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I don’t know about you, but when a new year comes along, I jump at the chance to re-examine my goals and re-focus my efforts.  Yep, I’m sentimental that way.  In terms of reaching my goals musically, 09 was a good year but not a great one.

The Good of 2009– I started this blog, joined Twitter and connected with a great community of guitarists, musicians, & craftsmen.  I bought the Taylor guitar of my dreams (or one of ‘em, anyway ).  I also hooked up with House of Echo and Amanda Joy, 2 fun projects I will be involved with for the foreseeable future.  I continued to play with the ever-exciting Joyful Noise band.

My Goals for 2010–

Reinvent my Tone: Late in 09, I decided to completely reinvent my guitar tone.  That led me to discover and buy a set of Slider’s Vintage Classics Pickups, which are blowing my mind (and my neighbor’s ears).  The blog entry is overdue on these pickups, I realize.  Sorry, Slider! I’ll continue to reinvent my tone in 2010, including (hopefully) assembling my own guitar and shopping for stompboxes.

Become a Student Again: My practice time has become all about learning the next set of tunes.  I need some fresh teaching.  I’m starting with Robben Ford.  I’ve been listening to him lately and his playing is fresh & inspired.

Have a Working Studio: One thing I started (but did not finish) in 09 was cleaning & setting up the studio so that I can record.  This is a top priority for 2010!  So is recording, both fingerstyle and electric.  My last release is dated 2003.  ‘Nuf said.

Give my Home Church Priority: I do a lot of fun music projects, but many of them are outside of my home church.  This year, I want to get into a rhythm (no pun intended) with our praise band Levite, and help make our worship services excellent.  I also want to include many other talented people in our performances this year, including my kids (at least 2/3 of which have strong musical ability).

Continue Working with Amanda Joy & House of Echo: Special things are happening here, and I’m fortunate to be part of this group of incredible musicians.  I’ll be blogging more about these projects in the new year.

With these goals, my family, job, and hockey it looks like I’m in for a pretty productive year.

Buckle up,  it’s 2010!  Happy New Year!

• Darts!
• Windows XP Shutdown (you’ll never forget it)
• Keeping Applebees open
• Dave’s funk jam at the end of Hear Our Praises
• Rich — “What key does Lifesong start in?”
• “That’s not a club!”
• “Hey Tom, how do those lyrics to Days of Elijah go?”
• “…all 3 of ‘em.” (don’t ask)
• “If you keep folding it, it keeps breaking.” (and a million other Spinal Tap and Stonehenge references)
• At the Cave of the Winds: “OK, um…how many people do you have again?”
• While flashing a dollar bill: “I’d like you to meet my friend, General Washington…”
• “STAR WARS, Nothin’ but Star Waaarrrrs”
• “Like a (hard) Rock.” (referring to the burgers at the Hard Rock Cafe)
• “Tim Horton’s!”  They were everywhere.
• Wheezing speakers at Elfinwild
• Yellow-light “Krotchko!”
• “SQUIRREL!”
• “I see dead people”
• In line for the hotel check-in, “So, what name are you giving them this time?”
• TAMMY the tour-guide! (if you look to your right you’ll see some trees)
• We ARE That Kind of Choir!

late additions:

• “Are you looking for some men?”
• “Give ‘em a 9 for efficiency”

Come help us closeout an amazing year & tour with Joyful Noise tonight at our homecoming concert.  It’s free!

Friday, June 26 at 7pm
Oakdale Emory United Methodist Church (map)
Olney, Maryland

Here are a few pictures from the band’s journey home, and some Hard Rock memorabilia of Elvis and Spinal Tap.  On the way home, we saw a controlled brush fire, a truck spilled over (driver appeared to be OK), and a couple of horse-drawn carriages (Amish folks, but I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture).

My next JN Tour post will be the Top Things Overheard on the 2009 Tour.

We left Grand Island this morning.  The kids went back to Darien Lake amusement park for a few hours, while the band and tech crew got on the road.  We met up at 1st United Methodist Church of Williamsport. It is a beautiful town, and a beautiful church.  The concert tonight was alot of fun.  Every night we play, we setup in a different way, because each church is laid out differently.  Tonight the soloists were actually elevated behind part of the band, so we had some fun with that.  It was a great show, very high energy.  Probably the best one yet.  I was impressed at the size of the crowd.

Tomorrow we head home.  The kids are going to Hershey Park, but I’m not so I won’t have pictures of that.

Today was our first totally free day of the tour, and it was mostly spent around Niagara Falls; first on the US side, then on the Canada side.  The falls are breathtaking.  I took some short video from 3 vantage points to try to capture it: from the top observation deck, from the bottom deck, and from the Maid of the Mist boat.  Each one is under a minute long. As you’ll see from #2 and 3, we got pretty wet despite the rain ponchos. Following the videos, there are several pictures of our adventures.