SNOCAP

An Acoustic Prologue is now for sale online through SNOCAP. The CD will cost you $6.99, or you can come to a show and pick up the CD for $5.00. The choice is yours. I know what I would do. Blogger won't let me post the store here, but if you click here or the post title you can get to the store.

If you buy the cd and want to see the art work let me know and I will send it out to you...

Kyle Ray

The Jordan Emmans Band

OK everybody, you've got to check out my big brother's new album. I grew up playing guitar in Jordan's shadow; let me tell you, he's a munster and this new project is no exception! Some of you know that my oldest brother has been living out in South Korea for the last couple of years. Soon after he was out there, he met up with a kickin' Canadian bassist and a British drummer. Last year, when my other two brothers and I went out to South Korea to see Jordan and bum around in the East for a bit, I had the opportunity to play a show with these guys. They rocked!!! The enire bar was up and dancing.

Brave These Waters, the first of (hopefully) many projects to come, is a confluence of memorable melodies and meaningful lyrics. Straying from Jordan's folk roots, The Jordan Emmans Band comes across at times reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World ,or maybe even a lighter Foo Fighters. I've always loved my brothers consistent song-writing integrity. He's always spent a load of time wrestling with things before allowing the struggle to birth a new tune. Each song is a work of art, relevant and insightful. So go click on the title of this post and check out the four new tunes he's got posted on their myspace. And do me a favor, when you drop him a comment, let him know I said "hi."
Peace, hope and love-Nathan J. Emmans


"love is like a fire that'll burn your house down." -from "Feathers," off Brave These Waters

May the Lord have mercy on your twisted soul

So, about a month and a half ago, I received an email from some guy who'd found us on craigslist. He was from the UK and wanted us to play at his wedding in Florida. So we shot emails back and forth for about a week. He'd ask how much our fee was, I'd answer him and ask my own questions ("do you want us to play the wedding march?" etc.); he'd ignore my questions and repeat his question. This went on for at least five or six times. Finally, thinking he might not be "all there" or whatever, I told him (for the seventh time) our fee. I didn't hear from him again until today when I read his latest email. Basically, it stated that his banker had made the mistake of combining our fee and the caterer's fee in one check and sent it off to us. He said, with the check there would be a letter with instructions on what to do next. The funny thing was, no sooner had I sent him a reply (saying things like, "thanks for wasting my time" and, "may God have mercy on your twisted soul.")then UPS rang the doorbell. Of course it was a package with a very large check and a letter. Now my question is, what do you do with things like this? Does the FBI have a hot line or something? Poor guy, I almost feel bad for someone who's that morally depraved.

peace, hope and love- Nathan J. Emmans


"Good Lord, I'm crooked deep down! Everybody's crooked deep down." -Derek Webb

Growing up

Growing up an avid hater of all things having to do with zucchini and the like (i.e., squash), as a child I often sat in protest in front of a bowl of the stuff at the dinner table long after everyone else was through. During the Summer of ’06 I had the opportunity to go on tour with Nathan and the 'ol Soapbox gang. Part of the tour landed us in Colorado, where we stayed at Taylor's, a beautiful family with six children at the time (not that they necessarily have more now, we unfortunately haven‘t been in touch with them since). To help feed so many mouths, Duane and Noelle Taylor were part of a farm co-op where they go to a farm and work so many times a month and pay some sum of money monthly and get TONS of vegetables. They were literally washing basketfuls of the stuff in a kiddy pool when they got back from the farm. Obviously dinner there was phenomenal and tasty, and then out came dessert. Squash Brownies. I am continually trying to get over fears (yes, squash kind of scared me), so I decided to go ahead and try them. Oh my goodness they were amazing! I was so blown away by the fact that something so seemingly evil as zucchini (and all its kind) could be so tasty. Also, I was very proud of overcoming such a big obstacle as my childhood loathing…I felt like I had grown up. Anyway, here’s the recipe, for all of you squash lovers out there…or squash haters who want to grow up too.

½ cup butter (or margarine)
½ cup cooking oil
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ tsp. Vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup cocoa
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups grated squash
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate morsels

In a large mixing bowl cream butter, oil and sugar.
Beat in eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, then gradually stir dry ingredients into liquid mixture.
Stir in grated squash.
Pour batter into greased baking pan. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate morsels.
Bake in preheated 350 degree F. oven for 25-35 minutes.
Cut into squares when cool.

Enjoy! If anyone has any worthwhile recipes, feel free to send them on over our way. I absolutely love to bake, though I don’t really excel at cooking healthy, substantial meals (good thing Nathan does). We’re going to be out on tour across the states again this Summer, and I plan on asking people along the way for more yummy recipes as well.

~Jessica

A Friend of Eli

What defines who you are? I’m actually real curious to see what list of properties you can come up with that, the sum of which, would equal you. These days a number of human properties that once might have seemed unalterable (eye color, facial features… gender even) are easily changed. I think we probably all know people (or are people)who go through styles and looks like they’re going, well, out of style. Even with all these exterior changes, we still remain who we are essentially. Which brings me back to my original query: what defines who you are? I believe a certain part of who we are is who we choose to be. See, I don’t choose to be six foot one; but, I do choose to be a Christian. Nor did I make the conscious decision to have my parents (or, rather, them have me... you know what I mean); however, I did choose to be friends with this little guy with a limp back in 6th grade. Since then, I’ve made the decision daily to be who I am in that respect, a friend of Eli. Maybe it’s a little silly to simplify the “deep things” to this extent. I don’t know. I just think some of those questions that we all ask ourselves, (or are prompted to ask by some meddling bloggers’ curiosity… incidentally, isn’t “meddling” a great word? Let’s all try and use that word at least five times today. I’m already at two!) are a lot simpler to come to grips with than we might think. Think about it. Go ahead and write me a list of properties or characteristic qualities that you have that make you who you are. Then, think about how many of those do you have somewhat control over? Then, maybe I'll meddle (3) with your various lists and write about that. Peace, hope and love -Nathan J. Emmans

Call it Blue

I am happily married to an amazingly sweet, understanding and beautiful girl named Jess. I'm also a daddy of a cute little girl named Cadence Rose; who's got, quite possibly the most effective, infectious smile I do believe there can be. I suppose I'm pretty healthy. I'm not "in shape" by any means. And you sure won't see me working out or jogging or anything crazy like that. But I'm not dying of any disease either, at least, not that I know of. So I'm pretty well off I guess. Blessed, if you will. Happy, content, however you'd like to say it. All that being said, I don‘t mind admitting that, despite all the properties of my content life, I still get down. There are those times when, for no good reason, I am completely overwhelmed with sadness. I don't know why, I just do. In the evangelical milieu I was raised in, being sad was looked down upon. Not that it was necessarily preached against from the pulpit; you'd just never admit it to others that things weren't ok. It was something you didn't tell other people about, the dark secret you hide behind pretty smiles. To be sad was almost like a sin. And I suppose there may be times when that is the case. My mom used to say that, just as your body tells you when you should eat, your spirit will tell you when you've deprived it of spiritual food. But then what about those whoes lives seem to be a perpetual spiritual feast? What of St. John of the Cross and his “Dark Night of the Soul.” What of the blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta? St. Teresa of Lisieux had a nameless sadness come over her as well. She described it as slipping into darkness. And what of me and my friends? Is it ok to be sad sometimes? What are we to do if we find ourselves or another “slipping into the darkness?” And yet, to be strangely still in, what Christianity (indeed, Christ himself) calls, “the light?” Some theologians suggest that the “Dark Night of the Soul” is just a step closer to God ‘though it may feel as though one has been abandoned by God. I certainly don’t claim to be any kind of a theologian; but I do believe that it’s ok to be sad sometimes. It may not be normal… but then again, things haven’t really been normal since Eden. The last thing I need when I’m down is someone trying to “fix me.” I’m never anymore broken than I always am. No amount of “just give it to God brother” is going to straighten that out. That’s not to say we don’t need each other. On the contrary, I am reminded of the love of God for me more often than not by my friends and family just being there. But the constant antidotes for the soul are just no good. Sometimes you’ve just got to be blue for awhile.

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”
- St. Augustine