(we are recording a new ablum. this xanga is my humble attempt to keep you up to date with the progress.)

i have to show you this. we went to eat lunch today at george’s. shane found an item on the menu that intrigued him. it was potato oriented. yet he remained undecided. so he asked the waiter. shane asked, “so what’s good here?” the waiter responded, “any of the potatos. the potatos are good.” now before you go deciding that shane is quite the daity, the potato in question was named “el nino.” the description is as follows:

“1lb potato loaded with chicken fried steak topped with cream gravy & chedder cheese.”

yes. waco texas coming strong. this is where we live. a place where someone, possibly named george, sits around thinking, “huh. now what would be good on this potato. i know. a chicken fried steak.”

before shane’s attempt at consumption:

after shane’s attempt at consumption:

all to say, the waiter always knows best.

thank you kind people. and so therefore, we go with the big muff and the qtron together and yes it sounds immense!
so keep that in mind. in “can you feel it” the bass tone is the big muff with the qtron. party people commence to jiggling.
happiness.

ok question. mike d is laying down the bass for “can you feel it.” it’s going fantastic. but we’re wondering whether we should use the qtron by itself in the verses or the qtron and the big muff.

or…

what say ye!?

ok question. mike d is laying down the bass for “can you feel it.” it’s going fantastic. but we’re wondering whether we should use the qtron by itself in the verses or the qtron and the big muff together.

like…

or…

what say ye!?

shane.

so yeah. that’s shane. he’s having a good day. it being the first full day and all. you can tell this just by the look he is giving my camera phone.

so here’s what’s happened so far:
1. i ate donuts from a bag.
2. toni and i took our car in to the shop to have the windshield washer fluid reservoir replaced and the oil changed.
3. jeremy finished tracking drums for “can you feel it”. (at least that’s what i think it will be called. who knows. things change. but for now, that is what we call it.)
4. we ate lunch at uncle dan’s. wow.
5. we went to take back the truck that shane had rented to bring all his gear down.
6. a man with very few teeth told shane that where he had been told to return the van, as printed on his budget rental agreement, was not the place to return the van.
7. shane discovered it was hard to be upset at a man with very few teeth. just because it’s hard to form regular angry thoughts while staring into unexpected absent spaces in someone’s mouth.
8. mark (shane’s assistant) went to his hotel room to edit drums on the first track.
9. painters came to the house and put another clear coat of varnish on the upstairs sleeping porch. (that has nothing to do with the recording but it is no less true.)
10. i hoped aloud that the man with limited denticles did not have internet.
11. jeremy started tracking “o for a thousand tongues to sing”.
12. i said a few things to the effect of: “holy crap!” and “oh my freaking yes!” attempting to indicate that the sound of the drums was large, very large in fact and what was being played pleased me greatly.
13. mark came back from his hotel room with edited drums.
14. i went in the house and drank a milkshake.

so that’s pretty much the day thus far. of course some of the previous may be out of order, like it is true that number 8 happened prior to number 5, 6, and 7. and also hogan was here for awhile getting files to work on violin parts. and there is also the part about mike d trying to fix my internet so the cameras are more stable and uploading properly. that part i left out. but the funniest part that i didn’t mention was when jeremy returned from lunch and locked his keys in his car while it was still running. i just felt it inappropriate to mention since it might denote more than typical absent mindedness on his part and that would just be wrong. except that he pointed out that this has happened on 3 other occasions recently, which would negate my previous modifier of his absence of mind.

we are now importing mark’s edited “can you feel it” drums.
commence to jiggling.

it looks like this is actually going to happen. i really can’t believe it. but sure enough, shane and mark (shane’s assistant this time around) spent the day unpacking the rest of their gear and plugging it all in. the lights are blinking and the nag champa is burning and i’m beyond thrilled. it was our intention to kick things off tomorrow but with the sweet smell of incence mingling with the warming electronics we were powerless. this evening after dinner we dumped the first protools file from one of our harddrives to one of shane’s. so let it be declared that we have officially begun. yes. it is true. the 5th greatest recording of all time (or at least documented human history) is now underway.

click here to stay tuned

ok. you may have been wondering we’re we’ve been. well, we’ve been preparing. and now the time is upon us. so, like the ditty declares, “here we go.” we are moments away from recording our next full length album. we will again keep a few blogs running, keeping you up to date with the progress, pictures, videos and such. we will also have webcams running the entire time. yes, webcams. this way you can watch me eating at the kitchen table while mike d plays the bass. yes. absolute delight shall soon commence. i’ll let you know the link for the webcams as soon as they’re up and running. shane (our fearless engineer) pulled up moments ago and we have unloaded all his gear and have begun plugging it in, soldering what was damaged in transit, and debating what we shall dine on later. i can’t believe we’re about to do this!

just got back from a cruise. a cruise, as in a boat, upon the ocean, on which we played music. it was the “k-love friends and family music cruise” and, wow… speechless…

anyway, while in the middle of the atlantic ocean we had no mobile phone service or internet. actually, we were, theoretically, intended to have both, but i couldn’t figure out how to work either of them in international waters. lots of numbers and passwords and more numbers and, but that’s not the point. here’s the point: toni (my wife) and i just returned home and immediately commenced the typical routine, upon return – consume food items at ninfas, retrieve ground mail, observe progress on our house being remodeled (yes, the dr. pepper house), discuss how old we will be when it, said house, is actually finished and livable, transport our travel-bags (luggage) to “the barn” where toni and i currently reside since the house is uncompleted (nor will be before i am 47 and toni is 45 apparently), remove my nonsensically vivid-orange-laptop (recently emblazoned by 2 munificent stickers) from its holder, observe and respond to email, observe guestbook entries on the dc*b website, removing any stupid bot-oriented-spam or over-exuberant entries by, say, my mom, observe my happy-little-blog, located here, which upon this occurrence lead me to amazon.com book review entries, which then, lead me to tears. you people…

i mean, i must say, it is an unbelievable thing – to mention a thing, rather in passing, board a boat, bound for atlantic islands unknown, then, return home to dry land to behold names which i recognize, and know, and know well, conveying such things as were conveyed. i literally cried. i am weak. seriously, thank you for taking such time. unbelievable…

here are the fantastic words offered for which we are grateful…

this little book is a tough little sale, being about death and bluegrass and all, and you won’t know how this helps, or how much it meant to me and hogan to read your name and take in your kindness. seriously, thank you.

but, the real question is, obviously, who’s stickers are on my orange laptop, anyway? am i right, or am i right?!

ok, speaking of reading…

it has come to our attention, via the higher ups, that it would do us a world of good to have you submit reviews for the book hogan and i recently penned. apparently it will prove really helpful in the overall distribution of the book. we are told that if you can create a substantial buzz, then, apparently book stores get really excited about stocking it. this would be a good thing. so please, if you’ve read the book and have kind things to say, CLICK HERE IMMEDIATELY to lend your voice to the matter.

if you haven’t purchased the book yet, kindly show your heart felt support for what we’re trying to do here! CLICK TO SHOW YOUR LOVE!!

and lastly, if you haven’t seen this yet, you must do so now. the video of hogan and i is just stupid delightful. CLICK HERE for absolute joy!!

the trip to mars hill was great. just what i needed right now.

it dawned on me, while talking to hogan in the grand rapids airport, awaiting our return flight and playing brain age, that i have recently been on a reading rampage (partially the fault of christmas gifts received). i was discussing the latest book, which i was sure to finish on the flight back, when toni (my wife) interjected that she thought i must be reading for a balloon launch. did you have those? a reading contest in elementary school? i did. we had a reading contest where you’d fill out a card for every book you’d read. it would include your name and your school and then your teacher would insert the card into a helium filled balloon. we would then walk out onto the football field holding all of our balloons, each representative of a book we’d read. my picture appeared in the texarkana gazette (locale paper) holding my balloons, wearing my “super reader” tshirt. i had a lot of balloons. i tied with a classmate named stephanie gordon. or maybe she beat me. yeah, she probably won. it was close though. anyway, we’d then release our balloons and watch as they flew away. people would call into the school saying our balloon landed in their yard or on their car, which was cool. i’m pretty sure these balloons were not biodegradable. but it was the 80s and who knew…

what is the what – dave eggers

v for vendetta – alan moore and david lloyd

how soccer explains the world: an unlikely story of globalization – franklin foer

rumpsringa: to be or not to be amish – tom shachtman

picasso and lump: a dachshund’s unlikely odyssey – david douglass duncan

a man without a country – kurt vonnegut

letter to a christian nation – sam harris

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time – mark haddon

the architecture of happiness – alain de botton

icelander – dustin long

if anyone has read any of the above books and has further reading suggestions for me, let me know.