I got the Nike + sensor accurate. I’m surprised but the default setting is right on. I ran a mile on the track and it’s practically spot on. So now my runs on will be right. Sweet.

Saturday night my friends Marc and Carolyn had a party to celebrate our mutual friend Lou moving in with them. It was a good time and I stayed out until 3:30 a.m. I haven’t stayed out that late in years. There was this woman who was brought into the mix by another mutual friend, we’ll call her K. K was outgoing, intelligent but also obnoxious and annoying. As the night went on she dropped a few phrases from the AA lexicon. K drank like a true alcoholic. The drinks never stopped at the house. We went to Hand & Hand in Virgina Highlands and she bought drinks for everyone. That’s what gave me away as I told her I didn’t drink.

She made sure she was the center of attention. Her stories and her gestures were grand and her friends were all fabulous. I asked K about the AA speak and she said, “I’m familiar with the corporation but I was kicked out after 7 months.”

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen alcoholic behavior in action. It’s hard to describe the insanity. This woman was out of control. Seeing that again first hand makes me so grateful for the sobriety I have now. As we say in AA, “Alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful,” so when I find it alluring I must immediately check myself.

I look at Saturday night as a gift, a free glimpse into the past. I’m grateful for seeing the insanity again. It makes me stronger.

Tonight I’m going out with the some of the same folks from Saturday night. We’re keeping it in the hood, East Atlanta and Grant Park. That’s good because I don’t want to be driving all over the place on amateur night.

The worst thing about NYE is the midnight kiss, well if you’re single. Last year I got to kiss my friend G. That was the first NYE kiss for me in a long time. So again tonight I’ll be flying solo. I won’t let it get me down. I will be surrounded by old friends. Some are single like me. We’ll have fun, we usually do.

So wherever you are JamSmooth wishes you a Happy New Year! I hope 2008 brings your heart’s desires.

Here I am. Alone. Sitting in front of my Mac. Blogging on a Friday night. You know what? I’m OK with that. I enjoy spending time alone. I’m not spending money. I’m not in a smoke-filled bar with drunk a-holes. I’m not at a dance club hearing horrible non-melodic music looking for the courage to speak to women.

On the way back to Atlanta my bro and I actually listened to the radio for the first part of the drive. Good station. No talk, a good mix. Songs I haven’t heard in years. Bryan Adams, “Run To You.” As a teenager I loved Bryan Adams. I had many of his cassettes. Yes cassettes. Still have ‘em. Adams music was pure rock. Driving guitars, driving beats and an unmistakable voice. You also can’t go wrong with Mutt Lange producing and Bob Clearmountain mixing.

Another treat was hearing Glass Tiger’s, “Someday.” Great melody on the verse.

Been watching TV on Watchtvsitcoms.com. I watched every episode of “Entourage.” Took me a while to get into it but I grew to love all the characters, even Turtle. The show is pure escapism. The stories and scenes are so far removed from my reality. Looking forward to see how the guys salvage, “Medellin.”

I’m about halfway through the first season of, “Californication.” It stars David Duchovny as a writer in L.A. Duchovny’s character, Hank Moody, is thoroughly flawed but he truly loves his daughter and her mother. Moody is not with her mother but he is still very involved in both of their lives. The show focuses on Moody’s relationships with women, his agent, his daughter and her mother. There was a lot of gratuitous sex in the first episodes but I’m glad they’ve chilled on that.

In other news I’m running again. For Christmas I got a new iPod Nano with the Nike Plus sensor. The sensor velcros to your shoelaces. You plug in a receiver into the iPod and it records your workouts. I think the distances and minutes per mile are off. Today I calibrated the sensor again but I still don’t think it’s right. When I measured the routes on GMaps a greater distance is shown. Also my pace seems slow, 13 mins/mile. On the treadmill I’m usually around 9 to 10 mins per mile. Could be I’m a bit out of shape? Running on the street is a completely different situation than the mill.

Today I ran 5. About halfway through I almost got caught in a torrential downpour. It had been sprinkling but nothing I couldn’t deal with. Call it divine intervention but just as the clouds opened up I found shelter in a church overhang. The rain poured down for 10 minutes. I enjoyed watching the rain. It’s weird because I haven’t seen rain in so long. It was fun to watch the water hit the street.

Made it home and blended my post-workout shake: kefir, strawberries, honey, flax seed oil, coconut oil and 3 eggs. I felt blisters on my right toes during the run. However my left sock was bloody. I didn’t feel it during the run but a toenail had dug into my toe.

I’m glad to be running again. The Nike Plus website has a lot of motivational tools. You can track all your runs, pace, distances. I have a goal to run 20 times in the next 4 weeks. 2 down, 18 to go. If you want to keep up with my progress go here. I’m also hitting the gym. I run up there since it’s just over a mile. Then I’m warmed up and ready to workout as soon as I walk in. From there I find different routes around Grant Park and through East Atlanta.

Ok, I’m gonna watch some more stories. Hope you all had a great Christmas. I’m looking forward to a great 2008. It’s going to be my year. Lots of great changes are in store. God Bless.

This is pretty good. Pretty good.

I’ve been watching this show called, “Entourage.” You’ve probably heard about it. Honestly I don’t think it’s that great. The characters are so superficial. All they do is drink beer, have sex and mooch off their friend. But I digress…

In the show there was this song by Gang Starr. I used to love Gang Starr. GURU was one of my favorite rappers. He had substance to his words and the production of DJ Premier was always bangin’. I found the song called, “Work.” It’s a classic 90′s hip-hop groove. I love it.

Then I started digging out some other records from the 90′s. Sweetback. Remember Sweetback? It’s the dudes’ from Sade side project. It’s a great record. Lots of laid back, neo-soul grooves. I actually got to see them at The Roxy in ’97 I think?

Listening to Sweetback is odd because what I like now is so different. I’m a different person from 10 years ago. For one I’m sober so my head and spirit are in completely different states. Now I’m more drawn to rock music. It’s not that I stopped listening to rock back in the day. I’m a rocker to the core. I was really into neo-soul, acid jazz and trip-hop. Now that music has almost no effect on me. I like Sweetback but it’s not something I’m going to listen to repeatedly.

I also realized that playing music in the churches changed me too. This new era of music in the churches has changed my life. It’s straight up rock music with sometimes a little new country thrown in (see Todd Fields). There is a spirit and emotion in this music that no other music has. Much of this music is influenced greatly by U2 and Coldplay. See Hillsong United’s anthem, “Might To Save.” In my opinion, a lot of this music wouldn’t exist without The Edge. His guitar sound is massively influential.

After experiencing this music a lot of other music falls short. That’s why I’ve found it harder than ever to find new music I enjoy. So much of what I hear is vapid.

One thing I picked up from my record label days is “the 30 second rule.” A song has 30 seconds to bring it or I skip it. You have to do that because there is a huge stack of demos. So you simply don’t have time to listen to the whole song. Sometimes I only give a song 20 seconds. After a while you get good at knowing if a song has something. However I’m a big believer in brevity. Guess that’s why I love The Beatles and The Pixies so much? I digress again…

The music I enjoy now is such a huge reflection of how I’ve changed. I’m more apt to listen to Hillsong’s “From The Inside Out,” now than Korn’s, “Freak On A Leash.” Oddly enough, Brian Welch from Korn is a Christian too. I’m sure he’d say the same thing.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying other music doesn’t impact me. This year I fell in love again with dance music. There is some great stuff out there: MSTRKRFT, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem and so so many more.

I love how what we listen to changes. I love how music is a living thing, a real live relationship that evolves and gets mad when you don’t spend time with it. What I’ll be jamming 2 weeks from now will be totally different. Just as what I enjoy 10 years from now will be different.

Last night I “finished” the song. I put it in quotes because there are a lot of mistakes still in the song. Do not be fooled but “O Holy Night,” is a very challenging song to do. It sounds simple and in some ways it is. However, I wish I had a punching bag cutting the vocals. This song kicked my butt.

So I got to where I could live with it. I admit, I did use pitch correction on the vocals but it would’ve taken me a lot more time to get all those vocals right. For the record, there is NO pitch correction on my upcoming record.

I e-mailed the song to many of you already. The file is too big for the blog. So go to my MySpace profile to hear it.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Hey! I play drums in a band with Marc and Joey called Morning Lights. The record is back from manufacturing and available for purchase. Just go to MorningLights.org to buy it.

You can hear, “Away,” and “Freon,” from the record at: myspace.com/morninglights.

This record was completely D.I.Y. We recorded the drum and bass tracks at our house on Van Epps. Marc recorded the guitars, keys and vocals at his house. Our friend Keith Vogelsong recorded and mixed.

We have a gig at Lenny’s on January 21st. Come out and support local music!

I just came across this fascinating 5 minute bio of Don LaFontaine. Who is he? Ah, you’ll know when you hear him.

This year I did some things for the first time. Some highlights were/are:

1. Running the ING Half-Marathon in March.
It was brutal. I injured my knee a few weeks before the race and wasn’t able to run during that time. I saw a sports medicine doctor and got the go ahead to run. It was rewarding but physically demanding. I’m not sure if I’ll do another.

2. Leading a small group.
My small group formed at the end of August. We’re still getting to know each other. Yet, the encouragement and accountability I get from these guys is outstanding.

3. Went to Colorado.
In May I went to Colorado for a week long retreat. The weather was beautiful and I definitely had an encounter with God. I learned many truths about myself and was shown clearly that condemnation does not come from God. Romans 8:1.

4. Not Date.
In November of 2006 I decided to not date for an entire year. That year has past and still I am dateless. So far jumping back into dating is harder than I thought it would be. I still have a lot of fear. Still, the knowledge and perspective I gained from not dating was worth the sacrifice.

5. Wrote, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered a solo record.
I’ve learned so much about recording, mixing and the D.I.Y. attitude. This album showed that when I apply myself, stay focused, ask others for help and do what I love, things fall into place. I’m anxious to see the reaction to these songs. I want to quit my job and do this full-time. That may be a little ways off but doing this shows that it’s possible.

6. Film a music video.
This past Saturday two friends and I filmed a music video for my album. It was so much fun and lots of work. Avril, the director, and Andrew, the DP, were great to work with. Avril has the lion’s share of work to editing over 2 hours of footage. She is excited about the video and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

What about you? Did 2007 bring new experiences into your life?

I have worked up a version of my favorite Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night.”

I’m pleased with it so far. It’s got a Cocteau Twins, Peter Gabriel type vibe. I can’t wait for the violin. Yes my roomie Faith is going to play violin on it. Hopefully we can get it done within the next few days.

Reading the fascinating history of the song last night blew my mind. The first ever radio broadcast in the world was Reginald Fessenden playing the song on his violin. So how rad is that? Pretty rad.

So my plan is the first verse will be Faith playing the melody. Then the second time around I will sing the verse. That still clocks in at almost 5 minutes.

I plan to use, what you will hear when my record is out, my signature harmonies. Yes vocal harmonies are all over my record. I’m not sure if I’ll harmonize all the words or do background “oohs” and “ahs.”

Looking forward to sharing it with you all.

Yesterday a customer brought in some cookies. I ate 3 of them. Last night I went to the gym, worked out chest/back and did 25 minutes (intervals between 5 mph and 9 mph) on the mill. I probably burned off 1 of the cookies.

Today a sales rep brought in Dunkin Donuts. I ate 2.5 so far. Some are still sitting there and every time I walk by I’m tempted. Guess I’ll have hit the gym again tonight?

I LOVE sweets. Sugar is addicting too. Once I have some I can’t stop. Sugar is my nemesis.