"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!!