Drawing Inspiration From Everywhere...

There are many things that are going on this semester, inside of music and outside, that I am drawing inspiration from. However, one of the main things is something that I didn't mention that happened last week. On Wednesday last week, we got a visit from Miles McPherson and his father Jerry McPherson. Miles is the drummer for Kelly Clarkson and has also done a lot of studio work, but pales in comparison to his dad, Jerry. Jerry is one of the greatest studio guitar players on the planet. He has worked on many, many, MANY records in his day as well as toured with Amy Grant and Faith Hill. He played on the latest Carrie Underwood album, played on almost every Toby Keith album, the latest Tim McGraw album, various Point of Grace and David Phelps albums and a couple of Keith Urban songs. However, that is all since the year 2000!! This guy is ridiculous!! Anyways, they visited to teach us about studio music and stuff and they actually played on Stephanie Spitnale's track and it was absolutely amazing to see how much one or two instruments and turn a song around. I mean not to say that our players here aren't great, but just adding drums on the track before we even touched guitars, the whole song took a new form and had new life. It was quite remarkable.

So Steph had to leave on Sunday and I was pretty sad. I'm really glad she got to come down and see me though. I really enjoyed having her around and seeing what I do everyday. It is tiring and time-consuming but it is so worth it!! Also, Hammer Time was on Monday and I'm pretty sure I got the best compliment that I've gotten since I've been here. After we played a little bit of Maxine's second song, he stopped us, looked at me for a second, then looked at everyone else and said, "Who on earth is back there playing drums?! Is that not a completely different drummer from 5 weeks ago?!" I was happy to hear that, lol. I feel like I've improved but I put myself down more because I feel like I should be so much better.

So I mentioned drawing inspiration from things other than music. My wonderful mother bought me the 3rd season of Chuck and I haven't been able to put it down. That is hands down, my favorite show in the world. It is the one show that captivates me not only just to watch it but I'm so emotionally invested in this show to the point where I begin to yell at the computer screen while watching it (doesn't sound like me at all, lol!). Anyways, so I've actually been inspired to really write a song and I mean really take the time to work on it. I'm writing this song because I was inspired by the emotional love rollercoaster of Chuck and Sarah on the show. I'm not going to mention their names and stuff like that but I'm going to attempt to write a nice song about relationships like that. I thought about it and didn't know for sure until Morgan, another character on the show, gave me the nudge to do it with one of my favorite quotes by him on the show..."Love Is A Battlefield". That quote just seemed to speak to me and decided to write about it. I'm not the greatest of songwriters but hopefully this one will turn out nicely. We'll see, who knows, lol. Well, I think that gets you up to speed pretty well. Other than the usual that I always do, rehearsals and recording. The fun never ends around here, which is definitely a good thing!

"It's Been...One Week..."

Sorry...90s music reference if you didn't catch that. One of the staple songs of the 90s Pop genre, "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies. Anyways, so it's been that long since I've updated so I have to let you know what went on this week. I wasn't able to go to church this week because practice times were moved up because of the Grammys on Sunday night because there was a party at Tom Willett's house, which I didn't go to but wish I did. I wish I would've went only to hang out with everyone, not to watch the Grammys at all because I wasn't too big on the show itself. Yes, the 2 minute performance of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" with Keith Urban, John Mayer and Nora Jones was about the best performance of the night. Also, the fact that Keith Urban won a Grammy for Best Country Male Vocal Performance, which was great; definitely made my day on Sunday. However, after the Grammys, we had a recording session with Maxine, which we recorded "Bring It", which is an awesome song!!

Anyways, Monday was of course Hammer Time and surprisingly, it went pretty well. After Hammer Time was Meredith's recording session, which in the beginning, we thought was great but found out later that apparently everything fell apart and wasn't together, so Wednesday morning we had to come in the studio at 6:30 to redo the whole thing, ugh!! Anyways, on Monday, I found out that Ben Kasica is leaving Skillet after being with the band for 10 years...so, so sad. Ben is such a great guitar player and I hate to see him leave the band. Monday and Tuesday let up a little bit because most of my recording sessions are on the weekends, so all I have to concentrate on are rehearsals during the week mainly.

On Thursday, of course, we have soundcheck and the show. However, we were renting out our building to a record label for a showcase on Thursday afternoon from 12-6, so we had to do soundcheck at 8 am in order to have everything ready to go for Thursday night. Again, I have to get up at the crack of dawn to do something...oh joy. However, Steph came down on Thursday night to see the show and to spend time with me this weekend, so that was definitely awesome!! However, aside from the record label messing with our normal schedule, the show on Thursday night went great. It improved so much from last week (not that last week was terrible, but it was definitely the worst show so far). I again, played for 4 bands this week (Kylie, Dan, Karissa & Tavis). This whole semester has been great and will continue to be great but the best moment that I feel, as of right now cannot be topped, was playing "Dream On" live with Tavis and his awesome band. We are so full of talent and we pulled it off nicely. Big shout out to Tyler for knocking out the awesome guitar licks to that song and to Tavis for actually using the scarves on the microphone just like Steven Tyler and really pulling off a really great performance. After the show, we had an after-party at a bowling alley, which was so much fun. It was great to be out of the building and at the same time, having all of these people with me and having a great time doing something other than music. However, the highlight of that night was definitely me winning 2 games of bowling against Zach, Dan, Steph, Rose and Karissa. The second game was definitely better because I got to make an awesome comeback, which is always exciting.

Game Tape on Friday went pretty well, but definitely some things to work on. And yet another week starts at the CMC as we started another round of rehearsals and performances. The administrators decided to change plans and only go with 2 songs per artist this week so we can trim the line-ups down to 2 weeks instead of 3 so we can begin preparing for tour. I'm not sure about all of the tour details yet but I will fill you in when I get them. However, this week, I am playing for Meredith, Maxine, Josh & Ashley. I'm pretty excited for all of them and am super relieved that we only have to do 2 songs, which will make things so much easier. However, right now, I am currently in the studio with Dan, mixing his master track called "Let This Go", which we performed the other night. After Dan, I will stay in the studio with Josh for last minute adjustments and mixing on his track called "Set Me Free". We also have a show coming in tonight by Will Gray, a CMC Semester 2 Alumni. However, tomorrow I will also be in rehearsals and the studio all day. I should probably pay attention to my wonderful fiance here, who is currently laying on the couch in the studio, looking pretty bored. However, she did say she wanted to get up early with me and go see what I do on an everyday basis...and this is what I do. Anyways, gotta run!!

Another One Bites The Dust...

Yes I'm talking about yet another CMC Live behind us, but this one wasn't my best. Yes, I did get to cover "Gunpowder & Lead" with Maxine and it was awesome!! I hit my fast triplet fills to a "t" but I did get made fun of for doing the "cocking the gun motion" with my drumsticks in the middle of the song, but that's ok; I was feeling it and we were really grooving that song. However, I just felt so uneasy about the songs and I'm not sure why. However, it was another live performance for me to learn from.

We didn't get much of a Friday break because the main studio is now up and running so we got a quick tour of that and it was back into the rehearsal room. I have 4 acts again this week, seems to be an ongoing thing; I am playing for Tavis, Kylie, Karissa & Dan. I'm super excited about Tavis's set this week because we are covering "Dream On", which if you didn't know is by the greatest rock band in American history, Aerosmith!! We practiced it for the first time today and it was pretty rockin'!! However, today was really consumed with the beginning sessions of recording. Three of the artists that I play for had their recording sessions today (Dan, Josh & Kylie). However, I also had 4 rehearsals today which interfered with the recording times, which also happens tomorrow and pretty much everyday this week. Therefore, what does Chris get to do? For every recording session that I can't be at, I had to schedule a time slot to record all of the drum tracks for those artists; that time slot is on Saturday night from 11pm-4am. Talk about a bummer...but it won't be that bad because I won't be in there the whole time. After getting through today and having virtually the same schedule tomorrow, I think they'll only be 3 or 4 artists that I will have to track drums for at the last minute, so it won't be terrible. However, I'm pretty sure this is what I signed up for so I can't really complain now. I'm just thinking about looking into prices for futons and putting one over there; now all I need is some kind of butler service and a shower over there and I could just move in, lol.

So rehearsals are going very well and I'm still pumped and in the groove of the place but my energy is starting to drain. Next weekend, my wonderful fiance and her family is visiting so that will be an incredible "energy pick-me-up" and then the next weekend, 12 of us CMCers are going to see Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker & Jerrod Niemann in concert; that will be followed by a CMC Group Trip to a cabin in the Smokies. So, maybe I won't want to go insane. However, next week also starts CMC Lives with each artist playing 4 songs, but thank God that Warren decided he is going to cut down the number of artists that play each time and we're dividing it into 3 weeks instead of 2. Hallelujah, maybe I won't have as much practicing, lol!! But ya know, practice is the only time where you can improve, so I don't not want to do it, it's just I have so many in a row!! But like I said before, it's what I asked for, so it's what I'm getting. All in all, I love this place!! We're already 1/3 of the way through the program and I'm going to be really sad to see it end! I will miss all of these people like crazy but I know they will be lifelong friends!! However, the bright side to this program ending is: 2 weeks later, I'm getting married!! You can't get much better than that!! :-)

Just Another Day In The Life...

So again, it's been a little while since I updated so let's get you up to speed on everything since last Friday. Friday of course started our new week which began another round of rehearsals. This week I am playing for Josh, Luke, Meredith and Maxine. Meredith being the only one that I haven't played for yet but I'm glad I'm playing for her this week. She is doing a song that one of her roommates, Whitney, wrote about her mom and it is lyrically, the best I've heard come out of any of the artists down here...and she isn't even an artist!! I guess because of losing Mom over 2 years ago, it just really hit home for me, but it's an incredible song and I'm so happy to be playing on it. Luke, of course, is rocking it out this week, which is so much fun as always. Josh's set is interesting this week because he is throwing an original in there, which he has never done before; so we're all pretty proud of him for that. However, I'm pretty sure my favorite song of the week to play will be the last song in Maxine's set. Her first two songs are originals and are great, don't get me wrong. However, the last song in her set is a cover of "Gunpowder & Lead" by Miranda Lambert and holy cow!! Maxine knocks this song out of the park!! And on top of that, it is so much fun to play with Zach and Joe dueling the guitars and Ashley playing keys brings an awesome element to the song that I hadn't really heard before. Also, we added Stephanie today on background vocals and just made the chorus pop; so the song is even more exciting to play now!!

Other than that, it has been rehearsal after rehearsal. On Sunday, however, we went back to Brentwood Baptist to church and went to the more contemporary service, which was pretty good. The thing that amazed me the most is that they streamed the sermon on the screens from the actual worship center, no big deal right? But it gets better my friends; during the prayer they brought down this huge screen in the middle of the stage and projected the pastor on there as well. However, they used some sort of technology, or maybe just a normal projector, to project him as if he was actually walking on the stage. It honestly took me a couple of minutes to figure out if he was on our stage or the other one!! It was incredible!! Maybe I'm just easily amused! And I say all of that to say that my week hasn't been entirely the same as other weeks. Saturday morning on my way to rehearsal, Warren, our director, stopped me and asked me what I had going on Monday night (last night) and I said I have a 5:00 rehearsal but other than that just the community dinner and movie that we have every week. And he was like, okay, you're skipping it, and I was a little confused and asked why. He was like, "I just talked to Jason Halbert (REMINDER: Kelly Clarkson's band leader) and he is doing a project down at Quad Studios in Nashville on Monday evening and he invited you and Evan (another drummer here) to come check it out; I was like...uh...yeah!! Well, I didn't find out until yesterday right before we left that we were actually going to watch the drums being tracked for the upcoming Newsboys single that Jason is producing!! How cool is that?! So we were at the studio for quite a while because they were having trouble hooking some stuff up but that's okay because it gave us a chance to hang with Jason, Juan (a guy that wrote on the Newsboys' last album Born Again) and Shane Wilson, the engineer. Shane's most recent project, I believe if I understood Jason correctly, was with Third Day...no big deal right?! Yeah, I was in the same room with these guys for like 4 hours!! Ridiculous!! And the session drummer that played on the base track for the single was a guy named Derek Wyatt (I think, lol!). He is actually on tour with Point of Grace right now, which I thought was sweet!!

Anyways, so really puts you up to speed as to how my week is going. Oh yeah, and one other thing; about 12 of us from here at the CMC got together and decided we wanted to go to a concert. Therefore, the day before we leave for our retreat at the Smokies, we are going to see Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker and Jerrod Niemann in Nashville; pretty cool right?! Yeah, I thought so too!! I'll update as soon as I can; the week really starts to pick up tomorrow because we have portrait shots and big time rehearsals before CMC Live on Thursday. And then, as I've quoted many times before, it all starts over again!!

"It's Been A While..."

...since I've updated this thing, sorry everybody. This week has been super busy. Hammer Time on Monday went pretty well, had a few things to work on with each group but through tough practices, we got everything down. Therefore, last night was AWESOME!! Yes, last night was our second CMC Live show and it rocked. I opened the show with Kylie and the set went really well actually, we were pleased. However, we did get quite a few pointers during Game Film this morning but more on that later. Next on stage was Tavis and we had a blast. Tavis was singing like it was his last day on this earth, so much that during the second song, he over-powered the track in my monitor. However, it still went super well and I can't wait to work with Tavis again in the future. Next was Josh on stage. Let me tell you, Josh has come so far this semester, even so far since Hammer Time on Monday. He stood up there and was in the groove with all of us; the band was very tight during that set and Josh loved every minute of it. He didn't rush at all, just took his time and performed each of those songs the best he had ever done them. I was so happy to be part of that experience for him. After that I finally got to come off stage because I wasn't playing for the fourth act but it was right back on for the fifth. Luke was fifth and let me tell you, we rocked that set. It was two pretty rockin' songs and we tore the house down. Luke got so excited and missed a few lines on the second song but that's okay because we were all just jamming out and having a good time. I actually got a little dizzy jamming so hard but it was so much fun. After the show I got quite a few compliments from many people, including Rick, my songwriting teacher and Tom, the co-founder of CMC and professor over the Execs. I was super super thankful for those moments. And then of course, we had our After Party and had a blast. Just getting to chill with the other 31 CMCers after a show is so much fun.

So we actually got to sleep in a little this morning and then headed off to Game Film. It is always very nice to look back on performances and see what you can improve. In all of my sets, Warren said they were all great but of course, there is always room to make each thing better, no matter how good it is. And then, by the end of Game Film, Warren asked how tired me and a couple of the other people were because we've carried much of the instrumental load as far as playing for people goes. Then, we found out that on Fridays after lunch we are going to have 2 hours of chill time, which is much needed. They are pushing rehearsals back 2 hours so we can chill. Speaking of rehearsals, I've got one in 10 minutes so gotta run, but I'll try to be more up to date on this thing. Honestly, the extent of my week was rehearsals, rehearsals and rehearsals, lol!

"Let The Music...Do The Talking!"

Not only is that the song I'm listening to but it's become my motto as of late. You see, the guy that teaches the Tech classes here at CMC said that he doesn't want any of the techs playing in bands for the next couple of live shows because he wants everyone to learn their stations during the shows and really get comfortable with them. That, I completely understand; however, one of the techs is a drummer, and he played for 3 acts last week, which is how many I played for (1 used another drummer and the other didn't have one). Therefore, I am now taking the reigns and playing for 4 of the 6 acts this week. Therefore, my motto as of late has been to Let My Music Do The Talking because I haven't had too much time for anything else because of rehearsals and stuff. However, it may seem like I'm complaining about this; I'm not. I know this is what I signed up for and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to get better at this art and talent that God has enstilled me with. I am working with a wide range of artists this week and exploring all kinds of genres and it's super exciting. I am working with Kylie Campion this week, who's style is very interesting; not bad intersting but stuff I'm not used to so it's a trip for me to learn new stuff. To prepare for these sessions, the guys in the band told me to listen to Mumford and Sons, which I had never listened to before, but that is the style they're going for. However, it's a nice folk-rock sound that I'm really having a lot of fun playing. Then there's good ol' Tavis Grant. Tavis is a big black guy that has a lot of soul, let me tell ya. This boy can sing!! And of course, he is full of the black gospel style, so that's what we're playing. We're all so into it and having so much fun playing this stuff because it's so musical and so active and so different; it is quite possibly my favorite set this week. Then there is Josh Tracy.  Josh is still settling into his style and direction he wants to go in. He is working up some nice Kris Allen and Carrie Underwood covers this week, which I'm a fan of both of those artists and I love playing covers. Last but not least is Luke Schutz. Luke is a rocker guy, so we're playing some very nice hard rock music. Two originals that he wrote and we are rocking those this week. Karissa, one of the girls I played with last week, is coming in and singing harmonies on one song and it sounds awesome. And then there's the anti-war song he wrote called "Bullets and Borders", which I think is an incredible song. So that's my artists for this week and I'm pretty excited. We have Hammer Time again tomorrow at 1 and then it's back in the rehearsal rooms for improvement before Thursday. Again, I'm not really sure what my schedule is at this point but I know it's filled with rehearsals, lol!

Also, before this crazy weekend got underway, me and my two roommates, Dan and Jason, went into Nashville on Friday night to see Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy and Larry The Cable Guy. I was so excited because I had never seen these guys before and had been waiting a very long time to see them. Let me tell you though, they definitely didn't disappoint, especially Larry because there wasn't a moment during his set that we weren't laughing. It was definitely great to get downtown and away from Brentwood for a few hours. I need to do that more often. Other than the excitement of that and rehearsals, I have tried to relax a little on top of writing a paper for History and Fine Arts that I am about halfway through right now. Anyways, I will definitely try to update tomorrow after Hammer Time and keep everyone updated on that!! Hope you are enjoying reading all of this because I'm definitely enjoying keeping you updated!!

We Came...We Saw...and We Kicked Some Tail Tonight!!

Yes...today finally came and it was marvelous!! Although going through a 4 hour soundcheck tonight was a little grueling, it was so worth it!! Despite a few minor hiccups, which were expected the first show, everything went great! I had so much fun playing for Maxine, Karissa and Zach. Once again, I shall apologize to Maxine for the couple of hiccups that I made in her set (Sorry Maxine!!) but every other set went great. It's just because Maxine opened the night and I was worried about making sure that I didn't rush and wanted to settle into the groove and I missed a couple of changes that we made. Oh well, it still went nicely. Karissa's set went great and Zach tore the house down!! We nailed all of the stops but played it a little fast but that's alright. All I could really hear during that set was Tyler's guitar because the amp was turned right in my direction but that's alright because he's a great guitar player. I thought tonight went great but we'll wait until Game Film time tomorrow to get the analyzing and breakdown from Warren, Tom and Rick. However, I am definitely satisfied and relieved that it went as well as it did. I did get a couple of pats on the back and some great jobs and stuff so I feel confident that I did well. But again, we'll wait and see.

So what are my plans for the weekend you ask? Oh, well I must tell you...rehearsals!! As expected, I have rehearsals but that isn't all. If you remember me updating before, we have "PJs, Pancakes & That Thing You Do" on Saturday night, which is going to be awesome! Also, my 2 roommates, Dan and Jason, are going to see Larry The Cable Guy, Bill Engvall & Jeff Foxworthy tomorrow night in Nashville, which I am super pumped about!! I have waited quite a while to see these guys; it's going to be great. Aside from that, I have to find time to finish my paper over Leopold Mozart (Mozart's father) for History and Fine Arts this weekend, which I will do and it will be a great paper. Anyways, thanks again for keeping up guys, and feel free to leave comments whenever you would like. I'm having a blast and I hope you are enjoying reading!! Lots of love here from the Music City!

If Tomorrow Never Comes...

Yes I know it's a great Garth Brooks song but it is also the feeling that's in the pit of my stomach right now. Everything that I've worked for in the last couple of months culminates tomorrow night; all the hard work, stress, rehearsal, everything culimates tomorrow night. Why you ask? Because tomorrow night is CMC Live!! I will be on stage 3 times (opening the show, third slot and closing) and it's going to be incredible!! But wait...I'm putting everything into this one but there's just one thing I forgot? There are still more of these through the whole semester!! In fact every Thursday night!! That means Thursdays are insane around this place!! However, this is the first one so we have to make the best impressions possible. So yes, everything still culminates tomorrow night, but it doesn't stop there. Tomorrow night I will open the show with Maxine, come up in the third slot with Karissa and close the show with Zach.

However, in order to prepare for tomorrow night, we've rehearsed like crazy. I've told you about all of the rehearsals and Hammer Time so far but today was it; we had to nail it and in every rehearsal I had today, we nailed it. We were all on the same page, hitting the strong points together and making sure all the parts were tight. There was an incredible vibe around the building today about tomorrow night. Nerves are being shaken, brains rattled but looks of excitement are radiated off of everyone's faces. It's going to be great!! However, before all of the rehearsing today, we had a Critical Listening "Pop" Quiz this morning where Tom played us 60 songs that we need to be familiar with. That 60 included the top radio hits of each genre this week, songs with count-offs (in which we had to identify the song only by the count-off), songs with bass guitar intros, Beatles songs and instrumentals. All of these songs we had to identify within the first 5-7 seconds, which I am normally stellar at but as today showed, I need to brush up on my old school rock music. In the 60 songs, we got 1 point for a correct song title and 1 point for the correct artist, so 120 possible, with some bonuses thrown in here and there; yeah...I only got 44...but the high score was 68 so I wasn't too bad. So that was fun and then we went to our separate track classes where today in Artist Track we listened to songs that have influenced everyone in some way, shape or form; it was very nice to hear everyone's real preference in music and nice to get the background on their song.

So that was before rehearsal today and after rehearsal today, we went to John and Jenny Leininger's house for an "Open House"-type event. John is our RLD and Jenny is the coordinator that keeps this ship running smoothly. Anways, it was very nice to relax with them and get to know them a lot better so that if we ever need someone older and wiser to talk to besides Tom and Warren, we know they are available to all of us. They really are such nice people and really enjoying hanging out with all of these crazy college students that are such music nerds. And why they would want to do that, I'll never know, lol!

So in the last couple of days, all I've really done is rehearsed, went to class, rehearsed some more...oh and worked on History and Fine Arts II assignments because I am taking it online while I'm here so I can graduate on time (thank you Dr. G.). Anyways, my days have been busy but not super long, been quite nice. However, tomorrow is the big night and everything picks up after tomorrow night. After the show tomorrow night we have an After Party which is going to be great. And after that, everyone relaxes for the rest of the night but it's back up Friday morning for Game Film, where Warren and Tom sit down with all of us to review our performances and pick apart what needs to be fixed and what was great about them. After lunch on Friday, all of this madness starts over!! Ahhhh...I love this life!!

Somehow Survived The First One...

For starters, today was an incredibly busy but rewarding day. First of all, we had our first Artist Track class "Intro to Songwriting" with Rick Elias. In case you didn't read my first post on here, let me tell you about Rick Elias. Rick wrote all of the music for the movies "That Thing You Do" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as well as performed in Rich Mullins's band in the 90s. So we had our first class today and it's going to be great. I'm not a very expressive person and even when I am, I really don't have a rhythm or a flow to it, which is why I'm pursuing this track to learn how to do that and to be able to write songs to add another dimension to my abilities. I do believe that this class will be able to help me get some of that energy out into words, which will be very nice. After class I had to eat quickly and head back to the building for Hammer Time. Hammer Time is a time where the artists that are playing CMC Live will play for Warren and Tom to get criticism on how to make their song better for that week and things like that. I had to play for 3 of the artists and I was worried about remembering all of the songs; we didn't even make it through both songs for either of the 3 artists. Actually, Maxine was the only one that we actually made it to the second song. Anyways, Maxine led off and we started playing her songs and I received one of the greatest pieces of instruction I've ever had. After asking me a few things about where I've played drums and stuff like that, Warren said, "Just pound it! Play louder! It's okay!" I didn't think I would ever hear anyone to tell me to play louder! I've always been the loudest drummer and people have always told me to play quiter but never louder...interesting. I was also told that everyone is supposed to follow me. I somehow knew that but I hate being the one to lead people. Yes I keep the beat of the song and yes I am the backbone of the band but I don't want to run off and leave everyone. I definitely don't want to be the center of attention, which is not what he was saying at all. But at the same time, he is just making sure that I provide a nice, solid foundation for the groove of the song. Other than all of that, Maxine's stuff is great. She has this Kelly Clarkson sound about her that I really like. Her stuff is very catchy and can get stuck in your head, which makes it a lot of fun to play. One of the songs today, we were trying to give it a style and the guitar player said, "An Americana feel, sorta like Tom Petty," and I said, "Yeah, Tom Petty meets Taylor Swift!" It wasn't meant anything bad at all towards Maxine; she's a great artist and can only get better. So after Maxine, I played with Karissa in the third spot. Again, I was told to play louder. Warren showed me some nice was to be able to attack the snare to get a better sound (which I can already hear) and as I have always been told, playing harder on the bass drum; give it some more attack!! Oh well, that still needs work. Overall though, I love playing Karissa's music. Warren asked if she was going for the Evanescence feel, which is about right. Her vocals are incredible and her piano playing is so enticing and just so easy to play for. Plus the musicians in that band are just rocking and everything we are doing is fitting together so nicely. Lastly, in the last spot on Hammer Time, I played for Zach. We did a rockin' Foo Fighters style song that I think Warren really liked, he just had to make some minor tweaks with again, how I was attacking the drums and the guitar tones. Zach is so much fun to work with because he has so much energy about him and expresses that not only in his playing but his singing. He's just awesome to work with.

After Hammer Time, we continued rehearsals to improve on what Tom and Warren told us. I rehearsed with Maxine and Karissa and then we had our first Community Dinner followed by a Community Meeting. Our Community Meetings are our veg-out time, just allows us to express what we're feeling both inside of the CMC and out. After all, it's like John said tonight, there is life outside of the CMC and that is our time to talk about it and confide in people if we need it. So we did that for about an hour and it was a lot of fun because we talked about what we are nervous about this semester and what we expect and things like that. Then we had some announcements which included our "PJs, Pancakes and That Thing You Do" Party on Saturday night which will be a lot of fun. Also, we are taking a trip as a group to the Smokies in Gatlinburg and staying in a cabin on Sunday February 27 and Monday February 28th. Yes, all 32 of us, plus John and his wife Jenny, and Jill and Kate, who performed the first night, are also coming with us. The cabin has 2 hot tubs, a pool table, 2 classic arcades, an air hockey table, a movie room and other sorts of gagets. It's going to be a blast to be able to take a break from all of the hussle and bussle of CMC and relax with our CMC family and just have fun!!

So anyways, that was my day and it was incredible. Playing for all of these people and getting to sit down with everyone and just talk has made me realize for sure that God knew what He was doing when He made me change my major so that I could end up here. These people are going to be lifelong friends and I'm super excited. Not only that, but today has helped me realize that I love what I am doing so much and don't know that I could ever be fully satisfied doing anything else. I get so much pleasure and excitement out of playing drums that it's ridiculous. I know it sounds cliche and corny but it is so true; playing drums is my passion and I just can't see myself doing anything else. And that is that!!

3 Down...A Zillion To Go!!

...Rehearsals that is. And when I say a zillion, I'm pretty sure I'm not exaggerating. This week at CMC Live on Thursday night, 8 artists will get a band together (or some form of accompaniment other than themselves) and perform for the first CMC Live of the semester!! I am playing with 3 of the artists (Maxine Peters, Karissa Klauser & Zach Wolfe), which I'm pretty sure is my limit, lol. I had an impromtu rehearsal with Zach on Friday night that lasted until midnight, lol. However, we did get one of his songs down pretty good. It has an awesome Foo Fighters feel to it, so I'm pretty excited to get to rock out!! Then I had my first rehearsal with Maxine yesterday morning at 10. She has a very unique style, which is very good, trying to set herself apart from others. Definitely going to be very fun working with her style...speaking of that, we have a rehearsal with her at 1 today. Then I got a text from Karissa's manager asking if I could play for her, so I agreed and we have rehearsal today at 3. My third rehearsal of the year was with Zach last night; we rehearsed his song "Educated Fools", which has a killer  6/8 feel with some nice drum and piano licks thrown in. He asked Mike, who is another one of the artists, to play keys on the song and it brought a whole new dimension to what we were playing. It is an absolute laid back song but so groovy and awesome at the same time. So this all brings me to the present time, in which I have rehearsal with Maxine at 1, Karissa at 3 and Zach at 8. Also, the NFL Playoffs are today and John, our RLD, is throwing a little party in the student lounge so we can all watch the games, so I will try to sneak those into my day as well.

However, last night we had our first real "Guys Night" of the semester. Like the music dorks we are, we started the night at the Guitar Center downtown. It was awesome to see all of the pictures signed by artists that they had in there (Yes they had Keith Urban!!), as well as the massive amount of guitars in there. They had guitars ranging from $150 to $42,000!!!Insane!! They did have a guitar signed by Slash in there for sale for almost $20,000!! Those numbers are just insane; I could buy a new car with that!! Anyways, after that we went to Corky's BBQ Restaurant, which was awesome!! I had some kind of BBQ Burger with Onion Rings on it, and it was pretty awesome!! Then we came back to the apartment and played a couple of rousing games of Sequence!! So much fun!!

So my schedule for the week looks like this:
Rehearsals Today: 1, 3, 8; Hammer Time tomorrw @ 1, Rehearsal @ 3 & 5; Rehearsal Tuesday @ 8; Rehearsal Wednesday @ 7 & 8; Soundchecks all day Thursday & CMC Live Thursday Night @ 7:30; Game Film Friday @ 11 and the rehearsals start all over again for next Thursday!! On top of that, we start actual classes Monday so we will have stuff during the day on top of the rehearsals!! Ah, the life I live for the passion I have!! Keep checking back for updates!!