Trip of Taco Bells

I just got back from a long-awaited Akron trip, and even though it's 2:17am, I'm writing about it. It has been more than a month since I was last briefly in Akron (for an unsatisfactory band practice). I've been to two Switchfoot shows since then, which stirred the natural buildup of rock 'n' roll inside of me into a frenzy that needed to be let out. Y'ARR! So I've been looking forward to this trip, which took advantage of Brian and Stephen's spring break from Akron U. Plus, I was able to stick around Friday and Saturday for Care Group, Fuse I-Team planning meeting, and Kayte and Erin's St. Patty's Day party. It would have been a crying shame to miss that all, 'cause Kayte's SAS friends were really cool.

I drove out Sunday after church and lunch with Shannon's friends in Mt. Lebanon. Mom was in Florida, and Dad was going to a new guy--Bob's--house for lunch. Daniel was shuffled mercilessly back to Grove City since he was surrendering his ride due to the completion of the Sunday evening New Member's class.

The day was beautiful, and I called up different people and talked while I drove in the sunlight and looked at the regular puffs of cumulous clouds spreading off towards the horizon like giant cloud cookies. Brian, Stephen and I had a setup/jam/songwriting session that night, bisected by the grabbing of some Taco Bell for dinner (the first of many). They taught me a classic Pure Boss song, "Emo Coaster," and we worked "Always Late" up into a veritable song after being a sweet but impotent idea for months.
We also spent a lot of time working on guitar tones--something I'd been struck by at the Switchfoot concerts. I brought my Fender75 tube amp for my guitar, and I have been incredibly happy with its tone. YES! Finally that spontaneous $400 purchase is paying off! I'm getting unique, all-tube, 1970's non-modeled guitar tones that rival those of the $1200 Vox AC30 I played at Guitar Center on Monday. (Plus, my spontaneous $400 USA Strat is also paying off, dishing out juicy tones and taking me to string lock dive-bomb heaven).
That night Steve and I killed some JW's and wrote a song about chugging a gallon of milk--Steve's proof that coming up with classic goofy Pure Boss songs isn't a worry.

Monday was the off day--Brian and Alex were occupied, so I was free (and so was Steve in the end, 'cause he decided not to work for Jared). I met Jess, Christin and Justin at Quizno's for lunch, which was my only non-band-related contact of the trip. Steve and I killed some time at home after that, how I don't recall at the moment, and ended up getting some lunch at Taco Bell (Zesty Nachos have my stamp of approval, especially for $0.99) and hitting Guitar Center. That night we hung around with the fam, watched some 24, looked over old baseball/basketball collections, and ended up watching a Frank Peretti movie.

Tuesday was going to be all band all day, but that morning Alex called and said he realized he had voice lessons and work taking him out of comission at 4:30. So, yeah, we had a half day, basically, starting a little after 10am. We went over the songs Alex has learned so far, and then worked on the new ones from the night before. The guitar tones worked pretty well and OH YEAH! We bought a 5000-watt sound system when Lentine's music store shut down! So we had two dual-15"+horn mains (1200W each) and two 600-watt subs cranked up down in the dance room :-) We mic'd the kick drum, and it shook that place! Feedback was a pain, but overall the sound system was incredible.

Practice went well Tuesday, but we all agreed that we wanted more, so Brian, Stephen and I spent a lot of time taking it all down and setting it up at the Chimas. And that brings me to something that's so sweet, it's like from a movie or something, and probably only a small fraction of people ever get to live out such a classic dream. The little "barn" out behind the Chimas' house has a fair-sized upper room, somewhat small, but cozy with 2 little windows, the roof slanting up and in, and a big chunk of thick carpet on the floor. We set our whole rig up there, despite Steve and Brian's initial doubts, and it tucked in like a gymnast doing a triple flip! Sooo sweet dude, you have no idea! Drums nestled back at one end, mains and rack at the other end, guitar amp stacked on bass amp, mics and pedals on the floor, and a low wall of subs with a keyboard on top. The wires are all tucked away nicely, and the wood everywhere sucks up the sound like a million-dollar recording room. The carpet is soft, the wood is warm, the subs pound the entire building with the kick drum, and it is the most unbelievably cool thing ever! Right now we're leaving almost everything set up there, which seems too good to be true--band practice without hours of irksome setup--but we'll see. I'm just happy to have played there today and to be enjoying the happiness of the whole setup. Ahhhhh :-)

Oh yes, and we took a break from practice that afternoon and grabbed some Taco Bell. Good stuff man--it keeps us going.

I've gotten slightly ahead of myself here. Before setting up the sweet sweet practice room in the top of the barn, we spent a long time and a lot of effort trying to set up a pool table on the ground level. A friend was giving the Chimas his old table, but it turned into a bigger deal than planned when the felt was ripped and we had to pull it off. So now there's a large, ungainly and incredibly heavy slate-topped table in the barn, and the Chimas are debating how to get it refelted. I have a feeling it'll be that way for a looong time, but we'll see.

Craig was over to help with that all for awhile, and when it was over and sound setup was over, Alex was back from work and we all got some dinner inside and warmed up. Brian, Stephen and I crashed in the basement that night after watching Dodgeball. I was up late, but hey, when I'm in Akron, it's crash and burn! It is, actually, and it's kind of funny--these days totally removed from my normal life, almost constraintless, just bouncing from one thing to another with no worry about spending time or accomplishing anything other than band stuff.

I digress. Today, which is now yesterday, Steve picked up Alex and we hit the music at about 11 o'clock. The little practice room was sweet beyond belief, and we cooked up some MORE great new songs. Brian played a song for Steve and I a few trips back, which we brought out, and it turned into my favorite of all our new songs. Plus, Brian randomly played the first song he ever wrote, and we ended up turning it into a hard-rocking new song with a surprisingly good melody and some fantastic guitar parts. Like we say sometimes after crashing out the end of a tight rocking song, we're sweet! :-P We've been blessed, I'd say, greatly.

So, yeah--Brian and Alex left around 3:30, Steve and I watched Mean Girls and took down the music stuff we wanted to take back home, and we drifted back to the Hoffmans' around 6pm. I was planning to leave at that time, but I didn't want to cut it all off right then, so I hung around, watched some TV, ate some food, and played mini pool and foosball with Philip. I finally left at 10 o'clock, ready for a relaxing and contemplative night drive home.

I also swung by the top of Pittsburgh instead of going right home once I got back into Pittsburgh, and I ended up spending a long time up there listening to Switchfoot and looking out over the panorama. I'm starting to like "New Way To Be Human" like nothing I've liked since perhaps Legend of Chin. Switchfoot is unique for me in their combination of lyrics about God, creative and skilled music, and genius song writing. They're personal to me like almost no other band is. It's amazing how much enjoyment I've been getting out of them--their music, personalities and shows--and I'm quite grateful to God for His goodness in that. It may hurt sometimes, but it really is a joy, and in Heaven I'll meet the end of all these longings.

Garr it's late. This was a very good Akron trip, and I'm still aglow with the practice room. How crazily blessed we are right now! I'm also aglow with Switchfoot, and I'm wondering how long this will last, and where it will lead. I'm also downered about the car full of stuff to be unloaded, and I'm still not quite realizing that I have a job fair tomorrow.

The bird clock ticks, the refridgerator steadly wooshes, Daisy just snorted and shifted in the chair to my right, all the lights are warm and low except the screen in front of me, and I'm lucid despite my heavy arms and lolling head.

What a life.

--Clear Ambassador