Birmingham 3-Day Diet

My wife stumbled upon a diet recently. I had serious doubts that any 3-day diet would make any kind of an impact and may even prove unhealthy. I guess I was wrong.

According to the old copy we received, this diet was developed, or at least used, by a cardiac unit in Birmingham for patients who need to lose large amounts of weight heading into a surgery. The claim is that you can lose up to 40 lbs in a month. After doing it I suppose that it’s possible, although I wouldn’t recommend trying it without the oversight of professionals.

The goal is to diet for 3 days, then spend a few days eating responsibly, then back another 3 days, etc. Sherri has gone through it three times in three weeks and I’ve done it twice in two weeks. Sherri has lost 12 lbs and 2 pant sizes. I’ve lost 14 lbs and a belt notch. It hasn’t been hard at all.

There are some substitutions allowed. I didn’t know that when I first saw it, which was the first thing that turned me off. Keep that in mind as you read it and I’ll tell you about the possible changes in a minute. So, here it is:

DAY ONE
Breakfast:
1 cup black coffee or tea
1/2 grapefruit or juice (8 oz)
1 slice toast
1 tbs. peanut butter

Lunch:
1/2 cup tuna
1 slice toast
coffee or tea

Dinner:
3 oz. any type meat
1 cup string beans
1 cup beets or carrots
1 small apple
1 cup vanilla ice cream

DAY TWO
Breakfast:
1 cup black coffee or tea
1 egg
1 slice toast
1/2 banana

Lunch:
1 cup cottage cheese or tuna
5 saltine crackers

Dinner:
2 wieners (franks)
1 cup broccoli or cabbage
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 banana
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

DAY THREE
Breakfast:
1 cup black coffee or tea
5 saltine crackers
1 slice cheddar cheese
1 small apple

Lunch:
1 hard boiled egg
1 slice toast
1 cup black coffee or tea

Dinner:
1 cup tuna
1 cup beets or carrots
1 cup cauliflower or greens
1 cup cantaloupe
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

The paper says, “This diet works on a chemical breakdown and is proven to work. Do not vary or substitute any of the foods. Salt and pepper may be used but no other seasoning. This diet is to be used 3 days at a time. In 3 days you will lose 10 lbs. After 3 days dieting you can eat your usual food, but do not overeat. After 4 days of normal eating, start back on the 3-day diet.”

I did some substituting within the diet. For instance, on lunch for day 2, I would do a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and a 1/2 cup of tuna instead of one cup of either one. I don’t handle fruit well (it’s a texture thing), so whenever apple or bananas were called for, I would drink grapefruit juice. On some days, I would substitute 5 crackers for a slice of toast (we have no toaster at work). We also found some tuna packages that came flavored... 1/2 cup of sweet and spicy tuna or lemon pepper tuna. They’re new. Even though seasoning is off limits, I did it anyway. I still lost 14 lbs.

As I’ve told others, anyone can do 3 days. Try it once and see if you like it. If so, try it again the next week. I did it Tues-Thu so I could have my weekends free for normal food... in moderation, of course. Good luck!

Help! I need this bike!

I need the help of all my friends online. I am looking for a special bike. This is a picture of Shay, from this season's Biggest Loser. She was eliminated in week 9 and this is a screen grab from her "where are they now?" video online. You can see the actual clip at this link. The bike scene happens a little over a minute into the video.

It's a trike, with a wheel in the back. There is no seat, you stand on the machine. In motion, it acts like a stepper. The handles move back and forth as you move, like a stepper as well. The bike/trike/stepper is apparently steered by leaning, like a Segway.

I've looked online and can't seem to find the thing. This would be perfect for me, if I can figure out what it is. Anyone have a clue?

Maybe Sean can help me out. Sean, did you use any of these on the Ranch or when you got home. What is it?

UPDATE: Thanks for the help folks. These are called Streetstriders and can be found at Streetstrider.com. They are apparently pretty popular and low in stock. And they cost $1,999. Ouchy.

Merry Christmas from Moyers Sound

South Africa 2009

I recently had the opportunity to travel back to South Africa to sing. My last trip to this far land was in 1995 with Marvin Phillips, George Pendergrass, Duane Adams and Robert Guy. This time around, I traveled with a group termed "Acappella Classic." Once again I was with George, but the remainder of our jolly troupe consisted of Keith Lancaster, Rodney Britt, Kevin Schaffer and Steve Maxwell.

We were booked for two concerts, Johannesburg and Capetown. I was not able to stay the entire time to make the Capetown concert, but my short time in Joberg was a wonderful experience. I've been many places all over the world and experienced many different cultures. I can say without reservation that the people of South Africa are some of the most open, friendly and accepting people I've met.

After a 30+ hour trip from Lubbock to Joberg (Wed-Thu), we spent the first evening relaxing and trying to figure out what time it actually was. Rodney did not make it in with us. He was stuck back in the States going through a long chain of troubles. Ask him about it sometime.

But I jumped ahead of myself. Before we made it to the lodge for the evening, we were greeted by the wonderful people of Joberg. After we had finally cleared South African passport control and customs, we emerged into the large rotunda/public area. We began looking for someone holding a sign that said "acappella" or something similar. We noticed a very large group (200 or so) of what appeared to be scouts, both boys and girls. A few of them were carrying drums and they seemed to be looking for someone. Suddenly, two of them noticed George and starting jumping around yelling something. Within seconds, all 200+ people crowded around us and began singing and going nuts on the drums. For the next 45 minutes, it was constant handshaking, hugging, singing and signing. The other guys (with the exception of George) did not know it, but this was a repeat of a scene 14 years ago in Port Elizabeth. The South Africans are exceedingly friendly.

Friday was a day of becoming acclimated to our new time zone and rehearsals sans Rodney. What amazed me was our trip to the mall for lunch. The mall itself was pretty cool, sprawled across several blocks and multi-level. Even more interesting was the mix of people we encountered. We obviously saw many Africans in their cultural dress. Within the space of a few minutes, we also saw Indians in sarongs, Muslims in hijabs, modern Europeans suits and even Hassidic Jews complete with peyot. I've seldom seen such a wide array of cultures mingling together in, what appeared to be, harmony. At any rate, Rodney arrived that night amidst a downpour and we were complete and ready to go. After another rehearsal or two.

The next morning we made the trip to a local radio station to promote the concert that evening. The security to get into the place was as tight as an airport. Searches, scanners, registration, etc. Pretty tight. After being "removed" from the wrong studio (the only rude Africans I met), we wound up in the studio of RadioFM 2000. As it turns out, it wasn't a local station at all. It was a nationwide radio station that was also the official station of the 2010 World Cup. Extremely cool. I was one year too early.

That afternoon, we rolled into Rhema Bible Church for sound check. I've seen some large church buildings, and this one is as big as any of them. 6500 seats. I did a slow camera pan of the empty sanctuary. It took 2 hours. We had almost 2000 people at the concert and the place still seemed mostly empty. Massive.

The concert was extremely well-received. The crowd knew and sang along with most of the songs. We sang through our exhaustion, and God took care of it. The next day, I boarded the plane for the long route home. The rest of the gang stayed for a safari and the Capetown concert.

I look forward to our return. I DO NOT look forward to the 30+ hour trip one-way. Nasty.

City of Black and White

Our head video engineer, Stuart Blalock, put this video together. He shot a ton of aerial footage over Lubbock. While editing, he started messing around with the colors and Matt Kearney's song came to mind. This is the result.

The Moyers Mash

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Songwriting 50/90

I stumbled across an interesting site today. It's called The 50 Songs in 90 Days Challenge. It's an online community of people who have taken up the challenge of writing, as the title suggests, 50 songs between July 4 to October 1, 2009. This is not the first year for it. I'm not sure how long it's been going, but this year there are over 2700 members and 4400 songs have been submitted. From what I've seen, about 10% of the members have done 90% of the writing. The rest are lurking along checking things out.

I find this idea somewhat alluring. The only way to become a good writer is to sit down and write every day. In the past, I have been an "on-demand" writer. Acappella would need a certain kind of song for a certain album, so I would write it. Keith Lancaster had somewhat the same approach. He just did a whole lot more of it.

The really good writers I've met (who make a living from it) mark out a daily chunk of time to write, say 9:00 AM to lunch. The goal is never really to write one song during that time, but more to document ideas. Over time, several of those ideas flow into one song. And then another, and another, etc.

I find it interesting that I ran across this site just as I am getting into a new group, The Sons of Korah. I really like their writing style, putting the Psalms to music. It runs right along the style I like and the way I like to write.

So who knows? Maybe I might challenge myself to something a little less stressful than 50/90. I'm thinking something more along the lines of 26/52. That 26 songs in 52 WEEKS. One song every two weeks. Even that would be a challenge. My schedule is crazy right now. Something to consider... anyone else up to it?

Shut De Do - Exappella

Here's another song from the Boys Ranch Telethon. We had rehearsed several songs for the show, one of which was Everybody Said. At this point, we were going to sing Shut De Do. My intro confused Kevin and he started the wrong song. Some things never change.

I refer to my ability to confuse Kevin, not his starting the wrong song.

Hush - Exappella

Here's a clip of the four of us, me, Duane Adams, Kevin Schaffer and Gary Evans, singing "Hush" for the Texas Boys Ranch Telethon.

Serious Street Corner Do-wop

Here's what happens when New York based Naturally 7 cuts loose on an unsuspecting crowd in the Paris Metro subway.

Exappella

This coming Friday, Aug. 21st, KAMC Channel 28 (ABC) in Lubbock will be hosting the annual Texas Boys Ranch Telethon. Several artists will be performing, including Richie McDonald (formerly of Lonestar).

Studio 84 is producing the music for the show as well as doing all the filming and graphics. When we were putting it all together, the folks from the Boys Ranch asked if I could get some of my old singers together. I immediately realized that Gary Evans was here in Lubbock with me, and Kevin Schaffer and Duane Adams were in Amarillo. That made it real easy to pull things together. Thus, Exappella was born. At least for one show. :)

So if you are in the Lubbock viewing area Friday evening and want to tune in, we will go on at the 10:35 PM slot, immediately after the newscast. And if you want to come out to the Firehouse Theater (where it's being filmed), there is no charge for entrance. We will also be singing a few songs for the crowd during the newscast. You are welcome to come for any part of the show, which airs from 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM, with a break from 10:00 to 10:35 for the news. Be advised, the Firehouse only seats about 300 people. See you there...

Universal Health Care

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Thomas Jefferson

Power of Music

My friend Russ White turned me onto this one. Bobby McFerrin does a great job of simply presenting the power of the pentatonic scale. You'll notice that he only sings three notes for the crowd, but they pick up on everything else. Pretty cool.

Barney Fife and Acappella

We used this video for a while as an introduction to our concerts. I found it again on YouTube. Funny stuff.

He Gave Her Water

Recently, I had the opportunity to return to an annual spiritual retreat in Paris, TN. It is nearly impossible to explain what happens at the retreat. Suffice it to say that it is a mountaintop experience every year.

This year, we gathered together several old fogies to sing, calling ourselves Acappella Classic. It was me, Keith Lancaster, Rodney Britt, George Pendergrass and Steve Maxwell. At one point, we sang the old favorite "He Gave Her Water" with our friend Jerome Williams.

Every time we sing this song, Jerry Jones hops on stage and tries to sing the song with us. This time, we pulled the old trick "turn your back on the guest from the audience" that Acappella (His Image) used to do years ago.

It worked, until Jerry decided to take the lyrics of the song literally. In an attempt to get the microphone, He Gave Me Water. I suppose I've been sprinkled by the pope. A baptismal redeaux. Take a look.