Meeting Day!

4/9

 I was awakened by sirens, constant barking dogs, whistles, and crazy traffic horns.  This is at 6:15 AM mind you...  ah Manila. We had quite the view of Manila bay but apparently there was some kind of running event across the street for The Day of Valor,  a new holiday to us Westerners. The jeepneys, motorbikes, taxis,  and even a few bikes were out in full force. This is the same place that was still boomin 4 hours ago in the dark right? This place is absolutely unreal. This seriously is a city that never sleeps. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it but probably won't catch much rest here. 

We grabbed breakfast at the Hotel Jen buffet  (not too bad btw) and checked out the hotel pool before Ramon picked us up for our big day. On the way to Samaritans Place Ramon told us about Th Day of Valor, some facts about Manila and the area of Silang, and facts about traditional Filipino life. 

We stopped at a Korean restaurant, yes we've been eating more Korean food than anything, before entering the gated community where SP is located. 

The gates were guarded by some serous looking security guards, and that's good. We pulled up between 2 large gated buildings and Ramon said,"We are here".  Liza and I were pretty nervous and I'm sure that Joshua was too. We met several members of the staff and they seemed very friendly and caring.  There were cameras out and people taking video of the big event as we walked into the area where Joshua and his "house parents" were.  There were hugs, tears, and lots of awkward excitement. It was a strange but wonderful thing to meet our 14 yr old son do the first time. We all knew that it would take time to get to know each other but we were finally together after almost 2 years! 

We spent the ext few hours in the play yard with Joshua, the other kids, and the rest of the staff. Everyone was playing volleyball, basketball, Ping pong, and anything else in sight. It was an amazing experience playing with all these cute kids that we wish we could take home as well. There are so many good kids at this place and the Samaritan's Place and staff are such an amazing blessing. I really can't say enough. They really are a family and take very good care of the children. I'm finding that I really love Filipino values, food, culture, and everything I've encountered. We  had Joshua's favorite "American" dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, and fresh mixed veggies with a few staff members. We were so tired that we hit the sack around 9 in our specially prepared room. Joshua had his own bunk bed in the room. What a day. We were all exhausted.

Indignation...Righteous Indignation....Dude

Okay, this will not be the usual blog post. Well, not for me anyway. Unlike many people in the world, I have no problem being brutally honest. Not to offend or upset anyone, but I'm tired of all the "PC" garbage in the out there. It seems as if you can't really say anything with substance or you will offend someone. So, buzz off (I would rather use a different word) if you are easily offended and read some blog from a coffee house or a church (which I find are becoming the same thing).

I'm taking a break from the church music scene as it has become irritating and lifeless. Yeah, you heard me. Listen, I just released a Christian album so I'm not knocking that, but I find that Christian music is so stale and repetitive that it's hard to call it music most of the time. It's more of a template with the same words and chord structures repeated over and over by different "artists". There are exceptions of course with a few real Spirit led bands and they are uplifting and awesome but the Christian bookstore mainstream pop is complete crap. I think that the devil is probably more involved in the promotion of these bands through mainstream CCM stations and churches with no discernment.... Hey man, the music industry is the music industry... period. Wake up you Christian t-shirt wearing sleepwalkers.

But wait, I thought this blog was about the fascinating musical adventures of an indie musician trying to get people to buy some dang music? Well, it is. Sometimes I just gotta blow off some steam while giving you the latest news. So here is whats going on....

I am working with 2 different mastering engineers in the UK on a couple songs from the recently released Above the Snakeline album. It seems that the mastering on the album just wasn't up to par but we will sort that. Chances of re-releasing the album look good. Speaking of a re-release, Strange Horses from 2012 was recently re-released on CDBaby. Check it out to hear some rockin live versions of songs from Music From Earth and remixes from Between the Sun and the Moon! I am also very excited to be working on two projects with DJ Maxume from South Africa. We previously collaborated on U2's Where the Streets Have No Name where I sang the vocals and he cranked out a killer dance mix. He is arranging a new dance remix of Light of Love from the Above the Snakeline album and we will be collaborating on another techno dance song after that. It's been really interesting taking with him on Skype and sharing musical ideas from different continents. It's cool to know that other people around the world have faith and can still express themselves artistically through music. I'm going to quit my rambling but would encourage you to stay tuned. See you on Twitter in the meantime....    don't be lukewarm.