As I prepare for my annual trip to Graceland, I looked through some old stuff. Here are some notes on my annual Graceland trip I forwarded to friends back in 2006. You no longer have to pay to park in the official Graceland parking lot. The Graceland Crossing souvenir mall is now called “Elvis After …
Author Archives: elvisgumby
Vacation Music
When I was a kid, my family would take vacations to Panama City Beach. I think it was right before the second trip that our family bought a new station wagon. This vehicle featured an 8-track tape player, something that our family never had before in the house or in a car. For what I …
Six Minutes After Seven – The Video
In the liner notes for my new CD, I make the following statement about the title track: “Six Minutes After Seven draws from the apocalyptic images in the Book of Revelation.” I think the idea for the song is best illustrated in the lyrics of the fourth verse: “The scroll will lose the seventh seal The …
Arranging The Promised Land
In an earlier post, I talked about writing and recording both versions of The Promised Land. I wanted to do a black gospel choir arrangement for the background vocals. Most people who know me know that I play music primarily by ear. I can read music, but I’m not very good at it. Practically all of the …
Peoria
I was on my first trip to Peoria. I woke up and was getting ready to leave to come back home. I was in the process of getting cleaned up and ready to leave the hotel. At one point, I have used the toilet and it overflowed. Not a big mess, but there was lots …
Music and Miracles
What was it like for the people who saw Jesus do miracles? What would their reaction be? What would it be like to be in one of the people in the crowd of 5,000 that Jesus fed with five loaves of bread? Would you have even known what was going on with the food? What …
Hanging out with Armando in Italy
In July of 2005, I spent a week in Lovere, Italy. We flew into Milan and although I had been told to sleep on the plane, I had very little success. When we arrived, I was very sleepy and we immediately had a meeting to attend. I felt bad but was able to function well …
The Teddy Bear Dance and eBay
When I was little, I listened to a lot of music. At a very early age, I was able to change records on the small record player that my parents had on a shelf in our dining room. My parents bought me several children’s records. My favorite was a 45 on the Peter Pan Records …
Plumber’s Convention
In my life outside of music, I work as a Quality Engineer for a major faucet manufacturer. In April of 2009, I was invited to go to a plumbers convention. I sent 3 emails to a few good friends before and after the convention. With a little editing, here are the emails describing the event. …
Writing and Recording “The Promised Land”
I wrote the song The Promised Land to sing during the memorial service at a church homecoming. The church I grew up in has a homecoming celebration every year on the second Sunday in June. Most of the people that go to this church are related to my mother. The same goes for the people that come …
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