Tonight, I’m preparing for a softball game and for some reason it doesn’t matter how comfortable I get on the field I get nervous.   So let me set this up a little better.  I’ve been playing softball for about 3 years and it’s competitive but not so much so that someone’s gonna really freak out at you if you make a mistake but yet, I still get nervous before I play!

I play left field and I’m convinced that I’m always going to drop the first ball that’s hit my way and that the coach is going to hit me with a baseball bat or that he’ll just take me out and sit me on the bench.  It’s softball, why does it matter so much?  The only thing I have going for me on the team is my defense.  I’m a terrible batter and I’m always lucky if I get the ball out of the infield.  Yeah, I suck!  But, on the defensive end I still get really nervous before the games even though that’s the only thing I’m good at doing!

I’ve grown up playing sports my whole life and yet I can’t get my head together or my nerves when I play sports.  I remember a time when I was playing a tennis tournament at the age of 13 and after I lost a point I dropped my racket to the ground.  Well, my mother wasn’t exactly very impressed so she up and left me!!  Yeah!!  I didn’t ‘throw’ the racket, just dropped it and I got the whole, ‘I’m leaving because I’m disappointed in you’ treatment.  Needless to say, I don’t exactly have control of my head or my nerves when playing sports.  I mean, it’s not that big of a deal!  My mind doesn’t exactly buy that for some reason.  It’s a constant battle.

I’ve decided. I’ve got nerves of soft tissues!!

-Luke

G’day Everyone!

Since the last time I write a blog Joel and I have travelled 19,114 miles which includes visits to LA, Australia, New Zealand and back to LA. Some trip! Let me tell you about it.

Joel and I travelled to LA to do some writing with several writers (one of which was Matt Hales from the band Aqualung) which all went very well! We were thrilled to have these opportunities. Ok, if any of you follow twitter you know all this. I’ll quit boring you.

After our LA trip we flew to our homeland of Australia. Boy did it feel good to be back. The flight alone from LA to Brisbane, Australia is 7,183 miles. Thats quite a distance! The actual flight goes for 13 hours! Yeah so sitting in one spot for 13 hours gets kind of old really fast. Good thing they have these cool little screens in every seat to where you can select from a bunch of movies to keep you entertained. That makes the time go by a little faster!

Once we arrived in Brisbane we went for a little holiday (or you would call it a vacation) for a week in a little town called Mooloolaba. Yes us Australians have some really interesting names. After out stay there we went south to a beach called the Gold Coast and stayed in the worlds tallest residential building! It’s called Q1 and we stayed on the 42nd floor and the jolly helicopters were flying beneath us! Yeah, google it. It’s pretty awesome!

The purpose of the trip was actually because we had some shows in a town called Toowoomba (another funny name) where we stayed for 2 days and did 4 shows. Lets just say, it was a rather hectic few days. You should check out some of the photos that we just uploaded. Check the pics out on our myspace or facebook page. The shows went SOOOO well and we were thrilled.

To finish of the trip international leg of our trip, we went to Auckland, New Zealand and performed the same night that we arrived. I think that once we arrived at the venue we only had like an hour or so to get everything ready and then perform. Traveling a bunch always makes life interesting!!! The next day the promoters took us to an old volcanic hill thing. I’m not too sure what they’re officially called so I’m just going to call it a thing. New Zealand is one gorgeous place (not as nice as Australia though. I just have to say that!!!!) and I really recommend visiting if you get the chance.

After our brief stay in Auckland we jump on another 747-400 for the trip back to LA. Thats another 6,499 miles in the air but this time something miraculous happened. We were about to board the plane but before we do they call us to the desk and and give us new tickets. We’re all like, “Hmmm this better be good!!” Sure enough, they had upgraded us to business class!! I cant really express the beautiful feeling that followed after the realization that we would be traveling the next 6,499 in the luxury. I guess they upgraded us because we fly so much! (you gotta love that) Joel and I stayed in LA for another 5 days to do some more writing and once again, we feel like we came up with some killer stuff!

We arrived home late Saturday (with a day full of flight drama) and I will admit, there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed. All in all our nearly month long journey had us travel 19,114 and we enjoyed every moment of it!

Until next time,

Luke

Last Friday some friends of ours (Jody and Zach Gray) who are photographers decided that we were going to do a little photo shoot.  If any of you follow us on twitter (twitter.com/joelandluke) you saw some pictures of our adventures and also got to hear a little bit about what went down.  Let me fill you in.

We started the day at a photography studio on broadway in Nashville where we took the stock photos that you need from every photo shoot.  The one thing that I loved about this time is that Zach had the brilliant idea of rocking out to some U2 and Coldplay while the shoot was going on.  I don’t know if it just make you feel a little bit more legit when your listening to some of the best musicians in the world or not but I think the photos were much better purely because of the music that was flowing in that room!!!

Now here is where things got really interesting. Zach had this plan of wanting to take some pictures on the helicopter pad which is at the top of Vandabilt Medical Center.  Well, I’m not going to lie, I loved this idea but didn’t think there was a chance that this could actually take place.  So Zach gets on the phone makes some phone calls and says, “We have to get to the hospital in 45 minutes.”  At this point I’m thinking, “Wow, this actually might happen.”  We arrive at the hospital and we’re met by a guy named Greg who handles all the public relations stuff for the hospital.  He greets us and says, “So are you ready to go up?”   Okay, my brain is starting to realize that we’re actually going to get to take photos on the helicopter pad where people are being air lifted in and out of the hospital all the time.  Greg takes us to the elevator with our kick drum in hand and also with a portable upright piano called a CP 60.  Yeah, we’re doing this thing!!

We get to the 15th floor of the hospital and once the elevator doors open, we see it.  The helicopter pad!!  It was actually a little shocking because when you walk out onto the platform to see a full 360 degree view of Nashville.  The other shocking part was at one point any of us could walk like 5 feet and we would fall of the side of the helicopter pad.  Craziness!!!  I could bore you with the way that we got down from the helicopter pad but that would be rather boring and really no fun at all.  So I wont!

In the next couple of weeks you’ll see some of the masterful work by Zach Gray’s photography.  We look forward to sharing them with you!

Luke

We just went back into the archives and pulled out a tune from some time ago called “Beautiful Pain”.

It was written about a difficult circumstance and painful season. The lyric talks about how the very thing we run from the most, pain, is often what we need to bring us to a fresh, new, beautiful place.

Go to myspace.com/joelandluke to hear it now.

Enjoy!

J&L (aka Austoville)

Here it comes, 2009…

It seems to me time is speeding up. Every year gets shorter. Maybe I’m just doing more, I don’t know. But in the age of iPhones, Fast food, Jet planes, TiVo it’s a little hard to find your footing, and even harder to stop for a second.

I hope in these last minutes of 2008 you and I will ask a simple question, How can we live in this moment, not tomorrow, not yesterday, right now. How can I stop, even if it’s just for a moment. I think we all might be surprised at how it gives us new perceptive.

Happy New Year everyone! May 2009 be the best year of your life!

Joel & Luke