To all you lovers out there

I hope you had a great Valentine's Day. Rache & I walked to a cool martini bar called Therapy which is only a couple of blocks from our place. Then we headed over to City Tavern, which is actually nothing like a tavern, but a very nice dining establishment. We love taverns, pubs, etc., and were actually thinking that's what this place was like. But it turned out to be a little nicer with a really hip atmosphere. Good wine and food. Then we headed home, made a couple of Russian Honey drinks (Irish Cream, Butterscotch Schnapps, Kalua, and vodka), turned off the lights and sat on the sofa and listened to music. What a great night! Nothing more fun than hanging with your best friend.

So I'm tired of the stinking long beard already. Tomorrow I'm getting a haircut and I'm going to ask my stylist to whack it all off (it would take me three hours to get rid of it with scissors and a razor - I tossed my beard trimmer months ago). Then I'm going to dye my hair blue-black. I've had it that way a few times and love it. It's time for a change.

I finally pulled Phillip Yancey's What's So Amazing About Grace off the shelf. I read The Jesus I Never Knew a couple years ago and bought Grace immediately thereafter, as Jesus was such an incredible read. And Grace is just as good. Incredible stories - I love the way this guy writes. If you've never checked out any of his stuff, I'd highly recommend it.

If you get bored, check out my band's MySpace site at http://www.myspace.com/kickingjackson. We're trying to get as many friends signed up as possible so we can get some local exposure. We're still hoping to start gigging in April. You can also check out our site (still no content - but it is up and running) at http://www.kickingjackson.com. Drop me a line - I'd love to hear from you.

Another song

I recorded another song last night. This one's called Wait for the Sun - click here to get it. I did everything in 90 minutes, pretty much kept the first or second take on all the tracks playing through the entire song - only punched in/out a couple of times. Not the most profound song out there - just an easy-going rocker. And it's obviously not perfect, but my goal is to just get my material out there so you can get an idea of what I'm working on these days. I think I need to get a condenser mic and put one of those screens in front of it, because my P's, T's and B's are a little punchy. Right now I'm just using my Shure SM-57 for everything. And I'm also trying to figure out how to add reverb to the tracks. I think those two things will make the recordings sound a lot better. Since Kicking Jackson is a three-piece band, I'll probably do most recordings from here on out with only three instruments, as well. That way, they'll have more of a realistic Kicking Jackson sound to them. I hope you like it. Drop me a line - I'd love to hear from you!