Beautiful mornings…

It’s morning time, which means it’s time a for a good cup of coffee and a little pondering, which usually takes the form of reading or writing for me.

One of the perks of staying with the in-laws is that they have a beautiful view from their backyard.  Their yard overlooks a field of rolling hills surrounded by lush trees.  A gigantic tree sits in the middle of the yard with a little swing hanging from it, and when the light shines through the leaves in the morning or in the evening the colors are perfect–yellows, golds, light greens, blues.  It’s really amazing.  We didn’t have this view from our little apartment.

Speaking of apartments, I’m really excited because we have one in Nashville!  We’ll be leaving here on August 21st to make the big trek down there.  Oh, and our apartment is half of a duplex so we have a big porch and I guess we share this really big back yard.  (Oh, and it’s just a short bike ride/longer walk away from Portland Brew East, my favorite coffee shop).  Maybe I’ll get to spend mornings writing on my back deck down in Nashville!

Well, I should probably start getting prepared for this weekend.  It’s going to be nonstop, but a lot of fun.  Hopefully we won’t fall over completely exhausted at the end.  Tonight we’ll be down in Rehoboth hanging out at the Underground and then playing at Arena’s.  We’ll get back here by about 3:30am so that we can both go to work tomorrow morning, and then we get to play at White Clay Creek!

Hope to see some of you there!

-Jenny

Humbling shows are good shows.

Last night was one of the funniest/most humlbing shows we’ve played in a while.

It went like this:

6:15p — we show up at Starbucks Glasgow.  There are 5 people there while we’re setting up and we get into a pretty lengthy conversation with 3 of them.

7:00p–we begin playing American Dream.  After the first verse all 3 of the people we’d been talking to get up and leave.

7:05– the other 2 people in the store leave.

We played to an empty store until 7:30.  It was pretty hilarious.  The folks working at Starbucks just hung out at the counter and listened, which made it a little better.  We used the time to practice playing some of our newer songs in “public.”

Something that struck as particularly funny throughout the whole 1/2 hour was that there were actually people hanging out outside Starbucks.  I think that something like 4 or so people were sitting outside in the heat (it was really hot out!) to avoid hearing us inside.

Finally at 7:30 a woman and her little boy came in and listened and 4 teenagers came in and were really fun to play for.  We ended early at 8:15 because our little audience had to go.

All in all, quite a humbling experience, especially in comparison to last weeks Ocean City show.

If you’re in the Newark area tonight come out to Borders!  We’re playing with our buddy Rod Kim.  Hope to see you there!

-Jenny

change is in the air….

My mom is coming to visit me today here in Newark…it may be her last visit here before we move to Nashville!  I’ve been excited about moving to Nashville for a while now, but lately the sadness that comes with leaving people and places you love has really been taking its toll.

I’ve moved many times in my life.  Someone asked me the other day how many times my family actually moved, and I came up with 9.  This time, moving to Nashville seems really different.  I think it’s because Tyler and I are moving on our own.  My parents, the moving experts will not be coming along.  It’s a good thing.  It’s definitely testing my ability to trust God in every circumstance.

The other day I drove past our old apartment, which is funny to say seeing as Tyler and I have only been married a year.  I love calling it the apartment we lived in “when we were first married.”  Hehe.  A bunch of old memories came rushing back.  A couple times last summer we camped out in our living room (the only room with a window air conditioner unit) to beat the heat, and walked over to BSM for “air conditioning breaks.”  It’s funny how things that seemed so uncomfortable at the time, bring back such great memories now.  I should really remember that for the future.

Anyway, we have a little less than 3 weeks before we leave for England and then we come back for 9 days before we move.  This Sunday will be our last week leading worship at OBC.  It’ll be bittersweet.

-Jenny

Ocean City Show = A Success!

This past week has been a whirl-wind of craziness…so much traveling, tons of writing, and loads of family.

Tyler and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on June 30, and as our gift to each other we went on a little trip.  This trip combined fun vacation stuff, family visits, and of course a show.  Overall we had a great time, but came back pretty exhausted.

On July 3rd we played at the Ocean City boardwalk in OC, NJ.  The story behind this gig is pretty amazing and really demonstrates God’s provision and providence at work, so I thought I’d share a little….

This Spring Tyler was trying to book shows and our friend Bethany Bracht suggested that he try to get a night at the Ocean City boardwalk.  After 5ish phone calls Tyler got to the lady who was booking the shows, directed her to our website, and was able to book the show for July 3rd—possibly the best night other than July 4th to play in Ocean City.  Seriously, thousands of people were out on the boardwalk, it was insane.  Anyway, we got the gig and were under contract to play with a percussionist/djembe player.  The night before the show we realized that if our usual guy Paul came to play the show, he’d be driving 6 or so hours in one day through beach traffic.  Paul agreed to face the traffic, but we knew it would be better if we could find someone else.  As soon as Tyler got off the phone with Paul about the situation he thought about calling our friend Chris Zwakenberg.  Tyler called Chris and before he could even ask him about playing the show, Chris mentioned that he saw we were going to be playing in Ocean City and that he was going to be staying in Sea Isle that night and wondered if he could play with us!  It was crazy–and truly providential!  Paul wouldn’t have to play, and we wouldn’t be in breech of our contract—problem solved!

We were told at the beginning of the week that we would not be allowed to sell our merchandise or put out a tip jar on the boardwalk.  We were kinda bummed, but still thought the gig would be worthwhile.  We brought our merchandise just in case, and I’m really glad we did.  Chris’s mom suggested we partner with a vendor and try to sell our stuff in a shop on the boardwalk.  I thought the idea to be pretty far fetched, but my salesman husband (I love that about him!) decided to give it a try.  And wouldn’t you know it, but our gig was about 50 feet away from the only CD shop on the boardwalk.  Tyler went over and was able to put up our whole display in the shop, and the owner only asked to take 25% of the sales.  At the end of the night we sold $400 in merchandise—such a blessing!!!!

This is a minor detail, but it meant a lot to me—we played across the boardwalk from a Kohr’s Bros. and at the end of the night the girls selling ice cream liked us so much that they gave us all the ice cream we wanted for free!  Yum!

Anyway, it was an amazing night and we truly felt blessed to be able to play the show, have so many people hear the music, and walk away with some compensation at the end of the night.  Shows like these allow us to keep playing music as much as possible.

Thanks to everyone who came!

This weekend you can catch us at:

Starbucks, Glasgow, DE @ 7pm on Friday

or

Borders Bookstore, Newark DE @ 7pm on Saturday.

-Jenny

a new week.

It’s Monday morning, and I all ready feel pretty productive.  This morning I helped do some inventory at the little store where I work and then I went over to church to help with Vacation Bible School music, which went really well.  I was surprised at how into the music the kids were.  Today I’m just gearing up for the week–doing laundry, trying to line up an apartment, some writing, etc.

We just finished a really successful weekend of shows.  I’d say my favorite gig was the Logan House.  We opened for the Crash Motive (they’re really excellent if you haven’t heard them) and the crowd was awesome.  Very receptive to us.  It was a high energy show and we had a great time.  Tyler and I went to bed exhausted on Friday night after playing to shows and we both woke up early to go to work all day on Saturday.  On Saturday night we drove up to Jennersville, PA to play at a Starbucks.  The crowd was sparse, but the people there were really interested in listening to the music, so we had fun telling them the stories behind the songs, etc.  We went to bed tired again on Saturday night.  It feels good to go to bed exhausted like that after a fun show.

In exactly 7 days Tyler and I will be celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary.  I really can’t believe it’s been a whole year.  Someone told me that the newly-wed period has been extended to 2 years, so I guess we can say we’re newly-weds for another year.  I definitely still feel like newly-weds. I love being married to Tyler!  We’re spending the weekend exploring NYC and the surrounding areas, and just relaxing together.  Seems perfect to me.

Thanks to all who came out this past weekend to support us!  We enjoyed seeing some familiar faces and we really had a great time meeting new people!

-Jenny

Living with in-laws….

As you may or may not know, Tyler and I moved in with his parents at the beginning of June and will be here until we leave for Nashville August 21st. (yes, we FINALLY have a date!)

That being said…living with the in-laws can be, well, interesting.  Those of you with “in-law communal living” experience know what I’m talking about.

Upon arrival to the Somers’ house, Tyler and I laid siege to the basement, unpacked our air mattress, and set up all of our musical equipment.  Living in the basement actually has it’s perks.  Unlike our old apartment, the Somers’ have air conditioning, and the basement is naturally at least 5 degrees cooler than the rest of the house.  Thus, we get 62 degree air for free.  The basement also has a TV that has cable…so I can numb my mind by watching reality shows like What Not to Wear and reruns of the Gilmore Girls.

However, we’ve had a few road bumps these past few weeks…

This first night we had dinner with the whole family, and Tyler’s dad told Tyler to take his elbows off the table…(he’s 23, not 3, okay?)

Our air mattress popped about a week and half into our stay, so we squished ourselves into a twin bed until we could borrow a replacement from our friend.

Somehow I’ve become a primary caretaker of the dog.  If you know me well, you know I really, really don’t like dogs.  I’ve found myself walking the dog, avoiding picking up his poop, and best of all, this morning the dog took a ride in my backseat to the groomers.  It’s pretty hilarious.  And what can I say, I’m actually becoming pretty good friends with it.  (the dog’s name is Chase.)

All in all, the experience has been, well, not to be too redundant, interesting.

Hope to see some of you at the shows this weekend!

-jenny

shows this weekend.

Last Saturday we played a really fun show at the Starbucks on Main Street in Newark. We met a lot of new people and had a great time playing some of our new songs.  If you missed the show, you’ve got plenty of chances to come hear some music this weekend.  This Friday we’re playing at Beans Coffee Shop in Woodstown, NJ at 7pm and then we’re opening for The Crash Motive (formerly Omnisoul) at Kelly’s Logan House in Wilmington, DE at 10pm.  On Saturday we’ll be at Starbucks up in Jennersville, PA at 6pm.  If you have a chance, come to a show!

The move to Nashville is starting to come together!  We may have found a place to live and Tyler officially has a Starbucks transfer in place.  We’ll see what happens!

-Jenny

Upcoming shows and more…

Last Sunday we participated in the Kaylyn Elaine Warren benefit concert out in Fair Hil, MD.  The show went really well in spite of the heat.  We were both dripping by the end of the set and wound up leaving by 3:30 or so, but it was still a good time.

We’ve recently booked some more shows for June & July that I thought some of you might be interested in…

Here’s our “summer schedule” so far:

June 20, Beans Coffee House, Woodstown, NJ

June 21, Starbucks, Jennersville, PA

July 3, Ocean City Boardwalk, Ocean City, NJ

July 5, Starbucks, Glasgow, DE

July 11, Beans Coffee House, Woodstown, NJ

July 12, Borders Bookstore, Newark, DE

July 18, Arena’s Deli & Bar, Rehobeth, DE

July 22nd, Arrowhead Camp

July 28-Aug 12, we’ll be in England.  For part of the trip we’re leading worship for a youth camp, and then for the other half we’re sightseeing and spending time with my brother and sister-in-law.  It should be a good time.

I’m not sure on the times for all of the shows yet, but we’ll keep you updated.  For now, mark your calendars and plan to come out and see us.  We’ve got a bunch of new songs that we’re dying to play out, so I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

-Jenny

A Lesson in Artist Terminology and our Response

Last night we played a show with three other bands up at The Fire in Philly.  The other bands were “The Bronze Episode (hereafter referred to as TBE)”, “Bottle Up and Go (BUG)” and “Chris Kasper (Kasper).”  Chris is the most like us in terms of his musical band.

We arrived around 8:30p and were almost immediately greeted by some members of TBE and BUG.  They were really nice.  We chit-chatted about our styles, where we’re from, playing at The Fire before, and more.  At the end of the conversation, we were about to go in when the Synth/Keyboard/Background Vocals guy from TBE asked if it would be okay if their band “backlined” that night.

I, Tyler, had no idea what “backlining” meant.  I asked Jenny and she didn’t know either.  I began to think of possible definitions for “backlining.”  We were opening the show, the “headliner” was Kasper (I think because of his June “residency” there at The Fire), so maybe TBE was going to “backline” - meaning perform before the headliner?  After about ten seconds of thinking such thoughts and feeling stupid for not really knowing, I told the Synth/Keyboard/Background Vocals guy (I wish I remembered his name) that Jenny and I had no idea what “backlining” meant.

“Backlining” officially means setting up one’s equipment and lining it up close to the back of the stage, leaving room at the front of the stage for those performing prior.

And for those of you who don’t know what a residency is (I found out three months or so ago), it means that an artist or band plays each week at one and the same venue for a certain period of time (hence takes residence there).  Kasper has a residency for the month of June at The Fire, every Tuesday night, from last night until the end of the month.

In light of all this, while Jenny and I were riding back from Philly around midnight last night, we devised a plan to come up with terminology of our own.  They are as follows:

Do you prefer “inees” or “outees” - translation - Do you like in-ear monitors or regular stage monitors.  (Not are you attracted to people with a certain type of belly button - though I prefer “inees”)

Do you typically “slice and dice” - translation - When unplugging your guitar, do you cut the signal to the board so as to avoid the speaker “pop” or do you let the sound guy know to mute your channel.

We had more dumb terms, but I can’t remember them.  Maybe I’ll add them later.
Thanks for coming to the show last night!

-Tyler

too many boxes…

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks…

We move out of our apartment so soon!  Right now our place is a big mess of boxes and random piles of stuff…my mission today is to make the place at least somewhat livable until we officially move out on Saturday.

Moving chaos coupled with Tyler’s crazy work schedule has made the past few weeks feel especially short and not much fun.  The good thing is that our time as semester missionaries with BSM is basically over, which will free up Tuesday and Thursday evenings and some hours during the day too.  Summer is practically here!

We had some great shows this past week.  On Thursday we played at BSM’s Finals Fest here in Newark with some other musicians and that went really well.  The event as a whole was well attended and a good time.  On Friday we were in Dover opening for Joel Rakes’s cd release.  The show was awesome.  We played with a full band and sold a ton of cds, which is always a blessing.  Joel’s set rocked as well.  If you haven’t heard his stuff yet, check out his myspace: myspace.com/joelrakes

I’m off to organize this seemingly hopeless apartment….

-jenny