Friday, February 27, 2009

Juno Award As an Instrument

Today we started recording our Christmas album in Nashville. Not exactly the kind of weather to bring about the Christmas spirit but I think we live in the Christmas spirit all year long so we haven't been having any trouble. I've been getting some video of the process and will be uploading it to YouTube throughout. Today was the first day we started to record and we used it to record We Wish You A Merry Christmas. We had some real fun with it. Besides all of us singing together my favorite part was playing the Juno Award for percussion. It sort of had a Triangle quality to it. It worked well as part of the percussion ensemble we created behind the song. You see that wavy metal part going around the glass dude. Well that's what I hit. Jason's Juno does have a few dents in it now but he thought it was well worth it!

I didn't catch that on video but if you're curious about what we did get we have a couple of short clips on the bands YouTube page so check it out when you have a chance.

GL

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Friday, February 06, 2009

Downhere guitar string bracelets and necklaces - OPEN HOUSE!!

*** Update - Online store now open at gslavender.etsy.com ***

So if you read my wife's blog you'll notice this is pretty much an exact replica. I've been getting lots of comments online and from friends about our guitar string jewelry and figured it was time to make them available to our local friends.

We are also working on an online store and hope to have that ready to go early next week. We'll post about it once it's up! Now onto the post!!

"On February 17 & 18, Glenn and I are hosting an open house from 7:30pm to 9:30pm each night to sell our guitar string jewelry. We make each piece from guitar strings used in performance by the band. The clasps are sterling silver. Each piece comes with a tag with some written detail as to where the string was played, when, and/or by whom.

In celebration of downhere's recent Juno Award nomination we are also going to have their nominated album, "Ending is Beginning" available for purchase and a limited number of two other albums as well.

If you live in the area Cambridge, Ontario, we would LOVE for you to stop by! If you don't have our address, send me an email or facebook message, give me a call, or leave a comment here with a piece of your contact information that will allow me to pass our address onto you! If you know anyone who enjoys downhere's music and might be interested in stopping by, please pass this information along to them!"

These bracelets are all made from electric or acoustic guitar
strings. The beads you see are the anchors normally
attached to the strings and holding the string onto the guitar.


In the middle is a bass string bracelet. To the right
and left are bass string necklaces. The bass strings
and anchors are bigger than the acoustic and electric.


This picture focuses on a bass guitar string necklace.



downhere's newest release,
just nominated for a Juno Award


This was a digital release only although copies
were made for sale at the band's merch table.
This is an album for die-hard fans who want
to hear rough recordings of demos of songs
that weren't chosen for any albums.

downhere's 2003 release

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Thursday, February 05, 2009

Brother Lawrence

We finally dug out a box of our books which Sherri unpacked to one of our few bookshelves. I found our copy of The Practice Of The Presence Of God by Brother Lawrence and have been enjoying picking my way through it. To live like Brother Lawrence seems so distant from how I think I can live but it is really inspiring. Here's a portion of what I read today. I'm not unwell but reading this sure is a good reminder about how to react to suffering.

You can read the entire book online here.

Eleventh Letter: I do not pray that you may be delivered from your pains; but I pray earnestly that God gives you strength and patience to bear them as long as He pleases. Comfort yourself with Him who holds you fastened to the cross. He will loose you when He thinks fit. Happy are those who suffer with Him. Accustom yourself to suffer in that manner, and seek from Him the strength to endure as much, and as long, as He judges necessary for you.

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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Another Juno Nomination!

I just found out we (Downhere) were nominated for the 2009 Junos in the category of Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year! The nomination is for our album Ending Is Beginning. The Juno Awards are Canada's version of the Grammy's. It is a huge honour to get the nomination and be in the company we are in. We are truly blessed. Congrats Jeremy, Jason and Marc. It sure is fun to make music with you guys!

To see all the nominees follow this link.

GL

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Monday, February 02, 2009

Trashing My Football MVP Trophy

Back when I was a teenager I won a few awards here and there. Some of them pretty decent awards too. One of my favorites would be MVP for the football team I played for in my first year in high school. I like that one because I'm not much of a football fan. In fact, I didn't even turn on the TV last night when the Superbowl was on! So it just seems funny to me now that I was an MVP in football. Then another favorite would be my Jakes Award. I'm honestly not even sure what it was for except it meant I did something good at my high school in music!

Recently my Mom found all these old awards in her house and sent them over to us. We didn't know what to do with them until we remembered what we always do with these types of things. Take pictures of them then get rid of them! Pictures take up much less room and I'm certainly not going to be displaying my plaque for Student Activities Council Executive! So here they are. I'm puting them on display on my blog as a last farewell. Now to the garbage or Goodwill???










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