Thoughts from the third quarter...

Today I did the Grouse Grind, a grueling 3 km hike straight uphill with an amazing view at the top.  I went with 3 other fellas (my son Khalil, and 2 friends) who were all in better shape than me...so I was the caboose. LOL  I'm cool with that.  After a while I told the other guys to go ahead and I popped on some headphones and schlepped up alone.  It's amazing how much a hike mirrors life.  At the 3/4 mark I started to think about how true that previous statement is.  Here are some of the thoughts running through my head, some profound and some simple:

1.  Sometimes being "average" is great.  The average hiking time for the Grind is 1hr30min.  I did it in 1:40.  I didn't break any records (one guy made it up in 27min!) but I got to the top.  I finished what I started and to me, that's great.  I've rarely been 1st place, or the best at anything.  What I've been is daring, consistent, diligent, and faithful.  In the long run, those are qualities that birth and sustain greatness.

2.  "Then" is not "now."  From 2001-2004 I did a lot of hiking and completed some major hikes.  It was rough when I first started but by 2004 I was the dude leading the pack and encouraging everyone to keep moving.  That was not today. LOL Stay in the present.

3.  Thank God for trailblazers. 


4.  Sometimes being "close to the top" is nowhere close to being "at the top."  Sometimes it's really all or nothing.  Sometimes "almost" and "mostly" are unacceptable.  Examples, a) being almost faithful in marriage, b) almost finishing a song by the concert, c) being mostly Christian, d) mostly finishing a degree or diploma, etc.  On the hike, I had no idea how long it was going to take me to get to the top.  This is one of those hikes where you can't see the top until you're there.  I had to decide that I was going to get the top no matter how long it took.  Going back was not an option.  Once the option of going back is completely removed, it's easier to put all energy on pressing towards the goal.

5.  Crunk music is energizing.  Say what you want about crunk music, it get's me hype.  The last 1/4th of the hike I was ready to lay down for a 3hr nap LOL.  I put on some grimy, gutter, crunk Holy Hip Hop, started head-nodding (yeah, I looked crazy...) and this crazy energy came over me.  I was good for the rest of the hike.

6.  Note to parents: Don't ever hold your kids back to make you feel better about yourself.  Khalil, my 15yr old son, was hiking faster than me.  I told him to go ahead and he finished 10 minutes ahead of me.  It's cool when your kids surpass you.

That's all I have for now.  Now I'm going to bed...

Produce a Music Video...Check!

I appreciate the beauty of limitations.  I just produced a music video with a digital camera (a gift from my wife on my 29th birthday) and a laptop (a gift from my brother-from-another-mother last year) for Infinitus...and it's pretty good!  Not perfect, but I like it.  It's real and I like real.  I'm thinking about some of my favorite music...When David, Asaph, etc. wrote the Psalms, what did the melody sound like?  I wonder what gear Stevie Wonder had when he created "Music of My Mind?"  Or, what equipment did Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong use when they recorded some of my favorite jazz standards?  I'm a big fan of "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye because it plays like a symphony, but I can't help but notice the terrible synthesized voice (sounds like T-Pain's grandma) on the end one of the tracks...All this to say, some of the best music in the WORLD was written and/or recorded on equipment that was inferior to my digital camera and laptop.  Why are they great?  Because it's great music by great artists.  Their artistry transcends technology.  Isn't that how it should be?  Today it seems opposite.  In pop music and hip-hop, technology often transcends artistry.  Being a huge fan of hip-hop, especially good production, for a long time I felt that my limitations were keeping me from moving forward at the rate I wanted to go.  When I first started making non-classical music, I wanted a record deal, big budget music videos, and a state-of-the-art recording studio.  I wanted a manager/booking agent, a marketing department, a web designer, and a stylist to keep me looking right.  Where did I get all of that from??  That's a whole other blog. LOL

Praise God that I didn't get any of that!!  I've learned that my perceived limitations continue to allow God to have His way in my life.  His plan for me has already shown to be much better than my personal plan.  Alot of what I've seen as limitations/constraints has actually been protection.  I find myself asking questions like this:

• If I had a major label deal, would God be able to have His way in my life?
• If I had gotten a major label record deal back in 2004 (when I started making music as A.d.i.d.a.m.), would I have had the space to develop musically like I have in the past few years?  Or would I have been the male version of Miri Ben-Ari?  Would there be an Infinitus or Psalm Fresh, and if so, would I be a part of them?
• If I had someone build all of my websites, would I know anything about web design?  I've had to learn to build my own websites.

You see where this is going.  I could write for days on how blessed I've been to be led by God.  I've learned the truth behind the scripture, "I can do all things through Christ..."  I do believe that someday I may have some of those things listed above, but more than anything, I've learned that what God gives me is enough.

So (enter "20th Century Fox" Theme), here's the music video for the "Infinitus Anthem."  Let me know what you think!  Help us out with some "Like's" and comments!   Thanks.

YouTube link:  http://youtu.be/5Z9p8-Gdy7k?hd=1

Stretched...

One thing I’ve been learning recently:  When I stretch myself I’m spread thin, like a rubber band.  When God stretches me, I expand (blowupuate!).  Today marks a big milestone for me.  Today we finished mastering the Infinitus self-titled debut cd and it’s FINALLY ready for release!  WooHoo!!

Let me give you the back-story.  Infinitus prays about EVERYTHING and we rely on God’s guidance to keep us on the right path.  I know that sounds preachy, but for me it’s just practical.  All of that to say that when we prayed about how to record our debut album we all felt that I was supposed to record it.  The problems:  I’m not a recording engineer, my studio is wherever my laptop/mic are, and my recording equip is kind of ghetto.  This has worked fine for my solo recordings, but I didn’t want to bring anyone else into my “funky-finger production” style of recording (“In Living Color” fans will catch that one BAM!!).  As this is Infinitus’ first album, I was really worried that the recording wouldn’t sound as great as it could due to my inexperience.  So I had to step up my game.  Funds are limited so I couldn’t buy a new studio, but I picked up a new pre-amp (allows you to record into a computer without jacked up mic levels) and Alex, the cellist, bought a second recording mic, giving us more mixing options as well as a fuller sound.  The studio:  a few hotel rooms in Ontario, and Alex’s 4yr-old son’s bedroom.

Alex and I recording in a hotel in Mississauga, ON.  Yes I'm sporting a do-rag and a wife beater (don't hate! LOL).

The end result:  A great album.  It sounds very natural (almost live) and you really hear US; real people, real string instruments, real beats (no auto-tune or special effects – I don’t even know how to use auto-tune, nor do I want to learn).   It’s taken hours of recording, re-recording, mixing, re-mixing, mastering and re-mastering; and I’ve had to do a lot of research and trial-and- error but at the end of the day, it’s done and it’s good.  Once again, God, thankYou for seeing something in me that I didn’t see in myself.  On to the next!

For more info on the Infinitus album, visit www. InfinitusMusic.com.  It will be released later this spring.  

blAhDIDAM

After years of sporadic posting on my website (and by sporadic I mean almost non-existent), I finally accepted the fact that I need some blogging help...enter blogspot.  I've never really kept a consistent blog before because of the following problems:  1. Where to post?  2. How to make it "me".  3. I don't like to write about what I'm doing.

1.  Where to post? - I ran across a cool musician named Zoe Keating (an independent alternative cellist) who uses blogspot on her website.  Btw, I want to figure out how to do that.  If you're looking at this post it means that I figured it out :-).  Now look at the date, that'll tell you how long it took me, LOL.  Entyways...after seeing Zoe's website I saw the value of an independent musician keeping a blog.  

2.  How to make it "me". - One of the first things I need to make a blog "me" is a great title.  A title that when you read it you say, "Yeah, that's John."  I came up with "I'm just sayin'..." (which I say all the time).  But then I looked at my homie B Reith's page and guess what his blog was called - "I'm just sayin'..."  Boo!  I'm not booing B Reith, actually if you don't know this artist - you need to.  I'm booing the fact that once I get stuck on a creative idea, it's hard to think of another one.  So the search began...Ideas included:  "Blog in the Key of Life..." (I'm a big Stevie Wonder fan but 50% of the the adults in my house didn't recognize the reference, boo), "Verbal Diarrhea" (naRsty), "Thrivin'" (not bad, but does it say "Adidam' Blog"?), "Untitled" (needs more effort)...well you see how well that went. LOL

I was sitting at the table, brainstorming with my wife Paula and friends Tammy & Teresa (who both individually made HUGE faith moves to Canada from the USA within the last year, when Teresa blurted out the one name that embodied my life, music, career, and blog in one simple word:  "blAhDIDAM"  Not too deep, but not too simple.  Thanks Teresa!  Maybe it'll become a verb like "Facebooking" or "Tweeting" - "BlAhDIDAMing"!  No?

3.  I don't like to write about what I'm doing. - I'm still in the middle of working this one out.  This is where it comes from...

At a young age I noticed that the people who talked the most about what they were doing, were doing the least.  And some of people who never talked about what they were doing, you'd see in the paper for winning some huge competition.  Example:

(setting:  Summer Orchestra Camp - High School)

Person 1:  "At home I'm the concertmaster of my school orchestra."

Person 2:  "Cool, what's a 'concertmaster'?" 

Person 1:  "First chair.  What piece are you playing for your audition?"

Person 2:  "La Folia"

Person 1:  "Oh, I played that like 2 years ago..."

[Orchestra Audition result:  Person 1 - in the back, Person 2 - concertmaster]

I was person #2, true story.  I'm more interested and inspired by hearing others talk about themselves than bawking on and on about what I'm doing.  In addition I always thought, "who cares about what I'm doing?" (cue:  sad violin sonata & chorus of 'awwwww')  Nowdays, it's more like, "Time spent talking about what I'm doing is time that SHOULD be spent doing what I'm talking about."  That doesn't work for the independent musician.  As an indie artist, I've accepted (and appreciate) the fact that there are some people out there who actually care about what I'm doing.  Also, a large part of my well-being as an indie artist depends on my ability to effectively/simply articulate what my music sounds like, who I am and why people should listen to me (or come to my concert).  So here I am...blAhDIDAMing (does it work as a verb yet?? Hahaha).