“Welcome to the Big Show”

Friends… I have missed you.

Yes, I have officially returned to Star 93.5, and my how things have changed since I’ve been gone. New music, new hosts, a new slogan, that new spiffy movie trailer voice guy saying “Star 93.5.” So, I figured if I was going to make a triumphant return, I needed something new as well.

So, welcome to the Little Dylan ShowBlog. It is still under construction, but I already have transcripts of a few old Overdrive interviews for you to read, the latest CD Release dates, and a Concert Calendar. Soon, this blog will be an important aspect of something really cool that is hitting the airwaves in a few weeks. So, definitely keep checking in on the blog and listening in to the Afternoon Drive for more details.

- LD

[The Little Dylan Interview] Grey Holiday

The Little Dylan Interview: Matt Minor (vocals, keys, guitar), Grey Holiday
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 

Dylan: Pleased to be joined on the phone right now by the lead singer of Grey Holiday, Matt Minor. Matt, how you doing?

Matt Minor: Dude, I’m doing well. Thanks so much for having me on the show, man.

D: No problem, glad to do it. Just going to go ahead and get right into this. First of all, not a lot of people are familiar around here with Grey Holiday. How long have you guys been around and how did you form?

MM: We’ve been a band for about three years. We just got signed to our label, Essential Records, about two years ago. The group is just really four friends. I’ve known these guys since I was in elementary school, and we’ve been best friends forever and we decided to start playing music, and that’s how it started, man – we’re just really good friends and it’s fun that we get to do music on the side. <laughs>

D: It is pretty cool that you are a band of friends, and the interesting part of that, just reading up an y’all a little bit, is that R.T. (Bodet) and Josh (Fenoglio) – R.T. is the bass player and Josh is the drum player, they didn’t know how to play those instruments when y’all formed.

MM: No. <laughs> It was pretty rough beginnings, to be honest with you. Our guitarist, Steven (Bedingfield), and I, we were playing coffee shops and stuff, acoustic stuff, and we decided we wanted to play as a rock band, actually. So, we just naturally asked our two best friends, since they were already hanging out with us, if they wanted to learn some instruments and <laughs> uh, yeah, they just kind of picked them up and it was really bad at the beginning, but they’ve come a long way.

[The Little Dylan Interview] Seventh Day Slumber

The Little Dylan Interview: Joseph Rojas (vocals, guitar), Seventh Day Slumber
October 2007

Dylan: Joseph, I know you’re wrapping up a tour, just got done with SHOUTfest, how is life on the road right now?

Joseph Rojas: Life on the road is good, man. You know, we’re staying busy, we’re doing shows, and we’re seeing lives change at the concerts every single night. So, it’s really, really good. It gets kind of stuffy being in that bus all the time, but it’s going good.

D: I know you have the CD Finally Awake that has come out. People here on Star 93.5, we love “Missing Pages,” here on Overdrive we like to play “Awake,” rock out to that every now and then. Tell us a little about the CD.

JR: You know, man, the CD Finally Awake is about waking up and realizing who you really are, man. A lot of times, we have lived our lives not really knowing who we are fully. Sometimes we feel hopeless, sometimes we feel empty, sometimes we feel worthless. We struggle with self-image a lot and our generation is a generation that has basically grown up not really knowing who they really are. That’s how I felt growing up, and finally I came to this place in my life where I realized who I was in Christ. And that’s what Finally Awake is actually about – it’s about realizing who you are – like waking up from your slumber and realizing who you are in Christ.

D: You guys, hands down, no doubt do the Christian music scene, but the sound has a lot of mainstream appeal. You get comparisons all the time to mainstream bands. How is that a benefit to your ministry when you hear things like that?

JR: For us, we wanted to make good music that leaves people feeling like life is not hopeless, you know what I mean? We didn’t try to write a specific genre of music or, ‘Hey, we want to sound Christian.’ We are a bunch of guys that play guitars and drums and stuff and we like rock music. Our musical style, we wanted it to reflect who we are and what style of music we like. Style of music can’t be Christian or non. It’s the lyrics that make you Christian or non and so what we wanted to do was write good music that people could dig and rock out to, but it leaves them feeling like there is hope. And, so, man, sometimes we get compared to mainstream bands, sometimes we get compared to Christian bands, but for us, we just hope that it is good music that you can rock to and there is a message there that helps you.

D: Joseph, you have an amazing testimony. Would you mind sharing that with us?

[The Little Dylan Interview] David Patten

The Little Dylan Interview: David Patten (wide receiver), New Orleans Saints
August 2007, at Saints Training Camp, Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss.

Dylan: Joined by David Patten, wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints. First of all, David, it’s hot out here.

David Patten: Yeah, man, I’ll tell you what. I’m not too used to this heat coming from Boston, Washington, Cleveland, and New York, but nonetheless you’ve got to find a way to fight through it.

D: Last year, made it to the NFC Championship Game, improbable story there. This year, they’re gunning for you, so how is the team going to repeat or even go beyond that?

DP: The first thing is, if it’s the Lord’s will, we’ll be right back in the same place, or hopefully we’ll be playing for that big game. But, you know, first things first and the bottom line is going out there and doing it game to game, Sunday to Sunday, not resting on your laurels because last year doesn’t matter anymore, it’s all about what you do this year.

D: You mentioned the Lord’s will. Being a Christian and playing football – you’re big work day is Sunday every week, so how do you make time for worship and what other kinds of things do you do to worship?

DP: Well, Sunday is the day that, like you said, is my work day, that’s the day that we play, so unfortunately I can’t go to the House of the Lord. But, the bottom line is: church is everyday. Church is our body. I give God glory everyday I get out of the bed. You try to find some time to consecrate and dedicate to Him. Certainly the Lord is not just relegated to – is not limited to being in the church. That is the mistake that so many people make. It is a day to day thing; it is a personal relationship. When you have a personal relationship with someone, you don’t wait for one day to spend time with them, you do it everyday.

[The Little Dylan Interview] Billy Miller

The Little Dylan Interview: Billy Miller (tight end), New Orleans Saints
August 2007, at Saints Training Camp, Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss.

Dylan: Joined by Saints tight end Billy Miller. Billy, first, just talking a little about football. The big talk in Mississippi has been about all the heat in the practices. How is it practicing out here?

Billy Miller: <laughs> Well, you know what: it’s hot. But it was hotter last year. And for the guys that were here last year, we realize that, I don’t think it helps thinking about it because it’s still hot out here, but we battle through it. We did it last year and we were productive during the season so we’re going to battle again this year. 

D: What do you think overall, about getting a chance to come up here – second year in Jackson – what is training camp like in Jackson?

BM: Well, it’s a tough training camp. And I think that was part of the character-building process that worked for us last year and helped us get some victories. We’re not going to play in any hotter environment than here. We were never under the gun, so to say, when it came to heat. We were always prepared for it.

D: What have you seen this year that maybe can show that this team is ready to build on an NFC Championship Game?

BM: Well, for one – this is hard for a lot of people to believe – but Drew (Brees) is better. Last preseason he was coming off a shoulder surgery and he was just trying to get used to everything and now, Drew is full swing and he’s ready to go. So, him being better this preseason is making out team better this preseason. That’s the biggest thing, I think.

D: Billy, you’re a Christian playing on the Saints. What is it like being in the NFL where your big day is on Sunday? How do you balance that and find time for worship?