Nifty Noodles/ The Great Pumpkin Duncan
Halloween 2001 Gilmore, CA
I was screaming in a park after dark under a pumpkin moon. I could barely make out the faces in the crowd, partially lit by the afterglow of amphitheater stage lights.

They were hiding out there... among the trees just out of sight. A thousand believers, their bodies missing.

Their fear, keeping faith at bay, fear of "trick or treaters" in turbans disguised as Godly men.

The air was crisp and a disturbing cold fell upon my neck, threatening to choke out my cries....but I was laughing. Laughing that hideous laughter that comes from true cynicism, at sin and it's inability to suffocate the love of God.. Laughing in the face of Satan himself and his holy day.

The audience themselves, once dead now returned to life eternal. They stood, a small contingent of ragged survivors, in the dark, shivering with eyes glowing.

You could almost see their hearts pressing against their chests, bursting out of their bodies with joy. The heat of that internal organ steaming in the contact with the cold darkness surrounding it.

The moon was full for the first time in decades on a Halloween. The howling was me!... Screaming for joy. Those chilling vocals echoing through the forest.

I remained unbowed and unafraid... Transformed by the renewing of a brain dead mind. Terror has had it's day and now I have had mine and it has been a thriller!

O.k. So there's that bryan d

P.S. You know about the 9/11 disaster and flight eleven and there are eleven letters in the word Pentagon and on and on... And too There are eleven letters in "Bryan Duncan"! coincidence? I think not.

Nifty Noodles/ We shall all be changed
10/26/01 Sarasota, Fla
Went to a private Christian High School in the morning to play for grades six through twelve. The classic bored look on their faces... They've heard the gospel every day for their whole lives I imagine. Except they haven't heard it the way I tell it. Random scattered thoughts. A mixture of irony and personal failure thrown in with a wry smile and a quirkyness that doesn't lend itself to a motivational speaker.

I played all the "irritating" songs... Mostly the ones from LTIWH. Still they maintained that bored look mostly... It was a half day of school. I was the last thing for the day I think. I'd rather barbeque hot dogs for high school kids than sing for 'em. But this was a good thing. I shared my honest experience growing up in a Christian environment. Sharing the gospel with the young is like spreading anthrax... You don't see the results right away, O.K. That¹s probably not the best example... But chances are you haven't read this far in the noodle to know about it either.

I played a great show at night. A Mennonite church. Packed to the walls. Over 900. Joy F.M. Was clearly the reason. Radio makes a difference. Sound was astounding. My voice was in great shape... Always is in Florida. I think it's the humidity. "Backstage" was a nursery class room. Their was a changing table in the bathroom... You know for the diaper crowd.. Above the table was a sign that quoted a scripture about the end times "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.." Corinthians 15: 41 .

O.K. So there's THAT in a nutshell, bryan d

Nifty noodles/ Midweek Recovery
10/24/01 Wednesday Maranatha chapel
Played a tight little set of tunes at this midweek bible study. Just five songs for some eight hundred people. The last time I played here it earned the "worst Presentation I've ever done" in my own estimation. So this needed to be a recovery of some quality. It was.

Nothin much to say here except that I'm playin as often as I can. I still love singin after all these years. I want to make a difference. I'm not gonna stand cynically on the side lines of Christianity these days.

O.K. So there's THAT bryan d

Nifty Noodles/ Not Bad in Carlsbad
10/21/01 Sunday.. Carlsbad, CA
It's just north of San Diego. I met the pastor, Dan Grider at a Celebrate Recovery conference up the street in Lake Forrest. So I come down here for his two morning services once and a while on my week end off. Folks are really mellow in the morning here. I played a tight little set starting with "if you Pray for me"...and ending with clap your hands. I figured it would give em a chance to work up some energy. I think I might of scared folks with the whole clapping thing. Even my new entry in the set "America The Beautiful" was met with less enthusiasm here. Joyride sold very well outside though so they must have liked the material. I'm trying to stay more focused in my presentations... Ending with an exact thought. Don't know if I did that well... I know I had a thought then and it was good... But I can't recall what it was...something about God I think.

BY THE WAY: I told Dan I'd come down and sing if he could get me on the golf course across the street...La Costa! (famous PGA course you've seen Tiger Woods play on, for those of you uninterested in golf) Instead I was invited to a course called the Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe. Even better! Features three suspension bridges over a huge canyon at least a hundred feet deep. The club house looks like a Spanish fortress surrounded by vineyards and orchards, you get the feel of Tuscany. This was the most beautiful course I've ever played. Ironically the place I played in Bremerton Washington last week was number one until now and Washington State had bumped off a place in Hawaii last year.

God is good... All the time, but especially on days like this.

Oh by the way again... I had this week end off.. saturday I made pancakes at a pancake breakfast at my sons High school, Riverside Poly. I then drove two prom queens in the parade in my little speedster, cooked 70 steaks for the football teams pre game meal routine in the afternoon and helped my wife work the snack bar at the homecoming game... My son Devin is on the team. We beat our arch rivals for the first time in eight years... Aaah the sweetness of victory at last...

Did I say God is good already? I can hardly wait to get back to work... I need the rest.

O.K. So there's that. Bryan d

Nifty Noodles/Guest Shot
10/19/01 Santa Ana, CA
I did a guest appearance at Comedian, Chonda Pierce's event on Thursday. She does a big time presentation with sound and lights. I did a crisp twenty minutes that ended with "America the Beautiful" complete with video of the "for spacious skies", and "fruited plain"... Oh and the "purple mountains" too. It looked like I was a regular part of her show. Man the response that ending gets is so big... I may never do my own songs again.

The audience is mostly women at her event... Something to do with "girls night out"... Chonda seems to be an all around business woman... Her plan of attack is thorough. She has written books and recorded music and comedy, and she wraps up her evening with a very sincere and spiritual finale. I played "if you pray for me" as a close to her sermonette. The primary part of her show is a solid two hours of comedy. She covers family dysfunction, parenting, growing up in church, marriage from the wife's point of view, and of course a little "male bashing" (which got the most laughs by the way)

One story about explorers Lewis and Clark, as typical men who take credit for discovering new worlds when it was all because they wouldn't stop and ask for directions was particularly funny.

There were some 1200 people at this gig. I made a good impression here and got to feel like a comedian myself as the lone defender of the male side of the human race... I was complaining about the in ear monitors which I'm not comfortable with.." it could be that its because I've got the show on in this ear and the Yankee game on in this one" I laughed. Great gig! Worth the time and effort.

O.K. So there's THAT bryan d

Nifty Noodles/Live at Roxy
10/13/01 Bremerton, WA
Bremerton is a little town across the Puget Sound from Seattle. "It's a pastor's Grave Yard" was one comment I heard here. "People come up here to get away from everything". Church isn't high on the list of stuff to do. Folks here are way laid back, I guess it makes it hard on ministers when it comes to the participation of the flock.

Anyway the Roxy (where I played) is an old theater "just five minutes from the ferry". It's been taken over by Calvary Chapel of Bremerton. Rick Beaudry is the pastor here. He's determined to bring Christian music into this area as a way of reaching out to a community of the slow to participate.

They run a great coffee house in the lobby too. The Latte's rival Starbucks. The sound is great... They have invested in quality sound equipment. This is one of my favorite gigs of the new millennium. It seats about 800 in a cozy little environment. I made a point to stay alittle longer this week to "sail the sound" and play alittle golf. All of that worked out great. Yea well, I'm a poor sailor at best but I like it.

The ferry boat carried us to and from the airport, it was wonderfully relaxing. I can see why you could lose people up here... I could disappear myself if I stayed too long. Sailing these waters is great and the scenery rivals the fjords of Norway.

As for the gig, there was some confusion on the date and a conflict in my schedule that forced us to move the date back a week. It wasn't as full as when I played here in April. I was in a strange state of mind during the show, not knowing how to present the music. I wanted it to be special and fresh in light of all we've seen in recent weeks in America. Instead it was just and odd collection of songs without a particular sense of theme. One man referred to the night as "more 'tepid' than my last show here"... I'm still in the dark about his meaning.

I watched a live video of the gig a day later and the crowd reception was better than I had remembered. I also saw how horribly overweight I have gotten. I was funny though... I found myself laughing at stuff I said... It sounds completely different from what I hear and feel on stage.

O.k. So the show was great, the week end was great, it made the travel back home through the security circus bearable. Those of you who think I complain too much about my gigs... Read this one twice.

O.K. So there's THAT! bryan d

Nifty noodles/ Ground Zero
10/11/01 New York City
Exactly one month after the trade center attack I had the solemn privilege of visiting the scene of the tragedy. I was invited, last minute, to sing a song during one of many memorial services in the area. This one was in Brooklyn at Christian Cultural Center. It is largely a Black congregation of reverent Pentecostals. 5000 plus at this service and televised by satellite to a large number of other churches around the country.

The service was charged with a spiritual focus I haven't seen or felt in many years. Part of the opening was a call to prayer by four different pastors praying in four different languages. The first of which was Korean. The man began to pray and I have no idea what he was saying but there was a "presence of God" that was instantly recognizable. It was chilling, In a wonderfully warm kind of way. He was followed by pastors from surrounding churches speaking in Chinese, Spanish, and English.

Honored were several New York City fire fighters and Police. There was a testimony from a woman, 8 moths pregnant, who had lost her husband in the collapse of the Trade Towers. Also were testimonies from Christian ball players with the New York Yankees and statements from CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald (the company who lost 700 employees). Also an invitation to receive Christ from Franklin Graham who spoke via satellite from California. The local Church choir sang with a full band and orchestra. They were outstanding.

I was inspired to say the least, I had a tough time singing though because of monitor feedback and the constriction in my throat. I almost didn't hit the high notes on "you don't leave me lonely". All that didn't matter to me in the long run. I was there to stand with other Christians and Americans to show my support for those who lost loved ones. I was honored. I hugged choir members at the end and gave CD's away to people grieving.

After the service we took the limo to Manhattan and walked in about ten blocks to ground Zero. I stood, gaping at the mass of twisted metal breathing in the smell of burning rubber. It was quiet and there were still hundreds of people standing and staring at the damage even now at midnight. national guard troops and police stood quietly facing the "tourists" We ran into campus crusade workers from Louisiana State University that recognized me from the service they saw at another church via satellite.

We were kept back about one block from the actual cleanup but we walked for blocks down Broadway seeing the damage at the end of every street. It doesn't look real. It's lit up like a baseball stadium at night and there was a line of heavy trucks waiting to be loaded with debris... Imagine, they've been hauling stuff out round the clock for a month already.

It was an evening that I shall carry with me through out my life.

O.K. So there's that! bryan d

Nifty Noodles/The Other Border Town
October 6&7, 2001 Chula Vista, CA
This feels like one of the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys.. Got up at four a.m. to get in line for the flight out of Canada... Tonight I play in Chula Vista, Ca. Right on the Mexican border. Got bumped off the first flight to L.A. But still made it in time to drive from LAX to the border of Mexico... Arrived just five minutes before the church service started. I am to play at Saturday evening service, followed by two morning services tomorrow and a final concert tomorrow evening. It's a new church with new congregation. Many members here are in the military stationed in San Diego. A lot of folks have family that have left for the new war.

The pastor is a Harley Davidson enthusiast, he has two. ( I think I should have at least one) He is quiet but deliberate and he has my trademark enthusiasm for sarcasm. I laughed when he was telling the story of the children of Israel marching around Jericho. "I can imagine what the regular followers were sayin to each other about doing battle by marching seven times around the city... 'oh yea, this works every time'" said with the kind of attitude I would have had I'm sure. "don't mistake your participation for God's power" he added... That really hit me.

At the final concert I took a chance and played my version of "America the Beautiful" that I haven't quite learned to sing AND play. I tried it while they were taking up an offering. People rose to their feet as soon as they recognized the song and I had them join me in the chorus once. It was incredible. I have not witnessed that feeling from stage before. Unity, undivided faith, absent of cynicism, tears from many. All of my songs felt completely rewritten lyrically in light of the recent events...Love takes time and after this day is gone, If you pray, and I love you with my life... I ended with I surrender all. It was a very focused concert not without humor but with a noticeably different resolve.

I left feeling very fulfilled... And exhausted.

O.k. So theres that bryan d

Nifty Noodles/ On top of America
10/06/01 Saturday Abbottsford, British Columbia, Canada
Fifteen hours to get to the first gig this weekend. Missed the first flight cause I forgot my Passport. Vancouver, B.C. Doesn't feel like another country to me. Spent three hours clearing customs, trying to get across the border. Played at Abbottsford Pentecostal Church. It's an hour and a half outside of Vancouver. Seats 1200 and 400 hundred show up for this 75th anniversary kick off celebration of the church.
,br> Folks were nice, but mellow. Lot of international backgrounds in this crowd. People from Kenya, Pakistan, India, France. I wanted to sing "America The Beautiful", the Ray Charles version... Although I spoke a lot about the Trade Tower disaster in New York, I didn't feel like the song was the thing to do here. I did old songs toward the end cause that's what folks wanted to hear, but I wasn't enjoying the evening except for what personal conversation I had with individuals.

The sound was poor and I couldn't hear my own voice. Long way to go for one show. Didn't have time to even pick up some souvenirs from Canada.

O.k. So there's That! bryan d

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