Friends

good music, good cause.

Carolina HopeFest
Carolina HopeFest is scheduled for Saturday, August 30th at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. HopeFest is a music festival that benefits Beacon of Hope, an organization outside of Nairobi, Kenya providing assistance to women and children affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Performers this year include Colbie Caillat, Edwin McCain, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Thad Cockrell and David Spencer. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster, or at Bean Traders Coffee in Durham and Chapel Hill with no service charges. For more information, go to www.carolinahopefest.org . To volunteer, send an e-mail to Jenny Nicholson: jenny@emmausway.net.

day 17 of hair and beard growth until we leave for China to bring Henry home!
(to see the journey from the beginning, click on the “let’s hair it for henry” category link to the left.)

is anyone else curious about what that gigantic zit that’s brewing on my cheek will look like in 7 more days? i knew things would get ugly on this journey - i just didn’t realize the full extent….

i hope to have a substantial “henrypalooza” update next monday!

me and two friends, august 9.
got the tickets!
i’d have a hard time naming many bands that i’d rather see live right now.
IMHO, best lineup they’ve ever had.
what concerts have you/will you see this year?

wow….so many thoughts. my heart is full of different emotions. i will process our trip to haiti and make several blog posts in the days to come. we took in so much in just a few days. high highs and low lows.

haiti is beautiful. some of god’s most spectacular work in creation is displayed there. but life for the people of haiti is really hard. i’ve never seen poverty at this level first-hand before.

more to come, but for now, check out this picture of me jumping from the rocks at basin bleu. felt like it was 100 feet up. looks like it’s actually 25 or 30….

mwen remnen anpil ayiti!

c.c. and i are getting packed and ready to go to haiti tomorrow. meeting up at 4:30am, which is great for us…sarcasm alert…morning people.

this will be our first visit to our friends at the haitian children’s home. we’ve met danny, but are looking forward to meeting his lovely wife, leann, their daughter, riann, and the 22 kids who they’ve brought into their family.

we already love them just from stories, pictures and videos. but it will be awesome to finally meet them in person and play, sing, and dance with them. they really like to get down. i’ve been known to get jiggy-wid-it myself, in my own white man’s overbite sort of way.

(i just realized that’s two will smith videos on my blog in a matter of weeks. what’s wrong with me?)

anyway, my moms is here to take care of not only darby, but now our dog, utah, as he recovers from surgery. bonus!

i’ll be back online with some updates from the trip next week.

bonswa!

here’s the big announcement….

we have a son!

Henry Stephen FuLi Claybrook

henry is in china waiting for us to come pick him up and bring him home. c.c. and i are elated. darby is excited about having a brother. couldn’t have scripted a better life.

unfortunately, we can’t post pictures on the internet until the next stage of paperwork is completed, but if you get us in person and twist our arm….okay, if you get us in person and accidently mention anything that could possibly be misconstrued as a request to see a picture…..okay, if you even say anything that remotely rhymes with “picture”….

some of my friends are getting together to plan Henrypalooza - “A day of family fun with food, games and great music. This event will highlight the life-changing beauty of international adoption, providing information on how you can get involved and support the many adoptive families in our area. Proceeds from the event will go toward uniting a little boy from China named Henry, with his mom and dad right here in Raleigh.”

until we can post a picture of henry, here’s is a pic of darby and kylie - one of darby’s “china sisters” - sporting their “waiting for my brother in china” t-shirts.

more to come for sure.

for just about every song i’ve written, the process has been the same.
i usually write the entire song on either my acoustic guitar or piano.
by entire song, i mean: lyrics, melody, key, chord progression(s), tempo.
then i give some thought to the full band arrangement and record a demo - programmed drums, live bass, keys, etc…

for this song, i decided to change the process up a bit.
i took it to the band much earlier in the process.

my thinking was that the input of other musicians would naturally produce a different outcome for each individual part and therefore the whole arrangement of the song.
then, as a result, the melody and lyrics would end up different as well.

so, here’s what i had going in….

**one line of the lyric: “we’ve caught a glimpse of your kingdom and we want more”
**a tempo: 144 bpm
**the rhythm for that one line: where each syllable falls in time with the music.

that’s it.

here’s what i didn’t have:
**key
**melody for the one line
**chord progression

joe, dan and chris did a great job of just jamming for awhile until we came up with a “riff” that seemed to work for a musical hook at that tempo.
we chose the key of E just for starters.
we played with that riff for awhile.
to me it started sounding like a verse.
so, we then decided to try to come up with a chorus progression and feel that would drive a little harder.

at that point, i decided to try to come up with a melody for the one line of lyric.
turns out we were in a bad key.
we couldn’t pitch the melody in the right range to match the intensity of the lyric and the music.
so we found a new key - key of B.
found a workable melody for that line and just sang blah blah blah for the rest of the chorus.

we worked on transitions between the verse and chorus.
decided that we needed a two-line ramp up to the chorus.
chose a chord progression that felt like it set up the chorus well.

transition back from chorus to verse, we decided to use the riff again.

we all agreed that it was coming together. felt good.
but we needed a bridge.
dan and joe threw out the idea of holding on each chord longer for the bridge - to help the dynamics change.
great idea.
they batted a few ideas back and forth.
meanwhile, i stumbled on a counter melody line that changed twice for each chord underneath (if that makes sense).
chris picked up on it on electric guitar.
we ended up with a nice bridge that starts out “down” and builds nicely over three repeats, leading back to a big final chorus.

now, i just have to write the parts that actually make it a corporate worship song - the lyrics and the melody.
but i have much more of a direction for that now, having experienced how the song feels with a full band already.

it’s amazing what can happen in a week.

i can’t speak publicly yet about one of the most major happenings, but i have been in the clouds and back down to earth several times in the previous 7 days.

sunday, we experienced this.

and then two days later, this happened.

sadness. compassion. grief. moments of anger. confusion. my hope has taken a hit.

but, hope will win the day.

death is not the end.

in the end, we celebrate and feast with our Father.

13 years…

a year longer than my pre-college school years.
a year longer than today’s average 6th grader has been alive.

i feel old.
although, i was only 20 when we got married.
c.c. definitely robbed the cradle.
i had an illegal glass of champagne on our honeymoon night at this hotel.

our anniversary fell on memorial day this year, so i decided to make the previous friday an all day anniversary date. i got the idea from my friend, rick. he definitely out did me on his anniversary date last month, but i gave it a good college try.

first we got up and had a leisurely pancake breakfast. this has become a tradition in our house. darby already associates fridays with daddy’s pancakes.

then, we took darby to our good friend, ava’s house. darby loves playing with ms. ava and baby hayden. thanks ava!

i surprised c.c. with a couple’s massage. she had had a massage before, but this was my first ever. it was the fastest hour i remember in a long time. most definitely the best time i’ve ever had with another grown man rubbing on my body.

after the massage, we had a late lunch at cheesecake factory, one of c.c.’s favorite places to eat. we love the avocado egg rolls. c.c. got her usual, the madeira chicken. i decided to forego my usual, the spicy cashew chicken, and branched out to try the jambalaya pasta. it was good, but can’t touch the cashew chicken….

at lunch, i sprung the big surprise gift on c.c. i gave her a choice. we could either go to a movie……..OR…….pick out a new kitten!

c.c. had been waging a powerful and relentless kitty campaign for several weeks. i wasn’t budging. at least she didn’t think so. she even played dirty by bringing darby into the action. “darby, don’t you want a baby kitty?” shameless. i had decided pretty quickly that we were going to get the kitty, but i wanted to drag it out a little. i figured it would be a good anniversary gift.

after lunch, we picked darby up from ava’s and took her with us to go pick out a kitty.

it was a great day. i love spending time with my wife. she’s my best friend. we’ve definitely had some really rough spots, and i’d be lying if i said i wouldn’t do some things differently if i had the chance. but i can also say that my love for c.c. is deeper and richer than it ever has been. it’s like fine wine - better with age. i’m having a blast!!

lots of happenings to report on during my forced blogging hiatus.
help me prioritize by telling me which you want more detail on….

::darby reads to daddy
::13th wedding anniversary recap (subtitle: feeling old)
::new kitten who pooped in my pants
::latest song/band challenging my brain
::surprising song coming up this sunday in honor of father’s day
::back on the bike
::recent challenging reads
::mentoring fellow and upcoming worship leaders
::thoughts on the creative process (alternate title: win some, lose some)

sorry if you’ve been having trouble accessing the blog. i know many of you check it incessantly throughout the day. *smile* i have had the issues too. voxtropolis is working on it….

easter was good. good celebration at church. refreshing and different easter message by jBow. then the annual easter brunch at our friends’, the edmonds. we look forward to that every year.

but, i have to admit…

one of the most important things about easter for c.c. and i, now that we’re parents, is the easter dress. check out this cuteness!

when we were waiting to bring darby home, i remember dreaming about her and thinking how glad i was that c.c. would have a girl to shop for and dress up. like it would just be her thing. a couple of weeks ago while we were easter dress shopping, i was taken off guard by how into it i was. i had opinions about every dress. i had a blast holding dresses up to darby and standing behind her looking in the mirror.

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

okay, this is a lesson that i need to learn…..

i’m still having trouble eating because of getting my wisdom teeth out last week. tonight, i just couldn’t take it anymore.

so after much deliberation as to what would be the perfect food to begin easing my way back to my former carnivorous state, i decided to take darby to taco bell. (c.c. - not so much a fan of the taco bell - had a party so she didn’t get a say in the matter). i had decided that a bean burrito was what the doctor ordered.

so, i ordered three bean burritos, one for me, one for darby, and another one just in case it wasn’t as difficult to eat as i was expecting.

it was a PAINFULLY slow process. i have to focus my chewing on my front teeth, which means really small bites. i noticed that darby was downing her burrito faster than me! the girl can chow down, no doubt, but that just shows you how slow i was.

but after a few minutes i just decided to go with the flow, slow down and enjoy the meal with my girl. we danced in our seats to the music. of course we practiced our drumming on the table. this has become a dinner ritual. we laughed at the funny chili pepper on the wall with a cowboy hat. “seeeeee” (silly).

so here’s the lesson: i’m an overeater.

out of habit for sure, but also just out of plain hurry.

now, i don’t want to be overdramatic, but this is big to me. besides the physical health aspect, i see a couple of implications of my discovery tonight:

* in our ongoing effort to be better financial stewards, c.c. and i have learned time and again that when we botch up our budget, it’s almost always because of going overboard on food. specifically, dining out. and by “dining,” i’m including mcdonald’s.

* i’m also on a personal quest to do battle with my overconsumption in general. i think i just realized a subtle way that i go with the flow in that arena. i think the process of keeping my eating/spending in check will help me stay aware of all the ways i’m tempted to consume more than i need.

even as my swelling goes down and i get back to my former eating “chops”, i’m going to really give it a good college try. to discipline myself to eat less, thereby spending less, and to slow down and enjoy my food and the sacred ritual of sharing of a meal with my family and friends.

(and if you’re keeping score, the third burrito was shared between the two of us. i’m telling you, the GIRL CAN EAT!!)

(this one’s for you, s.s.)

this…

plus 0:57 sec….

equals this….

1:15 baby!

you?

these kinds of stories are why i’m excited to be a father of a girl!

thanks to everyone who came out tonight, braving the cold, and giving so much of your hard-earned cash to benefit the haitian children’s home. we raised $2,006. awesome!

the music was fun. how many times have you heard allison krauss, alicia keys, and led zeppelin in the same night, besides when your iPod is on shuffle? one of my favorite things in life is to play good music with a good band. steve, dan, chris, frank, kristi, heather, summer - you guys RAWK!

i heard that pheasant creek coffee had a record sales night, too, so that makes me happy.

my mind is spinning with ideas now for how to use music to raise support for another cause that’s near and dear to our family, international adoption. anyone reading this that wants to brainstorm with me (especially those of you that are smarter than me when it comes to administration and non-profit stuff), please let me know…..

…my friends, nick and gwenn are in haiti right now, right in the midst of the continuing rains from hurricane noel that went through there earlier this week. they’re safe, but please pray for the people of haiti. this is devastating to these already oppressed people in the western hemisphere’s poorest country. i’m so thankful for the people who lead the efforts at the haitian children’s home in jacmel. they’re truly bringing hope to some very special kids.

….my friend, don, is spending the next couple of days with his sister, kim, who will be finding out today if she is about to enter a battle with the same cancer that took the lives of her mother and grandmother.

…my friends, mario and vanessa, are dealing with being new parents, leading a brand new church plant, and recovering from (and paying for) a recent kitchen fire all at the same time!

i’m excited about playing a coffeehouse gig in november with several of my friends from crosspointe. kristi daugherty is the mastermind. the gig will benefit the haitian children’s home in jacmel.

we’re doing about 25 songs - all covers. very eclectic mix of songs, from alisson krauss to led zeppelin and a bit of everything in between…

“gimme one reason” - tracy chapman
“shame on you” - indigo girls
“come to jesus” - mindy smith
“piece of my heart” - faith hill
“don’t dream it’s over” - sixpence none the richer
“dare you to move” - switchfoot
“dreams” - cranberries
“a little more you” - little big town
“immigrant song” - led zeppelin
“killing me softly” - fugees
“lucky one” - alisson krauss
“kind and generous” - natalie merchant
“leave the pieces” - the wreckers
“the ocean” - led zeppelin
“say won’t you say” - jennifer knapp
“put your records on” - corrine bailey rae
“solace” - plumb
“summertime” - the sundays
“unwritten” - natasha bedingfield
“where the streets have no name” - u2
“waiting on the world to change” - john mayer
“if i ain’t got you” - alicia keys
“breathe (2am)” - anna nalick
“clocks” - coldplay
“black horse and a cherry tree” - k.t. tunstall

the show is scheduled for 7:00 to 10:00pm, november 10th, at pheasant creek coffee & tea in apex.

come on out for good music for a great cause!

crosspointe church is in our first year of a 3 year financial and spiritual journey called DRIVE. among other initiatives, we are partnering with the haitian children’s home in jacmel. we are providing monthly support for the 20 kids that live there.

this week, our lead pastor, jonathan, and associate pastor, steve and his wife kristi, are visiting the home. they are building relationships, and dreaming about more specific ways for crosspointe to partner with them.

a very cool story….the guys ended up having to stay at a nearby hotel instead of at the home as they had originally planned. they worked it out with the staff at the hotel to close down the pool for a morning and allow the 20 kids from the orphanage to experience their first EVER pool party. such a small thing that we take for granted here, but an amazing gift and joy for the kids. you can see some pictures here.

again, i love our church.

i had the opportunity yesterday to take a worship band from crosspointe to a sister church across town to lead worship. true north church was planted in march by a good friend of mine and former associate here at crosspointe, jon mcclarnon. i love keeping up with true north and with jon’s thoughts as he rides out this adventure by regularly checking in at his blog.

it was a great morning. we started at 8am unloading sound, video and lighting equipment from the truck. we set up the stage, which the theater has graciously allowed them to store under the movie screen. jason, mike, john, and stuart were there to lead the tech side of things. it took me back to my two years of church-in-a-box before crosspointe moved into our current facility (although there were 6 years of it all together). ahhhhh….the good ol’ days!

anyway, even though it’s a new church and i was a guest worship leader, leading with jon was comfortably familiar. we worked together for five years.

the band did great. i was glad to be able to bring a crew from crosspointe with me.

setlist:
Opener - “Theme from ‘The Greatest American Hero’”
“Not To Us” Chris Tomlin (Not To Us)
“All Because Of Jesus” Steve Fee (Burn For You)
“Jesus Paid It All” Kristian Stanfill (Passion ‘06 - Everything Glorious)
“You Never Let Go” Matt Redman (Passion ‘06 - Everything Glorious)

jon was wrapping up a series called “heroes,” in which they’ve been taking a look at the life of joseph from genesis. yesterday’s message was “real heroes refuse to get even.” good stuff.

happy Father’s Day!

today, in honor of dads, we grilled hotdogs for everyone. nothing like a bit of man food early on a sunday morning!

chris led worship. he always does such a great job! so glad to have him on the team…

setlist:
“You Are Good” Lincoln Brewster (All To You…Live)
“Love The Lord” Lincoln Brewster (All To You…Live)
“Not To Us” Chris Tomlin (Not To Us)
“Mighty To Save” Hillsong (Mighty To Save)
“Enough” Chris Tomlin (Not To Us)

i took a band from crosspointe to lead at a sister church plant across town called True North Church. the lead pastor, jon mcclarnon, is a good friend of mine and former associate at crosspointe. more on that a little later….

just got back tonight from a week of helping to lead worship for a youth conference on the campus of liberty university in lynchburg, virginia.

i played keys in the house band supporting several gifted worship leaders - nathan, chris and kevin.

the band was formed last summer for the same event. a great group of guys. dale baker on drums, jamie mcfarlane on bass, george bonner on electric guitar, and new this year, david dollar on electric guitar.

it was a fun week with lots of music, lots of laughter, lots of bad camp food and late night hangs at ruby tuesdays or buffalo wild wings.

musical highlight: “jesus paid it all” led by nathan at one of the late night ministry times. incredibly high energy and heartfelt passion being poured out. it’s incredible when everything comes together, on stage and off, the whole room pouring hearts out to god.

best fictitional metal band name: “ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage…….TestosterTone!” (coined by dale on the ride home)

best inside joke: falwell university!

c.c. and i had a long overdue date night last night. i would write more about it here, but she does such a good job on her blog, i thought i’d just link to her post.

got a rehearsal today for a gig coming up in a few weeks. once again this year supporting nathan fancher, leading worship for WarCry, the annual GCI youth conference. pretty much the same band as last year plus another guitar player. i’m excited to play music and hang out with nate, dale, jamie, george and david again.

another exciting thing, i bought a new keyboard for crosspointe which i’ll be able to take on the gig with me. it’s a nord electro2. great for just about any vintage keyboard you could want. hammond b-3, wurlitzer, fender rhodes, yamaha cp80, suitcase piano, clavinet. sweet.

my wife and daughter and i are in chicago this week enjoying some needed r&r. we got an incredibly low fare through southwest’s “ding!” program ($25 each way), so we jumped on the opportunity to show darby our former stomping grounds and introduce her to some chicago friends.

this past saturday night we decided to attend the weekend service at our former church, Willow Creek Community Church, where both c.c. and i served on staff. one thing you learn about willow is that change is. i know that looks like a sentence fragment, but that’s what i meant. change is. i could also add some adjectives. change is constant, and change is quick. since we left there at the end of 2001, there have been numerous changes, 3 new pastors in senior leadership, several reorganizations, etc.

with almost 6 years worth of changes, i didn’t quite know what to expect walking into the service tonight. i thought i’d post a few thoughts and observations from our experience.

* servanthood - we remembered that they had built parent rooms into the design of the new auditorium, but couldn’t remember where they were. as we entered the auditorium we asked one of the ushers who was handing out programs. instead of just telling us where it was, he immediately took us there. this kind of service has been a part of the willow d.n.a. for years.

* steve myers rocks - i was glad to see my old buddy steve on the drums. he was a fellow music director of mine. through all the changes in the programming department there, steve has held down the fort.

* simpler format - i’m sure this changes from week to week, but at least this weekend the format was very simple - opening song (performed), welcome by lead pastor, gene appel, 2 participational songs, offering/announcements (lots of them), message by mike breaux, performed song, closing prayer

* compassion/justice emphasis - from the announcements, to several promo videos, to the message itself, it’s apparent that the leadership of willow is casting the vision for the church to reach out to the community and the world. quoting mike breaux, willow’s strategy will be “go and be” instead of “come and see”.

after the service, we sought out steve to say hi and also ran into several other former fellow staffers. it was fun to introduce darby to them and to catch up for a little bit. it was also nice to realize that aside from the people, there aren’t many things about willow that i still miss. i’m glad that God moved me on, and as i said in a recent post, i’m really excited about crosspointe and the team i’m a part of.

I went to an open mic tonight in support of my friend, Brian. He’s just finished his first year of college and is home for the summer as of this week. Brian led the high school worship band as a junior and senior in high school at the church where I serve as worship pastor. I’ve tried to be encouraging and supportive of him, although I always wished I had more time to spend with him and build into him when he was here.

Anyway, turns out there were a couple of other young guys on the bill tonight that are in some way connected with Crosspointe - they play in cover bands with some of the musicians in our junior high band. So I decided to stay awhile and catch some of their sets, too.

Here are some of my observations and thoughts from tonight.

1. I remembered what it was like to be that age and discovering the joy of music. These guys just love to play - discovering old songs, writing new songs, whatever. An open mic night with no one there except family and a few friends, but that’s cool. They just love to play! I want to have that kind of fun with music again….

2. 60’s and 70’s seems to be the musical era of choice for junior high students. Tonight I heard songs from The Beatles, George Harrison, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and more. Is this phenomenon common to the whole country? Not surprisingly, the original songs that the guys played tonight sounded as if they were definitely influenced by these artists as well. Very interesting.

3. I realized that I’m growing up. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy listening to live music whenever, wherever. But at the end of the day, I was not there tonight for me, but instead I was there to support the younguns. At 32, I’m starting to recognize the need to build into the musicians of tomorrow. (Wow I sound old.) And I’m not just doing it out of obligation, but I actually enjoy it. I think of John Ferguson, my friend who was most responsible for putting me on the track to where I am today as a musician and worship leader. I see now that it was no accident that he built into me, but that he was intentional about it. And I’m very grateful. And I’m happy that it’s my turn to do the same.

I love God. I love music. I love musicians. I’m glad God created music.

wouldn’t you believe i forgot to take a camera with me. i’m hoping to get some pictures from the other guys. meanwhile, here’s a picture of me on stage with nate and the guys at war cry at liberty university in lynchburg, va.  this is from a series of great shots taken by kendrick.  here you can see the whole set.

I had a great time. The trip was extremely fulfilling for me as a musician. Nathan, Dale, Jamie and George are all very talented guys. It was an honor to play music with them. I hope that we get more opportunities to play together soon. Besides the music we had lots of laughs, some great conversations, and some good down time as well. Plenty of time spent at St. Arbucks as I heard it called.

People are good. Music is good. God is good.

I leave on June 6 for 10 days to play several dates with Nate Fancher and band. We’ll be playing in KY at Asbury Seminary and in VA at Liberty University for a youth rally event called “War Cry”.

We’ve had a couple of rehearsals with the band, mostly hashing out arrangements for Nate’s newest original stuff. I’m really enjoying the direction of the music. Quite Sting-like - with some disco-ish, pseudo-reggae beats from Dale and Jamie, who make up the rhythm section. Modern guitar tones and effects from George, the wonderkid. I’m playing keys - mostly ethereal pads and vintage wurly and hammond - but so far I’ve been able to add in some weirdness, like marimba and some analog synth leads. Pretty eclectic so far, really.

I love creating good music with good people!

here’s a question that’s on my mind tonight. i’d love to hear your thoughts on why you choose the way you do.

which is better?

(1.) a friend who always cheers you on, sometimes to the point of either ignoring or minimizing your limitations, or
(2.) a friend who offers encouragement, but tempers it with a “realistic” assesment of your limitations.

just got off the phone with my good friend, paul. besides being a great hang - he’s one of the funniest people i know - paul is a very genuine person. paul is a fellow musician. we used to serve on staff together in the music department at our former church. even though we now live in different states, we still keep in regular contact. he is one of my biggest supporters. paul has the gift of encouragement. i hope that i provide half the encouragement to him as i receive.

we all need people who believe in us. people who have confidence that we can acheive our dreams. confidence in us and sometimes confidence for us. the world is full of naysayers, am i right? i’m painfully aware of my own shortcomings and the apparent limits of my talent and giftedness. a lot of times, paul doesn’t seem to be aware of those limits in me. sometimes after taking a beating with paul’s encouragement club, i hang up the phone actually believing that i can acheive more. because i know, love and respect paul, i tend to respect what he says about me.

what do you think?