I'm Baaaack...

First I want to say, there was a mix-up a few weeks ago with the comments. I selected about four of them and instead of clicking "approve" I clicked "reject", rookie mistake. So just letting those people know, there wasn't any reason why your comments weren't approved, other than it was my mistake. Sorry about that.

So, NQC.... If you ever wondered how Superman felt after being exposed to kryptonite, go to NQC as a part of a group. You come home feeling beaten, and don't ask me why. I would think it'd be a pretty easy week, set up once, perform short sets, work the table for a certain shift and that's it. But for some reason, you feel like you lose a few months in that one week. 

So I'm going to do a little questionnaire every few days, to help everyone get to know our group on a more personal level. I'll start with my own:

Name- Madison Allen Easter

Birthday- 11/26/1988

Interests- Playing guitar, reading, watching movies, and talking to anyone about anything.

What is your occupation with Jeff & Sheri? Guitarist

Favorite Movies- That Thing You Do!, This is Spinal Tap, Tombstone, The Shawshank Redemption, Batman (1989), Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Office Space, anything by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Mallrats, etc.), any Quentin Tarantino flicks, Almost Famous, Tommy Boy, The Shining, Goodfellas, any Tom Hanks flick, Fight Club....there are way too many to list ALL of my favorites. After all, I AM a movie buff.

Favorite Albums- Diorama - Silverchair, Continuum - John Mayer, Big Ones - Aerosmith, The Life of Chris Gaines - Garth Brooks, Hot Wired - Brent Mason.

Favorite Artists- John Mayer, Bruce Hornsby, Brent Mason, Peter Cetera, Don Henley, Richard Marx.

Favorite Books- The Bible, The Shining, The Long Halloween, The collective works of Edgar Allen Poe, The Screwtape Letters.

Favorite Waste of Time- Watching TV/Movies and playing video games.

Favorite Pizza Toppings- Pepperoni, I'm a simple fellow.

Favorite Television Programs- Heroes, The Office, Arrested Development, The X-Files, Friends, Dexter, Family Guy, Boy Meets World.

What type of car do you drive? Lincoln Blackwood and a 1968 Camaro.

How many vehicular accidents have you ever had? 0

What was the last movie you saw in theaters? Tropic Thunder

What was the last concert you attended (leisurely)? Matchbox 20 and Alanis Morissette

Top 3 websites you check every day- Joblo.com, Engadget.com, Superherohype.com

Most embarrassing moment- I have a new one almost every night, but there's one that really sticks out though. We were doing a show in North Carolina a few years ago, I had a brand new PRS guitar with a little cheap-o strap. The guitar is a very heavy one, so when you add that factor to the cheap strap, the outcome won't be a good one. The strap gave way in the middle of the set and the guitar fell to the ground and knocked a nice little chunk out of it.

Favorite part of traveling- Meeting new people and seeing my friends from other groups.

Something fans don't really know about you- I'm a HUGE movie buff! You name it, I've seen it at least once. I'm also a giant Batman buff.

If you could have any other job, What would it be? I'd honestly love to be an English teacher if music had no part in my life. 

My DVD collection. I have about 350, I'm still working on it though.

So that's it, I'll probably get Morgan and Kyle to fill out their questionnaires later this weekend. We are in Mt. Airy, NC for Mayberry Days this weekend. I can't believe it has been a full year since we shot that video! That show is always a blast, I love doing the "We Are Family" shows, it's so much fun to play as one big group. 

I know all of you are wondering about Mom, she has gone through her second round of chemo and she is doing fantastic! This is all going much better than I expected. I don't mean to make it sound like a "nothing" thing, it's still difficult, but we're handling it well.

Keep the comments coming, they're always a fun read!

Take care,

ME

I'm Still Here

Don't worry, I am still here and I am going to write a full blog in a few days. I am simply whipped from the NQC trip. I've been home for a day or so and I'm just starting to get my head straight. 

I got to meet a few of you at NQC, some of you are people I've known for a while but I had no clue that you had even found this page. It's still pretty cool, to me, that so many of you are reading this stuff. Thank you so much!

Until next time,

-Maddy

A Few Hours Home

We are home today, but just long enough to wash a few loads of clothes and get our bearings straight. 

We performed at Silver Dollar City on Monday and Tuesday, those shows are always amazing. I am taken back every year when I step on to that stage and see how many people have come to hear our music. At one moment, I, literally, had my breath taken when the crowd showed their support for Mom by giving her a standing ovation, I mean here are thousands of people standing and applauding, letting us know that we are not alone, that is a feeling that can't be described through words alone. I don't know if any fan of any genre of music will ever, fully, understand how big of a role they play in the lives of artists. 

Mom's immune level is really well according to her blood tests.  Days 7-10 are when levels typically drop and hers started to drop a bit, due to the chemo, at the same time that Maura developed a little bit of the croup. The croup can manifest itself as laryngitis in adults, so Mom sounded a bit "froggy" during the last few shows. She said she was feeling no pain, she just sounded rough, she's feeling all better now but it did let us realize how easily it is for her to catch something, so we have been overstocking the bus on anti-bacterial hand washes. 

In other Jeff & Sheri news, we have started listening to songs for our new album. That is a bit of fun because of all of the varied opinions coming together at once. Mom has more of the 70's pop taste, where Dad's is a more classic country taste, making the two blend is really fun. I'm really wanting to take this album back to the old Jeff & Sheri sounds, the more acoustic driven sound, very similar to where they started. My favorite Jeff & Sheri album is Silent Witness, I've constantly been listening to that one for some inspiration on where to take this new sound. When we start cutting tracks, I'll start posting videos to the blog to keep everyone updated on as much of the album-making process as possible.

As far as my personal life, I started college this past week. I decided to take a year off from school to just have some free time, you know, to read books that I want to read instead of books that I have to read. I really enjoyed it, but now it's time to get back to being a student. It's a little difficult getting back into the swing of things, but one of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Aritstotle, "The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet". While it is very difficult for me now, I know that it will be well worth it when I am finished. 

NQC is coming up next week, I'm looking forward to catching up with some friends that I rarely get to see. I'm also looking forward to catching up with some of you that have been keeping up with this blog.

Keep in touch and take care,

-ME