Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Surf

Last night's show with Emma Mae at the Surf Ballroom was SO much fun! The energy level of the band onstage is one of, if not, the highest I've ever played with and it was so much fun to rock out onstage with them. The Surf is a really cool, old, historic theater in Clear Lake, Iowa and was the last venue that Richie Vallens, the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly played before the plane crash that killed them all. (Their plane went down 7 miles west of the theater in a field). They also have a room in the back where the walls have been signed by everyone who has played there. I thought you might enjoy some pictures from last night.

I'm in my bunk on the bus back home to Nashville....having had a great weekend, and looking forward to getting back home.

Me and Emma Mae after the show.

The Historic Surf Ballroom.

One out of 4 walls of the room of signatures!  Crazy!

Point of Grace has played the Surf!  I loved that I found this signature!  I'll be out with Point of Grace this December for their 17 date "Winter Wonderland Tour."

So......catering brought us Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner...and the wet naps say "Not recommended for underarm use" on the packaging. Which of course, prompted me to take this picture......

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Where I am

I got a phone message yesterday from my friend Mike who queried, "Where on God's green earth are you today?"  Good question.

At this moment I'm on a tour bus watching VH1's metal morning on a flatscreen TV while surfing the internet:
...while passing scenes such as this:
As for where in the country I am......I not quite sure where I am actually.  I know that I just passed a sign advertising "Bob's Your Uncle Pizza Cafe."  I know that I'm eventually going to end up in Clear Lake Iowa to play a show for singer Emma Mae Jacob at the Surf Ballroom.  (The cool part about the Surf is that it is the last place that Richie Vallens, the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly played before the plane crash that killed them all.  We are all glad that we are riding the bus back and not flying.)

I got on the bus on Music Row last night at midnight (after rocking out to Justin Gordon and the Avett Brothers at War Memorial Auditorium  and catching part of the presidential debate on TiVo with Keith,) climbed in my bunk to sleep at about 1:30 am....got out of bed about 9:15 this morning and am chilling in the front lounge with the few band folk that are actually awake by now.....listening to all the songs we're playing tonight that I should know better than I actually do. Bill, Emma's hairdresser, just made me flaxseed waffles (Yummy!) and coffee with organic soymilk for breakfast.  

We've got about another 2 hours on the road before we hit Clear Lake.  I love the road.  :)

P.S......
We saw these along the way today out the bus window. I don't know that I've ever really seen wind turbines before. Thought you might enjoy seeing them too.


how to play the cello

The other day I was hired to play violin in a music video for Nicole C Mullen.  However, as I talked with the producer, I discovered that there was a disconnect as they thought that the 4 bars of cello solo at the beginning of the song were a violin and hadn't hired a cello.  What to do?  Enter my friend Dabney's cello and my acting skills.

One of my biggest flaws is that I don't like to fail and I don't like to not be good at what I do, so to walk into a video shoot knowing that I was about to be called upon to do something I wasn't really good at, was a difficult thing for me.  

My cello playing sounded like a dying cat....a large dying cat.  Fortunately, the recording of the song was blaring loud enough that no one heard how awful I was, and the director said I "looked fabulous." which made me feel better.  I accomplished what they needed for the shoot.  However, it was about the 14th time through the song (we must have run it about 30 times.  We played it for 3 hours straight.  literally.) that the Lord spoke into my heart.  Even my best playing that I think sounds amazing is still a "filthy rag" to Him.  The music He makes is finer than anything I could imagine and therefore, my good playing doesn't really sound any better in His ears than my skwaking  on the cello did to me.  But yet He thinks it's beautiful because I play it for Him.  Just like a Daddy loves the mass of cotton balls and glue and crayons and glitter on craft paper that his toddler brings home from daycare.  He tells her it's beautiful and fusses over her and the picture and hangs it on the fridge.  

I felt my entire body relax and I decided that I was going to turn my cello honking over to the Lord.  "Daddy?  Listen to this!  I'm playing it for you!"  I smiled and praised imperfectly as He calls us to do, and I noticed by the end of the shoot, I'd even learned the entire song....He had allowed me to conquer that foreign territory.....because I'd decided to make it worship.  Our Daddy is sweet and wonderful.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

doin' what i came here to do....and then some.

When I moved here in August of 2006, I dreamed of a day when I would play music...and not have a desk job.  I hoped....and was almost too scared to hope...that some day I could tell people that I was a violinist, a fiddle player, a musician.  That when people asked what else I did, I could say, "nothing. just music."  

Last November the Lord brought me to a place where He asked me to step out on obedience.  You've probably heard the phrase, "don't quit your day job"...well I did.  I quit my desk job at Vanderbilt University and headed out into the mean world of full time music industry.
And I love it.

I am thankful to say that since last November I have done just that.  Played music.  Recently I've done a few acting gigs (a commercial for a lawyer in Georgia that my friend Courtney actually saw on TV in Georgia today), an extra in Billy Graham: The Early Years (out in theaters October 10, 2008), was an extra in Hannah Montana: The Movie (out in theaters May 1, 2009)  But mostly played music.

This week...the two will meet.  On Thursday I'm shooting a Christmas music video for Nicole C Mullen...and next Monday I'm shooting a video for Kristy Lee Cook (American Idol Season 7) for her song "15 minutes of shame."  I'll be the fiddle player in both of these videos.  (type-casting? haha.)  

I don't think that this is typical of Nashville at all...I'm not sure why I've been blessed with these opportunities...but I'm so thankful for them.  I'm just thanking the Lord, living it up and working hard while it lasts.  


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

i can see three corners from this corner


the Lord obviously rocked my life this summer in many ways, but one of the things He saw it good to bestow in my life was the friendship of three women with whom He sent a sweet bond and has continued to compel us to share life together.  One sister is in Alabama, one is being obedient and moving in faith to our nation's capitol, one has followed the Lord across the ocean to Spain.  I am in Nashville.  Despite being scattered to the four corners of the earth so to speak, He is using the threads He knit together in a brief period of time as a conduit through which we are continuing to be fed and experience life.  This week as He poured into me through them, I heard what He does for us described as the ridiculous favor of the Lord.  She continued that, "To Him, love is not an emotion that waxes and wanes - come what may, HE is love and will love no matter what."  Amen and amen.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Planet of the Apes.....ahem....Grapes.

Trenton, Ronnie, and Me with our Grape faces on.

Ronnie the Grape...I mean Great....I mean Ape...
Vogue  
It always cracks me up when I talk to kids and teenagers at events that seem to think that musicians are "so cool."  I frequently want to say, kid...if you knew how nerdy we are....you probably wouldn't be buying that record.  But of course I never say that.  My job is to sell records. (Today a ten year old girl came up to the merch table after the show and said, "You guys were WAY better than the Jonas brothers.  No...I'm being serious...you were!"  Aaahhh.  I've hit the big time.) Anyway.....this weekend was no exception to the "we do weird things on the road" rule except Glen happened to be there to document it all on his iPhone.  Thanks Glen. :)

These little gems were taken by hiding grapes in our lips.  The boys think I look sort of like "DW" from the "Arthur" books and cartoon show.  I think they look like Planet of the Apes creatures.  Suffice to say, we all look super weird.  It's good to know that a host of teenagers still think we're cool even though no one else will after this.  Fortunately, I don't think that many people actually read my blog.  ;)


spinners, running and Carmen Sandiego

I found a terrific piece of Facebook flair the other day that read, “Chuck Norris knows where in the world Carmen Sandiego is.” Fantastic. Chuck Norris jokes will never ever get old and Carmen SanDiego is one of my most favorite characters ever. I had the computer game as a kid and desperately wanted to be a contestant on the PBS game show of the same name just so I could “run” the map of a continent. Carmen inspired me to participate in the 7th grade home-school geography bee. Don’t make fun.
Anyway. As I’m never home these days, I’m seriously considering re-naming the blog, “Where on the road is Bethany Daniel?” Sadly, Rockapella wouldn't be there to follow me around with catchy lyrics, but maybe Ronnie would write me a little ditty to chant...I'll have to ask him about it. (p.s. i put the Carmen Sandiego theme song lyrics at the end of this post in case you don't have the patience to check out the YouTube video.)

Today’s answer: Montgomery, Alabama.
Home of lots of vanity license plates (spotted today “IGETIT” and a few other gems I won’t repeat here), a “tricked out chopper” with cross-shaped spinning rear-view mirrors, and a teenage girl who drives a standard clutch jeep with a silver hand grenade on top of her stick-shift. I kid you not. I can’t make this stuff up.
Also home to Ronnie Freeman’s parents and the church he grew up in…hence why I’m here. Ronnie, Trenton, Ben Phillips and Glen Kimberlin and I are playing the “homecoming” service at First Assembly of God, Montgomery this weekend.

Tonight we’re at the Freeman’s house for a cookout and while the guys sacked out on the couches to watch the Alabama/Tulane game on pay-per-view ($30 ladies and gentlemen…), I got the workout bug. For those of you who know me well, you know that I’ve been a self-declared “novice runner” for about 2 and a half years now and even though I’d decided to run the Nashville half-marathon last Spring (which didn’t happen, p.s.), however over the past 2 months, I haven’t run one bit. Not a bit. Tonight however, fueled by a random burst of energy I plugged into the old iPod and set off down the dirt road.

Dirt road?

Who am I kidding? Sand road. With every step I took I sunk about an inch and a half into the loose dirt working out my calves more in a mile that I normally do in a month. Once down the road and back with 7 of the neighborhood dogs padding happily along behind me (yes….7….just call me the Pied Piper) and I was dripping with late summer afternoon Alabama humidity; my “muffin top” shifting uncomfortably from side to side as I ran reminding me that I need to get back into a regular exercise routine that includes toning the abs. Crunches, thou art my friend. Much to the dismay of the local canines, I headed to the air conditioned weight room to finish my workout. ahem.....death sentence. (I am actually posting this a day after I wrote it since this is the first time in 24 hours that I'm sitting down to an internet connection....and my calves and abs are KILLINGme!)  I then made sure to pig out on Mrs. Freeman's yummy yummy food and undid everything I did in the gym.  Nice.  gotta love it when that happens.



Carmen Sandiego Theme Lyrics

Well she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina,
She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize,
She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Steal their Seoul in South Korea, make Antarctica cry Uncle,
From the Red Sea to Greenland they'll be singing the blues,
Well they never Arkansas her steal the Mekong from the jungle,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

She go from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe,
Chicago to Czechoslovakia and back!

Well she'll ransack Pakistan and run a scam in Scandinavia,
Then she'll stick 'em up Down Under and go pick-pocket Perth,
She put the Miss in misdemeanor when she stole the beans from Lima,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
Oh tell me where in the world is... Oh tell me where can she be?

Ooh, Botswana to Thailand, Milan via Amsterdam,
Mali to Bali, Ohio, Oahu...!

Well she glides around the globe and she'll flimflam every nation,
She's a double-dealing diva with a taste for thievery,
Her itinerary's loaded up with moving violations,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Friday, September 5, 2008

JJ Heller

 I apologize that I haven't written in a while and now as I sit down to finally update the old blog, all you are getting is a commercial.  BUT.....It's a commercial for something free, so that's always cool......

A friend emailed me about this artist the other day and I downloaded the album but tonight is the first opportunity I've had to sit down and listen to it (as I slave away on a grad school project that's due tomorrow...I needed a pick-me-up!)

so....go visit this link....in the graphic below.......and download the album. it's fantastic. fantastic I tell you.




More Bethany-related-clever bloggyness coming soon. I promise. As soon as my grad school project is done tomorrow.