Mysterious Package

I know I know. I just set you up perfectly for an over-used-but-somehow-still-kinda-funny “that’s what she said.” Anyway…

A couple weeks ago, upon arriving home in beautiful snowy Kansas City for Christmas, my parents told me of a piece of mail addressed to me that had arrived last July. To be sure, I haven’t received any mail there for at least 7 years, so we all thought this to be quite peculiar. Further, the writing looked like mine from some time ago, and there was no return address.

Bewilderment got the best of me, and I tore it open, reserved, but anxious nonetheless. This is what I found:

Please note three areas of confusion/importance: the greeting, date, and salutation. Apparently, Evan wrote Evan in 1997. That’s really really weird, and it rhymes.

Read for yourself:

Evan,

During the course of these next 10 years, I would like to see you make some kind of difference, big or small, in the way you effect the environment. Obviously this change should be for the better. For instance, did you ever boycott a company that pollutes the air severely? Did you always turn off your lights and turn off the water while brushing your teeth? Did you ever consider joining an ecologically-sound organization? Did you ever plant a tree?

When you receive this letter, contemplate how this day (Apr. 14, 1997) changed your views on the environment and its well-being. Also if you have done nothing described above (besides the lights and water), then try one and encourage others to do the same. Who knows, maybe you will make a noticeable difference.

Evan

I have no recollection of writing this, but it sure did make my whole family laugh the other night. I actually laughed out loud again as I was typing it just now. The only possible explanation I can come up with is that my sophomore biology teacher, in some sort of “flash of brilliance,” decided it would be awesome to have us put letters in some sort of time capsule.

I love the teacher’s coaching on the different suggestions such as “boycotting a company that pollutes the air severely” or “joining an ecologically-sound organization,” but my favorite line is most assuredly my own work: “Obviously this change should be for the better.” Thanks Evan. You know, in case I was thinking of carting truckloads of metal shavings from the scrap yard to a wildlife reserve…

Thanks also Ms. Teacher from sophomore biology for sending that out 2 1/2 years late… we’ll never know what kind of progress could’ve been made in such a great length of time.  Thanks for a a good laugh too.

“Days Off on the Road” vol. 1: The Grand Canyon

We floated Clifford, our amphibious tour bus, down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon. Then I climbed out and just took it all in…

notice the definition in my left calf muscle... that's from climbing.

Then we continued on down Route 66 to Williams, AZ for a one night stay at The Lodge where we enjoyed cigars and cognac and smores by the fire. Also, a slow-moving, talking mannequin made Richie Pena jump into my arms as we were walking down the sidewalk. I didn’t put him down for at least a block. It was a solid bonding moment between men.

Tour Schedule

Hello from the bus!  We’re currently sitting outside the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, MD.

This is where I will be over the next month:

10/25 – Charleston, WV – Charleston Municipal Auditorium
10/27 – Birmingham, AL – WorkPlay Theater
10/29 – Corpus Christi, TX – Bay Area Fellowship
10/30 – Katy, TX (Houston) – Merrell Center
10/31 – Austin, TX – Riverbend Centre
11/1 – Abilene, TX – Abilene Civic Center
11/5 – Lenexa, KS (Kansas City)- Lenexa Christian Center
11/6 – Moore, OK – First Baptist Church
11/7 – Amarillo, TX – The Church at Quail Creek
11/8 – Kansas City, MO –  The Midland Theater
11/10 – Albuquereque, NM – Hoffmantown Church
11/12 – Phoenix, AZ – North Phoenix Baptist Church
11/13 – Santa Ana, CA (Orange County) – Calvary Church
11/14 – Fresno, CA – Warnor’s Theatre
11/15 – Modesto, CA – Calvary Temple Worship Center
11/17 – Santa Rosa, CA – Wells Fargo Center for the Arts
11/18 – Roseville, CA – Adventure Christian Center
11/20 – Portland, OR – Rolling Hills Community Church
11/21 – Federal Way, WA (Seattle) – Christian Faith Center

If you live nearby, leave me a comment on HERE, and I’ll do what I can to see that you get a comp ticket. The Kansas City shows will be harder than the rest, for obvious reasons.

Hello Roanoke

It’s been awhile since I’ve played an arena show. Sounds weird, but it’s nice to get off the bus in the belly of the beast and take in the industrial smells of everything happening all at once.

I meandered into the arena itself, which is a wet, frigid mess of a hockey rink, and to my surprise and great appreciation, saw George Michael Bluth’s chronically confused face magnified on the jumbotron (Michael Cera’s character in Arrested Development, one of the best sitcoms of all time). That’s the last thing I would’ve expected to see at an E-Women’s conference, honestly. Apprently the video director keeps it on his test reel, and was, well, testing the equipment. It was among the string of episodes where he and his father, Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) are “camping out” in the attic.

Anyway, tonight’s show is acoustic, and I still have to learn a new song before we perform. You might ask yourself, why is he blogging instead of working? No one knows the answer to that question. Well, except me. And it’s because I procrastinate things sometimes. On that note, the inevitable awaits.

Seasonal changes

Today is the first day of Autumn. I’m bittersweet as I enter this new season, both physically and metaphorically. I’m excited about the change in the weather, the turning of leaves, the smell of the cooler air, and just about new beginnings all around, yet I’m sometimes left slightly empty-handed as I walk away from old memories, good and bad.

I started and ended a relationship with a great woman, and because of her, started completely over on one with God, which I intentionally threw away at the beginning of the year, in search of reality and truth that I would hopefully find for myself instead of going through motions that were meaningless in my mind. I understand this may sound foolish to a lot of people, as it most certainly does to me, but it’s real and true, and I make no apologies for it.

Here’s a visual explanation of a dream I had, and it paints a clear picture of how I see things as they went down:

Everyone on earth is a child, around 5 or 6 years old. They’re all out playing, living, doing whatever. God, this huge figure of a man, big enough to hold children in the palms of his hands, is sitting in the middle of everything. One little boy was out running around being crazy and out of control. This concerned God, and as he pondered the best way to get the boy’s attention, he thought of a dark-haired little girl that he was certain, due to previous conversations with the boy, was sure to catch his eye. As God held the little girl in his hand, he pointed to the boy and said “Go play with him. He’ll be your new friend. Then bring him to me.” The girl went and became the best of friends with the boy, and even fell in love with him. As their relationship grew, the boy started to see how things were different with her than most “godly” folks he knew, and he eventually followed her back to God, who picked them both up and let them rest in his hands for awhile. When it came time for the girl to go and play again, God held the boy back, and told him it was still time to rest, to grow, to reflect, and to learn. While the pain in parting was great, the boy knew it was right, because all of it was the timing of God.

I rest in that sovereignty.

Through all of this, I’ve been fortunate enough to look deep into my own heart after examining my patterns of interaction with people I love, and really learn where and why I continue to fall short of the mark when it comes to loving them. This certainly is growth, and I’m very thankful for it, even if I’ve had to walk through so much pain to find myself.

Got heavy on you for a change. Here’s to my favorite season of the year. Cheers!

What do coffee and church have in common?

Nothing at all, really…  But almost everyone likes coffee, and most adequately-funded churches are falling in-line with the built-in cafe trend. I sorta have mixed feelings about it, as I do about most things church-related, but when I’m on the road, they’re a welcomed addition. The Church at Rock Creek in Little Rock, AR has the most vibey little church cafe I’ve ever visited, and has cheap food and coffee. Good company doesn’t hurt anything either:

Note to self: the "bright" setting on QuadCam washes people out.

Church shows are interesting because we can’t load in until all services are over, which pushes back soundcheck start time by a couple hours, which cuts down soundcheck LENGTH by at least three quarters, which can cut down on show morale by a sizable fraction if we’re not careful and flexible.

An update to the last post:

I’m no longer dreading Nashville. While I no longer love it as a home, I’m in a better place than I was a week ago for a lot of reasons, and I look forward to hanging with some friends for a few days. I think we should bring back the nightly Melrose. Anyone in?

Road/home/road/home

The game of balancing different routines is a tricky one. The past four days, I’ve been in a different city each day, living on a bus, eating catered food, and playing music. Today I’m in Nashville hanging at Crema coffee shop with Seth Philpott. Don’t get me wrong. I love Seth. And Crema for that matter, but I don’t enjoy the minor paradigm shift that occurs when I get back in town early in the morning when I really just wanted to wake up in another city to play another show. I have a head full of thoughts and ideas that need sorting, and right now I want to do it from an unfamiliar place. When i word it that way, it sounds kinda backwards and ridiculous, but it’s how I feel. I’ll be here for three days, and all i want to do is leave. Such a weird feeling. Good thing time tends to pass by quicker than water through your digestive system… speaking of, I’ve had a half gallon already today, so I gotta go. Literally. See ya!

What do Birmingham, Boston, and Bluegrass have in common?

Nothing, but we’ll get to that.

It’s 11:00 am on the dot, and I’ve been up for 4 1/2 hours. In fact, I had to sing duet-ish background vocals at 8:00 this morning with Natalie and co. in front of 500 radio promoters/ industry executives. I mean, I like singing, but at that hour it’s comparable to running away from a bad guy in a nightmare… follow me? And by ‘follow me,’ I aim to shamelessly promote my Twitter account. Not really, but if you WOULD like to follow, click here.

Orlando, although extremely sticky and one of my least favorite cities in the country, is beautiful in the morning. In real life, view from the front lounge window looked more like a vivid painting with a life-like fountain a la Harry Potter, but in this photo, it looks more like an intricately-detailedreptile tank with a hell of a heat lamp:

Anyway, despite the hot mess, today should shape up to be quite a peach. We’ve secured all-park passes so we can hop back and forth between Disney, Universal, etc. Additionally, between all of us, we probably know 90% of the people involved in Night Of Joy at Disney World, so we’ll most likely finagle our way in. To top it all off, my Aunt Kathy is going to head over from Tampa to grab some dinner! I wish my cousins Nathan and Christian could join too.

Tomorrow we head north to Birmingham, where the grass is blue and the girls are pretty. Actually that’s a combination between Kentucky and Boston, put to the tune of a once-popular song, none of which have having any relation to Birmingham, but I had to make up something. And really Boston doesn’t even have very many pretty girls, but I know of one.

Ok awkward. Til’ tommorrow.

Day 1.

I’m taking in the sidewalk view from a small coffeeshop called The Rabbit Hole in downtown Panama City, FL. Today marks the first of a 37-show fall tour on which I’ll be playing guitar for Natalie Grant. We’re opening up for Jeremy Camp, and Bebo Norman is opening up the whole thing. I’m looking forward to getting on with the show, literally speaking. It’s hot here, and I wouldn’t mind moving on to the next city, although I doubt I’ll get much relief in Orlando tomorrow. Florida’s just so damn hot, especially coming from such beautifully mild weather in Nashville.

I am excited to be out and about though. I get restless when I stay in Nashville for too long. Traveling is good for you heart, soul, and mind. It clears your head and fills it with new sights, smells, and emotions. It’s easier to be reflective and honest about yourself. It recharges my low batteries. Enjoy a few pictures. There will be more to come.

Ours is the BRIGHT red bus in the middle.

See ya later adequate soundcheck...

Not quite the coast, but still pretty.

Thanks for coming back. I hope to find the time every day to post a little something about where we are in the US. Funny stories will most likely abound.

Patience is a virtue…

…especially for readers of THIS blog.  I can look at the stats and tell that some of you still check it, although the attendance has dwindled greatly. Of course, this is no one’s fault but my own. Two and a half months is a long damn time. I’m not quite back for good, but don’t lose hope, as there are big things in the cards  for Where To, Sir?. Grand ideas are slowly being wrought to fruition as I teach myself the ins and outs of HTML and CSS. Yes, it’s true. I’m designing my own site, and it’s coming along quite well. Maybe this will tide you over:

Have faith, loyal readers… I will return soon with more thoughts, stories, strange happenings, and hopefully a nicer site.  If patience is something you lack, follow me on Twitter.  Until then…