Doug Nye performs at "He Brews" Coffee House

This past Friday evening Doug Nye shared songs of inspiration, redemption, and fellowship
with members and guests of Damariscotta Baptist Church in Damariscotta, Maine.
His acoustic set was followed by an "open mic" set hosted by the DBC Praise band. Musicians from all over the area jammed on praise-worthy tunes. "He Brews" coffee house is held every third Friday of the month in the downstairs fellowship hall of Damariscotta Baptist church.
The event features free coffee, cold drinks and home-made treats for the whole family.

"The Letter Black" dishes out Christian Rock

It can be sometimes hard indeed to tell a book by its cover. By first appearances I wouldn't have guessed that the band "The Letter Black" had any ties to Christianity. For some Christians, rock music is still a hard (no pun intended) thing to digest. But for me there is no question that God is more concerned with the condition of our hearts and not what meter or beat we are creating music to. With that said, "The Letter Black" promises to be one hot band. I was duly impressed with the energy displayed in their promo video on youtube.

Damariscotta Church Steeple almost up?

Apparently we still need a tidy sum if we're going to get the steeple up this spring.
Watch for details on the "Pirate Days" event in Damariscotta, Maine in June. We'll be hosting a breakfast and dinner.

"He Brews" Coffee House artist announced for May at Damariscotta Baptist Church

This month we'll be featuring Doug Nye, a Christian songwriter and performer that will be with us for the first time. It's been an exciting series of coffee house performers for a variety of reasons. Every month brings a new artist so that generally creates an air of excitement. Our own praise band is also ready by that point to kick up the volume a little ( keeping it low in church)and generally have an all out jam with whoever shows up. Add the ingredients of free coffee and treats and you have one wired bunch praising the lord!
All kidding aside, I'm amazed at how God works. There's always at least one person who attends who is deeply in need of prayer and fellowship. And that's why we do it after all. It's an outreach to our community for fellowship. There's no pressure to "join" or "contribute", or anything of that nature. Just extending a loving hand when possible.
The "He Brews" coffee house event takes place every third Friday of the month. Doug Nye will be performing on Friday, May 21st at 7:00pm followed by an "open mic" jam with DBC Praise Band in the fellowship hall, downstairs at Damariscotta Baptist Church, 4 Bristol road, Damariscotta, Maine.

Playing Drums in Church

This is a subject I'm writing on out of necessity because I'm faced with the volume issue every week! Of course, it goes without saying that I've been told to "turn down" all of my life. We're talking over 40 years of playing drums and hearing just that when I lived in apartments, playing in small venues, churches, and small rooms in general. And it still burns me.
Why? Not because I'm unreasonable, or a show off, or something like that. It's because I do make every possible effort to play quietly. But, as many of you know, it can and does affect your ability to keep a good groove. Also, most folks don't understand the instrument and what it takes to get a good sound from them.
My church is a nearly 200 year-old building with high ceilings. Designed to carry the pastor's voice, so you can imagine the power the drums can have should I become unglued. And, I'm positioned in the open, in front of the piano. At this point it's the only place for me without a major "rebuild" of the area we use. And by that I mean removing the platform that the choir's seats are on and building a corner cubby for the drums,etc.
Many big churches have the budget for adequate sound absorption and drum booths, etc. But when you're a small church, with no money for such things, and this is the first praise band in the church's history, well, we deal with this as if it's the first time. Which it is.
That being said, this is what I've done so far to help in volume control. First, I use Promark "cool rods". These are great for a number of reasons besides volume. They greatly reduce the shock going up your arms from playing with a stick. This is important to me because I've been playing rock for over 40 years and I've now got some arm damage. It's my own fault, I used rimshots quite a bit in the old days to play over the volume of loud guitarists. I started out with the "hot rods" but found I didn't need such a large version. It's a little hard to get adequate "ping" from my ride, but I like what I can do on the snare and hihat.
Next, I have the standard pillow in my bass drum, augmented with a seat cushion resting in front of the drum. Lastly, I only use my small cymbals with this setup. A 12″ and 16″ to be exact, for crashes. The hi-hat is generally played closed so I have a grip on that.
I've done my research and the next piece coming will be a plexi-glass shield to place in front of the set. Then maybe I can slip into a groove without the choir director shouting "eggshells, eggshells".

John Keyser 2009

Third Day's Revelation is a rock delight

For the past couple of weeks I've been enjoying Third Day's latest release, "Revelation" on my rides to school. Usually I'm blasted out by time I've gotten to where I'm going (no fault of theirs) as the volume keeps going up. It can't be helped, really. As a life-long rock drummer I live for music like this. The fact that they sing about what the Lord has done for me is a double blessing. While most of the music is a little too heavy to play at church, I found one number ( Born Again) at the end of the disc that should do nicely. And, I'll get to sing it as well. Mac sings most of his songs in my range, making me one happy guy. I've put up their mobile link for awhile. It's rather slow in loading, so hold on.

The first year in community college

It certainly has been an interesting first year, thinking back on how afraid I was to even try this. Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks. The electives have been no trouble at all, workload wise. Life experiences have served me well with ample material to rely on. The technical courses have been a little harder. Not so much from a new information standpoint, as I an pretty comfortable with new technologies. But trying to remember it all, sheesh!
I've picked up quite a bit of knowledge on HTML, CSS, java script, and multimedia. But I'm going to have to keep at it so I can master them if they're going to be any use to me. And I hope they will, when I either launch a new business or seek gainful employment.
Everyone at Kennebec Community College (KVCC) in fairfield, Maine have made it so much easier seeking a new education. Thanks!