Friday, April 29, 2011

Listening To: Thad Cockrell

One of Jay's absolute favorite albums last year was Thad Cockrell's "To Be Loved." It's pretty great. Here Thad is performing my favorite off the album acoustic on a radio station:



Well, apparently Thad is friends with the pastor of our church, who invited him to play on Easter. And so Jay got to play 7 songs with him this last Sunday, which was really cool for him. They didn't practice at all - they totally winged it , which I think was intimidating for Jay, but Thad was really nice and cool about the whole thing. Jay loved him.

And here is "Pride Won't Get Us Where We're Going" off the album:


Later Sunday night, Jay helped out with the audio of a video shoot for Thad. We have some friends who shoot videos of bands doing broken down sets. I'll post the final video when it gets finished, but in the meantime check out a "behind the scenes" here. You spot Jay; I'll spot all the gear we've bought over the years ($$$$).

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Some of Us Were Designed for More "Academic" Pursuits

We (ie I) haven't been updating the blog lately for one main reason: there just isn't enough time. And this is due to one main reason: P90X.

That's right - we're doing P90X. [Almost] every night, we have to do an hour to an hour-and-a-half of push-ups, pull-ups, abs, curls, lunges, squats, yoga, stretching... And let me tell you, P90X has taught me how unfair life is.

We're in the 2nd month, and though I can tell I'm quite a bit stronger - can pretty much do a push-up...am sooooo close to being able to do a pull-up - I don't think I look that different. Haven't lost any weight...no six-pack...no bulging biceps.

And then there's Jay.

He's got pecs.

He's got biceps.

He's got massive calf muscles.

Several people have asked him if he's working out, because he really is bulking up. And last time I checked, WE'RE DOING THE SAME WORKOUT! And not that I want to bulk up, but still... If Jay just thinks about eating better, he loses 5 pounds.

This month we finally decided we had to start eating better so that the sweat and sore muscles aren't entirely in vain. So we'll see...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Melancholy Sessions

A project that Jay produced/recorded/mixed is available for free on Noise Trade today HERE. You can also have a listen by streaming HERE. [Just fixed this link - sorry!]

A few months ago, Jay started working with a Houston-area fellow named Tim Qualls producing a jammier, slightly stripped down version of 4 of his songs. They recorded just about everything at our house, avoiding drums by using lots and lots of hand claps (I'm even in there somewhere!). I think the final product is pretty killer - a little moody, a little poetic...hence the title of the EP.

Jay worked really hard on this project and really pushed Tim to step outside his box, and I think they're both quite pleased with the finished product.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Gotta Get Down on Friday

If you have somehow missed it, watch at least the first minute of this YouTube video that currently has 81 MILLION VIEWS! I'm perplexed...I think it's a joke, right??



Then you can fully appreciate: