Nifty Noodles/ Circuit Rider
Southern California 9/28/08
I had three gigs this weekend… Rolling Hills, Ca for a Celebrate Recovery, Costa Mesa at The Crossing’s 20 year anniversary, and the tiniest church in Bakersfield.. Joy Community. I rode my motorcycle to everything, logging over a thousand miles in the weekend. To say the least riding home Sunday night was really pushing it. Exhausted and coming back in the pitch black of the desert. I got rained on twice. It got colder than I expected. Truly winter riding time has come.

And I was still euphoric! Not just for the way in which I get to travel to concerts. This weekend, again, I am seeing real people! People who have been in ministry forever! And I’m seeing the things they have faced, the demons in their own lives and here they are “Still Dancin”.

In Rolling Hills I had a lot of people come up and talk to me about how they’d seen me at Knotts Berry Farm 20 years ago. All seemed to be sharing a common thread in all they’ve been through since then. And in all the hardships, “here we are still”, following Christ like there is no better place to go in all of life! And maybe in the hardships it is even more realized, what God is there for.. in the walking through it all.

At the Crossing there was a late afternoon service that was absolutely packed to the rafters. They were giving their teary eyed pastor the gift of a Harley Davidson! But then I discovered all that he has been through and why it was significant. Among other things he has lost over a hundred pounds and he’d been saving for a bike but then decided to put the money into the churches building fund. And I got a real sense how he was leading this flock by pure example of sacrifice to the honor of God. Again there were these euphoric tears around the hall. I sang outside after the service in a little street fair setting. The sound was so good that I played for an hour and a half with no talking.

There were still several hundred hanging around by the end of my set. And again, it was people who remember the early days with me and the Sweet Comfort Band. All weekend I was signing autographs and takin pictures. (haven’t done that in many years). The comments still revolving around how certain songs “got me through some hard things”.

And then came Sunday night with Randy Brewer at Joy Community. I rolled up with some local Black Sheep friends and parked on the patio next to the main entrance of a church that was smaller than a few bars I’ve been in. Very old and very clean and a sound system that would peel the paint off the walls. The place barely fit 60 people. But it might as well have been BB Kings. They let me play the songs at near jet noise volume and I was in heaven again… so were the 60 people who were there. Dancin and singing and bringin the cows home.

In the front on the aisle sat Randy Brewer and his wife. Randy is in a wheel chair after a stroke a year ago and a bad fall in recent months that broke his hip. And he laughed and cried through the whole concert. But especially at the last song.. “I’m still Dancin”. My comments throughout about recovery had a completely different meaning to him. “I really needed this” he said after everyone had left. “the medications I’m on make me feel claustrophobic” he added as we were taking a few pictures before I got on the bike. “I’m still dancin.. in my head I’m still young… I’m still moving in my mind”…he finished.

Riding home in the dark I could feel a completely different reason for singing the new songs. It was almost a “commission from God”…. Like he was saying to me… “I need you to validate all these people who’ve stood for me for years with very little acknowledgement”. It is like this whole agenda that I never saw coming when I wrote these songs with the band. Thinking I would be playin in clubs in my final years cause I’ve been kicked out of so many churches. But here I am… doin what I love… singing and loving every minute getting to the gigs and still playin in churches. I don’t see churches the way I used to either. They really are ‘hospitals for the broken’ . and God seems to have given me a little white coat and some medication to pass around in these halls.

O.k. so there’s that…. Bryan Duncan

Nifty Noodles/ Still Dancin' Testimony
Front Office… 9/23/08
Last week I got a call from a local Pentecostal preacher. He got my number from a mutual biker friend with Black Sheep. “I know this is a long shot…but I was wonderin if you could stop by my church this Sunday and sing for my wife’s birthday party”. Now the chances of someone getting me to drop in with a two day notice is astronomically small.

But as he explained the circumstances with his wife’s recovery from near death and how doctors said she’d never walk or sing again, and the slow miracle road back, I thought I’d at least look at the calendar. “where is your church?” I asked a little dazed at the request to begin with… “El Monte” he repeated. I looked at my schedule… I’m singing this Sunday at a service in Downey, Ca. and with a quick look at the map… found they were just twenty minutes down the freeway.

So last Sunday afternoon round 1P.M. I rolled up on Jezebel to their church. I met Glory and Larry and most of their family as well as the members of their church. I sang a few old songs and ended with a song from my new project that I handed Glory as a birthday present. “this must be a God thing” I told her… speaking of the chances I’d be in the same neighborhood when they called. “I’m still Dancin” I told her as I handed her the new project. She’s been a long time fan but wasn’t aware of my last ten years or where I’ve been.

I left in a rather uneventful fashion except that it was a pleasant visit with a few songs thrown in. But then two days later Glory called me on the phone. Beginning with a thank you for being so kind as to stop by, she then began to weep! “You don’t know what you did for us” she sobbed. And I was again a little dazed at the conversation, as my head was in my publishing paperwork and peeking at total irritation when I answered the phone. I had to change gears upon hearing her in tears.

“my husband and I have been in Ministry for 50 years” she announced “and we had decided that we were through with the ministry the day you came.” “I had cleaned out my desk and we were to have a final meeting to transfer everything over to a new pastor”. “the meeting didn’t go very well…. And this morning I woke at five a.m.” she continued… “with your words in my head...” “this is a God Thing… I’m still dancin” … And I woke my husband up and told him “I still have some dancing left in me”! “So we have decided to stay for a while longer in ministry and what you said to us personally and through your new music had a profound hand in that”.

I think this is so often the way God moves around us all… speaking through us when we are least aware of it. Ministry is barely what we “Do”. it seems its more a matter of being available and being normal in our routines. Here in the middle of my own struggle to find the next effort to direct. I discover that God was in the “oh, by the way”. I’ve been on a roller coaster of emotional highs in the last two weeks. Crying and laughing out loud and nearly at the same time. I don’t know what that is. But I’ve received calls like this one on several occasions this month from unlikely sources. All the while I’ve been sitting in front of a computer hammering away at some kind of official attempt at a new career.

Looking back at how I started writing songs for the project now out. I recall that I assumed too, that I was finished with “ministry”. My songs were aimed at a club environment until nearly the end of the work. I have recorded a most unlikely vehicle to return to the Christian world. And still here I am singing “Still Dancin” on Sunday mornings… in churches… Pentecostal to Nazarene! And after reading the latest New York Times Best Seller “The Shack” … I’m haunted by God’s words to Mackenzie… “I am not who you think I am”… and “I’m rather fond of uncertainty”.

I’ll leave you with a quote of my own here … “just when you get a clue and think that you’re no fool… life has a funny way of takin you to school”. A line from “If you wanna be lonely”… and Pastor Larry’s favorite new song.

O.k. so there’s that…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ New Horizons
Front office… 9/23/08
I feel like I’ve been stumbling around for the last five years. Struggling to see where the last half of my road leads. I can’t believe how long one can spend stupefied as to what steps to take and in what direction. But in the last year I’ve seen how the ball is rolling. With the hardship of a familiar road disintegrating quickly, I’m seeing a new horizon!

It’s not just the concept of “Still Dancin” as a recorded statement of survival. It’s the discovery of writing in different directions and taking over what has been done for me for years in publishing and copyrighting. With the dawn of a new music business and the way music is presented, I am finding a place for new songs. For producing and building a catalog of new music as the need for a full album budget disappears and the expense of a full studio diminishes.

I lived in fear of the end of an era that I felt trapped in. “the way business is done”. I am truly finding my days full of a wonderful uncertainty where hope is reborn. With the addition of Snowcap.com I am seeing how every song can be written and offered to the public within months. Less the expense and packaging! It’s like a breath of fresh air. It’s like someone pulled down all the fences on the pastureland.

In the time it has taken to manufacture Still Dancin’ .. I’ve written five songs… they wouldn’t fit a particular themed record but I can copyright and register and record music and have it directly available to anyone who might hear me sing it somewhere. And suddenly I think of songs written and never recorded officially like “never lied to you”… and “No Words” that I could recreate! Or “Probably love you Delilah”… “Lovin You”… and “already in Heaven” that I have written on guitar that didn’t fit my “career”.

The time “on line” breeds a new hostility but there is a resurrection of hope and possibilities. In the last few weeks, I’ve written a funeral song called “good bye my friend”, A song for a comedian’s DVD called “this ain’t prettyville”, a father and son song called “Every Father is a Son”… and “I Lost A Wife”….suddenly I can just sit down and write something in the immediacy of the moment.. there’s no bigger agenda to address! ie: does this fit the marketplace we’re in? what are the scriptural implications? Will people resonate with this? Is the style current with the times?

What I couldn’t see for years is how many ways I stopped doin what I love because of all the road blocks I thought were there. I’m writing articles and songs, and looking at book concepts… I’m seeing new ways to approach live presentations… riding motorcycles to most of my gigs and presenting a conversational talk show with music in concert… and of course doin things with a whole band!.... and just seeing some doors open for NehoSoul to bring something new… and would none of it be fulfilled the dreaming is bringing me back from the dead.

O.k. so there’s that… Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.............
9/21/08 Southern California. Downey/ El Monte
I added two more events on Sunday where I have ridden my motorcycle to the concert this year. That makes some twenty events now and it is becoming a way of life. I feel like the old Methodist circuit riders from the eighteen hundreds. It makes getting there a part of the experience.

I have expected it to be a little off putting to churches but I have found the exact opposite reaction. I was joined this morning by just two other bikers from Black Sheep.

Abundant Joy fellowship occupies a building that isn’t quite as old as the average parishioner here. Lot of little old ladies, and I felt a tiny bit out of place as the service started. Wondering why I was invited. The church building reminiscent of all the churches I attended as a child with the formal lobby / pews facing the standard platform with alter rails and stained glass. Built in 1948, nothing had really been changed since then.

I was transported in time when they started singing “Blessed Assurance”. And I realized I was gonna have to change my approach to music and message. I can see how even in my attempt to be “relevant” in a modern age, anything I add in the way of being “new” can itself become a deterrent to the real Message of redemption and salvation. The words may be different but the story is truly the same. God spoke to me on the back pew as I waited through the “Song service”. And God said to me “Your independence and personal take on salvation is not the most important thing when it comes to really seeing people in front of you.”

I opened a four song set with more of a testimony about who I am and where I’ve been. I knew my music would make little sense to this congregation. “I was raised in a church just like this… my dad was the preacher”… I started. And I continued about how I felt about God when I was young and where I ended up going from there. Suddenly the songs were redeemed! “I love you with my life”, “If you pray for me” “ no words” “second chances”. It might have been a longer version of Amazing Grace.

“the things we’re best at in the long run are the things we’ve made the most mistakes doing” I said in the introduction to “Second Chances” and there were heads nodding in memory of failures and disappointments. But coming to the faces of this little congregation was a slight smile at the thought of how we arrive through that process. “Suddenly the painful memories are a little sweeter because I see from where I’ve come”! I said…. And I felt that God had preached a sermon to me this very day in an unlikely setting for me to hear anything. And I thought “I become all things to all men that I might win a few”.. from Paul the Apostle…. (the apostle’s…. isn’t that a biker club?) 8).

Anyway I’ve seen how even now in my new “Biker” world there are times where I have to shed all my little ‘uniforms’ and see myself as God sees me. No trappings whatsoever and that nakedness doesn’t wear well with me. But then again it does. I could feel a comfort-ability in my own skin this morning.

From there I rode to a little after church BBQ at “New Life” in El Monte. The pastor’s wife, Glory, has been a fan of my music for some twenty years and they were celebrating her birthday. She’s gone through some real health problems nearly dieing a year ago. And when I got a personal call from her husband (who got my number from some bikers he rides with) I found it a little more than coincidence that I was just 20 miles down the road singing. So I made a point to ride over for a couple of hours to say thanks for your ministry and support of mine.

I played “I love you with my life” again as that is the only “old” song of mine I can remember. And then I played em some new songs from Still Dancin’ cause they hadn’t kept track of me in recent years. Mostly up tempo danceable numbers and Glory stood behind a walker and cried on several occasions through the music.

I was riding for home by 3:30 with this great feeling of being able to sing and be home on the same day. It’s nearly euphoric for me. What a sweet weekend this turned out to be.

O.k. so there’s that…. Bryan d.

Nifty Noodles/Unity Ride
9/20/08 Temecula, CA
I participated in the Unity Ride this weekend. It was a coming together of all Christian Motorcycle clubs and outreaches. You can’t imagine how many there are if yer not a biker. I personally saw at least twelve of the 121 plus clubs represented in “Wheels of Grace” magazine.

I saw Bikers for Christ, Black Sheep, Soldiers For Jesus, Chariots of Light, CMA, Saints, Frontline Warriors, Faith Riders, Highlanders. There were at least 400 riders participating in the ride from San Juan Capistranoto inland Temecula. The ride finished up at Quaid Harley Davidson dealership. The parking lot was jammed with bikers, bbq and the tent city of those selling specifics or representing one ministry or another.

I was singing eventually. As well as Darrell Mansfield and a guy named Hot Rod who would put a helmet on and stand on his head while doing a guitar solo!. To say the least my “track” accompaniment was a poor follow up to that. Old school Rock and Blues really took the day. Soul Music comes in a cool third in the race for biker world attention… or maybe even fourth behind Blue Grass. At least that was the case today. Darrell was on his game and the response was outrageous for his kinda rockin blues. He also had real musicians backing him up.

I’m not sure I will ever do another outdoor biker event without a serious commitment from a real p.a. company. Outdoors the tracks just disappeared this afternoon. I came on after a “testimony” that lasted almost an hour and a half! I think he pretty much killed off the enthusiasm of even the Christians there.

I was dehydrated by the time I stepped up.. found myself nearly passing out with every high note. Seriously, I stopped in the middle of a couple of songs… let the track just play and bent over trying to regain my balance. Weirdest feeling I’ve ever had on stage. You always see those “collapses” in dramatic fashion in all the rock and roll stories made into movies. I finished a few songs early and left the stage before I fell down frankly. Sat around back of the building in the shade for a few moments.

I couldn’t hit notes! And I couldn’t catch my breath. This is a first and I must consider the aging process and what lifestyle and dietary choices are doing to me! Truth is I hate drinking water most of the time… I’ll drink Ice Tea all day but it has to have sugar! Been discovering a new kind of reality this summer in several “dehydration’ experiences personally, but this was the first time on a stage. I wasn’t very happy with my presentation frankly. Glad when it was over.

Unity Ride will become an annual event and this was a great start. Only thing is, most “non christian’ bikers were no where to be found at the Harley Dealer this weekend. I started to think maybe they were ‘warned’. It felt mostly like singin to the choir. But I think sometimes the choir needs to know someone hears them too!

Hence the Unity Ride…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/The Road Home
9/14/08 Prescott, Arizona…
They can tell if yer not from here… if you pronounce it “Press Scott”… the locals say “Prescuit”.. like “biscuit”. I had a chance to hear that a lot the day after the concert here. My homey’s from Riverside met Rich Davis and his wife Ronna for breakfast and we were joined by around thirty Black Sheep. Afterward we took a little ride to Jerome, Arizona… a quaint little copper mining town that has been revived as a biker destination. “Capt. Billy” gave me a t shirt that said “I survived 158 curves in twelve miles”… to arrive in Jerome”. Again with at least twenty bikes on this trip.

“There’s got to be a morning after” ride. James Bowles got video of the single file procession through the mountains to what had been an abandoned town. Jerome is a commune of sorts now, filled with the artistic endeavors of jewelers and what nots… the town is setting on such a steep hill that the Jail house at one point “slid” across the street. Not much left to it now but the town as a whole felt like European village. And the view of the valley and surrounding mountains was worth the trip.

We had the chance to talk with many of the riders from Arizona. Several recovering from drug abuse and alcohol, “it’s great to find people I can ride sober with” one lady remarked. The fellowship all around was so refreshing we had trouble Rollin for home. We didn’t leave Prescott Valley until almost one in the afternoon. By then we figured we should just ride to Flagstaff and back on the 40. The locals continued on to Sedona.. where I wanna spend a few days on the next trip. But it was late for a ride home for us. It was 8 P.m. and sundown when we stopped for gas at a dairy queen 40 miles east of Barstow. That’s where Javier had a flat tire. We sat there till after closing time and lights out.

But like all changing circumstances we looked for an opportunity against the opposition. We talked to several folks stopping for gas and everyone was thrilled to look a little closer at the bikes. Met one older couple, retired military and Doc was joking with him about how I would sing a song for em for a few pennies. I think the man thought were looking for a hand out…. He gave me a roll of one dollar bills! 8)… I gave it back to his wife as he wouldn’t take it back… and she had noticed the “Jesus is Lord “ patch on Doc’s vest. “you keep it and pay it forward” was her response. Five minutes later…

Met three little girls that seemed to be sittin alone, so I went over and asked where their folks were. It turned out they had broken down on the road four miles back and their mom showed up with two other daughters in tow. Five girls! What a brave mom. She didn’t speak English so Doc was having a conversation with her. She was waiting for a ride from a relative who had to drive out from Bakersfield. The girls had been sittin out here for nearly five hours. So I gave their mom the pay forward money. And then rode to the next station to get water and a little candy for her daughters. Made the down time worth something.

Anyway I got spoiled ridin without a helmet in Arizona… man that feels good. After we had Javier’s bike on the triple A truck we rolled out under a full moon and a cooler temperature. It was just another 150 miles to get home…we stopped once to put on jackets and I coasted into my driveway about one a.m. … wow an 18 hour day on the bike. Nearly one thousand miles round trip this weekend. And I was euphoric for the experience. The desert in the moonlight was spectacular. The highway kind of glows after dark with it’s reflection of moonbeams.

O.k. so there’s that…. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/Amazing Arizona.........
Prescott, Arizona 9/13/08
The Heights Church / Celebrate Recovery

This weekend was the finest version of the melding of all my ‘enthusiasms’ at once. Music, Passion for Recovery, and Motorcycles. Over the years my mode of transportation to get to concerts has been a drain not only on my time but my emotional state of well being. For any one hour concert there has always been close to seventy hours of travel time and standing around!. This is not living!

In my older age I’ve sought for ways to remove some of that waste and sense of isolation from community. This weekend was a culmination of what my perfect world might look like. Getting to the gig was as much fun as doing the gig… and goin home came with no sense of “after birth” or Post partum depression.

I was up at 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning for a motorcycle trip to Heaven… or Prescott Arizona… maybe the same thing! I met five of my own Riverside Black Sheep, James, Doc, Javier, Judy and Sylvia.. at a local coffee shop, who rode out with me before dawn. No luggage to check, no security screening, no waiting for an hour to board, no line at Baggage claim. The gig starts NOW! With the roar of the engines we tore off down Highway 60 East to meet the coming sun.

There is nothing like the desert at predawn and in the sunrise is the coming of Christ. I had called earlier in the week asking Arizona Black Sheep chapters to ride out and meet for a little road fellowship. What I got first was a call from The Heights church pastor Bud Brown who wanted to bring some of his flock who love to ride. So we met them in Wickenburg. It’s a little wide spot in the road an hour and a half from Prescott. There were at least three chapters of Black Sheep too that decided to ride to that point. Presidents Steve Diaz of the Arrowhead Chapter and his way cool “capt. Billy” Hutchison his VP. Tina Anthony. Prez of the Santan Chapter in Chandler, and Mike Bay, Road captain from the Prescott Black Sheep “baby sat” the whole group on the road trip. All of this, organized by Tom Anthony, the Regional director of Black Sheep in Arizona.

We had breakfast at the “TWIN WHEELS” café, while waiting for riders from Phoenix to join us. Twenty three bikes rolled in like a hoard of locusts descending on this little gun slinger town. We rode to the concert with close to fifty people! Nothing like takin the audience with you to the show. 8)

There was a BBQ near the church for all the incoming biker visitors, sponsored by Pat, one of the church faithful who provided food and a place to hang before the concert. Sound check was a quick breeze. The Heights, is a forward thinking well organized outreach with a happy group of staffers. The building, new and comfortable, had the setting of an old Spaghetti House restaurant. (except that this place seats around nine hundred) The Sound was outrageously good too.

In meeting for prayer before the concert, Sam Webb, pastor of adult ministries suggested that I ride my bike into the church at the opening of the concert! So I invited him to ride on the back too. Justin Unger, one of the staff, hit the play button on “Papa Ain’t gonna Quit” and a bay door opened and we rode Jezebel down the aisle to a roar of enthusiasm.

I took the stage with Brian Hampton, the local Celebrate Recovery leader and we proceeded with a much edited version of the “conversational concert”. It included a dialog with Hampton giving insights and scriptures and testimony of recovery from Meth addiction. I added more than enough funny commentary and changed some of the songs to accommodate the changing conversation.

I was never quite sure where the concert would end up but I’m starting to appreciate, like the audience, a sense of not really knowing what will happen next. One thing was for sure. It opens a door to consider the wonder of a life of passion even in the face of our own failures. There was a sense of divine “intervention” in the presentation; it was like letting God introduce himself to everyone personally! It’s a new world with a wide eyed fascination for the adventure of knowing a power greater than ourselves. And seeing him at work in the people around us seems to draw a new love and appreciation for the broken hearted, which is a little bit in all of us.

I finished the concert with “Still Dancin” and backed out of the church on my motorcycle with a sense of fullness that I have not known in my career. There was a feeling of connectedness to all… not that of a “Rock Star and his Fans”, but more of a common friendship with like minds. That said I met many long time fans who showed up with old cassettes and vinyl records of my early work. It was a homecoming of sorts I suppose. Most hadn’t heard from me in many years. “I never left”… I said… “but I’m certainly glad I’m back”.

O.K. so stay tuned for the ride back from this concert .. there is too much to share for just one noodle. Bryan D

P.S. as I finished this noodle and it’s euphoria… The Still Dancin product arrived at my house by the thousands!!! Today is like Christmas!

Nifty Noodles/Easy to Use Website
Front Office any day of the week….
Well Praise God for the new efficiency of technology and the internet!. I’d like to warn you of the disposition of this writer at this point. Let’s just say it’s good that I don’t keep guns in the house! Ever tried to get a company on the phone? And while yer waiting they offer that little recording about how much easier it is to just go to ‘our convenient and easy to use website’. As if I wanted more time to spend on the monkey bars. Even on the phone I’ve spent as much as thirty minutes pressing numbers on my cell phone to reach an acquired location. It’s like searching for the Holy Grail. Rubic’s cube takes less time to line up.

I got a ticket in East L.A. riding my motorcycle a month ago. I didn’t want argue about it cause it’s just a hassle. I’m innocent of course! So I called the number on the ticket… spent twenty minutes entering my DL# , the number on the ticket, choosing the court from a list, choosing the desired plan of action through a series of informative numbers, followed by the credit card info and “expiration date”, for a minute I thought they wanted my personal expiration date, rather than the card, cause it may take that long to process. The recording abruptly ended soon after my “expiration date” was entered.. with a “we can’t process this right now cause we’re too busy” and a return to the beginning of the recordings! I guess they saw that my card was good for two more years. They have plenty of time!

I didn’t get a notice in the mail about where to appear in court and it was left off the ticket. As it turns out my address is wrong on my driver’s license. They printed a jurisdiction instead of a City name last time I was in. I called to fix that… “you can go to our easy to use website”… it says.. Interesting that on line at the bottom of page 23.. they have a phone number to call when you can’t get through on the website!

“call back tomorrow” it says at the end of this series! So I went back to work in the office. I was filling out applications for copyright registration. Read two hours of ‘common’ questions’ on line so I wouldn’t be put through the holding pattern on phone. One of the questions was “how do I register my Elvis sighting”!! no kidding! They were serious … apparently a lot of people ask!. How much time does a person have, to spend on line asking questions like that? I finished the easy to use application form for copyright registration. “Currently it will take 10 months to process this request”…” and don’t forget to include our Fee!”… “be sure to put your material in a box to protect it from the “security” process. (I guess they grind up the mail with a trash compactor before it reaches Capitol Hill.

So now I go to register individual songs I’ve been writing. I call to find out where to go. After fifteen minutes of waiting on hold I was put through a series of questions about what question I might have. Sent to three locations and told “due to the large volume of calls”….we can’t take your call right now. Followed by “we have an easy to use website at ASCAP.com!”. I hear there are at least 40 thousand people in the air over the U.S. at all hours of the day, in flight from one place to another. I wonder how many people are floating around the internet trying to find their way out.

Anyway for lack of options I head to the laptop and find ASCAP. Com I’m greeted with a application for on line I.D. … I enter my member code number and type in my name… “number is valid but does not correspond with your name”! What? When did they change my name? I’ve been Bryan Duncan for as long as I can remember. Fifteen minutes on the phone later, after going from the “membership dept” to “membership services” to “registration on line services”…I was told… uh, try typing in your middle initial. “Did that”… “try putting it in parenthesis”… “did that”… “well sir you’ve been a member of Ascap since 1978, your information was recorded before this software was introduced…and our on line records don’t recognize you!!! wow… thanks for “Seniority benefits”… “we do have an easy to use website where you can contact the processing dept..! SO I go there like an idiot… hit the contact button, fill in my name and email click a few more info directives and send my complaint… “we will get back to you by email in…. Three to five business days”!!!!!!!

Last week I spent the whole week tryin to line up my pay pal account with a bank account… it was this same ridiculous … “does not recognize”… “info doesn’t match our records” and “did you forget your passward?”… (Hey I got yer password for ya…o.k.?) …. “you’ll receive your new password in…. 24 hours!” was the reply…. I could give it to you right now if I could reach anybody in person!

You know what this is don’t you? it’s “insulation” cause none of us want to tolerate anybody else’s ignorance! 8) I’m singing right now… from the new Still Dancin’ project… if you wanna be lonely just be right all the time!.... I wanna change the lyrics… “if you wanna be lonely… try reaching someone on line! “

o.k. thanks for lettin me share Bryan D.

p.s. If I miss a concert soon it’s because I’m at the easy to use website of American Airlines tryin to punch in my seat assignment and print out my boarding pass!

Nifty Noodles/Another Funeral
9/10/08 Riverside, CA
After returning from Idaho this weekend.. (late Monday night). Tuesday came as a whirlwind. I was asked to put the music together for the funeral of an acquaintance who lost his battle with Cancer last weekend. I nearly directed the whole event as it turned out… being the first and last to sing. It was assumed that I was somehow in charge! 8)… scarry thought. I think the mourners would have stayed indefinitely had I not returned to the podium to say “ this concludes”…

I’ve done so many funerals this year that I finally decided it was time to write something new for the occasion. And I came up with a set of lyrics in a first ever approach to songwriting for me. Lyric’s first … then melody and then music accompaniment. It is done in an “amazing grace” style format four individual stanza’s with a recurring melody. And slower in tempo than anything I’ve ever done frankly… but the lyrics poured forth in a matter of hours… I shall like to publish them here for the first time for you perusal...: excuse the change of colors in print … those are ‘passage rewriting adjustments! Let me say that John Schreiner did a phenomenal arrangement and music bed for this and my hope is that at some point I will be able to offer this on line as a recorded single. I know I have only just begun to sing this at funerals!.

Dedicated to Mossimo Michi…

“For Now Good bye my friend” Before / a new/ horizon / comes… a familiar path/ must end… and the broadest road grows narrow … where the mountains pass begins.. Here we reach the grand diversion…all must travel once alone.. I will miss your steps beside me… you’ll be there before me… home. ]

And I’ll hear you in the echo’s … of the chasm I must face Holding firmly to a vision of… a final resting place Call it crossing over Jordan… Heaven’s Holy Promised Land My belief does not encumber… the truth as it shall stand

Rest assured, I feel your absence.. though with angels you ascend… To the final call I humbly bow… For now good bye my friend… I shall grieve, and still believe in… a mighty God of gracious hand… I extend my hand in silence… for now good bye my friend… for now good bye my friend

Never, on this earth/ will be the same… as I walk where you have gone… I shall honor you in living here… as the saints look down upon… and a savior speaks his greeting… “welcome home” around the bend I will long for your embrace again… for now good bye my friend

To the final call I humbly bow… for now…. Good bye…. My friend!

Nifty Noodles/Block Party
Moscow, Idaho 9/7/08
And the band finally played this year! … and it was a highlight concert. Outdoors on a great stage at the end and in the middle of a down town street. There were thousands of people there.. though not all too close to the stage. We accumulated a great audience just being in ear shot of the festivities. Sound was killer. The band was better than the sound too. Thanks to the efforts of the promoter in getting a real Leslie cabinet and decent Hammond keyboard for the gig. Eric E was as good a musician as he was a promoter though, sitting in on a jam session midway into our gig.

The audience seemed alittle dumb struck, it was clear we were out of the musical element’s of the norm for Idaho! But it is also the state we’ve played most in since the forming of Neho Soul. Who woulda thought? Idaho…. Been here three times in this state… I guess we’ve played in Tennesseemore often come to think of it. But it’s an industry town and we’ve come for free a couple times… that’s like a “mulligan”… doesn’t really count.. played once in Franklin to a parking lot full of cars… no body heard that one!

Moscow was the first real ‘crowd’ we’ve played for in the U.S. … had a good turn out in Norway once… last summer I think. Clubs don’t count as a crowd even if they are full. That’s maybe two hundred folks moving around! 8)

We played mostly new stuff from “Dancin”… after playin “papa ain’t gonna quit” I asked the crowd how many actually heard of James Brown. I got almost no response! Wow… white people I guess and still young. They’ve been weaned on lack luster guitar strumming depressed rockers on Prozac their whole life. It felt like we were from another planet. I strolled around the streets before and after the concert, looking just a little ‘not from these here parts”….folks clearly would smile and acknowledge that “you guys were really good”… although it came with the suggestion “I wasn’t sure what you were doing but I could tell it was very well organized! “

It was perfect summer night weather for this … something to be grateful for. And the roads in Idahomade me feel sick that I didn’t have Jezebel with me. Idaho is the best kept secret in the U.S. ! absolutely beautiful scenery.

Highlight song response was from a ‘darkhorse’ cut on the new thing…. “don’t leave me in the dark”… the one song mentioned by the folks looking to buy the project.

O.k. maybe next week the manufactured product will reach my doorstep… it’s killing me that we have not had product at the first gigs we expected to be a album party of sorts. ….

We did some camera footage of this show to put on our soon to be developed U tube marketing plans… so you’ll get to see more than a pic of this gig.

o.k. so there’s that! Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/Hot Dog!
Front office 9/3/8
Hallelujah, we are up and running on line with Paypal accounts. Getting several ducks actually in a row here!. Still Dancin has officially sold 69 records through the website these are the first sales before we even have product… which should be here next week.. crossing several fingers! I have several radio stations eager to play the first single which looks to be “only for good”. We haven’t decided on a single release date as of yet.

The marketing of this project will be primarily through on line antics. I’ve got several scenarios for the beginning of a series for U tube, it’s backstage footage. I will be filming the ride to Prescott , Arizona next week with several friends riding out on Motorcycles. this will make interesting footage of how to get to a concert without a bus or an airplane. Other ideas include my own ‘cooking” segment! How to make peanut butter and syrup… maybe shopping for the real food groups and how to pick and eat Oreo’s. And one segment called “Living under the airport”. 8)

I look forward to some back stage antics as well with the band this weekend in Idaho. We’ll be shooting footage for U tube specials. I’m liking this new internet world. Instant access!

I also hope to move forward on a “Still Dancin” AWARD plaque or certificate as a way to acknowledge the forward progress of those outside the limelight. You’ll hear about that later… I already have a short list of ‘recipients” that we will post on line when we “gift” them.

I’m so excited about the new possibilities and having a new project out for the first time since Osama destroyed the financial centers!

O.k. so there’s that… Bryan D

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