Jeremey's Weblog

Exeunt Texas Left

We're out of Texas. Snif. At least we're in green chile country... mmm... we'll be stopping in Hatch, NM tomorrow on the way to Tucson from my dad's ranch. I hope to eat some good green chile cooking and maybe pick up a bunch of chiles to take to California.

It was a pretty good day today... the boys slept or were quiet from Fort Stockton to El Paso, and we made that run in under three hours. From there it was only forty minutes or so to Las Cruces. Just west of Fort Stockton the terrain makes an obvious transition to range and basin, so we had mountains to look at all the way here.

I also had a chance to be online long enough to talk to people back home and that was very cool.

Tomorrow we'll go see the ranch and then head to Tucson via Hatch. Then Wednesday we hit California. Woohoo!

Next Stop: Las Cruces

It's a clear, crisp day... hopefully we'll be in Las Cruces by 4pm or so. I hope the hotel has free Internet. That's been very cool.

How Great Thou Art

West Texas gets a bum rap. From Sonora to about 50 miles east of Fort Stockton is some really beautiful country. What's amazing is the SCALE of everything. The hills have given way to this huge undulating landscape of mesas and valleys. It's like driving through really really massive ocean waves made in land. It's not the sharp/craggy range and basin stuff of New Mexico and Arizona (also very cool), it's its own thing. The sky is huge, the clouds are huge, and so on.

So I had the Passion Hymns CD cranked and "How Great Thou Art" came on several times... it was very apt.

There's something amazing about an old or ancient hymn in that it is imbued with significance and weight that isn't found much in modern songs. The history of the people of God singing this one song over hundreds of years is an awesome thing. All it needed was someone to pick it up and play it with huge guitars and drums and massive energy.

West Texas, Through Windshield

A few pics of West Texas skies from the car. I finally convinced Heather to give me the camera whilst driving. I managed to stay in my lane most of the time. Happily, there's nobody else on the road. These are unedited, as the windshield pretty much nixes any hope of a really good quality photo. Cool nonetheless.

The Boys

They were being cute. I caught Iain in some natural light.

Cloudy Morning, San Antonio

These big clouds were rolling through when we got up.

Late Night

Oh my gosh... we didn't leave until after 8pm last night... we got to our hotel about midnight... it rained the whole way. Ugh! Today is looking much better, though. It's sunny, at least. Last night, the hotel didn't have the high speed Internet "access code" that you have to have to get on... so I'm posting this morning.

I'm not mixing this morning... waaahhhh. :)

T Minus Zero

Well we're finally leaving (or will be in the next hour or so). We're gonna miss everyone SO much. California will be way fun, but I'm pretty sure I'll be very ready to come home six months from now. My office is finally looking pretty bare.

We said goodbye to lots of friends today. That was pretty hard, harder than I let on, I think. Now that we've done all that I want to get on with it. Chick-fil-A sweet tea has become my comfort food (thanks Rachel!)... I'll be getting some on the way out of town. Then it's on to San Antonio tonight. We're going to stop at Oma's Haus in New Braunfels for German before hitting the hotel.

I would take some pictures but it's a dreary day.

Recording

I've been meaning to post about recording the song my friend Joshua wrote for his wife. This is the first time I've done a "real" recording myself... it's been very fun and I've learned a lot. But finally, it is DONE! At least for now, because we're moving. :)

Now I know why bands go over budget on recordings. Anyway... the song is very, very cool. I'm really looking forward to hearing Leah's reaction.

Most of all, Rachel has been amazing. She has an amazing voice and she worked really hard and lost her voice and still came over and did an awesome job (and helped us pack and watched the boys and and and...). Thanks, Rach. You're awesome.

I think the most unfamiliar part of this project has been mastering. That's something that I never really have to think about in live sound... but on a CD, it's all about gain. So much to learn...

My Last Mix

Tonight was my last mix for six months. I love running sound... I'm going to miss it so much. I think most people don't know how much of me is in what's coming out of the speakers. Oh well. Happily it was a celebration thing and so we did more songs and I could get away with mixing it louder (loud is good!). I'm going to miss the people the most.