Bryan rides thru Yosemite National Park
Nifty Noodles
Nifty Noodles/ Wa-tah
Nifty Noodles/Yosemite
6/30/08 Parowan, Utah.. closes up around six p.m. I think…. But there I was invited to play on a truck trailer bed sittin on the local horse track in front of a small stadium of the Christian minority in “Mormon country”. I finished just as the sun went down. Not sure it was a real winning presentation. Outdoor concerts are tough.. hard to keep people focused and the sound system really has to rock for lack of barrier to hold in that bass boost.
I was put up in a little bed and breakfast on Main street.. (which is about three blocks long). It felt like my grandmother’s house but I was fanning the two stations I could find on the t.v. before sound check and of course I saw some enormous concert for t.v. presentation with lights and sound… and it kinda put me in a ‘comparing’ mode for the concert.
Message and good songs really have to compensate for sound and lights anyway but I worry that the impression is lost.
“all the people behind you at the ball park stayed long after the game cause they could hear your music over there”. I guess you never know who’s listening do ya. Or what the power of passion might overcome.
After a little tour of the local mountains I was back to an airport that isn’t as big as my house. And by six thirty on Saturday night I was in Seattle.
Tumwater, Wa. …. Leroy was right on time pickin me up and the drive to Tumwater was about fifty more minutes… we were pulled over by a lady cop who noticed that I wasn’t wearin a seat belt. First time ever I was given grace by a woman cop. SO let it be known.
Mountain View Church of the Nazarene was where I played two full services on Sunday morning. The staff here was just a cut above the best folks I’ve ever met. Diligent, caring, and enthusiastic. I thought it was funny though when they handed me the “per diem” in an envelope. It said “lunch money”…8)… I felt like I was in the first grade again… probably a mom workin in the front office!
I was trusted with the entire service and I don’t take the honor lightly. This is new and it is rare. I delivered again the new “road to Redemption’ presentation.. with just one interjection from the pastor toward the end. Usually it’s set up to have a local leader talk between every song. But again with the help of Power Point lyrics this was a very well received support for the Celebrate Recovery program goin on in this church.
When I started the new NehoSoul Project.. I had anticipated a “Club” audience mostly. I figured maybe I’d been kicked out of church and ministry altogether… I never thought I’d be playin “Still Dancin” to a Sunday morning bunch of Nazarenes.. and finding them laughing and dancing at the close of the service.
I’d also like to thank Jay Sweet.. of Sweet Chiropractic in Olympia who donated a much needed neck and back alignment on Saturday. I’m starting to really feel those airplane trips and sleeping sideways sittin up. “ I don’t know what you’ve done to your neck” Sweet said “but this is really not normal”…
“Well Jay”.. “ with me that’s just the tip of the iceberg”…
o.k. so there’s that… Bryan D
P.S. just heard today that the release date for the new “Still Dancin’ project is Sept. 16… cross yer fingers here… and let’s roll.
6/22/08 Front Office…Yosemite…
Not sure I’ve been keeping up on things in the noodles… did I mention the Teen Challenge gig two weeks ago? Or the Ray Ramerez bike run I sang for? Or the trip with Riverside Black Sheep?... just before leaving for Houston I rode Jezebel up to Yosemite National park with eight of my friends who were goin on to Oregon. I returned home alone at the half way point. I covered some 1200 miles in two days.
Nifty Noodles/Out of State, Out of Sight
Nifty Noodles/Final Mixes
Nifty Noodles/Funny People
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6/ 21/08 Houston, TX Mont Bellvue Assemblies of God
I played a full concert on Saturday night. Thunderstorms and lighting preceded the concert and it might have kept folks at home… but the light show the sound of thunder had me outside taking pictures after the sound check was ended by a power outage. I was laughing out loud and callin my girlfriend on the phone just to let her hear the sense-around sound of the thunder. It was incredible. And the lighting was just all over the sky all at once. The local folks thought I was nuts.. but this is God’s handiwork! I’ve never heard thunder so loud or continuous. “this is real worship” I told him.
Pastor Donald Gibson helped me present only the second ‘live’ presentation of “the Road to Redemption” on Sunday morning. It is a new format of live concert that is done as a conversational dialog between us and the audience. I sing about six of the new songs mostly. Using scripture and local commentary I bring a deeper meaning to the songs and why they were written.
Wish I could have video taped this one… it was fantastic. The use of Power Point, putting the lyrics up on the screens really contributes to holding folks attention too.
This gives me the opportunity to “come along side” ministries already in progress and interact in a more meaningful way with the local leadership. The sound system at Mont Belvue was top notch as was the sound engineer.
Haven’t played at a lot of “Assemblies of God” churches in recent years. This is my original church upbringing, and I was comfortable here this weekend.
O.k. So there’s that…. Bryan Duncan
Front Office..Monday 6:16
Finally heard the near finished mixes of the entire Still Dancin project! Oh my oh my… when you get em in the right order It’s a whole new ball of wax. This record starts off with a blistering pace and with the placement of each song it’s like I’ve never heard em before.
The attitude is very up beat and positive… even the acknowledgement of struggle does not slow the record down it just drives all the way to the end!!!
We’ve got some little fixes and minor tweaks but after three and a half years we’re closing in on the finish line… I can see it at least!
Also looked at photo’s and a rough idea of the album cover without the print.. It’s startin to look like a real project!. It is a euphoric stack of pure pride. Like nothing you’ve heard from me… the band absolutely shines on the performances. Eleven songs and over an hours worth of pure excitement!
Running order has been decided! When you read the cover you’ll see em in this order:
Still Dancin
Papa Ain’t Gonna Quit
Things you Bring
I Love You So
Wanna B Lonely
Don’t Leave Me In The Dark
Chains
You Keep Me Coming Back
Only For Good
If Only I
Second Chances
The front photo started with a stoic “professional band” look but after hearing the power of a good time on this project we decided we need a “dancing” pic on the front… well at least smiling… Walter is actually “cuttin' a rug” and we’re all a little less serious.
o.k. consider yerself warned! Bryan D
Anaheim, CA 6/3/08 Christian Comedian Conference
Sometimes all your efforts produce nothing in the way of things to do in the short fall and then God has someone call you out of the clear blue on a rainy day and ask if you could play a few songs for something thirty minutes down the road. This was a blessing and not even in disguise.
Got a call from a friend of mine comedian Chonda Pierce. She wanted me to show up at a “Christian Comedian Conference” for a few numbers. It was a Monday morning.
So this is what comedians do when they’re not on stage!
It was so interesting that I stayed most of the day. Met the writers who worked for Bob Hope in his heyday. They were doing seminars on writing comedy. Ran into an old friend who went on from a Christian Comedy team thirty years ago to writing for the David Letterman show when he came to CBS. I was fascinated by the in’s and outs of writing for t.v. sitcoms, and game shows and so on. It’s similar to what I do… Mine is something of a game show I told him!.
Comedians alone on stage are really funny but when you get a collection of em all sitting while yer singing and making yer own humorous commentary? Well they can be pretty intense. This is not a funny business! There are all kinds of rules to comedy and I sat through several seminar sessions just for the interest in their craft.
Now I use humor to keep the ball rolling in my presentations but when you come in as a “Comedian” the stakes go way up!
But here’s where some depression can leave the room for anyone… “Find something yer interested in”…I’ve told myself this on several occasions but when I returned home from this event.. I could not stop talking about the experience of meeting other writers in other fields!
O.k. so there’s that Bryan D
P.S. Gene Perret told this great story of going to the airport with Bob Hope to pick up Bob’s wife. She was working with the Catholic Church on some fundraisers and got off the private jet followed by several catholic priests. Bob Hope and Gene were standing behind the chain link fence when Bob turns to Gene and says..
Acknowledging his wife’s fear of flying.. “why can’t she get life insurance like the rest of us” 8).