English Camp

I'm still in Germany, and haven't been updating much, because, well... I'm pretty busy. I'm actually writing this instead of working out a lesson plan for tomorrow's English class, so this is going to be short.
Camp here at Neues Lieben has been lots of fun and very tiring. The first week I basically hung out and got to know the situation and helped out where I could. This week I'm in charge of teaching 12 highschoolers advanced English for an hour and a half every morning, playing guitar on the worship team, organizing American sports (football, baseball), teaching a worship band workshop and hanging out with the teens. So it's fun but busy. I have some great video from the first week, but unfortunately the internet connection isn't that great, so I haven't been able to upload any video, even the shortest clip. Maybe my friends Dave and Evelyn (they left at the end of last week) will upload something and I can attach it here. Otherwise you'll have to wait until I get back.
So that's pretty much it. I'll try to update again before I get back, and you can expect a more comprehensive blog upon my return.

Reviews

A friend recently got in touch with me on Facebook, saying he ran across a review of my latest album (Breathe Deep) on The Phantom Tollbooth. Intrigued, I went looking for it and sure enough found it was posted on June 16th, 2009. Here's an excerpt from the review, and you can link to the full review HERE:
  "What makes this album, Breathe Deep, so good is Hiram's penmanship. He is a great songwriter/wordsmith. Combine that with the airy guitar-based folk of his musical style, it makes for an enjoyable listen... It is poetic, musical, and honest. Hiram has put together an excellent album full of hope you can sit down and contemplate your navel to, or just play for enjoyment." 4/5 stars! - Robert Boynton, The Phantom Tollbooth
I just ran a Google search for 'hiram ring breathe deep review' and found another great review HERE on Adequacy.net - excerpt below:
   "Ring’s debut record suggest that there’s no suffering or turmoil that can’t be at least neutralized a little bit through some inspirational six-string strumming and a dose of hopefulness... there’s a heartwarming sincerity to be found in his fragile tenor and in the percussive beating of the guitar... If you feel like your life is in the doldrums, Hiram Ring’s music can probably help dig you out... His music, like his faith, is all about finding and embracing the light that can come out of dark places." Adam Costa, Adequacy.net
At the moment I'm packing for Germany, where I'll be joining a team from my church in teaching conversational English to German highschoolers for three weeks. I'll be video blogging on my YouTube site, and will try to keep this blog updated as well. When I get back, work will continue on the Sacred Songs project I started with Matthew Monticchio - we're also working on updating a Pageant Music blog, and I'll let you know when we get that up and running.

New Recording Project

The other day Matthew Monticchio and I went out to our friend George Yellack's house to record some drums for songs we are working on for a new collection of sacred songs. We wrote some of the songs and re-worked old hymns for this project, much like our last two Christmas album projects. This album will be released again under Pageant Music, and features a bunch of local musicians (Cliff Lewis, Katie Becker, Claire Battle, myself, Matt, others to be named) in a folk/pop/indie vein. You can download a rough demo of one of our original tunes, 'Communion Hymn' HERE. I'll try to keep you updated on our progress - here's a short video of our journey to George's and what we did when we got there.

Cornerstone Music Festival

I have been out of the loop for a few weeks, with good reason. I took some time off working for Math U See in order to go to Cornerstone Music Festival in Bushnell, Illinois this past week. The festival is run by Jesus People USA, an intentional community in Chicago that has been around since the early 70s. Last time I was there was in 2001 with the Wycliffe World Music Band as a roadie, and this time I just went to enjoy the festival. It was a blast!
I actually did end up playing at the Impromptu Stage to a crowd of 15 people, 8 of whom bought CDs (pretty good average since 5 of the people were friends who already had my CD), but the highlights for me were Stavesacre (back together after 6-8 years), Dave Bazan (of Pedro the Lion) and Rosie Thomas. Family Force 5, Anberlin, and Me Without You were pretty cool too. And Brian 'Head' Welch (former Korn rocker). I brought my video camera, but totally forgot to carry it around with me. I couldn't find the song I wanted on YouTube, but here's someone else's video of Dave Bazan's show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19oHHGfifgU
And in this video of Brother Red Squirrel's show you can see me dancing and clapping at 10 seconds with the black shirt on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW1103I46WU