so... if you didn't know, recently - and in recently i mean since july - my stomach/throat has been feeling constantly uneasy.  it's definitely been affecting my mood and overall happiness.  basically - it sucks.  so if i've been more grouchy or haven't been out of the house much... SORRY!

kaiser hasn't been able to do much for me.  i've been in constant contact with my regular doctor and he hasn't done much... and a throat specialist wasn't much help either.  recently i've been trying alternative methods of healing.  about a month ago i got a massage.  that was really nice.  and last week i actually underwent acupuncture in sf!  the chinese doctor is supposed to be really good.  he healed my mom's mouth/tooth pain in which the american doctors told her to get her tooth cut out of her mouth!  crazy!  anyways, i've had 2 acupuncture treatments already and will be going in for more this week.  i've also been on chinese pills.  i take like 42 small pills a day.  most of the pills look like little hard rat poop.  and a couple of the yellow ones are really bitter.  i'll let you know if it all works out!  oh yea.  praying helps too!  did i mention that the chinese doctor is a christian too!?  wonders never cease.

anyways, enough about health.  today i got to play guitar for worship team.  chris was kind enough to let me join in.  it was great fun.  i have yet again come to the conclusion that strats are waaaaaaaaaaay better than les pauls for dccc.  at practice, i almost went deaf playing my 'paul.  it's just way too much output, and the tone is too thick.  switching to the strat was a great idea.  i thought it had great tone today.  too bad i totally screwed up one of the solos i was supposed to do today.  i was just being a bone head.  i think i got confused because at practice i played my 'paul - and it has a different scale length.  when i put my hands down to play the solo on the strat during service, i was totally in the wrong place.  totally turd sounding.  live and learn i guess.  electric guitar is such a challenge!  lovin' it though!

in other news... the gibson sg has returned to the cheng household.  here's the story.  my very first gibson was an sg.  i bought a limited edition white sg standard from music123.com in 2006.  i liked it a lot, but the neck on it was too big for my hands.  it just wasn't comfortable for me to play.  i ended up selling it on craigslist.  in 2007, gibson had their guitar of the week limited run thingy going on.  one week they had a '61 reissue sg in classic white.  the reissue had the cool small pickguard look AND a thin 60's neck profile!  well, duh!  i HAD to get it.  well, turns out, i wasn't a fan of the stock 57 classic pickups.  the guitar just sounded thin and putrid compared to my les paul (blackie ii/ursula).  i ended up selling this one too.  i thought it was over for me and sgs.  well, lo and behold, i see that gibson has released yet another white gibson sg.  as you can tell, i have a total thing for white sgs.  this sg has a thin 60's neck, big modern pickguard, modern standard pickups, AND GET THIS... coil tapping!  OMG.  so this thing can sound gibson-y and even a little fender-y!  before getting acupuncture in sf, i visited guitar center on van ness street and tried it out.  it was amazing.  a bit expensive... but amazing.  long story short, last friday, i struck a deal with guitar center sacramento and reached a great price on it and now it is sitting here next to me.  i really wanted to use it today but it's not set up yet.  my guitar tech in davis said he could help me out with it this week.  here's a picture history of white sgs that i've had and have.

ps. the engater amp i got from musiciansfriend stopped working AGAIN.  the channel switching didn't work on it.  arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!  i ended up returning it.  sorry bruce egnater, your amps didn't work out for me.  i ended up exchanging it for the surf green blues junior in the post below!  hahahah!  surf green baby!

pps.  i'm playing the new halo game on the xbox360.  it's fun!  different, but fun!

 
 i will envy you if you buy this amp.

so, the video above is the culmination of a long weekend of fun, stress, merriment, and fatigue.  it was an honor to be able to help out in the worship aspect of george and lisa's wedding.  i personally think everyone who helped out with it did a spectacular job.  one definite unsung hero was jim, who ran sound after only just learning how to a few weeks ago.

there was a lot of thought that went into making the worship time work at the wedding.  making sure it sounded right was no easy task.  most of the instruments that we normally use at dccc were moved to a different location on the stage.  this made sound monitoring very awkward and difficult.  in my case, i really didn't get any monitoring.  so basically, imagine that you are playing the drums and you can't really hear anything else well.  that's how i experienced the worship set.  it's not a big deal - but it makes the musical experience a little less enjoyable.

the drums were moved to the far left of the stage.  because of its location, they sounded much louder than usual.  i knew i couldn't play full on because i'd basically make everyone around me deaf.  if you watch me in the video, i'm playing with a very, very sensitive and light touch.  i definitely don't look the part of a rocking rock star drummer - but i think the drums mixed in well with the other instruments when all was said and done.


at the practice, the electric guitar presented a problem because it was not controlled by the sound person - and it was very loud.  we solved the problem by micing it with a shure sm57.  we turned the volume on it WAY down and miced it.  i think it turned out to be a great idea.  we usually don't mic the electric guitar at dccc and have a difficult time getting it at a good level.  i think from now on we'll just have to mic the electric OR use the amp's direct out to the board (if it has one - egnater, i'm looking at YOU!)