November 2008 Nifty Noodles

Nifty Noodles

December 2008

Nifty Noodles/ Relief
Front Office, 12/16/08
NehoSoul Headquarters, Riverside, Ca. …approaching Christmas

Time seems to evaporate in the onslaught of activity around December. My little foxhole has been over run last two months. I notice I haven’t checked my on line banking in a month! And the noodle’s well where was I? .. the music is changing and the steps need rearranging. Since the last noodle, I’ve done six dates in a flurry of Christmas activity abbreviated still by the economic realities.

That said the gigs have been mostly smaller and private. Often not showing up on the schedule, the exceptions are a favorite gig at Trail Christian Fellowship in Medford area of Oregon. I played a Christmas banquet for some 800 ladies. “I really nervous about this” I said in opening… “cause women don’t forget anything a man says”… “they can even remember what you were wearing when you said it”… from there the gig was like cutting butter.

By the end of last week I was running all the Christmas lyrics together… they all have similar lines. Found myself singing words from “Angels we have heard on High” in the wrong song… I was supposed to be singing “hark the herald angels sing”… I got the shepherds mixed up with the sheep too.

I played for Sunday morning services at a Nazarene church in Bentonville, Arkansas last weekend. By then I really had my Christmas trees outta wack. I was blanking out on the big verses of songs like “oh holy night”. And “wonderful world”.. even the Charlie Brown tune… “Christmas time is here”.

This week I have three more Christmas events more “biker” driven gigs where the funk can really percolate. Might have to put a “teleprompter” in the rider.

Between the gigs there’s been a smattering of interviews about the new Still Dancin’ Project. And a NehoSoul Christmas music has been seeing significant airplay in Holland of all places. The Bluesy stuff too.

Still Dancin’ awards have been falling through the cracks as I haven’t had time to nominate winners in the last few weeks but we’ll get back on track after new years I hope.

Currently all I want for Christmas is a weeks worth of chiropractic visits. Sleeping on the airplanes is costing me more in my twilight years! 8)

* On a personal note.. after leading the league, my Fantasy football team (EDBD Wings) lost out in the first round of the playoffs to my youngest son whom I had beaten twice before. I had the highest scoring team of the “Duncan Football League” an affiliation of sons and uncles!

* I won the Riverside Black Sheep’s “BONEHEAD” award a few weeks ago for dropping Jezebel, (my Harley) pulling a U turn on an uphill street. It’s a rather stupid move that an impatient man can make.

* And saving the best for last, I proposed (again) to the love of my life, Casandra. And she said yes this time without the “eventually” part. It’s been a year and five months since I offered her the ring, which created more questions than answers. A second marriage comes with less “mystery”. But even in the time it’s taken to process the expectations, my love for her has not wavered. This proposal was less dramatic but perhaps more meaningful. Now all I gotta do is pay for the wedding band part which I lost in layaway… and the expense of a small wedding that she still wants to have outdoors at sunset. Which means maybe a few more months before the weather is right. Good things are worth waiting for I’ve been told… though I don’t like the waiting, but even at 55 I have some growing up to do. Imagine that.

· I remember only five years ago describing often in my journal, my life, as “unraveling”. But in the last few years, it’s a new life that I’ve been building. Smaller realities of career, with more personal responsibilities, I’m finding a new way to dance! I love who I am more these past few years than all the time I spent being publicly “Visible”. I know a lot of last names! And after singing at nine funerals this year, I’m seeing the purpose of real relationships and cherishing the time I’ve been given.

· Merry Christmas by the way… give some personally home made gifts this year… it’ll do ya good. Put some loving thought into giving to others!.

O.k. so there’s that …. Bryan D