Man... This past month has been a friggin' whirlwind.  I refuse to believe November is nearly gone. Anyway...  Jesse and I are almost done with our debut Christmas album, "Herod the Fink", and while recording the last drum session, I thought it might be cool to see what I look like when I play.  Well, as fate would have i...

Yeah, I'm tired, but man - life is good.  I spent way too much time on our Herod The Fink project last night (and into the wee-hours of this morning), but it was so worth it.  We are really cranking to release a truly unique Christmas album.  My only regret is that we didn't start this sooner, so we could get more content.  But ...

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I just got done playing some sweet jazz for a client, and with the usual rock 'n' roll requests coming in, this was a great change of pace. I'm always intrigued at the different nuances that exist between styles of music as it pertains to rhythm and percussion.  Rock and roll pounds out some great 4/4 along the occasional 3/4 timing, with so...

A few months ago, I thought I'd get a bit more serious about setting up a semi-professional studio in my home.  It's worked out great, so far! As I've worked with clients, they've been more than happy with the results, and I'm learning new techniques and tricks of the trade at the same time.  So far, so good. So, along this trail, I b...

Through the 20 plus years I've been playing drums, I've had all sorts of drumkits, and I've used all sorts of heads.  Well, it came time to replace my snare head recently, and I was offered a new type of head by Remo. The Remo Ambassador Black Suede is a single-ply head which is meant to offer a softer sound without muffling the inherent res...

From the first memories I have, my life has been lived through rhythm.  There has always been an inherent "groove" of my life.  From walking down the sidewalk after school when I was in Jr. High, pacing the rhythm of the lines in the cement, and timing my steps accordingly, keeping the "1,2,3,4" clock in my head going ...

Wow... It's been a long, long time since I updated anything about my life on here.  Mostly because stuff got really busy, and really interesting about April of this year.  I've documented all the crud that we've gone through, so no need to rehash that. What I would like to say is that music is more a part of my life now than it ever has...

My sister died a week short of her birthday. It was really hard but we got through it.   Today, my nephew drove me right up the wall. I couldn't believe how much energy he had and how much trouble he could get into. Ben did most of the taking care of as I was busy with helping Holly with her resume   I get to move out for the first ti...

You know you've got a great project when its name is "Herod Fink", and it's Christmas-themed with an alternative flavor.  Yeah...  I'm really enjoying life right now. Anyway, so far, this project has been a whirlwind, but one we definitely cannot get enough of.  we couldn't stand it anymore, so we posted a little diddy f...

Well..  Today wasn't as bad as I thought.  The only thing that really got to me was this lack of sleep.  I woked up at 6:30 this morning, and by 2:00pm, this afternoon, I was dead. I won't bore you with details, but today was filled with food, and loads of technical information.  I've really got to get to sleep now, so I'm go...

Wow....  This is gonna be one of those entries which might just take up an entire novel, if I were to write down what I wish I could. To begin, yesterday Sarah and I went to Vegas to celebrate Shaun Roos's birthday. The whole kit-'n'-kaboodle began about a month ago when Tiffy, Shaun's girlfriend, emailed me asking me if I thought I coul...

I hate life sometimes i swear.Yesterday i was riding my stupid  bike......which i shouldnt have been doing cause it has 2 flat wheels and when i went to turn around my house i hit a rock or something and the handle bar slipped out of my hand and i lost balence and fell when i fell i landed on the handle bar and i have a hard time walking cause...

Since we haven't been booking clients during November and December, we've had a few extra moments to really think about and research the needs of the studio.  The success this little studio has had is very exciting, and only makes us want to hone our craft that much more. Honing the craft is great, but pouring the success of the studio back ...

Well...  It came and went yet again. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Yesterday was a day filled with gratitude, family, good food, and fun. We woke up, got the family ready to go, and we took off for Farmington in my Mustang GT (Hehe... Yup..  We packed a crib, casserole, oreo pie, two kids, and two adults into this wonderful sports ca...

Wow... I can't believe I'm still awake.  For future reference, the day after Thanksgiving is a day of pain.  It is a day of fear and dread.  But today was better. When I got married to my wonderful wife, she told me she would marry me on one condition.  Okay, okay... That's a lie.  But if I wrote down all the conditions u...

I guess I just take for granted all the tips 'n' tricks I've learned over the past 10 years I've been building my own systems (along with most of my family's and friend's computers), so with that thought, let me try to explain how I build computers. First off, this article is intended for those people who are not necessarily tech-wizards, but ar...

I enjoyed this talk, but to tell you the truth, I have no idea what to write about it.  I think it has to do more with my current mood than anything else. The talk made a great point that we need to live in the now.  We need to utilize the atonement of Christ in order to secure a great tomorrow. And as far as yesterday goes, I believe...

This might be the only "current events" post I ever do, but something has been puzzling me for the past 6-12 months. Last night, I watched the last half of the democratic candidates' debate on TV, and although it wasn't mentioned much, there were still a couple of references to a "downward economy", and the need for "job...

Reading the beginning of this chapter, it's interesting that Mosiah put laws into place which made voicing anything which could be interpreted as "persecutions" against the church, illegal - and it seemed to work.  There was "peace" for a number of years due to that law.  The church even began to grow and prosper more ...

A week ago, an acquaintance of mine from my highschool days, Matt Harker, was hit and killed while biking to work.  A day later, a friend contacted me and wondered if he could use the studio to produce a song in Matt's memory.  Although I didn't know Matt very well, I knew him well enough to know he was the type of person who did his best...

As I read this chapter, I found the question in my head, "why was Nephi prompted to put Isaiah in here?" One thing I'm noticing in this chapter and the last, is the writing style of Isaiah is quite starkly contrasted against the writing of Nephi.  It's wildly poetic. I enjoyed this chapter as much as I did the last.  I didn'...

So, I've had the opportunity for the past few months to work full time with clients from all over Utah Valley.  From the sweet harmonies of By Request's soft country swing, to the relentless brutal drive of The Suffering's hardcore sound, the longer I'm in company with musicians of this area, the more I'm convinced that Utah Valley seems to be...

I guess I just take for granted all the tips 'n' tricks I've learned over the past 10 years I've been building my own systems (along with most of my family's and friend's computers), so with that thought, let me try to explain how I build computers. First off, this article is intended for those people who are not necessarily tech-wizards, but ar...

I've been finding it hard to write / blog lately, simply because I have no desire to write.  I've been thinking about this for a bit, so I decided to write about ... writing. In order to write  / blog, I have to have something to write about - obviously.  What isn't so obvious is, I always have something to write about. I came to...

I just got done reading, listening to, and watching the general conference talk "Ask In Faith", by Elder David A. Bednar. I must say, having missed the original broadcasting of this conference, I heard all the hype about this talk in the ensuing weeks and months.  It seemed that this talk was all the rage about learning how to &quo...

Oh, man...  I just got back from a wonderful geek lunch with the guys 'n' gals from UPHPU (Utah PHP Users Group), and it was a blast.  ... heh... makes me smile just thinkin' about it.  Okay... I didn't just get back.  I had to make sure I could get done today what I promised my boss, and then I would write about it. Well... ...

 So, I was just in bed just about to fall asleep (like within 1 or 2 minutes of sleeping), and I felt like I needed to come and write in my journal. My prayers on Sunday evening, I believe it was, felt just like I was communing with the Spirit.  Everything spiritual seemed so easily understood and understandable. Man, I hope this make...

Man...  When I started reading this one,  I forgot it was about the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's who sacrificed themselves for the word of God.  Wow. Along with the previous chapter, I find it interesting that the main source of contention among all the Lamanites are the people who were once Nephites themselves.  The Amalekites and the A...

The first thing that stood out to me this time around was the anger of Lamoni's father.  Try to place yourself in the situation Lamoni found himself in.  There are so many variables in the situation, it's hard to imagine exactly what was going on with the family undercurrents, but holy cow.  Lamoni's father drew his freaking sword an...