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Oct 4th, 2010 The last half of '09 and so far in '10, things have been quite crazy. I have had to focus tremendously on the business and the economic downturn has us high and dry right now. I am looking forward to renewing my songwriting and performing, but there is no daylight ahead so far.

May 27th, 2009 Thought I'd update anyone who wonders into this page. I have been working on many new songs. Some very different. I often will find myself in a situation where I have a time, but cannot get to a guitar, so I write lyrics and "plan-out" songs. For instance, I wrote lyrics to "So Many People" while flying ot Seattle, and "She Could be from Idaho" on the way back. "You Know What I Mean" (a concept piece) and "Busy Making Plans" are written and looking for some music. I just found myself at Bob Evens this morning, not sure if we were having an Elder's Meeting. and when I discovered we weren't, I penned "I Can't Wait to be Graceful" after some notes I jotted down last June at BSA summer camp. Lesson: KEEP YOUR NOTES & IDEAS CLOSE-AT-HAND! The music is done for "...Idaho", but we'll have to find some guitar time for the others. A tall order these days.

March 14th, 2009 Practice paid off and the triumphant return of David was a night of anointed music and worship! Every performer that night was spectacular, and even my new stuff was excellently received. There is NOTHING like connecting with an audience! If you were there you know what I mean, and if not, you missed a wonderful evening! Maybe we'll catch you next time.

November 30th, 2008 I am excited. David and I have been back practicing! Not only that but we've also been collaborating on new songs, and inspiring each other on our own stuff. But the biggest news is, we are going to be performing together again this spring! look for more here on where and when!.

June 16th, 2008 I was asked to do music for the kids each evening for the campers at our churches youth basketball camp. I really don't have much "kid" material and I searched for so kid-oriented songs that might mesh in well with sports....ah, no such luck. So I did what any songwriter would do, I wrote one. 40 minutes later on the morning of the first day I had lyrics and some chord ideas. 2 hours before camp I had fleshed out the melody and chords and performed "God's Team" for the kids. It was received well. It is a simple chorus that the kids sing along with and each night I add two verses that he kids echo, so they don't have to learn that part. The adults tell me the tune is catchy and they find themselves singing it during the day. The Lord provides!

June 16th, 2008 What a great event at Christ Lutheran last Saturday night! The weather was so good we had it outdoors! I played with Frank Jonez, Scott Wilder and Timothy Kraus. Man! I love playin' with talented musicians who can hear a few bars and start playing behind a song they've never or seldom heard before! Of course, I love playing behind them as well! It's just plain fun! I got a chance to perform with my bad finger. Fortunately the side of the tip of my finger where I hit the strings was uninjured, and could play, however, the bandage made my fat fingers even fatter, so my F chords sounded awful. Had a great time! Thanks Christ Lutheran! We got a chance to meet some of the members of "Joshua's Vision", and hear some of their tasty vocals! Scott got some great video of the night and posted it on YouTube. Here are some links:
"Hi-De-Ho"
"Little Sammy"
"Live by Spirit"
"Model for Me" complete with the bad F chords!
"Nothin' Left" Great accompiment by Scott and Tim!
"I Got This One, God"

MAY 31st, 2008 I had a tussle with a band saw and lost! I was cutting some hardwood, and came to a flaw. The wood broke and my finger went into the saw blade! I have a cut on my left index finger tip from the last knuckle down to the front and to the bottom of the tip. Seven stitches later the prognosis is good with time. I am not sure how this will effect my playing. At least \I'll have a legitimate excuse for bad playing! This reminds me of that old Bobby Fuller song: "I fought the saw and the saw won"!

May 20, 2008 We had a GREAT night at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse in Lafayette on Saturday! We all met Lee Anna Attwell and she is great. We all had great fun playing behind everybody's songs. What a night!

April 17, 2008 I've been working on the 2*4*1 Ministries web site (www.142ministries.com) when I can can, but it is far from being ready. In fact, my business has taken the front burner, sadly, but it had to be. I am re-tooling to bring my ministry towards the front. I have been working on some new and revisited "thoughtful" secular pop to mix into worship and original tunes with the idea of doing solo coffee shop gigs. Give 'em something familiar and something to think about. I like the way Dean Phelps does his, so I'm doing the same but different.

I finished a new song today! I've had a drought for a long time now. Pastor Randy asked me to do worship for church this Sunday and gave me the scripture he was working from on Wednesday. It called out to me for a song! Hopefully I'll get it together and practice enough for Sunday (this is Thursday!!!!). We will see...

Jan 16, 2008 Has it been this long since I've had news to tell? How the time files! Wow! David and I have set up an official ministry called "2*4*1 Ministries". We've compiled a list of songs to put on our 2*4*1 Demo/Audition CD. It has a mix of some of David's stuff, my stuff and our Collaborative efforts. It is arranged and produced to give listeners a real idea of what a 2*4*1 will bring to their event.

I've been working long hours preparing for a big job down in Georgia. It's taking a lot of time from my family and my ministry. I am hoping i can bring my guitar and practice at night, or maybe even do a coffee shop down there and maybe even visit my Brothers and Sisters down Daytona way!

June 19th , 2007 Wow! We did the judging for the CICSA/FHL songwriting contest until the wee hours of the morning. We listened to 98 songs! Yeah, it was a lot of work, but, I was a wonderful learning experience! Just listening to the broad range of styles, instruments, arrangements, and production decisions taught me a ton! I found myself saying things like, "Oh yeah! Love the way they brought that electric fill in," or, "Ewww! That's what you get with a cheep microphone." In other words I got a mirco glimpse of the recording producers world and am much better off for it. Hopefully I will take those lessons to heart with my own desicions.

Overall, my main observation is: there and MANY folks out in central Indiana who are VERY TALENTED, that we don't even know about! How cool is that? Also, that the Faith, Hope and Love CD compilation from the contest is going to be HOT! I suggest you get a copy. We will probably have that at CICSA Songwriter's-in-the-round concerts, (see cicsa.org), thru Faith, hope and Love, or come to the rally on Monument Circle on July 28th,

March 27th, 2007 Just found out that Jammin' Java in Fortville is now closed. Hopefully CICSA will find a replacement venue for this slot.

February 24th, 2007 We braved the ice storm and made it for the "Songwiters-in-the-round" event at Jammin' Java in Fortville. The roads were crazy scary and we had about 8 people show up! Tim Hof, David Mottinger and myself had a nice laid back time playing. Oh well, better weather next time maybe.

February 18th, 2007 We had our CICSA meeting last night, and it looks like I've become the "Poster child" for our "Song Intervention" feature. Among other things we do, a popular part of the meeting is the "Song Intervention" portion. It is when songwriters perform one of their latest projects and get feedback from other songwriters. I did my new "And the Oscar Goes to...Me" song and it crashed and burned. I got many suggestions on how to possibly fix it. We'll see how it goes, but for right now, I just want to have it lay low!

-Mike

February 15th, 2007 Collaborations with David Mottinger have been very fruitful and satisfying. In the past few months we have co-written 3 songs and he has tremendously helped with my "Oscar" song enough to give him co-lyric writer credits! I can come up with concepts and lyrics somewhat easily, but melody and music are more difficult for me. It is great to "Throw it over" to David to help out in those areas and he does a great job. He is also very helpful in the lyric fixing department as well. He is the "Swiss Army knife" of songwriting! We have done "Undeniably You", "Born Again" and as of February 15th, we've completed "I've Got this One, God". I am excited about how it turned out! We put down some recording tracks and it isn't a bad song at all. It is catchy, fun and upbeat, as well as, a message that all Christians have from one time or another; namely, trying to do anything without getting God's input first. It is so easy to do, especially with the "small stuff". I love the line, "Why don't I use the Power of the universe?" I think it says it all. I think we are going to debut it this Saturday at Jammin' Java's CSITR performance.

-Mike

January 23rd, 2007 It is wild how God's Spirit moves! In the space of 20 minutes in the evening, I put a melody and music to the lines of a poem written by a cousin. It is a simple, sweet acknowledgement of God called "God's Promise".

-Mike

January 11th, 2007 While driving to Elmira, NY, between Columbus, OH and Akron, OH, I wrote a Hymn! Never had the desire to write one ever, but there it is..It is tentatively called, "He is Good".

I was trying to come up with some ideas for a praise song to open an event of worship. My main idea was to start out soft and simple for the first verse, then kick it in and rock away for chorus and the rest of song. My idea was to finish with many repeats of the simple chorus for everyone to participate.

I wrote (singing into the digital recorder in my phone) the 1st verse with a simple melody, then did the chorus. i decided to finish it as a hymn and i did the other two verses. This was all within 20 miles of I-71.

Maybe I'll get to write that praise song, on the way home.

-Mike

Update: January 18th, 2007 While driving from Elmira, NY, between Akron, OH and Columbus, OH, I didn't write a praise song. But i did come up with a good portion of very, very country sounding christian song. We'll see what happens with it.

-Mike