Have you seen this yet?? It's hilarious on so many levels. Two of my favorite parts about it are "THE Iraq" and "U.S. Americans". Bless.

Last night was fun! Phil did a great job and it was so fun to watch him with his original band members. They had a great time together. Phil invited his friend, Caitlin, to join him as well. She has homes in Nashville and L. A. and just happened to be in town. She blew my mind! WOW! When I get to Heaven, I want to play fiddle like that. She is on the road with a couple of different artists. We were blessed to have her last night. And, as always, Phil blessed us. I love that guy. He has a great heart and is so incredibly gifted. Here are some pics from our night...





If you could play any instrument (other than what you currently play-- if you do) what would it be?

My answers-- the fiddle and the oboe. I know, random. I've always loved the oboe. What about you? What do you wish you could play?

Phil Keaggy...with special guests, Glass Harp! Tonight at Otter Creek--absolutely free admission. Doors open at 6:30pm. Come join us!

Jennifer Pearman sent us this from utube. Anyone else identify with these thoughts? Hilarious!

I just got back from my less-than-24-hour-whirlwind-trip to Abilene. It is SO GREEN there! It's crazy. Wow. I don't think I've ever seen it so beautiful. It was like a trip to the Emerald City. (one short day in the Emerald Cityyyy...one very short day)

I got to hang last night with 2 of my old college roommates (who my blog readers know well by now). Craig just moved his family to Abilene where he is now the CEO of the Abilene Christian Schools (K-12). Stephen drove in to sing with me this morning. We had a blast. We ate Sharon Allen's REAL TX steak last night and then finished it off with a Cajun Cone! Hallelujah, praise the Lord for Cajun Cones!! Our time together was short, but rich.



Sam Souder is one of the students in the new Worship Ministry program (and also happens to be Craig and Beth Ann's nephew). He sang with me today too...



Below (L-R) Me, Jennifer Rasco (whom I have known her entire life from Highland), Benay Dennis and Sam Souder after chapel. (Kellie Miller, Kristen Ward, Val Durrington, Dylan Gay and Stephen also sang with me.)


And...to make the awesome 24 hours complete, I am back in Nashville where it is RAINING! Praise God!

The recording is finished and off to be duplicated. The liner notes are done, the artwork is ready, the folio is close...(GO CLARISSA, GO!!!!)

Overflow should be on track for the Sept 1 release date. Thanks for all your support for this record and recording process! It's definitely my favorite out of all 12 of our recordings. I hope you guys all like it!

This afternoon I took Maddie, Ella, Jeff, Jake and my mom to watch a run-through of the Summit cast doing some of the broadway stuff. Here are some more pics...

Emily singing "cuuuurtain up...light the lights..."



"The Producers"...


Travis as Max in "The Producers"...



Travis and Mandy-- "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (Travis and I would have been in the same show back in 1994 at fiesta TX if I had completed my contract and not left to do ships...crazy small world)



Mandy--"Thoroughly Modern Millie"



Emily--"All That Jazz"



"All That Jazz"


Mama Mia--"Waterloo"



Wicked--"Defying Gravity" (The staging of the Wicked section is awesome. Mandy is on a lift that lifts her and her black dress extends all over stage. I get so engrossed in the Wicked and Lion King sections that I forget to take good pictures!!!)



Lion King--Circle of Life



Mandy with the girls

CD, folio, liner notes, producer's notes, etc...these things have been consuming me this week--all week!! It's almost all--ALL done! We're OH SO close.

To keep things interesting in the off time I've been working again with Celebrity Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line vocal directing several shows. Gary Musick company is hopping with activity right now. There are 3 casts there rehearsing so it's a zoo---but a crazy fun zoo!

These casts are working so hard--many of them late into the night preparing for their shows. The music is AWESOME! For example---shows like Wicked, Lion King, Hairspray, Mama Mia, The Producers, Les Mis, Phantom, and West Side Story. The singers have done a great job too. Here are some pics--

Some of the singers and a couple of dancers from the NCL "Gem"...



My newest cast from Celebrity Infinity... Jason, Adrianna, Brad, Eno and Derek...



Emily and Mandy--female singers from Celebrity's "Summit". LOVED this cast!



A run-through of "Night of Stars" (Mandy--Celebrity "Summit")



Tim Goins and me. Tim is one of the principal singers on the "Summit". He recently played Simba for a while in the Disney Lion King show at Animal Kingdom.



Run-through of "Night of Stars" with Tim.



Tim singing... "Tell me what I say...." rockin it OUT!



Cast of Celebrity Cruise Line "Summit" with Erin (choreog), Gary Musick (owner of the company) and me. The singers, Travis Turpin, Mandy Morris, Emily Fitzpatrick, Ryan Walton, and Timothy Goins were one of my all time favorite groups to work with.



If you've ever thought about booking a cruise, go sometime in the next 6 months on either the NCL "Gem" (NCL's brand new ship built this year--this is the first cruise and cast ever) or Celebrity Cruise Line's "Infinity". Both casts are SO strong. You'd be assured an AWESOME show experience.

Jeff and Jake Berry are staying with us and it's been fun having them finally here. Jake started school at David Lipscomb Elem Friday. Last night Katey Earles, my mom, Jeff, Jake, and all of our family gathered to watch High School Musical 2. The girls have been driving us crazy about it. I loved the beginning. The dance sequences were awesome. The music for the first few songs was cool. Then it went downhill into Cheeseville. By the time the "Troy" character was singing alone (towards the end) on the golf course, I was just mad. The Chris Doggett kind of mad. :) Of course, our kids LOVED it.

Have a great weekend, friends!

School days are back! Maddie started Kindergarten this week, Ella started Pre-K, and Sam started pre-school---all at Otter Creek! It's hard to believe that all three are there this year. Maddie is a full-time school girl. Ella goes three days and Sam is there two days. They're getting so big!

It's been nice to be home. Jeff Berry and his son Jake arrive tonight---their first chapeter of a new life in Nashville! We're really excited!

We just returned from the Ozark Mountains where we joined all of Sheryl's family at a family reunion at a cabin waaaaaaaay up a mountain and back in the woods. (If I heard a banjo start playing that would have been IT!) The cabin was really nice and held all 30 of us comfortably. It was really perfect for our weekend.

The only thing that came close to souring the weekend for me was the whole TWO poisonous snake encounters... one at the lake and one curled up in front of the cabin door (a copperhead). Have I mentioned that I do NOT like s-n-a-k-e-s? Chris (Fajita) almost stepped on it but it slithered away--under the door into the bunk house where it was trying to CLIMB THE STAIRS to where the beds are. I am screaming on the inside even as I type. Seriously. And then there was the whole friendly skunk and weird baby mole incident. Eew.

This was the first time in maybe 20 years that ALL of Sheryl's family had been together at the same time. It was a very, very special weekend.

Maddie, Ella, and Sam LOVED being with their cousins! Canaan and Sierra are so special to them!



Saturday night we took over one of the local restaurants (that decorated with abandoned bee hives by the way...?) and toasted Sheryl's mom. It was an incredibly moving night.



Sam is such a rock star!!



Gail, Beth Ann, and Sheryl (sisters!)



Sheryl's brother Chuck is one of my favorite people on Earth!



Here's a shot of all of us after dinner Saturday night...



It's good to be home, although we loved seeing everyone! Tomorrow is a very special day for us...Maddie starts Kindergarten!! Crazy.

Yesterday on the flight home we connected through Las Vegas and changed planes and ended up in front of 3 "plane offenders". No...the entire plane does NOT want to hear your conversation or hear how many different creative ways you can curse. We do NOT want to know about all your escapades or what you might do if you were "in prison". (yes, I am serious.) Here's a tip---when people all around you are donning parachutes, it's time to take a look within.

So...we landed and I got to see my kids for a couple of hours before having to go to work on the recording. We mixed til early this morning. In fact, I was so delirious, I got lost going home in my own town. It was ridiculous!

We've been back at it today since about 11 this morning (it's currently after midnight now). We started off this morning with smiles...
L-R--me, Chris Yoakum (our very, very AWESOME engineer), Kyler, and Ryan Sutton (the asst. engineer)



In fact...as the day wore on, song after song, Chris manages to stay his perky up-beat self...



By tonight...here was how I was feeling. This picture pretty much says it all...

2:30 am...still...going....

Sheryl and I just returned tonight from one of the most amazing weekends ever! Our dear friends Peter Wilson and Lindsey Morgan got married at a gorgeous vineyard called Trentadue in the Sonoma, California area. Several of our ZOE family went. What a blast!! There's no way I can describe what an awesome weekend it was. Pictures help though! :)

No stained glass could ever beat the backdrop of this vineyard...here's the rehearsal...



The rehearsal dinner was at the Morgan's house (Lindsey's parents). INCREDIBLE!!



Here's a picture taken from the Morgan's back deck... so beautiful!



Scott and Amy at the dinner...



The next day Scott, Amy, JV, Sheryl and I toured Napa Valley and some vineyards there. It was so amazing!!! There was this quaint little country store that we loved.



Sheryl and Amy



One of the wineries in Napa--



That afternoon we had just enough time to change and get to the vineyard for pre-wedding pictures...



This is Zach--Peter's brother. He's a few french fries short of a happy meal, but we love him.



The wedding party--



The weather was perfect (though a tad warmish in tuxes)...



Our ZOE family celebrating with Pete and Linds...



Peter and Lindsey's reception was at the Trentadue Vineyard too. It was absolutely beautiful. This was one of my favorite pictures of the weekend... (notice the relief in their faces!)



Peter and Lindsey took dance lessons in order to wow the crowd for their first dance. Pete, I think you have a future in hip hop, bro.



Sunday morning we went to church in Sonoma where Peter leads worship. Jeremy Johnson led in Peter's place and some of the former Won by One singers sang with him. It was awesome! Barney preached a great sermon too. Afterwards, the Morgans took us to a country vineyard in Sonoma for a picnic complete with different cheese made regionally, fruit, deli sandwiches, and lots of GOODNESS! It was incredible! Here's a picture of Sheryl and Taylor (Lindsey's mom)...



The next vineyard we visited was my favorite of the weekend--Bella. This one had caves. Caves are waaay cool!



Jeremy, Amber, Sheryl and I pose inside the cave--



Along the way--near the Bella vineyard--Bruce stopped and let me jump out to snap a picture of one of the thousands of vines that were FULL of grapes. (I confess, I might have eaten one...or two...)



Sheryl and I pose at the last vineyard we visited...



Pictured here L-R are Justin's parents, Kara and Justin (Lindsey's sister and bro-in-law), Sheryl, Taylor Morgan, Gail Wilson, Bruce Morgan, me, Peter Wilson (Pete's dad) and Zach Wilson



Thank you, Peter and Lindsey, Bruce and Taylor, and Peter and Gail! We had such an incredible time and feel so blessed to part of your family! This was my 9th wedding to officiate...and definitely one of the MOST memorable!

Pray for us tonight. We're in the studio mixing. The ZOE project needs to be done this week in time to meet the Sept 1 release date!

Coming soon...tales of a 4 hour flight in front of 3 guys who make Howard Stern and Bevis and Butthead look like Mr. Rogers.