tag:markkroos.com,2005:/blogs/monster-tour-is-a-go?p=4Monster Tour is a GO! 2023-03-29T11:00:00-04:00Mark Kroosfalsetag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71823772023-03-29T11:00:00-04:002023-10-16T10:53:47-04:00Petals Change<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/e2a03bcb67044b9a4de63752a6343c78618b6aae/original/screen-shot-2023-04-01-at-10-53-55-am.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/jD-POOodxX/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">(click image for full video) </a></p><p>Petals Change…from my album “Down Along the Lines of Joy,” and the second in a series of 3 floral-based tunes that finish the album. I like flowers.</p><p>This one is about the change of seasons. When I wrote it in 2012, that was a change of sadness. I had just gotten out of a very involved relationship. I was single for the first time in my adult life. I was awkward and uncomfortable.</p><p>And I didn’t really know myself.</p><p>But it was only from that sadness, from the loss that I was able to grow, to learn more about who I am.</p><p>I’m currently coming up on a change of seasons within my music. New album coming out this year, a full length, full band vocal album (under a different project name…look out for it!). It’s something I’ve never done before. And I’m passionate about it, and it has more heart than I’ve ever put into music.</p><p>And it scares the heck out of me haha…because it’s different. Because it’s a change in trajectory, a change of the season. A change that I’ve put off for a very long time!</p><p>Instrumental guitar is great, but it’s also a comfort zone for me. I can wrap up my artistry and vulnerability in pretty chords or flashy techniques…and a lot of folks over the past 12 years have been kind enough to tell me I’m good at it (and I greatly appreciate that - thank you).</p><p>And growth…growth happens outside of the comfort zones. Growth is initiated in the turn of the seasons…</p><p>When Petals Change.</p><p>Thanks y’all, love ya,</p><p>Mark</p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71823762023-03-16T11:00:00-04:002023-04-01T10:53:24-04:00Flowers for April<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/ee57e77fde6d3b24a86f880fa9690ec648d352eb/original/screen-shot-2023-04-01-at-10-51-02-am.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/jD-Hunhl6Q/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">(click image for full video)</a></p><p>Flowers for April…Nora’s favorite song from my album, “Down Along the Lines of Joy.”</p><p>A couple of weeks ago I told y’all about how Nora and I met at one of my shows. The next day we went on a date. She had listened to the album at that point and asked if I could play this song for her.</p><p>I’m really glad that I had the tune in current repertoire rotation at the time - it’s super easy to forget a song when you haven’t been playing it for a while. Cause when your dream gal asks you to play a song for her…you’d better hope you know the song!</p><p>It was particularly special because I was playing her grandfather’s guitar - it’s an old Guild - I think it’s from the early 80’s, purple stain finish, very unique instrument. I’ve been playing it a lot lately and I’ll do some videos with it before too long. Very meaningful to connect with my wife’s family and their own musical heritage through playing that guitar.</p><p>This tune is the first of a trio of songs that end this album and I’ll plan to post videos for the others in the coming weeks.</p><p>Love y’all, thanks for listening</p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71693242023-03-09T22:00:00-05:002023-03-10T21:58:58-05:00Community<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/d5c363859a6e3ebf78897d3e78bf2505815d8e74/original/mark-kroos-birthday-with-friends.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Community…It has been an absolutely lovely birthday week celebrating life with my wife and my friends.</p><p>These are my people - and this isn’t even close to all of them! We found each other during the pandemic. Nora made some friends early on in 2020 and I was slow to come around…I hadn’t had a community of my own in a long time.</p><p>When we were constantly on the road we would bounce from community to community, night after night. And it was awesome, and we’ve made a lot of really good friends over the years!</p><p>But the idea of “settling down” into a community of my own…I just always felt like it wasn’t for me. Like I didn’t trust it or something; afraid of getting hurt, afraid of being seen for myself, for who I am. Not seen as Mark the performer, the musician or whatever…</p><p>To just be seen as me.</p><p>Oh that’s scary.</p><p>Being part of a community takes vulnerability; it takes humility, opening up, sharing…</p><p>It takes listening, holding space, allowing people to be themselves. Allowing yourself to be you.</p><p>It takes hearing and acknowledge things that you don’t want to look it. Things you don’t want to face.</p><p>It takes long talks around a bonfire at four in the morning. Talks about the real “meat and potatoes” of life (or “tofurkey and quinoa” if your friends are vegan). The fears…the traumas…the pain…</p><p>And don’t forget about the fun. The laughter, the joy, the blessings, the dancing and the celebrations.</p><p>All of those. The tough parts and the buttery ones (meat & potatoes)…are all part of being human.</p><p>And they can all help us to grow.</p><p>And there’s something about friends that makes that growth so much more possible. So much more fun.</p><p>A verse keeps coming to mind, Matthew 18:20 when Jesus says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”</p><p>Jesus’s words are in reference to prayer…And I like to believe that when we gather together in friendship, in love, in community - helping one another, being there for one another, listening to one another…truly living life together…this is a prayer in itself.</p><p>And it’s not a prayer that asks for anything. It’s a prayer of gratitude. A prayer of love. A prayer of giving thanks for the goodness of life.</p><p>And as we pray that prayer in community, the presence of God is also among us.</p><p>Maybe it’s a stretch…but I really believe that some of the most sacred time we spend is in friendship and in fellowship with one another.</p><p>Much love, y’all.</p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71693232023-03-06T22:00:00-05:002023-03-10T21:51:05-05:0065 & Sunny… From “Clarity”<p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/jbFqpqaXS4/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/f606bd799529ae9d0d580219254c2d83be59afa5/original/mark-kroos-65-and-sunny.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/jbFqpqaXS4/" data-link-type="url">(click image to watch on Facebook) </a></p><p>65 & Sunny…From “Clarity,” which is still my personal favorite of the albums I’ve recorded…</p><p>It threw me for a loop. I wanted to make a slow, pretty, meditative album of peaceful relaxing songs…how hard can that be, right?</p><p>So I wrote the tunes, thought I had them all practiced. I sat down to record…and it was awful! All of the long, held notes were either held for too long or I cut them too short…ugh!</p><p>And I had to face the very real truth…</p><p>That I had a timing. I’d known for my entire career in music - it was the main reason I’d failed out of music school (which is a story for another day), and I had never taken the time to address it.</p><p>And all of the fancy work on the double neck guitar seemed to dazzle people, and nobody seemed to mind.</p><p>Except me. In that moment.</p><p>I minded.</p><p>I minded very much! And it was time to work on it.</p><p>So I began playing along with James Brown. And I kid you not, it was the music of James Brown that saved this album. I started doing what I call my “Groove Work” every morning, playing along with The JBs and other funk, soul artists - on guitar, on bass, on drums.</p><p>And sure enough, after about a month, my timing and feel improved drastically and I was able to record “Clarity.” And it’s mostly soft, pretty tunes. This is one of the only songs with a “groove.”</p><p>It’s funny how sometimes when we have an issue (like my timing problem), we ignore it…and we might ignore it for different reasons. Maybe we don’t want to look at it. We don’t want to see our flaws.</p><p>For me, I chose to ignore it because…well, everyone seemed happy with my guitar playing.</p><p>But it got to a point where I wasn’t happy with my guitar playing. And it was time to change.</p><p>I remember in music school how hard I practiced because I so badly wanted the approval of my professors. But I failed because I was trying to change for them.</p><p>I remember as kid wanting to be a better person, to be more kind, more loving…because I wanted the approval of my parents. But I couldn’t embrace that change until I wanted it for me.</p><p>It’s hard to change. It’s hard to choose to grow, to get better, to improve.</p><p>You can’t change for other people.</p><p>You have to change for you.</p><p>Love y’all, enjoy!</p><p>Directed by Ty Longworth</p><p>Edited by Lenoria Kroos</p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71653612023-03-03T20:00:00-05:002023-03-04T19:51:19-05:00Thanks for the wonderful birthday wishes!<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/709330ee44e1285421557b9c411d9e7477a9fdbb/original/mark-kroos-birthday.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p><p>Folks, thank you so much for the wonderful birthday wishes!</p><p>I turn 37 today. I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life, feeling grateful for my family, my friends and for music.</p><p>Thank you all for being a part of it.</p><p>Much love.</p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71631762023-03-01T14:54:30-05:002023-03-01T14:54:30-05:00Nora’s Tune…if you haven’t heard it yet, it’s out wherever you listen!<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/93c108f6b91d96e78e00995c4233366b79ba3dd0/original/334374922-896414561620293-3936573371411108367-n.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Nora’s Tune…if you haven’t heard it yet, it’s out wherever you listen!</p><p>It’s fitting that this song should be released on the 10 year anniversary of the night that we met - I actually didn’t even plan it that way…</p><p>Over the years we’ve told the story countless times as folks have asked. It’s about time we get it on the ol’ Facebook; set the record straight so it’s official…</p><p>It was 2013 and I’d been on tour for about 2 months at that point. I played a really fun show on the 27th at a bar called the “Daiquiri Shack” in Madeira Beach, and Kenny, the promoter asked if I’d come open for his band in the same venue the following night.</p><p>And I almost said no. Again, I had been on the road for 2 months, I was tired and I finally had a night off…but the Thursday show had been really fun and I went with it.</p><p>So that next night, I’m up there doing my thing with my silly guitar and I see this very attractive girl eyeing me.</p><p>And that’s cool - but it was weird…cause she was with a dude!</p><p>I’m playing and I’m asking myself, “what’s the story here?”</p><p>When I walk off the stage, she’s still giving me the eye, so I come over and introduce myself and she says “Hi, I’m Lenoria and that’s my brother.”</p><p>Ok, that made sense</p><p>And there was an instant connection. And we had a great time that night. We danced, we both spilled our drinks, we laughed. We went on a date the next day at one of the beach front restaurants. I ordered alligator.</p><p>Rewind 3 months (usually I book my tours about 3 months out). I could not get dates confirmed for the 2 weeks after I would meet Nora. Nobody wanted to have me between Florida and Texas.</p><p>So Lenoria and I got to date for 2 weeks while I was stuck on vacation in Florida. And we were smitten for each other.</p><p>I had to finish the tour, so our relationship was mostly long distance for a bit, but long story short, I came back in 4 months and married her.</p><p>Best decision of my life.</p><p>Check out the tune when you get a chance…Nora says it’s a good one, but she might be biased.</p><p>Love y’all</p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71619792023-02-23T14:25:00-05:002023-02-28T00:52:14-05:00Spring Tour and Feelings…<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/b7933153ca1ae32875b3cef1a980c45243af88ee/original/332471545-761846775354431-6707835059564923296-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Spring Tour and Feelings…Schedule so far is lookin’ like…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">April 14th - Warrenton, VA</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">April 16th - Hampton, VA</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">April 23rd - Peoria, IL</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">April 26th - Stevens Point, WI</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">April 28th - Eagan, MN</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">April 30th - Crystal Lake, IL</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">May 2nd - Charleston, SC</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">These are only the confirmed dates - there might be a few more in the works, but I’m excited to get back to the North Country (everywhere in the country is North Country from here), see some friends and family; share some music.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">It used to feel like I went just about everywhere in the US every couple of years because we were on the road so much. And you see things change in that time, but slowly.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And I haven’t toured to the midwest since 2019 at this point. And the pandemic changed a lot of things!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">There are places on that list that I really love…heck, I’ve even lived in the Twin Cities a couple of times.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And it’s almost a little daunting to go back to places after that much time…because change…is uncomfortable.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">To see how a place has grown, how people have grown, how people age…and I wasn’t there for it. And there’s a certain sadness to that, but also a beauty.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">To know that life…gets along. Not like, “without conflict” haha there’s plenty of that…but it goes…and it goes…And it doesn’t need me to make it “go.”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">To know that change…is inevitable.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And the sadness is that you can’t control it.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And the beauty is that you can’t control it.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And it’s nice when you don’t want to control it anymore.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all, hope to see you this Spring,</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Mark</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Photo Credit: Angela Romano</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71619822023-02-20T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:42:01-05:00New Guitar Alert!<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/f306fe19e0abfd9f99cf9bcd65d21c579b353d0e/original/332419897-905285123953463-4019910816316603866-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_right border_" />New Guitar Alert!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">This instrument is a fan fret baritone made by Bryon over at Rood Guitars…and it’s amazing! I’m incredibly excited to add it to the arsenal.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">The story behind this guitar…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Bryon got in touch with me back in 2015 when he was still in luthiery school out in Arizona. He’d been listening to my music for a while and said he wanted me to be his first artist when he started his company.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">So we got to work dreaming up a guitar. Again, this was 8 years ago. My style was different, my dreams were different…I was different! We designed it to be tuned CFCEGC, which is a whole step down from my most common tuning, DGDF#AD. I wanted something with a little bit more bass response than a standard acoustic. Big Body, and I always liked the idea of fanned frets.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And going into it, we knew that Bryon would have to finish school, then do a 4 year internship…we were well aware that it might be a while before this dream became a reality.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And over the course of 8 years, Bryon honed in on his craft. Learned more and more at Roberto Venn School of Luthiery and then built several guitars under the tutelage of Scott Walker in Santa Cruz.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And I started thinking more and more about what this guitar would be capable of when Bryon finished it. I thought about singing with it, how that lower register might support my voice…the possibilities.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And so when Bryon brought it to me, I was ready to get my hands on it. And WOW, I’m just absolutely blown away by the feel, the sound, the depth, the character…but most importantly, the inspiration this instrument is bringing to me. It’s truly one of a kind, feels like it has a soul to it, and the songs and ideas that it’s stirring up are very new and exciting.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">A few notes about Bryon over at Rood Guitars: I’ve never met someone who’s personality is better-suited for the field of building guitars. I think it’s a combination of his attention to detail and his absolute enthusiasm for the craft…I can follow a lot of guitar-building lingo, but Bryon is a whole nother level of understanding and just BEING in that world. Those aspects combined with his work ethic and the fact that he doesn’t seem to need to sleep…He’s exactly who I want building and working on my guitars.</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71619832023-02-16T00:00:00-05:002023-03-10T21:56:59-05:00Down Along the Lines of Joy...<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<p style="text-align:center;" dir="auto"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/iZi9KqYvUA/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/25834dfac7ab614963fdc0501b187d420044e125/original/screen-shot-2023-02-28-at-12-21-10-am.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" alt="(Click image to play on Facebook) " /></span></a><br><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/jbFPNRYEnt/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:#000000;">(Click image to play on Facebook) </span></a><br> </p>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Down Along the Lines of Joy… That’s the name of an album I released in 2012 and this is the title track.</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I based it off of the notion that JOY is something beyond happiness, something deeper than that. I had read C.S. Lewis’s “Surprised by Joy” and went on a hunt for this supposed “joy” he wrote about….I felt like I could use some of that!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I was going through a rough breakup at the time - it was a year before I met Nora and I felt…alone. For the first time in years.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">So I looked for joy in music - in composition. That’s always at least been a solace for me; songwriting, creativity.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And I don’t know if I found it there or not. I don’t know if I found “joy” underneath the loneliness and depression.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But I found this album.</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And I really put my heart into it, and I’m still proud of it.</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And now, eleven years later, after playing these songs countless times, building a career prior to the pandemic, crashing said career and shattering the identity of all the stuff I thought I was…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Yeah, I think I found it.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And for myself it IS in music.</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">For you, it might be somewhere else.</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But I’m pretty sure that JOY lies in being who you are.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Being yourself, being the most authentic version of YOU.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And loving yourself for it.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Because there will always be difficult times. There will always be times when it’s hard to be HAPPY.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But being YOU…being true to who you are and what you believe, doing the things you truly want to do with life, creating the things you want to create, being around the people you want to be with...allowing those things for yourself…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">To be YOU…Even in the midst of adversity. Even when things are falling apart.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">That’s Joy.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71619862023-02-14T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:28:29-05:00Happy Valentines Day to my wonderful, beautiful, amazing wife, Lenoria!<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/d82f7ba6fb511d7fd8f2b43ee7dac9bbfe1d7631/original/330431490-3341661566084658-3226398730211242860-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></span></div>
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<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Happy Valentines Day to my wonderful, beautiful, amazing wife, Lenoria!</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Darling I am so incredibly thankful to have you in my life, as my partner, as my companion.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">The joy that I get from being in your presence and spending time with you….From walks in the woods, to sushi dates, to tours; spending 8 hrs in a van together at a time…to going out in the backyard to take this photo with my silly guitar!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Your laugh, your humor, your strength, your wisdom...your IS-ness…whatever the heck it is that makes you YOU haha…that’s what calls to me in every way and I and I can’t help but fall more and more in love with you.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">We have some fun, darlin. And we’re a team. I am with you one hundred percent of the way.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">You and me.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I love you, Lenoria.</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71620062023-02-09T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:33:09-05:00Demonstration Video of Come Together<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
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<a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/iZiSbBjVqW/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/6da10d46db19e68d52cf32c6798bf35b985b2daa/original/screen-shot-2023-02-28-at-12-31-31-am.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></a><br><span class="text-small" style="color:#000000;">(click image to watch video on Facebook) </span>
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<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Y'all...thanks so much for the love on "Come Together!"</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">This is a quick demonstration video of how I play some of the parts. Let me know if y'all find it interesting or not - you won't hurt my feelings. I know that a lot of you are guitarists...but a lot of you aren't!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I spent the 10 years of my career prior to the pandemic playing for primarily non-guitarists (lots of church concerts), and I've always felt that it's important to...I guess make this stuff accessible to people, ya know? Because it looks so flashy...and it's not that it isn't difficult. I just feel like when we break things down they become more relatable...</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Haha and that can be a lovely analogy to how when we take the time to understand one another, notice and appreciate each others' differences instead of jumping to judgements and conclusions, the world becomes a much more beautiful place.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">So many great life lessons in the guitar...</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y'all</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71620072023-02-07T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:34:05-05:00It Is Well With My Soul…<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/a91c4a157954684c3c06d7ab06afb7dbdaab30af/original/328653743-2464125590392532-8010116199062174971-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" />It Is Well With My Soul…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">My new single dropped today if you want to check it out on your favorite platforms. Please consider adding it to your playlists - that kind of thing can really help artists like myself!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">If you’re not familiar with the song, it’s a classic hymn - I grew up singing it in the Lutheran. Maybe you did too!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I’ll let you in on a secret: I never used to like the song. I didn’t like the drones of the chorus (the echo section), I didn’t like the harmonic structure (sounded too churchy), and I didn’t like the way the the feel abruptly changes from the verse into the chorus.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But then the last few years happened. Lots of challenges in life and career. Lots of lessons, lots of growth.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Some really great times. This past year has been the happiest of my life so far. But sometimes it feels like looming challenge after looming challenge…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And somewhere in there…I found a peace in the challenges. I found a joy in the lessons, in the work.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Because I was able to look back and see how the challenges in life had shaped me and helped me to grow into who I am in this moment.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And there’s a surrender in that, a letting go and letting God.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And for myself that surrender came because the alternative was just so exhausting - the worry, the fretting (guitar pun intended)…the fighting of life.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Haha I’m getting too old for that, my friends.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">“Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say…”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">It is Well with My Soul.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">So yeah…I like the song now. And it was truly an honor to get to work with it, put my own spin on it. Big thanks to Mark Carnes at He’s Alive Church for asking me to put the arrangement together this past Winter.</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Give it a listen - or do whatever you want, don’t let this guy tell you what to do!</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Photo credit Angie Ennis</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71620082023-02-05T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:36:07-05:00New Song this Tuesday<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/df979335e2a875d43dbd757eba37b204ee30ce3c/original/328987478-1565260340616982-8970489324651734862-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"> </div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Sonia and I have a new song for you this Tuesday if you want to keep an ear out for it.</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And yes, Sonia is the name of my Rood Guitar. It’s short for “Soniferous.”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Obviously!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all!</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71620092023-02-01T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:40:46-05:00Plateaus…<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/99ec9532644762a1c5b0e8a3b90a30de474430ca/original/328060610-3621786074717395-5987645366535360734-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Plateaus…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">That’s a funny-looking word when you pluralize it.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">This is sort of vulnerable for me because I always used to try to look like I knew what I was doing in my career before the pandemic. To look like a “professional.” Someone who has his act together.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I had a big video in 2013, and it really got my career off the ground, made it so I was able to do music as my full time job, lots of success all at once. I built a substantial network and Nora and I toured heavily right up to the pandemic.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And it was awesome and we had a blast and I’m grateful for every moment of it.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But in those seven years…I didn’t really move forward. I got into a comfortable routine. Not like a day-to-day routine. More like a year-to-year routine. Book a tour, play the tour, record an album, shoot for another big video…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And those are all good things! But they were things that I knew how to do. Or I knew how to do them the way I knew how to do them so I always did them the way that I knew how to do them (tongue twister).</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And my methods were rooted in strong work ethic and stamina! Banging my head against the wall til it got done or I got it right. Fun fact: The harmonic bridge in my tune “Dogs” took 127 takes in the studio.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I rarely stopped to ask myself if there was a better way. A more efficient way. A more joyous way. Things I could learn from others. Things I could learn from getting out of my comfort zone.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">There were some creative projects that my soul was calling for that I repeatedly put on the back burner because I didn’t know how to record that kind of music.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I missed opportunities because I wasn’t willing to try in situations where I might fail, where I might look foolish, where I might look “unprofessional.“</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I was very good at doing things the way that I knew how to do them.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But to quote Kung Fu Panda,</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">“If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now.”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">-Master Shifu</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">So moving forward in this post-pandemic music biz…I’m really trying to embrace the learning process.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Asking myself, asking my friends, my network, my role models…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">“What can I do differently?”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">“What am I afraid to try?”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And most importantly,</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">“Where does my heart lead me?”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And it’s uncomfortable and it’s messy and it’s scary.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And it’s new and it’s exciting and it’s rewarding.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Photo cred Angela Romano</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71620102023-01-30T00:00:00-05:002023-03-10T21:57:46-05:00Come Together… Is there a better Beatles song?<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/iZjAf0dfAt/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/b727bc2448e0308d2a3a0b1ec36904b2faea593a/original/screen-shot-2023-02-28-at-12-43-00-am.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></a></div>
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<br><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/jbFWJFpOah/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:hsl(0,0%,30%);">(click image to play video on Facebook) </span></a>
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<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"> </div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Come Together…Is there a better Beatles song?</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">We could debate all day about their best tune, but this is the one for me.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I think I heard this song for the first time in the 6th grade. It was before I had started playing guitar but I was getting into music, trying to play the piano (poorly).</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But it was like nothing I had ever heard before, and really my first experience with any kind of rock music that I actually liked - some of my friends were into Nirvana…and I dunno…11 year old me didn’t get the grunge thing haha (I like Nirvana now though).</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I think it’s the chorus of this tune…yeah, that’s what it is, THAT’S what got me. Simple, powerful, and so very original. Didn’t know it at the time, but the chord structure is very unique - simple, but unique (GET READY FOR BORING MUSIC TALK!):</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">You see… for most of the song, we’re playing in the key of D minor - kind of somber, edgy.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And then only for the chorus, we go to the key of D Major (usually “happy”), but we don’t start on a D Major chord. We start on a Bm, so it just ends up being ridiculously powerful!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And (imo) that’s what makes this song so original. Musicians, let me know if you can think of another tune that follows that harmonic sequence - I can’t think of any.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I almost feel like if another song where to use those cords, it would just sound like they are ripping off “Come Together.”</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">If you read through that, and it sounded like Greek, that’s ok. Just know that a lot of songs use the same chords. Maybe you’ve heard that “you can play any song with just 4 chords…” and it’s true in most cases!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">You can’t “own” a chord progression. There just aren’t enough combinations to lock something like that down.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">BUT when you get a truly creative chordal sequence like this, it becomes so incredibly characteristic to the song.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">So I love this tune. I love the way it influenced my musicianship, inspired me as a kid and challenged me as a guitar player.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And I should add, regardless of how you like my cover of it…I don’t think there’s another song in the world with more AMAZING covers than this one: Aerosmith, Gary Clark Jr, Joe Cocker - my pal Trevor Gordon Hall also has a stellar guitar arrangement of this tune.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I also want to add that my beautiful wife Lenoria did everything on this video: directing, filming and editing. Super proud of her.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all, thanks for listening.</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71620112023-01-26T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:46:07-05:00Where should I tour this year?<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/55b568c1f1878e2a811378846369b1eb12177f77/original/327438131-907581663719843-8608117873324760712-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Where should I tour this year?</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I’m off the road until April when I hit the Midwest so that I have time to finish some projects and write a new show, but at that point just about anywhere is fair game and I’m open to ideas! Churches, Venues, Festivals, Libraries (yes, libraries!)…even the occasional house concert.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">This is always the exciting part for me...second maybe to actually playing the concerts…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I love figuring out where I want to go! At this point I’ve seen most of the US…but that’s not really what it’s about.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">It’s about choosing the adventure…and the decision to choose to GO on an adventure in the first place!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Making the decision to go on tour…I’ll be honest, it has a bit more weight for me than it did before the pandemic. Gas is up…a lot of my network has moved to other fields…Florida is really far away from everywhere haha…it’s still amazing, but it’s tougher than it was in 2019.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But on any adventure, on any journey, you’re going to GROW. And that growth is invaluable.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">You learn things about yourself, you face challenges; you try, you fail sometimes; you succeed sometimes.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And you don’t come back the same.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Choose the Journey, Friends.</span></div>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Choose Adventure.</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all,</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Mark</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/71620122023-01-23T01:00:00-05:002023-03-10T21:58:58-05:00Soniferous…The Full Video! <div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'>
<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/iZjLEwemis/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:#000000;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/42855/748c1ecd724faad42f04bc030d4f42daaa8a2059/original/screen-shot-2023-02-28-at-12-46-59-am.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></a></div>
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<br><a class="no-pjax" href="https://fb.watch/jbF-5oXrwJ/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><span style="color:hsl(0,0%,30%);">(click image to watch on Facebook) </span></a>
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<div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Soniferous…The Full Video! Maybe I should actually do a video on how to pronounce the title…I’m very excited to share it with you. This is the one that Nora and I were working on a couple weeks ago that resulted in our Sushi date the other night (long story). Great filming and directing by my wife.</span></div>
</div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">The song is named after the guitar I’m playing, crafted by Rood Guitars. I posted last week about how the composition came about, that it started as a tune for Nora to practice arpeggios on the mandolin and became a practice study (or “etude” if you’re feeling pretentious) for myself.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">I’d always wanted to learn the technique of “sweep picking” - that’s the raking down and up motion of the right hand while the left hand frets and mutes. It’s a really cool technique! It’s just SO COOL! And I find it extremely challenging. But most of the styles that I play don’t really call for it…I’ve practiced it throughout my guitar playing career here and there, but just like they say, if you don’t use it, you lose it…</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">So I wanted to use it - and I knew that the best way to get myself to use the technique consistently was to write something I liked so much that I’d want to play it at every concert forever.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And that’s how “Soniferous” came to be.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Funny how songs have multiple ways of coming about and multiple stories to go with them. It was a tune for Nora to play…and then I wanted to use it for my own practice…it was the beginning of the pandemic and my career was falling apart…and it was the rebirth of something new….</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And all of that, all of those feelings, those stories went into “Soniferous,” the ups and the downs, the happy and the sad.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Songwriting is such a journey…Haha because it takes so long! It doesn’t have to, but for me it usually does. It’s pretty common that I’ll work on a piece over the course of a year.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">But in working on a song for that time, I find that it encompasses all of what’s going on in my world. It’s never about just one thing.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">It’s all of it.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">And that’s the journey. The ups and the downs, the joys and the sorrows.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Love y’all, enjoy the tune.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style='-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;caret-color:rgb(228, 230, 235);color:rgb(228, 230, 235);font-family:system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.5em 0px 0px;orphans:auto;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-wrap;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px;word-wrap:break-word;'><div style="font-family:inherit;text-align:start;" dir="auto"><span style="color:#000000;">Guitarists - I’ll have tabs up later today in my story</span></div></div>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/69181502022-03-03T00:00:00-05:002023-02-28T00:50:20-05:00Figuring it Out<p>Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes. Today I turn 36, and given the events of the past couple of years, I would venture to guess that most of us are not where we...expected to be at this point in our lives. I certainly expected to have a lot more of it “figured out” by now...In fact, I’ve spent a lot of my life pretending that I did...with music, career, friendships, etc...really trying to put on that mask of having my stuff together. And there’s nothing wrong with a mask - we all wear one. When we socialize, when we do business, when we’re on stage...and mine has served me well for a long time. I really liked the idea of looking like I had my stuff together. </p><p>But there’s something very liberating in recent years about putting that down for a bit. Really admitting just how much I don’t know. How much I don’t even know I don’t know. About life, about music, business, career...How much I feel like a pretty big mess on a regular basis...and not judging myself for it. Embracing the beauty of the continual learning and growth process that is being human. Recognizing that I have people who love me for me, that God loves me for me...and maybe, just MAYBE learning to love myself. It’s taken me a long time to start to get there, and I’m still working on it. </p><p>So here’s to 36. I’m more thankful for life right now than I’ve ever been. Thank you for sticking with me, for listening to the music - I look forward to making more of that and sharing it with you all. Much love, </p><p>Mark</p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/588595333854cf7599574579d54e4c95a512868a/original/img-4912.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/67499572021-09-17T17:07:55-04:002021-09-17T17:23:56-04:00Small Operations<p><strong>From August 24th, 2021</strong></p>
<p>Hey Folks, today we’re going to dive a little further into how the sausage gets made! Vulnerability with Mark. Thanks so much for all of your support for my return post last week. I’m still moving slowly, but I am making music! It might be a sec before the new stuff comes out, so in the meantime, let’s take a look into the vault of things that just never got released before the pandemic, shall we? </p>
<p>Nora and I shot this video in Sedona at the end of 2018. Earlier that year, we had given up our house in Carolina in favor of being on the road full time. This was about 8 months into what we nostalgically refer to as “Monster Tour.” From 2018 clear up to the pandemic, we would primarily book the shows 4-6 months out and schedule our lodging around that, whether it would be renting a place, crashing with friends here and there or in this case, house sitting! </p>
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<p>No matter what, we were always blessed to have a place - didn’t sleep in the car the entire 2 years we toured like this. It was really awesome, and to get to house sit in Sedona?! What an amazing place! </p>
<p>If you’ve seen me in concert, there’s a good chance it was during “Monster Tour”…we played 130 shows in 2018 alone. I would usually downplay that we were doing things without a home base or that we were house sitting because I was worried that folks would see me as being less successful, less professional…as a “homeless” musician…Worried about not being taken seriously - by fans, venues, professional contacts, etc… </p>
<p>Musicians, performers, influencers - a lot of us have put some stock into the concept of “status.” That perceived notion of success, or trying to project ourselves as “successful” in the eyes of others. You’ve heard about how some folks rent mansions to make themselves look more successful for their social media following, right? To make the operation look bigger than it is! Haha it sounds so ridiculous to me now, but there was a time I might have considered doing that myself. </p>
<p>We can blame our culture, our upbringing, but for some of us it’s just a thing that we have to get past - and working past these kinds of things makes us stronger! And I can’t guarantee I won’t ever fall into it again…because I am very, very human. But the more I dig into being human, the more and more beauty I find in the experience, in working through the flaws, in seeing the younger version of myself with love and as a person I had to be in order to be the person I am now. Even in listening to this recording, I hear unevenness in the 16th notes I’m playing with my left hand starting around 1:19...can you hear it? Clear through the whole verse. Honestly I never even noticed until today. And it’s ok - I’ll try to play them better in the future, but again….I’m very very human. </p>
<p>So anyway, this video was filmed and edited by my amazing wife Nora. While we were on the road full time. Without a home base. House sitting and not paying rent. Playin’ shows, having fun, living life, making music. </p>
<p>Love y’all.</p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/67499412021-09-17T16:55:56-04:002021-09-17T17:25:49-04:00Hey Stranger, It's Been a While: Breaks, Lessons and Picking up Pieces<p><strong>From August 17th, 2021</strong></p>
<p>Now don’t get too excited, folks - the beard is already trimmed and looking posh and proper again. Posts and music shall resume soon. I needed some time - I think we’ve all needed some time and I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to actually have it. I wanted a fancy, exciting “comeback” post with all of the plans for my career, etc....but this one is about humility. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic I had put a lot of stock into being a “guitarist.” I’m blessed enough to have made a living at it for 10 years, and I loved it! The writing, the travel, the human connection - gosh, I LIVED for touring, for playing concerts. I would estimate that since 2010 I played around 1,000 of them....but it had become such a part of my identity that when the pandemic took it away, it was a void bigger than the loss of a job - it felt like a loss of self, a loss of purpose. I imagine that some of you can relate. </p>
<p>In many ways I had become my career - always striving to book the next tour, get the next big video...pay the rent. A lot went into my art, but there were certain projects I was very passionate about that were put on the back burner for far too long...because they might not make any money...or bc ppl might not like them....or maybe I was just afraid they weren’t any good. </p>
<p>I remained mostly silent on issues of social justice and human rights. I didn’t try to hide my beliefs, but I didn’t speak out for fear of ruffling feathers or for fear that it might keep me from getting booked in certain venues. And for any of my friends in the many marginalized communities in our nation - in our world: I apologize for not being more vocal and I will do better in the future. </p>
<p>There are always excuses. Mine is that I was dealing with a nasty chronic mystery illness for the past 10 years. I’ve never wanted to go into it much because there have never been any definitive test results and there’s already been enough speculation from doctors, friends and strangers to write a book. We often tried to hide it, and Nora is a saint for helping me through it. But when you’re focused on survival, on paying the bills, on socking some money away in case you can’t work...some really important things can take the back burner. And I’ll try to never judge another person for doing what they need to do to get by. But being sick is mostly behind me now. That book (the one of speculations) will not be written - maybe some songs, maybe I’ll share a little about the process someday, but I thank God for what I’ve learned, I welcome the healing, and I lay that part of me to rest. </p>
<p>Now, if you ever saw me in concert and were one of the folks who commented on how genuine I was...I will still take that compliment and run with it! There were many aspects of myself that I let come through, and that younger version of Mark was doing his best in many ways. </p>
<p>But this past year hit me like a sledgehammer. There are many, many cracks, and there is still a lot of work to be done, still healing to happen. But in chipping away the career, the money, the success - all the things we THINK we are - those cracks are how the light gets through. </p>
<p>I still love God, I still love Jesus - I still love Nora. Those things haven’t changed. I would say that I’m back. Sure, I’m back, whatever. But it’s more that I am here in a capacity that I have never been before. I am more myself than I have ever been before. </p>
<p>It’s lovely to see you.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/2fa78d39c2635ff357f8a09f3bf2db94db0d0a66/original/return-post-photo.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/67499632021-09-10T00:00:00-04:002023-02-28T00:52:14-05:00A Concert for my Wife <p>Last night I played guitar for Nora. Over the past couple of weeks I put together a new show. If you’ve ever seen me in concert, you know that the speaking and audience engagement in between the songs is just as important to me as the songs themselves, and I wanted her to hear it all before anyone else. </p><p>I set up my gear, amp, floor pedal, stomp boxes in the living room, just like a regular concert, put in my contacts, put some stuff in my hair and got all dolled up. </p><p>We were both very tired, had forgotten how much preparation goes into getting ready for a tour, packing up the CDs, clothes, going over the gear checklist, etc.… </p><p>But this was very important. Sure, it was excellent practice for me – I’ve only played guitar for a handful of people since the beginning of the pandemic. But I needed her to see the new show because this whole “thing where I play guitar for people” is as much hers as it is mine. </p><p>Nora was on the road with me as soon as we got married. In the last seven years, she has been at every single show save for maybe 5 of them. She handled so many of the things that were never my forte - the promo, making posters, mailing out CDs, merch at the shows, making sure I had my energy drink before any given concert. She even handled some of the booking and management responsibilities. </p><p>We spent hours and hours together in our a little hatchback and then our minivan on the long drives. we came up with a lot of the show material together – anything that you may have actually laughed at in concert was probably her idea. </p><p>But I played for her just like I would have in front of an audience, and I played my heart out; songs that I had played for her 1000 times and songs she had only heard once or twice. And I sang and I shared the meanings behind the songs and I allowed myself to be vulnerable with my wife and we laughed and we cried. </p><p>And as I hit the road today for the first shows in a year and a half, touring solo for the first time in eight years, as I pick up whatever remains of my Guitar career, as I find out if I’m any good at doing this anymore, as I find out what it looks like to be a professional musician near (hopefully) the end of a global health crisis, Nora, please know that it is such an honor to be your husband, your partner. </p><p>You truly have my heart, Nora. See you in a couple weeks.</p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/838127c9a1be5574e1d1b92873fca16df492e9c5/original/playing-for-nora.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57776422019-06-02T21:32:20-04:002019-06-02T21:39:38-04:00Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park<p><strong>September 26th - 30th, 2018 Conrad and Billings, MT</strong></p>
<p>Sometimes our tour routing takes us right through some of the most amazing places. In between our shows in Conrad and Billings, MT, we got to explore Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. We saw lots of wildlife including a bear that crossed the road right in front of our car, buffalo, waterfalls, geysers, and lots of autumn leaves. We're so blessed that our travels sometimes bring us by such beauty and that we get to play shows and meet great people along the way too! </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/657d1f9ca311fe6935d6878d64e35181f54a5588/original/img-4416.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/57e882f0dec020439941375947b960d318b5290c/original/img-4225.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/db35642f3fd46a0f8f1277e4ae6268c590e65f9a/original/img-4279.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/826a1039405f636b285bebaf0228b4a57373a636/original/img-4181.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/b0847f65386707f9bfc2b383136e79f8ec7fb846/original/img-4201.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/66b356b67e01def8c9c1c92bda04ede76977b2f6/original/img-4375.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/67d84d78b410cc04d2e509dd5d298bdeec640085/original/img-4273.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/754b007fa9eb8b596d8f8865f67bf014a6f194e8/original/img-4317.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57775822019-06-02T20:42:24-04:002019-06-02T21:00:33-04:00SOWERs, Goats, Waterfalls and Theaters Oh My!<p><strong>September 17th - 22nd, 2018 Turner, OR</strong></p>
<p>We played for the SOWERs (Servants on Wheels Ever Ready) this weekend - they are a wonderful christian couples RV ministry and are filled with love and purpose like no one we've ever met before. It was an honor to play for them and to be in the presence of their spirit as they planned for their upcoming year. You can find out more about them <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sowerministry.org" target="_blank">here</a>. </p>
<p>Next we headed out of Oregon and into Washington for a great show at the Cope-Gillette Theater in Everett. Fun crowd and excellent venue sponsored by the Everett Public Library!</p>
<p>We also got to see a goat and a waterfall and that was pretty great too :-) </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/898cf2d772aea11d0d4125da8aabf213125a1596/original/img-4106.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/589b1b7eb20415e5579c539775c316beb263f9db/original/img-4112.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/427a9dc9dd719ef33dbe456cd03e4cb60ce86f00/original/img-4133.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/adf32f96cd378f00977cdd35578952f8e3f9a28a/original/img-4142.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57775812019-06-02T20:30:39-04:002019-06-02T20:30:39-04:00Festival + Church + Studio Gear = A Great Weekend!<p><strong>August 18th and 19th, 2018 Tacoma and Olalla, WA</strong></p>
<p>We had a blast at the Olalla Americana Music Festival! This was the first time someone has ever sketched Mark during a performance (that we know of). :-) We also had a great Sunday morning in Tacoma and received some new Vanguard studio mics! Looking forward to seeing how they sound in the Studio! </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/ab2eca6aa933ae6bd22946f49a8a5db73d108f76/original/dsc02582.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/5f6b724dce6a230708f4dca0bf1fb2963ba802f6/original/img-3746.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/4998be82be78c7815f02aa2621b5e5ca5577dead/original/img-3938.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/96e27b7ebb6f5eb8bed2ee4aa2df260578eaebfa/original/img-3939.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57775422019-06-02T19:27:47-04:002019-06-02T19:27:47-04:00Mountains, Planes and Double Neck Guitars <p><strong>August 6th - August 12th, 2018 Washington and Idaho</strong></p>
<p>It's been a busy week with shows in Richland, Winlock and Randle, WA - plus an encore visit back to Weiser, ID! We just can't get enough of this place! We also got to meet some great people at Aviation Fellowship in Nampa, ID where Mark played in their morning service. Afterward they gave us a tour and we even got to fly in a flight simulator that they use for their training. I'm not sure if Mark landed safely or not, but we'll stick to the guitar for now - we have a lot of respect for those pilots! </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/a9dd50f5345045adff2e63a1480160d75222429e/original/dsc02402.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/ad5d5787c8a7aec549853a4f62eed686bacd3dad/original/dsc01884.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/fd7062e704d12894a3c0255c21ea8e61d17877fd/original/img-3726.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/f4b801f49e3167dad5cd622b810fda656aba5a5b/original/img-3702.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/c750a4896e5c5a327c80a3059a6d4f3532e41270/original/img-3658.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57606422019-05-19T22:15:19-04:002019-05-19T22:16:48-04:00Back Country Bash and Mark in a Suit!<p><strong>August 4th and 5th, 2018 Joseph and Enterprise, OR</strong></p>
<p>We LOVE it here! What a gem of a place in the country of Oregon. We had an absolute blast playing the Back Country Bash in Joseph with some great groups like Shane Smith and the Saints and sometimes... Mark wears a suit! Look out for the upcoming video of Linus and Lucy that we filmed at the OK Theater here in Enterprise :-) </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/7bf741c9ec795322b0f6c6962e43dc7c02a62a4f/original/img-3612.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/593d81c18c77ab9bd01fa4f5c9d78fd5e73dab3a/original/img-3599.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57606292019-05-19T21:55:52-04:002019-05-19T22:17:22-04:008 Shows in 8 Days!<p><strong>July 24th - July 31st Sisters, Sunriver, Myrtle Creek, Bend, Corvallis, Arlington and The Dalles, OR</strong></p>
<p>We had a great time touring Oregon this last week of July - many libraries, the Myrtle Creek Festival and one of our favorite churches in the country, Compass Church in Bend. Mark had maybe his tiniest fan sneaking a peek in the middle of the isles at the Bend Library - so cute!</p>
<p>I also got to pick fresh blueberries for my breakfast :-) I like it here! </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/5efab514795aeb0c5a369daeb79fbd4d3c11027e/original/dsc01807.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/30a5b718d82e44a4caa2f7f5b27160fc41a5d1ca/original/img-3550.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/f6573f15f71a07a224cce3fb15dc2c47289bbd13/original/img-3491.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/a2d2c5517a81bf2f210c707aed3b2b00cf20de1e/original/img-3519.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/8f1f6f621f12a0459cf3d92527c607658a55c214/original/img-3457.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/19fae63cde4fe7f04a4a154656812bdf4133569e/original/img-3542.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/49905a19a8167929c92e2af2e4ba1232de5bcc60/original/img-3544.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57606202019-05-19T21:26:59-04:002019-05-19T22:17:31-04:00Nora Runs Sound!<p><strong>July 22nd, 2018 Portland, OR</strong></p>
<p>I ran sound last night and no one left! <br>...at least not because of me - haha! </p>
<p>Fremont UMC was a very supportive audience. :-) </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/71f1a14118107258516ee343a79b360c1dcbd056/original/img-3424.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/ff3a70447555173ae1c167ead263c4200fd81414/original/img-3429.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57606112019-05-19T21:11:03-04:002019-05-19T22:17:41-04:00Washington - Sharks, Concerts and Sites! <p><strong>July 7th - July 11th 2018 - Port Angeles, Lacey and Tacoma, WA</strong></p>
<p>We will always remember Washington as being the first time Mark ever signed a shark. Milestone created. :-) </p>
<p>We had a great house concert in Port Angeles, followed by Music in the Park in Lacey and the Old Town Summer Concert Series in Tacoma. We were able to see some of the sites before heading to Oregon - this was my first time seeing tide pools! They're like tiny aquariums! We also got to see some gorgeous Washington mossy trees, coastline and sunsets. It's truly beautiful in this part of the country! </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/b9a4e76435309b8a1a452ed3cf6883f4ec9c9182/original/img-3236.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/f45d98db79a541c5b9900ee0767f022df782f0c0/original/img-3191.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/6998f74b3e07727018a4e1b25e16c4d354a3ffcf/original/img-3229.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/5fbcae998c32208fb927631f3e5b47f36d23e6e7/original/img-3281.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/366b8754246691e087798c05c68e701bf905ac17/original/img-3269.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/f02410d9f2e81d8970cd81fe280613748d210b8d/original/img-3270.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/750bf135ce39e67440b1baa3a646c918b9349f55/original/img-3254.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/3b7e6b5a9ccb6f9d31c6ea3a977368f3ce19caef/original/img-1275.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/c1142502140ca0cbd3e9ba552609eb6ad26d8932/original/img-3302.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/adf0929908e4650dd69adb8fdf29c6f3c3e333b8/original/img-3376.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/1720a89456195f12fe2988907f052d61b3e33f1e/original/img-3352.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/c9551bacf069588989a5a2c320500634e87ed151/original/img-3341.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br> </p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57605472019-05-19T19:46:46-04:002019-05-19T22:17:51-04:007 Shows in Idaho!!<p><strong>June 22nd - July 1st, 2018 - Idaho (Weiser, Nampa, Twin Falls, Stanley, American Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls)</strong></p>
<p>Oh Idaho.. what an adventure! So many different types of shows and places. From the Old Time Fiddle Festival to churches to libraries to the Redfish Lodge. Indoor or outdoor - all great! Idaho was full of good people and stunning views - the Shoshone Falls were some of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen and they're pretty much just in the middle of town in Twin Falls. The weather was perfect this year and we can't wait to go back! </p>
<p> </p>
<p> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/42747bccdd65f9d2e4ae890234798b04f7571fa6/original/img-2860.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/427f05317ad1cd070a33137c92b135a44b665010/original/img-2906.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/ec74089aad55fed3d28dabca206c33d631a66eb6/original/img-2949.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/014ad9d1c715539347518ac1d8d849b4b5bb0fde/original/img-2975.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/5977b5cb35cdf95dc619e8b3aa0729bba0f99345/original/img-2929.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/cf9894e53d05898f7f55945638ad7374b34486eb/original/img-2959.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/89b2171450ef56b3414bd6cf28155dd1caea7008/original/img-1092.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/9a779f302fb2e0d8c610e3586e5a64557dfd1c61/original/img-3133.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/e626eeeb2802f098478040facdf3bf93e305aef3/original/img-3007.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57605452019-05-19T19:27:21-04:002019-05-19T22:18:20-04:00Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada<p><strong>June 15th, 2018 Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada</strong></p>
<p>We had about 3 days to explore Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada before heading back to the states. The water there is glacier fed and the most brilliant blue I've ever seen. We hiked, we canoed, and tried to stop at almost all the sites. It was absolutely breathtaking!</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/07eb7b728065d6355b0a75340a5ae6760425eec1/original/img-2608.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/7ed6a5c83c5e742778bc11661a8b607d9877bed2/original/img-2594.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/91c38205cf1f71eb67b66ae6451be92e3779b9bf/original/img-0889.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/0bede05e4e72192c1fb946b22d8223c60d130815/original/img-2615.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/b715ec19fa84ba9ceb21a82dbe9c27b069d71e61/original/img-2767.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/a1aa6fd0bf5835ffd46fdfe29eb1ae3f9f84c2ee/original/img-2652.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/3c1c200606f817ede1ebe5005e16e88b37c75106/original/img-2630.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/c7232e7ef7410a037ef71443bf82b2558a327b8d/original/img-2603.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57605212019-05-19T19:14:35-04:002019-05-19T22:18:37-04:00Lido Theater in Fort St. John, BC<p><strong>June 9th, 2018 Fort Saint John, BC, Canada</strong></p>
<p>We had so much fun at the concert last night in Fort St John, BC! This is the farthest north we have ever driven and it was worth every mile!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/f1e0c41b6080abcfc94e84ac31b4905c61184fb2/original/img-2505.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/c82e6d30e637c8a7c3434bb083ccdd0bc7255946/original/img-2480.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/8f2e14c91d675c69231b27b61cd8543d9b655db4/original/img-2483.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57604222019-05-19T17:27:55-04:002019-05-19T22:20:07-04:0030 Elementary School Assembly Tour in Kelowna, BC<p><strong>May 10th - May 30th, 2018 Kelowna, BC, Canada</strong></p>
<p>The elementary school assemblies went great! We really love it and so do the kids and teachers!! Kelowna, BC did not disappoint!</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/2a3fe7c250ecfaf4b9ab4e8c2dafb4d0c26828b5/original/img-1944.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/e05b899412dd8d30e3cf9b4b51c526594d2787a4/original/img-2340.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/52f3170975f2def22a882bd0ff98ee856bcc8d66/original/img-2037.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/5e78a9311ee89520144f4b2f23ac67ac61153ebb/original/img-1849.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/98ad767f3d0eef82304bb13d962235c6599ed4c7/original/img-2149.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/24c3fd75b019c9a37593e46d4f77f93829d28921/original/lrg-dsc00978.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/80c1bc15dce8b12625b00f408237f1ac016b73c2/original/img-1669.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>
<p> </p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57603992019-05-19T16:41:09-04:002019-05-19T16:41:09-04:00Lake Tahoe... just wow!<p>Some much needed time off in Lake Tahoe. A time to recoup from heavy touring and when Mark gets his most creative writing time. Lake Tahoe was absolutely stunning and the best hiking trails we've found to date.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/9a703613601922a3c96bb5f934699724b95aa18f/original/img-1320.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/41c85cecd5eede0559a7f492c0581756ff6b1c07/original/img-1290.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/8c5d5b919a2f07c1d4e2eb12fd8359ed43ac0986/original/img-1228.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/e551d281ca56759b6a024f20520bae9e410885fa/original/img-1207.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/551c9f49f2a5298f462f08db4c45975b17a6d000/original/img-1193.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/7dc3f94f97125dbfc8b1202b7752c02f2bb6f1eb/original/lrg-dsc00802.jpeg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57603982019-05-19T16:33:44-04:002019-05-19T22:24:49-04:00Crossing the Country with Shows in Kansas, Wyoming and California<p><strong>April 13th - April 22nd, 2018 Kansas, Wyoming and California</strong></p>
<p>The last couple weeks have been busy but awesome! We had great concerts in Kansas, Wyoming and California, got to jam on the mandolin a little with some great musicians, Mark did a radio interview, signed a guitar that was given away at one of the concerts, and taught a couple guitar clinics. We’ve seen some gorgeous sites and met some amazing people! Super excited to take a much needed week or so off in Lake Tahoe and Santa Cruz next week!</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/0a4de8b76c0423d8f00fe2194be3d8d6c1f64a5f/original/img-1124.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/d3a4b5f178f4c86c31d10980c81f521a0861f2bb/original/img-0977.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/a5e157f982dbabe423d5056295fa5d8dc91a95ab/original/img-1003.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/5c32308856c8d9af0e85e4c428191cc3cc0d0f1d/original/img-0913.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/eb935b95f86d6c537829671644c2c85fb265c06d/original/img-0804.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/7e75181be0bd21dff5629b7595d49bc44626e6f4/original/img-1070.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/6c64c95ae641212d8caf4a01d96b75c25f1b4b7a/original/img-1062.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/ad6bc70708d4f223a3c3cc14ce4be9a9dbe18429/original/642c8a8c-e57a-4219-8f3d-9ed777a9edb7.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57602952019-05-19T15:49:49-04:002019-05-19T15:49:49-04:00Monster Tour is a GO! <p>And so it begins. Our first show of the tour brings us to First Broad Street UMC in Kingsport, TN - a welcoming crowd and a great way to start things off! <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/9eb9a1627134ed3321bc5946ea02bf39ac852ba2/original/img-0599.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_none" alt="" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/48702308fc2d74170171e52a79c250739ac6aea1/original/img-0600.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Mark Kroostag:markkroos.com,2005:Post/57602992019-05-19T14:05:00-04:002019-05-19T16:02:38-04:00Kroos Monster Tour Week ONE!<p>Week 1 on the road has been wonderful! We’ve had 5 great shows in 4 different states, got to see a gorgeous sunset at our friend’s place on the lake and then stayed on a FROZEN lake a bit north in Minnesota! Taking a day off today in Minneapolis, heading to Kansas tomorrow... then WEST BOUND! </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/9342d44fb9145bd4727bf8a19025dff9208b9038/original/img-0631.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/5cc4ebc55b631ada46a5f5e2f4736c602bc2a9fd/original/img-0728.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/64c36cf4585dcb1737cc9912e63ab1f615cab6ca/original/img-0652.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/b01625907ddccc0a64f91a18b2462d81e15e9053/original/img-0688.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/167546fc4823a73c983000512998987a6e64ec67/original/img-0719.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/42855/6579c7facb8d06b6c30c0057dc150279482a59d3/original/img-0756.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>Mark Kroos