Nifty Noodles/ The Holidays

11/27/04 Riverside, CA
Thanksgiving came with some new challenges this year. And the day after is atrocious. I’ve never seen so many people out shopping maybe I just never went there in times past. I couldn’t see saving $50 just to stand in line at the register for an hour. But you know that’s me. Anyway the thrift stores were fun and not as crowded. I was looking for little home decorating ideas and as I drove around town I listened to “Radio Rehab for Christmas”… show number 26. About 17 minutes into this was me talking to me. How to avoid the blues during the holidays… wow when did I come up with all this great stuff… and then when did I forget it.

I tear’d up remembering last year when I did this show. The music was so right and the words so encouraging. If no one ever gets this stuff but me I guess that’d be o.k. .

It didn’t keep me completely free of depression today but it did help me focus on a bigger picture and some practical ways to deal with the holidays.

I’d like to remind you to check out Radio Rehab at some point for shows 25 & 26.

That’s all I have to say….. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ The Whirlwind

11/20/04 Seattle, WA
Fans and friends and hired help and musicians began Thursday night to assemble for the next great adventure with the NehoSoul chapter in my life redefined.

Rick Elias and Bob Carlisle were on this date and Pam Kistler from Streetlevel came out to see the new formation in action. The Solomon Sisters, a local singing trio joined us for background vocals too…. It was like a convention! Website designers for radio rehab and bryand.com also flew in. James Bowles and Rich Davis (driver of the Winnebago) and his wife Veronica rounded out a substantial entourage. Then of course this is the back yard for Walter Finch, Phil Curry, and Sam Mathews. So there was family and friends there too…..This is something I’m not at all used to… a huge interest in a single event.

Lots of details were falling through the cracks as this was like a tour event without the occupational definitions. Sound Check and set up took all day and there was almost no run through of material. Frantic running around interspersed with long gaps of standing around was the order of the day for me. James and Rich took lots of pictures I think. Friday night though we were fed an incredible dinner by the volunteers at New Life Center and in the twinkling of an eye the gig was on in Everett.

The hall was warm and perfect for concert presentation. The show ran incredibly smooth considering their were four different artists on the bill counting the Solomon Sisters who opened with a few tunes. They were incredible by the way. I hope to use them in the future. Rick Elias was comical back stage complaining about his lack of soul on a ticket with all these funky people and to top it all off they cut off one of his ears on the poster. Bob was in typical fine fashion and he joined me on the last song where we hammed it up about being too old to read the lyrics on the floor in front of us.

We closed with “Light of the World”, a cover cut from one of his projects. And then it was pictures and autographs and meeting long term fans. Some flew in from as far away as Minnesota and Indiana.

But was the night over? No. From there most of the participants drove to Seattle to a local hot spot to hear a local funk band, Dr Funk. They do covers mostly of all the best funk songs from Tower of Power, Stevie Wonder, Average White Band, Gap Band, Dazz Band, Ohio Players etc. By one a.m. I had joined them for “Superstitious” and Bob C was in heaven playing “What is Hip” and “Don’t Change Horses” with their five piece horn section. “It’s like being the hood ornament on a muscle car” was his comment. I was elated too but very tired. Still I went back to the hotel and ate left over chocolate cake and a carton of milk.

Saturday around ten a.m. we did a songwriter seminar back at New Life Center. We shared passions and disappointments and insights on the business of songwriting and the music business. By One p.m I was on a ferry to Kingston to do a Celebrate Recovery concert for Bayside Christian Church at the local Civic Center. This was the highlight gig. The audience was singing all the stuff and participating in the impromptu call and responses. I gave the mic to a couple of folks in the audience to do their own improvisations over the groove. The night was more spontaneous than anything I can remember doing. I gave the NehoSoul Brothers more time to improvise… and they did a 15 minute groove after I had left the stage.

Sunday Morning… I played alone at the church services. The pastor gave me the whole service. It went well and I found myself sharing stuff I never thought I would share from the stage. “don’t try to control everything this week… leave some room for God to surprise you” is how I left it … and How I want it to. From there we drove to North Seattle for an early thanksgiving meal at Ricky B’s parent’s house. It feels like a second home to me. I needed a place to crash by now I’m running on fumes. Of course around 9: PM. We left to go check out a NeoSoul style band downtown… this time it was the “206 Ribshack BBQ Orchestra”….they played mostly covers too but the best song was one of their own called Flap Jack… a romantic Tower oF Power like ballad that used lots of food analogies.

Got back to my second home around 2:30 a.m and left for the airport around 9 a.m….. I just wanna go home! Stop the world and let me off. Please…. I’m gonna take some voice rest for the next three days…. And then I’ll really be thankful. Bryan D

Nifty Noodles/ Big Band

11/14/04 Minneapolis Minn. / Crystal EV Free church
Minneapolis is home to a number of great musicians some of whom I played with before this evening on the “Twin Cities Live” CD.

Sara Renner one of the singers on TCL and Tim Zhorne, the Drummer for the TCL project were also in Kevin’s Cool Gospel Orchestra tonight that backed me up on about twenty minutes of stuff. They opened the show too with a full set and then joined me as we did some other cover tunes like “Maybe I’m Amazed” that fit in the category of “could have been a Christian message”… They included “Free Ride” by Edgar Winter “Every Kind of People” by can’t think of his name… “won’t back down” by Tom Petty and then the KCGO filled in the parts for “Step By Step” “I Love You With My Life” and “Joy Is a Singable Thing”.

KCGO is a big band and it’s the first time I’ve fronted such an endeavor. I must say it was worth the trip. I was thinking about the possibility of a Big Band Christmas project as I sung down the set. Of course touring with some twenty or so musicians has it’s financial drawbacks but you never know what might be done. In the mean time I’m dreaming of returning to Minneapolis for a club date with the NehoSoul Band and you can be sure we’ll be using Sara Renner and Chryss Altamirano ( a 4 foot eleven little bomb shell) together Sara and Chryss were so incredible I had to hold my cell phone up so Ricky B could hear em!

I’m home now moving my office and my warehouse and getting acquainted with my new digs. I am so tired I’ve lost my voice for the last 48 hours. I’ve got two days to get it back before the big Washington State convergence! Wow it just gets better.

O.K. So things are looking up Bryan D

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