Recently I had the opportunity to think back on all the experiences I’ve had in the “sound reenforcement” arena. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised by the amount of work I crammed into 4 years. Here’s some of the high-lights (it’s not bragging if no one reads your blog - is it?)

Notable events:
Bakersfield JR. Miss Pageant (4 years running), BCHS Awards night and graduation, Kids Fest (twice), Glory Project, St. Phillips International Festival (twice), Relay for Life, “Light the Night”/”Celebration of Life” Cancer walk (several times), and too many other things to remember or list (even a funeral).

Front of House Sound:
Kevin Max, Paul Wright (3 times), Peculiar People Band from Cape town South Africa, dizmas, Lost Ocean, Future of Forestry, Edisonglass, Kids in the Way, Amber Salciedo (twice), Jon Shabaglian (twice), Jim Ranger (twice), Rocamole (several times), Shachah, Thee Majestics (several times), Rough Edges, Two or More, Eddie and the Islanders, Joel Jacob, Mosaic (several times), and many other misc. local/unsigned bands, plus Trin-I-Tee 5:7 and several other large Gospel acts that I can’t remember

Monitor Sound:
Acoustic Nerve, Mentu Buru, Bakersfield’s own American Idol - Amy Adams, Hawk Nelson (twice), 4th Avenue Jones, dizmas, kj-52, and many more…

Lead House Tech. (supporting the touring sound personnel):
“In the name of Love” tour (Warren Barfield, Barlow Girl, Todd Agnew), “In the name of Jesus” tour (Nate Sallie, Todd Agnew), Big Daddy Weave, Rebecca St. James with Barlow Girl, Superchic[k], Point of Grace, Sonicflood, Mercy Me, Avalon, Newsboys with Stellarkart and Kutless, Go Fish! , and as before, there are more I can’t remember.

Oh, and I also did sound system installation/tuning at 4 different churches.

You’d think I might know something by now….. but it seems the sound guys that know something are smart enough to show-up after the system has been loaded in, leave before it’s loaded out, and get paid 5 times as much. Wonder what that would be like….

There aren’t many times in my life when the words “Neener, Neener” come to mind… but Valentine’s Day is one of them. When I think of my wife, and realize that she picked me over all the other choices she had…. I just can’t help it.

What a lucky and blessed man I am!!!

…. call me old… just because of what I did. So what!? So I put on sandals over socks today to go work in the yard. I mean, come on…. it was the back yard, white socks, long pants and a nice shirt. It’s not like I was proudly marching around the front yard in shorts, tank-top, black socks and sandals. It’s no big deal, and has nothing to do with the fact that I’m 40. It wasn’t a fashion statement, just a practical thing… why would I need to tie a pair of shoes, or take off my socks, just so I could go out and water the Lemon tree. … hmmmm …. maybe that’s how it starts…. practicality winning out over style. Don’t think I like where this is heading….

Ok, here’s proof. According to this it’s not that I’m getting old… I’m just a nerd. Hmmmm…. still don’t like where this is heading…..

Let’s assume there was a health problem. Let’s assume that some doctors thought that 70% of the instances of that problem was caused by a specific virus, but no one is sure. Let’s assume that some researchers had a drug that some people thought stopped that virus, but no one is for sure…. and in those instances where everything was right, it might not provide protection in all cases, plus it has the possibility of side effects.

Do those sound like good odds? Let’s just say that the unknowns were actually correct 75% of the time. That means that it would help less than 40% of the people who take it…. and that’s only if they’re right.

I know that sounds like a far-fetched scenario… but keep this in mind when you watch TV ads for all the drugs being pushed to market.

(Of course my personal favorite is when they try to sell a drug to cure depression.. oh, but by the way, the drug has a very good chance of causing people to become suicidal….. Huh?)

I will not blog about American Idol.