Godzilla, Don't Eat Me

It's been far too long since I have released any new music and I thought it was time to change that. So today I released a song titled "Godzilla, Don't Eat Me" and you can download it for free at my MySpace page. It's a quirky pop/rock song that sounds more like my old band than anything else I've released as a solo artist. I hope you enjoy it and grab the download while you can because it's only going to be available for free download for a month or so.

I've been writing lots new songs and I hope to be able to share some of that with you late this fall but we'll see how things go as I am still working on finishing up my new studio.

I'm Not A Rat

A couple months ago I started a brand new website called I'm Not A Rat. It's pretty much about my pursuit of escaping the rat race through writing, music, and self-sufficiency. As you might guess I write articles covering all of those topics with the addition of articles about various business and marketing concepts.

While this website will continue to exclusively cover my musical efforts, I'm Not A Rat will give all of you obsessed fans a chance to read all of the wonderful words that spew out of my brain three times a week...Okay so I really don't have any delusions about having any obsessed fans or how much these fictitious fans would want to read everything I write but I would like to invite everyone to check out imnotarat.com and see if you find any of it interesting enough to stick around for awhile.

A Lack of Understanding - a little tale

One bright sunny sunday afternoon a Baptist preacher climbed in his car to leave church for the day. Similarly a few blocks away a Catholic priest was leaving his parish for the day. Both were driving towards each other from opposite directions on the same street. Without notice a young child ran out in front of them and they both swerved and hit each other head on. Both men died instantly.

They awoke to find that they were in heaven in all its glory, what they saw was far different from either of their interpretations of what heaven was going to be like but they knew it instantly just the same. And before them sat Christ on a magnificent throne of glory. Each man was in awe of the splendor of Christ and of heaven and it took several minutes before they realized who it was that was standing next to them. The Catholic priest began to ask in a stammering voice, "Christ what is this protestant man doing here? The Catholic church is the one true church. How could he have entered into heaven?"

The Baptist preacher was a bit taken aback and replied "Now hold on there, we at least gave you Catholics a bit of credit. We thought some of you might actually manage to squeak through heaven's doors. Didn't expect an actual priest though." Then turning to Christ he said "So what gives, how did this pharisee make it in?"

"This man wasn't even part of your church how did he make it to heaven?" the priest asked pleadingly and continued "Who is actually right?"

Then with a steadfast gaze and soft voice Christ replied, "I am."

Where I've Been, What I've Been Doing

Well once again I've posted something about musical plans on here only to have those plans dashed aside by real life. I got a new job and I was out of state for a month so no music was accomplished and the new job has me working longer hours so it's even tougher to get things done.

I've really given up attempting to make any firm plans in regards to music anymore. They just never seem to work out. I've been working on this album for more than two years now, even since before Watching the Ships came out. At this point I'm considering just shelving the whole project and starting new. I've written a lot of new songs that I think reflect who I am now as a person and a musician so much better than songs that are several years old and I also feel like I haven't been starting anything new because I've been hanging onto this idea that that the current album needs finished even though I'm not much closer today than I was a couple months ago. I feel like its holding me back at this point.

But who knows, like I said I'm not making firm plans for anything. Maybe I will finish it after all. There will be new music from me, I just dont know when.

Of Fingers and Failing Computers

So I couldn't play guitar for a month or so because of smashing a finger on my left hand. Now that that finger is mostly healed I ran into another major roadblock to getting my music done. A couple weeks ago I experienced a major computer failure on my studio computer. I ended up having to replace the computer with a new one and I've almost got the new one completely setup with all of my audio software. Unfortunately all of my song files are still on a hard drive that I haven't been able to access yet.

Sometimes I wonder what purpose God has behind all these roadblocks that I've been facing over the past year in regards to my music. How do you know when to push ahead or change directions entirely?

Once I have my song files back I'll be releasing a couple new songs that I hope you enjoy.

-Yordy

A Story from My Christmas Past

When I was a wee lad of around 7 or 8 years old I had it in my head that I really wanted a hamster for Christmas. Daily I informed my parents of my desire for one of the little furballs with a determination only a child could muster. A few days before Christmas I decided to do a leaflet campaign and wrote on many scraps of paper "I want a hamster." I then took these scraps of paper and scattered them around their bedroom by means of placing them on top of the blades of the ceiling fan and turning it on. I believe it was later that night that I said to my mother with what I imagine was quite a sad looking face "All I really want for Christmas is a hamster." That may not be an exact quote, it was quite a few years ago.

Christmas morning came and we opened all of the presents and as we were finishing up one of my parents said that they forgot something and went into another room and brought out a small cage with a hamster in it. I remember being filled with joy and shock that they had actually gotten me the hamster I had been begging for.

I hadn't thought of those events for many many years but for some reason it came to mind yesterday. It reminds me of a simpler time in my life when things weren't so complicated. My parents bought us presents and as a young child you really don't think of where the money comes from for those presents. Now as a husband and father myself I know the sacrifice that is sometimes involved in making Christmas special for your children. This will be our son's first Christmas and I can't wait to know the joy of watching him attempt to open his presents. Though the wrapping paper will most likely hold his attention more than the presents themselves.

Incidentally the hamster died a few months later when he was rolling around in one of those plastic balls and one of my brothers left the basement door open and Louie (as I so eloquently named him) went rolling on down the stairs. If I remember correctly we made a cross and that same brother used his wood burning set to put Louie's name on the cross and then we buried him in the back yard.

In case anyone was wondering on the condition of my finger after the incident described in the previous post, it is mostly healed. I can play guitar now with only a minor amount of discomfort. Lifting things at work is still a bit of a challenge sometimes but I'm managing.

Merry Christmas everyone.

A Smashing Christmas

So I was planning on recording and giving away 2 original Christmas songs this year but just the other day when I was planning on recording the guitars I had an unfortunate accident. While clawing my way through our garage, which is filled with someone else's stuff, a piece of metal equipment that weighs several hundred pounds fell and smashed my finger against another piece of heavy metal equipment. I then had to continue to find my way to open a locked garage door in the dark while clutching my hand. It wasn't very fun then or a little later when my wife graciously stuck a red hot needle through my finger nail to release all the blood that was building up pressure underneath.

The reason this is such a big deal for guitar playing is because it happened to my left hand which is pretty essential to forming guitar chords. I'm also left handed so doing many things right now is a joy. It will probably be several more days before I can play guitar again and then it would be several more days after that until the songs were finished which would put us right up around Christmas. So unfortunately I have no free Christmas music to give away this year.

It's a bit disappointing but I can't change it so I'm not gonna be that upset about it. I do hope to still have a new track up a few days after Christmas, commemorating a special occasion for my wife and I. Hopefully this accident won't affect that happening too.

Until then I'll try and make a couple more posts dealing with spiritual topics for those of you who enjoy those kind of things.