Late December 2005 - Feb 2006
- Not much news, some progress on chord sheets, updated some of the web site with style sheets, otherwise very busy with Christmas, family, work. Practiced mostly the "secular" songs to get a couple of sets ready for the next gig, which looks like mid-February.
Week of December 19, 2005
- Made a quick, OK, not great recording of "Start it Out Here in Bethlehem."
Week of December 11, 2005
- The Lord's still blessing me with NEW SONGS! This week, "Foundation Stone;" at least the words are new but the music may be very close to some old-style hymns.
December 11, 2005 GIG
- WOW! Not bragging on myself, but things went VERY WELL! If you missed it, YOU MISSED IT! And it was all the Lord's doing, because I a had an absolutely terrible practice session on Saturday, with my voice all over the place and my fingers tied in knots on the keyboards. But, I've played enough now to learn that that kind of practice session seems to come as a necessary trial to see if you're going to get discouraged, and if you push through it and shake it off, it usually portends a good performance! Sunday - the new amp sounded much better than the old one (a little loud at times), the keyboard playing was not entirely flawless but darned good for two hours of live performance, and the Lord blessed my voice to be the best it's sounded in a long time, right up to the very end! I didn't take a head count, but the place was about 2/3 full, mostly with folks from our Spring Tabernacle small group. Thanks to everyone who came out! Hope you enjoyed it, 'cause I certainly did! Thanks again to Patsy and crew for allowing me to share what the Lord has blessed me with, and thanks for everyone's prayers beforehand.
The new, "special" song I promised is now posted on the web site. It's "A Love Song for Debbie," and is for a very special lady indeed. I kept it secret until I pulled it out at the end of the set Sunday. Debbie was teary-eyed before the first verse ended, and by the time I got half-way through the song, there wasn't a dry female eye in the house, some of the guys were trying not to choke up, and I had trouble myself getting through a couple of verses! Read the lyrics here (lovesongfordebbie.html).
I had the tape machine there and hooked up, forgot to turn it on until the 4th or 5th song, then didn't bother turning the tape over when it ran out. I haven't had a chance see how it turned out, but if there's any decent audio of the songs I did tape, I'll try to post them on the site "real soon now."
Future gigs here will probably shift to Saturday evenings, mainly because Patsy is planning to close on Sundays after the first of the year. This may be a good chance to try more of a secular set for a wider audience, but you have to understand what I mean by my "secular" songs - I probably wouldn't use any of these songs in a church worship service, some of them are about worldly subjects (all intended in fun), but that doesn't mean I've exorcised God or even Jesus Christ out of them. My songs, as a whole, are going to reflect the fact that I'm a Christian, and I'm certainly not above adding in a "praise" or "worship" song if I sense the Lord's leading to do so, regardless of the audience. In fact, I've got a few downright evangelistic songs I may wrap up some sets with. So, if you've heard me primarily as a Christian artist, please still pray for the gigs, and please come out. I think you'll enjoy it!
Week of November 28th, 2005
- PLAYING AGAIN! - DECEMBER 11th - SUNDAY - SOUTH TEXAS COFFEE SHOP, 425 W. MAIN STREET, TOMBALL, TEXAS. - Start around 4:00 to closing time around 6:00. New amp - at least the keyboards should sound better, although I won't guarantee that about the singing. Check my Yahoo! calendar for any updates. Posted a flyer here if you want to pass it around (thanks!). Please pray first - still struggling with my voice on and off - then please come out!
Two more new songs! First, finished my FIRST CHRISTMAS SONG! - or at least the first one dealing specifically with the nativity (and the rest of Jesus's life) - "Start it Out Here In Bethlehem." I've had the chorus to this song in my head for 3 or 4 Christmases, just decided to ask the Lord to help pull the verses together this year. Got pieces all week, then it all came together driving to the lake on Saturday (work on the boat - no sailing). Intend to debut it the 11th.
Second one is a little country ditty, "County Line Grocery," I got on the way back home. The trigger for the song is an actual place on the road to Lake Livingston, although I've never stopped there and the song has nothing to do with it (that I know of) except the name.
Would like to find a place to try the secular songs on an audience; eMail me any suggestions. Problem is, most venues want a tape, which seems to be a sticking point with me - I can be having a great practice session, sounding good, and as soon as I hit "record" everything falls apart. May try to put more focus on recording after the first of the year, but also need to get back to song-WRITING! Scores for "There Lies the Cross", "Speak Forgiveness", and "About You Blue" are still sitting pretty much where I left them over a year ago; might as well submit them for a 2006 copyright date now.
August - November, 2005
Pretty terrible about keeping this up, aren't I? The August 14th gig went just "OK" - fighting off being sick the week before, then really got slammed the week after! Finally decided it was the devil and his minions causing it, got fed up with it, and drove around Tomball one night praying to God and screaming at the devil like a madman. God honored my attempts at spiritual warfare though, because things got better after that, except for the fact I lost my voice for about three weeks as a result of the screaming. Writing this update on Dec. 1, and my voice is really just now sounding decent (ok, as decent as it gets) again. Please pray for the December 11th gig (above) - there are "powers" in Tomball that don't want these songs heard there!
Songwriting progress -- Not much, summer into October. October/November, we finally settled on attending one church on a regular basis (Spring Tabernacle). Then I got bored with talk radio and decided to turn it off, both morning and evening commute. Then I got tired of being too tired to ever get up early enough to pray like I used to, and whined to the Lord in a petulant fit that commuting was the only time I really had to pray and He was either going to have to do away with it or make do with it as my prayer time. Well, guess what? In spite of my initial bad attitude, he's honored me spending that time with Him instead of with the talk show hosts! EIGHT NEW SONGS throughout October and November, mostly on the road! Thankfully, Deb had given me a little recorder a couple of years ago, so I just sing what I get in the truck onto tape and write down the words at lunch or home later. I've put the titles and dates of the new songs on the Yahoo! calendar, and the lyrics are all posted - 5 secular songs/ditties, 2 praise songs, and one "special" song for a special person (I'll post on the web site after I introduce it Dec. 11th).
As far as actually getting any notes written on staffs of music, still not much progress, but I have kept up with the chord sheets for all the new songs, and slowly getting lyrics and chord sheets for practically everything updated into Word, then the chord sheets into pdf files. I don't figure it's a lot of good to post the chord sheets, though, unless I get either a recording or sheet music of the song done also, so you'll have some idea of the melody and rhythm. Did post a not-so-good recording of Halle-Hallelujah! It really doesn't do justice to the song and I need to replace it soon, but at least you can get the gist of it.
Sailing log -- Some great days, some not-so-great. Before a lady called Rita beat up the dam and caused the water in Lake Livingston to be lowered some four to five feet, we had a couple of fantastic moonlight sails. During one of the very light summer wind days, we dropped some lines off the stern and found a good catfish hole off one particular point. The marina and boats came out pretty much unscathed during Rita - I attribute that mostly to the prayers and blessed spirit of the marina manager, Carolyn. Now that the lake level is lowered, there are a heck of a lot of stumps showing we must have just passed over before. I think we'll forego the moonlight sails for now because of the stumps. Racing - I love our little boat, sails well for its size, but it is the smallest boat in the races and we didn't do too well at the starting line all summer, in the light air. The one slightly larger boat we were -almost- competitive with got a larger genoa and left us in their wake the last race of the summer. So we shopped for a larger genoa ourselves, bought one off ebay, but the seller got the luff and leach measurements reversed, so now we've got to get it to a sailmaker to see if it can be cut down to fit. Hope to do better next spring! New photos from Lake Livingston posted on the Song of Grace page. In the pictures that look like mostly water -- the tiny specs far, far away are the other boats we're "racing" - see what I mean about bad starts?!
Sorry for the long update - never intended to go so long between postings.
Week of July 31st, 2005
- Rescheduled the gig to AUGUST 14th- SOUTH TEXAS COFFEE SHOP, 425 W. MAIN STREET, TOMBALL, TEXAS. - SUNDAY AUGUST 14th. Check my Yahoo! calendar, for any updates. Please come out!
Week of July 24th, 2005
- HEY! ANOTHER GIG! - SOUTH TEXAS COFFEE SHOP, 425 W. MAIN STREET, TOMBALL, TEXAS. - SUNDAY AUGUST 7th. Time not definite yet, but tentatively start playing around noon for a couple of hours, maybe take a break and come back in the evening. Meant to make it sooner, but have had a very busy time at work and a week where my voice went away completely for a few days. Check my Yahoo! calendar, eMail me, or call the coffee shop, 281-290-9664, to check time. Please come out!
Week of July 10, 2005
- The Sunday gig went well enough to be invited back! Not many people, but the few who heard seemed to be blessed and appreciative. My little amp sounded better than I expected, and people even said the acoustics of the place match my voice well. Will probably try it a little later in the day in 2-3 weeks. No definite date or time set; check my Yahoo! calendar or call the coffee shop, 281-290-9664 if interested. Thanks to Patsy, Bill, & Paula!
July, 2005
- HEY! BRENT'S GOT A GIG! Where? - SOUTH TEXAS COFFEE SHOP, 425 W. MAIN STREET, TOMBALL, TEXAS. When? - SUNDAY JULY 10TH, setup around 1:00PM, START PLAYING AROUND 1:30-2:00. A possible recurring gig assuming things go well the first time.
The story: daughter's car breaks down in front of coffee shop, we can't get there until after dark, she spends all day in and out of the shop with no money to spend, but they're still very kind to her, so Mom and Dad decide to stop by next Sunday for a brew, Debbie strikes up a conversation with the owner about what a great job she did remodeling the old gas station, and by the time the coffee cups are empty, Brent's got a gig! Pretty cool, huh? Thanks to the owner Patsy, one very nice lady, for putting faith in me unheard, just trusting by the Spirit that it would work out!
Sent out an email flyer to a few people, but I seem to have lost a bunch of email addresses I thought I had; sorry if I missed you! Sundays, I'll probably play all praise/worship/contemporary Christian songs, but if I end up playing evenings or Saturday later, I'll likely play the secular songs with some Christian as the Lord leads. Email me if you want to be notified of any upcoming gigs, or I'll try to keep my Yahoo! calendar updated.
Late June, early July 2005
NEW SONGS! June 24-26th, celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday at the family reunion, Haskell, Texas. A couple of months ago, she had described a day on the road where she had really felt the presence of God, and asked for a song about it for her birthday. "On the Road to Understand" is a start; the verses aren't quite yet where I want them, but we sat down at a piano anyway and Mom was very happy with the song, said it expresses just what she felt that day.
Keeping with the road theme, "Won't You Come Drive with Me" just kind of developed as I was driving to work the next week.
Sailing log: Puttered around the house Sat., Sunday, finally made it to the lake July 4th, Monday. Fought our way out of the doldrums behind Pine Island and finally hit some really good sailing wind to the north. The wind clocked to the south then and we had a nice, fast beat back to the marina. Worked the feeling into the last verse of "Won't You Come Drive with Me".
April-June, 2005
- "Back in the water and sailing by May"? Hah! Well, at least in the water Memorial Day weekend, just in time for a thunderstorm with lots of lightning, so no sailing until June 4th! That was a great shake-down cruise, though; wind about 15 MPH, 2-foot plus waves. That was the first time this old dinghy sailor actually reefed a sail (dinghy and catamaran sailors tend to just push the limits until something breaks), and I was quite pleased with the way the boat sails in those conditions. While the boat was still on the trailer, we found that rain water was pouring in along the rub-rail, so re-caulked the entire deck edge (2 extra weekends), then found there was a moderate amount of "boat-pox" or osmosis blistering hiding under the lake-scum, so instead of an easy 2-weekend bottom job, it was more like 5 weekends, plus a couple of weekends with rain and a funeral.
Debbie's father, Robert Johnson, passed away May 15th at 80 yrs. age. I've come to highly respect his wisdom and he is sorely missed by us all.
So once again, the songwriting's pretty much where I left the last posting below; a couple of scores to check over, maybe polish up a little, and still need to record an audition tape I can take around to different venues; lots more I'd like to be finishing as I can find the time.
January-March, 2005
- OK, so my winter of songwriting didn't go quite as planned. I'll just claim the Adam defense, though -- "Lord, that woman you gave me..." She just got it in her head that we needed something to do together now that the kids are grown - like... a sailboat, yea, that's it, a sailboat. And being an old sailor myself, it wasn't too hard to convince me to go along. So my "winter of songwriting" instead turned into a winter-of-looking-at-very-many-ads-online for a boat we'd both enjoy and could afford. The best site we found for that, by the way, is David Luckenbach's site at www.sailingtexas.com. And that's exactly where we found our boat, now purchased, a Starwind 19 (I plan to post pictures here "real soon now"). The boat needs a little work due to the main hatch blowing off on the road from Canyon Lake, I'll be doing a bottom job, and Deb's working on new interior cushions, but it should be back in the water and sailing by May.
So, the boat may have been a distraction from the songwriting, but I feel it's very important for us to have a venue for "re-creation" outdoors, under God's blue sky. Also entered a very busy period at work after Christmas, lots of overtime, then Deb went in for somewhat major surgery mid-March (recovering fine). So the songwriting's pretty much where I left the last posting below; still need to send in the (2) finished scores and finish up a couple of others. Did have a few chances to play with the PortaStudio; got a couple of songs recorded, but nothing I'm quite happy with yet. Will post the songs when I like what I hear.
November-December, 2004
- Finally have an "official" catalog registered with CCLI! The ten (10) songs I've actually gotten the copyright registered on are now licensed by CCLI. This file (cclinumbers.html) gives the CCLI song numbers.
More to come ... Although very busy at work, family visits over the holidays, etc., I did finish the scores for both "There Lies the Cross" and "Speak Forgiveness," but put them aside to send in with a 2005 copyright date. Just have to check them over again and get them sent in for copyright registration; will give them a couple of weeks to get started in the process there, then post them here on the web site.
Also have "About You Blue" score basically finished, just have to check it over and see if any revisions needed.
One of my Christmas gifts was a Tascam PortaStudio 4-track recorder. Haven't had a chance to play with it enough to know how much it can really help get some recordings produced, but I'll be trying it out in the coming weeks.
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