YONDER BREAKS

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but just as it is written, "Things which the eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." ( 1 Corinthians 2:6-9 ) This verse finds its fulfillment in Christ, as what Jesus did didn't even make sense to the religious people at the time. But I think we could also apply that last verse to our lives in other ways -- God doing things that don't make sense.  For instance, I've prayed a lot about music, as it's felt like a calling , which is why I have even given it a good shot these past ...

I used to be a big gear head when it came to video. I loved cameras and, whatever was new, I was educated on. It was an exciting world to follow as there was always something better coming out, particularly when it came to making digital video look more like movies. Being big into filmmaking at the time, I couldn't get enough of it. Taken while shooting The Shaolin Monk of Chinatown . Photo by Peter Harmon . But then people starting shooting on DSLR cameras with interchangeable lenses, and it kind of shifted the game. Sure, the camera bodies were changing and updating and upgrading, but what has always affected the look of an image the most is the lens . Take an awesome camera with a crappy lens and it still won't look great. Vice versa would at least be an interesting photo, if not something actually good. Years later, I got into music and started investing in production gear. I would say that with a lot of audio gear, the same can be true, particularly in the world of digita...

I think God can and will speak to us often, likely as often as we ask Him . But there are times when it lands different, like a meteorite just plopped down in front of you in your backyard, and you can't help but stand still, speechless and a little dumbfounded.  One such occasion like this for me happened when I was driving, literally on the interchange between the 10 and 405 freeways in Los Angeles (an aside, but I recently saw this great video about why we put "the" in front of freeways in LA, if you're curious). I was shifting from writing screenplays to writing novels at the time, and while absent-mindedly thinking about my "career," or maybe just dreams and hopes for that endeavor, I felt like God said, "let go of that and I'll show you who you really  are." I regret to say that my first reaction was a swift "no," as writing had been quite a large part of my identity as a creative in Los Angeles; but the word was unmistakable ...

If you've read this blog even infrequently over the years, you probably know I grew up in South Carolina, started trying to make movies for a living around 2008 and moved to Los Angeles, where I put a heavy emphasis on writing. This led to writing books and then I started feeling a pull into music , which is most of what this website is about. Some time ago, I was at a wedding and one of my relatives told me, "I understood the whole movie thing, but I just don't get why you got into music. Why music ?" I didn't really know what to say or how to explain all of the things that had led me there, especially in a brief conversation on the way out of a wedding reception. There had been several events that brought me to the point of making music production my main focus, and so I'll write them here, partly for anyone wondering (which is probably much of my family!), but also partly for me, to recollect, remember and write down for future reference. My first instrum...

It's been about a year since Golden Coast Summertime was released to the public (folks who purchased my book, All Roads Lead to Dockweiler , were given an early release download of the album), my first full-length album. It was such a pleasure to produce these songs alongside the written material, and I've already been working on the next book/album combo! I wanted to highlight a song from Golden Coast Summertime , as it has a little story to it. "Let Go (Abandon)" was written after an encounter of hearing God's voice while absent-mindedly driving on the 10-to-405 freeway interchange after work one evening. If I remember correctly, I was ruminating about writing novels (my main endeavor at the time) and, out of nowhere, felt like God said something along the lines of, "If you let that go, I'll show you who you really  are."  I regret to tell you that I immediately rejected the notion, as writing had been quite a bit of my identity up until that poi...