gridleyblog

New Wireless Gear

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:06:36 -0500

For all the friends with pedal boards… something worth checking out. I made the jump from Shure to Line 6 based on the promise of wireless being attached to my pedal board. The newer version noted in the link looks like Line 6 has made some awesome improvements.

Good Read: What to do when people don't return your calls

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:59:23 -0500

Good Read: What to do when people don't return your calls

Xmas 4 Everyone

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:55:00 -0500

Tonight, I crashed a very important party - Christmas For Everyone. The hosts were a handful of students here at Calvary who had put together a mixture of the arts - ceramics, photography, live music, paintings. I had a chance to hear some really great covers by some emerging student-singer/songwriters. I also bid at their silent auction. (I imagine my bids would have been even higher had I drank more from their rootbeer tiki bar.)

The proceeds of the night (i.e the cover charge and the silent auction bids) go to Advent Conspiracy. This is a worshipful movement that Calvary is involved in. Proceeds from various “offerings” through out the church will bring clean water to 2 villages in Cambodia. We have standing relationships in Cambodia and are excited to see the lives of these villagers changed forever. Its crazy to think there are more than 2000 people in these villages who have to walk great distances to find any potable water source.

Check out some pics from tonight.

Andy Gridley ON RADIO! You don’t have to listen to KLOVE...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:53:00 -0400

Andy Gridley ON RADIO! You don’t have to listen to KLOVE or AIR 1 to hear the radio spot. Just use the flash player and listen to it HERE. Come THIS SATURDAY & join over 1000 students as I headline two separate sets in downtown San Jose. See you Saturday!

Hanging out at “Rice Field” here in Maui. Probably...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:29:55 -0400

Hanging out at “Rice Field” here in Maui. Probably one of the most beautiful spots overlooking the valley. It was a nice place to be still before jumping into a few hours of noise - PA speakers, lights, and break dancing (I made the last one up).

Off to Maui! This isn’t really the set list. I found it...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:53:00 -0400

Off to Maui! This isn’t really the set list. I found it suspiciously on my desk today though. It appears as though someone on staff was trying to suggest I need a little more ROCK in my acoustic looping set. Bring it!

I Mean Business! Ezra Gordon helped me put together amazing new...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:49:00 -0400

I Mean Business! Ezra Gordon helped me put together amazing new biz cards. We’ll hand out these bad boys to those interested in booking. A few months back, I realized I had a problem when an industry professional was stoked on my music and asked me for a CD and biz card. This guy is a big freak’n deal potentially opening an enormous door and I didn’t have either on me. What a rookie move! Oh well, it ending up playing to my advantage. Fast-forward to now. My new looping set is killer and I look forward to debuting it in Maui later this week. Who knows, maybe Jesus will be there and ask me for a card. I’d love to get booked by Jesus (although I hear the pay isn’t great).

Summer 09. Way too fast. I don’t know how you feel about...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:18:37 -0400

Summer 09. Way too fast.

I don’t know how you feel about it but summer is wrapping up way too quick for me.

I traveled quite a bit and took with me my trusty Blackberry Storm (for pics) and an “analog” notebook where I jotted down different ideas. It was crazy to be in rural India where I could take a pic and immediately post to FB. We live in a ridiculous time period for sure.

Over the next several weeks, as I prepare for a Maui tour and a large deal here in Down Town San Jose, I look forward to posting some fresh stuff. Likewise, I’m looking into some freshening up of the site (some new pics, maybe even some new-behind-the-scenes technology changes).

Time for bed. Up at 6:30am for a run & early AM creativity. Don’t forget to do your yoga.

Setting records! Today, we gathered as ONE church community at...

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:17:21 -0400

Setting records!

Today, we gathered as ONE church community at 10:45am. Its important to come together from time to time and to celebrate the ways God is moving in the hearts and lives of people.

Today, with record breaking temperatures, we also got to witness record numbers of baptisms within the Calvary community. 40 people chose to give their lives to Christ publically - to follow his teachings of loving kindness.

I took a quick picture of the list of names:

New Loop Video - rate it and spread the word!

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:00:05 -0400

New Loop Video - rate it and spread the word!

Ten Fatal Flaws of Leadership

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:37:39 -0400

A friend passed this onto me from a twitter feed. It is from Harvard business school and can be found here.

The top ten fatal flaws of leadership:

Lack energy and enthusiasm. They see new initiatives as a burden, rarely volunteer, and fear being overwhelmed. One such leader was described as having the ability to “suck all the energy out of any room.”

Accept their own mediocre performance. They overstate the difficulty of reaching targets so that they look good when they achieve them. They live by the mantra “Underpromise and overdeliver.”

Lack clear vision and direction. They believe their only job is to execute. Like a hiker who sticks close to the trail, they’re fine until they come to a fork.

Have poor judgment. They make decisions that colleagues and subordinates consider to be not in the organization’s best interests.

Don’t collaborate. They avoid peers, act independently, and view other leaders as competitors. As a result, they are set adrift by the very people whose insights and support they need.

Don’t walk the talk. They set standards of behavior or expectations of performance and then violate them. They’re perceived as lacking integrity.

Resist new ideas. They reject suggestions from subordinates and peers. Good ideas aren’t implemented, and the organization gets stuck.

Don’t learn from mistakes. They may make no more mistakes than their peers, but they fail to use setbacks as opportunities for improvement, hiding their errors and brooding about them instead.

Lack interpersonal skills. They make sins of both commission (they’re abrasive and bullying) and omission (they’re aloof, unavailable, and reluctant to praise).

Fail to develop others. They focus on themselves to the exclusion of developing subordinates, causing individuals and teams to disengage.

Nashville Day 6 - Shredding & The Frothy Monkey

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:28:00 -0400

This is me shredding on my new electric guitar! Brian and Todd went with me and showed me around the local Guitar Center.

Todd Shay (shown left) is a ridiculously good looking man as well as guitar extraordinaire. I especially like the riffy stuff he came up with on my song “Love Divine.” Brian Unger (shown right) taught me how to play acoustic guitar and helped develop my artistry over the years. He played on “Jesus Take My Heart” which turned out to be one of everyone’s favorite tunes off the new album.

Yesterday I drove north to Nashville to a local coffee shop called “Frothy Monkey.” I had a meeting with a really talented writer/artist named Reed Pittman (shown below). After coffee, we jammed back to his place and got to know each other’s music even better. I look forward to writing with him in the future.

Then there’s the infamous production house Zod Lounge. I got a chance to catch up with them over lunch at their studio. That night I got to see them play live with the Collier Girls at 12th & Porter.

12th & Porter is a local club where many talented performers come through. The Collier Girls are a group that the Zod guys have directly helped produce. Collier has this motown, retro feel with a fresh pop/rock deal. All kinds of “big dog” industry folks keep coming out to see ‘em. Everyone’s really really excited about their sound. It was fun to catch their show here while they’re still being discovered. It was equally fun to see the Zod guys play live as I’ve only worked with them within the studio. This is a new piece of gear they bought!

While I’ve been out, I also got to catch up with Scott Phillips. I met him a few years back through Dave and JJ Heller. Scott took me by the A Loft where we checked out his paintings.

Today, I drove back up to the Frothy Monkey and met with Spencer Nohe from Word (Warner Brothers). Spencer bought my breakfast (thanks Spencer) and we talked about my live act and my recorded disc. I gave him several requested copies of the new disc. I look forward to meeting with Spencer again next time I’m out.

Nashville Day 5 - What I look like (to kids)

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:25:00 -0400

You should always be concerned about how you’re coming across - what you feel like, sound like, LOOK like. This is a rendering of me, made by Olivia Unger. I especially like the details of the skulls on my shoes (Ed Hardy’s). Sadly, I never knew my arms were so short!

Nashville Day 3 - Drinking from a Jelly Jar

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:04:00 -0400

Yesterday I spent most of my time in Downtown Franklin. The downtown strip reminds me a lot of Los Gatos or Saratoga (where I’m from). Here, there are lots of refurbished historic buildings servicing boutiques and eateries. I took a picture of one of the first places I ever ate in the South. The restaurant is called, “Pucketts” and the menu has things like “meat and 1” (alien language for a Californian). The floor is exposed planks and you feel sort of like you’ve stepped back in time or something.

They ended up being packed out so I went to a different spot: The Franklin Mercantile. It reminded me a lot of Pucketts. I sat in a corner with my laptop and my mason jar full of “pop.”

I spent a lot of time syncing up with appointments I had made prior to coming out. I also read quite a bit. It was a chance for me to really pause and collect my thoughts regarding my trip out.

Eventually, I decided to hit up one more spot that is pretty famous around here: Merridees. Its another country-style bakery and coffee shop. They have all these baskets that hang from exposed wood rafters. I’m still not really sure what’s up with that.

I got a coffee, sat on the leather couch (next to the yellow colored, retro dining table) and took a few hours to really focus in on vision. I read and re-read two web posts about vision. One is by Michael Hyatt and the other by John Maxwell. I also read the book of Nehemiah and journaled. I felt by the end that God had really helped me clarify some things regarding my music and professional life. Good times.

Today I had a few awesome appointments. First however, I fought traffic and ended up lost a few times. Getting lost is pretty normal on these trips. I think it reveals either how small my brain capacity is or (hopefully) how much stuff I’m trying to keep “in there” while traveling/networking.

I was able to meet with an industry legend over lunch. He’s worked with - and continues to works with - several internationally known artists. Suffice it to say, he’s a good guy to have in your corner. We ended up talking about my live performance and my new disc. He asked for a CD (which I hadn’t brought). Talk about stupid. Then he asked for a business card (which I also hadn’t brought). Talk about really stupid. Thankfully I was able to show my disc via my music page and my live performance via my youtube music channel. (Thank goodness Al Gore invented the internet!) We had several encouraging words regarding my music that I hope come to fruition over the next several months.

Directly following, I had a writing session with Brett Rutledge. Brett is an “Artist in Residence” with Fellowship Church. He’s an incredibly good singer/songwriter/worship leader. More recently one of his songs was picked up and recorded by artist Aron Shust.

First he showed me around his place and then we sat down and tried to really crank on a tune together. The song isn’t finished yet but is already pretty dang amazing!

Nashville Day 1 - Church at Fellowship

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:51:00 -0400

I flew into Nashville late last night. I had a back ache once I landed. I think its because I sat on one butt cheek for the length of the flight (due to the little room my fellow passenger provided). I knew I was in trouble when this individual could not fold down the arm rest properly (due to the airline’s small seats and this passanger’s rather larg physique). I sort of “pretzeled” myself in and enjoyed the ride!

Usually I don’t get to see much of the Sunday church life here in Nashville. I’ve been wanting to see my friend Brian’s church - Fellowship - for sometime.

This morning, I arrived on-time, parked in “first time guest,” and then jammed my way across their lawn to this chic, barn looking building. The whole campus feels clean and hip - even a bit artsy - but at the same time non-assuming. I snuck in quick, found a seat, and found the music/worship had already started.

The room was big with lots of people. Most were a bit older. I noticed lots of the people dressed up pretty nice. I didn’t feel like you had to be dressed up - just that people had chosen to dress a bit more “Sunday-ish.” Jason Ingram was leading worship. Lloyd Shadrach was teaching.

As a church, they’ve been studying the book of Thessalonias since January. That long of a study is sort of atypical in Cali. The longest attention span tends to be like 6 weeks. But you know what they say… when in the south… eat fried. Below is a pic of some original artwork made for this series. There were two panels that looked like stained glass. Each panel showed the story of God’s redemptive hand through out human history. It was killer. I wished I could buy the art from them.

I was really struck with all the quality art that they integrated into their church life. They have this story regarding these bright white, shards of porcelain tile that line their sidewalks. I guess congregants wrote a way that they are “broken” as people individually on the back of each piece. The tiles then were cemented into the sidewalks with a verse from Nehemiah. It sort of looks like a sidewalk you’d see in SoCal. Fellowship is conveying the idea that God walks amongst the brokenness - not the polished, sophisticated, perfect. I liked that.

Today Lloyd , the preacher/teacher, did something that I took to be unusual. He read the ENTIRE book of I Thessalonians out loud… 20 minutes straight. I really liked the idea but I tuned out (my apologies to the Apostle Paul and Jesus). That being said Lloyd ended with some really cool thoughts to sum up the 20 minutes of reading.

I liked this one thought the most and took a picture of it. Its a thought centered around God’s “laws” and our obedience. Lloyd’s exact line was, “be careful which side of the equation you put ‘obedience.’” The idea being that if we try and live “perfect” lives all we get is religion. If we live by faith (in Christ) we can actually change spiritually (inwardly) and find a renewed sense of living. It was a cool thought (plus I think I’m just partial to writing on chalk boards).

I just got a chance to play at Westgate Church, Saratoga CA....

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:56:55 -0400

I just got a chance to play at Westgate Church, Saratoga CA. This is one of the songs I performed live. It’s called “Praise His Holy Name” from my newest album “Mirrors and Moonbeams.”

Free Download - New Song

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:20:26 -0400

Free Download - New Song:

“Child of Most High” is a song created especially for Easter 2009. Click the link above to learn more about the song and do get a free download.

This is a quick recap of a new song written for Easter Sunday...

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:34:00 -0400

This is a quick recap of a new song written for Easter Sunday Am. You can go download it for free now at iLike

After reloading software for the last 4 hours, I can finally...

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:25:59 -0400

After reloading software for the last 4 hours, I can finally start putting down a rough version of a new song for this coming Easter. I had to reload software after my hard drive decided to stop working. It has been a season of “early adoption” in the tech world that has slowed down productivity rather than accelerating it. However, I’ve enjoyed the “analog” space I’ve experienced since the hard drive crash. Its been refreshing hanging out with acoustic instruments, pencil and paper (instead of giant computer screens, LED’s, and soft-instruments). I am busy putting together a draft of a song focused on a little explored doctrine of faith called, “adoption.” The apostle Paul talks of the idea of Christian’s being “Adopted” by God. I hope to craft something that sounds familiar yet fresh and compelling.

Streamed music substitute but not catalyst

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:37:00 -0400

Streamed music substitute but not catalyst:

This article observes online trends with music and what it means to artists…