SHOUT!

I had the honor of being a groomsman in my good friend Luke's wedding this past weekend.

Weddings are great, and it's definitely starting to turn into wedding season for my friends and people of my age range. Kinda crazy, but they present a great opportunity to break away from everyday stress and have FUN.

For me, one of the coolest moments of the reception is the dancing and the music. If you don't have dancing at your wedding reception, please don't invite me (no offense to anybody whose wedding I may have already attended without music). The whole point is to let loose, because HEY, it's your wedding day, and we're all here to make it AMAZING for ya. No one wants to sit around and drink lemonade and eat tarts. I'm just sayin'...

Anyway, Luke's wedding was off the hook (bringin' that one back), and I wanted to share a little visual of how much fun it actually was with you.

There are certain songs that wedding bands play as cliches. "Wedding Crashers" showcased several of these, and the one I wanna talk about today is "Shout". Those in attendance through the ice and snow at Luke's reception were fortunate enough to rock it out to a version of this song played by an AMAZING wedding band, the "Brothership".

While the song was going on, I broke out my camera. I'd had it out a lot that night, but for this particular strand of four minutes, I took it out, danced, and KEPT taking pictures! So instead of really posing (outside of a few random ones), I got about 30 CANDID pictures of people breaking it down during the song.

So, from my lens to your eyes, here it is folks. "SHOUT" from the wedding of Luke and Katie Sirakos. Enjoy.

Groundhog New Year Promise

Hello.

I need to blog. And I will, I promise. Soon. Getting geared up for some cool things in 2010.

Talk soon.

Love,
Drew

PS: Happy Groundhog Day.

Christmas Carol Countdown.

Christmas music has been everywhere since the day after Halloween. Of course, out of respect to Turkey Day, I refuse to really listen to it until after Thanksgiving, but by then, it's on until Christmas Day.

Different Christmas tunes have been important to my family and me throughout my life, and like most music, certain ones play more important roles at different times. Here's a list of some I've always been into as well as some I've started to appreciate in more recent years:

1. Charlie Brown Christmas. Can't beat it. Most of it's instrumental, but it's so classic and mellow that it's the perfect background music to the end of the night. It's quiet enough that it's not overpowering to the room, but obvious enough that it takes me to the famous Linus speech whenever I hear it. I used to play it in my boombox when I was a kid and fall asleep to it during the holiday season. My favorite way to listen to this one is when the presents have been opened and the only lights on in the house are the lights on the Christmas tree.


2. O Holy Night. This one gets me the most of all of the spiritual Christmas carols. The crescendo of the song gives me chills as the music rises and the lyrics hit the line "fall on your knees/and hear the angels' voices!". I love every version of this song, from the traditional styles to the newer versions from Josh Groban and Christina Aguilera. Aaron Neville also DOMINATES the song in a Motown way with his adaptation of the song. Love it.


3. Jingle Bell Rock--the Bobby Helms version. This one will ALWAYS remind me of Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandaddy's house in Gastonia, NC. Grandaddy had a tape that was ENTIRELY made up of this song on one side, and he'd take pride in playing it every year. The cool thing is that, suckers for tradition that we are, we STILL play that tape over and over on Christmas morning every year. I'll always think of him getting the tape started, and I love that we play it in his honor even today. I'm ready to hear it again in a few weeks...


4. Blue Christmas--Elvis. Love this one, because it's bittersweet and it's catchy. I was never the biggest Elvis fan, but hey, he's the King, and I definitely learned to appreciate him more after visiting Graceland this year. His voice is great in the song, and the background vocals really take it away. Sheryl Crow has a nifty cover of the song too. I don't WANT a Blue Christmas, but I'll blast the song every year.


5. A Wonderful Christmas Time--Paul McCartney. Annoying, but it's PAUL! I mean, come on, it's catchy, right? It's one of those songs that sort of makes me cringe, but I can't change it at the same time. My eleventh grade English teacher HATED it, so what'd I do? Burned him a 12-track CD. The track list? 1-12: A Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney. Come on, y'all! He was a BEATLE! I'll keep rockin' it.


6. Happy Xmas (War is Over)--John Lennon. Great song. Political. Powerful. Love the chorus of kids singing along and the pure PEACE that it stresses. It gets me every time, and balances out Paul's Christmas song. I rock this one too. The Fray has a mean cover of it as well.


7. A Neighborly Christmas--Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. My newest favorite. I had the pleasure of serving a Summer Staff Session with Drew and Ellie Holcomb in 2008. They're great people, and as musically talented as they are nice. Drew carries a Sinatra-esque vibe on this record, while Ellie's voice has an old-school, raspy feel that puts a modern twist on classic music. Every song is fun on the album, but their version of "Baby it's Cold Outside" REALLY stands out. Check out the album on iTunes and watch their video for the song HERE. Also, be sure to grab their other albums as well!



8. A Very Special Christmas (1&2). These two collections are my all-time favorites, because they REALLY take me back to my childhood, and they're probably the ones we listen to as a family the most even today. From the Pointer Sisters' version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" to Aretha Franklin's "O Christmas Tree" that always made my sister and I laugh, the two collections include the best variety of classic and modern Christmas songs out there. Can't forget Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis", Madonna's "Santa Baby" (that my sis and I used to fall to the ground for because she was the bad guy in "Dick Tracy" the movie), or Bruce Springsteen's repetitive "Merry Christmas, Baby". Great collections.


Of course, I'm leaving out countless other great Christmas tunes, but these are some of the best. I'm sure you're familiar with most of 'em, but if you're not, check 'em out, turn on the tree lights, pour some egg nog, and ENJOY!

Merry Christmas,
Drew.

Productivity Cycle.

Yesterday was a productive day. You wanna know how a productive day for a 24-year-old college grad who works part time at a restaurant and is still trying to figure out the next step of his life goes? Since I had the day off, here's a quick outline:

9:17 a.m. Alarm goes off, I hit snooze. I never set my alarms on 0's or 5's, but usually 3's or 7's. My snooze lasts 9 minutes, so I often wake up on 5's or 1's, which means I usually hit the button twice for 18 minutes of extra broken sleep.

9:35(ish) a.m. Woke up. Fell outta bed. No comb across my head. Dragged into the kitchen with our dog, Maia, at my heels to pour a bowl of cereal and my first cup of black coffee of the day. She always follows me because she knows I'll drop a piece into her bowl. Here's how it goes: I pull the cereal out of the cabinet, grab a bowl, pour it, toss a piece in her bowl (clink!), pour the coffee, pour the milk, nuke the coffee if it's cold, and walk into the living room to turn on the tv. Most of the time it's Sportscenter, but if it's mid-week and it's early enough, I catch the music videos on VH1 (gotta watch 'em when you can to avoid the ridiculous "Celebreality" they're always brainwashing our youth with...).

10:07 a.m. Facebook. Tryjm.com. Twitter. Johnmayer.yuku.com. In that order. It's embarrassing, but I do it. I'm sure you do too...

11:00 a.m. Gym time. This is early for me. Mad thanks to Harley Pasternak for the 5-Factor Workout. Been using it for two years and I still love it. Yesterday was back and bicep day, which is always crucial. Also ran for a bit to the tunes of "Battle Studies" and others. The chorus of "Assassin" into the guitar solo is killer for when it's time to push it.

12:30ish. Back home. Protein shake (because I GOTS to get SWOLE!). Shower. PB Sandwich, and let the errands BEGIN.

1:15 p.m. Drove Mom to pick up her car. Some douche keyed it a few weeks ago, and now the paint is FIXED.

1:45ish. Men's Wearhouse. Tux fitting for my buddy Luke's wedding. It was quick, and I'm gonna look like a pimp. Can't wait.

2:15ish. Four Season's Mall. My mission: New Shoes. Went into each show place at least once to find the best deal. Ended up with some red and white Air Max 90's and a smile. Could have and SHOULD have knocked out some Christmas shopping, but I'm waiting to save that card for the maximum stress effect which should kick in in about two and a half weeks.

3:30. Back home. Room cleaning time. Picked up piles of laundry and made it so my carpet is visible. It's blue, like my eyes.

4:20ish. Snack break. Stephen King novel. Waiting for my girlfriend to get out of class.

4:45 p.m. Amanda gets out of class and comes over. We kick it for a bit.

6:30 p.m. Amanda and I roll to UNCG for a class discussion she needs to attend for an assignment. I'm not in school, but I like going to these because I feel like a student again. They're fun when they don't matter for a grade. Nice to stimulate the brain again. Grad school might not be so bad after all...(remind me I said this if I ever complain about it down the road.)

8:00 DINNER! At home, with the rents and Amanda. Turkey Sausage Soup. Spicy, healthy, and delicious. Mmmmm.

9:30 p.m. Back to Amanda's so she can get some work done. This is the time of year I definitely do NOT miss from my school days.

1:00 a.m. Back home again.

1:16 a.m. Goodnight text to Amanda, lights out, DONE SON!

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9:17 a.m. Alarm. Snooze twice.

9:35 a.m. Repeat breakfast routine. Get ready for work. Annnnnnnnd here we go again...

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SO, kids, that's how a productive day typically goes for someone in my position. That is BALLER for a day off. Didn't sleep in, worked out early, and got some stuff DONE! The real test comes now in keeping my shoes white and my room clean. Oh, and finding a job or going to school for the sake of a future CAREER. But hey, one step at a time, right?

Until then, I'm gunnin' for grad school apps and Christmas. Woohoo!

DS.

Journal Stories.

It's Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend and I'm sitting in the living room looking at the Christmas tree. It's fully decorated and equipped with bright LED lights for the first time this year. They give off a nice blue glow instead of the pinkish glow the old ones did, and they use 88% less energy than the others, which is nice. Underneath the tree is still barren, but that'll change soon enough.

Amanda's sitting here doing homework, getting geared up for the end of the semester, and I've got Sunday Night Football playing in the background on the tv. While it's still technically November, the surf is heading out to sea for the tidal wave of good cheer and love that Christmas will bring in a few weeks (quite an analogy, eh? Glad ya liked it).

That being said, I've given you a list of things that I'm thankful for, and of course, I could have written a lot more, but instead, I want to share with you an abbreviated version of some of the stories my Grandma told us the other night. They're always great to listen to, and I wrote them down in my journal to save them somewhere concrete.

I'm not going to elaborate on these stories right now. What I'm going to do is type out the EXACT entry from my journal from the night before Thanksgiving. Keep in mind that it was late, I'd had a glass of wine or two, and I was tired. I didn't feel like writing, but I had to get it on paper, because it felt good and made me happy. My parents and sis were in the room, and some movie was on TV, but I scribbled away for a few minutes. Here we go:

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11/25/09

In Gastonia. Grandma just went to bed, but we're here for Thanksgiving & she told us lots of cool stories tonight. She and Granddaddy have (had) been to ALL seven continents. They've basically set foot on every major land mass in the world. So cool! She talked about how they crossed paths with Patton's son, & how he called Grandaddy "Doc," and told him to call him "George." Also, they went to Russia, lost their luggage, and she had to get a peasant's outfit in a "dollar" store in Leningrad. She also talked about how she had one of the most spiritual experiences of her life on a boat to Antarctica with the Chaplin & Dr. while a major storm was going on around them. We're talkin' waves above their boat.

It was so cool hearing her stories. Grandma could seriously have a "Forest Gump"-type movie made about her. 92. 4'10". Strong. Definitely wanna be as strong as her when I grow up.

And speaking of that, I wonder how she sees me & the cousins. She obviously saw her kids grow up, but we're the next generation. Does she see us as her little grand kids or young adults? Both, I'm pretty sure. It's interesting to watch the perspectives and think about their differences.

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So there you have it. A short concrete version of what I heard the other night. I know it's more of a teaser, and I could totally elaborate (which I might later...I really DO come back when I say "I'll do it later" sometimes), but for now I wanna keep it raw, like the cursive in my journal.

Hope you enjoyed it, and while there's one more day of November, I also hope that you get excited for Christmas as the spirit starts stirring in the coming weeks. Goodnight for now.

D.

Thanksgiving 2009.

Thanksgiving Day. Lots to report, but it's all hand-written in my journal for now. I'll get to that later...maybe. Seems like anything I say "I'll get to that later" about tends to be forgotten, but I've got lots of cool things written that I want to share with you here as soon as I can, so hey, I'll get to it later...

Anyway, I'm sitting here, bloated, full, glass of wine by my side, and typing. Thanksgiving was spent in a leisurely way today, with tv viewings of the Macy's Day Parade, football, a "Home Alone" marathon, and "Elf". Of course, not focusing on the tv portions too much, I also ran a little over two miles today and read a good chunk of my latest Stephen King book (what can I say, I'm a sucker for King, but you knew that).

Outside of the television, workout, reading, and relaxing, we took our annual Sykes Kid Christmas Pictures, which we've done since infant-hood, if I can use that as a word. These pictures have transformed over the years, from being easy when Carra was a baby to the tough years where Mom and Dad dressed us both in white turtle necks and managed to get good pics between our shouts of "get OFF me" and "don't TOUCH me" to the soccer jersey years to now when we wear what we want and model pose for the camera between shots (whew...outta breath...love long sentences). Of course, my sister and I are both glad to have the pictures taken every year, and it's a lot of fun looking back on them all and seeing how much we change between Christmases, and how much we've grown up since the tradition began. I know Mom and Dad love it too, and I have a feeling we'll keep taking them for a while. I'm definitely not complaining. They're cheesy, but they're the good kind of cheese.

After this "full" day, the REAL festivities began. Grandma was busy all day, and the rest of the family began to arrive around 5:30. There were 14 people and 3 dogs at dinner, and the FEAST began around 7. I can justifiably call it a FEAST because that's what it was. We had turkey (white and dark meat), rice, gravy, cranberries, dressing, turnip greens, creamed corn, crowder peas, rolls, olives, carrots, and my Grandma's pickles followed by PUMPKIN PIE that I'm going to go back and find more of in a minute for dessert. It was AMAZING (as always), and I'm dragging with a well-earned and deserved food hangover now. MAN, the gym will be nice tomorrow.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was definitely a success, and not overlooked like it tends to be by the Commercial-Christmas-Society we tend to live in. Yeah, Christmas movies were watched today, but we focused more on the MOMENT than a month from now, and it was great, and DANG, I know we've all got plenty to be thankful for. I would give you a list, but it's SO cliche...

Ahhhh, screw it! It's a cheesy time of year, and I'm a cheesy guy. To close out this blog, here's just a SAMPLE of the things I'm thankful for in 2009:

-The people I love. There are a lot of you, and you know who you are. Many of you will be mentioned again under this bullet, but the group of you gets the first spot.
-Amanda. You make me better. Thanks for your support through everything, your laugh, your smile, your kind heart, and your love. Couldn't be happier than I am when I'm with you.
-My parents. Thanks for taking me back after five years of college, and keeping me for a good chunk of time longer than I expected. Thanks for being fun, and for being cool with me as I "figure out the next step". Growing up has been interesting, but I continually appreciate the way you are there for me through everything.
-My sister. My favorite sibling. Thanks for being an inspiration to me in more ways than you know. Even though I'm the older brother, I look up to you in a lot of ways, and I'll always appreciate that. You are awesome, and I admire the way you live your life.
-I'm also thankful for my friends. Some of you I rarely see these days. We're in different states, cities, and places in our lives, but all of you have shaped me into who I am today.
-my 92 year old Grandma. SO thankful for her, and the rock that she is in my family. SHE COOKED OUR THANKSGIVING FEAST FOR US TONIGHT, AND SHE IS AMAZING! Her stories are great to hear, and they give hope during these hard times.
-Football. Haven't kept up with it as much this season because it's been a tough year for my Wolfpack and my Panthers, but I'll follow them 'til the end, and I'll be yelling at the TV come Saturday when we play UNC.
-Mayer. His music fits my life, and he's the man. Can't WAIT 'til he comes to Greensboro!
-Sticks and Stones. It's a great place to work in this "Figuring out the next step" phase of my life. I love the people I work with, and working there always has its fun moments. It'll be an experience I always remember, and something I'll look back on and say I enjoyed.
-The holidays. I love 'em. They bring us all together and the traditions are great.
-The future. Still don't know what I'm doing, but like I always say, I'm ready for what's next, so bring it on. School, career, LIFE.

And on that note, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, and good night!
Drew.

I'm back again.

Gonna write.

Gonna write because it's getting late, and it's been "BATTLE STUDIES DAY" around the United States.

"Battle Studies Day?" You ask? Yes. November 17. The release date of the one and only JOHN MAYER's 4th studio album, and might I say that it is SICK. It grows on me every time I listen to it, and it's even better now that I actually have a hard copy.

I'll review the actual record later, but I've definitely celebrated its release RIGHT today. Woke up excited and listening to it, and went to Target to buy two hard copies. Gave one to Amanda, who needed an official version, and I'll probably give the other to my parents, who I think I might actually be bringing to a Mayer concert in Greensboro in March. More on this later...

Anyway, the last few days have been crazy hectic. Yeah, there's a lot to say, and yeah, I know I've been ignoring this blog like whoa the last month. I'm sorry, it happens. Mayer played a live show on tv tonight and I've stayed up enjoying a few brews and rockin' out to the music, so I wanted to write.

So much to catch up on since I've last been here. And believe it or not, there are a few long stories I need to tell, but the bottom line is that I could never be more thankful for Amanda, my family, my friends, and my close family friends than I am now. I've said this before, but it's amazing how much this can increase and change as life goes on and new and crazy events unravel. We were very lucky this past weekend to have something occur that could have been a lot worse than the results that showed up. I know this is vague, and I'll probably write about it later, but for now, I'm running with the feeling of thanks I have in my heart. My family is amazing, and I'm so grateful.

So many things are happening now too. 2009 is racing to the finish line and the holidays are FAST approaching. I'm still jobless when it comes to my career path, but it's ok, because I'm gunning for grad-school if I don't find anything in the next few months. I'm calm and ready for what's next.

The cool thing about this particular blog entry is that I'm just typing. It's all I've been doing this entire entry. I don't really know where I'm going with it now, but Thanksgiving is coming up, the Caldwell-Sumner was this past weekend, and basketball season is about to start. WOW. Lots going on, but as always, I've got an excited feeling in my heart. I'm loving life, as confusing and uncertain as it is right now, and I know that whatever happens next will be what needs to be.

Word to that, and good night.
DS.