Bryan and Ricky B eat thier first Rattlesnake
Nifty Noodles
Nifty Noodles/ Desert Reality
Nifty Noodles/ Salt in the Pepper
Nifty Noodles/ Three in a row
5/29/05 Lucerne Valley, CA
I can see why Jesus spent time in the desert after this morning’s sunrise. I was in the High Desert. I planned to ride my motorcycle to a gig for the first time ever. But “down the hill” where I live it was drizzly and overcast…. Fog thick is pea soup. One hour and a half away I’m above the clouds and the sun is shining. I agreed to do the whole morning service for the Brother of Debbie Shlenz who past away recently… Crossroads is a little box of a church… clean and comfortable on the inside but barren desert outside.. even the parking lot is simple gravel.
There’s a different breed out here. Rough cut… lots of old timers. The first service opened with “All Hail the Power Of Jesus Name”… and I thought… oh no… they’re not gonna get my stuff. Such was not the case though… even the oldest in the crowd was smiling and sometimes laughing out loud as I shared my personal thoughts. The second service was a younger bunch but the response was identical. There was maybe two hundred people total at both services. It reflects the sparse population of this back country.
I had breakfast at the only restaurant I saw just two miles from the church on the same highway. I spent time walking through a cemetery behind the church… reading capstones… my favorite read: “Gone Fishin”! Ever walk through a cemetery with a little time on your hands. God almost screams at you… make your time count. I feel restless in my waiting and even as I stepped to the platform… I wondered what I had to say. And I remembered …” my purpose is to serve as a monument to God’s grace”… that’s all.
And I offered no deep insights for the morning service. I am not a preacher. I spoke of my life generally and things I had learned recently about giving yourself to others. Mostly though I just sang the songs and let them speak for themselves… it was enough this morning.
And as quick as a desert flower closes I was gone.
O.K. So there’s that. Bryan D
5/23/05 Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa… they call it the “Quad- Cities” but to save me I couldn’t name all four… I thought Des Moines was one of em… but no…
I was the only white performer on the Quad Cities Black Gospel festival ticket. It was held at the Capitol Theatre in Davenport… just a few blocks from the Mississippi River!
This event was all about limos and formal wear… I wore my only suit with an open collar white shirt. They had outrageous lady’s hats among the items for sale in the back. In colors I didn’t know existed.
The bill was mostly choirs with a couple of notable exceptions… a “Mime Ministry”… I guess they weren’t selling CD’s 8)…. Allen and Allen was a funk gospel group that I missed but they were sure dressed to the nines. It was a cool Jazz group that came on in front of me…( who later asked if I would sing on their next project), they brought the house down with an improvisation of Jesus Loves Me.
I was introduced by Bobby Jones… well known Gospel T.V. Host on several networks including the BET . He began my introduction with some comments about the need to “embrace diversity” like he was kinda warning the Black Gospel fans that this wasn’t exactly what they might expect.
I believe I delivered as good as I’ve ever done here. Still the reaction was a measured enthusiasm, after the last song there wasn’t exactly a rousing applause. I was mostly mellow and I felt like I might have gone too long for this event… 40 minutes felt too long.. and after I heard the teenage choir from Chicago called “new direction” that followed me I was soundly “put in my place”… it was a younger funkier version of Kirk Franklin. They had an incredible band with a 15 year old drummer who was almost as good as Sam Mathews from the NehoSoul Band… I wish to God my band could have done this gig with me.
My Record sales set a new low water mark for a single concert this evening but I was competing against some pretty fine ladies wear back there! 8) Folks were absolutely warm as I talked with the exiting patrons after the long night. I Ran into Bobby Jones the next morning at the airport and he had exceptional things to say about my performance. Interesting too because he was somewhat bored with the groups that I really liked. He welcomed me sending him the new NehoSoul Band CD and DVD… who knows maybe we’ll get on the BET!
One of the promoters did talk to me about coming back alone with the NehoSoul Band for our own event….
O.K. So there’s That…. Bryan D.
5/11/05 San Diego, CA
I think this is the first time in over a year that I’ve done three concerts in Three days in Three States. It was quick and easy and the schedule was fairly comfortable.
Except the first little section where I drove to San Diego played a few songs at Maranatha Chapel then drove the hour and a half back to Riverside to leave at 4: am for LAX so that I could be in San Antonio.
Maranatha Chapel is a second home these days. The conversations with people were wonderful before the service. They have their own “Starbucks” coffee shop at the back of the church and that is where I hang out rather than the backstage area. I Had a woman staff member tell me about how her parents had fought all there married lives and how recently her father is dying and her mother had a stroke that erased her long term memory… here’s the fascinating part… her mother remembers her father but doesn’t remember hating him! She began to treat him as she did in their early marriage. After a life time of hardship and mistreatment they are facing the end of their lives in some new realizations. “Would that we could all have our “hateful” memories erased”. I told her.
I met a doctor who came because he heard I was playing here and he liked some things I said about recovery when we were on a t.v. show together in Canada back in March. He lost several hundred pounds and wrote a book about it. He uses the 12 step principles along with his diet plans! Treating himself and his overeating as an unmanageable dependency. I held his seven month old daughter for about 20 minutes as we talked. She felt so good in my arms and so light!
I met another man and his wife and son, who drove all the way from Bakersfield (about 4 hours) simply because I was singing here and he had a few encouraging things to say about recovery generally and the changes in his life where my songs have played a part.
The musicians and singers here are half my age but there is a connection almost a common bond because of our shared love of an art form that has allowed me to connect with respect to a younger group as true friends. I never realized how rewarding it is to validate younger people and respect their talent. All in all I felt connected and loved here to the point that the songs were almost an after thought. Community comes where you find it and I believe that “Community” is better than “Career”.
5/12/05 San Antonio, TX
New Life Christian Ministries has a black senior pastor with a military background in the Air Force. I felt like the President arriving at the airport. I was greeted by three big guys in suits and ties and headphones and was promptly ushered to a waiting Prevost Tour Bus for the ride into town and the concert. This is one of those churches with the flags of the nations all over the sanctuary. There seemed to be a real earnest desire to connect with the surrounding community. They had a replica of the famous “wailing wall” in Jeruselam and a very pro Isreali look to the drive way… with American flags and the Flag of Isreal interspersed. They also had memorial garden to the victims of 9-11 on the property.
Still with my background in “gregarious churches” with an agenda, I was clearly nervous about all the attention. The concert was a complete surprise and the response was overwhelmingly good. The people were sweet and accommodating to a fault. We had a full formal diner in the back room after the concert. I met an incredible singer and songwriter who spoke several languages. Dorthy, I think was her name… I tried to call her after hearing her demo but the number on the CD was a misprint.
I went in with an understanding that I might offend this congregation with my “defects of Character” and was advised to watch my P’s and Q’s. But no one can hang out with me for long with out soon finding my confessional demeanor and an almost intolerance to any pretense. I point blank told the interested pastor the exact nature of my sins. I didn’t know what to ask you about during the interview for my t.v. show” he said… “I wasn’t expecting that kind of honesty”.
The interesting thing here is that I was embraced in a whole new way upon risking total rejection. With the information I gave him… I certainly gave him room to never have me back. Not the best way to do Business I suppose… but I wanna live redefined and free of unrealistic expectations.. it taints my blooming faith in a higher power. In pretense I tend to believe more in my belief about God than to really believe in God himself if that makes any sense to you. I don’t want to conjure up impressions of God for others based on what they expect is all I’m saying… I want God to show up by himself! In this case I think he did… and it clearly didn’t look like me!
5/13/05 Mesa, AZ
There were cigarette lighters everywhere in front of the San Antonio airport as we were leaving. It’s another new reality that you can’t even check them in your luggage with a new law coming down. So they were scattered all over the front waiting area like Easter eggs. I was having a particularly irritable time with security myself as I discovered I had no picture identification with me… I’m waiting for my new Drivers License that says I can officially operate motorcycles and they took the only id that I usually bring. I was my irritated self until I saw a woman get out of her car with her husband and her son. They were carrying a tri folded American flag. No one else seemed to notice but I was moved at the implications.
She had lost a father to combat in service of this country…and I stopped on the other side of security to offer my own sincere condolences to them. It was a redefining moment for the day.
The flight was only an hour to Arizona and we got there about the same time we left Texas what with the time adjustment. Had plenty of time to have lunch with Rich Davis, BD webmaster and friend. I also spent time working on a bridge for a new song with Ricky B. the NehoSoul band Bass Player and currently filling in for David Rowe at the sound board and handling product. We found a bridge for “If Only I” and I had Rich burn some copies of the rehearsal tape we made with the whole Band that I was listening to last week.
I wanted him to hear the lyric starts on two new songs… Tainted, and Livin in the Moment. Ricky will be laying out basic tracks for the "SURPRISE" project when he returns to Nashville.
He’s fun but Ricky is too much like me in the A.D.D. department. I’m not sure he’s gonna make a good “road Manager” he wanders off as much as I do! 8)
The concert was irretrievably short even with a late start. The crowd was very quiet but seemed to appreciate the music. I think it was really a “book crowd” though who was here to hear well known author Henry Cloud talk for two hours on recovery issues. I was done after a ratty start with plenty of snafu’s. I hung for a short time and packed up early and left with Rich and his wife Veronica and headed to Rustler’s Rooste for a rattlesnake dinner. I’ve never eaten rattlesnake before and it was deep fried and looked like scallops with very little taste really but it marks a new experience in my life and one worthwhile. We listened to a country band and took pictures of the live long horn steer out front. I was given a cowboy hat with the Arizona Flag on it!!! This is one time when the “after party” was better than the concert!
Nifty Noodles/ Another Makeover
Nifty Noodles/Joyride
Nifty Noodles/M Day
Nifty Noodles/Susanville-Tahoe
Nifty Noodles/Road Kill
5/11/05 West Coast Office…
James Bowles stopped by today to show me the new makeover of the radiorehab website. I think he was inspired by Rich Davis’s work on the bryand site. Wait till you see what we’re doing at Radiorehab! …James’s son Brandon has contributed significantly and it will include RR tshirts for sale… a guestbook and a way to contact us concerning real recovery issues being faced. We will try to accommodate some dialog with people in recovery. There are pictures now for most of the shows as you listen… (if you’d like to submit anything new we’re open to that too). There is an overall better look to the 42 shows now available to hear and download as well.
It inspires me to go back to recording some new shows… I’ve taken a hiatus from any pontifications in the last 8 months because of my divorce. I’m working on my own issues and recovery is looking quite different these days. I’ve been kind of waiting to see what directions to move in. We still need to set RR up as a non profit foundation… any lawyers out there want to donate some time to this effort? Contact me at my webmaster … Rich@bryand.com
I’ve been up to my ears in business… writing songs and planning for a Red Road Future… new projects, funding? … bills, trying to figure out how everything fits and where it’s all going. I never imagined that my life would be so full in my final third of life… but there has been plenty of new Vision to keep me awake and willing to get up in the morning.
Of course I will never again define myself by what I am doing! But I have made myself available to be pleasing to God in new ways and work at erasing all the negative thought process that ruined so much of my earlier life.
God is replacing my heartbreak and disappointment with many good things and I am reasonably happy. BryanD
5/10/05 West Coast Office of Red Road Records
I spoke with my old record company today and they have informed me that Joyride will be reprinted in two weeks. I will have 500 new copies available in concert and on the website only. But it’s joyful news… I bought 78 last month off a guy who was selling em on line one at a time. I sold em at my shows and they were gone in three concerts!
Phil Curry has begun work as a producer under contract for Red Road Records to produce “THIS CHRISTMAS” with Bryan Duncan and the NehoSoul Band… it is scheduled for release this year.
I have been writing and compiling songs with Ricky B for next years hopeful release on Red Road with the band we’re calling that one “Surprise” . The songs are Recovery and Redemption based funk and soul cuts mostly with plenty of room for the band to drive it home. I don’t mean to sound like a record company executive but I am excited about the future these days and I’m finding my “hallucinations” are turning into “Visions”. How cool is that.
I spend most of my time at RR’s WCO paying bills… they just keep on coming but I’m grateful as none have gone unpaid to date. The only thing I can complain about is peeling and sticking all those postage stamps. I was dreaming that one day I could have OC Choppers build a custom motorcycle to advertise Red Road Records! Now that’s dreamin don’t you think… it would be of course a Candy Apple Red motorcycle with lots of Chrome. The fenders would have white center lines down the middle and the Road To Redemption painted on the tank I think!
O.K. back to reality bryan d
5/8/05 Elk Grove, CA
I’ve played at Discovery church through their meetings in a movie theater and then on to their own little church and now in a school auditorium. They continue to grow. Think I was here for last Mothers day too… their moms must like me. I have a mom too… I sent her a picture of a flower from my new picture phone!!! Happy M day Mom!
I’m sure I was a great accomplishment for you 8). Not much you can do about that now! It’s overcast and wet in Elk Grove but I’m feeling sunny cause I’m working. See Mom, I do have a job. She used to say about my singing… “when are you gonna get a real job” (joking of course).
J.D Parring is the pastor at Discovery… he’s easy to listen to and adds a lot of fun facts.. and some impertinent information like how to clean a toilet with a cat, and top ten reasons to suspect your mom is nuts!... he always has some good insight as well but of course I remember the cheap stuff myself. Really he was talking about validating other peoples strengths and accepting their weaknesses too … so see I heard him! My part went like clockwork and what else can I say… I played Into My Heart, When It Comes To Love, and Love Takes Time… and wrapped up the morning services with Clap Your Hands. I mention it here only to remember for the next time I’m back. When you play as often in the same churches you kinda want to make sure yer not playing the same three songs every time!
O.K. another tank of gas and back on the road again… next week starts on Wednesday… Bryan D
5/7/05 I had a day off between gigs and nothing to do because of a cancellation for Saturday night. I left early Saturday morning and took a “Short Cut” to Sacramento through the Tahoe National Forrest made stops in little mountain towns that used to be hubs for gold mining a hundred years ago. GraEagle, Sierra City… towns with maybe a few hundred populations…had lunch at the Red Moose Café in Sierra City and looked at old pictures of the town a hundred fifty years ago… the same buildings are still here.. the road is just paved now. I don’t really like traveling around unaccompanied but it seems to be a reality once again and I was disconnected by cell phone as well. So I made the best of my time and enjoyed “one moment at a time”…. In fact the song I was listening to yesterday from the jam session tapes with the NehoSoul band became a song with a title today as I drove through my immediate reality… “Live in The Moment”… will be a wonderfully funky reminder that will hopefully make the final cut for the NehoSoul “Surprise” CD.
I spent the rest of the night on the 16th floor of the Sheraton hotel in downtown Sacramento. I ordered room service and watched movies. It was the kind of alone time that doesn’t feel too bad. I think it’s called Solitude. … I still won’t enjoy the life as a monk any time soon. I gotta bring Matilda up here and introduce her to Highway 49! They’d get along great together!
5/6/05 Susanville, CA
I’m north of Reno, Nevada about an hour… and just past Hallelujah JCT off the 395 highway. It’s the back road of California and a great motorcycle trip. But this time I’m in a rental car driving alone. David Rowe has taken some time off and I decided on going these next two dates alone. The scenery was beautiful and I listened to some Jam session recordings of the Nehosoul band. I discovered some ideas that could work really well for the surprise project.
Susanville is one of those tiny little towns with one main street and a few side streets. I played a Celebrate Recovery one year celebration here. “This was a real good turn out for Susanville” said Rick Conrad the head of CR here. It’s dry here too… I mean the air in this case. The gig was painful.. but the set went well and the hall was nice. It was a facility at Mt. Lassen college. I closed a little earlier than I needed … thinking that there were 12 step meetings after my concert but such was not the case.. and people left pretty quick.
I was back at the hotel by 9:30 p.m. so I met a couple guys from the recovery program at the local restaurant for Ice Cream and coffee.
O.K. so there’s that! Bryan D
5/5/05 Ortega Highway…
I took Matilda on the longest ride of my life to date. I took off with James Bowles and a new re-acquaintance from the past, Kenny Metcalf (former Stryper keyboard player). He’s got an awesome Candy Apple Red bike , Honda VTX 1800 with all the bells and whistles and featured in a magazine once… makes Matilda look like a small donkey! We rode the infamous Ortega Highway…. Known for it’s dangerous curves and many accidents. It leaves Lake Elsinor for an immediate ascent into the San Juan Mountains and ends up in San Juan Capistrano (home to the swallows if you know the story).
Nifty Noodles/Songwritting in The Treehouse
Copyright © 2000, 2005 All Rights Reserved, BryanD.com & Bryan Duncan
5/03/05 West Coast Office…
“I love You So” will go down as the first song to be written in the TreeHouse and I’ve started on another tune called “Tainted”…. Sounds like a girl gone bad song but it has some deeper meaning for me. It’s done over a Michael Jackson kind of groove so I’ve had to adjust they way the lyrics read…one assumes what I’m talking about until you read the lyrics alittle closer and you find another message about Sin and the longing for the unattainable! You’ll hear it soon enough… don’t know if we’ll keep in on the new project with the NehoSoul Band but all songs are in the running right now… we’re up to eleven I think.
The working title by the way has been agreed on my Ricky B and myself…”Surprise” sounds like a good description of the project so far.
O.K. so there’s THAT…. Bryan D