LA Hoops or ATL Breakfast?

First up, I have to tell this story.   A couple of nights ago, our own Dan Hannon called me from LA where’s he mixing at Sunset Sound Studios, to say, “You’ll never believe who I’m shooting hoops with right now.”  I guessed Bon Jovi.  After all, he’d hung out with Steve Perry only days before, so I went for broke.  Wrong.  It was John Kraskinski, “Jim” from The Office.

 

Anyway, yesterday Rudy Vaughn and I went to the Atlanta Public Relations Interfaith Prayer Breakfast at the invitation of our pal Glen Jackson from Jackson Spalding PR.  In fact, Rudy (left) had his guitar at the ready; he was officially the understudy for Aaron Shust (center), who was there to sing a few songs, but whose wife could go into labor any time.  

 

Aaron indeed sang.  He did great; his voice is always super smooth.  And if there’s a nicer dude, I’d like to meet him.  Rudy and I made some new friends, and renewed some acquaintances.  Really enjoyed meeting Eric Elwell, who was there with Aaron.  Over his 20+ year career, Eric has recorded and mixed over 50 major label releases, and in 2005 was honored with a Dove Award as a producer & engineer.  He also does production on major tours.  Great convo.  Good guy.

 

Afterwards, Rudy and I made an unplanned visit to the big auditorium next door within the Cobb Energy Centre where the breakfast had been, and we watched the Atlanta Opera perform Cinderella.  We capped all this off by having lunch with Matt Winters, the new service programming director of Cumberland Church in Nashville.  Good day. (Special thanks to Brian Steely at Jackson Spalding for the pics.)

 

So, what’s cooler?  Hoops with John Kraskinski, or breakfast with Rudy and Aaron?

 

 

I have no words…

 

This left me speechless.  This is an audition tape made by the FBC (probably stands for First Baptist Church, but not First Baptist Atlanta) Senior Choir for a student talent competition; they are also known as the Funky Fresh Senior Choir.  But I haven’t been able to figure out where this church is or why they were entered in a student competition; the web address given in the video isn’t right.  I also can’t figure out…just…why.  But I’m glad they did it.  I needed a laugh.

 

 

 

Comments.  Please.

 

 

You’re A Good Man, Vince Guaraldi.

This week I’ve officially decided that A Charlie Brown Christmas featuring Vince Guaraldi on piano is the best Christmas album ever.  

 

By the way, another album I wore out last Christmas when it came out, and will this year as well, is Jars of Clay’s Christmas Songs; I can’t get enough of that record.   

 

What are your fave Christmas albums?

 

 

 

 

 

The Logical Choice

I know not all 1ATL readers are music programmers/editors, but please humor me for a minute.  Just want to agree with so many of my contemporaries who are loving Logic Pro 8 for programming/recording music tracks.  Guys like JAMM and like Fee producer Jason Hoard.  I still prefer Pro Tools for editing real audio, especially vocals, but Logic is the stuff when it comes to MIDI tracks.

 

 

Below is a sample of some stuff I programmed using Logic 8, for a David Crowder song called Rain Down that we’re doing this Sunday at Buckhead Church. For those not familiar with what I’m talking about, these are auxiliary tracks that will be played from the computer as we do the song live, to enhance the musical worship experience.

 

Rain Down programming-audio sample

 

 

Done.

 

I voted early.  Took 5 minutes.  Anyone else voted yet?

 

What if roadies ran the world?

 

This ad ran during last night’s World Series game.  Certainly hit home with me.

 

I have about a gazillion “roadie” stories, but I’ll start the bidding with this one.  In 1991, our band AZ (containing members of the later band Smalltown Poets) was staying at a motel next to I-10 in Monroe Louisiana.  Even in the early days, we were very fortunate in that we usually had hard working roadies with us on all our trips. One such was the unforgettable Steve Housman, or “Hook.”  I dared Steve to stand in the doorway of one of our rooms, facing the interstate, completely in the buff. He took me up on the challenge, planning on it lasting but a few seconds.  However, I took the opportunity to push him outside and lock the door behind him.

 

As I recall, that was also the same trip/same hotel where we found Steve inside of one of those big outdoor ice machines they always have at motels - for no other reason than this; he wanted to see if he could fit inside.  

 

If you have ‘em, please please share them!

 

Where do you go?

Today I have a question that will give you “lurkers” (as one of you recently described yourself) a great opportunity to chime in.

 

 

This AJC/AccessAtlanta article about the best places to go in town for live theater led me to this question:

 

What’s the best venue in town to see a concert?  Put in your two cents and I’ll put in mine.

 

 

That’s a wrap.

Another Tats for Tots party is in the books, and several hundred more dollars were raised for Adopting Africa.  Here are a few photos.  To order Adopting Africa merchandise, click here.  If you’d like to make a donation, please let us know here.

 

Thanks to Jamie Pierce, his wife Samantha, my wife Cindy, the Pearsons, the Wills, and everyone who helped with food and prep!  I’m afraid I didn’t get pics of all the tattoos; someone probably did.  Candi had a great one of her son Elias’ name in Greek.  

Which one of these do you like best?  And, can you tell what languages are represented?

 

 

Catalyst

Spent a little time at the Catalyst Convention today at Gwinnett Arena.  Kudos to Brad Lomenick and his team for the great job putting all that together.  Brad has a good blog you should check out here.

 

Dan Hannon and I just had to stop in and see our boy Jamie JAMM Portee singing on the big stage.  He killed a John Legend song; that’s a compliment, of course.  His precious wife Joni was rocking a mic too.  There were so many friends there that I don’t get to see enough of, from fellow musicians and singers to my friend Ben that I actually got to know in China this summer.  (We were on separate mission trips that collided.) 

 

The green room was fun, as I got to hang briefly with Aaron Keyes, Kristian Stanfill, and Fee, who were all there with their bands. There was some other interesting personalities in there as well: Jeff Foxworthy, Franklin Graham (Billy’s son), Dave Ramsey (the financial guy), and my former boss Andy Stanley (to whom I simply offered a “Hey, Brother Stanley.” No one calls him that).   

 

I kept getting congratulations on the job Rudy Vaughn did on sax the previous day at Catalyst.  Rudy has recently signed a recording agreement with ONE Atlanta Music, our first official recording artist.  How weird is it that I’ve never heard him play sax? He’s apparently awesome. I know he’s one talented singer/songwriter.

 

Meeting and holding Candi P’s baby Elias made me cry.  Where’d that come from?  He was just so sweet and tiny.  

 

Oh, and it was also great finally meeting Jeff Moseley and James Rueger from INO Records face to face.   Fee is signed to that Nashville record label.

 

Sorry, but I wasn’t there long and didn’t actually see much of what happened on stage, other than a lifetime achievement award for Billy Graham, who wasn’t there in person.  Is anyone more deserving? His son Franklin is asking that anyone who has come to faith in Christ through hearing Billy speak go here to leave a note for Billy.

 

Must sleep now.  Big day tomorrow.  Tats for Tots 2.

 

Were you there?  Wish you had been?

 

 

In Rainbows.

 

Rarely do I see a complete rainbow, but I’ve certainly never seen two complete rainbows together like I did a couple hours ago.  Check this out.

 

 

And, since is this a music blog, I’ll say this.  I got my copy of In Rainbows later than the rest of the world.  Missed out on the pay what you want offer.  It’s a good record, but I have a question.

 

 

Will Radiohead ever do anything to top OK Computer?

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