The Roger Hooper Jazz Trio (or whatever we call this group)

On Saturday night I had fun playing jazz music w/ Roger and John. We played songs like Chameleon, Satin Doll, our own arrangement of Come Together and some other Beatles song that I can't remember the name. We played for about two and a half hours. It was a blast and reminded me that I need to start practicing. One thing that was fun is we put on a Tabla loop from my Rolad HPD-10.

My wife took this picture, I posted it because I love photographs of fire.

Johnnie set up some cool lights and put a candle on my bass drum. I guess that's one advantage of not playing w/ any toms on the kick drum ... you can put a candle where there would normally be toms.

One of the highlights of the evening was when Mari sang "Girl from Ipanema."

I'm thinking, "Wow, these brushes sound so cool," while John is thinking, "Stop thinking about yourself man!"


Hopefully I'll get to play w/ these guys soon.

Worship Band Workshop #1

So today John Spiro and I lead a 3 hour workshop on how to play in a worship band. One of my current drum students, one of my former drum students, and Jason (who is in my CG at Church) participated with five other young musicians. Below is the handout we used (if you want to see the original you can let me know). I think the students had a great time playing in a band setting. For some of the participants it was their first time playing with a group. Johnny and I hope to do this again.



Tonight we are playing jazz at the Spiro's. I'll post some pictures soon.

I'm on You Tube

Well, I'm not sure what my motivation is for saying this, but I'm sure my Mom will be excited. I am on YouTube. The video is from a Sunday morning where we the band was set-up acoustic style. The thing I was most struck by is how bald I look with the headphones. Anyway, that Sunday was a lot of fun. I think the next time we do something like that, we should use a click. My tempos were all over the map.

1 Year w/ Mari

Mari and I had a great time in Rehoboth Beach celebrating our one year anniversary. I can't believe it's been 1 year already. Time certainly does fly when you're having fun. I can't wait to, Lord willing, our anniversary next year recounting what God has done in our marriage.

Things That My Wife Say To Me, Annapolis w/ CG, "Standing Tall," & 1 Peter

So it's Friday night ... Mari and I are having a relaxing evening at home eating Pizza. I've had three pieces and I go to grab my fourth. Mari says, "What are you doing." I say, "Grabbing another slice of pizza. A typical serving for men is 4 pieces of pizza." She says in her sweet voice, "Typical serving for 'OBESE' men." For some reason, I thought that was the funniest thing, so I laughed for a long time. Below are three pieces of pizza because I like pictures of food.

Speaking of food, Mari and I went to Annapolis with our singles care group. It was a lot of fun. We had brunch at Buddy's. Here's the happy group after a little walk around the town.

On Thursday I had the second out of three concerts this month. The students did a great job both performing and behaving. I videotaped the concert and I told them that their grade was based on what I saw on the videotape. I think that scared them because they seem to behave very well. We finished the concert with a song that the students and I wrote called "Standing Tall." We dedicated it to the memory of Moses Wright, who was the Great Uncle of Emmett Till. Moses was one of the first black men to accuse white men of murder in a United States court of law. "It may have been the first time when a black man stood in open court in the South and accused a white man of a crime -- and lived."

Lately, I've been reading 1 Peter. Here are a few verses that stood out to me:
1 PETER 2:1-3,24-25
"So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation-if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
One of the best ways to grow as a Christian is to remember that the Lord is good. God's goodenss is revealed to us primarily on the cross of Christ, where Jesus died for our sins. May this week be a week of putting away sin and embracing God's goodness through the gospel of Jesus!