Changes

What’s up everyone. It’s been a while since we’ve posted a new blog so I want to apologize for that. Unfortunately we have some bad news for the folks. Due to personal commitments Chris has decided to leave the band. We don’t have any details beyond that and would like to leave the issue with that. The good news is that this does NOT mean the end of Captured. While the news brought heart-ache and sadness to the three of us, we will miss Chris very much and will always consider him a brother. We ask for your thoughts and prayers for him as we continue to pray for him.

Chat, Jon and I are very excited about the music we make together and we are in the process of searching for a new front-man. If you think YOU have what it takes to fill Chris’ shoes or if you think you know someone who does, PLEASE contact us or have them contact us. We will continue to play the songs we wrote with Chris, but we have so many more new song ideas ready to go. Please visit our myspace page to hear our music. We will be re-recording the vocals on our latest EP with the new singer (whoever it may be) as soon as possible, and possibly even adding a song or two to the EP in the process. We will be posting updates weekly as we get back into the swing of the new year. Thanks so much for your support!
Tristan, Chat, Jon

I met Gomer Pyle. And I lost some hearing.

Yep. I sell and install Dish Network and DirecTV satellite tv systems for a living (shameless plug!). In this business I encounter some really rich folks that have really big, nice houses and drive amazing cars (scroll down for an example) and I encounter plenty of regular everyday folks. I also spend a large amount of my time in the rural areas of the upstate. Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting a man (and installing satellite for him) that talked, walked, and acted JUST LIKE GOMER PYLE from the Andy Griffith Show.

When I pulled into the driveway/dirt path he hollered “howdy doo!?” in a loud voice. When I walked up to the front porch that he yelled those words from, he continued to speak to me at the same volume level as when I was getting out of my truck out in the driveway….the ENTIRE TIME I WAS THERE! I really do think I lost some hearing….

While I was setting up his receiver in the living room, I asked him if there was a phone jack nearby. When you connect a Dish receiver (that feeds two rooms simultaneously) to a phone jack you can save $7 a month on your bill. His nearest phone jack was on the other side of the wall that his receiver backed up to. So while his wife sat on the couch watching me and him work this out, he grabs my flathead screwdriver and yells/says “I know! I’ll put in a new phone jack real quick!” He runs into the other room (behind the wall the receiver is up against) and next thing I know my screwdriver is coming through the wall. His wife comes unglued!!! That was my day yesterday. It’ll probably happen again soon too…

Charleston

So I just got back from an interesting trip to Charleston..I went down to stay with a friend for a few days and had some food at really nice places, went to the beach etc.. The cool thing about Charleston is that it was like 80 degrees everyday. So for the interesting part, my friend introduces me to a couple of his friends. He says the guy he is about to introduce me to looks just like a pirate and his personality is like one also. So we go to his house to stay for a couple of nights and as soon as I meet him..sure enough he looks just like Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Carribean all day long. He even acted like that so to speak. Very cool people, awesome to be around! I will post a pic or two very soon!

working at McDonald’s= the stuff of dreams

So, my 5 yr old son Jordan and I are sitting on the couch watching the World Series and he says to me, “Dad, you know what I want to be when I grow up?”.  Naturally, since we’re watching baseball and he loves to play, I think he’s going to say he wants to be a baseball player…but it’s funny how unpredictable a conversation with a kid can be.

“No, What?”, I ask. “A food server”, he replies. “You know the person at McDonald’s who gives you the food after someone else makes it?.  That’s what I want to do”.

…”Why are you laughing, Dad?”

I told him that I was surprised by his statement, that’s all.  I told him how his Aunt used to have that (apparently) glamorous privilege, and he said “No way! Are you kidding me?”  In Jordan’s world, my sister now holds a much higher rank of awesomeness. I was going to tell him that his uncle was also a food server at McDonald’s at one time too, but I thought that it might be too much excitement for Jordan to handle all at once. We’ll save that one for later…

Pumpkins…

I carved a pumpkin on halloween night. Here’s a picture of it. Anybody else carve one? How about this….I carved it in the dark, without a pattern. Sort of. See I had a pattern, but I couldn’t fasten it to the pumpkin, so I had to kind of freehand it while looking (in the dark) at the pattern. It was pretty fun. I’m proud of it I think…

My (Tristan) snake story is better than Chris’…

So I actually CAUGHT the snake that I ran into. Actually both of them. For those of you who don’t know me, I work for Custom Dish Satellite in Seneca. I install satellite systems for homeowners and businesses and my job puts me in a lot of precarious situations….with both people and wildlife! So my latest trip to Salem (off Hwy. 11) led me up a steep muddy hill lined with rooster pens and pig pens and other assorted farm life. When I arrived at the top of the hill there was a double-wide trailer….which is usually a quick and easy installation. Well it’s been raining like crazy in Oconee County, so I had a lot of mud to deal with at this particular job. As I was dismantling the directv dish from the customer’s front/back (wasn’t sure which one it was) porch, there came a wigglin’ snake out of the leaves/mud. It was about 10 inches long and pretty skinny, and I couldn’t really identify what kind it was. Well only after catching it and letting it wrap around my hand did the homeowner kindly let me know it was a copperhead. She said it was probably about 2 years old. I’m thinking….”awesome. This snake is wrapped around my left hand. I need my left hand. This friggin’ snake better not bite me or I’m going to go ballistic!” So I managed to loose the snake without any flesh wounds. 

I keep working, and along comes a tiny little snake that’s all black. I thought…”Sweet, I’ll catch it and keep it and have a pet snake again. Cuz this one’s all black and it won’t hurt me!” But it got away. 

        Ze End.  (pictures to come tomorrow)

Ashville

So we played our first show in Ashville last night at The Boiler Room. It was a success! For not having that much time to promote the show, everything went very well. I am looking forward to playing there again. So..after the show I went out on the town with some of the guys that came with the other band from Charlotte. We were sitting at a table and I decided it was time for a trip to the little boys room. When I came out of the restroom there was a guy on a ladder fixing a vent, the ladder fell with the guy still on it onto me. Then while falling onto me the ladder (with the guy still on it) landed directly onto my both of my shoes hitting my toes. Needless to say I have very sore feet today. All in all though, the show was awesome and I can’t wait to play in Ashville again, regardless of falling objects.

Rockin Asheville…Really

So, there was some confusion as to whether or not we were actually booked to play this Friday at the Boiler Room in Asheville. Since I actually live in Asheville (and we’ve never played at an Asheville venue) and I always have to drive down the mountain for practice and gigs, I’m quite pleased that we have confirmed we are indeed on the books.  Show is supposed to start at 10.  I hope to see lots of folks out there.

“Snakes…. I hate snakes.”

I feel Indiana Jone’s pain there… Not a fan of snakes, especially those you run into under a house which I have done on more than one occassion.  Living in the south we have a common not so friendly snake called a “Copperhead”.  So last week I am at this house and attempt to brush a vine to the side on their brick column.  I take the back of my hand and using my knuckles I push on it…. IT MOVES!

Use some grilling tools and get it out on the ground.  It looks similar to a copper head but its a baby so its hard to know for sure since the babies don’t necessarily look like the adult copperhead.  Could also be a brown snake.  Sounds better to say I touched a poisonous copperhead snake so thats my story!!!

Last Day in New York

So I have had a wonderful week in New York. Lots and lots of things accomplished including Chinatown, Little Italy, The Empire State building, The Statue of Liberty, The Natural History Museum, Central Park, and I had dinner in the diner from the tv show seinfeld. All in all it was an amazing trip. I am sitting here eating my last breakfast in the apartment. Going out to grab a couple of things to bring home with me, and heading toward SC!