Ben Shive is a good friend of mine (as well as a fellow Square-Peg) and he is taking pre-orders for his new album, The Ill-Tempered Klavier.
Mr. Shive is simply one of the most talented people I know. I’ve worked with him in the studio a few times (Faith & Heartache, Recovery) and his piano work always feels amazing.
Ben is one of those guys that you spend some time with and quickly realize that there’s a lot going on underneath the hood. He’s a monster player and a deep thinker which makes him a creative ninja.
His new album is sure to please.
Support Ben and pre-order today. You won’t regret it!
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How many times have
You heard someone say
If I had his money
I could do things my way
But little they know
That it’s so hard to find
One rich man in ten
With a satisfied mind
Once I was waitin’
In fortune and fame
Everything that I dreamed for
To get a start in life’s game
Then suddenly it happened
I lost every dime
But I’m richer by far
With a satisfied mind
Money can’t buy back
Your youth when you’re old
Or a friend when you’re lonely
Or a love that’s grown cold
The wealthiest person
Is a pauper at times
Compared to the man
With a satisfied mind
When my life has ended
And my time has run out
My friends and my loved ones
I’ll leave there’s no doubt
But one thing’s for certain
When it comes my time
I’ll leave this old world
With a satisfied mind
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I can’t stand them and there are men remodeling the house next door to us and for some reason they are blasting Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” while they work.
It’s awful. So so so so so so so so bad.
Someone please make it stop.
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Good morning….
I’ve been going pretty hard since we got back from San Diego doing recording and production with some artists I’ve been working with. It’s been a grueling set of days but we are making progress and I’ve got some time to write.
Between booking for the fall and getting my new record out there (and reviewed etc…) I’m keenly aware that I’m trying to do three things at the same time and it gets a little nutty. I’m thankful for all the work I have though so maybe it’s just a period of adjustment before I get used to this new season I’m in.
I’ve been waking up earlier (6 am) and then going to bed later. Averaging 6 hours a night or so. I’ve also been running quite a bit which feels great. Helps with the craziness to just go work it all out of my system with a run.
I run down to the stadium where the Titans play and listen to U2 remixes on my ipod while I workout. I like to pretend I’m Bono. Usually (but not limited to) when I’m listening to the “Elevation” remixes (there are three of them and they are all killer). It helps to have heroes…
Things are busier than they’ve ever been for our little family and I hope I am being a good leader through all of this. Work, family time, work, meals, prayer…work. That’s the rhythm here and I know there is grace for all things.
Truth is - I love what I do. But I am not what I do.
So I guess I am trying to hold fast to some sort of balance while being busier than I’ve ever been with lots of good work to be done and much to be thankful for.
I’m especially thankful for Kierstin and Eli. I don’t deserve them.
Or grace for that matter.
But I have all three.
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current listening:
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (don’t miss this.)
Kings of Convenience - Riot On An Empty Street
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full (it’s pretty good…3 stars)
Jose Gonzalez - Veneer
Rendezvous a Paris - Various (Kierstin found this at Starbucks - pretty cool)
Over The Rhine - Ohio (don’t miss this either.)
current podcasts:
Issues, Etc
Indiefeed
White Horse Inn
NPR: Fresh Air
summer reading:
The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky
Purple Cow - Seth Godin
Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
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Well, the summer is off to a roaring start.
Kierstin, Eli and I drove to South Carolina to meet up with my parents and brothers for a family get together at Pawley’s Island. It was great to get away and have some down time with the family… we played Chess, Risk, Poker and shot a lot of pool.
I bought a fishing pole from Wal-Mart and caught a couple fish and a few crabs. Eli took his first dip in the pool and seemed to love it.
Just a totally relaxing, lazy set of summer days. Sometimes it’s hard to slow down but I’m always so thankful afterwards for the chance to rest. I took a few books but hardly opened them at all. It was that kind of vacation….lots of talking and goofing off.
We got back home to Nashville late last night after a 10 hour drive. Stopped in Greenville, SC to visit Brannon McAllister and the Portland Studios guys…what a cool group of people. I’m a huge fan of their work. (See some of the links in my blogroll.)
Anyways, it’s great to stop and look around, take it all in. So in a couple days - our little trio of a family will do it all again but this time we’ll be in San Diego visiting with Kierstin’s side of the family. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone and I’m personally looking forward to eating my mother-in-law’s italian cooking.
After we get back I’ll dive straight into some production work I’ve got going with a few different artists I’m working with. I’m also rehearsing, booking and planning for fall concerts.
Fall shows will start in late August and go through November. I’ll post more about this later. If you are interested in a concert, please email us.
I think that’s all for now. Kierstin and I have sort of been catching our breath and pausing to let the batteries recharge. Recovery is finished, printed and shipping out. I know I said this in my last post, but we’re really thrilled with how everything turned out with the record and it’s packaging and are especially excited about all the feedback we’ve been getting concerning this new collection of songs. We’re sending it out for review in a number of different magazines and websites and hope to have those for you soon. (We’ll link to them.)
Got any magazines/websites you would recommend for reviewing Recovery ?
We’d love to hear your thoughts if you have any favorite sources for reading about new music. Just leave a comment.
Thanks for your friendship and support. Talk to you soon.
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A little over a year ago, I was one of a number of artists that participated in a project called The Message: Psalms. I was recently asked to write a little bit about where the song came from and here is what I wrote:
“Last Chance” is based on Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Psalm 88 which is the darkest of all the psalms in the bible. It actually ends with these words: ” the darkness is my only friend.”
I wanted to write a song based on this psalm because I really believe it presents an honest account of what it means to be a believer in a world that can wear you down with the after effects of the Fall. If we are honest with ourselves– to grow in faith in Christ means to weep more at the sin and desperation in our own hearts and in the world around us. Rarely in the Christian life is there an ongoing mountain-top experience of one joy after another. Rather it is a difficult and often challenging effort to believe the Truth above the noise and chaos of living.
So often we view the Bible as a collection of stories and wise-sayings from people who have their lives perfectly together. We think the scriptures are about improving ourselves so that God will love us more. Instead what we find is exactly the opposite: Almighty God at work in the lives of folks who are a total mess.
This is good news! So when we come across Psalm 88 and read the words “the darkness is my only friend” we can take comfort in the fact that God knows how we are when we are desperate.
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Well it’s after midnight now and I’m regretting that cup of coffee I drank around eight o’clock. Sleep is a valuable commodity in a house with a three month old but tonight I am wired and can’t sleep. I’m too excited and too caffeinated.
Recovery officially releases next Tuesday and Kierstin and I have been busying ourselves preparing for the big day. After launching the pre-order site we dove straight into planning and building out my new website with the Portland Studios guys. We’re thrilled with how it’s all coming along and everything is on schedule to go live next week.
sidenote: this blog will be moved to its new home within my new website. we’ll put up a link…
In addition to the website, I’ve been booking concerts and re-thinking how my live show will be. In the past, it’s either been me solo with my guitar or me and my guitar with a piano player…both allowed for an organic and casual atmosphere for the songs to unfold and for a conversation to happen with the folks in the audience….but things are changing since this new material was completed.
For starters, the new songs are chock full of strings, horns and various orchestral percussion instruments which I obviously can’t lug around very affordably or easily at this point. So I’ve decided to wipe the slate clean and dream up a cool way to present these new songs in concert.
And I can’t tell you yet — but it’s going be very very cool and very different from what I’ve done before in concerts. I’ll know more as the summer progresses and I’ll share here.
The bulk of the release shows won’t start until early fall/late summer b/c i want to plan them out and give them the time and attention I gave the album.
I want to thank all of you who have PRE-ORDERED the album. We’re still getting orders everyday and the record hasn’t even come out yet!
And the feedback from people is great too. It feels wonderful for to us to hear that folks are digging the tracks and most everyone has told us that they feel this is my best work to date.
And to believe in something the amount that we believe in this collection of songs — to spend your own money (and not a label’s) to see the completion of your creative vision come into fruition — it’s just really gratifying in a very healthy and redemptive way. Especially after all the garbage that went down with The Innocence Fires and just to let go of all that bitterness and cynicism and try to make something BEAUTIFUL and TRUTHFUL that moves you and hopefully moves other people.
Now that is something I could spend the rest of my life doing.
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it was a busy day today. i sent off all the materials for the album to be duplicated and ready to get into your hot little hands. (this is an interactive blog you know!)
i’ve also been setting up some accounts at various places online in an effort of do a good bit of internet promotion when the album releases.
So far I’ve been looking at Virb, LastFM, Facebook and Digg.
I have to admit that I’m not the best at keeping updated with the coolest and hippest things online these days. Myspace is still sort of something i’m wrapping my head around to be honest.
Anyways, here’s a question for you:
Got any suggestions as to what other sites I could tap into for promoting this new album?
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have any.
Just leave me a comment….don’t be shy.
Thanks for your help!
p.s. I’ve already signed up for my records to be available on iTunes (UK/Europe, USA, Canada, Australia & New Zealand) , Rhapsody, eMusic and Sony Connect…it should take effect in June. very cool….
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