Nifty Noodles/ Del Mar and Platinum

5/29/04
Saturday.. 20 miles north of San Diego is the Del Mar Racetrack and fairground. Now it’s home to a new Spirit West Coast festival. I was invited to sing a few songs on the main stage Saturday afternoon between bands and set up. I had already picked up my guitarist Walter Finch who flew in from Seattle to do the gig tomorrow so I asked him to join me on stage for this little diddie…sound check was atrocious and the guy running my tracks at the board was clueless. Even after being introduced no sound was up so I was kinda standing there waiting for the track to start… never did so I launched into “I love you with my life” on keyboard in front of Ohh lets say maybe 8000 people at 5 :30 P.M. . I was half way through the first verse when the sound man decided to bring in the track on “Everything In the Garden”.

“Apparently, we’re still doing a sound check” I told the crowd holding back my frustration. Finally everything was dialed in… and I decided to finish the song I started. Walter played along with me and it just became a magnificent moment. Simple, direct and powerful…and the crowd, I think was down right surprised that two people could deliver that much without any fanfare whatsoever… they responded with enthusiasm.

I was asked to do three songs by the concert promoter but then the stage manager said to do 10 minutes …

So I finished a second song, Clap Your Hands, and said C ya tomorrow at 1:00 .. I was headed off the stage to get out of the way for the next group. When I was called back for a third song by the promoter Jon Roberson, upon finishing “everything in the garden” I was presented with a Platinum Album to signify the accumulative sales of my solo projects…passing the one million mark… 14 albums over 18 years…. I was completely caught unaware and as I called some of my friends it appears I’m the only one who didn’t know about this.

“It’ s kind of a life time achievement award”… some one said to me… “I hope that doesn’t mean I’m dying soon” I joked…

I’m just getting to a place now where this meant just enough to me to want to truly thank all my friends for being there with me… some for that entire time… like my manager and booking agents: Ray, Holly and Pam… I was instantly aware of how much I just wanted to share the moment with the people I’ve known for so long…. Jon Roberson promoter of Celebration Concerts.. was truly inspiring too in the things he said… and I realized we’re all aware of our time limits in life. And you start looking around to appreciate those who have walked this road with you all this time… In my case … I’ve known a few people well and taken them mostly for granted! … and they are still here and still my friends… The pleasure is all mine… I was warmed to be loved and honored like that. But better yet I’ve found the real value of accomplishment… shared memories with friends!

Like one friend said afterward…” wow I can remember when your hair was platinum and your records were just vinyl.”

Next day my whole band joined me out back on the secondary stage to do a full set…It was already a satisfied me that hit the stage… nothing really to prove… just playing songs for the joy of doing it… no impression needed to be made somehow.

I am grateful for the acknowledgement… thanks to you at Club 440 as well for pitching in on this little memento of a long time coming….

OK so there’s that… Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Colton CR


5/27/04 Colton CA….sang in another labor of love at a local Celebrate Recovery Program…. They’re springing up everywhere.

I brought some friends with me to lead worship and I sang the worship songs with em. Just a casio keyboard like you’d get at Walmart

And a synth drum kit but it sounded remarkably good in this little basement meeting.

The time went very fast. I think I talked more than ever before. I’m finding insights to share and my report is optimistic these days too!

I’ve been in a good place in the last six months and I attribute that to my recovery program. Folks were very interested in the radio show as I shared from one of the recent shows about the difference between Peace and Relief…..Peace can be in the middle of my unrelieved circumstances.

I can’t explain what the feeling is at a recovery program… there’s a gratitude and an understanding that I just love.

Tomorrow I rehearse with a full band for the Spirit West Coast festival in San Diego. So the rest of the week gets busier.

OKsotheresthat…. Bryan d

Nifty Noodles/ Songs

5/27/04 At Home
I’ve been on fire the last few days… writing songs with Bob Carlisle over the internet and phone…. It marks a new twist in my writing too… as these songs are not remotely designed to be CCM tunes… I decided to write what comes to mind. Finished verses and chorus for two new songs this week. One called “Nothing is Forever” a heart break tune that opens with…”just fell in the wishin well seeking pennies for your thoughts” the story of someone finding out their lover is not on the same page about the future.

Finished most of the lyrics for another tune… a Romantic escape, kind of “Roy Orbison meets the Eagles” approach to songwriting…song called “Easy Kind of Love”…

I have two more “half written” tunes started on guitar. they’re “coffee house” Diddies…. One called “Already in Heaven with You” And “ I probably love you … Delilah”

You can see I’m not pushing intense and desperate lyrics these days I’m relaxed and enjoying what ever comes to mind to write.

thought you might like to see some of my recent work… from Easy Kind of Love:

Sun is waving a sweet good bye…over Paradise in Palms…
Ocean waves are kissing softly…the shorelines open arms…
Where the world is perfect still …. Tonight I’ll find an easy kind of Love

Evening breeze in sweet caresses….. fingers through my hair…
Harbor lights and evening dresses…. floating on the air….
And the world is simpler here….Tonight I’ll find an easy kind of Love

I’m alive in the twilight sky… where candles glow and the moon’s not high
I can reach for the stars in sight… and love will touch my heart tonight

Sun is waving a sweet good bye…over Paradise in Palms…
Ocean waves are kissing softly…the shorelines open arms…
Where the world is perfect still ….Tonight I’ll find an easy kind of Love

Don’t know where you might eventually hear these tunes. I’m just writing and singin to myself right now….

Can’t remember ever having 4 songs started in three days….

OKsoTHere’sTHat…… Bryan d

Nifty Noodles/ New Mix

5/23/04 Sunday
I just heard the mixes for the latest two shows of Radio Rehab… #37 and #38 … Peace Regardless and Forwarding Forgiveness…. Man the songs put me in an instantly good mood. I’m jonesin to do an all black gospel funk record… talked to Bob Carlisle again about doing such just for the shear fun of it….

You can’t stay in a bad place and sing this stuff! I played the Williams Bros, Dorinda Clark- Cole… to kick off these shows and It just sounds too cool.

O.K. so there’s that…. Check out the shows later this week on WWW.RadioRehab.com let me know what you think. Bryan d

Nifty Noodles/ Opening for a Psychiatrist

5/21/04 Calvary Church, Santa Ana, CA
The highlight of this show was doing the commercial…. Got a lot of comments as it was aired on four Christian radio stations. “so Friday May the 21st … I’ll be opening for a psychiatrist… and no I’m not trying to pay off my debt”.

I tried something new in the way of concerts. I played 40 minutes in front of Dr. Paul Meier, founder of the Meier clinics and author of many books. He’s a medical doc and a shrink and he’s attention deficit…. I liked him right away. His daughter, Dr Cheryl Meier…. wrote a book with him on the “art of loving and being loved”…. Yep, I got a free autographed book and I listened to the seminar…as you can imagine…. I’ve got the art of loving and being loved down to a science!

Well if it’s an “ART” then maybe it’s more of a craft to me, The kind I did in Vacation Bible School when I was six years old…

You know that project with a tin can and some “plaster paris”… and a fork and some matchsticks! I played songs about love…

Blue Skies (to know how you love me).. When it Comes To Love, Love Takes Time, Maybe I’m Amazed at the way you love me all the time…..Never Lied To You, No Words… (everything about love I understand), I Love You With My Life.

Hey this is fun… I met a guy who said “I’m in the Title business”… “ me too” I said…”mostly song titles!” to say the least I was myself here. And it was great to get an open minded take on mental illness from a Christian perspective. There are Believers in Christ who don’t have their heads buried in the sand when realities don’t seem to fit into the obvious scriptural pretext of a fundamentalist point of view….like “suicide means you don’t go to heaven”….

There are many unexplained ticks in people they have to hide to belong to some churches….

I saw a great bumper sticker this morning…. “I see stupid people” . I laughed so hard I spilled my morning latte.

I’m in a good mood… I sang for something I want to support for real… not pretending everything is just fine… looking at the hard stuff is bringing me freedom…. Maybe the Truth does set you free!

O.K. so there THAT! Bryan D.

P.s Devin Duncan, My youngest son won athlete of the year this week at his high school. And I will be watching him compete today in the CIF pole vaulting State Finals. He’s broken the pole vaulting records every year at Riverside Poly H.S.

He graduates next month… headed for Cal State Fullerton in the fall. And I’m the proud dad!

Nifty Noodles/ 3 Doors Down

5/16/04
First Baptist of Maryville, Ill is maybe ten minutes down the road from the private event I did Friday…
Midwestern Baptists have a place of their own… I’m not sure I was a good fit for the Sunday morning services…
Enthusiasm afterward was nil. Lot of traditional folks here.
I was expecting a poor turnout for the concert in the evening… but such was not the case. David did miracles rearranging the power structure of the expensive P.A. they had… he managed to by pass all the “restrictions” with the sound and the concert felt wonderful!

I’ve never felt more in tune with my own passion and conviction. The response was remarkably different in the evening. I opened with some oldies… Joy is a singable thing.. and ran straight thru One Touch Away and Turnin.

It’s a good way to start when I’m emotionally detached from my own gig…. By three songs in I was ready to reach out and say hi…
On another note… I had the day off on Saturday… so I went to a movie… interesting that I went to see “Troy” while I was in Troy, Ill…. Just one of those little weird things that I would notice. I thought it was another t shirt thing like I saw with the Passion when I saw high school kids with Troy Trojans football shirts on at the movie.

It was a good weekend… a good time was had by all.. o.K. their might have been a few people who were not capable of a good time… but I’m not responsible for that. 8)

O.K. so there’s that…… Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Edville

5/14/04 Edwardsville, IL.
….they call it Metro Church even though it appears out of no where surrounded mostly by cornfields. “If you build it they will come” …. Comes to mind. Met some real people here…. Doing real things I think. I was a last minute addition to a private celebration of gratitude to all the volunteers that pitch in…. more churches should do this.

I came on after the church staff presented a little skit of foolishness and entertainment… I made comments about the lunatics running the asylum which brought much laughter… it’s a good body of believers who can laugh at themselves.

I performed an hour including a rare song or two…. “looks a lot like me”… was what I had hoped would be a big hit…. “who decides if you’re gonna have and good time…. Who gets the job when no body wants it…. Who’s goin first if it look alittle dangerous…. Who gets the credit if it doesn’t get done… it looks a lot like me”….. a sarcastic look at volunteering… great little tune if I do say so… but it was kinda lost on most folks.

They did of course warm up to me eventually… and I played part of “I only wanna do what’s right” as it was a request screamed out from the audience. I felt honored and presented a professional but relaxed concert. I enjoyed every song like I’d never played it before.

E- ville… as I came to know the town today was where I spent an entire Saturday off as I’m playing about three doors down tomorrow at another church. This is the way to tour… “block by Block”…. Cuts down on the road weariness!

O.K.

Nifty Noodles/ Just Playin and Singin'

5/07/04 Riverside, CA
I was off this weekend… went to Celebrate Recovery here locally… played a happy song that I’ve written on guitar. Matthew Burgess, the percussionist who played with me a couple weeks ago in Nashville was passing through town on the way to L.A. and stopped by for a break from the road. We sat on my front porch with my youngest son and a friend of his and strummed guitars for an hour. Matt laid down some grooves and we dinked around like a bunch of amateurs.

Matt went to the recovery meeting with me and sat in with the band. I was thrilled about the gesture… as he has played with some of the best (Spin Doctors, 3 Doors Down, and Heart, just to name a few) . I performed “lovin You” at the meeting with Matt laying down the groove. First time I’ve performed with a guitar since my first year of college.

“Lovin You” has the feel of a song you might remember “What A Day For A Day Dream”… it’s not really a spiritual song… no deep insights but I sing about “retracing my steps to find my heart again” the bridge goes “out where the ocean meets the pink blue sky… thats where I’m gonna live until I die…. Cause I’m lovin you”….

I’ve been unreasonably happy last couple of months… living one day at a time.. saw a movie about golfer Bobby Jones founder of Augusta National who played strictly for the love of the game… that’s what the word “amateur” means he says in the movie…something to remember I think… I’ve gotten distracted in the past and forgotten what it is that I love…for me it would be singin and playin… “whatever your hand finds to do … do it with all your might”… the Bible.

Hey here’s a scripture I can use!

o.k. so there’s that …… Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ More Minni Soda

5/1/04 I drove 4 hours to the south to play in the smallest town I’ve ever played in… can’t even remember the official name… I kept calling it “Pixley”… cause that was the whistle stop between “Petticoat Junction” and “Hooterville”… you don’t remember that T.V. show do ya? Anyway you could stand in the center of town and see the outskirts clear as day here….I bought the “Biggest” burger the A&W Rootbeer stand had to offer for just $2. and change! Everyone there knew we were the “visitors”… I sang Happy Birthday to Heather one of the workers cause they couldn’t make the Big Concert!

” we’re sorry we didn’t have more folks out for this event” someone said to me afterwards… “but there was that dance recital for all the little girls goin on”….

Wow… it looked like the whole town was there to me…

The Drive back to Minneapolis was a necessary evil as the concert was over by 4 in the afternoon… and you don’t wanna be stuck here after the A& W closes! Cause there’s nothing else here unless you wanna take the tractor for a spin…8)

The gig was a fund raiser for the mentally challenged that Hope Haven is involved with… (of course I think all of us are mentally challenged at some point.)

5/02/04 spent the day relaxing at the Hilton in Minneapolis. the Hilton is better than Home! (I met Billy D. Williams in the elevator).

We did one final how do you do for Teen Challenge that night and it was hugs and kisses even though the room was “acoustically challenged” . I love people in recovery… and they loved me! I got to play a full hour and a half this night… I always walk away grateful from that….

O.K. So there’s THAT! Bryan D

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