stankins's Xanga

Life @ Full

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:39:18 GMT

Man, I love doing blogs... but I suck at doing them regularly - so here's what ya get instead... a lot of pictures and some stories to go with them. We'll hafta back-up the train a bit to cover it all... hang on!

So we're in Huntington, WV for a day off and then a show. This is where Marshall University is and the whole tragedy with the airplane going down and where the movie came from... We Are Marshall. Small little college town... EVERYONE knew we were there, not because it was a small little college town, but ALL of our busses were lined up outside at the city's nicest hotel on MAIN STREET. Good gosh there was always people horded around the buses... Anyhoo, I get into my room and find THIS lurching on my friggin bag!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I yelled and tried to throw something at it. Crazy thing is, these boogers were all over the town! Especially at the campus... flying everywhere, dead everywhere, and really loud! They make a weird screech and when there's several hundred thousand around, you get a little creeped out. Anyone seen The Mummy? yeah.

Here's part of the memorial they have at the stadium:

I helped myself to the field. By this time it was so bloody hot outside, some clothing had to be shed off. Don't be jealous =)

I'm enjoying my day off in Huntington, and our rigger calls me and he's like "Daddy-o... we're gonna have some effing problems tomorrow buddy. This place doesn't have any steel, but they say you can hang 100,000lbs, and they had an engineer in here recently and he disagreed. I don't know what to tell you daddy-o, I'm confused too and this place is just the pits. If we had some horses and some dirt, it would be okay ya know? We're gonna hafta bring in the B-rig and just make sure none of the roof starts bending, okay?" Yeah. We get there, and this is one of the many things we saw that day:

Some kind of after-market bridge for people to cross? I just laughed... took a picture... and carried on =) Our promoter rep sets up my FOH risers and tables each day in coordination with the venue. Well, can I tell you the number of times the venue has put out the tables and they were BROKE!?!? I seriously lost count after 7 (i know, great east texas education). So our promoter rep got smart and made what should be the obvious, even more obvious.

We had a day off in Mobile, Alabama and had a nice time at a great hotel and a few attractions around the area. A few of us caught a taxi to see the USS Alabama... turned out pretty cool.

And before our show in New Orleans we had another day off =) Even though parts of it is a little run down and trashy... I really did enjoy New Orleans and think it would be great to spend some more time down there. We were downtown, so there was plenty to walk around and see. We got some hurricanes and walked around with a buzz for a while... that made it better =) My hotel room was HUGE! I walked in and heard music playing in the background. Kinda scared me at first because I've walked into people's rooms before when they assign me the wrong room... yikes! But I walk in, go through the hallways (in my room, still), round the corner, pass the bathroom suite (yes, a suite, you could have probably fit a bed in there... marble floors, big tub, separate tiled shower, great porcelain throne, nice view of the city), keep goin down the hallway, and it spilled into this bedroom. Needless to say I slept great that nite!

I found this feller on Bourbon St. I wanted to offer some money and buy his shirt... i'm too chicken though.

And after New Orleans, that basically wrapped up our first leg of the Carnival Ride tour. We've done a lot of shows! But thankfully, I'm not exhausted and I'm excited to ramp up into the summer and fall... we'll be busy for sure. I was wondering why my bag was getting heavy to haul up and down stairs... c'mon Jenkins!

I had a birthday and turned 26... the boys and girls on the tour got me (and Juan, another crew guy) a birthday cake. We lit that thing up!

And I get back to Jeff & Patti's place, and they have this waiting for me on my pillow. Aren't they just great? The cigars, that is. hahahaha... nah, P&J are too good to me! Thanks friends!

So Jeff blogged about this too, but basically my truck broke down after I worked out at the gym. I go outside to crank it... *click*click*click* Freaking aye! So i ask for a jump-start and an employee helps me. Does nothing. So I'm dumb and realize I have one of those pre-charged-jump-start-devices in my toolbox... dope! Try it... nothing. Dangit! Call Jeff and he's like "hey... Patti's been cooking for 5 hours... okay, maybe not that long, but she wants us to eat, and that sucks about your truck, but she says I can't eat until you get here. Can we eat first and then fix your truck?" Hahhahahah... at least he's honest!

So we eat (it was great!) and go to Wal-Mart (grrrrr... which i hate, but it was the only thing opened at the time) and buy a battery. Install the battery, NOTHING! Son of a..... So we push my truck into an area where the tow truck could probably get it... taking 2 parking spots. Before we left, I told Jeff "ya know, should we push it a little more into the other parking space, cause I bet ya some clown will try to park his little car in that spot and I'm gonna get hosed." But I dismissed the idea and we went home... defeated. I arrange a tow truck and get there early in the morning... and would you believe it... some ass clown!!! parked in that tiny spot and his car was in the drive way an extra 5 feet or so. Ridiculous.

So Jeff left me and had to go get his broke back, i mean back broken at the chiropractor. The tow truck guy doesn't speak english (great!) and we try to get it out like it is... almost hit another car... no luck. So we push it even further into the parking lot and get it up on the bed. Got it on there, got it to the mechanics shop. Luckily they didn't have to replace the starter, but only some electrical screws and terminals that it was connected to. Got out pretty cheap!

And tell ya what, if anyone runs into this dingbat on the road, steer clear!

Twice, i tell ya, TWICE this guy cut me off. One time in Franklin, and then two days later in Brentwood. The next time I'm calling the number and gonna share some of my faith and testament with him. Seriously!

So there's my last month in a nutshell... I'll leave ya with this. I saw this when going home from Bandit the other day:

"What seems to be the fire, son?"

+BrianJ

Birthday?

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:43:07 GMT

Guess it's been a year... dang. What am I supposed to do for this year's birthday celebration in Nashville? Ideas?

+B

Journey has a new lead singer?

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:44:42 GMT

So while we were in the middle of FREAKING NOWHERE Washington (Yakima) we decided to do a little trailblazing and kill the incredible amount of time (3 days) we had on our hands. Check out the Washington Trail Blazing section in my photos. Here's Me, Friend, and Billy.

We tried to take a group picture... but Allie got left out

We played the show in Yakima, WA (which the next day, Carrie accidentally told the crowd we were in "Yamica" Washington... hahaahah, it was great!) and rocked it out. Got bored during the day, so me and P.Hole (one of our lighting techs) decided we needed a gay cue in our show.

After the ACMA's, we played in Reno. Two great things happened in Reno. 1) our rigger is crazy and likes to climb things (ironic, isn't it?)

And 2) a local IATSE guy dropped the forks on a forklift ON MY HANDS! Thankfully, I got my hands out quickly and only had one banged up finger. I asked the guys to raise the forks (like I do everyday, everywhere) so I could adjust the spread for the bigger cases. Well he raises them, I tell him I'm going to adjust them (notably, with my hands!), and he decides to hit the lever that slams the forks to the floor. It hurt like a banshee! It's getting better now, though. Went to the ER and they drilled some holes in my nail to relieve the pain.

So now that I'm officially homeless, 'tis the season to begin bumming off of all my Nashville friends. First up... Jeff & Patti! haha! They were gracious enough to let me crash at their place for a few days. Nick came by for a night and visited before catching a flight to Tulsa. Good times!

We went to Johnathans for drinks and food.... And then Jeff farted.

...And then he got embarassed =)

Nick the TV & DVD LD Wizard

Since we had a few days off in Nashville (Finally! It's been since January almost!), I spent the time and reformatted my laptop. Always a good sign:

It took a long time... so I took a picture of my shoe. In Widescreen Format. Enjoy!

And I guess I did everything right cause we got iChat video rollin and goin! We're definitely a bunch of easily-amused people =)

Having Nick come over and hang out was great and all... but it left me with a delima the next day: Which towel is mine?!?! Dangit!!!

I went with the one on the right.

+Jenkins

Back in Business

Wed, 21 May 2008 05:03:41 GMT

Well well well, here we are, a 1.1 years later and I write a blog. I had intended on doing it on the 1 year anniversary, but I forgot. Surprise! I'm glancing through iphoto to really see what all went on for a year. Dang... a lot. Most of it: WORK!

I've done award shows,

talk shows,

club shows,

and festival shows.

I've been able to relax a little bit too... Got to spend a few days in Key West and visit the Dry Tortugas - awesome.

Watched Chicago the musical, Wicked, and KA - all were awesome! Can't wait to see some more. We're in Vegas for a few days, so I'm going to try to FINALLY see "O."

Life has changed a little bit. In November, I got let go from Miranda and a week later hired by Carrie. Wild! I was with Miranda for a year and a half... had a lot of good times and learned a ton. Been out with Carrie since January and it's certainly been another jump-start to my career. I'm working with a great designer and a big company... kind of a lighting designer/directors dream. I do my job, do it with excellence, don't have to worry about anything else, stay out of the politics, don't get involved - and wahlah... I'm making good money, being challenged, going places, and taking the next step in my career. I love it...

Funny that most of my bosses have been females so far.... and even some that act like females. Scary!

On the twist of that, I'm also homeless. There ya go, I said it. Officially homeless. Okay, so it's not that dramatic. My bud and his wife are moving into their condo soon and had to put the house up for rent. Well, our schedule with Carrie is crazy busy, so I had no time to find a new place, apartment, or roommate. So in 2 days, I found a storage building, moved all my stuff, got a PO Box, forwarded my address, and here I am. We got home late on the 8th, so I ran home and began packing boxes until 11pm. Went back to Wal-Mart and took more boxes; Then began packing again until 4AM. I hauled most of the boxes myself, but had to call my buddy Leif to come help with the big stuff (ironic, cause he is such a small guy). I was cheap and didn't rent a u-haul or penske, so I made about 15 trips back and forth from the house to the storage building =). It was kind of surreal closing the garage door and realizing all my belongings were in this tiny little space. And I definitely got my workout!

Speaking of working out... I'm 25lbs lighter than I was a year ago.

I'm now around 145-150lbs.

While out with Miranda, a few of us decided to trim down after seeing some results Miranda got for a music video. So Tony-the-Trainer took a few of us (Chris-monitors, Aden-bass, and myself) and whipped us into shape! Basically, I started with portion control with my foods. I realized I was ALWAYS over-eating and that was my biggest problem. I probably lost 10lbs just by controlling my diet. Then we began jogging, walking, and lifting some weights. I'm very happy with the results we got. No magic formula, no extra special diet.... just being responsible for yourself. The only downside is during Christmas I gained a little bit and we've been so busy with Carrie that I haven't really kept a regular workout routine. So, I'm still struggling to get back in the habit and keep the results I worked damn hard for.

I'm also a future home owner!

Yup, I'm all grown up now and waiting to close on a little townhome in Brentwood, TN. Just a little north of where I'm at now. I got a great deal and it's an end unit with their biggest floor plan. Around 1700sq I think. I looked around and prayed about a bunch of places I saw; This one felt right. So I guess I'll find out in Oct/Nov if I made a good decision or not. Yeah, I'm a bit scared since this is my first home purchase... big investment. But on the other side I'm positive I've done a lot of good homework and consultation into my first purchase. I'm excited.

So that'll catch us up for a bit... I promise to start blogging more regularly now. Well... maybe =)

+Jenkins

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 16:46:49 GMT

Nashville, TN
Soapbox time :)

Well unless you've been living in a telephone booth for the past week or two, you've probably heard about the whole Don Imus outcry. Here's the jist of the story: Don Imus is a "shock jaw" radio host, has been doing radio for a boat load of years. The other day during the NCAA women's finals, he and his producers were commenting on the game. They were talking about how rough the women players looked, how they had tattoos, and he wrapped it up with "That's a bunch of nappy-headed hoes." Since he made the statement he's made apology after apology. Some black reverends caused a huge uproar. And now he's lost his job.

What started it all:

I agree with most everyone that the thing Imus said was completely out of line and totally uncalled for. Well of course, this started a whole snowball of events. And spearheading these events was none other than Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson. Go figure. Before you know it, these "Reverends" are calling for his job, condemning the man, and have taken a simple statement (granted, a foul one) and made it into a much bigger issue than what it really is.

Well Imus ended up apologizing over and over again. He talked about the issue on his show before he was fired. He told the public he wanted to make things right and talk to the basketball team directly. His wife talked on the show and expressed how nice the team actually was and for people to stop sending hate mail to the team, but rather re-direct it to her husband. Heck, He even went onto Al Sharpton's radio show and talked with him about the issue.

So here's a man that inadvertently humiliated some hard-working women, but made every effort to try and rectify the situation. I think this man made a mistake, truly realized what he said was demeaning, and asked the women, as well as the public, for their forgiveness. Regardless of what Sharpton or Jackson may think, I don't believe this was an expression of his hatred or prejudice for black women or anything else those Reverends may have pulled out of the sky. The man goofed up on his "shock jaw" talk show; look back at the history of his talk show and I'm sure you can pull up some dirt on issues he's made for himself.

I'm not an Imus supporter and I'm sure many of the issues and topics he's talked about in the past are things I wouldn't agree with. Much like the Howard Stern stuff... I simply don't like it. But putting my listening preferences aside, I do believe what has happened to this man is wrong. The outrage I have is the response from Sharpton and Jackson. Time and time again these two men have given the black community a bad representation and reputation. Some friends and I have been saying Sharpton and Jackson need to be stripped of their "Reverend-hood" for the past 2 or 3 years. I totally want blacks & whites to be united and these 2 men seem to constantly stir crap up.

A few years back as a photojournalist, I was covering a story of (rev.) Jesse Jackson visiting a dominant black church during MLK day. The hatred that was coming out of his mouth was unbelievable. MANY white and black churches had congregated together (especially in our city) to celebrate MLK day and unity. Black church congregations went to white churches and vice versa. What would seem like a step in the right direction for unity and harmony, Jackson thought otherwise and had the audacity to strike them down. For the life of me, I couldn't find out why a large black church brought in a man to preach segregation from the pulpit. He offered no hope or progression for blacks and other races to be united, but rather blacks to be independent and stand up for their heritage.

And lets look at Sharpton on this whole Imus thing by itself. From the get-go he's calling for Imus' job, striking him down, etc. Sharpton BRIEFLY mentions the airwaves and the television show. After Imus loses his job, Sharpton goes on to say that it never was about Imus, but rather the airwaves! What a double standard this guy is living and saying. He never once asked people to rise up against MSNBC or CBS themselves, but rather Imus was the target of his propaganda. And now supposedly it's not about Imus? Horse radish!

I believe both of these men have repeatedly pushed their own agenda and misrepresented the black community. And my heart honestly goes out to the black community because time and time again these men have made asses out of themselves. I really do believe there has to be a change in who is apparently representing the issues of african-americans today. It seems ever since I heard of these guys in my high school days, it was always negative. I think if it was in Sharpton's and Jackson's heart to do away with these issues and really, whole heartedly, push for equality, love, and peace, then it would show through their EVERY DAY actions.

Here's what a guy had to say from the Kansas City Star.

Whitlock statements reminds me there are level headed black people that know how to deal with today's society. He reminds me the whole segregation and prejudice issues that keeps coming up can be dissolved with proper leadership! It's refreshing to see this video and know that new black leaders are going to rise up, and hopefully they will be filled with love, great ideas and the ability to dismiss these issues that keep haunting our society.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:38:18 GMT

Kansas City, KS

That airport again.

I find it ironic that the last time I sat down and wrote an actual blog
was back on December 12th and I sat in the same chair here at the
Kansas City International Airport. Yup... the airport we all know and hate love. And once again, I find myself eating pizza and have a bottle water watching people twiddle off to their destinations. I had a bit too much red pepper stuff on my pizza this time - my gums are on fire!!! Ah well, at least my belly is happy. Speaking of belly - i'm starting to work it off. Baby steps ya'll, baby steps. I went and worked out at the gym down the road from the house, and i started doin push-ups and sit-ups last nite. I wanna keep it up and get back into shape. I'm thinking of doing stairs everyday at these arenas we play at. I look forward to it and dread it at the same time.

And ya know, I procrastinate like a muther. Not just on my blogs, per se, but in all areas of my life: Personal, work, blogs, religion, etc. It's really bothered me in the recent months cause I notice I won't do things, just to put it off because I can do it later. I think the Lord's been pokin me about it and I really wanna change. And it drives me nuts... cause I know I'm perfectly capable of doing stuff NOW! I think I have some kind of syndrome and need medication for it. Isn't that how it works on t.v.? Like restless leg syndrome (RLS)... not sure what mine should be called... anybody got a good medical name for it?

But yeah, so I'm striving to not put off things... I think sometimes it's because what I have to do involves being confrontational. I don't think I've fully adjusted to the position I'm in yet... which has plenty of confrontation involved. *sigh* I remember reading about this kind of stuff involving leadership. More on that later... we'll see what develops.

Flashback

So here's some of the stuff I've been up to the past couple of months. We've been busy, but not terribly - it's been fun. One of the coolest things that happened is last week we got into Keith Urban's private show. Everybody was in town for the Country Radio Seminar and Keith decided to do a small club concert for his fan club and the CRS people.
Wow... what a frikkin rad time it was... I knew Miranda and the Band always spoke super highly of Keith and his band and they said EVERY night of the tour they would stand on the side of the stage and watch his show. I thought they were lying because it couldn't be that good. I was wrong. Freaking incredible show.

Keith Urban on stage... sorry... i didn't take too many photos cause it was too much fun to listen and enjoy.

We finished up the Toby Keith tour a couple weeks ago. Man... it was sompin else and we had a great time. Big crowds, big sound, big lighting, big pyro, and Big Toby =) He knows how to keep a crowd entertained =)

And this is our measly little set that we had in front of Toby's. Hahhahahaha.... Big difference!

And Miranda got to go back to Nashville Star and perform for this season's show. It was a really great experience... Miranda was happy to perform from where she started 5 seasons ago... Everyone was stoked that we were there and Miranda was doing so well... And I got to meet and hang out with a great T.V. lighting designer and director - what a wealth of knowledge! Good times!

We traveled to the big apple for a media showcase and I got to visit the true "big apple." That apple store was crazy cool!

Rupert G and the Hello Deli was the highlight of one of my day's in new york. I've seen this guy on Letterman every since I was a kid...unfortuantely I didn't get to see Letterman because they were on a "hiatus"and were not recording for another week. Maybe next time =)

And this past Sunday, Miranda filmed her new music video "Famous in a Small Town." The new single should be out in a week or two and the video should be shortly thereafter. Check out the new cd on May 1st! We were so proud of her cause Kerosene finally went Platinum after a hard year and a half.

Welp! That's it for now. Less procrastination and more blogging!

+Jenkins :)

Monday, January 01, 2007

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 18:46:38 GMT

Longview, TX
Happy New Year
Well boys and girls... it's 2007. Yup. Uh huh. 2006 was really good... now for even greater adventures! Goin out with some friends tonite to the casinos in Shreveport. I'll blog a bit more when I get in tonite =)

Peace!
+Jenkins

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:03:22 GMT

Kansas City, KS
Stupid Airport
I like the free internet, but my goodness this place is retarded. Instead of having just one security checkpoint to all the gates, each set of gates has a checkpoint. So if you have to go to the restroom (which is outside of the gates), you have to go through security all over again. If you need some food, yup - ya gotta go through security again. If you get off your plane at one gate and have to go to another gate - yessir, you guessed it - go through security again. Balls!

Survivor
So I survived my first country & western tour =) Four months passed by quickly, oh so quickly... wow. We wrapped up the tour last Friday and had a blast at the House of Blues. Since it was a small venue we couldn't load in much of our gear at all - so that made the day easy. So easy, in fact, that I was able to go see a performance of KA due to our late show! And you talking about incredible, i can't wait to go see some more Cirque du Solei shows! And then to walk back to the HOB and do our show... quite depressing, lol. Here's some pics to wrap it up:

Here's the audio guys I work with day in and day out... Jason and Chriiiiiis. And you have to say it just like that or he won't respond.

Here's Pugs... he's pretty famous in the production world. Right now he's Dierks' monitor guy. We're pretty sure he invented sound itself.

Micah... Lighting Crew Chief #3. Super cool cat... we had some other lighting guys but things kept happening and we kept getting new ones.

Ahhhh... the lovely Jill Lowrey, everyone's favorite person on tour. She was the asst tour manager on this tour, but she basically tour manages Kenny Chesney and George Strait as well.

Jamo! Frequent explicatives were always coming from stage left as the P.A. was being hung each day... and who was it from? Why this mighty fine feller here... not quite a Clair Bros employee but not quite not. We're all confused who he actually works for. So is he.

The other lighting guy - Dave. He's cool and has a family and likes to tour with Brooks and Dunn a lot. He did the jobs of the other 3 techs that we had before. I taught him how Wybron color scrollers work and why they foul up so much and he taught me the insides of the Mac 2000. We're both smart. Really smart.

Myself, Micah, and Chris the LD. Chris had many names on the tour, most of which i can't post on this blog due to the family atmosphere at which i try to keep things. Not sure if that makes sense. But Chris turned out to be a cool cat and a great LD. We had a great time hanging out and when he had a little bit of the green bottle in him, things got crazy!

Dierks. I finally had to germ him.

Chance - Dierks' FOH sound guy. He actually works for Clair Bros (as opposed to Jamo) and has a couple of kiddies (i found that out after I asked him who the little girls were in the picture that he put up every day - dope!). Nice guy, we've worked with some of the same bands in the Christian market. He left that market quickly, lol =)

Miranda's Momma... Mom... Mama Bev... Beverly... Hey Bev! She's a jewel, but don't be deceived - she knows how to take care of business! hahhaha

Mr Ebo... supposedly he's quite famous in Nashville, does tons of studio session work, writes music, tours the world... but out here with us he was totally humble and always wanted to talk about something, anything, you name it. He also took Chriiiiiis and I to In-N-Out when we were in Sherman Oaks, CA. That's when I knew he really was a nice guy =)

And here's everyone on stage for the last song... Aden busted out his trumpet and tooted out some tunes - it was great!

Watching the time
So it's almost time to board my flight to Tulsa. I got invited to Integrity's Christmas party - how can I pass that up? Let's see, last year I caught a field on fire and Steve had a wreck with the forklift. I wonder what's in store this year. I'll be back in Nashvegas tomorrow - wednesday, so if yer around, lets hang this week/weekend - or play some Halo2... yes'em!

THANKIN' YA!
+Jenkins

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 19:01:40 GMT

Belton, TX
Heavy Eyes
Well Yesterday was a great time in Dallas... my parents came down and we had a great time. It was their 29th anniversary so I tried to do a little something extra special for them and it turned out great! I found this really nice hotel downtown Dallas and got them a nice room - you know, kind of pamper them. Well I go to there early in the morning and pay for it all and scout out the room, approve it, sign the papers, and leave. Well about 5 minutes later the lady at the front desk calls back and says "Mr. Jenkins, if it's okay, we'd like upgrade your parents room to our elite suite package at no charge... just in celebration of their 29th anniversary. And we're going to include a care package and some champagne and strawberries for them as well." BINGO! Hahhahaha... so needless to say they had a great time at the hotel. We also got to see the rodeo together which was great and then the concert with Miranda and Dierks.

And now after 2 days of hangin out with friends in Tyler and Dallas, plus it was Miranda's birthday so we had some celebrations and i'm just plum worn out. NEED SLEEPY SLEEP!

CMA... YEA!
So it's done... it's over... we came... we saw... we performed... we went! What a great experience for my first awards show. Technically - everything went smooth and as planned (besides our guitar player losing his Ganjo 3 minutes before live T.V. - more on that below) and for the performance - they did incredible!

Rehearsal at the CMA's... I think this guy was standing in for Brooks & Dunn

Miranda rehearsing "Crazy ex-girlfriend"

Miranda and the band rehearsing. Uber cool set and lighting design.

Backstage view of the lighting.

Our little plane we got to ride in after rehearsals in Nashville to make the show in Valdosta, GA.

"I'm with the band!"

Tony freaking us out.

The little toilet slides out and you close the doors and do your business. I couldn't pass up this photo op!

Yeah... we totally acted like rock-stars. lol... we knew weren't anybody and we're extremely stoked and blessed to be doing this... but we sure did pretend we were the shiz-nit!

The day of the CMA's it was tour-bus-heaven. 20 to 30??

Most of us right before show time!

Vince Gill and me talking about old times and the way things used to be =)

And lastly, Scotty and his blasted Ganjo. So 3 minutes before we play live, we're setting the stage and he comes up to me and says "Hey bud, have you seen my guitar?" And all of the sudden, the already hectic situation got even crazier. We had a person from every department searching for this flippin guitar meanwhile i'm trying to keep people with Scottty and Miranda to keep them calm because Miranda is PISSED! Hahahha, so about a minute left we have to go get an acoustic guitar from somebody, tune it, dial it up in the mix, and make sure everybody is happy. 10 seconds left, i jump on stage, make sure the boss is happy and can sing on key with the new instrument, she says she can, i give everyone a thumbs up, blow them a kiss and jump off stage. PHEW! And of course, nobody else knew what happened, lol. Well, the only other bad thing to this was the acoustic guitar he had to play was a Gibson... and he is sponsored by Alvarez... and they were there - backstage. Hahaha! Yeah, they were kinda pissed that he ended up playing their competitor's guitar on national television =)

Signing off
Well, that's it for now. I hear the toilet calling my name.

+Stankins

Friday, November 03, 2006

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:52:07 GMT

Starkville, MS
Getting Colder!
Well, I guess we can kiss summer good-bye and embrace winter with open arms.... or cling onto the last bit of summer with everything we got and give winter the finger! I'm doing the latter. Every morning I wake up, put on my summer work clothes (shorts and a black t-shirt), walk outside the bus... walk back into the bus, change into a pair of pants, walk out of the bus. Every morning. Every morning. =) I guess there's this smidgen of hope that it'll be warm or tolerable outside. The other day in Nashville it was in the upper 60's and then the next day it was gloomy, cloudy, and rainy. Balls. Ah well...

Country music's biggest night
That's what they call the CMA's... and I'm certainly looking forward to it. I've been watching the CMA's ever since I was a kid (wait a sec... come to think of it...) and now I'm blessed with the opportunity to be involved! Get this... because we're still on tour and doing shows it's causing us to get a 3rd bus to drive up to Nashville tonite and then fly in a personal jet down to Georgia. We gotta rehearse and do camera blocking early tomorrow morning in Nashville and then do a show later that night in southern Georgia. I don't get excited over much, but I gotta admit, i'm pretty stoked about the whole personal-business jet thing. I'll post pics later.

Here's a clip of Miranda at the CMA's last year. We got a lil gag to pull this year as well :)

Tyler, TX
Hey... if any of ya'll are around the East Texas area... we're gonna be in Tyler at the Oil Palace on Thursday the 9th. Lemme know if you're coming and we'll hang out or sompin. It should be a decent sized show considering it's Miranda's hometown and all. Plus it's East Texas... c'mon... country music baby.

And Finally...
Yes, for all of those who have been asking, I did receive my MacBook Pro a few hours after I got my mighty mouse. I've just been too excited using it that I haven't had the time to post the pics. Lemme tell ya, I'm really enjoying this thing. So easy to do what I want to do. Don't get me wrong, I liked using Windows for certain things, but man, this Mac just rocks my world. I plan on saving up and getting my parents an iMac sometime next year. It's definitely going to be easier for my mom to do e-mail, surf, do family photos, etc. And I'm slowly converting over the folks on the road... I gotta tell ya, if ya don't have one yet, start thinking about one =)

There she is on the couch... all innocent... still a virgin.

Me... MacBook Pro... Love at first sight.

Peek-a-boo

15" MacBook Pro... 52" Mitsubishi HDTV... Is the 15" bigger????????

Cheers!!

Catch ya later.
+Stankins