Chilling on the Laptop

I took this photo from my laptop.  Or notebook, whatever you prefer to call it.  It's a Mac.  That's what's important.  So you can picture me sitting on the couch with the laptop on the coffee table, and Daniel grabbed his little Fisher-Price Laptop, (which by the way enabled him to identify the names, shapes and sounds of all 26 letters before he was 2)  Fun little bonding moment.  

But it serves as a reminder how much kids mimic adults, especially their parents, but my boy spent one day hanging out with a kid who says "yea" instead of "yes" and now 2 years worth of good manners is out the window.   We are ALL influencers!  People, children especially, watch how we act around the house, in public, family, friend or stranger, and often adopt that behavior to make it their own.  Frankly, I don't want my boys to think of a laptop when they think of Daddy.  :)  

So I'm going to log off, and read some of the Word.  Because I need to be influenced by those thoughts, truths and actions, and let my boys see me doing so.  

Have a great weekend!

Where In the World...?

Hey guys.  I'm trying to find out WHERE I found this photo.  We MAY use it for a Tour Poster if I can get permission from the photographer and he/she can send us a higher resolution!  I found it on someone's myspace last year.  It's from a show I did at California Baptist University, Sept 13, 2007 in Riverside, California.   If anyone knows anything, send some info to mitch@bhccmgt.com if you would.  

Here's to hoping. :)

a

Sad News in the CCM World

I got news this morning from my friend and Radio Promoter, Chris Hauser, that a friend in Christian music tragically passed away:

"Ron McClelland of Gotee act Storyside:B collapsed today during a basketball game on a Christian cruise, and could not be revived.  Since December Ron had been co-hosting WCRJ/Jacksonville's morning show with Theresa Ross as well.  Please keep Ron's wife Rebekah (also on the cruise), the band, and WCRJ's staff in your prayers in the difficult days ahead"

I cannot fathom the sadness that must be in the hearts of those who lived close to Ron day in and day out.  Ron always had a big smile and a big heart.  His words were never anything but kind and complimentary.  I believe that we will see him again.  In the meanwhile, he will be missed.  Let's lift up his family in prayer as we think of them. 

Sterling Bloomfield, Ladies and Gentlemen

I told Sterling he's getting a blog dedicated to himself.  This is it.  

Got a gig offer last summer for a United Methodist Regional Youth Conference in Ocean City, MD for Jan 11th, 2009.  I accepted and one of the next steps is letting my band know about the date.  Some of you may have figured out that I'm a solo artist which means if I want a band, I hire the players.  I believe in strength in community and consistency, so I've worked on finding the right sound and chemistry and have found it in Duffy, Josh and Scotty.  However, sometimes they're not available because of prior commitments with other bands or a wedding: whatever.  So I have to have great back-ups.  

Duffy would miss his own wedding to play for me: so I've never had to even think about that.  If Josh is out with Dave Barnes, Ashley Appling is a Killer drummer (check out his site: all you aspiring drummers) but I haven't had a back-up for Scotty.  

Scotty tells me in September, "dude I'm out on a month long tour in January with Jessie Baylin, but there's this kid at my church who plays just like me and even kinda looks like me: I could teach him your songs, and you won't even know I'm not there."  Bingo.  I flew Sterling Bloomfield, who just turned 17, out to Ocean City from Yuma, Arizona (via Phoenix, Philly and Salisbury) to play a 45 minute set on Sunday morning and fly him home in time for school on Monday.   He learned all the songs over Christmas break, playing every single nuance that Scotty plays, and when he arrived at the tiny Salisbury airport, his pedal board (the custom collection of pedals that creates the sounds we all enjoy from electric guitars) didn't show up!  Lost in transit somewhere between Yuma and Salisbury!  

After much debate on what to do (just trio? acoustic set?) Duffy gave Sterling his tuner pedal and I gave him my Delay Pedal I use on my Piano (which he'd never used before) Duffy gave him a 2 minute tutorial, and after striking one of the two amps he planned to use, we rocked the show.  And he sounded amazing.   

Basically he created a HD signal with rabbit ears. 

He painted a colorful Monet with black and white crayons.  

He ran a marathon with a peg leg.  And won. 

I have a back up.   Sterling Bloomfield ladies and gentlemen. 

On The Road Again

Hey all, Aaron Shust here, live from the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Aeroport.  I like to call it ATL.  Duffy (above) and I are heading out for my first gig of the year in Ocean City Maryland.  I want you to know that I'm missing the Steeler game (and every other game this weekend for that matter) in the name of love.  One more in the name of love.   Zito (road manager and sound guy for this gig) called last night and said that Philadelphia is expecting serious delays today and thought maybe we should change our flights to route through Charlotte instead where we'd meet Josh and Zito.  We'd have to be at the airport at 9am instead of noon though. :(  But it's better than getting stuck in Philly and missing the show.   So instead of playing with my kid this morning, I left without even saying good morning.  Bummer.  He's getting old enough to cry when I leave and plead, "Daddeee, Tay Peas!" (Stay please.)  So it's good to be loved, but it's sad leaving. 

So you've had some questions, I'll try to answer:

When does the new album release?  No clue.  Could be as late as September, with the first single coming out a few months prior.  Could be late Spring.  TBD  (I'd prefer earlier)

Have you ever googled yourself? Only when I need to find an image or graphic to use on this blog or myspace, etc.  I don't like looking for news or reviews:  invariably, bad news will pop up, and the criticism is rarely constructive, only damaging. 

What is a yog?  A Jog.  A Ron Burgundy-ism

That about covers it.  Pray Sterling makes it on time today: He's Scotty's sub from Yuma and still has to fly through Philly!  I'll keep you posted on Twitter.

Peace!

Way to Go, J.Lo

So we hopped into Jason's car yesterday to go grab some Thai food for lunch before we finished recording, and noticed that he had the new Song Discovery CD. (Free CD with a Worship magazine subscription highlighting new songs)  I browsed the titles and names, and my own name caught my eye!  "What?" I thought. "What song did I write on?" On closer inspection, I realized that the song was Mi Salvador Mi Dios.   Now I took French in High School, but I was clever enough to figure out what that meant.  Someone recorded MSMG in Spanish!!!  (MSMD)

So props to Josh Lopez (who shares my wife's maiden name) for recording that song and making it accessible to a brand new demographic.  I bet when Dora Greenwell wrote that hymn over 100 years ago, she never thought it would be sung in Espanol!

Check out Josh's myspace page and grab the song for your worship leader to add some flavor at your church or even as background music the next time you make tacos at home.  Just kidding...but really.

Back in the Saddle Again

Or the Studio actually.  I drove up yesterday from Atlanta to Nashville.  It was mid 70's in Atlanta, and I hadn't checked the weather in Nash.  I thought I'd better bring a jacket last minute just in case.   When I drove over the mountain in Chattanooga, I was driving through a veritable cloud and the other side was freezing.  I made it to the studio, got out of the car, took my sandals off and had my sambas all ready.  Anyhow. 

We recorded 3 songs yesterday, Rest In The Arms, potentially my favorite; Still You Love Me, perhaps my favorite message and Breathe In Me, perhaps the most gorgeous song on the album.  We broke for burritos (well, 4 of us got fish tacos which were fabulous) and at the end of the day, Jason and I went over to Ian Eskelin's to finish polishing a song called Nothing We Can Do.   A combination of themes found in Romans 3:23 and 8:38.  Once we perfected that as well as we could, Jason started plucking a pretty little riff on the acoustic and singing a line, Ian got all excited and the two of them started spewing genius lyrics.  I went to the piano and tried to add pretty sounds.  Needless to say, we landed on a pretty killer song, that is so killer, we'll probably cut one of the ones we wanted to do for a better one!

It's amazing what can happen in one day in Nashville.  Sleep not being one of those things.

Day 2 begins with the recording of Forevermore, a song I led in church this past weekend to positive acceptance, I believe.  Rusty's wife made coffee and brought down muffins.  House studios rock. 

James Gregory (bass) and I chillin on the couch whilst Adam finishes guitars on Forevermore.

"You Don't eat no MEaT?!?!"

Eva Longoria Parker has resolved to not eat meat this year.  Maybe Aunt Voula can make her some lamb.

I would like to know the Bible better by reading it more often.  And I'd like to take better care of myself: exercise more and maybe eat less chocolate.  (just a little less)

Have you made your resolution?

Goodbye 08, What's on your plate?

Hey, welcome to 09.  I just got home from 9 days away visiting family.  I love my family to death and I had a GREAT time in both Toccoa, Georgia and Sarasota, Flordia, but regardless being away from your own bed is always a little tiring.   So, it's good to be home.  The tree will come down tomorrow though, and while my brain will explode if I hear one more beautiful Christmas song, it is a little sad.  

I drove down to Sarasota to see Sarah's folks and brought my Mom along to drop her off in Clermont to visit her mom.  Well my Mom is incredibly insightful, and if I can ever convince her to start a blog, you should quit mine and follow hers.   She likes to watch license plates on long trips.  Every once in a while she'll just say random things like, "Dixie Girl!"  and after the confusion settles, I'll notice the car in front of us has DXY GRL on the plate.   One car we saw said "BOSSY 1"  No imagination necessary.   We found it humorous that she'd place that description on her plate.  Mom said, "What if everyone had the description of who they really were on their plate?"

Ouch.  

What would be on Your plate?

...looking forward to a potentially insightful year.