In 1999 I wrote the word “time” on a piece of paper. What that meant? Wasn’t sure. Sometime in 2000 I began writing some lyrics that weren’t the norm for me. After being in a “Christian” folk rock band since 1998, I decided to change lanes. I wrote some songs and decided to take them to the clubs and bars of Chicago. Everyone told me I was crazy. So for a few years we hit the scene singing and rocking on the weekends. Alex wasn’t even old enough to get it. We had to find ways of sneaking him into the clubs to perform. We always had some great musicians on piano, but never one that stuck around long enough, or passionate enough to rock the scene. I came home one evening, checked my bank account and made the greatest investment yet. I bought a cheap 300.00 Casio and figured out how to play it. I revisited the word “time” that i wrote in a notebook and wrote a song to it. I was upset and hurt by the fact that people were walking away from the dream we had. Not enough people believed. If i could only go back and fix things. But I couldn’t. “All the things you thought I lost, I left behind, to be with you”.

After that it got a little easier to write songs on the keyboard, and not knowing any theory what so ever. We kept on and charged forward. Musicians came and went, Alex and I knew we had to keep going. We’ve been doing music for over 12 yrs now, and close to 8 as the saturn project. They say most bands don’t get passed the decade. We were constantly reminded by many that we didn’t have what it takes to make it. We’d never get a record deal. Did it stop us? Heck nah. In 2006 we were nominated by the Chicago Music awards for ‘best rock entertainer”, thanks to all the faithful supporters who would come out to our shows. Our sound has evolved so much, my writing has changed drastically, we have become better musicians, most importantly we aren’t driven by stardom, deals, $$, fancy cars and magazines anymore. So the question is, after all these years of hard work, and now being away from the city that made us, is it over, is TSP breaking up? Yes! We’ve been broken off the pieces that have held us back all these years, and we are stronger than ever. Relocating to Miami put us in contact with an old friend, that would become TSP’s guitarrist, the missing piece!  Something is in the making and I can’t wait to get it out there and let you guys know what we are up to…But TSP is here, and here to stay. Thanks to all the Chicago support, you know who you are. We’re aren’t done yet… and to our Miami peeps, just wait…You haven’t seen anything yet! To everyone that writes to us from all over the globe, thanks. We are especially grateful to those who constantly remind us we don’t have what it takes…You are the fuel that keeps us going! thanks friends

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Anthems for a broken world…coming soon…What if? music could change the world..

ok, so here are more facts you didn’t know…a day late…sorry.

-I used to do graffiti, my tagging name was “Phaze 4″

-I worked in landscaping with my Dad for 1.5 days…I quit. I couldn’t handle it.

-My pastor told me to be quiet in church while he was giving his sermon. Me and a friend were chatting away in the back of the church while he preached. The Pastor called us out in front of 300+ people. We were embarrassed.

-About 10yrs ago, I took first place in the first round of Guitar Centers Drum Off in Chicago. Round 2, I came in second place…I lost to a jazz drummer.

-The first movie I ever saw in the theater was Karate Kid part II. Had to keep it a secret. Back then it was a sin to go to the movies. As far as I knew that night, I was going straight to hell in my pastors eyes.

-During an acoustic performance with my first band, My guitar strap snapped, and the guitar flew off the stage…the room was silent…after that…

-I got my first tattoo in St. Thomas, it cost me $40.00

-While in elementary school, maybe 6th grade. I was goofing off in the back of the line, the Principle(nun) Kneed me to the front of the line…My back and butt cheeks hurt all day long

-I cried as i watched “dumb and dumber“…hilarious flick.

-My Dad told my teachers and nuns of the school to use any measure necessary of disciplining me when necessary…they sure did…thanks Dad.

-If we goofed off during class, Our gym coach would roll the dice and the number rolled was the number of paddles!!!

-My first job was for a Chinese restaurant called “Shanghai”. We’d walk down 3 blocks and placed flyer’s on everyones door, while the obese owner didn’t bother getting out of his van. After 20-something blocks of flyer passing he’d invite us to his restaurant to eat…it was great, until we got the bill. The money we made passing out flyers gone…What a Jerk…

-As a kid I got lost at a Kmart. When they found me, my dad spanked me…sheesh…”welcome back son”…

-I waited in line to my own rockshow…they didn’t believe I was with the band…”good times”.

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So Travis briefly gave a teaser of something in the making this fall. This is a project in the making for years. We’ve been trying to make__________________ for about 6 yrs now. It took relocating across the country for this to have true meaning and destiny. I am excited like never before. The sounds are amazing, the lyrics…more genuine that they ever been. Its gonna be something amazing, something beyond words… I would’ve ever imagined…Wanna get involved? I am tempted to give the full scoop but, I won’t…peace…

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Doesn’t it seem that every time you do the right thing no one really notices it anyway. The minute you do something wrong, you got people calling you from all over the country, “hey is that true what we heard?”. It almost makes you not wanna do the right thing and join the crowd. Why be the guy or gal who goes against the current if in the end no one really cares? I forgot to mention that on Sunday evening as we eagerly looked for parking in front of Bayside, some random car decided to leave. Good for us we were right beside the car. So what do I do? I turn my right hand signal on and reverse just enough to give them room to get out. In doing so the car in front of me that had already drove off quite a bit, reverses right up on my bumper and doesn’t move, knowing I had my signal on. This totally ticked me off so bad. I am thinking to myself, there is no way this heartless person will actually go through with this injustice. Sure enough they did. Two girls jumped out of the car and stood behind the car pulling out of the space, and totally ignored me. For all I knew I was invisible to them. I opened my door and got out of the truck and asked them if they did not see me there this whole time. I got no response…I addressed them again…and the lady driving said, “too bad”. Fire was shooting out of my eyes! I drove right up to the car and asked told the young lady. ” I can’t believe you actually did this knowing I was waiting all this time.?” She didn’t even look at me. I knew deep deep deep inside she felt horrible and was embarrassed. I drove off and hoped that maybe, just maybe she felt some remorse or felt terrible for doing the wrong thing. I was upset inside like you could not believe. I just hate when people do things like this and walk away like nothing. And he we are working as hard as we can to do the right thing and…Well you get my drift. It is not an easy thing to swallow. Do good and “maybe” someone will notice, do bad and you will be ridiculed by the entire planet. That is unless someone else does bad, they can get away with it, not you. I thank God for patience, his grace and love. Gandhi had a quote, ” an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”. So true. In the end, God See’s everything, and good deeds never go unnoticed in his eyes. Nor the bad doing as well. It just er ks me to see people do wrong with no remorse. Even as subtle as driving into a “DO NOT ENTER” just to get into the lot first. Walking over a piece of trash, ignoring someone you see everyday, not paying, no tipping, portraying something you are not just get the better end. Some wise guy once told me, the good guys always end last…we’ll see about that dude.

College, I remember getting all this free money. Money here, money there. Only thing is, no one told me I had to pay all this back. So many years later I get the tab for it. dang! In the end of our journey in life I believe we’re all gonna get a tab. Some will be clean, others well…It’s part of it. The journey is just as important or even more so then the destination. I think the fray said best, “sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same”…

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Interesting morning. There was a very cool lay back vibe on Sunday. Not to mention it was only me on guitar and Rebecca on keys as the melody. We had Mike on the vintage drums and Ritz on electric. I think we are gonna focus on the acoustic kit and boot out the electric. At times it just seems too hectic having to drummers. Worship was cool though, still struggling a bit to hear myself on stage, but not too bad. Some of our crew was out on Sunday but we should all be back this Sunday. We have a new kid on the block that will rock on stage with us very soon. His name is Jeff. He’s been visiting us for a while now with his family and based on last week’s rehearsal the kid got skills. Trav spoke on the Funk in exhaustion. Don’t we all hit that wall one or twice. It sucks to be sucked into the madness of our everyday tasks. For some crazy bizarre paranormal and odd reason we have no pod cast recorded nor Vidcast either…It might have been the aliens…We are going to have something up in its place later today. So if you missed Trav’s shenanigans on Exhaustion, be patient, something is on its way. We promise. Even if it is Paul or Alex tap dancing. By the way check out this week’s video HERE.

Last night we took a stoll down to Bayside with the in laws. Dang! was it Africa hot! I felt like my jeans were gonna walk away as soon as I took them off last night. So anyhow, we walked around, the ladies shopped, Diego waived at every boat that drove by and we ate a late dinner at the Mambo Cafe. Service was terrible and the food wasn’t as tasty as before. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. I had the tostones stuffed with shrimp. Reina had the grilled chicken, My mother in law had the breaded steak, my father in Law had the mofongo with chicken…Ok now my blog is starting to sound like Chris day’s…

So here I am today, Monday morning July twenty first, two thousand and eight. Feel great today, but my body needs more sleep. Maybe its the lack of exercise? Well, Gotta make today count, there won’t be an other July 21st like today. Do the same will yah? Peace

And for your Monday enjoyment, take a look at some of the ugly faces I make on Sundays…

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LPC

So I finally put up my thoughts on “Simply Strategic stuff”. Here are my 10+ takeaways on the read. Its pretty practical, but great stuff for the in house leaders.

1. (Check Data) It’s very easy to get caught in the moment and make decisions based on that adrenaline rush. Here is what they say, “There’s an appropriate place for emotions in decision making.. We can’t push them aside, but they shouldn’t drive our decision making. Just because your church calendar is completely full doesn’t mean things are good.

2. If churches across America don’t begin strategically targeting specific segments of our population, we risk losing ground in accomplishing the great commission.

2.5 Keep the tasks that add the most value, and give everything else away. This is not the easiest thing to do, but its the greatest investment we can make into others as leaders. In doing this we gain more time to focus on________________.

3. We should continually be figuring out the best way to communicate the timeless message of the gospel.

4. Maintain an appropriate balance of creativity(chaos) and efficiency(order). Keep the vision clear at all times. Balance and harmony need to be present.

4.5 Many times we’re involved so deeply that we can’t rise above the meetings, the events, and the people to see objectively

5. Don’t micro-manage your church. Instead, create systems that release decision making responsibilities. Empower the people on the front lines…

6. It is about perception. Its not about trust. Its not necessarily about strengths and weaknesses. Its not even about your vulnerability to certain sins. It is about perception. It is about what people think. Perception is reality. It may not be your reality, and it may not even be true. The fact is, it’s reality for someone. Our mission is too crucial and our message too important to let our ministry be sidelined for a week or a year by accusations based on perception.

6.5 Give Your Staff cool gifts…”this is my favorite takeaway…LOL

7. “Giving” is one of the only tangible pictures God has given us that directly reflect a person’s heart condition.

8. The Journey is as important as the destination. we forget that in order to build the church, we must be the church. We must love one another. We must encourage one another. We must work through hard times together. We must celebrate success and mourn failure together. We have to pray together and cry together and love together and learn together. If we are to build a church that reps Jesus’ heart to the world, we must model that.

9.5 When the church focuses on the right thing and does it well, it transforms lives.

10. People crave spiritual truth when it’s presented in a culturally relevent context.

Remember, without vision, the people perish.

The Dark Knight: Phenomenal movie! The characters, the plot, everything. I’ve never been much of a comics dude but this movie was amazing. Yes, it is very dark movie. All the characters portray a very dark melancholy image different from what I have been used to. I won’t give any details away but it takes you on a twisted ride the whole time. Things that seem a certain way don’t turn out like that…if that makes sense. The Joker totally makes this movie. Heath Ledger totally transforms himself, its almost disturbing to some degree. I can see why people would rather not see this movie and its connection with his role in this movie to his death. Its chilling…But you should see it. Great Movie.

This was a really cool article in Newsweek, I’ll it you up with my thoughts on it later this week. For now that’s it. I’m tired, it was a looooooooong. Saturday.

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Well here is episode 2. I found tickets for Batman after all. Great movie!!!!….My review on this flick later tonight…it was crazy!

peace
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So Grandma is coming into town tomorrow. So the wife and I are gonna take some time and go out on a date. its been a while since we do that. We’ve been waiting for the movie Dark knight to hit the theater and its finally here. Most of the movie was shot in Chi-town and I think one of friends got a part in the movie. So our plan was to go over to cine-bistro in dolphin mall, or maybe just hit AMC at Sunset. I’ve heard tons of great reviews on the movie, some of our friends are a little scared to see it cause this was Ledgers last movie before his death. Ledger stars as the Joker. They say The Dark knight is a very Dark movie, we’ll see. I will have a full review of the movie on Saturday. Stay tuned tomorrow for episode 2 of the life with the Santoyo’s

Last night I stayed at the office a little late waiting for my wife. She was helping out with the Cure, LPC’s youth group. Diego crawled up my leg got on my shoulder and totally crashed. I Sat with him thinking, “dang, this is my son”. I made this kid! I am totally responsible for him. Raise him, teach him, instruct him, correct him. Something supernaturally happens when you have a child. Your mind changes completely. Your heart is made into mashed potatoes. To hear “Dada, Dada!” everyone morning….priceless!

Have a great Thursday.

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You ever had that awkward situation. You know the one where it’s difficult to just be honest with someone. Why? because you are worried of the outcome. You’d rather send a text, and email, or you call and pray you get the voice mail. Has this ever happened to you? Why can’t we just be honest sometimes? Or maybe I’m the only one who’s faced this a few times. It’s so hard at times to tell someone what they are doing is not right. It’s gonna hurt you in the long run. Guys are full of pride. Well at least I am with certain things. I have no shame to say I close up with certain things and situations. I hate being in weird awkward situations. I’ve talked to someone for hours with a piece of cilantro hanging from their teeth and never told them anything. I’ve taken the challenge of just being honest, transparent, honest and honest. I’d rather have someone tell me the truth then hide behind a bush and shout out my flaws and dysfunctions. This is the beauty of being totally human. I think that when we realize that somehow we are all the same and suffer from similar malfunctions we can actually get through this and become the world God intended it to be…Don’t you agree?

A few years back a great friend and I had a huge conflict. We were not seeing eye to eye on a certain situation. The decision I had to make was either gonna break us or make us. In doing so we ended up like 2 cars smashed on the side of the road. Here’s a person that would do almost anything to help me out, and I would do the same. But this decision had to be made. A few weeks after I needed help moving and Not moving next door, literally moving across the country. Did I mention I had to carry a piano that weighed 8 elephants? All my “friends” were no where to be found or busy at the time. And guess what? The person i had the conflict came through for me. We loaded this truck with all this heavy furniture and piano. We rode for 2 hrs and argued all the way there. On the way back we laughed at the whole situation. We were honest, we broke the nonsense, we moved on and became stronger friends…Cool stuff…you ever had a weird awkward situation?

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Come by this Sunday and check out our next Got Funk video….It’s hilarious.

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