have to be rehearsed to the letter and I did not get much time with the band to rehearse.

I’m off to Nashville for three days to do a couple of t.v. shows and then I’m going home before the last tour show in Florida next weekend. I’ll stop by and see Ricky B’s new baby daughter, Jayna Elizabeth Rogers… born last night in the city of music. Congratulations Ricky B. and Merry Christmas… hang another stocking on the fireplace… (he now has four girls).

O.k. so theres that…. Bryan D

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