Anyway, Friday night, we played at a place called Live @ The Hub, a local artist showcase by the Definition Collective. Although my band, Superficial Charm, is playing there in March, I’d never been there. All I knew was that it was in Manheim and that it was on the third floor of the building that it’s in.

So I got the address and punched into the Maps app on my iPhone, and off I went. Jen wasn’t feeling well, so she and the kids didn’t accompany me. The weather was also pretty poor. The sky had dropped quite a bit of ice and snow on us in recent days. But I made the journey, and after figuring which building I was going to, and then figuring out where to park, I started grabbing gear from the back of the car.

Thankfully, Matt and Shawn were in the parking lot and waved me down. This was good, because I had no idea how to get into the building.

“Hey, guys!” I said. “What’s the quickest way to the stage?” I had my acoustic guitar, my wife’s bass, my POD, my gig bag, and my (admittedly small) PA system, so I wanted to get the loading in done as quickly as possible so we could soundcheck.

“Up over the roof then up the stairs,” Matt replied.

I thought he was joking.

I was wrong.

Matt and Shawn each helpfully grabbed some of my gear and we slipped and slid across the icy parking lot, finally arriving at a small wooden staircase. It looked like the kind of small wooden staircase that would lead up to someone’s deck or patio. The stairs were covered in snow, but up we went.

Up two flights.

Only to arrive on a rooftop.

“Cool!” I said to Matt. “Are we doing our rooftop show U2 style or Beatles style?”

The roof was even icier than the parking lot, which I suppose is to be expected, since no one drives on it.

We skated and skidded across the roof only to arrive at another staircase. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I thought as I tried not to plummet over the edge of the roof to certain injury.

Up the other stairs we went.

Through the door at the top of the stairs.

And directly onto the stage. Nice.

I got one more load of gear from the car and then we set up.

We didn’t have a huge crowd, but Erik, who was the host that evening, told us he received over a dozen texts from people saying something along the lines of, “hey, we started coming out, but the roads were pretty bad so we went home.”

I chuckled and said, “Are you kidding me? We crossed an icy rooftop to play here!”

After the show, we tore down and started lugging our gear out. Down the stairs. Across the icy roof of doom. Down two more flights. Across the parking lot. Matt and Shawn helped again, and then we went back up to get Shawn’s drums. Right about then, Matt got a text from his wife, asking him when he’d be home. We all knew that he was to get home immediately. So our friend Ryan, who is the pastor at Veritas Community, graciously offered to help us. I laughed and warned him about the treacherous path down to the vehicles. It didn’t bother him.

So he grabbed Shawn’s floor tom and djembe and exited, stage right. Within three seconds, he was back, eyes wide with surprise. “Holy cow! You guys weren’t kidding!”

As we loaded the last of the gear into Shawn’s car, I commented that this was the most physically challenging load in I’ve ever done. Shawn said it was way easier than going in the front way.

This is one of the reasons I play music. To have stories like this. How else could I ever say that I carried all my gear across a frozen rooftop on a cold, windy, icy night in January?

The three best albums of 2010, at least as far as I’m concerned:

3) The Suburbs by Arcade Fire

I’m no hipster, but after reading so much of the buzz about Arcade Fire and their new album, The Suburbs, I took the plunge and grabbed a copy from Amazon MP3 when they had it on sale one day. It’s not my typical style by any stretch, as I tend toward upbeat alt/indie rock (Weezer, The Shins), acoustic/folk rock (Iron & Wine), and good worship music (Paul Baloche, Carlos Whittaker). I’d describe The Suburbs more like “baroque indie pop.” This was my first exposure to Arcade Fire, and I have to say, I was blown away (soon after buying this album, I bought their other two albums: Neon Bible and Funeral). From the weirdly compelling piano-driven opening of the first track, I was drawn into the music, and the whole album, and the overriding narrative in a way I simply didn’t expect. Maybe because I spent my childhood in the suburbs, I could relate to the way the characters in the songs strive both to escape from and retreat back to their suburban homes, and the way they lament the fluid, changing nature of the places where they grew up. I’ve also discovered that The Suburbs makes a great running soundtrack.

Standout tracks: “Ready To Start”, “Month Of May”, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

2) Hurley by Weezer

I’m one of those people who can never get enough Weezer. I have all of their albums, and I plan to buy whatever else they put out. While I adore their earlier work, which was partially the soundtrack to my college existence, you won’t find me bashing Weezer and saying, “Their new stuff is okay, but it’s no blue album.” I like their newer stuff, too. It’s been a kick watching Rivers Cuomo transform from the angst-ridden, too-self-aware, ironic geek and loner he was at the start into the angst-ridden, too-self-aware, ironic husband and dad that he is now. But while his writing has changed, I think it’s changed for the better. I mean, we all grow up, so why can’t Rivers? Such is the foundation of the opening track, “Memories,” in which Rivers conjures up images of early Weezer and the fun of the alternative music scene back in the mid ’90s (“back when Audioslave was still Rage”). If you  get this album, and you should, get the deluxe version with extras, which includes some real gems, the best of which are Weezer’s cover of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” and “Represent,” which Weezer recorded for the World Cup. Plus you get the great image of Jorge Garcia’s face on the cover.

Standout tracks:  ”Trainwrecks”, “Unspoken”, “Smart Girls”

1) Ragamuffin Soul by Carlos Whittaker

I’m a sucker for good worship music. And I’ll be honest: there isn’t much of it out there. Most of it is so vanilla and so uninspired that I can’t imagine taking the songs into my church and leading my congregation with them. As a worship leader, I’m always looking for the best worship music out there. That’s why I was so excited for Ragamuffin Soul by the worship leader, blogger, Twitterer, adoption advocate, and all around cool guy Carlos Whittaker. When he released his EP as a prelude to the album, I almost immediately had all three tracks from it in my worship rotation at church. When the full album came out, I didn’t hesitate; I pulled the trigger on that bad boy right away. This is an album of great songs, almost all of which are perfectly appropriate for corporate worship. The nice thing is that while they’re great for the band to play (two guitars, bass, drums), they translate well to the solo acoustic guy as well as the more diverse team that I sometimes have (congas, violin, trumpet, mandolin, etc.). This is flexible and fun music, but most importantly for a worship album, it’s Christ-centered and God-honoring. Plus, I have to mention that when I started doing the Couch to 5K program last spring, “Can’t Start This Fight” helped me through more than one tough mile.

Standout tracks: “No Words”, “We Will Dance”, “God Of Second Chances”

A year ago, I weighed 220 pounds. Today, I weigh 158.

A year ago, I could barely walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded. Today, I can run a half marathon.

A year ago, my size 36 pants were getting a bit tight, and I really should have been wearing 38s. Today, my 32s are getting kinda big around the waist.

A year ago, I had been working at Manheim Township School District for a few months, and I was still feeling my way around in many ways. Today, I have over a full year under my belt, and I’ve relaunched our website.

A year ago, Superficial Charm was just Jen and me since we had lost our drummer, Jeremy. Today, Superficial Charm is a three piece consisting of Jen, Jerry, and me, and we’re having a blast.

A year ago, I was leading worship for our Sunday service at Crossings Community Church, as well as Revolution, our Saturday night ministry. Today, it’s just the Sunday service. This still makes me somewhat sad, but I think things worked out the way they had to be.

• Can we STOP applying the “secular” or “Christian” comparison to music? It is silly and should not exist.
• There is NO mainstream and there is NO Christian in the motivation of artists simply telling the truth.
• I don’t think most people who draw the secular/Christian line actually know what it is they are drawing. Or why…
• Is all truth God’s truth or isn’t it? Is truth exclusive to Christian music?
• The distinction “Christian” in music represents the audience?,the origin of the maker?, the lyric?, the moral position of the artist? …?
• …the intent of the artist?, the use of biblical metaphor?, the utility of the listener?, the sound? Where it’s sold? Who commissioned it?
• Or…what distinguishes truthful music outside the church as NOT Christian? The moral behavior of artist?, the lyric? The intent of artist?
• ..who plays it?, where it is sold? Can it be glorifying without the artists knowledge or intent?
• Have we ever been lied to by “Christian” labeled music? Is it still Christian?
• Maybe what I am getting at is…is there ever a moment when it is okay to let labels trump the act of thoughtful engagement?
• If the label, “Xian” is placed on an artist, Is a bias either to embrace or dismiss the artist more tangible? What if the artist disagrees?

One of the reasons we were invited was a song I wrote, which Bethany’s local director, Mark Unger, heard when we played a gig with his band. I wrote the song “Find Me” for Jonathan, in an attempt to explore what his life must have been like before us.

Mark liked the song so much that he had Bethany’s PR guy contact us, and we ended doing an interview for the local paper to help plug today’s concert. They got a few details wrong (for example, my band is a three piece, not a duo) but we were happy to be able to share a bit.

I may write more on this later, but right now I’m typing on my iPhone and it’s getting kind if tiresome.

The article is here: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/267036.

She’s a Gretsch Electromatic G5120.

I’ve been wanting one of these for a long time, and yesterday I found one at a price too good to pass up. I haven’t much time to play it yet, with school just starting up and all, but so far I really love it. And it sounds great through my Peavey Classic 30 or my FloorPod. Or both, for that matter.

Somebody took this picture of my wife Jen playing bass:

Jen at Art & Soul Cafe

I’m a lucky man.

And the gig poster:

click for larger image

The Art & Soul Cafe meets in the basement of St. Paul’s Church in Mountville, PA. It’s a laid back, casual environment where artists and musicians gather to make a cool place to hang out. I’ve played there a couple times and it’s always a good time. Come on out. We have cookies.

I’ve been playing Sybil regularly since the beginning of January, once a week at church and once a week at worship team practice. I will occasionally pick her up and home, but I mostly use my trusty old Alvarez White Fusion when I don’t want or require any amplification.

She’s holding up quite nicely. A few weeks after I bought her, she developed a nasty buzz on the second fret, so I had to take her back to Guitar Center for a quick adjustment. And last week, I noticed that a small screw attaching the Parkwood logo plate to the headstock had come loose, but that was easy enough to fix. You know, with a screwdriver.

Otherwise, I have no complaints at all. I love how versatile this guitar is. When leading worship at church, I really appreciate being able to switch over to electric for a song or two, or even keep the acoustic and electric channels going at the same time for a really unique sound. And switching between modes is a snap. It’s great for when you want a nice, soft, acoustic intro, but you want that little extra kick when the drums and bass come in.

Speaking of that extra kick, the Seymour Duncan Mini-Humbuckers have a great sound, even when going direct to the PA system with no amp. And the acoustic sound is really, really sweet. It’s a brighter sound than what I’m used to (my Alvarez has a rich, dark sound that I’ve come to adore), but not at all unpleasant. And through my FloorPOD, it sounds absolutely amazing.

In the looks department, Sybil is a knockout. The Australian Blackwood top with Light Vintage Burst finish is just gorgeous, and the somewhat understated chrome controls add a bit of elegance to it.

Since I purchased Sybil, Parkwood has pulled the plug on its hybrids. From what I understand, they were a limited run made exclusively for Guitar Center and they’re totally sold out. They should definitely make more. Parkwood got everything right in this guitar, and I couldn’t be happier with it. Looks as though Sybil may become a collector’s item.

But the hybrid market is getting more saturated. In addition to the Parkwood, I’ve already written the Taylor T5 and the Ovation VXT. I’ve also read about Michael Kelly’s Hybrid Special, which weighs in at about $599, but I’ve not personally tried one.

Epiphone has also gotten into the game with the Les Paul Ultra II, which looks like a regular Paul but has a chambered body to get the acoustic sound. It sells for anywhere from $599 to $699 and comes in a variety of very Les Paul finishes.

Finally, Ibanez has launched a hybrid, too: the Montage. Its price range is about the same as the Epi and the Kelly, but it has some nice features for the money, including a built-in tuner and XLR outputs. It also features onboard reverb, chorus, distortion, and other goodies, although I can’t in good conscience recommend using the effects built into any guitar. Just rubs me the wrong way.

So anyway, there you have it. I’m loving Sybil and I think she likes me, too.