Hello everybody!

I haven’t blogged in quite a while.  I hope you’re doing well and enjoying the Spring that’s sneaking in.  I have been teaching middle school and am right now on Spring Break, so I’m pretty much the happiest guy around!

I’ve got great news!  The full length cd still isn’t finished. Sorry.  But since it has taken a bit longer than imagined, I put together a 5 song EP.  It’s called the metaphors EP.  AND... it came in the mail today.  I have it in my hands right now!  Well, not really because I’m typing.  But anyway, I’m incredibly excited about it. 

Here are the songs:

Metaphors
this Revolution
Subways in DC...make me feel the same way
Hole in my Soul
Silent Storms

The first 3 are slightly different versions of the songs you’ll hear on the full length album.  The last 2 are ones I have recorded myself and are completely acoustic.

I will have them tomorrow night when Chad Matthew Estep and I play at Empire Books.  So please come by, have a listen, and purchase an EP for $5!

Oh...and Matt Jenkins helped me out big time!  He did the artwork for it, which means it’s amazing!

peas and luv.

benji

Hello.  I just realized that I haven't blogged in quite a while.  It's because I've been doing more important things like surfing the web for black-market Ipod software and watching sportscenter re-runs.  I don't know if you know this, but I took a year long ice cream fast.  Recently the fast came to an end, so I've been hitting the Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia quite aggressively.  It usually keeps me from sleeping, but I don't mind.

More importantly I've been teaching some, and I like it fine.  Instead of teaching, I normally just play sudoku on my laptop or write on my essay or something while the students do busy work.  My life could definitely be worse.  For Christmas, I got The Office season 3, and I've watched every episode plus deleted scenes multiple times already, and I'm so ready for this strike to be over.  I'm running out of material.  But I guess I could do something more constructive...

But the reason I'm writing is because I normally blog after a gig and say thanks and stuff to everybody who came.  So Thanks.  Tonight, before I played, Jeremy Miller debuted the songs from his upcoming EP.  I don't know if the EP has a name, but I'm really proud of Jeremy.  His writing and playing has so much progressed in even just a few months.  I think all of his songs are very new.  Plus, he's a good friend and I support everything he does so I was glad that he was willing to open for me.  Tonight was my second time playing solo at He Brews, and so I want to of course mention my good friends Zach and Ed and Evie who own the place.  I have to say that they are pretty amazing people who make some rockin coffee with the best (coffee) names and have one of the best venues for music in the tri-state.  So if you don't know them or you haven't had them make you coffee, you should definitely go there tomorrow or whenever you can and order...um a velvet elvis...or I hear that the frozen hot chocolate is really good.  Is that what it's called?  I'm not really sure.  I only drink plain black coffee because I'm a man.  Don't worry they have girly drinks though with sugar and flavors and stuff.

You know I really truly am grateful that you keep asking me about the cd.  Here's the thing...I had NO idea how much time, work, and money goes in to making an album.  It really is a lot of work, especially to release it independently.  But I'm close.  I really am, and it should only be a couple more weeks.  I haven't yet decided where and when I will have the cd release party, but I will surely let you know.  And I hope that you come.

Thanks though for tonight.  I always appreciate when you come and when you support local musicians and when you support companies and businesses that I believe in, such as He Brews.  Just so you know, here are the songs I played:

You Win
Sanity
Hey Jude (beatles cover)
You'd Never Know
Flesh & Blood
this Revolution
February Song
Between Lions
Subways (a bit slower this time)
Without Words
     --------
Burdens  (with Tiffani)
Sleep Don't Weep  (Damien Rice cover with Tiffani)


thanks people.  spread love.  push boundaries. be uncomfortable. and laugh.

benji

I want to share something really cool that happened this morning. Well first, let me give you a bit of the back-story...

Within the last month or so, our band Crying Out Loud (www.myspace.com/colworship) has been playing a few coffee shops, which is not normally our most comfortable setting. Firstly, we are a worship band, and we have seldom played in a concert type atmosphere. But asking people to actively worship in a coffee shop is quite unreasonable, so we began doing more chill sets with a few covers. We've done songs like "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones, "Can't Help Falling in Love," an Elvis cover, and some Damien Rice songs as well. We had just been mixing up our sets, playing most of our originals, and trying our best to adapt to the situations…you know.

This past weekend, we played a couple coffee shops in North Carolina, and Sunday we were scheduled to lead worship in a church in Hickory, NC. We were somewhat apprehensive about this scheduling because the pastor had already warned us that we might not be well received, that our music may be too progressive for their taste or maybe just too loud. But really…we had heard these kinds of warnings before. Sometimes you have to be kind of fearless when it comes to ministry.

So we set up and planned to do a normal worship set for the morning service with no real plans of holding back or playing too much softer. And for some reason, we decided to play "Sleep Don't Weep" by Damien Rice right in the middle of the set. We had played the song the two previous nights and really liked how the song was moving. We have, in a way, made it all our own. I must say that I felt apprehensive about playing this song, about taking something from Damien Rice into the church, but we committed ourselves to the set and played his song fearlessly. And then something happened that even I could not have imagined. People came to the altar in groups, praying for one another, making promises and life changes. Our bass player, Duane, commented that it looked like a Billy Graham crusade, and I felt as if I was playing "Just As I Am." Okay…so it wasn't just as massive, but this was serious! And maybe this is a coincidence. And maybe it goes to show that people don't really listen to the words sang. Maybe this just proves that anyone can be a vessel and it doesn't matter the face or the song or lyrics.

But I think this proved something greater. I read someplace that truth exists everywhere and that God is the only truth and that all we have to do to see and receive this truth is to claim it, that this truth, this God, is ours to claim. What I mean is this: Damien Rice wrote down some words probably not meaning for them to be used to worship this great God in some church in Hickory, NC. But if we see this truth for what it is, if we claim this God, we sometimes catch small glimpses of what He's doing within us. Did He not make Damien and put that love in his heart? Didn't he chose him to create beauty with his mouth and throat and lungs and pen? Can we not say that our great God is working within Damien Rice to change this dark world? Even if Damien doesn't claim this great truth, can't we claim still claim it?

But who knows…maybe it was just a coincidence.

Because I don't want to sleep and because the world sometimes doesn't seem to want to turn and for lack of anything else in the world to do, I thought that I must write letters and words right now before another minute passes.

I'm somewhere close to Lexington, KY with the band. But right now, I'm in a motel looking at a small screen, considering watching 'the office', listening to jesi sing "i'm leaving you," wondering what tomorrow will be like as I celebrate a day that used to be something much different than it is now. Nevertheless, the project is coming along nicely. Though it is taking a bit longer than I assumed it would, I'm very pleased with how it is coming together. I don't remember what I told you last, but I've recorded ten songs...

1. you win
2. without words
3. metaphors
4. this revolution
5. burdens
6. subways
7. februrary song
8. between lions
9. move on
10. it is well

the album is called "these things between us." We're putting the final touches on each song, and I believe it will be ready for duplication very soon. "between lions" is something very, very new and quite different from most of my songs. I really hope you like it. For some reason, God has landed me on this island and given me a hundred things to write about, but most days I'm too tired to care. But some days I'm patient and I allow him to speak to me. You wouldn't believe what He says. Really, I can't figure Him out for the life or death of me. I don't know why I'm here in this place...or what's next...or even how I should feel about this thing or that thing...whether I should flag for rescue or enjoy this great big island while I've at last got the freedom for which I've forever dreamed. He is a mystery, a great big mystery, and I am that cockroach that cs lewis warned us all about. (And I've listened to this song about 12 times, but this is the first time I ever heard a harmonica. But I think I like it.)

Yesterday, I wrote a song for a friend, and the song doesn't have a name as far as I can tell. It doesn't say much but only speaks about the light shining from a free spirit. It's a song about loving and healing the wounds of someone that hasn't anyone else in the world to care for her. I think this is what God is for. I think He truly has a plan to rescue every single person from the darkness and the shame of this hurtful world, and (the scary part is) I think He wants to use us to do it. Some understand this more than others, I guess. Some people cure wounds and love people and rescue them, and other people just write songs about those people.

Once again, I want to spread some love on you.  I want to thank those of you who came and supported Brian and me last night, for coming to hear us play.  Thank you also for supporting He Brews Coffee and our good friend ZD. 

The thing I love doing most in the world is playing music and writing songs, and even bearing my soul when necessary...as painful as that is sometimes.  These songs are the little pieces of me that have leaked out, and they really, truly make me feel very small sometimes, but you come...always, and you show your love and grace by your support.  Even when it's not so good, you're still there, and I am always, always grateful.  I really believe that God is blessing this place and that if we keep working hard and keep searching for what He is already doing, we will see greater things than this.  So anyway...I hope that my small gifts bless your lives in some way.

The countdown is on.  I'm very hopeful that the album will be done by the end of the month or early November at the latest.  I'll surely let you know.

here are the songs I played:

move on
this Revolution
wonderwall (ryan adams cover)
metaphors
February Song
Silent Storms
Fools Rush (elvis cover)
to the Moon
9 Crimes (damien rice cover)
subways

peas and luv. 

benji

Tonight, I played the 2^nd annual Sound and Ground Jamboree at Espresso Euphoria. I've got to be honest, I'm not really sure what a Sound and Ground Jamboree is, but nevertheless, I'm thankful to be a part of it. Before me, Eric Pyles and Holidays and Wakes played acoustic sets. Both of these guys are so very talented. You should be great big fans of theirs.  We started some minutes after 19:00.  Holidays and Wakes finished at about 20:10, which left me nearly an hour to play...so I had to add a song or two to my set.  No big deal.

This date had originally been planned to be the release party for my EP before I decided to continue recording, and instead make an LP.  So far, Steve Riley and I have completed 6 songs.  I hope to record 4 more and have this available for release by early October. 

Thank you all very much for coming and supporting us.  I hope that you had a whole lot of fun.  The songs I played are...

February Song*  (it has a name now)
Without Words
this Revolution*
To the Moon*
Metaphors
Move On
Burdens
Subways*

*new song

Stay tuned.  I will of course let you know when the album is done.  And then we'll celebrate.  Please let me know what you thought of the new songs.

peas and luv...

just so you know...

I'm very close to finishing the EP with Steve Riley.  But... I'm considering now doing a full length.  My good friend, jenn ball, is doing the artwork for me.  I'm still hoping the entire project will be done within the next couple months.  The tracks are something like this...

1.  You Win (formally called breathing in)
2.  Without words
3.  Metaphors
4.  this Revolution
5.  Burdens
6.  Subways in DC...make me feel the same way
7.  (new song)
8.  (new song)
9.  Move On
10. (??)

so that's the scoop for now.  please come to espresso next saturday and hear some of the newer songs.  bryan patterson and eric pyles will also be playing.

peas and luv..