Nifty Noodles/ Story Time

6/30/04 Southern California….all of it.
I spent the last two 14 hour days with a film crew from Nashville. I was given the opportunity to tell some basic bible stories in my own words for a program being produced by Lifeway. It’s a program for high school ages called “Fuel”. So we went to the desert to tell the story of the children of Israel in the wilderness.

We went to the mountains to tell the story of David and Goliath. We went to various southern California locations to shoot the story of Gideon. It all works cause my neighborhood kinda resembles the countryside most of these scenes took place for real.

The crew was very patient with me putting these scripts into my own words. By the second day I was getting pretty involved in the stories, doing some of my own “stunt work” . I put my best enthusiasm into the telling of the story of David and Goliath… I love war stories and I had a great time describing Goliath in his armor and all the details of his shear size. When I got to David too, I described him in detail and when it came to the fight I was pretty demonstrative.

Today I feel like I’ve been sifted through a tea strainer! It doesn’t feel like hard work but it’s like being on stage for two days without a break.

To say the least I haven’t stopped working for the last 10 days… it’s been nonstop writing songs, doing gigs and then these film ideas. I’m exhausted.

To think only a few weeks ago I was sitting at home a lot wondering what to do with the time. This is how my career has always been though…. Huge gaps between meaningful endeavor. I think what makes a career is the willingness to stay with something even when there’s nothing happening. Seems like business comes in spurts.

Of course this narrative stuff is a completely different take than singing but it’s the singing that got me this gig. So maybe I’m tryin new things walkin through open doors just to see whats on the other side. I got nothing to lose.

O.K. so there’s that Bryan d

Nifty Noodles/ Little Gig on the Praire

6/26/ 04 Oakdale, CA
It’s Northern California, rolling hills and scattered oak trees. It has the scenery of the t.v. show “Little House on The Prairie”. I’m here for an outdoor amphitheater concert. I had agreed to play this gig with the local worship band from the sponsoring church. Using local musicians has been very successful in the past year. This time though I had to exercise my option to not go with the band. The players were just not familiar enough with the material and nothing was really grooving. I hated to make that decision but we would have been embarrassed. There are always little mistakes that you can laugh off in concert but this wouldn’t have been pretty at all.

I did use the horn player on two songs and that went well. The turn out was impressive over a thousand folks. I had quite a few snafus On stage on the tech side of things but the people were fantastic and it was as laid back as a picnic. I played golf on the morning of the show and I also had the opportunity to ride two different Motorcycles. When someone lets you drive off on their bike it’s quite a statement of trust. This is a motorcycle paradise with the lonely two lanes crisscrossing the countryside.

Had a lot of friends from concerts I’ve played recently in this vicinity. I received many great comments about the long term encouragement People have taken from my songs.

O.K. so there’s that…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Back to the Pink House

Las Vegas 6/22/04
Hours float by in happy bliss... I’m writing new songs and recording them with Bob Carlisle. Time is lost in the intensity of the focus. We’re Looking for sounds and approaches to the music at hand. Endless details to production even in laying out demos. Spent most of the day working on a take off of Bill Withers tune “Use Me Up”…. Called “Used Again”… We’re working on songs to give to other artists as opposed to writing for our own albums but you never know where songs will wind up. I’ve never written so many songs in such a short period of time.

6/23/04 started singing a gorgeous love song today… Bonnie Raitt style…..”hold your hand”…. It felt really weird to sing something romantic… after all these years in CCM I had an automatic aversion to suggesting anything sensual… I was blushing in the studio I think. The lyrics were pretty simple in the bridge… “Show me how to love you…. Tell me what you need… Show me how to touch you baby…cause it means that much to me”….”I wanna hold your hand the way you hold my heart”….it’s a song about longing for long term connection and of course we had to adjust my lyrics as I tend to over-think every experience…we spent a few hours “detangling” the lyrics. It’s amazing when the lines are simple and the melody just floats … how great it makes the singer sound!!!!

Bob does most of the work in the studio… vocal comps and engineering. We are covering the spectrum in music… Funk soul rock and ballads… Bob sends the music files over the internet to a drummer in Nashville who then lays out his performance on real drum kit and sends it back. It’s then put in the computer and lined up with what we are doing. Pretty cool. It’s a new world. Still with all this high tech, days go by just as fast and not enough gets done. We’ve really only sung three songs down. Bob put the vocals on a “Roy Orbison style” cut called “easy kind of love” cause he had a better feel for that melody and approach. Tomorrow we start a rock tune called “Look What You Have Done” . We’re setting up the live drum tracks tonight for that.

6/24/04 It’s my last day here and there’s still so much to do. Bob has an edgier voice for a screaming rock tune and he wants to sing “look what you have done”. I’m anxious to sing down another heartbreak ballad called “Nothing is Forever”… (later that same day) This song pretty much sang itself… it’s in the perfect key for my voice. This song will be the easiest to pitch I think. We got a lot done in three days and we have a growing catalog of tunes for people who want to go on tour! I’m flying home an hour late and tomorrow I fly up to Oakdale, California to do my “other gig”. I’ll be happy to get back to my own convictions after all these “put yourself in the situation” songs.

Ok. So there’s That…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Live DVD

6/20/04 Riverside, CA
I just saw the footage of the concert we filmed in Nashville and it looks great. It was filmed at the former Café Milano and the stage set there is absolutely cool. The audience is right on top of you for an intimate club feel. The final mix too was pretty good for an instant recording and no fixes. I’m gonna be proud to release this as my first ever live concert DVD with footage we’ve yet to film of the recording of the Road To Redemption radio program for Radio Rehab. I’ll start on show number 39 as soon as I return from Bob Carlisle’s studio, The Pink House in Las Vegas. We’re making demos of some 14 songs next week.

OK so theresthat! God is good all the time.. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Ten Dads

6/18/04 Friday San Luis Obispo, CA
I drove up the coast on Thursday to be available for a morning radio show in SLO. (Klife 89.3) I did a live on the air concert and conversation with Jon Fugler and ten winning dads who were selected to be there in person. I actually played several new songs I’ve written on guitar. (some on the air and some during the breaks.) Everything went over very well. I talked of recovery and my Radio Show and answered a few questions. I reflected on the mistakes I’ve made all the pursuit of “accomplishment”.

Then it was off to Denny’s for breakfast. And then off to the Golf course for five hours of pure punishment. Actually it was very “healing” to get into the hills around Morrow Bay and take in the outdoor beauty. I was sunburned even on the whites of my eyes by show time at six.

This concert was a highlight. Small, intimate, fathers day offering… I opened with energetic happy tunes maybe four in a row and followed that with about 20 minutes of pure stand up improvisation on the joy’s of fatherhood! Then into some heartbreak songs and spiritual insight….(the shortest segment of the night 8) ). And wrapped up with some up tempo goodies.

It was “Tango Night” at the local coffee house., Higher Groundz, where we eventually met most of the audience. I got kicked in the leg by one of the dancers as I was standing in line to get my “entitlement latte”.

O.K. so there’s that…. San Luis Obispo is a great little escape… you should go there… really. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ CR at Bethel

6/11/04 Riverside, CA CR at Bethel
It was mostly the regulars at recovery that I played for … hard to pick songs they haven’t heard me play. I did do one request in a song I have sung very few times ever… from the Blue Skies record, Take Another Look At Me. I was surprised at how well it came off. It has a line in it that I use in commentary on Radio Rehab…. About God saying “I’m not surprised by the things you do or say”.

It is another song from God’s point of view, as was “I love you with my Life” , this one however doesn’t have the same impact. So I played em both back to back. I was in a melancholy mood and the set kind of went there by itself.

I also shared a truth that I’m discovering about my tendency towards sadness. I believe I’ve adopted those feelings as a way to draw close to God… more as a ritual than because I was sad to start with. In church it seems to me that emotionalism was equated with a connection to God. Sadness seemed to be the easiest emotion to drum up. That is at least what I got out of it subconsciously.

I went to a graduation party across the street from my house when I got home… it was just breaking up really but I talked to a kid that saw my band concert at Spirit West Coast. He was amazed he said that I could “hypnotize” people at my concert! “What are you talking About I ask him… and he begin to describe the people with their eyes closed and hands in the air singing “I love you with my life”. Apparently he’d never seen people “Worship” before… he thought I was hypnotizing them.

Obviously we can all find our own conclusions whether it’s true or not… kind of like me deciding the quickest way to feel the presence of God …. Was to find sadness!

Think about that for a while…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Nancy Wolfe

6/05/04
I was introduced to a “fan” this morning… Nancy Wolfe… at 51 has been pronounced terminal of breast cancer.

I received a request to sing at her funeral. “when did she die” I asked her daughter… “ohh she’s still here but she doesn’t have more than a couple of weeks the doctors say”.

“well why don’t I talk to her now then”…. I said and suddenly my day got horrifically focused and sober. …. What do you say to someone who won’t be here in a week maybe? “can’t imagine what you are going through there’s not a single thing to say… it wouldn’t fix it anyway”… comes to mind from the song “faithful to you” off the Mercy project.

There might be one silver lining in the pronouncement of a terminal illness… a chance to say things to friends and family!

Perhaps it is a chance to share memories and express wishes and admonitions to those of us still waiting.

“what she likes the most is to hear her family recall with laughter the little things of life” says her daughter after my conversation with her mom.

Nancy strained even to talk but I let her work at it…. Don’t remember what I said to her really… she was very serene in her conversation of her upcoming funeral… and hoped I could sing in person… “that’s alright if you can’t” she said… and I found myself in the awkward position of looking at my schedule to see if I could even consider her request. “maybe I could sing at your ‘reception’ in heaven …. Time is no longer there… so save me a place”… I said… “and if I can sing here for your friends and family I will”….

It’s one of those phone calls you never really recover from… I thought about her the rest of today. I have so very many friends this week attending funerals or planning for the soon eventuality.

I thought about what I would change in the way of how I would live if I knew my time was short…

I would do exactly what I’m doing!!!! I am pursuing my passion the best I know how… and any announcement of terminal reality would not find me scrambling for a new life! …. O.K. I might go buy the motorcycle I dream of and take that long ride through Zion National Park… and maybe go for a week cruise on a 200 foot sailboat in the Caribbean. But that’s it… I’m doing what I love.

Nancy Wolfe has a hope in eternal life and a loving savior waiting for her… and she has her family around her… She seems reasonably happy…

Live one day at a time… enjoy one moment at a time!!! Know a few people well! Bryan D.

May God give Mike Wolfe and his family grace and peace in their days ahead.

Nancy and Mike Wolfe