Matt and amber, get here soon! Funky is waiting!!!

Have you ever noticed that in all the old americana and folk and spirituals there is such beautiful spiritual content in the lyrics? i have always felt such a closeness to those old songs and an almost magical connection with them. i think it is because the music is right in the vein of the lyrics. there is so much harmony between the two. there is something beautiful about the holy spirit that is not necessarily happy or sad, just beautiful. i think when you are thinking along the lines of happy and sad or the image of goodness as opposed to the image of darkness you end up with music a lot like what are most of the worship songs that are sung in churches today. those are not songs that make my soul weep and my spirit saturate my body and begin to flow from my being. there is something in these old songs that make you experience that beauty and understand it. it is like when you see a 'good' person get drunk. it seems so out of place and not like the person you know and love. when they finally sober up and come to you with honesty and sincerity you feel your spirit take a deep breath and say "ahhh, this is the person i know and love" this music makes me feel 'ahhh, that is the holy spirit i know and love and can't get enough of!'
living in nashville has obviously gotten me thinking about this because this is where a lot of it originated. on the 17th i am going to the grand ole opry to see gillian welch, david rawlings, elvis costello, and emylou harris! there is not much i can say to describe my excitement.
the recording process is moving right along. we are in jacquire's studio now doing overdubs. it is not as exciting as the main recording process was at quad but every once in a while we get to go crazy with ideas about sounds we want to capture (like a bunch of us stomping on the huge old piece of a deck that is leaning on the building outside) we have been writing new songs still throughout this whole process as well so those kind of things keep you inspired and excited. we are going to be playing a show here on the 16th too so we will probably be starting practice for that on the weekends.
all of the parentals are coming out in two weeks and i am completely jazzed about this. so far a bunch of people have been able to come out to visit and it has been so amazing to be able to share this experience with people you love. matt and amber are coming out in the beginning of march and i can't wait. i told matt that we have to go to my favorite place to eat here called 'the mellow mushroom.' it is basically a restaurant whose demographic is solely stoners and hippies who drink beer. our favorite waiter there is this 'dude' named "funky" and he has every inch of his skin either pierced or tattooed. he looks like what you would get if splinter and david vecchio had a child. we see him every once in a while riding around town on this crazy old school beach cruiser thing and we yell out the window at him "hey funky!! that's a crazy-ass old school beach cruiser thing!!!" but the mellow mushroom has the best pizza hands down that i have ever tasted in my life. and they have this huge selection of great beers on tap. and if that all isn't enough to get your taste buds in a frenzy, sunday through wednesday all of the pints of tap beer are half off!!!