Live From Nashville...

Wow. This is the first time I have been able to sit down and even look at my laptop. Thanks to all of those who sent me well wishes and are keeping track of me. Every time I have a free moment to think, you all always cross my mind.

Where should I begin?

Well, let my just start by saying that there is nothing I have found that I do not like about this place. (Except for my family not being here) It is truly amazing going from California to a place like this. It is greener, brighter, the skies are clearer (you can actually see the buildings in the horizon instead of just their outline), the smells are better, there is not traffic, I could really go on and on. Most of you that know me know how much of a communicator I am and I always end up talking for such a long time with checkers and other attendants because everyone here is so nice.

My first day here was rough though. I got sick on the plane and had to stay the night at the Ramada (ugh), although it was a pretty nice hotel. My first day of work was pretty good but then I had to find a place to stay. If it weren’t for Matt Price, I would be staying in a studio for fifty dollars a night in a bad part of town. (Thanks for finding it for me though, Mom.) So I decided to rent a car but all of the car places were closed at six so I had to take a shuttle back to the airport and then rent a car there. I paid $10 extra a day for the car and then 25% tax! So I finally got home and just crashed.

So about my job: amazing. I walk into work this morning and the first thing I got to do was reorganize guitar cases. Not that fun, I know but when I went to the bathroom I just so happened to run into the lead singer for Lady Antebellum.

“How’s it goin’?” I said, trying to be nonchalant.
“Pretty good. What’s going on buddy?” he replies back at my over his blackberry in his palm. Not something that happens to be everyday, but at Soundcheck, it does. Yesterday I got to see Vince Gill’s 600-guitar collection that Soundcheck stores for him. (Soundcheck stores stuff for almost every act in Nashville.) Later on in the day I passed Pam Tillis in the hall. This morning as I passed the lounge area I saw Lonestar sitting around one of the booths with their managers going over little ins and outs of the rehearsal.

This is my third day, folks.

All day long I just learn more and more about music equipment and the music business. Recent lessons: How to change a drumhead and what the difference is between heads. How to work a B3 and a Leslie 122 and 143. And how to change out the keys on an electric keyboard. Other than that I get to do stuff like organize drums, move around large road cases and try out every guitar and amp in the rental room just to make sure it works before it goes out on a rental. Not too shabby of a gig, huh?

This place is amazing but it’s going to get crazy for Fanfair. I will keep you all updated on how it goes.
Thanks for the prayers and the thoughts and for reading this long entry.

Matt and I are going to Red Robin for dinner now. Matt is amazing, by the way, a great friend to have around.

Updates

Hello everyone.
I hope this post finds you all well: healthy both physically and spiritually.

I wanted to take this opportunity to update you all on some of the things that are going on in my life.

Grandparents:
My grandfather (papa) is doing so much better. His heart is working very well thanks to this "miracle heart drug" that he is taking. We are exercising every other day and he is getting much stronger in his legs although he still needs help in and out of bed.
My grandma (nana) is still recovering from surgery. They had to remove alot of skin and tissue in her left arm due to this infection. It is going to be a long road to recovery but the good news is that she is herself again. :)

Nashville:
As some of you may know, I am leaving for Nashville on Monday the 26th of May for two weeks. The trip is going to be a way for me to prove myself for a position that I am pursuing. The company is called Soundcheck and you can check out their website here. They have a lot to do with many of the tours that take place in the country. For this trip I will be helping out with Fan Fair 2008 (website here), perhaps the largest country music festival in the United States. This is truly an opportunity of a lifetime and it just goes to show you that if you are faithful and patient, then God always delivers. "DO WORK SON!" (Get it? like son of God? Anywaays) If I do well then I will get the job and have to move out there immediately. Pray that I will just be myself and be a diligent, hard and genuine worker.

Website:
I have been working on a new website that will have all of my music and other stuff including a new blog. The website name will probably be something corny like ajsoldo.com or something. Any suggestions for a cool domain name are appreciated. :)
This website will also be a way for friends and family to keep track of me while I pursue my dream of being in the music business.

Love:
No I haven't found it. At least not mutually, but I have learned this: It is a lot harder to find love than most people think. The perfect ingredient for love is not lust or passion or butterflies, although those are all good things. The key ingredient is when the love is reciprocated and given back as much as you have given. It is a formula that is seldom found but worth waiting for.

God Bless you all,

age

Turkey

Hey guys. I urgently plea with you to read the article below. As many of you know, I fell in love with the country of Turkey when I went to live there last summer. However, this article talks about one of Turkey's biggest problems. It also mentions one of my favorite writers, Orhan Pamuk.

Turkey under fire over laws banning insults to "Turkishness"
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA – 45 minutes ago
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — "Happy is he who says: 'I am a Turk.'"
Turkey's motto is on display in schools, hospitals and military barracks. Schoolchildren recite it like the Pledge of Allegiance. It covers hillsides in southeast Turkey, where the military is fighting Kurdish separatists.
This relentlessly patriotic message, coined by Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, is backed up by law: a ban on insulting "Turkishness." But it has become a serious drag on Turkey's efforts to get its democracy into shape for joining the European Union. The EU says it's a restriction on free speech that disqualifies Turkey for membership.
On Friday, Parliament's justice panel began debating a government proposal to soften Article 301 of Turkey's penal code, which has been used to prosecute Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk and other intellectuals.
Parliament is expected to approve the amendment as early as this month. But critics say it's a half-measure by a government caught between liberal opponents of the law and nationalists who see it as a cave-in to European interference.
Cengiz Aktar, an EU expert at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, doubts it will work, because at least 20 other articles in Turkey's penal code have "the same mentality of killing freedom of speech."
But many Turks believe even a token softening of the law rewards EU pressure, and even threatens Turkish security.
Faruk Bal, deputy chairman of the opposition Nationalist Action Party, says it will allow Kurdish rebels to insult the Turkish state with impunity. His party has launched a TV ad campaign against changing Article 301. It includes the refrain: "Wake up Turkey! It is time for unity."
The change would cut the maximum sentence for denigrating Turkish identity or institutions from three years in prison to two, suspended for first-time offenders. The justice minister would have to approve prosecutions, and Article 301 would refer to the crime of denigrating the "Turkish nation," rather than the vague term "Turkishness."
"The government's proposal merely tinkers with the wording of the law, while maintaining its most problematic features," New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
Ataturk designed his nationalist motto, "Ne mutlu Turkum diyene," as he sought to build a strong, secular Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, which united territories in Europe, Africa and the Middle East under the banner of Islam. He largely succeeded, amid war, slaughter and pressure from Western powers.
Nearly a century later, many Turks believe their nationhood faces the same threats, chiefly from the Kurdish separatists, but also from governments and pressure groups that claim the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century were "genocide."
It was the genocide claim that landed Pamuk as well as fellow novelist Elif Safak in court, and later motivated the assassination in 2007 of Hrant Dink, a Turkish Armenian.
The Turkish Justice Ministry says 1,533 people faced prosecution under Article 301 in 2006. Some cases, including Pamuk's, are dismissed. Many end in acquittals. Those convicted included Dink, the murdered journalist, and lawyer Eren Keskin, prosecuted for insulting the armed forces.
Often, it's not the government but nationalist individuals who start the prosecutions, as well as the Turkish military, according to Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch.
Supporters of Article 301 say some European countries, including Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, have similar laws. But these are hardly ever acted upon.
Another section of the penal code makes it a crime to insult state institutions or even officials. Last year a punk rock group was prosecuted for a song attacking Turkey's equivalent of the high school SAT. It was acquitted.
Even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn't immune. His Islamic-oriented party faces a prosecutor's efforts to ban it for allegedly violating the secular principles crafted by Ataturk.

As you can see, this law is a very bad thing for those believers or potential believers in the country since most of the time Islam is considered very dear to "Turkishness." Please pray that Turkey desires so badly to be part of the European Union that they will abolish or even soften this law. If it happens it could open so many doors for free thinkers like Pamuk in the country and could potentially lead to making the country a bridge between western thinking and Islamic fundamentalism. Thank you.

Zoey bug...

So I finally developed this film I had sitting around (yes film) and I found these really cute pics I took of my niece when they came down to visit from Oregon. I miss her.

Time for Clinton to Back off?

It was only a couple of months ago when most everyone I talked to loathed the fact of Hillary Clinton possibly being the next president of the United States. With the recent polls, her winning a majority of the primaries and the astonishing turnout for democratic voters as compared to Republican ones, it seemed as if it was a more than a possibility.
But as you know, Barack Obama picked up steam and charged ahead, pulling in front of Hillary in both the pledged delegate count and the popular vote as well as overall states won. And even with Clinton rallying to make Michigan and Florida count for delegates, as well as the Reverend Wright controversy, republicans (and democrats) are breathing a sigh of relief.
Even in the best case scenario, Clinton only has a 5% chance of securing the Democratic nomination...and that is the best case scenario. As long as Barack Obama doesn't have some kind of psychopathic meltdown and the democrats don't shoot themselves in the foot by choosing Hillary as the nominee anyway, it looks as though its going to be John McCain vs. Barack Obama, both considered as liberal as one can get in each of their respective parties.
However, Clinton is not relenting. The past few weeks it seems as though she has been taking the Mike Huckabee strategy of complete obliviousness, pretending that their impending doom is not, in fact, a reality. And it is a fair strategy I must say, you never know what might happen.
But when is it time for Hillary to finally give up? Political strategists, except Clinton supporters, are saying that this ongoing bickering is having some really detrimental affects on the democratic party. 16% of both Clinton and Obama supporters say that if the other gets the nomination, they will stay home and just not vote. This could be the exact thing that John McCain needs to edge out his opponent in the primary election.
It is obvious that Clinton and Obama have many of the same policies, even though they try to contrast each other so much. Either one of them has just as good of a chance as the other against Johnny boy in November, so Hillary just needs to concede for the sake of her party. She needs to help Obama win this election by backing off and letting him unite the party. For the sake of us republicans, we are hoping that this doesn't happen but it is the only obvious path to victory for the dems.
Hillary, they are not going to give you the election in November if Obama still has the popular vote. They might entertain the idea for a second but quickly pass it off in order not to embarrass themselves like they did in 2000. Just go home. You look tired and worn out from faking a smile for so long.

that's my boy...!

i know how she feels...

jk.

is it bad?

is it bad that i can't grasp life after death?

i mean it is a little more than that. i really can't even believe fully that we have a life after this.

but then again, the thought of life just ending and not going on is just as unbelievable.

i guess i just can't fathom eternity. doesn't make sense to me.

some of us will go on to heaven forever and ever.

some of us will go to hell and suffer and then eventually be extinguished forever and ever.

these are the hardest things to believe about my faith at this moment.

thoughts.......?

what the...

lately I have been finding myself in many circumstances that propel me to beg the question: "what the hell?" I find myself saying this on many occasions, especially to my creator. however, i must understand that the question, never renders results especially, from the almighty. however, cliche it may be, everything does happen for a reason, this I am sure.

i know there will come a day, perhaps not too far off if things are moving at this pace, that my life will be so dramatically different that I will laugh in pity at my old self for ever begging such a question. those times seem far now but they will come.

a note to those who spur on this question: just know that in your hastiness and confusion that you are causing it to someone else three-fold. I once had to learn this as well. if you ever wonder, or think what might have been or have the desire to do something inappropriate...don't! just don't do it. look forward think about what could be and take care.

age