Update

Wow, I haven’t been here in a while. Apologies. You know… Life. Here’s what’s been going on:

  • We just got back from a youth retreat called Youth Councils that was held for youth from all over Wisconsin and the UP. I helped lead worship. It was a blast, if totally exhausting. We played music in 5 meetings, I lead a break out session on leading worship music, and I emceed a dance/rave. It was all super rad. I think there will be some pictures/video surfacing soon, so I might post a little something when I get it.
  • Doing this dance party thing wet my appetite for DJing. So I’ve been looking at getting some gear. I’m really pumped to learn how to do this. Maybe I can play your wedding. I hope you like dubstep.
  • I went shopping yesterday to get some pants. I came home with two sweater/shirts, a cardigan, a shirt and tie combo, and a pair of GLOVES. No pants.
  • I’m in the process of filming a gear update. Because I know you’re all interested.
  • I started writing some post-rock tunes again. I finally got a looping pedal back on my board, and it’s a lot more fun to play alone with one of those. Expect some rough cuts sometime. (Yeah, like he hasn’t said THAT before)
  • I had a nightmare where I was stuck in an old house, pressed against the double doors in the front, because we were being attacked by zombies and dire wolves. I held them off with nothing but my bare hands. And a water bottle, for whatever reason. I think how deeply involved in Game of Thrones I am is finally getting to me.
  • I’m going yard saling today. I was going to type “yard sailing,” but that seems to me to be something completely different. Anyway, I want to find a bike. Or maybe a guitar.
  • My dad told me this story that one time he was out at a garage sale when he spotted this WWII era Gibson arch-top buried in this guy’s stuff. He went to pull out his wallet and didn’t have any money. So he asked the guy how much he wanted, and it was in the tens of dollars. So my dad told him to hold it for him while he ran to the bank. Now, this story takes place in a world without internet, so my dad buys the guitar, takes it to a music shop, and sells it for like, $300. Which, at the time, he was sure was a pretty sweet deal. In hindsight, that guitar could have been worth $300,000. He doesn’t like when I bring that story up.
  • Oh! I keep forgetting. I start a new bullet point and something else creeps from my mind to my fingers. Anyway, I changed the title to my blog. Alban Arthuan. Which will probably just make you scratch your head. Unless, perhaps, you used Google. In which case, you may still be scratching your head. Alban Arthuan is the Celtic phrase for something they called “the time between times.” This was like dusk, between day and night, or dawn, between night and day, etc. These times were very spiritual and magical in Celtic culture and mythos. I changed the title of my blog to this because this is where I find myself right now- a time between times. I’m there in my personal life, musical life, spiritual life… It seemed fitting. So this is a record of my going from one time to another time in my life, and maybe bringing you all along for the ride. The subtitle is from a song by AWOLNATION. It’s gonna take a little time.

    Word,
    -Dave

Twitter, Selling Out, Canadian Public Media, Muppet Revivalist, Etc…

Well. I don’t know where this post is gonna go. But here I go with it anyway!

Guys, I was just thinking. And I love Twitter! It’s so simple. They’ve only changed their layout, like, three times, ever. There’s no pressure. And I personally love it because I have a really cool- what are called- Tweeps, or Tweeple, or Twends. OK, I just mad that last one up. But there’s a cool follwing/follower circle I have, and I love it. I can talk about gear or theology, basically little 140 character snippits of what ends up here, and get some cool, fun feedback. Anyway. I was just thinking that.

I have been learning to solder this week. From Youtube. Youtube teaches you anything you need to know. I got some DIY patch cables from GLS Audio, which are awesome, and some soldering equipment that cost about $10. Now I’m soldering my patch cables like a pro! I’m getting a DIY fever. I’m going to finish my guitars next! It’s just so fun!

I’ve been reading some Francis Chan books that I got around Easter, because he was giving them away for free. I’ve never read any of his books in their entirety. I’ve read other things he’s written, heard him speak, and read chapter excerpts, and decided I didn’t like his writing style at all. He and Rob Bell have the same problem/tactic: they write exactly how they speak. For Bell, that works really well. Where Bell sounds very pretentious and ends every sentence with a raised inflection, as if to ask a question, even if it’s something like, “This room is dusty…?” when he speaks, that translates to the page very well. Chan is a very well spoken, honest, bottom line kind of guy. While I love listening to him talk in this way, when it translates to his writing, it has never impressed me. However, I’m a little more than half way through Crazy Love, and have been reading it with the thought that I am listening to him speak, and not reading a book. My opinion has improved greatly. Plus, it was free. I’m sure that improves any read. Which is why I don’t charge for subscriptions to my blog… Among other… Reasons…

Let’s talk about how good this song is. Let’s talk about how the chord progression puts A and Am RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. Amazing. Genius. I love the Black Keys. I am digging El Camino more and more. I liked it when it came out. I even put it on my “Top Albums of 2011” list, even though it came out, like, three days before I wrote the post. But a few months later, while some whine about the Black Keys “selling out” or whatever, I think this album is awesome. This song is awesome. Can’t. Get. Enough.

Speaking of selling out, you should watch this video:

Speaking of QTV, you should watch this video:

Oh man. I love Canada. There’s some more interviews I’ll post at another time. But, seriously, Canada’s public media is SO good. If you’ve never listened to Wire Tap, go do that. Jonathan Goldstein is a story weaving master.

I realized again this week how terrible I am at writing lyrics. I just have to keep reminding myself that I told myself I was sticking with instrumental music. I just keep forgetting I told myself that.

They’re remaking Total Recall… And I kind of want to go see it.

I can’t end on that sentence.

I hope Dead Man’s Bones makes another record. Get on that, Ryan Gosling.

OK, I’m done for now. If you watched all of those videos and read all of this junk, I’m sorry for taking up an hour and 10 minutes of your time. But you will never get that back.

Word,
-Dave

P.S. Some of you may have noticed I changed the title to this blog.