fuck a philly cheese steak.

it seems like really big things in my life always happen in some kind of a tornado of sorts. in the past week and a half: i learned that the venue i book / church i attend is being taken over by a chain restaurant; i learned that the house i live in is being foreclosed and we have 2 weeks to move out; and i learned that my band is to play the biggest show of our careers in june.

3 huge things at once. ive been more sad, excited, and stressed than ive been in a very very long time. its sad that a revolutionary community and entire music scene is being stripped in order to make room for a fucking Taste Of Philly. you can get a god damn philly cheese steak anywhere. and why in the hell didnt our land lord tell us anything about what the fuck was going on?! asshole. and then theres the warped tour. while we are shitting ourselves to play, we havent had a permanent bass player in 4 months. the sub weve been using has a 1 year old and weve been training an unofficial member. while this kid is good, he is SUCH a slow learner. i honestly dont know if we will be ready in time. we may have to cut some songs and play some easy covers.

2 days ago, i was driving and came across a BEAUTIFUL homeless woman (the kind you look at and think, "why are you homeless? you could get a sugar daddy so fucking easily!"), holding a sign that simply said, "POSITIVE THOUGHTS."

yesterday i was reading the bible and came across this:

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
-jeremiah 29:11

two beautiful reminders that the lord has his hand in all of these situations and no matter what happens to me, he will never give me anything i cant handle.

may you learn the same thing, friend.

peace.

the night is darkest before the dawn...

someone once said, "the night is darkest before the dawn... and the dawn is coming." whoever that person was, knew a thing or two about the lord. i have been in a kickass band called what about pluto? for 2 years.

for 2 years we have been played our hearts out night after night for almost no one.
for 2 years we have prayed for one another and asked god for direction.
for 2 years we have bugged the shit out of other bands, asking for an opening slot.
for 2 years we have spent coutless hours adding people on myspace.

we have spent hours in the practice room, working on the mundane details, trying to get a perfect 30 minutes; teaching new members our songs; we have thrown our pride away and BEGGED promoters to "just give us one shot," only to get the run-around.

for 2 years we have struggled tooth and nail to stay afloat in this jungle of a music scene.

i have to be honest. in the past few weeks ive been asking god whether ot not i should leave what about pluto?, because if i want to do this full time and this shit just isnt going anywhere, whats the damn point? yesterday i got my answer when we were confirmed to play the pheonix, az vans warped tour kevin says stage on june 23rd.

we will be playing with some of our favorite bands including: anberlin, angels and airwaves, between the trees, the color fred, every time i die, family force 5, forever the sickest kids, and maylene & the sons of disaster... as well as some of the biggest bands out, such as: the all american rejects, cobra starship, gym class heroes, and the academy is...

i am losing my shit. to be honest i have no idea what to think of it. im am obviously excited and in a bit of shock. we have a lot of work to do, i know that.

peace.

my church's fate is in the hands of a total douche.

for those of you that dont know, the crew presents has been putting a lot of work into the beetle (building a stage and tearing out walls and buying speakers and moving lights and many other things), trying to make it into a legit venue. we want to tear out another wall and build a bar in order to sell concessions and alcohol so the beetle will be of more interest to college students.

unfortunately, the landlord is a total. fucking. asshole... homeboy has a bunch of properties that are fucked big time, and guess what? the beetle is the only building he owns with any worth. so he is trying to sell it for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than its worth in order to put that money into the other shit he owns that is in trouble. this dude WILL NOT FIX THE DAMNED LEAKING ROOF. every time it snows or rains its like water world in that fucker. we have to take out trash can lids and pans and all sorts of ridiculous shit. he would not replace the fucked up doorknob which has led to many thefts of sound equipment leading us to do it ourselves. homeboy doesnt pay his trash bill. he fought this stage building thing kicking and screaming. he doesnt realize that the building is only worth something because of ely and myself and atlas.

oh yeah, and our lease is month to month, so he can kick us out any time he feels like it.

oh yeah, and he just raised the rent $400.

this is a church that averages around 70 people per sunday. out of those 70, how many of those people do you think tithes? out of that small percentage, how much money do you think they can give? this is a church of teachers, artists, students, and hippies.

peace.

extreme homeless challenge 2008!

ive been thinking lately about how many of us do things to help the homeless, yet could never understand anything about what they go through. many of of us will volunteer at a homeless shelter, which (dont get me wrong) is a good thing, and then go home to our air conditioning and tv and warm bed and cupboard full of food. how much can we take from this experience? at the hookah bar the other day, we were talking about whether or not we think good acts are actually good if the person is acting out of selfishness. my friend jeff, wondered aloud if it is a good act at all if only one party benefits. in other words if i perform a good deed and dont walk away changed, its almost useless.

here is what im getting at: i want to help the homeless, but i want to understand what they go through first. so i am proposing a sort of challenge to myself and my friends. for 10 days we will live like the homeless do; we will not shower, brush our teeth or style our hair. we will spend $5 or less per day. we will sleep outside on the ground. we will not watch tv. we will walk or take the bus as much as possible.

we will record our thoughts and share our experiences and what weve learned. then we will come up with a way to help the homeless.

peace.

change if you want, but dont you go and change for me.

i am so content with my life its scary.

i have a job where i bust my ass and come home exhausted, yet i really really enjoy.

i am in a relationship with a wonderful girl and we grow and cry and experience beauty and learn about what love is together.

everywhere i go, i see god.

i, along with others, AM starting a revolution.

i am voting for obama.

the people at my church are the most loving and wonderful and brilliant people on earth.

my friend ryan schick recently said that i live the most simple life hes ever seen. he meant it to be a bad thing, but i think it was the biggest compliment anyone has ever given me.

what about pluto? is only $110 in the hole, and we are recording a new EP this summer.

my "partner" and i have just finished building a brand new stage for the beetle and will be turning into a full blown venue with a bar, this summer.

i feel like in the past year or so, i think i have focused too much on how i should live; jesus said this and this and this and therefore i should live this way. these ideas are good and these ideas are bad so i will live this way. i am starting to focus more on the characteristics of god and his perfect love and absolute faithfulness and what a total failure i have been to him, time and time again, and how he loves me anyway.

stuff i have listened to lately that is close to my heart:
the morning of
bradley hathaway
aaron strumpel
karla adolphe
the sound of animals fighting
the white stripes
justin timberlake

peace.