Nifty Noodles/ Prep for Vacation
West Coast Office, 1/23/06
Haven’t had time to realize that I get to go on a cruise to Mexico today. K-Love radio network has included me in the entertainment along with maybe fifteen other CCM artists and bands. The cruise is out of Long Beach Harbor bound for Ensenada. Hey it’s January money and a vacation to boot. I’ll be working on lyrics for the Surprise project with the Nehosoul band (they’re not on the boat though).

I’ll be flying up a couple days after the cruise to hammer out the first few song arrangements.

My thoughts have been elsewhere this week. Holly Benyouski’s mother died yesterday… Holly is my booking agent. Has been for my whole career. My sympathy’s and thoughts went out to her and her family. My own mother is facing a life threatening surgery on Thursday in regard to a potential aneurism in her brain. The risk in the operation is only about 15% of stroke or death but that’s a lot when it’s your life they’re talking about. She has many family members there for support and I hope to be out there to see her soon.

I have had to schedule an appointment to take care of some of my own problems… skin cancer cells on my face. Too much outdoor sun and fun on the bike I imagine. I was told years ago to wear sun protection but I usually forget until I’m already on the bike or in the past in my little Speedster.

I was getting my first official facial that was part of a spa treatment Christmas present when the woman mentioned some troubling spots on my face… I think she called em basil cells… she seemed pretty knowledgeable about skin and treatments and she recommended that I see my physician. I haven’t seen a doctor in a couple of years I had to go find his phone number. I should be grateful for my health. At my age, I’m sure I’m overdue to start talking about “procedures” and minor aches and pains. I’ve hired someone to kill me if I start giving you my medical report every month… but this is kinda rare for me.

Then too as I was doing last minute preparations to leave on this cruise last night I came across the aftermath of a freeway shooting just two blocks from my house. The car was already stopped in a Gas station. Three people were shot and two of them died at the scene. They said it was a light colored sedan on the freeway and it appeared to be a woman firing a shot gun at the car. She was with a black man who was doing the driving. There are no leads or suspects as of yet. But driving past the car with one victim covered and on the ground next to the vehicle just minutes after the attack is incredibly unnerving. They shut down the freeway at my exit on Madison Ave and the traffic was thick all around the West Coast Office. I watched the story unfold on the news, seeing what is right across the street and then seeing it on t.v. at the same time is very surrealistic.

O.k. so I’m ready to get out of town for a while. Looking forward to singing again too, with a real proper perspective on the things that matter.

So There’s That! Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Love Risks, and the Music Biz
West Coast Office… 1/22/06
I read an article on My Space.com about the contract struggle of a band called Mute Math… this story of music biz politics is so typical of every band that never made it… happens all the time, bands getting hung up in their contracts… I was lucky back in the day… I had none of this trouble…I was in Christian music and not really ashamed to be on the label then…when we did get a deal in conjunction with Epic everyone just wanted to see the record do well. And they spent a lot of money doin it.

The hardest thing in music is to get others to see your vision. Everyone has an agenda. CCM is struggling now because the market has changed… people no longer want to be Categorized by the CCM market simply because it has been defined! Mostly, it has become boring and predictable and without risk. We know what yer gonna say in every song!!! No artist wants to be typecast to the expectations of the market.

Trouble is…. I tend to want it all !!! Big mistake… you gotta pick yer marbles… and you can’t hold em all… when a band manages to “get all the marbles” at once it’s a damn miracle that every one wants to claim a part of. Truth is it’s like winning the lottery it’s a matter of chance timing I think.

NehoSoul is a humble offering… I know not everyone will like it… I have no giant visions of being the big deal…I will just quietly follow my insights and be inspired by what I find interest in… and I will be grateful for anyone who appreciates the insights or loves the music… I will always be “Typecast” as the quintessential believer even in all my doubts.

Be who you are… it’s quite a load off! But it it will still cost you like every decision you ever make. New bands I know are still trying to make their mark and with that comes the frustration of realizing that no marketing plan will ever focus on everything about you… marketing is about defining a small common denominator… it by nature limits you to one thing usually…even the Rolling Stones are typecast in one impression really… Mick Jagger’s swagger! I’ll bet he reads!.... and has opinions beyond his songs… I’ll bet he’s thought about life and death too.. and been to a funeral or two and wondered about a bigger picture and the point to his life… but that’s not in the marketing.

To be successful in a larger way you have to come to terms with that little sliver of yourself that is gonna be received and rejected at the same time… it drove me crazy…I’m more than people see and not nearly as shiney… I’m not good at marketing either and I don’t know what exactly to put out there as the “one best thing”! I’m still struggling with that too…

But at least now I don’t have to convince the record company guys that I have something good… I am the record company! I live or die on one artist that I can’t exactly ignore.

Now I have an appreciation for the record company side… how do I support the artist? Am I willing to commit to his vision? It always comes down to risk! And Vision! So be grateful when you can get any two people in the room to agree on what that should be.

O.k. so there’s That Bryan Duncan

Nifty Noodles/ First Date
1/13/06 Riverside, CA / La Sierra University
Yes the years first gig happens on Friday the 13th. I agreed last month to “stop by” for the nite chapel service for the Seventh Day Adventist University… La Sierra U.

For the second time in a row I was introduced by someone claiming to be in ministry now because of my songs twenty some years ago. A nice honor.. and the chaplain’s introduction gave me room to be more outrageous than would be expected at an SDA school. It was library quiet during the “worship” portion of the evening and I was sweatin it … knowing that I was gonna open with the Chaplain’s favorite song from my “Lunatic” album… “Mr Bailey’s Daughter”.

Vocally I was in horrible shape this evening… lack of lung capacity, (my own fault) and fading power as a result of just not singing as often. I need to work on fixing both problems. I have made a conscious decision NOT to exercise or eat right. A kind of “I don’t really care” attitude on my part. I’ve been living the last year on Pancakes for breakfast and coffee the rest of the day… with occasional home snacks, mostly double dip Oreo’s and chocolate chip cookies. Then there is Capt. Krunch cereal and chicken pot pies.

I don’t know what happened to my determination to learn to cook but I’ve dropped that whole scenario.

Anyway I was horrified by my vocal performance. Nobody noticed though and the mostly up tempo 30 minute set was surprisingly well received. This being however a College crowd… I sold exactly two records! A new low for concert sales. 8) I’m not worried really but as 4 of my old records went out of print last year. I am motivated to push forward with my own new product. I’m in the process of calculating the cost per song to get the next NehoSoul project started.

My plan is to work on arrangements one or two songs at a time and get the basic tracks recorded in the process as I can afford to pay for it. It’s recording on a shoestring and doing what I can with what I have. Hopefully I can realize this new project by October of this year… we’ll see. Truth is as long as I’ve been in music… this side of the biz is really new to me… sweatin the finances and planning the production. I am so proud of Red Road’s first recorded project a NehoSoul Christmas and how it came together even as we started it in May of last year.

Thank you Ray Ware, Ricky B, and Phil Curry who were on the front line of maintaining the focus … and then Randy Thomas smoothing out the mistakes and oversights to get a mix in on time.

The band date was cancelled for next week much to our disappointment and I’ve already left my thoughts on that in the noodles but I’ll be workin on moving forward with the NehoSoul Surprise….CD.

O.k. so there’s that… Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Canceled
West Coast Office…1/13/06
I was suspicious from the beginning that we would have a band date in Alabama anytime let alone January. It was too good to be true as I was told it was cancelled. We weren’t the only ones on the bill I understand but they didn’t sell one ticket. Alabama is still reeling from the hurricane disaster last year perhaps. Money is tight, whatever, my apologies to those looking forward to that gig. I cannot control the interest in my music anywhere in the country and I wish I could make that different somehow.

What I do know is that I can act as if someone is interested in my discoveries and insights… act as if I’m successful whether or not it shows… act as if I’m loved when I don’t feel it… this applies across the boards in every part of life. Right now I’m acting as if money was not a problem… and I’m acting as if failure was not a possibility…

I’ve used that little motto for the past few years in helping determine what my true desires are. What would I do if I had all the money in the world and couldn’t possibly fail… truth is I would do what I’m doing!!! So why wait? Do what you can with what you have… or like a song I’m working on says “you got to do what you love and love what you get”.

Sow the seeds and see what comes of it… answers and solutions come from failures… and like I said a few weeks ago in this column I’m moving from answers to the experiences that produce the answers. In The Seekers Way by Dave Fleming he speaks of religious people who have cut and pasted all the right answers for themselves… and he comments “it seems to produce stagnation and boredom spiritually as well as arrogance and condescension”.

“When we find answers and insights through our experiences we tend to cherish the experience of learning above getting the right answer” Fleming says as I paraphrase. One has to stay open to the fact that “there is a God and I’m not him!” Openness enough to be willing to learn and be honest about what works and what fails. Maybe we don’t ever come to know why something doesn’t happen the way we want. But I can learn as the world turns, and I can become better acquainted with a power greater than myself. And trust that he will make all things right if I surrender to his will.

as I told someone yesterday….” Sometimes Love has to overcome what we wish we had!”

O.K. so there’s THAT Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ New Year x6
West Coast Office 1/9/06
Now with the successful release of A NehoSoul Christmas CD, It’s time to begin the push to record and release A NehoSoul Surprise! Pace yourself here… but I’ve contacted the band for preparation on the first Three songs. All are finished tunes already it’s just a matter of defining the band’s arrangement of the tunes.

Because the record will revolve lyrically around “Second Chances”.. that will be the cut we will begin with. Followed by “I’m Still Dancin” and “If Only I”. We have at least 14 songs available ‘in the can’ but I’m sure something else might come up this year. We’re gonna attempt to do three songs at a time in the studio so things don’t get as confusing as the last project. (we lost a couple of lead vocal takes… and never did find em) It’ll give us the opportunity to focus on the details a little more.

The Christmas record came out cool but we didn’t know what we had until the record was mixed because of the time restraints. in some cases I noted that I sung wrong words that weren’t caught and in some of the ad lib vamps, I got turned around lyrically and it wasn’t corrected. No Biggie though cause it’s still the best record I’ve been involved with when it plays down it all fits.

A NehoSoul Christmas got great reviews and kudos. The single “Christmas Time Is Here” finished the year on radio at number twelve or thirteen I am told… just outside of the top ten in radio airplay. a pretty good outing I think for a brand new Company … Red Road Records.

It’s only taken 9 days to get my act together for the start of a new year… yesterday I was attacked in my car by a spider who apparently hitched a ride on my sweater. It bit me at least six times before I could get him off my back. I’ve got 4 welts on my back the size of the palm of my hand. Now if that’s the only thing I’ll have to get off my back this year I’ll be in great shape…ah.. spiders.. makes me twitch just talking about em…check yer shoes too…

O.K. so where’s the Calamine lotion…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ New Year x6
1/2/06 West Coast Office
I watched the Rose Parade for the first time ever! Why? Cause they got rained on that's why. I wanted to see it rain on somebody else's parade, It was fantastic! I watched it on t.v. and tuned in to my favorite radio show where they were doing their own "commentary" on the parade. It of course was very politically incorrect. I don't take these clouds in California on New Years as a bad omen really either.

I like starting at the low point cause then it's pretty much guaranteed to get better! I had a 500 season I think last year. Great new record but a dismal tour. Lost relationships and new ones too, but I was never sick last year and I paid the bills! That's really blessings and success in a nutshell.

I will risk here a quote from my friend Ozzie..(Oswald Chambers) "as we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness.." ." We have lost opportunities which will never return. Leave the irrepairable past in God's hands and step out into the irresistible future with Him"..

That said. I will look forward to working on a new project, a NehoSoul Surprise.. And work toward it's fruition, a recording of "Second Chances" celebrations.

I've started reading two books this year too. "Living Successfully with Screwed Up People" by Elizabeth Brown (mostly need to live with myself) and "The Seekers Path" by Dave Flemming as this book is helping me see how to move from "performance to expression" among other things. And from pat answers to experience. My hopes are great and my energy is returning to embrace the solutions rather than the problems.

It's a New Year Y'all ! Let's start out slow and make this one memorable!

Bryan Duncan

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