good work if you can get it

As many of you probably know, I’ve been working a “regular job” – by “regular,” I mean regular relative to my previous ways of making a living – for the last 8 months or so. The job, for those of you late to the party, is Interim Worship Coordinator for Grace Bible Church here in my hometown. It’s a good job. At least I think it is. I haven’t had a job, well, ever. I mean, I had jobs as a kid.

Let’s talk about that. I haven’t had much time for blogging lately, and it’s mainly because of my inability to re-order my life around this new job.

But I’ve got a few minutes right now, and since the topic is “ross’ jobs and how they affect his life,” this is as good a time as any to list a few of the wonderful, bill-paying endeavors that I’ve enjoyed in my life. This is always fun.

So, here are a few jobs that I had in my high school and college years:

Sno-cone stand sales guy
Apartment maintenance
Video store worker (I made it all the way to manager at that gig, thank you very much. Then I got fired)
Food delivery driver
Camp Counselor
Flower delivery driver
Travel agency courier (This one wouldn’t make any sense in an age of paper-less airline tickets)
Cotton picker for the Texas Agricultural Extension Agency
Janitor and maintenance for USDA

I did some other stuff to make money throughout that decade or so, including raising hogs for the local livestock show, writing songs for some camps and other ministries, and working at the concession stand of the Snook Rodeo. But all of those things were sort of random, one-shot deals, so I left them off the list.

But since I graduated from college, I’ve never had a real job.

I remember the day I finished my last college class, I drove over to the USDA lab and told them I was quitting. I had no idea if I could make any money in music, but I figured it would be weird for a college graduate (especially one with a prestigious, multi-dimensional degree like Political Science) to be making $8 an hour buffing floors and scraping the gum off of brick walls with a razor blade.

This was when the economy was still pretty good. These days, there might be a fair number of college grads who’d be willing to do that sort of thing.

Anyway, now I’m working for people again. It’s been interesting. I’m learning a lot about communication. I’m learning a lot about myself. I’m learning that I, myself, am not always so good at communication.

I’m learning lots of other stuff too, and maybe there will be a reason and a time for saying all of that later.

But for now, know that I apologize to those of you who probably wonder where I’ve been lately. The answer is – and I never thought I’d hear myself make this excuse – I’ve been at church.

But just remember that the first word in my job title is “interim.” That means, I think, “until they get the person that they really want.” Or something. At any rate, I’ll be back to my old ways – house-performing, worship-leading-on-the-road, etc – fairly soon.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for my children’s record. The tentative title is "words that rhyme with orange." It’s coming along great. I need to figure out some way to post demos on here for those of you who are interested. Anyone have any idea about the best/easiest way to do that? I ain’t shy about showing off my art. Show me how and I’ll show you what.

Also, check out the cool updated version of my wife’s blog.

That’s all for now.

Coming up for air

Boy oh boy. What’s it been? Like, a month? Sorry. Busy, busy, busy. This particular entry won’t be long, but I did want to explain why I’ve been absent.

Here’s a brief synopsis of my last 4-6 weeks:Producing a couple of records, working alomst-full-time at GBC, doing more gigs than I’ve done in a long time, leading worship at Com Church, writing music for the children’s record, writing and producing a local jingle, writing some instrumental music to try and get some work in a new field, working on a new website (yeah, I’ve been doing that for about a year, but still) and of course raising 3 kids while maintaining my status as Hot Love Provider for my super-fine wife.

It’s my own fault, really. I just said yes to too much (Hot Love Provider is a non-negotiable, but some of the other stuff could probably have been put off or avoided altogether). But this is just temporary. I’ll have a bit of a break at the end of this month. Hopefully I’ll be back to blogging more soon. Until then, go find something more important to do. The internet is mostly a waste of time, anyway, and you know it.

Still taking that break

Too busy to blog. I know it's hard to imagine, but I swear it's true. However, my wife blogged here about our super-awesome vacation to Tahoe, so if you're really dying (and I know you are) for some scoop on the King family, go read about it.

More later...

Taking a break

Lots of stuff going on right now. I'll blog about it as soon as I can. Too busy to blog about it now. But I promise to have one of my best stories ever when I finally get a chance to write about this.

Staci and I are headed to Austin for the weekend, to be with her family, and then we're leaving on Monday for a trip to Lake Tahoe, to celebrate 10 years of marriage. Time flies when you're married to a foxy lady.

I've got a crazy, busy summer ahead. I'll report back soon.

When you're having writer's block...

... the best thing to do is to point out really great stuff that other people say about you, which distracts readers from the issue, which is that you don't blog much these days. The family was out all weekend, and I've been generally slammed for the last week, but I should be back in a day or two. Whilst you wait for more brilliance and humor, go read that thing that I linked to. It may be the only time I ever get any kind of pseudo-mainstream props, so forgive me if I'm a little geeked about it.

In short...

... the PA/MD tour was a success. I'm too busy playing with my sons and making out with my wife (not at the same time, and not necessarily in that order) to write about it now, but you can get some recaps, stories, videos, and various other perspectives here, here, and here.

Big thanks to Jill Lejcar, Rob and Cheryl Tyson, Lance Burch, and the nicest man in show business, Jason Fullen.

More later.

Prayers, please

I have a post about this weekend's shows that is about 90% finished, but I can't get to it just yet. I found out today that my older brother, Ken, is facing some pretty significant health problems (possibly of the life-threatening variety). Until I talk with him a little more, I'd rather not share more info than necessary, but suffice it to say that his wife and 3 boys want their husband/daddy to be healthy, and Ken is having a tough time dealing with a lot of confusing and overwhelming data. My folks are visiting them right now, to be with their oldest son in his difficult time. You can pray for them too. If there's anything tougher than suffering, it's watching your children -- no matter how "grown up" they are -- suffer. More info when/if I can share it. Until then, you can pray for these folks if you have the time.

I'll have the show recaps in day or two.

Rock Never Sleeps; Blogs Do, Though

First, sorry for the long absence. The last two weeks have been some of the busiest I’ve had in many months. Tons of traveling, tons of studio work (including the super-awesome Clairmont record), and even some sickness. I’m not complaining (well, maybe I am about the sickness). Daddy has to pay the bills and all. But blogging wasn’t first on my list.

The Sugar Land show was a hit. Big thanks to Billy Newhouse and Mark and Holly Jacobs, organizers/hosts of the concert.

This weekend I’ll be in Leakey (pronounced Lay-Key), TX for an Easter Retreat. But next weekend I’ve got the DFW tour. Most of the shows are already full, but there may be a few spots left, so let me know if you’re interested. If you can’t catch me this time, I’m going to try to do another Metroplex “leg” this summer.

That’s it for now. More soon. I’ve got final details on the PA/MD stops in April, and I’ll finalize some more San Antonio dates later this week. I never made it out to Arizona, Florida, or upstate New York, so my apologies to those of you in those areas who tried to work stuff out. This “Ross does his own booking and management” thing allows me to be super-cheap, but you get what you pay for. Anyway, hopefully I’ll make some of those as-yet-un-rocked locations this summer or early in the fall. Thanks for your patience everyone.

Apologies...

I'm swamped with studio work and "gig" traveling, so I haven't had time to put together my "winners" post. I have my decision, but I just need some time to write something ridiculously long and overly dramatic and self-important. I'll try to get to that tonight or tomorrow. I know all of you agree that this is almost as exciting and tense as the season finale of 24. I can't give away the ending just yet, but I can tell you that no one gets shot or blown to bits.

Developing...