Motor-City Madman

What I'm Listening To:

Song: After We've Left Our Homes
Artist: Mute Math
Album: Mute Math

I turned on iTunes right before starting this post, and I was a bit startled at the irony of the song that first came up. Why? Because the title should tell you why... No, I am not talking about Ted Nugent. I am, in fact, referring to myself. That's right, I will be a Detroit resident within a matter of months. To be more exact, I will be a West Bloomfield resident (they don't consider themselves part of Detroit).

For those who aren't aware, Janae is in the process of completing her certificate that will allow her to become an orthotics practitioner. She has been attending a special school for that since August of 2006, and will be graduating on May 07. After completing a year of school, all graduates of the program are required to take up a year-long residency at a certified orthotics office. Once that year is complete, an extensive examination (called the Boards) is given and, upon completion, a certificate is awarded that will allow the recipient to practice.

Janae interviewed at certified offices in Kansas City, Tulsa, and Detroit (Waterford) with the Michigan site working out best. After she completes her residence, passes her Boards, and gets employed at an office (quite possibly the one in Waterford), Janae plans to attend classes via distance learning (online courses) and begin acquiring the prosthetics certificate portion of the O&P program - which will precede a year of residency at a certified prosthetics office and another Boards examination. This will mean a possible 3 years away from family and friends. Are we nervous as all get out? Yes. Are we looking forward to it? Absolutely.

What will I be doing during this time, you ask? Okay, maybe you don't ask, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Janae's residency will be paid, and should be enough to supply us with income sufficient for allowing me to become a full-time student. That's right, I plan on going back to school (I barely started college, let alone finished it). I have been praying, and I feel confident God is calling me to at least try my hand in the field of radio broadcasting. Well, no, my hand isn't going to do much for radio anything, since it's not the part of my body that allows me to talk - but you know what I mean. Well, it so happens that Detroit contains what appears to be a great school for that specific field - and the program is only 8 months long, so I would be able to get my foot in the door of the broadcasting world by the time Janae's done with her residency. This looks to be a great plan and I will continue praying for the Lord's guidence as details continue to fall into place, making my path seem more clear.

I will be continuing work at Springfield Music until June 8th, which will give Janae and I three weeks to take care of any back-and-forth trips that may need to take place before our wedding in early July. May 6-14 will be a crazy busy time, as will be practically the entire month of June. As we are nearing our date of marriage, I am so thankful we took care of as much early on as we did - it will surely make last minute details relatively painless and help bring our stress levels to a minimum.

I want to end this post with a gigantic THANK YOU to all of our friends and family. Your love, support, prayers, and friendship have meant more to us than you can possibly know. You all will make this move extremely difficult for us to make, but we are confident that God will grant us fellowship once we are in Michigan and, if it is His Will, to allow us to come back to Springfield and settle here - we love this place! I sincerely hope that among all the crazy transitions coming quickly, Janae and I can spend plenty of quality time with our friends and family before having to relocate for a bit.

Cheers.

What I'm Listening To:

Song: Time To Say Goodbye
Artist: Chris Botti
Album: When I Fall In Love

(man, the songs for this post are eerily appropriate - kinda freaking me out a bit)

Not quite as wonderful as snow globes.

What I'm Listening To:

Song: I Only Said
Artist: My Bloody Valentine
Album: Loveless


Well, I lied. What I have in store for you is slightly more wonderful than snow globes.

Last week I was looking at some video clips of some awesome musicians. There was a particular one that caught my eyes (and ears). I had heard of the artist, but never actually listened to any of his music. His name is Michael Manring and, let me tell you - I have been so missing out. I need to get an album or three from this guy pronto. He primarily plays fretless basses and is known for using multiple tunings within the same song. What I mean by that is, he has basses that let him change tunings on the fly. In the video I've posted below, he is using a Zon (his preferred brand) model that he has 'pimped out' with a Hipshot Bass X-Tender tuning key on each string, as well as a detune-able bridge. If you aren't mesmerized by his incredible playing, try and count how many times he changes tuning while he's playing. I counted 60. Yeah, he's pretty dang awesome. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:



Here he is playing 3 basses at once. Don't believe me? See for yourself:



And here he covers the song Teen Town by Weather Report. Note: He doesn't just play Jaco's amazing bass lines. He plays all the other parts first (he loops each layer before adding another part) and then plays Jaco's amazing bass lines. If you listen closely, you can catch a fun little Hendrix tribute amidst his insane overdriven solo part. A very impressive performance.



That's all I have for now. Maybe one of these days I'll post something besides just videos. Just maybe... Cheers.


What I'm Listening To:

Song: If You Fall
Artist: Azure Ray
Album: Hold On Love