Back To Lynchburg
Well, Happy Halloween everyone. We are on the road this year so Kristin and the boys will have to get all dressed up and go out without me. I hate missing doing things with the kids, but I know that they will have fun tonight. I plan on dressing up as someone on a tour who needs a shower and a little more sleep.
Thanks to everyone who commented and contributed to the conversation on the previous post. It fascinates me how many different views there are. Turns out there’s no real way to unite religion and politics huh? I do appreciate all the insight though. That’s exactly what I was looking for.
We are in Lynchburg, VA tonight and to keep things “light” I thought I’d share a story. Every time I’m on a tour that stops here, I remember my first time visiting. Most of you have already heard this story but I think it’s worth repeating. This is taken from a post just over two years ago.
The following is an actual conversation that took place some time in February of this year at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Imagine me sitting in an unfamiliar office next to a lit, scented candle working on my computer. Much like I am right now.
Unknown Man: “Oh, hello. How are you?”
Me: “Good”
Unknown Man: “Getting the office smelling good for the Dr.?”
Me: “Okay.”
Unknown Man: “Have a good day”
Me: “You too.”
(15 minutes later…)
Different Unknown Man: “Oh, hello.”
Me: “Hi.”
Different Unknown Man: “Who are you?”
Me: “Brody. Who are you?”
Different Unknown Man: “I’m Jerry Falwell. This is my office.”
Me: “Should I leave?”
Jerry Falwell: “Well, I guess I could have my meeting somewhere else.”
Me: “Okay.”
I wonder if the books with his pictures on them should have given me a clue?
Have a great, safe holiday. What’s your plan tonight?
My Weird Arm
Wanna hear something weird? The other day when we were playing football, during one of the plays I hit my arm on something. It instantly started hurting but I didn’t know what from. Now, today my arm looks like this. It doesn’t look too bad but the weird part is that the palm of my hand is starting to swell and my middle and ring fingers are hard to bend.
I assume it has something to do with the tendons inside there getting all banged up, but I’ve never had anything like that happen before. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever bruised that part of my arm before. It’s a little weird. Problem is, I am left handed and it’s hard to do things including type so I’m going to be done now.
Any medical people out there have an idea of what might be going on?
I Was A Tech
So, before this tour started I knew that there was one day when MercyMe’s normal guitar tech would be off for a wedding and there was talk of me taking his place, though nothing was confirmed. Until yesterday. I found out at about ten in the morning that I would be his replacement and I’d have to somehow figure out what I was doing.
Now, I’ve played guitar for over ten years, and tuned plenty of guitars, and even was technically Phil’s guitar tech on the Crowder tour, but even that was only two guitars. But last night was a little different. Especially since I was the only one and there are two guitar players. Not to mention I’ve never actually tuned a banjo.
I got a crash course lesson right after sound check which consisted of lots of pointing and me frantically writing on little strips of tape. I was a little stressed all day about it, but once I got into the second or third song it was going pretty well.
In fact aside from walking directly into Bart after one of the changes I think it went great. I am pretty glad that Wes is back, but it’s cool to know that it’s not that big of a deal if I need to do it again. So that’s the question of the day.
What’s something you have done recently that was something you were nervous about doing but pulled off? Too specific? Okay. What’s something you’ve accomplished recently that you feel pretty good about accomplishing?
Ready? Go.
A Day In New York
So, today I woke up parked outside Madison Square Garden and had an entire day to hang out in the city. Several people had told me about a place called Bubby’s and the plan was to go there for breakfast. As soon as I stepped off the bus I realized how close we were parked to the Empire State Building and knew what my plan for the day was.
We all crammed into three different cabs and drove a few miles to breakfast, which happened to be one of the best breakfasts I have ever eaten, by the way, and Barry even bought me a souvenir mug. After breakfast Mike and I needed to run to Guitar Center so we had a few blocks to walk. We grabbed what we needed and started the walk back. We ended up stopping in several different places on the way back to the venue, but eventually made it back.
I was able to meet up with my friend Seth and hang out on the bus for a little while and then a group of us finally made our way to the Empire State Building. It didn’t take us too long to get to the top, and it’s a pretty amazing view from up there, but you already knew that. Eventually we made our way down, Seth had to take off and Jim and I walked around looking for more places to take pictures. We ended up stopping in the middle of the road for a while to try some different settings on our cameras and Jim took this picture.
Not bad huh? Eventually I might use this for something but I thought it was pretty cool.
Anyway, we made our way back to the show and the guys played while I took some more pictures and hung out a bit with The Katinas. The show ended and the guys and I walked down to Times Square to find some pizza and take more pictures. It was a pretty photo-filled day. After that we made it back to the busses and I’m currently sitting in the back of the bus watching some old baseball movie with Robert De Niro. It’s not very good, so I think I am off to bed.
I get to be home for the next couple days, and I’m pretty excited to see Kristin and the boys. Then it’s off to Texas next week. So that was my Sunday folks. Yes, my stats still sucked, but it was a pretty cool day in the city. See you tomorrow.
Absent
Man I have been slammed today. Today was the first day that we have had really good Internet and so the guys have been doing live stuff all day. I’m still trying to find a balance between blogging for myself and helping others blog on the road and still make it something new.
Tonight we are in Pennsylvania and it’s really cold outside. We were supposed to have our first football game today but the weather just proved to us all exactly how “not tough” we really are.
I will try to have a little something with more substance on here from the bus tonight.
Parking Lot Football
I’m not the most athletic person in the world. I mean I played football at school growing up, and played organized baseball and all that, but it’s been a long time since I really did any super athletic stuff. Well, apparently that’s about to change on this tour.
Last night after dinner we all walked over to a sporting goods store and bought some stuff. I didn’t bring anything even remotely athletic so I got some shorts and a shirt and a headband. This is my football uniform for the tour. Now, I didn’t get just any shirt and pair of shorts. I found the brightest green shorts I could, and was actually able to find a referee shirt to wear for the games.
Anyway, we ended up playing a little in the parking lot of the church for a few hours last night. The cops only came by once to make sure we weren’t kids messing around, but we just assured them that we were all thirty-something year old guys, and probably should be out there anyway. It started out band against crew, but some trades were made and eventually the teams were pretty “fair”. I say “fair” meaning an equal amount of people that play like me, and an equal amount of good players.
We ended up playing until about two in the morning, and I woke up pretty stiff and sore, but it’s going to be fun to have a weekly football game. We even made plays. Look out.
******UPDATE*********
Ryan, MercyMe’s lighting guy just walked into the office with his arm in a sling. Turns out last night when he slipped and fell on his wrist, he actually broke his arm, so it looks like we are a guy short on the crew team. I’m gonna to need to step up my game.
Useless Tour Trivia
The last time I was out on the road with the MercyMe guys I did a thing on my blog where I found a random piece of trivia for every city that we were in. One of the guys asked specifically for me to start it back up and since today isn’t officially a tour date, I will just give you a taste and just focus on the state rather than the specific city we are in.
According to Wired Magazine Virginia is the “Internet Capital of the World”. The world? Really? Huh. Turns out it used to be a little source of tension between Virginia and California. All I know is I have been fighting with the internet all day and I’m not too impressed with the ‘capital of this interweb’. It’s slow. Real slow.
So anyway that’s the deal. We’ve got a couple other things already cooking for this tour including ‘Saturday Flag Football’ and “Fat Club” not to be confused with “Fight Club”, which should be interesting. Also, in places that are Internet equipped we will hopefully have a camera placed somewhere throughout the day. Maybe one day it will be in catering, one day on the stage, one day in the bus, stuff like that. Most of this will be held over on MercyMe’s blog, but I’ll try to keep things different here. Like occasionally not talk about the tour.
Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday.
On The Road Again
Well, as most of you know, I’m heading back out on the road for a stretch with the MercyMe guys and a guy named Bebo Norman. So what’s this mean? This means that I am potentially coming to a town near you, and would love to shake your hand.
Now here’s the thing. If you haven’t yet, go to the MercyMe tour page and get yourself some tickets to the show. I’ve seen roughly forty or fifty MercyMe shows and I’ve seen Bebo a handful of times and both bring an amazing night of worship and put on a great show.
I’m pretty excited about a couple things that we are talking about doing on the tour with the MercyMe blog and who knows, maybe we can join forces to get Bebo blogging a little too. One of the things I am really excited about is what this could mean for the future of SkörInc. I’ve got some thoughts on what this could mean for the future of the company and I’m curious how it will play out.
Either way, I’d love to know if I’m coming you your city. Grab some tickets and make sure to come say hey if you’re there. Who’s going?
A North Georgia Bathroom Story
First of all, forgive the randomness of this post, as I only slept about three hours last night and it’s getting to that part of the day where things stop making sense.
So, last night down at the Gospel Music Channel’s studio in Atlanta, (thanks Carlos for not coming to visit even though it was in the middle of the Presidential Debate) there was a ridiculous amount of snacks and beverages laying around for everyone to take part it. And what does one do in between taking pictures, talking about blog stuff, and watching video performances over and over? They drink stuff. They drink multiple bottles of water, Sprite, Diet Coke, more water because they can’t handle any more Diet Coke, and even a little coffee for good measure.
Here’s the problem with being a four hour drive away from home and having an entire day of sipping on selected beverages. Nature takes it’s course and one might find themselves in need of a restroom more than once on the late night drive home. Now, if any of you have driven the stretch between Atlanta and Nashville you know, that aside from Chattanooga, there’s not many spots to pull over and take a stop, and I for one am horrible at choosing the right place to take these stops. I look for things that seem decent but always end up in places that I’m afraid I am leaving with a disease.
So last night at our second attempt to stop at a decent restroom, I had the choice between two gas stations. One on the right, and one under the freeway to the left. The one on the right looked a little dark and gross, so I decided to go to the one on the left. As I pulled in I noticed the sign informing me that the restrooms were, in fact, outdoor restrooms. Strike one. I walked around the corner to find two doors. ”Women’s” and “Men’s”. At first I debated just going straight into the women’s knowing that typically women are cleaner than men and since it was after two in the morning there was sure to be vacant. Locked. Strike two.
As I opened the next door I noticed, first that it was unlocked, and second that it was occupied. Not only was it occupied but it was occupied by a guy maybe in his early twenties, standing there with his back to me. This particular guy was not only not facing me, he was also not facing any sort of toilet. He was, however, doing what one would typically do when they are facing the toilet. This guy was literally turned completely to the side and was peeing on the wall and directly on to the plastic mechanism that dispensed the toilet paper. The floor was pooling and the toilet paper was now saturated with what I can only assume was at one point large amounts of alcohol.
I took a step back and closed the door, and started to walk back to the car as the door opened behind me and a loud “Whaaattsssssuuuppp” came from behind me. I turned to see now the front of this guy who was clearly under the influence of a different sort of beverage. A slight nod and I was headed back to the car to look for a third option.
