And people actually came to see me.

I did a show for Woodcreek Church in Richardson last Wednesday. It was a blast!

It wasn't even in a house. It was in a big church building. There was a cover charge! I'm serious. They charged people $5. About 200 very kind, very optimistic folks paid money and sat thru about 80 minutes of my songs and -- of course -- my ranting/preaching/joking.

The band was amazing. I mean it was top-notch. Michael Steele was on drums, as usual. Josh Taylor of Clairmont and Com Church was on electric. The legendary Brady Redwine made his "comeback" on various keyboards and organs. And JP Mendez, bass player to the stars, laid down the low end. It was nice.


Also, these girls opened up. Usually, anyone who gets stuck opening up for me is pretty terrible. I mean, I'm like, nobody, so if you open up for me, well, just make sure you know how to whip up a tall non-fat something-or-other, because the prospects for fame ain't great on the Ross King World Tour Opening Act Stage. I owe it to you to tell you this. You'll thank me later. I mean, literally, you'll thank me. You'll be like "thanks for coming to Starbuck's."

Here's a pic of said talented females:


Anyway these girls (can I say "girls"?) were fantastic. I'm serious. I told them after it was over that they were like Colbie Caillat meets Natalie Merchant and they get saved and start an acoustic duo. It was that good. You should all go to their myspace and send them messages telling them to let me produce their next record.

So in summary, the show kicked booty. Great crowd. They laughed at my jokes (which only made me tell more jokes, cuz I get all drunk on the power and approval). They clapped after my songs (and occasionally -- gasp! -- during them). Nobody threw anything. Only a few people left in the middle of the show (and of course I mocked them). I'm telling you, it was enough to make a man want to hit the road again.

Well, maybe not...



All pics were taken by Jon Lilley, a cool dude on the staff of Woodcreek Church. Except the ones of my baby. He should be so lucky.

I used to have a blog where I, like, posted and stuff

Sorry for the long absence. Hopefully I'll feel chatty this week. I've got some pseudo-interesting things to tell you about, but I'm a moody fellow, as many of you know, so we'll see.

In the meantime, here are some pics from my concert at Royer's Round Top Cafe last month.

That's me rockin' the acoustical guitar. Duh.

That's Michael holding down the 2 and 4; maybe a few smooth ghost notes; perhaps a li'l syncopationary goodness.

Tasty desserts were served. From the photo, it would appear that we were mad at the pie. We weren't.

I like this photo because it looks like I'm reaching for booze.

This is Matt Chauvin, a friend from college and easily one of the kindest, most genuinely joyful persons I've ever known. If more pastors were like Matt, the church of America would be as beloved as Barack Obama, or at least as popular as that idiot who does all the impersonations on the Dish Network commercials. Matt helped host/organize the show.

This is most of the Royer's clan, plus me, Staci, Michael, and a few friends.

Yous really oughts to goes to these upcoming shows

Here are a few shows in the coming weeks. As always, some of these shows might be closed/full, so just let me know if you want more details on any of this.

May 14 -- Elkhart, TX
May 17 -- San Antonio, TX
May 18 -- San Antonio, TX
May 30 -- Houston, TX

Also, here's a pic that was sent to me by my pal Jason Fullen. This was our last night in Reisterstown, MD. You can't hear it, but we're really rockin' hard. Just outside of the shot, people are weeping and freakin' out and stuff.

DFW is DBR

My friend (and long-time drummer/background singer) Andy Crawley used to point out places where he'd played drums before and call them DBR's. It stands for "Done Been Rocked." We'd just be driving down the highway and we'd pass some church building or other venue, and he'd be like "that there's a DBR." Only Andy could pull that off and not sound like a total idiot.

What does that mean for me? Oh well, it's not like I've never sounded (looked, smelled, etc) like an idiot before...

Had 4 great concerts this past weekend. Here are the basics:

Thursday in Fort Worth was great. Our old pal David “Pez” Lobban sat in with me on percussion, and he did a fantastic job. We hadn’t played together in a few years (we’re getting old, Pez), and he’d only heard most of the songs for the first time that day, but he nailed it. Pez has always been a real pro and a joy to work with, and this was no exception. There were maybe 25 people at the show, including some Aggies. Good conversations afterward. Big thanks to Aaron Finch for organizing.

Pics:

Friday night was great too. Brady Redwine, The Man Who Can Play Anything, came out to join me on the dobro. Robert Conn organized the event, and I invited him to sit in on djembe for a few tunes as well. Both of them did great. Robert was nervous, I think, but he laid down the groove like a pro. It’s crazy how gracious God is to me. If I told you how much I usually “rehearse” with the various people that play with me, you’d be ashamed to be my friend. I hate practice. I just have such a low-maintenance, hippie-organic (read: lazy) approach to performance, it’s really a miracle that it always comes together the way it does. I guess it helps that I usually work with professionals and geniuses and such.

There were probably 25-30 people at the show, and nobody booed me or yelled obscenities during the slow songs.

Pics:

Also, at the suggestion of pretty much everybody, we had dinner that night at Babe’s Chicken House (thanks to the Conns for picking up the tab). People kept telling me how good this place was, but I was (of course) skeptical. Well, consider me a believer. This Babe, whoever he or she is, can whip up a mean meal. Babe is to cooking what ninjas are to face-kicking. I consumed that food vigorously and entirely. Allow me to elaborate:

If I could’ve been guaranteed a shower after the meal, I’d have taken off my shirt and rubbed the cream corn on my chest in hopes that it would just sink into me like a corn-osmosis. I would've worn the chicken fried steak like a hat; an ugly but edible hat that would warm me when I'm cold and fill me when I'm hungry.

I would've drank the gravy like milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl. I would’ve had a gravy mustache and maybe the Babe’s marketing staff could’ve taken a photo of me to use on a billboard that said “Got gravy?” But there wasn’t time. I had to play a concert. So sorry, Babe’s, this little plug will have to suffice until we can nail down that billboard idea.

I liked the food there at that Babe's place. That's what I'm trying to convey here.

One more thing: Robert and Shelly Conn are some of the coolest people on the planet. Staci and I really enjoyed talking with them and sharing some life. Their son Levi worries me, and that Bobby Cates fellow is questionable, but the Conns are officially “in.” If you don’t know what “in” means, you aren’t. But fret not. I take bribes, flattery, and chicken fried steak as non-refundable “in” club deposits.

Saturday night was another winner. My in-laws Nicky and Vickie Otts were the gracious hosts. They had about as many people as they could fit in their living room: maybe 30. Brady came out again and sat in on the dobro. Man, that kid is a ridiculously good musician. I had to play louder a few times because people were starting to listen to him more than me, and Ross King will not be upstaged by any man, woman, child or beast.

No pics from that night, which is actually kind of a miracle, since I’m pretty sure my mother-in-law has pictures from every single event that has ever occurred ever. If scrapbooks ever become currency, Donald Trump will be her pool boy.

I’d like to believe that she was so enthralled by her son-in-law’s brilliance and wit that she found herself hypnotized and unable to move. Or that she felt that this was the most beautiful thing she’d ever experienced and that a photo would only cheapen it’s life-enriching vivacity.

Or maybe she just knows that I’m always a pain in the tail when she tries to take my picture, so she let me have a night off to enjoy myself.

Whatever. It was a fun night. Big thanks to my in-laws for believing in me and inviting their friends to do the same. It’s hard to express (and I’m actually talking serious talk here) how thankful I am to have married into such an amazing, generous, and loving family. I went and married their first-born daughter who is now the wife of a guy who plays concerts in living rooms. Not exactly every parent’s dream. But they have been nothing but gracious and welcoming to me these many years. Big thanks!

Sunday morning I was tired as can be, but I had one more concert to do. I drove out to Mesquite to play at a satellite campus of Lakepointe Church in Rockwall. This could’ve been a really great story, since the Mesquite campus uses a “via satellite” video feed for their sermon. But I decided not to play “Happy.” I asked Ky Martin, who invited/hosted me, if I should play it and he said, "if you do, I'd play it last." I thought that was funny. He was trying to give me freedom, but he was warning me that everyone would probably leave if I took it.

I played for a small-ish singles class and, I don’t know, once I got in there and started hanging out with the folks, I just felt like my limited time there would be better spent encouraging them. instead of subtly implying that their church is an evil empire that God will soon destroy with a meteor (I've been told that "Happy" conjures these kinds of happy thoughts, though I assure you that's not an inference that I endorse). Maybe I’m becoming a softy in my old age. Either way, it was a fun and soul-connecting concert. I really enjoyed the people, and they were kind and welcoming to me. Thanks to Ky Martin for the invite and the chance to share with your people.

All in all, a great weekend. I “sold” around 120-150 CD’s (I haven’t counted them yet), I made some decent money, and the feedback was great. Thanks again to all the hosts, organizers, etc.

Next house concerts will be in a couple weeks, when I return to PA/MD for a short tour with Michael and Ben.

Thanks to all of you who have emailed me and my family concerning my brother. I'll post updates here periodically.

Waco, Consider Yourself Officially and Thoroughly Rocked. Hard.

Man, what a great show last night. Big thanks to my good friends Brett and Emily Mills, who hosted. In addition to providing coffee and cookies and opening their home, Brett sat in with me and Michael Steele on 4 songs. Brett and Emily are great musicians, and Brett threw down a little upright piano on “Light of the World,” “Non-Religious Me,” and “Clear the Stage,” and accordion on “Why Me Lord.” It was way cool. Brett doesn't know this, but he is now, officially my new accordion/piano player. Hope he works cheap.

And his wife, who didn't know that I was listening, was singing pitch-perfect harmonies. At some point in the night, Michael leaned over to me and said, "maybe she should sing from now on, and you can just play guitar." He's so hilarious. He definitely works cheap.

So everything was excellent, and it was one of those nights when it just seemed like everybody was really tracking with the songs and the stories and such. One thing I’m continuing to learn is that the hosts are really the most important factor in making the concerts really great. Brett and Emily really did an amazing job. They had this great combination of hospitality, flexibilty, and a kind of "this is our party and we know what to do" authority.

I’m trying to organize my thoughts on all that, because I think it might be helpful for me to have a “here’s how to host a house show” guide kind of thing; something that you could click on when you came to the blog or to my website that would really make it easy for potential hosts to know what they’re getting into. I’ll think on that…

I’ll have the DFW stuff this week, I promise. I’ve had trouble putting this one together, for some reason. Oh, wait, I know the reason: I’m a goofy, disorganized mess of a man. Anyway, it’s looking like I’m going to be in DFW around Feb 15-17, and then maybe again in late March or early April. That’s all the important stuff for the day. Here's another pic from the concert.

3 Shows and a Month's Rent

As usual, I'm way behind, so I'll get right to the recapping, and spare you any jokes. Two weekends ago I had the big show at the Palace. You know, the one I talked about here. Well, it went amazing. There were about 300-350 people there, which surprised me about as much as anybody. On Saturday, I had a great house show in Houston with some of my old college friends, and on Sunday morning I had a gig at First Baptist in Bryan. The short version is this: I didn't charge a single solitary dollar for any of the performances or any of the CD's, and somehow, after paying several musicians, and a few other expenses, I came away with enough money to pay just about all my bills for the whole month.

I know things like "calling" shouldn't be muddied up with monetary concerns, but it is cool to see that God is allowing me to pay the bills doing this. I mean, when I do worship gigs, I have contracts that guarantee that I'll make a certain amount of money. And at those gigs, I almost always charge $10-12 each for my CD's. And I hardly ever make as much money at those gigs as I did in that weekend. I don't know. It's just really encouraging.

So here are some pics from the really fun show at the palace. These were taken by Lynsey Kramer who, as you can see, is an amazing photographer. Check out her pic blog and let her know that she rules.

That last pic features Brady Redwine (on dobro) and Wesley Lunsford (background vocals), two of the super-talented dudes that helped me out that night. Craig Weaver (percussion) and Josh Smith (violin, keys) were also there, making everything beautiful. Staci sat in on a couple of tunes as well, and of course that was awesome as always. How cool is it that I have a hot wife who sings with me sometimes?

Oh, and we recorded it. I've listened to it already, and I've got at least 5-6 tracks that I'm really digging from the evening, including some older stuff. So I think I finally know what to do with those extra tracks that I recorded for the record. Some of you may remember me mentioning that a while ago. If not, the skinny is that I recorded 5 songs (some demos, some full productions) that I didn't end up using for the new project. I really like all the songs, but I just didn't think they fit the project, so I shelved them. Now that I have these live tracks, I'm pretty sure I'm going to take the holidays to tweak all of it and hopefully release some kind of odds-and-ends thing sometime in the spring. In other words, it will be a CD of 10-12 songs, about half of them brand new, and the others live versions of songs from 2-3 different CD's. Since it's kind of random, I'll make it really cheap.

I don't have pics from the other two shows, but they were both really great. Thanks to Aaron and Heather Hendrick, for helping to host/promote the show at the Palace; to Tray Mounce, Kyle Fox, and several other dudes I hung out with in college, for hosting the Saturday show in Cypress; and to Toney Upton, college pastor at FBC Bryan, for giving me a whole hour on a Sunday morning.

I'm basically done with house shows until the new year, so most of my upcoming blogs will be, shall we say, not very business-like. I've had some requests for a few stories from my weird and random past. So be looking for that within the next few days.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

You think you're a rock star, S.A.?

Get it? That's not racist is it? I mean, it's dumb and not-funny, but I think it's probably harmless.

Whatever. Either way, here's the recap of last weekend in San Antonio. It was a great time.

Friday I did a house concert in the Spring Branch area, which is right off 281, between San Antonio and New Braunfels. Kelly and Tiffany Tremont were the hosts, and the leadership of Riverside Community Church put it all together. They had the show in the Tremonts' really cool, really massive backyard. The weather was surprisingly fantastic.

Keith Sewell, my good friend and the co-owner of The MixLab, came along and played percussion. He also sang harmony of several of the songs and basically conquered the world with sonic beauty. It was a really great show. We played for about 90 minutes for about 50 people, and got a great response. Really felt like God was doing some God stuff.

Sold enough CD's to pay Keith a little and still make some money.

Keith had to leave for a vacation with his wife (which is almost as cool as playing house shows for very little money), so I went and stayed with Darrell Smith and his family. Darrell is a good friend, a sometimes-client at the studio, and also a really great musician and songwriter. He helped me set up the whole weekend and his wife was kind enough to let me interrupt their lives for 48 hours or so.

During the day on Saturday, I rode along with Darrell and his drummer/pal AJ Navarro to a day-time gig they had at T Bar M in New Braunfels. It was fun. We led worship, and I just played second acoustic and sang some harmony. I had to read charts and everything. I never get to do that kind of thing. It was good for me. Darrell did a great job leading, and that was cool to see as well.

That night I did another house show, this time at the home of Keith and Dinah Shelly. Dinah is Darrell's sister, and they have a really cool house. It was another backyard deal. AJ agreed to sit in with me and, despite the fact that we didn't practice at all, he nailed it about 99% of the time.

The crowd was a little smaller at this show. Maybe 40 people. Still big for a house concert, though. Darrell took some pictures with his fancy new iPhone. They're not really very good, but I wanted to put them here anyway, to show that iPhones, though nifty, are crap cameras. Those Apple people think they're such hot snot, you know?

Again, great show. Props to Darrell for taking pictures that would probably be awesome if his phone wasn't trying to pretend like a real camera.

The next morning I went back out to Spring Branch and played the morning service at Riverside Community Church. My friend Scott Heare is the pastor there, and it was really great to be with him and the people of Riverside.

OK, here's where I do a little brutal honesty. You expect that from me, right?

First, let me give away the punchline: I sincerely enjoyed my time at the Sunday gathering of Riverside Community Church.

So what? Big deal.

Well, here's the brutal part. I hardly ever feel that way when I work with other churches besides my own. It's not like I always hate everything about every single church besides Community Church. It's not that extreme. It's just that I usually sit thru church services and think something like "I got paroled from this kind of white-collar jail a while ago, and I don't want to go back." Hey, I know how that sounds. I tried to think of a better metaphor -- something not quite as harsh -- but I came up blank.

Am I saying that being involved in another church besides my own would be comparable to being in jail? Of course not. I know a guy who is in prison right now, and it would be terribly insulting and insensitive to make that kind of serious comparison.

I just mean that, at my church, I feel really, really free. I feel like I can really be myself. I feel like people are really relaxed and alive. I feel like the Spirit of God is absolutely welcome and wanted. I feel like real relationships are prioritized over policies and schedules.

And at most churches, that's not how I feel. Again, I'm not saying those places are dungeons of nasty wickedness or whatever. I'm just saying that other places feel, quite often, like something far less than CHURCH to me.

And I'm saying that Riverside's Sunday gathering felt more like real CHURCH than lots of the Sunday gatherings where I am graciously allowed to lead and play.

So, if I've been to your church lately, don't get all huffy and defensive. I don't claim to be an authority on all-things-church-related. I'm just a guy with opinions. More than anything, I'm trying to tell you that Riverside is a cool church.

And maybe I'm also trying to make you (and me, all of us) think about what kind of environments we are creating and maintaining and protecting in our faith communities; what sorts of "greenhouses for the soul" we are building among our people and in our various gatherings.

That's all.

I'm open to any/all discussion on this. Anybody think I'm being unfair? Anybody think I have wrong desires/expectations for church? Hey, let's talk.

So Riverside was fun. Scott gave a really great teaching. The people worshiped like crazy. The church paid me real money. The people bought crazy amounts of CD's.

And I got home in time to worship with Community Church on Sunday night.

Great weekend.

I have one more house show to recap. The ubiquitous Hendrick family hosted me for a show this past Tuesday, and I need to write about how cool it was. Soon.

Also, I'll announce the winner of the marquee contest early next week.

More stories of places that i rocked real hard

OK, so I just got back from San Antonio today after a weekend of concerts, and I figured I needed to give the quick recap of all the shows I’ve done since I got back from PA. Except for the San Antonio ones. Gee whiz, I’m so behind.

I’m not sure how much anybody cares about these recaps, but they help me to process what all goes on at the shows, and they also help me to sort of document the “journey” of learning how to relate to a crowded living room full of people, with a guitar and a few tunes.

So that’s why I do this, in case anybody cares.

The first gig I had after PA/MD wasn’t really part of the house show tour thing, but it was fun, so I’ll mention it briefly. Ben Love (bass, vocals) and Michael Steele (drums) went with me to Jackson, MS to do a college conference. Voddie was there as well, which made it fun and anything-but-boring. Here’s a little secret that they don’t want you to know. Sometimes when you’re asked to lead worship at an event, they bring someone in to teach/preach who you don’t know at all, so it’s really weird trying to find some kind of unity with them.

Or, equally frustrating, you just have a really hard time enjoying (and/or agreeing with) what the speaker/preacher is teaching, and so you have to figure out how to adjust your worship and music to fit into something that you’re pretty sure isn’t going to work.

Of course, a good chunk of the time, you’re given the opportunity to work with someone who teaches/preaches really, really well. Sometimes you even come across someone who comes to really shepherd/pastor the people, and then things are fun and exciting and purposeful. That’s how it is with Voddie. Gigs with him are always a little more purposed and fulfilling.

Anyway, the weekend was great. Sold tons of CD’s, which is always fun. It was the first time in a while that I’d actually had official prices listed on the table. At the house shows, I have these buckets that I leave out next to the CD’s, and I never know what’s going to be in them when the whole deal is over. It’s like a tiny, sad, little lottery. But this was different. People actually paid for stuff.

Again, it was nice to lead worship after all the concerts I’d been doing.

Also, I tried out something new. I haven’t really been writing much worship stuff since Soulspeak, but I’d been working, off and on, with the hymn “Just as I Am,” adding something to it. I’m not a huge fan of all the “let’s add a chorus to this old hymn” movement that is going on. Sometimes I think it just implies that the hymn wasn’t good enough on its own. Other times I have a hard time believing that the new thing makes the hymn any better. The really, really cynical part of me sometimes believes that people do it as an easy way to get a writing/publishing credit, and the subsequent check that comes with it.

Hey, I said it was cynical.

The point is that, with all that ridiculous baggage, I have been working with a chorus-like thing that I’d been singing around the house, to go with “Just as I am.” I showed it to Ben and Michael, and they really liked it, so we did it. I think it went well. I’ve been bouncing around the idea of a hymns/traditional songs record for a while, and maybe this new tune will give me some inspiration to flesh that out.

So it was great weekend. Michael and Ben did great. They play with me at church a good bit, and we’re really starting to gel as a band. Plus they’re great guys who seem to understand my sense of humor. And that can sometimes be a bit of a hurdle.

The next week I had two house shows, and I invited Craig Weaver to join me for them. He played on the record, and he played with me back when concerts were a normal part of my ministry, so I thought it would be cool to use him now and again on the house shows. I figured Michael needed a break anyway, so it worked out ok.

The first show was on Tuesday Oct 2. This was a weird deal because, not only was it in my hometown of Bryan, TX, but it was actually in the house that I grew up in. My parents still own the place, and they rent it out to college students, young singles, etc. I had tons of almost-but-not-quite-good jokes that I wanted to tell about stuff like “you can never go home again” or “prophets in their home towns,” junk like that. See, I told you, there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it. Ideas?

Oh well, despite all the weirdness, it was an incredible show. Michelle Omo and her roommates hosted. They were really great. There were maybe 20-25 people there. I’m terrible at counting these things. But it seemed to be one of the most engaged and genuinely focused audiences I’ve had on the tour. I was a little worried, because the crowd was a little too big for “unplugged, “ and most of our “plugged-in” house shows, up to that point, hadn’t gone as well as I would’ve hoped. Something about amplifying yourself when people are sitting 5 feet from you. I don’t know.

But it went off just about perfect. I forgot some words at the end of “keeper of the way,” but nobody knew until I said something about it after the song. Then Craig forgot the ending of “Why Me Lord.” I don’t think anybody would’ve noticed that either, except for the fact that I totally mocked him in front of everyone. Craig’s messed up like 5 times in the last 15 years of playing, so I had to run with it. Since he’s only messed up 5 times in 15 years, he’s pretty confident. I don’t think I injured him too badly.

So big thanks to Michelle and the girls on Helena Street. They’re keeping my old room clean, which is nice. But they did take down my poster of Magnum P.I. which was, I think, a foolish choice. Nothing classes up a joint like Thomas Magnum’s smiling, mustachioed mug.

Check out pics. They even made a cake. At first, I thought they messed up the tour name, but then I got the joke.

This last pic is me with the girls from the house. Also, as you can see, Staci and the boys came. This was their first time to be at a house show. Jude did great. He yelled out every few minutes, he laughed most of the time, and he only crawled across the room to get me once. Sam sat front and center and kept his eyes glued on Craig. What would you expect him to do?

The second show was in Houston, at the home of Billy and Stephenie Newhouse, long time friends and former Com Church members. Man, it was great to be with them. There were tons of familiar faces, including Ryan Riley, Travis Cardwell, Nicole Starch, Justin Johnston, and some of my old pals from Billy’s time as a Student Venture leader. It was a pretty packed house; maybe 20-25 people (yeah, that’s practically “sold out” in the Ross King World Tour business). Again, I’m horrible at this. Craig and I played a pretty long set. I thought it went great. They actually asked me to do an encore. I did one, despite my rule #5. Then they asked for another. I put my foot down. Rule #4 prevailed.

Here are a couple pics. First, me and Craig setting up for the big show. We don't have roadies or techs or whatever.

And here's one of me with Billy and Stephenie. This one just reminds me that I need to do some working out. I swear I don't feel like I'm as fat as I look in that picture. Must've been some problem with the camera. In real life, I'm like totally ripped and chiseled and stuff.


So it was a great week for shows. Billy and Travis made videos. I’m going to try to get them directly on the blog so you can watch them directly here. In the meantime, go here, here, and here to watch me and Craig rock it.

Also, speaking of videos, I meant to send you here a while ago. Robb from Wichita made this one of me and Michael while we were out there last month. He posted a link to it on the comments section when I recapped the OKMOKS tour, but I thought I’d mention it again in case you missed it.

San Antonio recap in a day or two. (I’m thinking of pulling a Todd or a Heather this week and blogging, like, every day. What do these people do all day other than find ways to keep me from working?) I’ve only got one show this week, so hopefully I can finally catch up.

Oh, and I’ve got big news this week for any local (or, dare I suggest, even regional) fans. And by “big news,” I mean something involving several dozen of my adoring fans getting to see me do a mega-show somewhere in the area, some time soon.

PA, MD, finally

OK, so I got a little lazy on the blogging front, but I'm back with a vengeance. Well, maybe not a vengeance, but at least a concerted effort. Here's how I'll do it. I've actually had several gigs since I got back from the great Northeast, but I'll post about that stuff in a day or two. I have the early part of this week off, so hopefully I'll be caught up by Friday or so, in time for my San Antonio shows.

So, here's the recap of PA/MD:

Michael and I arrived at the Baltimore airport on Tuesday Sept 18. Lance Burch and Jason Fullen (youth pastors at their church) picked us up and took us to Lance's place. Lance and his wife were hosting us that evening for a house concert, and the evening started off with a party/barbecue thing. Michael and I were delighted to find that the yankees up in MD were acquainted with our new favorite game (we learned it from the farmers up in IN, who taught it to us in the hills out in OH). The game shall go unnamed here, due to the caliber of jokes that will surely accompany its mention. We ended up taking on Jason and one of their buddies. Due to an until-then-unheard-of facet of the game known as, I think, "The Boston Rule," Michael and I actually ended up winning, which was a lovely moral victory that, as it turned out, took us in great spirits into the evening.

The concert went great. Maybe 15 people showed up, which may sound small to you, but was actually just perfect. It's weird. Some of my best shows of the last two months have been the smallest ones. Anyway, just about everyone took a CD or two at least, and there was (as there has been throughout the tour) way more money in "the box" than there should've been. God is graciously sneaky when blessing His kids.

After the concert, Lance took Michael and me to a local Irish pub, where we got to hang out, talk about the Kingdom, and unwind from the very long day. It was really cool. The bartender/waiter was a real-live Irish dude. Or a great faker playing a joke on us. Or a crazy person playing a joke on the little Leprechaun who lives in his pocket. Probably he was a real Irish dude. Let's just go with that.

We spent Wednesday hanging out with Lance some, reading, and watching Discovery Channel. That night we played at the church for maybe 70 people. It was a really great show; plugged in and everything. Here are a few pics, taken by Jason, I believe:

The crowd was really cool and responsive, and we sold a boatload of CD's. A good night on all counts. Afterward, we went to the pub again and had a late dinner with Jason and Lance. More great conversation, some excellent food and beverage, and lots of laughing and learning.

As a side note, why is it that pubs (and places of that nature) are, quite often, places of greater honesty, joy, conversational safety, and Spirit-filled connection than many church buildings? And don't try throwing any legalistic, extra-biblical nonsense about drinking and bars and such at me. Making that argument will only get you a theological smackdown from Thad, Johnny, Lance, or any number of the other Christ-following, freed-up geniuses that frequent this page. I'm really curious about this. What have we done to make church buildings (not always, but lots of the time) so sterile, so life-sucking? It's a question that I think we really do have to answer. Maybe not right here on this blog, but at some point.

Anyway...

Overall, our time in MD was fantastic. Big thanks to Lance, Jason, and their families for all their kindness, hospitality, and support. Can't wait to come back soon (can I? please, can I?).

Thursday we drove over to the Reading/Sinking Springs area. It was a short easy drive. An extremely kind and trusting young lady from Lance's church let us borrow a car for our time there. That was a major help and answer to prayer.

Thursday night was really cool. My friend Rob Tyson, owner of the soon-to-be-opening Gravity Bookstore in Reading hosted us at his church, and my good pal and former bandmate Alex Burdine joined Michael and I for the show. Alex is a great singer and multi-instrumentalist (much like his crazy brother James, writer of many brilliant and super-strange songs), and he played second acoustic and sang pitch-perfect harmonies. There were maybe 50 people there, and they all seemed really engaged and gracious. It was a very fun and vibrant show. I felt like some real ministry happened.

Also, a great songwriter named Jeremy Simon opened up for us. He was excellent, and I'm not just saying that. He played maybe 6-7 songs, and I liked every single one. I LOVED 2-3 of them. Go buy his music. He seems like a real guy with real talent.

After the show we went out for a late dinner at some diner kind of place. We had some really great and, at times, awkward conversation about the Kingdom, the Real Church of Jesus, honesty, vulnerability, and church membership. It was rich!

After dinner Alex headed off to Allentown, and Michael and I went to our hotel. Big thanks to Rob and Cheryl Tyson for hosting and making us feel like rock stars.

On Friday Michael and I made the short drive to Lancaster to join my long-time pal and supporter, Sean Williams, for a retreat with the youth at his church. We hung out with him some that afternoon, enjoyed the free wi-fi in their building, and then headed out to Northeast, MD (that's actually the name of the town, kind of like West, TX) for the retreat.

We had a great time at the retreat. Here's how it went. We did 3 sessions, each one consisting of a short "concert" kind of thing (3-4 of my songs), then some worship. It was nice to lead some worship after all the concerts we'd been doing. I'm thrilled to be back into "performing," but I suppose my heart is still (and always will be) drawn to the pastoral and interactive aspects of leading people in praise.

Sunday we went back to Lancaster, where we led worship for the morning service of Sean's church, then did a concert for the youth group that evening. Alex came back and played with us again, and he did great. Also, they showed this great video that I'll try to upload some time soon. It was basically, well, you'd just have to see it. It was bizarre and awesome.

Muchos gracios to Sean Williams, and to the people of his church.

Michael and I drove back to Reisterstown that night and stayed with Jason Fullen, who was a real trooper, staying up late to watch the Cowboys, then getting up at 4 am to take us to the Baltimore airport.

We came home the next day. Another 7 days with me, and Michael hasn't killed me yet.

I'll post in the next couple of days about the TX shows, and maybe a little about the great trip we had to MS.

So, anybody got any stories about people getting mad at "Happy" or any of my other songs?

Home

Like the title says, we're back. Michael and I got home yesterday morning. Great trip. I'll post the update/recap/"behind the music" soon. Today is Sam's birthday (4 years old), so I'm otherwise occupied. It's terribly bad form to leave one's family for 7 days and then spend the next day blogging. It's downright criminal to do it all on your son's birthday. As such, I leave you only with this pic of Lance, me, Michael and Jason (aka "L-train," "King Delicious," "Steeley Mike," and "J Biggie"):

Dedicated to the millions of high school and college girls who seem to think they are in street gangs whenever they take pics for myspace and facebook.

later haters.

OKMOKS part 2

I like the way that sounds: "okmoks." Like a race of semi-humans in an Orson Scott Card book. The Okmoks descended upon on the Castle of Slunderkahn in full force, their massive webbed feet roaring thunderously, their broadswords glistening in the light of the twin midday suns... blah blah blah, like that. Anyway...

Here’s more of what happened on the OK/KS/MO leg of the Mi Casa es Su Casa tour. Sorry for the delay. I've been slammed since I got home. In fact, I leave again tomorrow for the PA/MD tour. So I'm pressed for time. This might be a little more brief than the last one, in terms of show-for-show details.

Friday in Clever, MO

This pic didn't turn out too good. It was raining, and I think maybe the lens got fogged up or something. Anyway, that's me and Michael with Brandon Hix. Brandon and his wife Rebecca hosted us for a house show in Clever, MO, near Springfield. The Hix family inspired and challenged me like crazy. I won't lay out their whole personal life for the world without their permission, but I will say that they model teach-ability, generosity, faith, and true religion like few families I've met. I'm serious. These people are amazing. Michael and I had a great time hanging out with them and a bunch of their friends. About 20-25 people sat under the carport and graciously listened to us play.

Below are a few pics of the venue and the show, taken by my new friend Ty Davisson.

Saturday and Sunday in Wichita, KS

For the second day in a row, Michael and I drove pretty far. Lots of "have you ever heard this band?" going on in the car. Man, I'm old. I've never heard of anything.

Here was something interesting. The lovely town of Gas, KS was on our route, and we snapped this photo:

Rule #26 in "King's Rules of Great Comedy" is "Let the easy jokes go." However, rule #13 is "Fart jokes are always funny," so you see how I'm stuck?

So here are just a few:

"Excuse me, ma'am. I need to make a deposit. You might want to back up a little."

"OH NO! It's a robbery! What? Oh sorry, sir... that's just your finger? I thought you were pointing a gun at me. Yes, of course. I'd be glad to pull it. Will you need a receipt with that?"

"Whoa! What's that smell? Who's been writing hot checks?"

I could do this for days. Anybody want to join in? Keep it clean, kids. I mean, as clean as possible, considering the subject matter.

But seriously folks...

We had a fantastic time in Wichita. Pastor Robb Brunansky was our gracious host. He and his family set up 3 venues for us during our time there. We did a house show on Saturday, a Sunday service at their church on Sunday morning, and a concert at a neighboring church Sunday night. All of it was really great. Good people, and lots of fun.

Pics:

Above is me and Michael with Robb and his sweet family. Below you've got all of us, plus some of their family and friends.

After Wichita, my voice was totally gone, so Michael and I had to cancel the Tulsa show. I'm pretty sure we're going to reschedule that show, and add a few others as well. There were a few folks in the are who didn't get a show this time around, so we might add those next time.

Tomorrow we're off for leg #2. Hopefully I'll have more updates soon.

And hey, let's hear some Bank of Gas jokes, people. Come on, this is comedy at its simplest and best.

Good day.

"A Visual Recap of the Tour," or, "Several Thousand Words, Metaphorically Speaking"

Wednesday in Edmond, OK:

This is where it all began, so to speak. Above, witness the corner of the Roth's living room where Michael and I (and I think I can safely use the word "literally" here) rocked the house. We had to move that chair out of the way to do it.

Below is a wider (and different) angle of the same room, with some Roth's thrown in there on the left, to give you some perspective, in case you were thinking that the room was really massive. (I mean, all along you were thinking "Ross is kidding about this living room thing, right? He's being figurative or something. He's going to have some huge stage show and set up to look like he's playing on someone's couch, right?" Nope.) We fit maybe 15-18 people in there. This is the kind of glamorous, super-celeb vibe you get on the Su Casa es Mi Casa Tour.

and here (below) is the whole Roth fam, along with me and Michael and two of the dogs, one of whom was compelled to protest the photo shoot by mooning us. Not cool, Sally. So not cool.

By the way, the Roth's are home schoolers. I submit their two kids -- Reagan and Chance --as evidence that this whole "socialization" argument is dumb and uninformed. Not only did both of their kids have plenty of well-adjusted, healthy peer relationships (I met several of their friends at the house show, some of whom were public schooled and some who weren't), but they were two of the most mature, well spoken, witty, and polite kids I've ever been around. Oh, and Chance has a black belt which, as you might expect, goes pretty far with me. Take that, anti-homeschool snobs.

Bottom line, these people were awesome, their friends were amazing, and the show was fantastic. If every house concert I do is half as good as this one was (and/or if every host home is half as gracious and comfortable), this is going to be my new job.

Thursday in Stillwater, OK:

The above pic is of me, Michael and Scott Donaho, who is the director of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at OSU. He hosted one of the two "non-house" concerts that we did. Scott is a super cool dude, and he paid us actual, real money to play, in addition to taking us out to eat THREE times, and putting us up in a REAL HOTEL. Apparently this guy is the Donald Trump of house concert hosting. Or the Santa Claus. Whatever. He was really kind to us, and we had a blast leading his students in worship, playing some of my concert tunes, and eating late-night Taco Bueno.

Here's something fun. After the show, Michael and I were in the hotel room, winding down, getting ready for bed, etc (try not to focus on all the jokes you want to make right here about how that sentence sounds, lest you miss what's coming right here), and I see this small pile of clothes in the corner of the room, and I'm like "hey Michael, the least you can do is put your dirty underwear in your bag and not leave them on the floor." And Michael's like "those aren't mine."

Yep. That's right. Unclaimed unmentionables.

So I got to take the garbage bag from the wastebasket and do that turn-it-inside-out-and-make-it-a-glove trick that dog owners do when their pooch poops on the pavement.

It was awesome.

Thad had told me that some of the guys on texags call the town "Stoolwater" (hey, Aggies can be a cruel, merciless bunch, and the management of rosskingworldtourblog do not endorse that kind of hate speech, or any kind for that matter). I thought that was a little harsh. Maybe they were basing their judgment on the Best Western. If so, maybe not so harsh.

I'm just saying.

Anyway, Scott was the man, and he gets big props for all his kindness. Hey, it's not like he called the hotel and said "I need to reserve a room; preferbaly one with soiled shorts in the corner." I mean, I doubt they said to him "smoking or non-smoking? Dirty drawers or non-dirty drawers?"

OK, I've used up all my self-alotted blog time talking about skid-marked undies and the discovery/disposal thereof. I'll give more recaps and pics sometime this weekend.

Hey, have you got the new CD yet? Let me know. Anybody ticked off or confused by any of the crazy stuff I put on it? Let me know.