So for those who don't know, the New Ancients do the music for the sunday services at The ORB. Recently, the board asked the heads of all the ministries there to come up with a budget for the year. since i'm "sort of in charge" of the music, it was my job to come up with what we the band would need for the coming year. here's the budget i came up with for the band:

sunday night service music requirements:

technicals:

2 smoke/fog machines
4 1 gallon containers of coconut scented fog liquid
1 3' diameter mirrored disco ball
4 400W spotlights
1 LFI I-2000 High Power LPSS (Lamp Pumped Solid-state) laser system
1 12' x 24' projection screen (mounted behind performers)
1 10000 lumen projector
10 hrs (minimum) of Richard Simmons' Sweatin to The Oldies
tapes to be used in projections set behind performers.

4 personal platforms for performers:
- 3' by 3' wooden platforms raised 1' with metal grating sufaces.
- powerful fan mounted in platform to blow air upwards on performer
effectively blowing hair upwards and giving clothing a more active
appearance.
- 4 200 watt lights mounted in each box to "under light" the performer
for added impact.
- each platform shall have a footswitch that the performer can use to turn on
the unit during extra praise choruses and solos.
materials cost: $15,000


performer transportation:
-6 segway personal transport units shall be available for performers at all
times before, during and after the service.

cost: (@ 5k each) $30,000

crew:
-a crew of 10 (ten) stage technicians shall be available at all times.
each member shall be equiped with the following:

- flashlight
- 600volt taser
- toothbrush
- hairdryer
- makeup kit
- sewing kit
- duct tape
- notary puplic stamps (each member shall be a registered notary public)
- defribrillator
- $2500 cash on hand at all times.

*NOTE* crew must keep all congregation members away from performers at a distance of at least 20 feet at all times before and after the service.

cost per week: $30,000



wardrobe:
6 full length evening gowns
6 color coordinated jumpsuits ala "The Bay City Rollers"
6 full Medivial costumes ranging from serf to nobelman and nobelwoman
6 star trek outfits
The following Muppet Show outfits:
1 full size kermit the frog outfit
1 full size fozzie bear outfit
1 full size miss piggy outfit
1 full size Dr. Teeth outfit
1 full size Sgt. Floyd Pepper outfit
1 full size Zoot outfit
1 full size Janice outfit
1 full size Lips outfit
1 full size Animal outfit

wardrobe cost: $6000



before each service the follow foods/drinks/preparational items will available
to the performers:

1 blender
1 electric slicer
1 fruit centrifuge
1 large refridgerator containing:
5 evian and 10 perrier waters (NO Aquafina!!!)
1 gallon of fresh orange juice
10 lemons
1 kiwi (skin removed)
4 plain yogurts and 1 maple vanillia yogurt
1 jar of pickled cactus
6 varieties of hot sauce
roast beef
chicken
Manchego goat cheese
lobster tails (fresh)
6 bottles of new castle lager
2 bottles of strawberry flavored milk
1 jar of honey
a large box of salt
2 large boxed of Arm and Hammer baking soda
1 extremely large box with a 60%-40% mix of salt and arm and hammer baking
soda
10 potatoes
1 gallon of olive oil
a wok
1 10 gallon kettle to boil water
1 box of Frankenberry cereal
6 pairs of chopsticks

equipment total ( 1 time total): $800
weekly subtotal (for food): $300


total - $82,100

here's a short vid clip of me doing some bass, and then talking to christian as he tells me how the board voted on my proposal.

short night last night as we only worked on 1 song (What'er He Sends).
I did few passes for a drum track, some tambo and bells, and Rob started work
on the horn part he had written.

Love it! sounds so good. this is going to be one heck of a sunny song when it's done. tom was there as usual taking pics and vids and spraying tim in the ears with compressed air. Good times. Tim brough over his violin that he found in the attic of his parents house and the 2 of us tried to play some things; he on his fiddle and me on my cello. That was pretty funny - a couple of total noobs on their stringed instruments trying to kick out the jams.

The night quickly degraded into the 4 of us just listening to Wesley Willis songs. Someone needs to be there keeping the night on track! Oh wait.. i think that's my job. Ooops.
I feel like this album is going so slowly at this point.. i need to start putting in more time on it or it will take 2 years to complete.

Moving Forward by Going Backwards.

So we are making progress by going back and re-doing all the scratch tracks that have been put down so far. For now, we seem to be focusing on "Great God", "Chase The Shades of Night", "These Burdens", and something else i can't remember right now. Those songs are the furthest along, so they have momentum and are easy to work on. Last night it was me, christian, michelle, tim, tom, sandy, and Blue (who showed up knowing full well that he may not get to actually play anything - but he was there for the laughs). we focused mainly on drums as i had the drum room set up and ready to go from a couple days prior. I got some ideas for beats from christian (you can see him in this weeks video coaching me - very funny). i did many takes of this simple little pattern. many takes:

here i am tuning up a drum. i hate that beard. it's coming off tonite.

Tom again did the photos and vids... he's got this new little gag going where he's sneaking up on people in the control room and spraying them in the ear with compressed air. check out the video for his latest victims. Now that i think of it.. that's probably not the best idea to do to an audio engineer.

While i did take after take of 2 songs on the drums and christian played the comedy puppet, tim ran the board and computer and blue noodled his banjo. While we rocked, the girls knit.

here's the vid for this week. i left it a bit longer since youtube seems to have an unlimited amount of storage space for whatever junk people want to let the world in on. good for us!