hey everybody! i hope this note finds all of you in good health and good spirits. i also hope it finds you in a patient mood, because this one might get long winded! due to some traveling and just an overall hectic schedule, i fell a little behind. i am writing about the last two weeks this time instead of just one. an eventful two weeks at that!
friday the 19th we played our usual second fiddle show. it was an especially great night. had a really good turn out and all of the regular roster of guys were there to play it. that translates to one hell of a band (tim teague on lead, sean spurr on keys, cliff canteburry on bass and kevin newberry on drums) and a bunch of original music! i love that!
good news bad news thing: good news? my cousin chris henson has found the love of his life and they were set to tie the knot on saturday the 20th. bad news? they were tying the damn thing in omaha, nebraska. after playing till 2:30 and not getting home till 4:00am, i had to be on the airplane at 7:00am. sleeeee-eeeeepy!!! it was all good though. three of my favorite uncles picked me up in omaha at the airport at 11:00, and i had time to watch iowa get pounced by purdue, and take a shower before the wedding! grrrr!
what a beautiful day for a wedding. they told me that it had been raining pretty much non-stop for a couple weeks. god smiled down on chris and melody on their day though. not a cloud in the sky and just the slightest hint of a breeze. we should all be so lucky! not just the weather, but to find someone who makes you as happy as they make each other. welcome to the family melody!
i love wedding receptions! they can be so fun, ya know? everyone all spiffed up, some dj in the corner, some good grub. then the open bar starts gradually having an impact on everyone and they start dancing. suddenly it's okay for grown ups to do the chicken dance and the hokey pokey! well, my family pretty much does the hokey pokey anytime 3 or more of us get together in one place. as always though, it did my heart worlds of good to be with these wondrful people. i got to see my two newborn cousins for the first time, that is always something else. my gramps used to say, "it just amazes me everytime! you see this new little person for the first time, and you are just instantly in love!" i must have shared in 100 hugs or so, and heard "i love you" at least as many times. now THAT, is what it's all about! well, that and the hokey pokey, of course!
sunday the 21st, i rode with my aunt cookie, uncle jim and 3 of my favorite cousins, kacee, cody and jesse from omaha to lake view, iowa. it is about a 3 and 1/2 hour drive, and we enjoyed every second of it. i got to know a little bit more about them, and was reminded how awesome they are!
i arrived in lake view to a warm greeting. my dad and stepmom lori, sister steph and her hubby joe with their two, ayden and myah, and of course my two brothers nick and johnny b. it just so happened that my favorite team, (the dallas cowboys) were playing joe's favorite team (the minnesota vikings) i must say, watching dallas kick the vikings butt, really helped take the sting off of the iowa loss on saturday! we all sat around, eating good home cooked food, drinkin a couple beers, laughing and later there was even some crying. but they were tears of joy. my dad and lori are truly a picture of the way that a marriage is supposed to be. not to say that they have lived a fairy tale life by any stretch of the imagination. on the contrary! it's just that every tough time that came along, they faced it together, and never once thought of doing it any other way. yeah, we should all be so lucky!
monday the 22nd- "the parents" and steph, took the day off of work so we could hang out. we pretty much treated it like a sunday. not in a hurry to do much of anything. we did eventually get up enough motivation to get some bait and some fishin poles rounded up. dad and i went out on the gravel pit that joe and steph live on. after a couple hours nick joined up with us. we probably caught between 50 and 75 bass. the weather was incredible! i can't imagine what heaven feels like, but i would like to think it will be very near to how it felt floatin around with those two.
tuesday the 23rd- i had a radio interview at 92.9 "the moose" in storm lake. i was supposed to be there at 8:45. i was only like 20 minutes late! the interview went well, i talked about everything going on, and sang "proud" the moose was the first station to play my songs on the radio in 2000. later that year they sponsored and promoted my cd release concert in sac city, iowa. i also had a newspaper interview with the pilot tribune at 11:30. my little bro johnny was my taxi for the day. always good to have a little time with "jb" we laughed all day long. that evening, my good friends steve and brenda brought their grandaughter madison over. she likes liccorice!
wednesday the 23rd- brenda drove me from lake view to omaha where uncle blaine was waiting to pick me up. i had intentionally booked my flight to leave later in the day, so we could have some time to do our favorite thing: "ride around in the truck" okay, maybe not our favorite, but damn close! always a good place for me to gather a little perspective. he knows me better that i do in some ways.
thursday the 24th- the last thursday of every month is kind of like a mini holliday for my brother cory and i. why? well it's "kingbilly is your friend" at code blue. some of you might remember, code blue is where we played our showcase. who is kingbilly? i became associated with them through my good friend donnie. he and i met in the nashville star finals in kansas city in '03, and have been friends ever since. he and i wrote "girls gone wild" together. donnie is the lead singer for kingbilly. they are amazing, unique and will soon be a household name, so please go check them out. at "kingbilly is your friend" they have 3 or 4 guests that play 4 or so songs a piece. sarah buxton was one of them on this night. everyone that played really rocked! although, seeing the fellas all dressed up like girls was just a touch disturbing
friday the 25th- probably one of the best nights we have had yet at the second fiddle. a great crowd, the band sounded incredible, and we sold quite a few cd's. oh, and i had so much fun i couldn't hardly stand myself!
saturday the 26th- iowa 34 michigan st. 27 2OT's!!!!!!!! happy.
played that night at legend's corner. another good show. got to rock out with old friends, rich delfavero and phill valdez again. two guys i truly respect and enjoy jammin with.
sunday the 27th- i laid around watching football.
i told ya i was going to get long winded! i am really into this new website. i hope that you all are enjoying reading my journal entries just half as much as i am writing them. thank you again to everyone for helping us get the word out about it. also, thank you for all your votes on "FOX's storyteller's challenge" the top 12 will be announced on november 30th. if you haven't signed up for the emailing list already, then please do!
in closing (finally!) these last two weeks i was blessed to be around a lot of loved ones. they all made me feel so special and let me know that they were proud of me. john elway's dad told him, the most important thing in the whole world, above and beyond anything else, is to "make your family proud" that is why i chose "proud" as the name of my cd. that is why i have come back from this trip feeling confident and believing that good things are coming.
-"it's all about family"
-db
I love your journal entries and I love you!
Have a wonderful week so we can read about it later. Too bad the Colts don't play those Cowboys in regular season. THAT would be a good game!