I must say there are some real gems here. I decided to put my old Washburn 6-string bass up for sale on ebay and during the process I thought it would be fun to see if I could find some old pictures of me playing it. We certainly have come a long way!!!
And for good measure and to say goodbye here's a pic of the old bass. I'll miss ya buddy!
About a year and a half ago I started collaborating with an old friend on some of the songs she had written and on some songs I had written. Our first writing session went so well we decided to get together again. Well that process has repeated itself many times over the past year and eventually turned into recording sessions. We realized we had the makings of a band/group/artist or something anyway so we thought we should name this thing. Naming a music group proves to be a difficult task, you want something clever, memorable, meaningful, available online, etc. After some time we came up with the name Hark The Herons. We live in Cambridge Ontario where the centrepiece to the city is the Grand River. It's curious how many times you can drive over the river and not really notice the beauty of it but when you slow down, stop and sit for a while or go for a walk, you'll start to notice things like the majestic herons. We liked how Hark the Herons sounded somewhat like a call to slow down and not miss the beauty of what's right beside us. We ended up writing a song called Slow Down that speaks to this exact thing.
Well the songs are recorded and we're putting the final touches on the artwork right now. We expect the album to be available in itunes and amazon and all the other online sources by May. Here's how the cover turned out. We love it!
For a preview of the songs, we decided to post some of them on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/harktheherons
They typically end up there eventually so why not be the first ones to post them? And why not something slightly better than just an album cover. So we've been working on camera shots with no camera movement that fit in with the music and the whole idea of Hark The Herons. We've got three songs posted now and will continue to post over the coming weeks. Take a listen, let me know what you think!
Bend, Break
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rOYamT6_98
Canadian Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvDDBX3Rzc4
Rich Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw67aJ9FoS0
Time for an update methinks! Plus saying methinks is always a good thing.
Methinks some kind of best of 2009 is in order since it's January so I just went through the albums I bought that were new for 2009 and picked out a couple of my favorites from the year.
Next is Stockholm Syndrome by Derek Webb. I really didn't know any of Derek's music before picking up this album but I did have an expectation of singer songwriter type of music. You know, acoustic guitar and a vocal that tells stories. Well it was WAY different than that. It has a Beck feel to it, sort of, electronic, lots of groove with a little more edge and much stronger lyrics. I love that it seems like Derek says whatever he feels like and he's in the Christian music world. That's refreshing.
So there you have it. Not that I bought a ton of 2009-made albums but people are often asking what I'm listening to and I think this sums up last year's new music quite well.
GL
Year two for the Bethlehem Skyline Tour has arrived and I am excited! We have such a great team of people working behind the scenes to put all of this together and I have the privilege of showing up and making music with some of my favorite people on the planet for 15 nights. Last year when we started this thing I knew there was some "magic" to it and I was really hoping we'd be able to be out again this year.
Even though that "magic" was there it wasn't all easy last year. The first year of anything new is always difficult but Centricity really believed in this idea. We were telling stories while we ate lunch today about some of last year's experiences. Some awful food, some unbelievably magnificent food, a security guard who was so rude we think he was fired after we left, the cold and snow and delicious scones at the Grays house in Minnesota.
Well this year's tour seems to have started much stronger as far as our preparedness and last night's show in Nashville felt pretty good. It was awesome to have such a great crowd in a town where you expect the crowds to be tired of music. Maybe that's just our insecurities coming out but we were glad so many were there and that so many of our friends were there too.
It'll be a busy few weeks. We'll be working hard and we'll be away from our families but even with all the difficulties I still count it a blessing and an honor to be able to make music for a living and especially to be able to do that with people I love. Looking forward to what's coming next!
Glenn
Whoaaaaaaa. What? July?? Really?
I hate doing these kinds of blogs but I think it is necessary seeing as it's what?? November?!?! HOLY CRAP!
Well since July . . . August was filled with being on the road driving across Canada. That trip lasted into September. Then September kept me busy with the Hark The Herons side project I've been working on. We planned on starting to record in September so between recording and getting songs prepared for recording that ended up being a busy month. October saw us back in Canada, Alberta to be exact, for a week long tour ending at the Canadian Gospel Music Awards. Plus lots of editing and continued recording for the aforementioned HTH project. And here we are in November, still working on the album plus touring plus trying to maintain a healthy home life. Blogging has taken a back seat.
I have been reading though. Here's a couple of books I've read lately. The Grand Weaver and The Ice Master. Very different books but both really good.
And the one I am currently reading, Kiss by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy. I've liked Dekker's books before and this one is turning out to be pretty good too.
And here are a few pics from the recording process. For those of you who have asked, expect the album in the Spring sometime and a website in the new year. We'll try to get all official in 2010!
I've been wanting to get my hands on this book for a while. I've read both "The Tipping Point" and "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell and really enjoyed them so I figured Outliers would be good too. I saw an interview with him on "The Hour" (a Canadian talk show) and back in January I heard about the 10,000 hour rule he talks about and really wanted to get into this book. The library finally got to me in their queue of holds and now that I've read it I'm thinking about things differently. I'm looking at things through the "Outliers" lens.
It's got me thinking, how do I raise my children in such a way that they will have the best opportunities to succeed? I've thought that before but not in this way. You see, this book talks about how successful people, REALLY successful people, like top athletes, musicians, scientists . . . all worked hard but not only that had a series of seemingly random events in their life that brought them to the top of their profession. Without those events, without meeting specific people, without world events happening like they did, without being born in their specific month or year, their successes may have eluded them. So is there any way to manufacture that?
It's also got me wondering, what am I spending 10,000 hours on? What am I going to become an expert in, if anything? Gladwell explains a study which was done that tells how people who spend 10,000 hours at a specific task are the ones that become the top in their field. The study suggests "there are no naturals". What sets people apart in their ability is how much time they have spent on their skill.
"In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again."This goes against my understanding of how things work but as I look through this lens I can see how it can make sense. So now I wonder if the gifted ones or "naturals" are really just the ones who enjoy working on their specific skill the most which enables them to get in their 10,000 hours? Who knows? I do know that this book was a great read and one I'm sure you would enjoy.
Daniel Levitin
**If you have run Glorieta Baldy I'd love to keep a tally of the best times here so drop a comment with your time and I'll keep updating the blog with the newest times.**
I've spent the last week in Glorieta New Mexico which sits at about 7500 feet above sea level. So for the first few days I was constantly out of breath and needing to drink lots of water. After a couple of days which included some short runs and some extra napping I was feeling like my body had acclimatized so I decided at the end of the week I would try a pretty crazy run, at least by my standards.
There is a mountain peak here called Glorieta Baldy with a trail that takes you right to the top. The peak puts you at about 10,300 feet. It's a pretty advanced hiking trail with some serious elevation changes over short distances. The rumour around the camp here is that someone has run up and down in just under 2 hours. So I thought I would give it a try and see how close I could come.
I started in front of our hotel, The Hall of States, ran to the trailhead and continued up to Baldy only stopping my watch when I got to the top. My time to the peak was 1:31:23 The last 1.5 miles feel like they are pretty much straight up and are very difficult to do any running in. But when I reached the top the view was worth all the work. Here's a picture from the top looking down at the camp.
And this is the lookout tower you can climb up to get above the tree line for a great 360 view.
Coming down was much quicker and hurt just as much, just in different places. I made it back to the hotel in 2:27:53.
Here are some stats on the trail.
Total climb - 2,699 ft.
Top Elevation - 10,200 ft.
Distance up - 5.1 mi (from trailhead)
Road life isn't exactly conducive to reducing, reusing or recycling. My northern friends would be surprised at the lack of recycling options there are down south. We drink a lot of water when we are on the road which means a ton of water bottles that usually just get thrown in the garbage. Plus since we are eating out a lot we often have packaging for our food or Styrofoam plates that all just get thrown out. This has been nagging at me. There's gotta be a better way to be a better steward of what we have. So for starters I'm trying this out.
Instead of water bottles or Styrofoam cups I'm going to try and just refill this aluminum Sigg bottle with tap water wherever I'm at. It's been fun to watch people's reaction when I ask for tap water. It's almost like they can't believe someone would actually drink it. Well I'll do it. I'll give it a shot.
Next will be bringing out my own dishes so I don't use Styrofoam. I heard that Canadian rocker Sam Roberts or his wife does that. We'll see . . .
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