hindsight

the guy who i worked under and mentored me at Chicago Recording Company for seven years died just over a year ago. You can read the obit here.

as much as he verbally abused me and the other assistants, at times he treated us very well. he was estranged from his family and didn't really have any real friends so he kind of thought of us as family. on christmas' or birthdays (which are the same day in my case), he would get us lavish presents. he bought me a computer one year. i didn't make much money and it was hard to buy a gift for someone who had lots of it. but he always acted grateful when he opened our presents to him even if it was a terrible gift that required no thought.

for some reason tonight i googled his name and came across his amazon.com wishlist. there are many tim butler's, but this list HAD to be his. of all the crappy gifts i got him, and full well knowing he used amazon like crazy, i never once thought to search for his wishlist. here's a link to his list consisting of 22 pages and 541 items. most of which are books under $20. i feel like a jerk.

potato skins

friday i stepped off the plane into a city much colder than nashville. detroit rock city to be exact. while waiting for my baggage i was enticed the candy machine next to the carousel. here is what i saw:

yes, you CAN believe your eyes. those are two delicious bags of friday's potato skins dangling precariously from their perch. and by the way, when i said delicious, i really mean disgusting. i've been to Friday's. i've had their potato skins. i don't know where these people get their potato skins, but they are definitely NOT the tasty appetizer. heck, it doesn't even have bits of bacon in it. too bad for the suckers who dropped a few quarters in the slot looking for something to fill their stomachs and clog their arteries. actually, what would really be funny is if it was one dude who got suckered twice. hopefully whoever it was didn't suffer from depression because bad luck like this may have been the straw that broke the camels back and caused them graduate from depressed to full-fledged suicidal. actually, it reminds me of those little quarter machines at carnivals. you know, the ones that look like this:



you know how these work. the quarters perched on the edge just waiting for the tiniest of nudges to push them over and into your hands. but that never happens. a single quarter pushed into the crowd is displaced evenly and thus instead of pushing the coins forward a distance equal to that of a quarter, it barely moves at all. well, i almost fished out a dollar bill. i

anyway, i was very tempted. but i could almost hear admiral akbar in my head:



i told myself, what the heck, three bags of potato skins for the price of one. but then i realized that even if i did get all three, i wouldn't exactly be "winning" at life, would i?

oh, and speaking of aeroplanes and aeroports, when a pilot announces their "equipment is still showing that some people's cell phones are still turned on", you can rest assured that they are full of crap. is it possible to have some sort of instrument that detects cell phone radio waves? sure. is there a way you could distinguish between those signals a few feet away in the plane and those a few feet away at gate? nope. empty threats, captain. let's face it. you and i both know cell phones don't affect your equipment.

and there's one more thing i have to rant about. while waiting at my gate i was watching CNN on the big tv. they were doing a report on a guy who had gotten help from the federal loan restructuring plan and what's a great job the government was doing. they said that his current mortgage payment was 95% of his monthly income. then later in the report he said that he walked into the building having to pay $4,700 a month and walked out only having to pay $2400. wow. that's a big difference. this is such a success. but something didn't seem right. so i got out my phone calculator and did the math. if $4,700 is 95% of his monthly income, that means that he makes $5,000 a month ($4,947.37 to be exact). so he makes roughly $60,000 a year. the new payment of $2,400 a month is still almost 50% of his income. anybody out there listening to dave ramsey knows that a house payment more than 1/4 or 1/3 of your income will be a strain. so basically this guy, even with his new restructured loan still has a house that he can't and never could afford. why is this seen as a success?

anyway, that night we played a show for 89x at the Fillmore. the place is an awesome theater and it was packed. flyleaf and thirty seconds to mars were also on the bill. this show felt different because it was for a general market radio station. there were plenty of expletives being dropped from the stage that night. what impressed me about the whole thing was flyleaf. i've never seen them before. what impressed me wasn't how they played, but their conduct. nobody told us to dumb down our message, but even i could feel an unspoken pressure to not talk about jesus. right before flyleaf played "All Around Me", lacey said unapologetically, "this is a song about jesus." later on in the set they played the popular worship song "How He Loves". i was definitely surprised.

anyway, here's a shot of the crowd:

thirty seconds to mars was awesome. i think jared leto is better making music than he is at making movies. ok, well i'm watching movies at home with my wife and my chicken nuggets are done so i'd better go. what better way to end a blog dominated by an anti-potato skin diatribe than to finish it off with the pseudo-meat we can chicken nuggets??

studio time

ok so remember when trev and i were on the price is right a month or so ago??? well it finally aired on 12/11/09. you can view the entire episode by clicking HERE

Matt from Tooth and Nail actually got called up and won a new car. it was the most ridiculously awesome experience i've had in a long time. sometimes you just have to experience something even if it's cheesy. for instance, when you go to hollywood, you put your hands in the famous handprints at the chinese theater. when you go to chicago, you eat deep dish pizza, and when your buddy gets called up as a contestant on the price is right, you make a complete idiot of yourself to get as much camera time as possible. and proudly, that's what i did. this episode is for you, America. your welcome.

Back To The Ole Grind



today i'm in the studio with my good friends steve wilson and david, seth and lee marie from Children 18:3 working on their next record. steve is an awesome producer and he asked me to help out a bit. Here's a shot of the trident series 80 desk. we're in the B room at Darkhorse Recording in Franklin, TN which is actually the better sounding drum room than the A room, surprisingly.



Here's steve being unwittingly photographed messing with the flux capacitor. but seriously those are vintech x81's and i covet them with all my heart. ok i don't covet them. i'm just going to have a hard time leaving the studio without them hidden under my coat. oh, and that white piece of gear is the Amek 9098 stereo compressor and we had some good results when we placed the room mics in the adjoining vocal booth and compressed the snot out of them with it.



And here's the actual drum setup. it's actually a hodge podge mix of a few different kits. notice the gretsch resonant kick, accent snare and of course, there's a cowbell in there somewhere. but i think i need to hear more of it...ok, call me captain obvious because that was a really obvious joke.

tomorrow i fly to detroit where TFK will play a show with Thirty Seconds To Mars and a few other bands. i'm kinda pumped about it. i hope you are all doing well and i'll holla atcha later.

US vs. The World

sometimes i have to write when a subject is fresh in my mind. right now i'm in Recklinghausen, Germany and i'm having trouble sleeping because of jet lag. but that's not what's on my mind.

it's no secret that many people in europe and the world are at odds with the US. and that's ok. but what gets me is how supposed "news" organizations present the news as unbiased and whether overtly or inadvertently, that bias is shaping opinion.



i had been following the whole "climate-gate" crisis back in the states before i left. for those of you who live under a rock, a few emails were leaked from the leading climate scientists where they discuss how they fixed the raw data to support their cause for global warming. anyway, at the time only fox news was carrying the story - and let me say that fox news is no angel. they are not very fair and balanced. but anyway, in the past few days the story has grown legs and the networks could no longer afford to ignore it. when jon stewart reported on it, they had to cover it.

over here in germany i've been watching the only english speaking channels available which are CNN World and BBC World. what has been interesting is the discrepancies between the US coverage and the world coverage. fox news has been gloating about this. why are they gloating? because it's right. it proves their point and casts doubts into what many are now seeing as junk science. on the other hand, when the world news reports on it, they focus on the fact that the emails were "stolen" or "hacked" without even addressing the fact that what's in the emails are damning. it's like a guy demonizing his girlfriend because she found out he was cheating by checking his cell phone texts. ya, it's wrong, but the actual deed far exceeds the method of acquisition. the world news networks go on with sound bites from 5 or 6 proponents of climate legislation and two lines from a solitary skeptic. the whole newcast comes off as an annoyance and clearly shows any neanderthal who is watching what the "correct" viewpoint is. the devil is in the details. and they are very clever with the details. for instance, even if the report itself is completely unbiased, sometimes the mere fact that they are reporting it shows bias. if i were to claim that i could fly and the news started doing reports where they ask rhetorical questions like "can this guy really fly?" "is there truth to his story?" the fact that they are talking about it over and over gives credence to the issue. and guess what has been the number one report that has been replayed over and over the past 4 days? the climate change summit in copenhagen. christiana amonpour just did a promo saying "the summit is being hijacked by skeptics, but can they put a dent in the science?" hmmm...i wonder where she stands on the issue. she attacked the issue from two sides. first she vilifies the skeptics for the audacity of requiring scientific evidence and for "hijacking" the summit. and also by asking if they can "put a dent" in the science is subtly telling you that even if it's true, it's not very substantial. notice how she very slyly minimizes and undermines what is actually a clear contradiction to the holy writ of climate propaganda.

so you can obviously see my bias on the issue (at least i'm not trying to hide it). but just to be clear, here's what i think. is ice melting and has the climate gotten slightly warmer? yes. did we have anything to do with it? WE DON'T KNOW. is it a good idea to make efforts to lower emissions? yes, i'm seriously considering installing a solar cell system in my house to save energy and money. but should we make new restrictive and far-reaching laws when the basic premise of said legislation has yet to be settled? absolutely not.

many people claim that the advent of the industrial revolution coincides with the start of the warming trend. but if you look at the data, the warming started before then. there was also a period where the earth warmed in the 1500's and then cooled down. there's also evidence that the earth has natural warming and cooling periods that we can't control. are we causing it? maybe. i'll admit the notion is possible. but we truly do not know. it's like the beginning of shawshank redemption where tim robbins has mountains of circumstantial evidence to convict him even though he isn't guilty. just because certain evidence points one direction, you cannot jump to conclusions before you have all the evidence. cause if you do then the climate will hide under a Rita Hayworth poster and dig its' way out and send evidence of our corruption to the paper and we will have no choice but to shoot ourselves in the face like the warden. ok, maybe i'm stretching that metaphor. it's just that it's probably the best ending to a movie ever. (take that, M. Night Shyamalan!).


Tim Robbins: new lows in stretching metaphors

so anyway, don't believe everything you see on TV.

happy thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving weekend. trish and i just got back from my parents house in illinois. it was great to see my family. the highlight of the weekend was shooting skeet [insert dirty joke here] at my aunts house. i should mention my aunt kathy because she told me she reads the blog so this is my shout out. anyway, i don't think i'd qualify for gun toting redneck, but holding a shiny hand canon and shootin' some lead at a little piece of clay is pretty fun. if you haven't had a chance to try it, i'd definitely recommend it. the gun in the picture is a remington 870 wingmaster that is about 50 years old. it was my grandfathers gun and now my uncle has it. the gun still shoots like a champ and by the way, my grandpa was pretty gnarley. i heard stories this weekend about him apparently going hunting without a gun by letting his dog chase a rabbit into an old car which he would then reach into, grab the rabbit, snap its neck and have a tasty snack. don't believe me? my dad swears by it.


Anyway, i had a chance to write a few open letters:

Dear Cracker Barrel:
please add some more merchandise displays to your waiting area. i'm still able to breathe a bit

Dear people driving by the accident on I-24 near Hopkinsville, KY:
just because a car is wrecked on the side of the road doesn't mean you need to slow down to a crawl and gape at it

Dear retailers of america:
kudos to you for creating a day where people camp outside your doors in the cold for the chance to give you money and impulse buy things they don't want or need just because they're on sale

Dear Strike and Spare Bowling Alley in Springfield, IL:
$4.50 a game isn't bad, but what's with the $4.00 for shoe rental? those smelly things probably cost five dollars to make and you're probably paying for each pair 5 times over every night. you try to squeeze money out of me, i leave.

Dear Tiger Woods:
you're not fooling anybody

Dear Risk computer game:
i love you but you're ruining my life

Dear 50" LCD flatscreen TV:
you are a dirty temptress. i told you already that i don't have the extra money so stop sneaking your way into my dreams.

Dear deer that i did not see or shoot:
you are very sneaky and i can't figure out if i just picture a bad spot or if you smelled me a mile away. i'm going to figure it out, but in any case, there's no way i'm spraying deer pee on me.

Dear Rain:
STOP IT


Sincerely,

Nick

college

i've had a few people ask me for advice on how to get into the music industry and what kind of college to go to. i know i've kinda already addressed the subject of recording schools here. but this is a little different. let's talk about college. college as we all think about it is a joke. politicians and news pundits who decry a lack of higher education seem to claim that college is some magical potion that can instantly cure all social ills. but that's stupid. even if their claims weren't outrageous, the fact that "education is the answer" is like stating that investing in the stock market is universally good. that's just not true. sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's bad. the fallacy lies in the generalization.

the problem occurs when we look at college as anything beyond a financially calculated decision. the truth is that whether or not a person should go to college or invest in a mutual fund or open a savings account should be based on the individual situation that each person is in. college can be a wonderful thing and can really open doors for someone who is ready for it and who can manage the cost, but to just assign some sort of blanket statement that it's always good is absolutely false. not everyone can be a doctor or lawyer. not everyone can occupy high-level, high paying jobs. although it is entirely possible to get a high paying high level job without going to college.

would it be nice for everyone to go to a fancy $20,000 a year school to "find yourself" and go to parties for four years. but very few have the means to cover this cost on their own. yes, you can get student loans, but why put yourself $80,000 in debt to get a degree in a field that you probably don't use once you get a job that pays the same amount that a good skilled trade job would pay - except a skilled tradesman doesn't have to pay for big student loans.

people forget about trade schools. electricians, mechanics, paralegals, nurses and many other well paying jobs can be attained through very cheap investment into a vocational school. or let's talk about how many kids who don't have money decide to take out big loans to go to a school far away for a degree they could have gotten at a local college and probably have paid for it all while working. but see, we're all deceived by the beautiful campuses, exotic locations and fun filled student activities. don't get me wrong - there's nothing bad about having fun. if your parents have an extra $80,000 they want to fork over for a fancy degree, then awesome. go for it and have the time of your life. but when politicians on high create some universal expectation that every poor kid should take out loans and go to a big ticket university, it makes me want to scream. yes, that will probably work for a very small percentage of very motivated kids who come from a bad background. but we should expect realistic steps.

what if college as we know it was completely different? i read an article about this a while back and it seems to make a lot of sense. instead of college being a self contained program where the institution handled teaching, testing and certification, what if a college would award a degree based entirely on certification. imagine a system where you go to a college and pay a couple hundred dollars to take a very lengthy and very intense test. based on your score you would be awarded a degree. each major would have its own test. i've told some people about this and they scoff and say that it wouldn't work for people who don't test well. but i say that would be irrelevant because it would be massive tests such as the bar examinations that lawyers take or the CPA exam that accountants take. why can't we create a certification for every major? that way, even the poorest kid could scrounge together the couple hundred dollars for the test fee, spend a few months checking out books from the public library and could have a degree with a little hard work. that seems like the best way to make an education available. the colleges could still offer courses to those who want a traditional college experience. i imagine that there would be a middle ground of competing free market schools. imagine a small specialized school that you could attend at nights that went through the courses for a marketing certification in 6 months and only cost $1,500 but doesn't have all the big costs for sports teams and high priced real estate that a traditional college has. a student could take 3 years and earn a few different degrees at a fraction of the cost.

and the last thing is basic supply and demand. so what if a student wants to make a stupid decision about college. it only affects them, right? well, if we convince a large number of kids to go to a big fancy school when in all likelihood they probably shouldn't even be there, then what we are doing is increasing the demand for higher education in a fairly limited supply of schools. and what does that do? it increases the price artificially. colleges just love to add extra racquetball courts and concerts and big events. they just increase the tuition to cover it. no big deal. it's almost like preying on young and stupid kids while they're young so that they'll spend the next 15 years making monthly payments and wondering if the massive student life budgets were worth the extra costs. when a band plays at a club, they get a certain amount of money. when a band plays at a college, they get MUCH MUCH more money than a club because colleges have big huge budgets and cash that they are just throwing away. and where does that come from? your tuition. the waste is just ridiculous. but people think it was worth it because those were the best days of their lives. but the reason they were the best days is because now they have to work three jobs just to make all the payments. the circular logic is making me dizzy. how about you skip the fancy school and exchange it for the no frills community college and then use your extra income to build some wealth and to make life better and better as your grow older. i don't know, it seems like a good way to do things to me.

basically, college is an investment. but it's not always a good investment. it could very easily be a very bad investment to someone who doesn't have the money and is getting a degree they don't now and won't ever need. each person needs to realistically assess what college is really going to cost them in the long run and what they are going to get out of it in the long run. and if the numbers don't add up, they should have the courage to withstand peer pressure and either hold off on going until things do add up or find another option like apprenticing for a skilled trade or vocational training.

just another sunday

oh phoenix arizona. we played there yesterday for like the 87th time in the last couple months. ok, maybe not 87th but it felt like a lot. i was pissed at clay because instead of booking us direct on southwest he booked us on delta and we had to take a 530am flight through atlanta. i gave him crap about it all weekend. but honestly, i'm closer to getting my northwest/delta status so i'm sure when i'm getting bumped up to first class clay will be my best friend again.



trevor, tom and i were sitting in a bulkhead seat (which means the front row - no seats in front of us)...the guy on the other side of the aisle had his bag at his feet. some lady comes up to him and is like "you'd better put that up...they're not gonna let you leave that there". we all saw that and were like, "thanks mom." it's like when people go crazy overboard about the microwave paper towel rule. i swear every time i microwave something without a paper towel i hear somebody chiming in with their "oh man, you'd better put a paper towel on that." and ya know what? sometimes i'd like to slap them because 1. it's my freaking microwave so i'll do whatever i want, 2. i didn't ask for your opinion, and 3. i'm making popcorn so i'm pretty sure i don't need a paper towel.



i went to sleep on the flight for a while. i mean, with all the early morning flights thanks to clay, a guy's gotta sleep somewhere (hahhaa sorry clay i'm just giving you crap). i woke up and reset my reclined seat and apparently the girl behind me had coffee on the tray and it spilled all over her. she starts spurting obscenities and i'm so groggy from having just woken up that i don't realize what's going on until i see her get up and go to the bathroom to change pants. so whoever you are in the villanova soccer team sweatshirt, sorry i spilled your coffee.

tonight trish and i went to trev's house to watch the AMA awards. it was cool to see carrie there and her bass player who we hang out with sometimes. also of note was tooth and nail president brandon ebel getting some camera time right next to puff daddy. we're totally gonna mess with him about it the next time we see him. so here's the whole thing in a nutshell. janet put on some weight and dances behind the beat. jay z was awesome. shakira was awesome. rihanna was awesome. whitney houston needs to be careful how intimate she gets with her award and what the heck does perez hilton have to do with music? adam lambert tried to do some sort of crazy gay sexual inuendo with simulated gay oral sex that instead of having the desired effect of shocking everyone, i think people just saw it as lame and reaching. i mean, when madonna tried that sort of thing at least she had some good songs to back it up. speaking of madonna i hardly knew any of her songs until a few years ago because my mom would instantly change the radio station if a madonna song came on. the same with elton john. i seriously missed out on elton john for so many years. i know my mom was trying to shelter me, but it's not like Tiny Dancer is recruiting me to be gay.....or wait...maybe it is. hahaha just kidding. but seriously i missed out on some seriously good music. but to be fair, my mom was really level headed about stuff and ended up lifting the ban on owning non-christian music.



so kids, the moral of the story is mind your own business on airplanes, don't book my flights before 9am, and don't immediately ban a whole artist's catalog just because you disagree with a lifestyle choice. it's throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

scalping

i've been following the lefsetz letter recently. for those of you who don't know what it is, it's a blog run by a prominent music attorney who rants about different aspects of the music industry. lately he's been harping on some shady-ness in the industry with major artists, live nation and ticketmaster. i'll try to make this explanation short and sweet. big artists work with ticketmaster to essentially scalp their own tickets through various tactics. these same artists turn around and blame ticketmaster for screwing over the little guy and selling tickets to ticket brokers. yes, blatant hypocrisy aside, nobody talks about the principle of scalping tickets.



scalping tickets is assumed by everyone to be universally evil. those who scalp are back alley scum who are on par with lechers and fraudsters. it was a college economics teacher who made an offhand remark about scalping as part of an economics lesson that got me thinking about this years ago. so i ask, What Is Wrong With Scalping??

the basis of free market exchange is that a transaction between two individuals is based on mutual decision. when you buy a cheeseburger you are making a choice that the cheeseburger is of enough value that you gladly give up your money. some people are willing to pay less or more for that cheeseburger, but unfortunately, there's no way for mcdonalds to evaluate each customers' valuation of their product. so if you absolutely LOVE cheeseburgers, then paying $1 for one as mcdonalds is probably a great deal to you. let's say you loved them soooooo much that you were willing to pay $100 for each cheeseburger. now i know that nobody is that stupid, but just humor me for a second. if that were true, then mcdonalds is missing out by only charging $1. if mcdonalds did charge $100, would that be price gouging? well, if you were willing to pay that much, isn't it your choice? if mcdonalds were able to to charge based on each customer's valuation, then each transaction would be as efficient as possible.

i've always seen ticket scalping as a free and open exchange that allows the promoters to maximize the efficiency of their transactions. if U2 plays a concert, some people are willing to pay $80 a ticket (or whatever the heck they're charging now). some people are willing to pay a whole lot more. now some people think this is wrong because the big bad promoter is muscling in for a better deal. but what's wrong with that? why is it ok for the consumer to clip coupons, make low-ball offers and buy open box items to save money but it's not ok for someone at the other end to do the same? in the end, all transactions are voluntary. no one is forcing you to buy a ticket to a concert.

now let's imagine that at a venue in addition to the ticket windows they also have staff scalpers who sell last minute tickets all the way up to the show. empty seats to a concert are an inefficiency. let's say a promoter books a show that is a failure. if he were able to scalp the last minute tickets at a bargain price, he's be able to hedge his losses and also make a better show by getting people in the seats. and that's really the end game. when the seats are filled EVERYONE wins.

if a promoter hires a headliner, they frequently have very little room to make a profit. frankly i'm not sure why anyone would want to take such a huge financial risk with such a small promise of a reward. why is it that if a show fails, the artist still gets a guarantee, yet if the show does well, the promoter frequently has to split the backend profit with the act? if a promoter does a good job and stirs up enough demand that fans are willing to pay well beyond the ticket price for a limited amount of seats, shouldn't he be free to reap the rewards of his hard work? if he were able to do this, the act would still get a piece of the backend profit the promoter would get a profit large enough to balance out the huge risk he's taking.

now imagine this. think of a world where last minute scalping was perfectly normal, legal and acceptable. i think there would be a large portion of the population who don't normally go to concerts would start showing up for last minute deals. lesser known bands who need to fill seats would find it easily to build a following. promoters would have an easier time getting people in the seats, and the extra profits made from the big shows would trickle down throughout the whole industry.

for years the venues and promoters have demonized scalping because of one thing - they don't get the money. but now that they've figured out a way to do it, they're all for it. and think about this, if a venue scalped it's own ticket, it would cut out the middle man ticket brokers which would actually decrease the demand for tickets and there give lower scalped prices than we have now. how's an example. let's say that 90 fans legitimately want tickets to a show. because of that demand, there are 10 ticket broker who only buy tickets with the intention to resell at a higher rate. if the venue was able to scalp themselves the day of the show and cut out the middle men, this would cut the demand for tickets by 10 pecent and thus the actual price that those 90 people end up paying is actually LOWER than it would be through ticket brokers.

anyway, it's just a thought. i could be wrong....but i think i'm right.

too much time on a bus

i just spent all day on a moving bus. and by all day, i mean i went to sleep and woke up on a moving bus and got home at midnight. thank god for bus internet and satellite tv.
here's a few things i learned today:

1. Lionel Richie is/was AMAZING, but the 80's were soooooo corny



I've watched this video a hundred times just to relive the creepiness. i'm totally stealing this expression - it's like when you blow your nose, it's disgusting, but you just have to look.

also, the girl in the video, Laura Carrington, wasn't actually blind. yes, i searched the interweb to find that out. i know a faker when i see one.

2. This would totally have fooled me when i was a kid.



underneath that manhole is a creepy old man.

3. You can make anything out of gaff tape.



i wish i could supply a story from the bus about a certain sculpture that was made out of gaff tape, but i try to keep this blog fairly clean. and also the assault charges are still pending so my lawyer says to keep my mouth shut. for those of you without a sense of humor, that was a joke.

only three things? i spent all day on a bus and i only have three things to share? even i'm disappointed in myself. let's just shut this blog down before it gets any worse.

Show Cancelled in North Platte, NE

our show tonight was canceled in North Platte, NE. it's pretty ridiculous. i can't really give details, but let's just say that we didn't make the decision and we fought hard to keep the show going even if it meant us borrowing acoustic guitars and no sound or lights. we realize that there was a lot of hard work put into the show by local churches and volunteers and we fought hard to stay, but to no avail. we'll find a way to make this up to you.

Kallispel, MT

first off, a point must be made that the new Michael Jackson movie is AWESOME. clay allen hates it but he doesn't like anything that doesn't have EMG's or James Hetfield in it. (haha sorry clay). seriously, it sucks that Michael died, but if he would have lived this movie wouldn't have been nearly as good. the fact that they had a multiple-camera crew filming at all times means that they had planned to do a tour video anyway - probably in conjunction with a live DVD or something. what's cool is that you really get to see a lot of behind the scenes stuff. you get to see michael being a bit of a diva and small conflicts between him and the crew that probably wouldn't have made the cut if he were alive to give his ok to the footage. it's also incredibly interesting to see how such a large production is pulled off. we usually only see the phenomenal finished product. it's hard to conceptualize how each element of the show - band, lights, dancers, pyro, etc. - are all small elements of the bigger picture. each thing by itself seems fathomable. but it's the compilation of every facet that contributes to the awe and spectacle that is a big arena show. and i think the lesson to be learned is that ANYTHING can be done if you break it down into attainable steps.

tonight we played in Kallispel, Montana. First of all, driving in this morning was amazing. as remote as this place is, the view seems worth it. how fitting that after dreaming about catching huge fish do i wake up to a gorgeous river just begging me to go fly fishing. A lot of people came out to the show and it turned out pretty cool. here's a shot of the crowd from when we played the FM Static set.



As you can see, it was held in a dirt floor rodeo arena which was cool, except that there was dust kicked up everywhere and my allergies didn't really like that. the people were awesome though. in the signing line we met a guy who identified himself as "Heavy" who is a former WWE wrestler who now runs a high school assembly ministry where he does feats of strength and spreads the word to kids. he seemed like a great guy so i thought i'd give him a plug. go check out his website at http://www.WalkingWithPower.org. Here a shot of him hanging out with us.



ya. that's what a 22" neck looks like.

So anyway, we've got two shows left on the tour. it's gone by so fast, but i gotta be honest. i'm anxious to get home. i'll be out on the road with tricia for the last week of her tour so if you're near one of the superchick atlanta and florida shows, come out and say hi.

Fire It Up Music Video

yesterday we had a day off in San Francisco and we used the day to shoot a music video for Fire It Up. the video has to do with a car chase and us playing on a moving flatbed truck. I won't spoil the video for you and tell you what happens. noooo, why would i ever do that? instead i'm going to just show you all the behind the scenes camera tricks. here's a shot of us getting setup.



Steve's kit was strapped down and screwed into the truck. behind him is a generator and a couple loudspeakers so that we can play along with the CD while we're filming. trev's metal spine mic stand had to be screwed down partly to keep it from falling and partly to give trev something to hold onto.



before we started moving, the driver freaked out and wanted us all to sign a hastily written contract that said he wouldn't be responsible if we fell off and got hurt. kinda freaky for a sec, but we all signed it anyway. (as if that thing would hold up in court anway hahah).



Here you can see Adam, one of the directors and the bay bridge in the background. we were actually on a small island called Treasure Island that used to be a Navy base. right next to us was a shoot for the ABC medical drama Trauma. Coincidentally, Tricia's band Superchick had their song "Breathe" used in some of the promos for that show. Notice our tour manager Clay Allen in the white hat strapping down steve's drumset. more on clay later...



i was really surprised to see what they were shooting with. 3 of the 4 camera's were the new Canon 5D. these are regular digital SLR photography cameras, but they're able to shoot HD video. Along with an assortment of different lenses, the clips i saw actually looked pretty good. they also had the RED camera that Max Hsu (http://homepage.mac.com/maxwax11/iblog/) used on the new superchick video. wow, that's two superchick references in one blog. that's for you babe.



Although we did plenty of moving shots of us on the flatbed truck, we had to cheat a little and get some closeups while we were stopped. here you see trev singing with a guy with a leaf blower pointed at his head to give the appearance of wind.



this is the same shot, just panned to the right. again, we see our amazing road manager clay helping rock the truck to give it the appearance of movement. that's the big guy for ya. if this truck is a-rockin', the big guy is a-knockin'.



And finally here is a shot of the '65 Mustang Fastback that is gonna be in the video. he tried not to show it, but i could tell that steve was salivating over it and was trying to figure out a way to get them to let him take it for a spin. also of note was an instance of a seagull flying overhead and pooping on me. NOT FUN.

i think the video is gonna look pretty sweet. once it's edited and done i'll be sure to post it here. the rest of the day was spent walking around San Francisco, eating at a nice restaurant and then finding out our rental car had been broken into while we were eating at said restaurant. clay and i spent the next half hour questioning random homeless people and searching for a "short guy who steals things" at a nearby shell station. so ya, basically a really crazy day. you stay classy San Francisco.

this is getting ridiculous

new york state declared a state of emergency because of 75 cases (in the entire state) of swine flu. seriously? someone look me in the eye and tell me that this is a rational decision. i'm no conspiracy theory nut, but good lord, i can use my brain and maybe a quick google search to realize that you're more likely to die from the regular flu than the swine flu.


we're all gonna die because of this guy

really? seriously america? i thought you were smarter than this. i mean, don't get me wrong, i love me some good old fashioned hysteria as much as the next guy, but this is getting out of hand. i see people wearing masks at airports like we're in freaking japan a couple years ago when SARS was a big deal. remember that pandemic? oh wait. it never happened. out of the entire 6 billion people in the world a grand total of a few hundred actually died.


at least he's having fun with it

oh, and remember the bird flu scare? ya. i'd rest my case but the jury doesn't seem to be able to connect the dots on the obvious. B. Reith got the swine flu and had to miss the show tonight. did we hold a prayer vigil? NOPE. does that mean we're bad christians or we don't care about him? ABSOLUTELY NOT. we didn't because it's not a big deal. i'm fighting off a sore throat right now but you don't see calling my church board to lay hands on me or running the nearest faith healer. i'm going to get a lot of sleep and make sure i dress appropriately for the cold. DONE.

is america really this stupid? NO. but we are being easily duped. the long form answer to that question is hidden in the motivations of the modern day town criers we call network news. news channels' ratings skyrocket when something big happens. on 9/11 we ALL were watching news networks. but the problem is that big stuff doesn't happen all the time. so what do they do to keep ratings up and the paychecks coming? they take little things and make them into big things. or at least they seem that way. watch any of them for an hour and ask yourself if those "BREAKING NEWS" graphics and sound effects are really warranted when all they are doing is spreading the latest celebrity gossip. we were all afraid on 9/11. fear sells. so it's in their best interest for everything to be outrageous and scary. it's not a conspiracy originating from the top down. they don't have secret illuminati meetings about how to control the population. it just happens the same way that a person's dinner bill goes up when someone else is paying. and so that's how a minimal, yet legit, scare about the swine flu becomes a mass pandemic on par with some sort of will smith zombie movie. and then the politicians jump in because it's an opportunity for them to appear as if they're helping the public when in reality emergency status for a state is basically a ploy to get disaster funds. better to be doing something wrong than nothing at all, right?



the answer? don't let them fool you. take everything they say with a grain of salt. i was once told that nothing on TV is 100% real and i'm really starting to believe it. use your head. rant rant rant rant robble robble robble robble.

we ain't got no place to go...

it's funny how you can slowly get desensitized. how your view can change without even knowing it. lately my mind has been thinking a lot lately about bands that cannot reproduce their record live. so much music, especially music that i listen to, doesn't sound anything like the record when i go see the band live. and beyond that, it's starting to feel like everything is written for the radio. everyone is writing perfect structure pop songs no matter what style they are. nobody is taking chances.



yesterday we played a show with MxPx. this took me all the way back to when i was in high school and was so pumped to go to cornerstone festival for the first time. sitting side stage watching them, i realized something. i know their music isn't a long stretch from what is being put out today, but there is something that we've lost in these few short years. for one, a lot of bands just flat out don't sound good unless they have a great mix. these guys have three instruments. if one is a little too loud, it doesn't make that much of a difference. the energy is still there. the music sounds great whether you're in a small club or big stage. sometimes the songs were ridiculously short. sometimes the second verse had nothing to do with the first. the guys don't need huge pedalboards and crazy effects. they were even taking requests and pulling out all the good stuff. no tracks. no meticulously programmed effects. no video walls or moving lights. and ya know what? it was a fun show. mike herrera wrote some great little punk songs and the music speaks for itself.

just because technology lets everyone be a recording musician, it doesn't mean that it's all good. actually, i'm starting to think that the amount of good stuff has stayed the same and that we've just increased the background noise.

that's my rant for the day. oh, and also, i saw this at the airport. i couldn't believe it. i grabbed my phone, acted like i was checking messages and clicked a picture. i'm not trying to be obscene or anything. this is just some straight up freak show sort of thing.


either those are really high knees, or.....

anyway, we're doing a west coast run of shows starting on thursday and i'm pretty excited about that. for now i'm enjoying the few days off with my wife and dogs.

movie reviews

the past two days i have seen two movies that are too good to be true. hahah that's probably the lamest opening line i've come up with so far. my high school english teachers would be proud. but i digress...

i loved both movies so i decided to write about them whether you care or not. try as you might, you cannot stop me from giving my opinion. so there. i'm no expert on movies. i have nothing to do with that industry. the views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the writer. wait, that doesn't make sense. anyway, here it goes..

Where The Wild Things Are



kudos, bravo, and whatever other foreign linguistic expression of appreciation you can think of goes to Spike Jonze for this film. first of all i think he should win an oscar for resisting the temptation to throw cheesy dumbed-down jokes to "appeal" to wider audiences in the same way Jar Jar Binks goes against everything that star wars is. secondly, the writing was amazing. specifically, the dialog. the quirky and odd discourse between the characters was naturally funny without seeming pretentious. certain lines weren't funny because they had a good punchline. they were funny because it was such an odd and unexpected response. the characters and the whole vibe and look of the film portray a world as feral and interesting as the original childrens book is.

beyond all that, it felt like there were three main underlying themes of the whole movie. what's that? you want me to list them? of course i will!

1. first is the simple lesson a child learns about not being a brat. max doesn't know how to take his older sister starting to spend time with older boys. or his mom starting to date again. Carol, who is a metaphor for Max himself shows how his bad attitude and behavior are ridiculous. this is the most obvious theme.

2. the second theme that is communicated is about how we as adults have a tendency to lose the spark of wonderment and imagination that children have. its a sad fact that the maturing process seems to make people forget how to have fun, how to enjoy the tiny subtleties in life. max as a kid has no trouble with this and seems to hold a joy that everyone older has forgotten. the worries of adulthood and maturity seem to stamp out the natural happiness and wonder a child experiences when playing with the most mundane of toys. it becomes obvious why so many adults look back with fondness to the days of their childhood. why is it so hard for us to learn about responsibility and to mature and yet remember how to enjoy life?

3. the third theme is a little more esoteric. i'm not sure it was even present in the original book, but i definitely think it was put in the movie purposely. there seems to be a political theme underlying part of the story. i'm not talking about some political bias from the left or right, but about basic human nature when dealing with leaders of any sort. it's about how we almost have an innate need for our leaders to be something more than human, and how ridiculous they are to claim to be so. max's new friends dub him their new king after he foolishly promises that he has powers and says that he can keep all sadness away. later on when things don't go as planned there are some key lines. first of all, when they speak of a king, it's not as a title, but of a magical creature. a king's defining trait is his power. a power that cannot be stripped of that king. their definition is the antithesis of a mere title. yet they start to discover that it is just that. a title. they find out that their king is just like them. they wonder if there really is such a thing as a king. i think this is a perfect allegory for when we in the masses become enthralled by a political figure. it doesn't matter what party he or she is in. we believe their promises that they will keep all the sorrow away. we somehow believe these the ridiculous promises as if they are destined to be. and when we are eventually let down, we crucify them. the characters in the movie also tell max that he's the first king they haven't eaten.

so ya, pretty much an awesome movie.


and next....


Paranormal Activity



i just got back from seeing this one. i thought this was an awesome movie. trev got me into horror and suspense movies. and i feel like i should clarify something before i go on. horror and gore are two different things. horror is about the suspense and gore is about the blood. a gore film shows the morbid details of someone getting stabbed. a horror film focus on the moments leading up to the stabbing and the camera pans away during the violence.

anyway, this low budget gem gave us goosebumps in a way that very few films can deliver. it's probably the lack of CG that made it so real. real effects almost always seem more real than CG. the sound design was just ok. nothing great. but the use of silence to build suspense was superb. there was one moment at the end that i felt the movie could have done without, but i won't ruin it for you. why is it always the spiritual scary movies that really put us on edge? i guess it's the thought that maybe stuff like that does really happen. i was worried that this would be another blair witch project style film. you know, a couple people with a camera and not a lot happening. which it kinda was, except stuff did happen. and it actually felt that it could possibly happen in real life. also, there was some comic relief throughout the film in the form of a sarcastic husband. good good good good movie. i just wish some of the idiots who thought it would be funny to scream during quiet parts would have realized the joke was getting old after the 4th time. but oh well.

the price is right

my recollections are becoming a little fuzzy because of the hour. it's not that it's late. i've just been up for about 24 hours now. No big deal. actually, i've been saying just NBD all day today just to save time. "oh check out that ferrari over there - NBD." (sarcasm for those of you who didn't pick up on that one)

sorry to everyone at calvin college in grand rapids on monday. the show was great. but we didn't sign because we have an early flight out this morning. that said, today was AWESOME. we landed in LA at 930 and were immediately whisked away to meet the crew from tooth and nail as well as a bunch of radio people at the set of the price is right. i know it's tourist-y but anything can be fun when you're with a bunch of loud buddies.



yes, those are matching t-shirts. if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right. now i can check the whole experience off my list of things to do before i die. get that bucket list started early. i can't believe i just quoted such a corny movie movie like the bucket list.

what was freaking awesome is that one of the guys with us got called up and ended up winning A NEW CAR!!!! ya dude, it was amazing. we got the whole experience. jumping up and shouting numbers at our buddy and screaming like mad men as he ran over to jump into his new car.

after the whole ordeal we came back to the hotel and had a dinner with the radio people and we played some acoustic TFK and FM Static stuff. tomorrow morning my good buddy jon mark is picking me up to go surfing. i'm pretty pumped. i'm not very good but when i do manage to catch any sort of wave (or whitewash pretending to be a wave) i thoroughly enjoy it.

i'd really like to come up with some sort of witty and poignant ending but my eyelids are getting heavy....so, basically, you lose, internets. NBD.

ear candles

so today we had a day off in roanoke, VA on our way to the show tomorrow in lancaster, PA. clay and tom and i were at a mall in a GNC store looking for protein suppliments, weight gain shakes, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. just kidding about those last two. so anyway, tom and I noticed some ear candles. i'd heard about these but never actually tried it. for those of you who don't know, they are hollow beeswax candles that you stick in your ear. you light the wax at the other end and apparently the heat draws the wax out of your ears in a massive goopy mess. i kinda wanted to try it. i ended up coming back to actually buy the candles ($9.00 for two candles - one for each ear). but on closer inspection of the package i found this:



i know the picture is kinda blurry, so here's what it says: "Contrary to some beliefs, this ancient practice does not extract ear wax out of your ears."

ok, so i had heard that these candles were kinda B.S. but i was going to try it anyway. but since they pretty much wrote it on the package...i mean, i figured i was wasting $9. but when i actually KNEW i was wasting $9 then the decision to not buy it became pretty clear.

moral of the story? don't just accept what you hear. figure it out for yourself. sometimes the truth is staring you in the face....or sticking you in the ear.

wishlist

frequently i find myself checking ebay and craigslist looking for deals on gear. it's so much fun but it's an exercise in futility because i always catch myself looking at things i can't afford. news flash people. just because you play in a band doesn't mean you're rich. i've had a few people approach me about investment opportunities before. one time a guy wanted me to invest $100,000 into a business. i'm like, good lord, what kind of money do you think i make???? anyway, a few days ago i posted a gear blog. today we played a show with Third Day and i saw some gear i wanted. well, not the exact gear. i'd use some different pedals, rack FX and maybe a different switching system. but the idea is good. their guitar setup is some next level stuff and i can't wait till i get there. so basically i'm drooling over stuff i can't have yet. here's the details:



here's the rack. they're on a custom switching system made by Bradshaw. if you don't know what those are, here's a quick tutorial: pedals sound good, but there's no easy way to hit one button to switch them all or to change settings. you could get one of those digital multieffects units, but the quality of the effects usually sucks. distortion is an analog phenomenon that digital just hasn't gotten right yet. the whole point of the switch system is to have a central unit that you plug each individual effect into and then a foot controller pedalboard. you can program the pedalboard however you want so that one push of a button can change every effect. it looks like this:



the buttons on that pedalboard are extremely versatile. you can program it with multiple "scenes" that change some or all of the pedals with one click. there are a few points in our set where i have to hit two or three pedals very quickly in order to get set for the next part of the song. there are also dedicated buttons for each pedal just in case you want to turn one pedal off on the fly.

their system has a true audio send and return for the volume pedal and two tap-tempo switchs for real time tempo adjustments on the effects if needed. and of course a tuner output. this whole system is designed to give the best of both worlds - the true tone and tactile surface of analog pedals with the power and convenience of digital switching. and it can do more than that...



at the top of the rack are the effects processors for delays, echoes, tremolo, mod FX, etc... the green one is the expanded rack version of the same pedal i have, the Line 6 DL-4. the blue one is the line 6 unit that has all the modulation effects. also notice the echoplex module at the top. all of these have lots of banks to store settings. they can be changed by what's called MIDI program changes. i won't go into what that entails, but what's cool is that the switching system is capable of sending those program changes. so basically a single push will change which pedals are on/off, and send program changes to MIDI devices. imagine having the perfect delay time and setting for each section of each song.



at the bottom of the rack we have the actual switching units. the pedalboard unit connects to this. they juggle multiple audio loops that you can turn on and off and route at will. they support multiple amp outputs so that you can run one or many amps at the same time. they will event send polarity switching signals to change the channel on the amp. so basically, you can have your cake and eat it too. the best of both worlds. you can use the pedals you love and have the flexibility to recall hundreds of settings at the touch of a button.

could i afford this? well, maybe. VooDoo labs has their GCX switcher and Ground Control Pro. Rocktron has their Patchmate and All Access control board and both aren't terribly expensive. the problem is in the logistics. we still do a LOT of fly dates and it would just cost too much to bring all this stuff on the plane. a lot of the headliners will send all their gear in a box truck or semi even when they do fly dates. eventually when we get to that point i'll be able to get the rig i want. more toys. of course by then i'm sure there's probably going to be something way cooler that i want. it's never enough, so i try to be content with what i have. for now my pedalboard is fairly simple. i only have three delay settings so i have to approximate the right delay times so it will work with multiple songs. and of course i still have to do some pedal dancing. blah. ok, that's enough salivating for now. i'm going to go watch third day's set. bye.

you can never fully be prepared for these things

the past couple days have been kinda rough. phone calls at 4am are usually bad and tuesday was no exception. when we got the call that tricia's mom had suffered a heart attack in the middle of the night it almost seemed unreal. we packed up some clothes and left that morning.

watching my wife stay up all night at her mom's bedside made me think of how great a mother she's going to be one day. and when i say "one day", i am in no way implying that she is pregnant. sorry mom and dad. nothing yet.

tricia's mom is doing better now and we want to thank everyone for their prayers. there are two stories that came from this whole thing that i think are fascinating.

1. early that morning, tricia texted a few of her best friends about what had happened even though they should have been sleeping. one girl who lives on the west coast inexplicably couldn't sleep and felt like she needed to stay up and pray for someone. when she got the text from trish she knew why.

2. our new dog Milla was staying with tricia's parents when it occurred. that night, Milla actually woke her up and was acting weird. when tricia's mom woke up to the antsy doggie, that's when she really noticed the pain. it's almost as if Milla sensed it and woke her up.

so i did some heavy research on the phenomenon. and by "some heavy research", i mean fifteen minutes on google. it seems that it's a known fact that some dogs can sense oncoming heart attacks and can predict seizures in epileptic patients through either their sense of smell, body language or a combination of both. here's an article on MSNBC about it. and here's another from PBS talking about it like it's a fact. these aren't websites written by whackos blogging about gear and posting audience shots. these are real news organizations. crazy.

so that begs two more questions. the first is can we get Milla in some sort of training to help further develop this sense. and secondly, how can we exploit this skill for our personal gain. haha...just kidding about the second one. although if the dog ever saves me or trish from a heart attack, then i guess that's better than any money.

gear

this post is for the tech heads out there. i've been promising a gear blog and here it is:

GUITARS
------------

PRS Baritone - Mike Mushok signature




about half of our songs are played in drop B tuning and the best way to accomplish this is wish a baritone guitar. what makes it different you ask? not much. it's just a longer neck to properly account for thicker strings. ya know how a bass neck is way longer than a guitar? this thing is about halfway in between. 27 1/2 inches to be exact.

PRS SC-245



this guitar is in standard drop D tuning for the other half of our songs. i'm a big Les Paul fan so when we hooked up with PRS they suggested this single cut. unlike most PRS guitars, this guy is pretty heavy, just like a Les Paul. it sounds pretty good, but i think i'm going to swap out the bridge pickup for a Tremonti soon.

PRS Mira-X



This is the newest guitar i've gotten from PRS and i absolutely LOVE it. the body is made of solid african basswood which makes it extremely light. i had them put a tremonti in the bridge and it sounds ridiculous. that's kinda why i wanna replace the pickup in the SC-245. anyway, the neck pickup is wired up to be a single coil tap so the clean sound on this guy is really clear. LOVE IT. for this tour i'm only playing this guitar for the FM Static set.

Gibson Explorer



this is the money guitar right here. the old classic. i'm only playing it for one song in the set - Falls Apart because that song is in drop C, not not drop B. why don't we play it in drop B to make it easier on everybody? well, trev's vocal sounds better in that key and really, it's all about the vocals. anyway, i love this guitar and it looks pretty sweet too.

Fender GA-45SCE



This isn't an extremely high end acoustic, but it plays really well considering that fact. i'm only using it for two songs on the FM Static set.


PEDALBOARD
------------------



Most people are surprised at the simplicity of my pedalboard. most songs are pretty straightforward rock so there's not much need for crazy effects. First off, a year ago i switched to a pedaltrain pedalboard and it's completely solved one of my biggest headaches. all previous pedalboards of mine were constantly breaking and causing shorts in cables as they worked their way through airports and in bus trailers. the new pedaltrains also come with little rails so that you can mount a voodoo labs power supply underneath the board which save a good deal of space. i've had this thing over a year now and i haven't had any problems with it.

ok, so here's the pedals:

Boss TU-2 tuner pedal
Fulltone Fat Boost
Morley ABY pedal
MXR Super Comp
Line 6 DL-4
Shure PGX wireless system
Voodoo Labs power supply

AMPS
-------

i use a two amp setup where one amp is dedicated to distorted guitar and the second amp is dedicated to clean.



The distorted setup consists of a Diezel Einstein head and an Orange 4 x 12 cab with vintage 30's in it.

Diezel Einstein 50W head



it took me a while to figure out why there are dog paw prints all over the head. can't figure it out? it's a veiled back to the future reference which kinda makes it even more awesome...and also kinda gives an insight into how the designer of the amp views himself. haha

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe



Fender always has a great clean tone. you kinda can't go wrong.

On the Orange cab we use two Audix i-5 dynamic mics. they're basically just like a shure 57 but they're better on the top end which makes the distortion sound like it's got more gain without actually adding more gain. on the deluxe we just use a single 57.

STRINGS
-----------

i use GHS strings exclusively. they're a great company and they've been really good to us.



For the Explorer, i use the heavyweights because i'm tuned so low on a regular scale neck. they're .11 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for the Mira-X i use regular GHS Boomers (.11 to .50) because we tune in standard E tuning. For the SC-245 i use a custom set that's .11 on the high end and .58 on the low end. the heavier string puts more tension which helps you stay in tune when really digging in to a riff. and for the PRS Baritone i use the GHS Low Tune set which is .14 on the high end and .70 on the low end. for both the single cut and baritone i also specify a wound G-string (insert obscene joke here) to help with tuning issues.

TRANSPORTATION
---------------------------

Set Carts



for those of you who have seen us in concert, you have seen our set carts with the giant TFK logo on the front. these serve another purpose beyond shameless self promotion. our tour manager, clay, had these made up and it's pretty ingenious. it's a rolling cart that has our gear strapped in and locked down. the mics and cables stay with the cart and all the guitar and pedalboard cases stay locked down. all of the sound and lights on this tour goes into a semi tractor trailer. the cart makes it easy to roll on and off stage rather than having dozens of individual road cases. it also allows for us to clear the stage quickly to get ready for the next act. a couple years ago we toured with TobyMac and we had a 3 minute change over from us to Toby. our fastest time to clear all of our gear was 2:57. that's pretty amazing.

Anyway, i think that's all. if you've got any questions, just leave a comment and i'll try to answer as best i can.