Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

Four months of heavenly musical chaos, and I'm back in the 616.

And life is busy and crazy here, too, but in a less heavenly way. More earthy. Less music.

It's sad and different and I don't know how I like it.

And now I have to go to a Little League baseball game, so once again, I leave you with a short update.

Love and Life,

LeahJoy

The Final Stretch

Things are winding down here at the CMC. Final exams are due tomorrow, along with our final masters. Our last show is tomorrow, and our last Game Tape (show review) is Friday. Saturday, we'll review our exams and then we have the CMC Grammies in the evening. Next week is packing up the campus, because they're moving to Nashville!

So yes, currently I am sitting in the Cafe blogging and listening to Norah Jones. Everyone else is working on their final. I do believe I am the only one who is done. That's because I obsess about things and I have learned to avoid procrastination. (One time, in high school, I had two huge projects due the same day and I waited until 11:00 the night before to start them both. Yeah, haven't wanted to procrastinate much since then.) So I worked on my exam for 4 hours a day for a few days so that I wouldn't have to spend all of yesterday, last night, today, and tonight finishing it like everyone else.

Our exam is really cool, though. There are sections on the Music Industry, Technical Terms, Faith and Culture, our personal growth, and songwriting. Mine is 61 pages long, because I had to include lead sheets and lyrics for every song I wrote this semester. (That took nearly 40 pages.) Anyway, we put it all in a binder, and we get to take it home. It'll be a great resource, I'm sure.

So yep, final show tomorrow night. I'm a stage hand. Not my favorite thing to do, but I do enjoy it, because I'm good at it. I like to run and fetch things for people. I'm also singing on one song. Michael's set didn't go so well last week... actually, it was dreadful because you couldn't hear his guitar. So he's going again this week, and he wanted to do one of my songs, because he wrote a great solo for it. Thankfully, all I have to do is sing. Then we have an after-party.

And Friday morning Game Tape, when we'll review the past two shows, since we didn't get to for the last one.

Saturday is Exam Review, and then Robbie and I and other people who have not yet decided are going to the Dumptique and then we're going to see Robbie's aunt and uncle's sheep! I'm so excited!

Saturday night is the CMC Grammies. We've submitted nominations and we'll vote on them tomorrow morning in Community Meeting. I'm so excited because we get to dress up. And I actually brought a dress with me! I have no idea why I packed it, but I did, and I'm really glad that I did.

This is the most boring blog I have written ever. If you made it this far, congratulations. I feel like I need to reward you with some hilarious witty comment, but I'm afraid my brain is a bit tired right now and I can't think very well.

So anyway. If you haven't seen this, you should. Someone took clips of the Jesus Film and dubbed over it. It's amusing, if slightly sacrilegious. Although, I'm not sure the Jesus Film is entirely Biblical, anyway.

Love and Lollygagging,

Leah

Jesus in the Gravy

I'm not big on holiday-themed blogs, but I felt that since it is Easter, I should have something on here related to the holiday. I have friends who will go off on the origins of the holiday... quite frankly, I don't care. Does it matter that its name started in pagan religions? Not really, because it's not in a pagan religion anymore. Ok. And I have other friends who will discourse on the greatness of this day. You can go read their blogs. I'm frankly not that theological.

Instead, I shall tell a story, and then give you a Nashville-trip-summary, which is something I haven't done yet and I really should have by this point.

When my mom was a kid, her family would sing the hymn "Up From The Grave He Arose" at Easter. Since they always had a big Easter dinner, with gravy boat and everything, she always thought the lyrics were "Low in the gravy lay Jesus my savior...." What a funny picture! :)

Ok, end of story. (And then I found $5?)

So Nashville. Well, we flew there on Thursday (the 18th of March). We got dropped off downtown that evening to find dinner and hang out. We were all a little bit tired from getting up at 5:00 to leave and then traveling, but we managed to have fun. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe, even though it's like the one chain restaurant down there. It was our first night; we're allowed to act like tourists. On Friday, we went to The Recording Academy (formerly NARAS), which is the company that puts on the Grammys. We also met with Tina Parker, a music industry executive, and David and Sarah (Masen) Dark. On Saturday, we went to Charlie Peacock's house, talked with him for a while, and then got to see his house/mansion/church/studio. Pretty neat. We also dropped by Jars of Clay's new studio (affectionately called the Jarhole) and met with Steve. Finally, we went to Nathan Lee's warehouse for pizza, a little bit of a show, and some conversation with music industry people.

Sunday, we went to church at the Village Chapel, pastored by Jim Thomas. On Monday, we had a meeting with him and his wife, Kim. They are former artists, and it was nice to hear their take on life. Later on Monday, we drove to Toby Mac's studio where we met with Ryan Lampa, his tour manager, Toby Mac, Michael W. Smith (who is using Toby's studio), and Bryan Lennox (Michael's producer). I really enjoyed meeting with each one of those people. They were all very busy and took a big chunk out of their day to talk to us. It was very refreshing to hear their views, too. Later, we went to Word Entertainment (CCM record company) which was sufficiently creepy. And then we fed the homeless with Ryan Lampa.

That was the end of our school trip. Everyone was supposed to leave Tuesday morning, but I couldn't get the bus out until 6:40 PM, so I had my friend drop me off at the bus station on her way out of town, and then I hung out in Nashville all day. And got a tattoo. :)

So yeah. I spent Spring Break in the Shenandoah Valley with my aunt and uncle. That was really nice. Though they probably think I'm insane. And they're probably right.

And since getting back to the CMC, it's been really warm. Like, I'm seriously sunburned right now. It's spectacular!

Anyway, I have studio time in about fifteen minutes and we're doing final vocal tracking today, so I should go make sure I'm vocally prepared for this. :)

Love and lotsa "links",

LeahJoy

Duck Hunt in the Kitchen

So, I'm sitting in the Café, checking my email. I just finished breakfast and this is my normal morning routine. Except that there's a guy in the kitchen working on the refrigerator. (Probably because there was a polar bear in there yesterday.) And he's using some piece of equipment that makes old school video game noises. It seriously sounds like Duck Hunt. Or some old school game. It's intensely amusing.

This morning, I had studio time from 5-9. I was in there getting ready at 4:55 and then ... no power. Just in the studio. The rest of the Barn was still fully lit. Christian and Caitlyn came down and we spent about half an hour flipping breakers trying to get it back up... but no such luck. So... then we went back to sleep. What a good story.

I'm really ambivalent about going home. I miss my family, I miss my bassoon, I miss my friends, I miss my bed (these mattresses are terrible!)... but I know things change. How will I fit back into my friend groups? Will things be awkward in certain relationships? And what about a job? I've got a few leads, but nothing certain yet. I know I still have a few weeks, but then again, what don't I plan feverishly weeks in advance?

Well, I have a sudden urge to play Atari-esque games... so I'll leave this for now.

Love and Licorice (Black Licorice, but not Dutch Black Licorice),

LeahJoy