Woodland mall is a half mile south of Calvin, and although it’s not the largest mall in the city (Rivertown mall in Grandville is larger), it’s got everything most people need. Well, except groceries. But people living in the dorms don’t need to worry about that because they have dining halls. Only us old blokes buy groceries and cook food.

Clothing? Check. American Eagle, Banana republic, j crew, etc. it’s the center of American fashion. And because it’s American fashion, none of it fits me *sigh* Maybe if I gain 50 pounds and grow 4 inches taller, I can move out of the children’s section.

Movie theatre? Check again. The world’s most movie obsessed culture has a Celebration Cinema at Woodland mall. however, this cinema’s special; it shows past movies for a mere $3. I watched 21 there not too long ago. Cool movie, but I don’t really have the attention span for most movies.  The whole idea of sitting there for 2 to 3 hours makes me shudder a bit.  I just want to DO something productive and make the fun happen, not sit back and let directors dictate what’s fresh and exciting through formulaic Hollywood plotlines.  oh, here’s a spoiler for 21… it’s a happy ending.

there are some days when i just shake my head in disbelief.  one weekend, dean and i went on a lil road trip to meet with my friend and his boss, who founded a music company in the region.  the company’s going through a relaunch, so i can’t really give out any details (such as names and locations).  they’re currently in soft operations mode, and i think that means they’re fully functioning but not officially launched.  anyway, part of the music company is a fully-functioning recording studio, and because dean is looking to record new material, i decided to introduce him to the studio to see the facilities and meet the operators.  we had lunch, chatted about life, then let the operators do their thing as they gave us the tour.

thousand of dollars in about 4 square feet

we ended up sitting in the control room comparing their work to the mixes from other major studios in the area, mackinaw harvest’s studios and river city studios.  and for reference, i threw in one of the songs i was well familiar with, which wasn’t produced by any of these studios.  the song was very well produced because the group performing it had money to blow.  sadly, i can’t remember the song title, but i remember the group… ‘n sync.  so here we are, jamming out to ‘n sync on the board that mixed ricky martin’s breakthrough album.  like i said, sometimes i shake my head in disbelief.

shipped up from miami by a grammy award-winning producer

it all started with a random conversation over lunch with my blogging neighbor, emily.  i can’t remember exactly how it went, but probably something like this:

me: so i’m thinking of starting a garden
emily: really?  you’re so awesome!
me: gee whiz, thanks… hyuck hyuck… shucks *blush*
emily: i want to start a garden too, but our yard doesn’t have space.  can i come over and garden too?
me: i know, let’s make it a community garden in our backyard between your house and my house!  then you girls can come over whenever you want and work on the garden and eat the yummy veggies.
emily: and we can bring over our mint plants and grow green peppers, and onions, and broccoli, and… and… and.. and..
me: yeah yeah yeah!

and now, around 2 months later, we have this:

you can’t really see it, but seedlings are sprouting!

except for lines 2 and 3, this conversation was the inspiration for us to dig up a chunk of my backyard lawn to grow a vegetable garden.  we didn’t do it by ourselves though; we got lots of help from friends and professors: our landlord, who used to work for calvin’s service learning center, gave us the ok to dig up her lawn; professor dave warners, my bio 111 teacher and a botanist, helped us plan our garden; professor warner’s colleague, professor rich nyhof, lent us his advice and rototiller, and he also gave us his used garden fence to keep out rabbits from eating our veggies; my friend, bio major, and housemate david cutter provided advice and manual labor; and emily and liz from the girls house helped dig lots of lawn, even during finals week.  oh, and i haven’t mentioned our great neighbors who’ve supplied us with extra shovels when friends like emily and liz come over to dig.

have you ever experienced the perfect opportunity falling in your lap?  the day before, you’re thinking: “boy, wouldn’t it be fun to try _____.” then the next day, you get an email saying: “dear you, would you like to try ______?” ever since i submerged myself in music by constructing my drum studio in january, teaching my first drum lesson in America in february, and auditioning for a jazz quartet in may, i’ve been wondering what i should do with summer.  with summer comes a great opportunity: exploration.

i got an email one morning from dean windemuller, a local singer-songwriter who had graduated with a music degree from wheaton’s conservatory of music a few years ago.  i’d met him when i was invited over to a friend’s house for dinner last winter, and we hit it off because he was a musician, and so was i.  not long after the dinner, we got together to jam, and some time later, he invited me to drum for him at one of his shows.  fast-forward a month or two, and he calls me up again to drum for him at a church where he was asked to lead worship.  shortly after this gig, i got the email.

i won’t summarize the email, but in a nutshell, he gave me an opportunity to work the business side of his music.  so everything from promoting his shows, to booking him gigs, to managing his mailing list and fanbase - i would be in charge.  i mulled it over, quickly realized that i had a pretty good skill-set for the job with my background in media, entrepreneurship, and music, and wrote him back with an invitation to come over and talk out the details in person.  after a very positive meeting, i decided to hop on board with a start date set for the beginning of june.

june arrived, and we set our priority list.  one, i needed to book him shows.  two, i needed to promote his gig at the elbo room in chicago on june 30 and get some people to go.  through some very fortunate circumstances, i booked dean to play the Festival of the Arts in downtown Grand Rapids the first weekend of june.  i called up fred knapp to see if he wanted to be dean’s drummer for the gig, and to my surprise and delight, he agreed.  so i managed to book a show a few days after starting the job, which was definitely encouraging.  now i’m working on promoting dean’s chicago show in late june.  boy, what a ride!

listen to his music here

if you dig his music and would like to hear from him, shoot an email to deaninfoman@gmail.com and we’ll add you to the mailing list.  you’ll get free tracks, access to exclusive content, and news on past and upcoming shows.

there are a couple of strange feelings. first, it’s really difficult to finish strong. after reviewing the same material over and over again, I get so antsy that I just want to be done with it all and take the exam. however, the exam date is still 3 days away, and I can’t help but think that there could be a question on something I didn’t look at. so I keep on reviewing everything possible, because I don’t want to get lazy now and throw out all the hard work I did during the semester. it’s a struggle against the self, and I can dictate the outcome. I could just set my books down, or I could strive for my best effort. second, some of my friends are a year above me, and it’s strange hearing them talk about their last class ever. or their last essay ever. or their last exam ever. I can’t imagine being in their shoes one day and putting academics behind forever. or a least for a long while.  just yesterday my housemates and i visited the picnic for the graduates on commons lawn, eating good food and congratulating our senior friends.  there were so many people there, mostly friends and family of graduates.  i can’t imagine doing that one day.

in a previous post I mentioned meeting charles driscoll of big bin studios. a few days ago, my friend ryan and I drove over to tour his studio in Hamilton, Michigan. it’s one of michigan newer studios, and it has been getting some press because of its unique location. the studio is housed in a converted grain silo way out in the countryside by holland (a city in Michigan, not the country). like most music studios, there’s no huge neon sign, which can be great for artists trying to get some work done without fans walking in every 5 minutes for autographs. besides hanging out with Charles, we got to meet the other engineer, Jordan stonehouse, who happened to recognize me from young life. apparently, he was the video intern at the young life camp I went to last summer. I’m always surprised by how we’re all connected somehow.

I never knew that one of calvin’s student organizations had around 300 members. Dance guild is an organization for students interested in dance, whether ballet, tap, lyrical, or hip hop. each style also has a beginner, intermediate, and advanced group so people can dive right in and begin performing. each semester, they put on a showcase at the FAC featuring their various dance groups, and this semester I managed to make time and see the show. Some of my friends were performing, so I wanted to cheer them on. Besides, one of them had been nagging me to buy tickets since last semester. How can I reject such dedication?