STELLAR KART

SK Foundation Update

2010-12-17T09:45:00.002-07:00

Thanks to everyone who has donated to the Stellar Kart Foundation so far! Just to let you know, your donations have helped us make our bus payment and repairs for December. Without your help, there is no way we could have made this happen.

I can't thank you all enough for your support! If you want to be a part of our ministry and keep us on the road, you can click on the pink "SK Foundation" on the stellarkart.com homepage and help us out. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Adam

The SK Foundation

2010-10-15T09:24:00.001-07:00

Dear Family, Friends, and Fans,

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for your love and support over the past five years of this ministry we call Stellar Kart. Our ministry has been about encouragement from day one. We have tried to be a positive voice in a sea of negativity. Now we are asking for you to pick us up when we’re down. I am writing this letter reluctantly because I am the kind of person who does not like to ask for help. I want to fix everything on my own, but this time I cannot.

Here’s the deal…we travel for a living. Yes, we play music and write songs, but the majority of our time and money is spent on traveling. With the rising cost of fuel and airline tickets, we are having a very hard time making ends meet. We own a tour bus because we are all married and it is the only way we can spend time with our families when we are on the road more than half the year. The bus is a tremendous blessing, but at the same time an incredible financial burden. Just like any car or truck, when you drive it for a long time, things break and need to be fixed. The problem is, the bus is the size of four cars and the cost to fix anything is like we’re fixing four cars at a time. Also, it’s like owning a house and car with all the maintenance issues that come with both. All this to say, we need your help if we are going to be able to keep our bus. If things continue on their current course financially, we will lose our bus and the ability to bring our families on the road with us.

I understand that there are many viable ministries that need help just as much as we do, but if you believe in what we’re doing and can do anything to help we would appreciate it greatly. Many of you help us out at each show by buying T-shirts and CD’s at our merchandise table and we thank you for that. Some of you may never come to a show or buy a T-shirt, but want to support our ministry. This is your opportunity.

We have set up the Stellar Kart Foundation. This is a non-profit ministry that has been on our hearts for a long time. We are asking for your help right now to keep us going, but we want this foundation to be a long-term ministry tool that can allow us to play benefit concerts and charity events that we otherwise could not afford to play.

I believe in this ministry. I believe that Stellar Kart can make a difference in this world. I believe that we can all be a part of changing lives for the better. Please help us continue our journey. Thank you for your support.

God Bless,

Adam

Instructions for giving:

Click on the pink DONATE button on the home page of www.stellarkart.com to make a credit card donation. Make checks payable to SCCF. Indicate the Fund number (814276) on the check and mail it to Servant Christian Community Foundation; 706 North Lindenwood Drive, Suite 100; Olathe, KS 66062. If you have any questions, please email us at contact@stellarkart.com.

AFRICA TRIP 2010 - DAY 8

2010-07-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday June 8, 2010
Again with the roosters. Four o’clock in the morning. Wide awake. Today was the day we were dedicating the new high school. Before breakfast, we had some of the now quite depleted supply of Starbucks VIA coffee, enjoyed the sunrise, and played our traditional football game in the parking lot. We were about to take off to go to the school when I asked if, instead of riding in the Land Cruisers, I could follow along on the motorcycle. I was surprised and stoked that they agreed and hopped on the bike. I very quickly learned that something might have been lost in translation because one of the biggest Zambians I had met climbed on right behind me and said, “Let’s go.” Riding a motorcycle on washed out, rutted, bumpy dirt roads by myself was enough of a test, now I had to do it with a 200 pound guy on the bike with me. While not as fun and much more stressful than my twilight ride through the countryside, I still enjoyed the ride much more than I would have in the back of the bumpy Land Cruisers.
We arrived early to the Jonathan Sim School so we had a few minutes to check out the brand new facilities. Dan, one of the leaders of our team works at Intel and showed us some of the stuff they had sent over to the school. Since this area has no electricity, the school is powered by solar energy. Outside there are several solar panels that power the few lights and computers they have. Today was the first day most of these students had ever seen a computer and some of them were surrounding the four brand new ones that had just been powered up. Just in case the brand new facility, solar panels, and computers made me forget where I was for a second, what I saw in the room next door brought me immediately back to reality. On the concrete floor of one of the classrooms there was a giant cow carcass (with the head still attached) drying out and staring at me. Today was the day we would have something slightly different for lunch.
When the Chief and other dignitaries arrived, we went on an official tour of the entire facility. The school looked amazing and what made it even more special were the dorms. Since many of the kids have to walk many kilometers to school, they wind up staying there for the entire week and then returning home on the weekends. They sleep on the floors of the classrooms and anywhere they can find space. These new dorm rooms were full of bunk beds. Most of these kids didn’t have a bed at home and had probably never slept in a bed in their life.
We went outside and took our places under the tent for the dedication ceremony. It was very similar to the previous day’s schedule with speakers lobbying the government for future support and several varieties of entertainment. Also, we helped pass out backpacks from the girls of the Revolve Tour to the kids of the school. One of the highlights of this day’s ceremony was the speech by Kelly Sim, the widow of the school’s namesake Jonathan Sim. Simple and gracious, it was amazing to see her honor her late husband’s legacy along with the hundreds of Zambians in attendance.
After the lengthy event, we had lunch in the school with the Chief and the government officials. The afternoon was relaxed as we hung out with kids and took pictures. The time with the kids seemed to fly by. Before long, it was time to head back to the World Vision office and pack to leave for Choma. When we got back, we played one last game of football in the parking lot while waiting for everyone to get packed. We said our goodbyes to the staff and headed out for a sunset drive through the desert back to Choma.
We checked in to the Kozo Lodge for the second time on the trip and had dinner. We were all pretty exhausted from the day’s events and the four-hour drive to the lodge, so we all went to bed soon after dinner. I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep with no roosters to ruin it for me.

AFRICA TRIP 2010 - DAY 7

2010-06-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 7, 2010
Once again, like horrible mistimed clockwork, I was jarred awake at 3:30am sharp by our rooster friends outside. In college, my apartment was located directly alongside a set of train tracks and every morning at two and four o’clock, a train would go roaring by at full speed. I was eventually able to tune it out and hardly noticed it, but these roosters are devious. Instead of a single consistent noise, they coordinate with each other and take breaks just long enough for the humans to fall back asleep before screaming again. Fortunately, with limited electricity and entertainment options, we all went to bed at around 9pm each night, so waking up at 3:30am each morning was not as tough as it could have been.
Breakfast this morning consisted of boiled eggs and slices of bread. For me, and several others, breakfast included a protein bar as well. Like yesterday, we engaged in a friendly game of dirt parking lot football while we waited to begin the events of the day.
Today was a special day for Hoops of Hope and the people of Twachiyanda. We were dedicating the clinic that was built with money raised by Austin Gutwein and thousands of kids through Hoops of Hope. The clinic will serve as an AIDS testing center as well as a distribution center for the ARV medications that help those already diagnosed with AIDS to improve their quality of life. Prior to the dedication of this clinic, people in this area would have to WALK over 30 kilometers (almost 19 miles) to the nearest facility to get tested and/or receive treatment. Imagine walking for an entire day one way to go to the hospital. This clinic will improve the lives of thousands of people and literally save an entire generation from being wiped out by AIDS.
We climbed in the Land Cruisers and headed out to the clinic. After we had been driving for about 30 minutes, I made the mistake of asking how much farther we had to drive. The driver said, “Twenty to forty minutes.” Apparently Zambians don’t judge time in the same manner us Americans do because this would serve as the answer any time any of us asked, “how much farther?” Whether we had 10 minutes or an hour, the answer was always, “Twenty to forty minutes.”
When we arrived at the clinic, there were already hundreds of people surrounding the dedication site. They had erected a makeshift tent for us to sit in the shade while the majority of the people attending either sat or stood in the sun. We were each handed a schedule of events for the dedication that included each speaker/performer and how much time they were allotted. We would soon realize that these times were in “Zambian time” because 5 minutes of designated time on the sheet for a speaker might actually translate into 40 minutes of actual speaking time.
The ceremony was delayed because we were waiting on the Chief and some members of Parliament to arrive. So, there were some people there who entertained the crowd to kill some time. After being mercilessly prodded, I got up and sang a song. I was always reluctant because these people are such great singers. I would rather hear them sing any day of the week than go up there and play.
Finally, all the dignitaries arrived and the ceremony began. We sat in the tent for hours as several speakers got up and gave their speeches. Some were simple, but many were using this platform as a way to lobby the government officials to get more involved in this community. I appreciated their vision as they applauded the efforts of Hoops of Hope and World Vision, and at the same time implored the government officials to offer assistance in the future with issues such as property maintenance and improving the roads leading to the facility.
The ceremony concluded with a tour of the facility, including the brand new staff housing located adjacent to the property. After the tour, we had lunch in one of the staff houses. To my surprise, we had the same meal for lunch here at the clinic that we had at the base camp for lunch and dinner yesterday. Fortunately, they had some bottled Sprite and Coke that may have saved my life right then and there.
Later that afternoon, we did something that may have been the most memorable two hours of the entire trip. We met the Caregivers. The Caregivers are ladies that ride around on old, worn out bicycles to different people’s homes in order to provide care to those in need. These ladies take medical supplies to families in need and are often there in the last hours to care for people who have nothing. We all split into small groups and went with the Caregivers to various homes in the surrounding area. The home we visited was a small clay brick building (about 10 feet x 20 feet) with no windows, and a small hut out back for the kitchen. Just beyond the kitchen was a small garden with sweet potatoes and a few other vegetables. We met the matriarch of the house, a grandmother whose name I cannot pronounce and her grandson Orlando. We learned that a total of ten people lived in this tiny house. Orlando’s father had been killed by AIDS and Orlando had tested positive as well. I helped sweep out their one room house, dug up some sweet potatoes in the garden, played soccer with Orlando and some other boys, but mostly just soaked up every second I had with these amazing people.
During this Caregiver visit was when my world perspective changed. I had always heard about people in need, especially in Africa, but I had never felt it. I had never seen it with my own eyes. These people have nothing. In fact, they have less than nothing. Some of them are born into the world with a disease that will slowly destroy their life and inevitably lead to a premature death. Their life is hard. Their quality of life is awful. For the most part, they are an uneducated people who should have no reason for hope. Yet, I learned more about hope from this family than I have in 25 years of sitting in church. We asked Orlando how he was doing and he said the last word I ever thought I’d hear come out of his mouth. Thankful. He was thankful that he had his medication that eased the symptoms of his AIDS virus. He was thankful that he could get out of bed in the morning and not be in extreme pain. He was thankful for his life, regardless of the hand he had been dealt. He blew me away with his optimism.
As we walked away and left the family behind, my brain was racing to try and understand what had just happened. I thought about my own situation at home and all the stress I create in my life. We have so much stuff in our lives. So many things we cling to as if we could not live without them. In those moments, I realized the futility of stress and how absurd it is to worry. My worst-case scenario is better than anything these people will experience in their entire life. There are so many more thoughts about this going on in my head, but I’ll save those for another time, as they would fill another dozen pages.
We got back to the base camp with about 30 minutes of daylight, so Dan and I went for a ride on a couple of motorcycles that the staffers had. This was also one of my favorite moments of the trip, flying down the dirt road (70kph) with the cool African night air in my face. I felt as alone, and somehow at the same exact time, as complete as I ever had in my life.
When I returned for dinner, for the first time I began to understand my fate as far as the dining was concerned. We stared at the same EXACT meal that we had for lunch AND dinner AND lunch AND dinner AND…well, you get it. LITERALLY, the same exact food. Ok. This was the one aspect of the trip that I was not prepared for. Malaria mosquitoes, yellow fever, exhausting travel hours, horrible bathrooms. I had prepared for all things except eating the same thing at every meal. Don’t tell the cooks, but that night my friend Michael and I ate protein bars and a slice of bread with peanut butter. I went to bed slightly hungry, but mostly exhausted and fell immediately to sleep.

AFRICA TRIP 2010 - DAY 6

2010-06-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 6, 2010
I was awoken this morning at 3:30am sharp by a chorus of roosters screaming at us directly outside the open window above my head. It seems as though they were informed incorrectly of their duty to welcome the SUNRISE, which would not happen for another two and a half hours. Unfortunately, falling back asleep proved more difficult than when I laid down initially and I drifted in and out of consciousness until it was light enough to get up and get ready for the day. I dodged the roosters as I walked outside to the outhouse. There were several small brick structures outside the main building that served as our restrooms. Most of them had nothing more than a hole in the concrete floor, but there were actual toilets added to two of them in anticipation of our visit. These toilets technically “flushed,” but with no pipes or running water, they were limited to single use before adding more water from the containers outside. Either way, it was a vast improvement to the hole.
Before breakfast, we grabbed a football and played a dawn game of 3 on 3 in the dirt lot that made up the parking lot. It was a gorgeous morning with a sunrise that would challenge even my hometown of Phoenix with its beauty. We walked in and had a breakfast of poached eggs and toast along with what would prove to be a lifesaver on the trip…Starbucks VIA coffee.
Soon after breakfast, we climbed into our vehicles and headed to the church service. Again, we drove for probably 45 minutes to get there on amazingly bumpy dirt paths through the trees and bushes. We showed up as the men were outside performing a feet-washing ceremony and the women were inside the small church building. One thing that I will never forget about this trip is how well the Zambian people sing. Throughout the ceremony, they sang what sounded like old hymns in perfect harmony and pitch. A young man would start the song, then, as if rehearsed, the whole crowd would begin singing along in harmony. It was unbelievable. I have traveled the world as a performing musician for several years and have never heard or seen anything like this. They sang every verse to every song and when one song ended, they waited about five seconds before starting the next song.
After the ceremony, we all crammed into the church building. I would estimate about 200 people fit inside with many others looking through the windows. The windows had no glass and provided a small breeze that saved our foreign noses from the oppressive smell of a people who had never taken a bath or shower in their life. We sat through the service for about an hour that included singing more songs, announcements, announcements about the announcements, and a full-blown fire and brimstone sermon. After this portion of the day concluded, most of us lifetime churchgoers would be streaming for the doors and heading to the nearest lunch buffet. Not here. We were not done. Not by a long shot. We all moved outside to accommodate the growing number of people attending and began the next segment of the service. They began with more songs, then a song by the youth choir, a song by the women’s choir, two songs by yours truly, and finished with another full length sermon. The sermons were all quite significant in length, but were made even longer because they were being translated from Tongan to English and sometimes vice versa.
When the service ended, we headed back to our temporary home to eat and prepare for the afternoon activity…soccer with the kids. That’s exactly how it was phrased to me. So we head out to the enormous soccer field and start kicking the ball around with a few young kids. So far, so good. Then, about 8 men came out on to the field wearing no shoes and ratty clothes. We assumed that the few of us would play a friendly game against these guys and then call it a day. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Just then, we looked over and saw 12 high school boys with cleats and uniforms walking onto the field. It turned out the few men with no shoes were our teammates and we were playing against the high school soccer team. Awesome. We played for about five minutes before they scored their first goal. We figured out how to keep the ball away from them for the last ten minutes of the half and survived down only 1-0. I think they felt sorry for us because they wound up trading a couple of their players for our not so great players and we routed them 3-1. They were kind to the Americans when they could have easily destroyed us. Thank you Zambian high school futbol team.
We wrapped up an exhausting afternoon and headed in for dinner. To my surprise, dinner was the EXACT same thing we ate at lunch. I was starving, so I ate as much as I could. The compound had a generator that powered two light bulbs and one outlet in the main room for about an hour after dark. We talked over the events of the day, then I crawled into my mosquito netted bed and read until the lights went out.

AFRICA TRIP 2010 - DAY 5

2010-06-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 5, 2010
I woke up to find that I had only one visitor (that I knew of) through the night. Attached to my mosquito net was a black spider about the size of my thumb. I assumed he wanted to be returned to his home OUTSIDE my hut and I kindly obliged. I headed out to breakfast and devotions. Here are a few of the verses I used for the devo along with some notes:
Titus 3:5-7
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to HIS MERCY He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, That having been justified by HIS GRACE we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

*if we believe, we are guaranteed heaven because of MERCY
*the only justification for this is God’s GRACE
*it doesn't end there..

Titus 3:8
This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

James 2:14-19
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and without daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith BY my works.

Isaiah 62 - talking about Jerusalem, but could easily be referring to Twachiyanda.

For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land anymore be termed desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till he establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength: "Surely I will no longer give your grain as food for your enemies; and the sons of the foreigner shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored. But those who have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; Those who have brought it together shall drink it in My holy courts." Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway! Take out the stones, lift up a banner for the peoples! Indeed the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the world: "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Surely your salvation is coming; behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.'" And they shall call them THE HOLY PEOPLE, the REDEEMED OF THE LORD; and you shall be called SOUGHT OUT, a CITY NOT FORSAKEN.

Before we could head into the bush, we had to transfer all the stuff from the bus to the Land Cruisers because the bus would not stand a chance on the small, rutted, washed out dirt roads. We piled in and said goodbye to civilization for the next 4 days. A couple hours into the trip (and about an hour after abandoning the paved road) we were greeted along the side of the road by a dozen children from a basic school who had been impacted by the Hoops of Hope ministry. They were holding up signs they had made to welcome us to the ADP. We stopped and visited for a few minutes, then continued on our journey. The roads in the Twachiyanda ADP are without a doubt the worst I’ve ever driven on in my life. Imagine the worst remote road in the US and it cannot compare to the pain these roads inflicted on our bodies.
FINALLY, we arrived at the World Vision compound, which was comprised of a few small buildings with two light bulbs each and mattresses on the floor (both of which I learned were huge upgrades from last year), but no running water. We set up our mosquito nets and unloaded all the gear from the trucks and got ready to head out to visit some of our team’s sponsor children. We loaded up in the vehicles and AGAIN took off down the aforementioned roads for about an hour to a remote little village where two sponsor children lived. What awaited us there was something I will never forget.
We pulled into the village (which consisted of maybe a dozen huts) where there were nearly a hundred people waiting for us, and as soon as they saw us, they began singing and dancing and smiling. I’ve never seen so many people smiling as genuinely as these people were. As the dancing concluded, we were invited to sit on wood benches while the rest of the village either stood or sat in the dirt. I observed the exchanging of gifts with the sponsor (Denise) giving cooking oil, salt, sugar, and a soccer ball to the child (Prince) with him in return giving her a hand carved wooden fish. It was amazing.
This was my first chance to see for myself the impoverished conditions in which these people live. They live either in clay brick buildings (approximately 10 feet by 20 feet) or small huts made of wood and grass, both of which have no floor. It is still hard to understand in my Americanized mind how these people in this moment could be so filled with joy in spite of the fact that they have absolutely nothing and many of them are sick and dying with HIV/AIDS. We had only been in the bush for one day and my world was already being turned upside down. I barely remember climbing into my mosquito net covered bed on the dusty concrete floor when I passed out as soon as I laid down.

AFRICA TRIP 2010 - DAY 4

2010-06-14T09:01:00.001-07:00

Friday, June 4, 2010
I woke up refreshed at 6:45am and headed down to breakfast. After we ate and had our morning devotional, we loaded up in the bus and headed to a place called Chikumbuso. Chikumbuso is a school/safe-house for women. We played soccer with the kids and handed out candy. The women have a small shop where they make handbags, purses, bracelets, and other items out of recycled trash bags. They are absolutely beautiful and we bought a ton of stuff from them. After spending about an hour at Chikumbuso, we headed to the “mall” to load up on supplies (water, powerbars, tp, etc…) and soccer balls. We bought about sixty soccer balls to distribute to the kids in the villages while those in our group who get to visit their sponsor children bought items like cooking oil, corn meal, sugar, salt, and other items we use on a daily basis that these people rarely get to use.
Again, we all climbed back into the bus that was now completely filled with luggage, soccer balls, cases of water, and cooking supplies. We set out on what we were told was a 3-hour drive (approximately 180 kilometers) to the Kozo Lodge in Choma. Almost 6 hours later, because of poor roads and a slow driver, we arrived just in time for a dinner of pumpkin soup, shema (a doughy, thick, mostly tasteless vat of cooked cornmeal), baked chicken, rice, bread, and vegetables. After dinner, we met Charles, the World Vision leader for the ADP (Area Development Program) in Twachiyanda and he briefed us on our schedule for the next four days. When it was time for bed, I walked in to my hut (about the size of my master bathroom that literally had a grass roof) and set up a mosquito net over my bed for the first time in my life. I was asked earlier in the day to lead the morning devotional, so I laid down and read to prepare for the morning.
Up to this point, it seems as though I have been constantly traveling. My patience has been tested and my physical limits pushed by exhaustion and I haven’t even reached the field. I am reminded again that life is indeed a journey, and does not begin only once we’ve reached our destination. I tried during this quiet time to focus on what exactly it is that I am trying to accomplish here. I believe that this trip is simply a way for me to act out my faith and prove that my faith is alive. I am called to care for the widows and orphans, give hope to the hopeless, and help those who cannot help themselves.

AFRICA TRIP 2010 - DAY 3

2010-06-04T00:17:00.001-07:00

Thursday, June 3, 2010
After a pretty uncomfortable flight, we landed in Nairobi, Kenya at dawn. We had a very short layover, so we walked immediately to the coffee shop for one of many cappuccinos I would consume on this trip. We boarded our next flight and began the 2 and a half hour journey to Lusaka, Zambia. All these long flights have offered me a chance to catch up on some reading. I have read Austin Gutwein’s “Take Your Best Shot” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” so far. I know, I’m behind on the HP books, but better late than never. So I settled into my window seat and cracked open “Soul Survivor” by Phillip Yancey.
We arrived in Zambia at around 10:30am and got our visas and bags. I was amazed that our bags made it despite the crazy itinerary. We met our driver and ground contacts and hopped on the bus to the hotel. By this time, exhaustion is once again setting in and I can’t wait to get horizontal for a nap. We got to the hotel and in true Stellar Kart fashion, everyone’s rooms were ready except for mine. We went and grabbed lunch and walked around while waiting for the room to get ready. Finally, at around 3pm I got to take my nap. I set the alarm for 2 hours later and didn’t wake up until I got a phone call from downstairs at 7:30pm where everyone was waiting for me to head to dinner. At dinner I was able to meet our entire team (all 20 of us) and we talked about our schedule for the next week. Even after my lengthy nap, I was having a hard time staying awake through dinner. I honestly didn’t even look at the clock when I went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately after my head hit the pillow.

AFRICA TRIP 2010 - DAY 2

2010-06-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
We landed at a familiar place for me, Schipol Airport, in Amsterdam around 11:30am and had an 8-hour layover until our flight to Nairobi. We decided to throw our bags in a couple lockers at the airport and take the train into the city centre. It was a perfect weather day as we enjoyed one of my favorite cities. I played tour guide since I’d been there several times before. We grabbed some lunch and then coffee afterward in the square. After taking pictures and some light shopping, we headed back to the train station to return to the airport.
As we were walking back to the station, I heard someone say my name. I looked up and saw Mark Hall and the rest of the Casting Crowns people! It’s strange enough to run into people you know in the States, but in Amsterdam? On the same street? At the exact same time? It turns out they are on their own World Vision trip to Rwanda, Africa. They even wound up being on our next flight to Nairobi. Weird…and awesome. So we all headed back to the airport together to rest up before our next flight.
As per Stellar Kart tradition, I had to make a stop at the McDonald’s in the airport before we left. After finishing my nuggets, I slept for the first time on the trip. I took about an hour-long nap on a very uncomfortable bench (which my “friends” with whom I am traveling documented with an amazingly unflattering photo) and then took off on my second 8-hour flight in 24 hours. The movie selection on the previous KLM flight was amazing, but the in-flight entertainment on Kenya Airways did not work at all. I tried to fall asleep while crammed in the seat next to a man wearing an oversized puffy coat that far surpassed the space allotted to him on this plane. Fortunately, exhaustion set in quickly and I was able to nod off for a few hours on the way to Kenya.

AFRICA TRIP 2010

2010-06-03T02:38:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 1, 2010
We departed Phoenix, Arizona at 1:45pm to begin our lengthy trip to Lusaka, Zambia. Originally we booked our flights way ahead of time on British Airways with only a small layover in London, England before getting to our final destination, but the airline decided to go on strike about a week before our trip. By a small miracle, we were able to rebook our flights on KLM/Kenya Airways at the last minute. That miracle included stops in Detroit, Michigan…Amsterdam, Netherlands…and Nairobi, Kenya before finally touching down nearly 36 hours later in Lusaka, Zambia.

NEW SK RECORD IS HERE!...almost.

2009-09-23T20:01:00.002-07:00

so the last week has been a bit confusing for many of us here in the Stellar Kart camp.

GOOD NEWS: we have our brand-new cd in hand and are now able to sell it at shows!
NOT AS GOOD NEWS: we are unable to sell them online at http://shop.stellarkart.com until October 1. don't worry, it's just a technical detail with the online store and we want to make sure everything is in order before we're able to fulfill online orders.

thanks for your patience, our goal is to make the new cd available to our fans before the actual store release in february 2010. so come out to a show, or check out our online store OCTOBER 1st to get the new record, EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW. hope this helps!

much love,
adam
www.twitter.com/adamagee
www.facebook.com/adamagee

New Stellar Kart Record Release

2009-08-02T15:13:00.003-07:00

So...here's the inside scoop. we are redesigning our website and getting all new stuff ready for you guys in order to properly release this new record of ours early next year. it will probably release to stores in Jan/Feb sometime, BUT...we will start selling it on the road at shows and at our online store http://shop.stellarkart.com as early as September 10th. so what that means is...in order to get the new SK record before it comes out in stores you either have to come to a show (preferred method) or order it through our online store (also not a bad option.)

I hope you're as excited as i am about this new project. it is a very unique album that can only be described as...well, i'll let you describe it when you hear it. hopefully you'll use words like "awesome" "rad" "great" "amazing" "groundbreaking" "not the worst CD i've heard" etc.. :)

thanks,
adam.

ps. for the most up-to-date updates, follow me on twitter @ http://twitter.com/adamagee

EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW

2009-07-21T15:18:00.002-07:00

There it is...the title of the new Stellar Kart record! it's also the title of the first single we are releasing to radio. we're super excited. the recording is done and we're getting it mixed this week. i can't wait for all of you to hear it. i don't have an exact release date, but as those details come in, you will be the first to know. :)

In other news, we signed a new record deal with INO Records (MercyMe, Skillet, Disciple, etc..) and i can't express enough how happy we are with this new deal. also, some of you have figured out by now that cody has left the band. he feels God is calling him to other things, most importantly being home more with his family. we wish him the best. our new guitarist is jon howard formerly of the band dizmas. he is a perfect fit for us and has made the transition smoother than i ever thought possible.

We are looking forward to what God has for us with this new record and we are so stoked to release it! check out our myspace @ http://www.myspace.com/stellarkart for an updated list of show dates. new website and facebook stuff coming soon. be sure follow me on twitter @ http:www.twitter.com/adamagee for daily updates.

much love!
adam

Studio

2009-06-17T08:48:00.003-07:00

We are back in the studio! you can find up to the minute updates if you follow me on http://twitter.com/adamagee and you can find new videos at http://youtube.com/stellarkartband

enjoy!
adam

Technology Revolution

2009-04-18T11:31:00.002-07:00

so apparently daily life updates are no longer sufficient for this generation. :) we can now update people every second if we want to and can type fast enough. jordan has now set us all up on twitter so you guys can see exactly what we're doing every hour of every day. :) don't worry, this won't replace the daily, monthly, and sometimes yearly blog.

come see us on the LOVE LIKE IT'S AUTOMATIC TOUR this and next month! coming to a city near you (hopefully.)

much love,
adam

fly dates

2009-03-29T09:58:00.002-07:00

we just finished up a couple weekends worth of fly dates and i can't begin to explain how much more i enjoy life on the bus. we had great shows and the people were amazing, but it is just so exhausting waking up at 4am to get to the airport by 5am to fly out at 6am. by the time the evening is finished and we get back to the hotel, it's 1am. sleep for 3 hours and do it again for the next couple days. it's the worst part of being in a band. when we're on the bus we go to bed at 1am, but are able to get a full nights sleep while we roll to the next city. (that is, when i don't have to drive.) luckily for us, this year holds very few fly dates for us and a ton of drive dates.

i'm excited for the next few weeks because we are figuring out our schedule for recording the next record. since we are independent now, (we parted ways with Word records at the end of last year) we have all kinds of options regarding where we go next. all i can say is that we are ready for a fresh start. :)

a

tour recap

2009-03-16T23:04:00.003-07:00

yesterday ended our "welcome to the family" tour...at least the spring leg of it. i hear that we may be extending it with the same lineup this summer. we had some interesting moments on this tour and overall had a great time.

here are some highlights...
1. we played for the first time in duluth, mn
2. played a show at a sweet casino on the reservation in north dakota
3. shot shotguns in billings, mt
4. picked up the esterlyn boys in boise
5. rocked sold out shows in boise, id and spokane, wa
6. enjoyed an uncharacteristically sunny day in seattle
7. left the tour to fly to branson, mo to play a show
8. flew back to portland to get to the next show in eugene, or
9. played at an armory in medford, or
10. won $65 playing poker at a truck stop in reno
11. ate some of the best food in our lives on our day off in san fran
12. best scenery of the tour was in san luis obispo, ca - also the day our generator on the bus decided to blow up
13. best hospitality on the tour was from our ketelhut friends in thousand oaks
14. wildomar, ca - the night people gave enough to our bus fund to get the generator fixed
15. played golf with my dad in riverside
16. drove to phoenix on our day off. on the way to barstow, ca that night, the alternator on our main engine went out leaving us stranded in the middle of the desert. $1000 and 12 hours later we were on our way to barstow. also the day(s) i was up for 36 hours straight.
17. ate at the wynn buffet in vegas...unbelievably amazing
18. caught up on sleep on our last day in so cal
19. best show of the tour - gotta be PHX!
20. went bowling in albuquerque, nm. we were 2nd of the four bands in the bowling competition - esterlyn won
21. drove at night from albuquerque to carlsbad, nm - 5 hours and saw maybe 4 cars on the way...no aliens :(
22. bowled again in amarillo, tx...again lost to esterlyn
23. drove through the biggest ice storm of my life on the way to tulsa, ok
24. hung out with family in tulsa and okc
25. finished out the tour with prank night in missouri

great shows, great fans, great fun. thanks to all of you who came out to make this tour a memorable one. talk soon...

adam

refreshing

2009-03-08T19:27:00.002-07:00

right in the middle of a grueling tour, we found an oasis in the desert. our show in mesa, az was everything we hoped it would be. family, friends, and fans all showed up to show us some love and support. it couldn't have come at a better time. we were all tired and have had some bus problems in the last week, so when we rolled in to the valley of the sun, we were hoping for some refreshment with a good hometown show. and we got just that. thank you to all of you who came out and absolutely rocked.

How many shows in a row?

2009-02-24T17:00:00.003-07:00

the answer is...i'm not really sure. all i know is that we have played a show every night since february 13th. tour is good, exhausting, exciting, boring, easy, dramatic, difficult, inspiring, deflating, encouraging, but most of all fun. we have played several sold out shows in the northwest US and are now making our way down to southern cal. we have a show tonight in reno, nv and FINALLY a day off tomorrow in san francisco. then it's off to southern cal for some shows before we get to go home to phoenix for a few days. i can't tell you how happy i am to be out of the cold weather. i hope it's another 10-11 months before i see snow again. :)

songwriting is going well for the new record and everybody in the band is doing well...kind of. cody is still sleeping and has been for a very long time. some of the guys on tour have the flu which is awesome. :( hopefully since i had it in december, i'll be immune this time around. when you share a bus with 10 other guys and are breathing the same air in close proximity for many, many hours at a time, the odds of getting sick are stacked against you. pray for us please. :)

adam

Rain, Snow, Wind, Sun...

2009-02-09T11:14:00.003-07:00

only a few days remain until we start our huge tour with kutless and disciple. get your snowshoes ready up north and flip flops out in so-cal cause we're coming to town. seriously, get your tickets early because several of the shows are already sold out. see you soon!

adam

Super Bowl XLIII

2009-02-02T21:18:00.002-07:00

wow. what a great game...almost. our beloved hometown cardinals played valiantly and almost came away with the championship of tackle football. the boys came over last night after we flew back from our weekend in ocean city, maryland and we tried our best to root them to a victory. oh well, congrats on an improbable season anyway.

we embark on our tour with kutless, disciple, and esterlyn in a few days and will be bringing the rock to a city near you. :) look out for the SK train coming to your town. get your tickets soon because several of the shows are already sold out.

adam

indiana is cold

2009-01-22T16:39:00.003-07:00

it's freezing in indiana...literally. it is about 12 degrees outside with some snow on the ground and ice in all the places where water used to reside. this is the first of a 5 shows in 5 days run that will take us to such winter vacation spots as Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. we look forward to some great shows and are excited about our tour coming up with Kutless, Disciple, and Esterlyn. i believe it's called the "welcome to the family tour."

it was a sad flight back from 80 degree phoenix, but i'm ready to get back to playing some shows. see you soon.

adam

2009

2009-01-08T23:32:00.002-07:00

happy new year to all of you out there in blog world! we had a great couple of shows to end 2008 on a high note and are looking forward to a busy 2009. we start out next weekend with shows in TX and AZ and then head back east to get back in the bus for tour. we'll play a few shows on our own and then join up with Kutless, Disciple, and Esterlyn for a west coast tour that will run from Feb through March. we are so excited to get back to the west coast since we haven't toured out there in what feels like a long time.

i look forward to getting out on the road and knocking out some songs for the new record. we should get in to the studio sometime after the tour and release some new sk stuff this summer. i hope so. :)

adam

fly by

2008-12-29T15:44:00.002-07:00

here i am, sitting in the crowded Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport waiting for the delayed flight to depart from here to Nashville. we have 2 shows in the next two days, one in myrtle beach, south carolina and one in lynchburg, virginia at liberty university on new year's eve. should be exciting. we have been off since the 6th of december so i'm hoping there's no rust. :) talk soon.

adam

back in the USA

2008-12-08T15:42:00.003-07:00

here's the conclusion to the weekend fiasco...

we never made it to williams lake, bc. they postponed, delayed, and eventually cancelled all flights from vancouver to williams lake because of ice and snow. we were very bummed that we couldn't make it to play the show. after all our hopes of making it to the show had been destroyed, we had to get out of the vancouver airport where we had spent the last 18 hours of our lives. we hopped on a plane to LA and spent the next day hanging out with our friends in Thousand Oaks. Last night we played at Harvest in Riverside for their day 7 service and had a great time as always.

now we have some time off until the week after Christmas so i want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us here in SK land. :)

adam

CANADA

2008-12-05T09:41:00.002-07:00

so we've all had an interesting past 24 hours...right now, jordan and i are sitting in the vancouver airport waiting to board a flight to williams lake, british columbia for a show tonight. cody and brian are sleeping at a hotel somewhere near the airport here. so how did we get here? glad you asked...

cody and brian left nashville, tennessee at 10am yesterday, flew to toronto, canada, then flew to vancouver to meet up with the rest of us for our flight to williams lake LAST NIGHT. jordan flew from phoenix, arizona to seattle, washington and met me there after i flew from fresno, california to san francisco, california to seattle. our flight was then delayed from seattle to vancouver by about 50 minutes. we finally landed in vancouver at about 6pm and our flight left for williams lake at 6:15pm. unfortunately, we had to go through customs and get our bags and re-check-in and go through security and all that fun stuff.

we never got that far.

our bags did not show up in vancouver. awesome. so we ran to try to make the flight, but they left without us. i was calling and texting cody telling him to hold the plane for us, but they could only delay about ten minutes. what a nightmare.

the story doesn't end there.

jordan and i go over to the air canada counter and they are kind enough to get us a hotel room and dinner vouchers for the evening and we are booked on the first flight out the next morning. i guess it's a good thing i planned ahead and had us fly in the day before the show. anyway, we're sitting down to dinner at our hotel when cody texts me (from the plane) and says that they are turning around because of a blizzard that was hitting williams lake. unbelievable. the problem is, when they get back the airline says they cannot give them a hotel or anything since the problem was weather related, so they have to go get a cheap hotel somewhere near the airport and are not going to make it to williams lake until sometime this afternoon.

this has been one of the strangest fly-dates of my life and we're not even to our destination yet. o canada!

adam

stellar kart plays basketball

2008-11-23T21:32:00.002-07:00

in one of the most hilarious weekends in our bands history, we had more fun than we've had in a long time in richmond, virginia yesterday. sure we were there to play a show and rock like we've never rocked before, but this day was different. this particular promoter and his family have been to several sk shows and we were chatting after one of the shows about how i like to play basketball when i'm home. they just so happen to run the annual basketball tournament for the Christian high schools in their area. i jokingly said, "hey, maybe our band could be one of the teams in the tournament." he said he'd figure something out.

and then it actually happened...

we wound up teaming up with the band eleventyseven (who opened up the show that night) and challenging the american family radio station staff and some contest winners. it was amazing. our team was bad...but they were worse. our strategy for victory was to run, run, run. :) we came away victorious and got an invite back to possibly play a real high school team next time.

thanks so much to all the afr staff and listeners for such a fun experience that we'll never forget!

happy thanksgiving,
adam

winter is here

2008-11-19T13:42:00.002-07:00

here at my house in tennessee, the low temperature last night was 23 degrees. that is absolutely too cold for me. thank you to all of my friends in phoenix who were kind enough to inform me that it was 85 degrees and sunny there yesterday...i appreciate that. i don't deal with the cold very well. i'm more of a shorts and t-shirt everyday kind of guy. i am looking forward to getting back to phoenix for some vacation time. emma is going to freak out this thanksgiving when she is at nana's house and all the grandparents and great-grandparents are there at the same time. she will be giddy.

sorry to all of you from lubbock, but i will be rooting for the sooners this saturday night!

adam

thank you florida

2008-11-15T22:20:00.002-07:00

here we are in the front lounge of the bus on the 14 hour drive back to the house in spring hill, tn. we're winding down after a great show in west palm beach, florida at wayfest. it was the last show of our tour with superchick and it was also a shared date with tobymac's winter wonderslam tour. so we got to see some friends of ours that we haven't seen in awhile from family force 5, relient k, and toby. good times and a great way to end a tour.

we're looking forward to a little time off for the holidays. we have one show next weekend and then some time off for thanksgiving. i can't wait. :)

goodnight world.

adam

ps. good morning to all of you in the netherlands!

georgia, georgia, georgia

2008-11-12T18:11:00.002-07:00

you guessed it. we're in georgia. the next three shows are in georgia actually. my parents used to live in canton before moving to california so georgia has a special spot in my heart. i'm looking forward to meeting some friendly southern folks and eating peach pie. let's hope georgia comes to rock at the sk show!

adam

monday night football

2008-11-10T09:52:00.002-07:00

we had a couple of great shows in the last two days. on saturday, we played in peoria, illinois at a hockey game. it was the first hockey game i've ever seen. the home team won and a great crowd stuck around after the game to hear us play. the stage was set up at one end of the ice rink and they wouldn't let any fans on the ice for the show, so we played directly in front of an empty ice rink with all the fans on both sides in the stands. weird. the crowd was fantastic, though.
yesterday, we had a great show in elgin, illinois at judson university. i think that is near superchick's home town so it was a homecoming show for them. it was freezing outside and even snowed for a bit.

so here we are back home in tennessee for two days until we head out for the last four shows on the tour. i'm looking forward to tonight because we're having the boys and some other friends over to watch our az cardinals destroy the 49ers tonight on monday night football. that's all for now, see you in georgia.

adam

club 3 degrees

2008-11-07T21:08:00.002-07:00

wow. as i sit up here in the dressing room on the 3rd floor while superchick is finishing out the night, i have a few thoughts on my mind. first, i'm very tired and sweaty...disgusting, in fact. second, the reason for my state is the fact that tonight was arguably the BEST show on this tour. SOLD OUT. nice work minnesota. you guys came to party tonight and we had a great time. we will soon be heading downstairs to hang out, sign autographs, take pictures, wreak havoc, etc...and then off to the hotel to shower. the tour is winding down with only six shows remaining, but we are ready for some holiday time off.

i'm looking forward to getting back to AZ and cali to see the family and eat some good holiday meals. maybe play some golf. enjoy the warm weather. play in the annual "turkey bowl" on thanksgiving morning with friends from high school and college. awesome.

thanks again minnesota for a memorable night,
adam

ps. i would love to visit italy. never been there. seems like a nice place.

election night

2008-11-04T21:43:00.002-07:00

looks like obama is the new prez and i can almost hear the crowd of almost one million people gathered at grand park in chicago screaming at the top of their lungs. i'm sitting here on the bus watching cnn wondering how the next four years of life are going to pan out. i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

we had dinner with the barlow girls at their house here in the chicago area and had a great time hanging out with their fam. thanks maryanne for the home-cooked meal. it was awesome. we are looking forward to our next tour show in minneapolis, mn at club 3 degrees. it should be good...and cold.

i guess it's time to watch the acceptance speech. goodnight america.

adam

the underground

2008-11-01T15:03:00.002-07:00

last night was such a fun show. we had a great crowd at the underground in cincy. jordan, brian, and i painted our eyes to look like we had been beat up by cody. the best part is that he didn't know we did it until the show started. :) it was hilarious.

today has been all about watching and playing football. we had a game out on the football field between all the bands on tour and wore ourselves out. now it's time to head in for dinner. i'm starving.

adam

sunshine in ohio

2008-10-31T11:47:00.002-07:00

here we are in cincinatti, ohio getting ready to play a show at the underground and i wake up this morning to something i've rarely seen in ohio...the sun. no offense to the fine people of ohio, but the weather in your state leaves a bit to be desired at times. however, today is beautiful so i'll take it. :)

the suns started the season off very nicely with a win over the evil spurs. i'm excited for basketball season. i confess i am slightly addicted to sports.

i'm looking forward to the show tonight, hopefully there will be some sweet costumes in the crowd. who knows what brian will do tonight...

adam

back home

2008-10-27T22:31:00.003-07:00

it's nice to sleep in my own bed tonight after another five days on the road. we had a good weekend with stops in missouri, mississippi, arkansas, and oklahoma.

before the tulsa, oklahoma show i played golf with my cousin cody. good news and bad news...first the good...we had a great time and it was good to get out on the course. now the bad...i lost. that hurts me to say. it really does. :) here are my excuses:
1. i didn't have my own clubs
2. didn't have my own golf shoes
3. it was a course i had never played on
4. it was cold and VERY windy
sounds pathetic, huh? oh well. congrats to cody who is the MAN. i want a rematch.

we all went over to matt's (from superchick) house to watch the monday night football game tonight and had a great time. go titans! i guess it's ok to wish for a cardinals/titans superbowl. i would attend.

the next couple days will involve playing basketball, catching up on sleep, hanging out with emma and sharon, and the beginning of the phoenix suns quest for an NBA championship.

talk soon,
adam

on the road again

2008-10-22T13:09:00.002-07:00

we leave tonight for missouri at midnight. the good news is, we have satellite tv on the bus so we won't miss any of the world series or football games this weekend. i'm looking forward to getting back to tulsa, ok again to see my grandparents and cousins. it's been a relaxing tour ever since the first month when we were out for over a month straight. having a couple days off at home each week is about as close to a "normal" life as it can get.

talk soon,
adam

cheesesteaks and fried chicken

2008-10-18T21:26:00.002-07:00

on friday, we played in west chester, pa which is located just west of philadelphia. philiadelphia is known for a few things...liberty bell, the phillies, and legendary cheesesteaks. we had to partake in the local favorite and had some great steaks at a place called "mike's" just down the road from the venue and they were amazing. tip o the cap to you mike.
the show was great and all was good until afterward when our new tech guy jon (we call him burrrrro) decided it would be a good idea to push me in the back for no apparent reason. so of course i had to chase him outside into the grass and tackle him and make him promise to never do it again. i think we got it all on video so that should be up on the youtube page soon. :)

today we rolled in to johnson city, tn and played a great festival with our tour and jeremy camp. i think the high temperature 2 days ago was around 85 and the high today was around 53. it was so cold. maybe the coldest ever. the cold didn't keep the crowd away as around 3000 people showed up. we had fried chicken for dinner and watched the red sox win again. game 7 tomorrow. crazy.

we are on the road heading to the DC area tonight. one more show and then it's back home for a few days.

adam

lancaster, pa

2008-10-16T18:22:00.002-07:00

well, we just walked off stage here in lancaster, pennsylvania and are hanging out on the bus while superchick is on stage. it was a great show, great crowd. we are all very sweaty and looking for a shower...especially cody.

i had a great couple of basketball games today with the other bands that are on tour. jordan went to the mall. cody probably worked out at some point. brian worked on our merchandise all day.

emma and sharon are out for this weekend run and emma is hilarious. she turns 2 after thanksgiving so right now her favorite words are no, no, no. she says it so cute and she doesn't even really mean it. :)

off to west chester, pa tomorrow...time to find a shower.

adam

crazy rays

2008-10-14T20:51:00.002-07:00

i don't know if any of you are watching the ALCS this season, but it is amazing. nothing against boston, but i'm excited for the tampa bay rays. they are an expansion team that came into existence the same year the diamondbacks did - 1998. they have never been to the playoffs, so this is a really big deal. i'm all about rooting for the underdog. :)

back to the road tomorrow...it has been so relaxing being at home. i remember our first year touring when we played about 250 shows. that was exhausting. now i'm actually looking forward to getting out and playing shows. see you soon....

adam

frisbee golf

2008-10-13T15:50:00.002-07:00

so today i played frisbee golf with wally from wayfm's total axxess. if you don't know what frisbee golf is, it's simple. you walk around for 2 hours throwing frisbees at little chain nets and chasing them until you finish the hole. the only similarity to real golf is that there were 18 "holes." it was fun, though and much cheaper than real golf. unfortunately, for the first time in our head to head career against each other in ANY competition, he won. congrats to you, wally. now we can move on to a real sport or ANYTHING ELSE. :)

adam

cards win!

2008-10-12T18:32:00.003-07:00

in a very rare sunday off, i was able to hang out on the couch like a "normal person" and watch football today. it was amazing. some of the sk boys came over and we celebrated as the cardinals beat the cowboys. that is a big deal if you're unfamiliar with sports. it has been a good day hanging out with the fam and now that we're feeling nice and rested, it's about time to get back on the road. we leave wednesday for lancaster, pa. soooo see you soon.

adam

Good Timing

2008-10-08T23:24:00.002-07:00

well apparently the best time to start up blogging about stellar kart's adventures on the road is not when we are in the middle of a 9 day break. :) actually, we had some shows get canceled up in the northeast so we're hanging out at home and trying to recover from being out on the road for the past 4 weeks. the break is giving me some time to ponder the new record. it's always a weird experience making a new record. trying to sum up your thoughts into song form is stressful. :) with tons of ideas, phrases, song titles, and lyrics floating around in my head, it's tough to make sense of it all and compose a complete thought. i'll figure it out...

tomorrow should be a fun day, i think i'm going golfing...

adam

back to work

2008-10-08T00:17:00.002-07:00

so i win the award for most inconsistent blogger in the universe. sometimes i'm good and blog 5,6, even 7 times a week. sometimes i'm bad and go a year without blogging. oh well, i'm going to try and start up again because i want to, and for no other reason. however, i make no guarantees. there is a possibility that i will be diligent and blog with regularity. there is also a possibility that you will find this the most recent blog entry a year from now. that is the mystery of the stellar kart blog...

with that disclaimer out of the way, we've had quite a year. our international travels include trips to the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia, all of which were amazing experiences. we headlined a tour, played a ton of acquire the fire events, rocked out festivals all over north america this summer, and are now in the middle of a tour with superchick. i look forward to fall and the end of the summer heat, as well as the chance to make another record.

cheers,
adam

PUNK THE HALLS II

2007-11-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, time for the 2nd annual Punk the Halls tour. :) This year we will be bringing out Nevertheless, Eleventyseven, Our Hearts Hero, and Manafest to join us on our 26 city tour that starts November 25th and ends December 22nd. Please check our myspace and website and all that fun stuff to find out info about tickets and locations. i guarantee you will have a great time and feel free to bring the whole family. Brian might even be dressed up like a snowman...or a reindeer...or both...

Also, we will be playing some brand new songs from our record that we just finished. The CD is called "Expect the Impossible" and we will be pre-selling them on this tour. So come celebrate the holidays with us, we might even make it snow... :)

Hope to see you there!
adam

STUDIO!

2007-08-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

well it's that time of year again...studio time. we head in to the studio tomorrow morning to begin pre-production for our third record. wow. for the next month or so we will be working hard in the studio every day that we're not playing shows to try and get the record finished by october, and i think we will be releasing it sometime in february. we are so excited and have a ton of new songs to work on. i know you're gonna love them as much as we do.

check out our myspace page for video updates from the studio and maybe even some new song demos. we hope to bring you guys along for the ride this time as we make our record.

also, a huge thanks to all of you who made our summer the best ever. promoters, volunteers, and all you FANS who came out to support us at festivals and shows...thank you. :) you made it a summer to remember and we are having the time of our lives right now. we love you and keep checking back for studio updates!

adam

EO YOUTH DAY - NETHERLANDS

2007-06-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

WOW!

The EO Youth Day was amazing!! we had such a great time in the Netherlands this past weekend. thank you so much to all of you who helped out with our trip and made it such a success. 35,000 people is the largest crowd we have ever played for and you all were awesome.

we are all recovering from our jet lag and are happy to be back home, but the Netherlands will always be a special place for SK since it played host to our first overseas shows ever. we miss you and can't wait to get back there soon. :)

much love,
adam

Spirit West Coast - Del Mar

2007-05-27T01:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks.

to all of you who came out and saw us play. it was an amazing night. i'm gonna go ahead and say it was a top 3 (maybe #1) show i've ever played in my life. it was so fun. we're still talking about what a great time we had. you all were loud and sang beautifully and i can't imagine a better crowd. thank you.

hopefully some of the shows we play in the next couple months can measure up to the time we had here in so-cal tonight. tip of the cap to you spirit west coast.

adam.

Guitar Giveaway!!!!

2007-05-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

So it's about that time for me to get a new guitar. I've decided to give away my guitar and i'm gonna do it at Spirit West Coast Del Mar on May 26th at our show. this is the guitar that i bought last year and played for the entire Newsboys tour this spring. I will give it away to a crazy Stellar Kart fan sometime during our show.

Spirit West Coast is one of our favorite festivals and i can't think of a better place to say goodbye to my guitar. I hope to see you there. :)

adam.

GO TOUR

2007-02-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

It's finally time for the biggest tour of our career and I hope to see all of you amazing SK fans out there on the road. :) We're starting out in the eastern half of the US and then it's good news for all you West Coasters cause we're finally coming back out west. Check the tour schedule for a city near you and get your tickets quick because they are expecting to sell out most of these shows.
We can't wait to see you out on the road...it's going to be an amazing show!

adam.

The First SK Baby!

2006-12-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

My wife Sharon gave birth to Emma Dawn Agee in Nashville, TN at 3:41pm on November 28, 2006. She was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 1/2 inches. She is amazing. She and her mother are both healthy and doing very well.

Also, our first headlining tour went extremely well and we had such a great time hanging out with all of you who came out to the shows. Thank you so much. We loved getting to play shows with RunKidRun, EleventySeven, and Esterlyn.

Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy New Year!

adam.

PUNK THE HALLS TICKET INFO

2006-11-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ticket information for Punk the Halls Tour...

STELLAR KART, RunKidRun, Eleventyseven, and Esterlyn

Dec 1 .. Tipp City, OH .. 937.667.1069

Dec 2 .. Warsaw, IN .. 574.269.5851

Dec 3 .. Charlotte, NC .. Private non-tour date

Dec 4 .. Northampton, PA .. Roxy Theater, 2004 Main St .. tix available at door

Dec 5 .. Manheim, PA .. 717.572.2871

Dec 7 .. Rockford, IL .. 815.335.1838

Dec 8 .. Trenton, MI .. 734.675.7575

Dec 11 .. Montgomery, AL .. 615.261.9293

Dec 14 .. Jacksonville, FL .. 904.388.3179

Dec 15 .. Kernersville, NC .. 336.996.6880

Dec 16 .. Chattanooga, TN .. 423.624.2606

Dec 17 .. Bowling Green, KY .. 615.261.9293

This is all the info I have, if you have problems getting advance tickets, just show up and there will be tix available at the door. If it's sold out and you tell them you tried to get early tickets, we will make sure you get in. Also, you can go to www.itickets.com and search for STELLAR KART tickets. :)

Good luck and we'll see you soon!
Adam

PUNK THE HALLS!!

2006-11-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our first headlining tour is drawing close and i wanted to exted to you a personal invite to come to the shows. here's the schedule...

Nov 30 - Richmond, VA
Dec 1 - Tipp City, OH (Dayton)
Dec 2 - Warsaw, IN
Dec 3 - Charlotte, NC
Dec 4 - Northampton, PA
Dec 5 - Manheim, PA
Dec 7 - Rockford, IL
Dec 8 - Trenton, MI (Detroit)
Dec 11 - Montgomery, AL
Dec 14 - Jacksonville, FL
Dec 15 - Kernersville, NC (Winston-Salem)
Dec 16 - Chattanooga, TN
Dec 17 - Bowling Green, KY

check our website or myspace for details and please come see us!!!

i'll let you know how it goes...
adam.

Jordan is married.

2006-09-26T23:13:00.001-07:00

Congrats to Jordan on getting married this month! In other news, our single "Me and Jesus" is STILL number one on CHR radio for 5 weeks now. we can't believe it. thanks to all the radio stations for playing us and to all of you for requesting the song. Also, thanks to everyone who has gone out and bought our new record and come to our shows, we couldn't do it without you guys. :)

Come out and see us at a show and be sure and get your tickets early for the punk the halls christmas tour!

see you soon,
adam.

Wanna See Something Cool???

2006-08-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

This is sweet...

Stellar Kart is #1

adam.

WEEKEND UPDATE

2006-08-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so our CD has been out for a month now and I can't believe how many of you went out and bought it the first week! We wound up being the number 1 selling artist at Christian retail that week! Thanks so much. I hope you all are well and enjoying life. We have news about our first HEADLINING TOUR!!

We will be embarking on a "Punk the Halls" Christmas tour from November 30th - December 17th. The lineup will be:

EleventySeven
RunKidRun
Stellar Kart

As we get the dates booked, you'll find them on our website and myspace. come see the craziness. :)

MORE BIG NEWS:

We have spring tour plans as well...we will be embarking on a 45 city tour with the Newsboys and Kutless. we are very excited to be a part of this 3 band tour. we will be playing all over the US so stay tuned to see if we're coming to a city near you.

good things are happening in SK world...thank YOU for all your support.

adam.

Time for a new CD

2006-07-25T01:53:00.000-07:00

The day has finally arrived!!! Our new CD "We Can't Stand Sitting Down" is out in stores nationwide TODAY. Amazing. We are obviously very excited. I just got home from playing an awesome show in Tucson. Tucson brought their A game tonight and Phoenix will have their work cut out for them to match the intensity that Tucson had. It was so fun.

We are playing in Peoria, AZ tonight for the hometown crowd so that should be great. If you haven't pre-ordered the CD yet, you don't have to. You can now go buy it just about anywhere. :) It should be cheap the first week so get it soon and be a part of the SK invasion.

It's a great day to release a CD...
adam.

ZONA YUTH CAMP

2006-07-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

So camp was amazing. Quite possibly the one of the best weeks of my life. Thanks to everyone who made the camp week so awesome. It was so cool to see so many old friends and make a ton of new ones. I can't wait to see some of you again at our Phoenix and Tucson CD release shows!

By the way...3+ days left until the CD comes out! I can't believe it's here. Go out and buy the CD on Tuesday!!! Also, "Me and Jesus" is doing great at radio with a big thanks to WayFM and Air1 radio for adding us. So come see us soon in Oklahoma, in Arizona twice in Tucson and Phoenix, then at Creation West in Washington and then out in Midland, Texas for Rock the Desert. It's gonna be a busy week!

until then...
adam.

4th of July

2006-07-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Just wanted you all to know that Jordan and Sharon and I just finished lighting up the Tennessee sky with fireworks. It was amazing. :) Actually Sharon stood on the porch and covered her ears while Jordan and I stood in the street lighting the fireworks. Our favorites of the night were the Space Rangers...little flying things that sparked and blew up as they flew through the sky. awesome.

So we leave in 1 day to head to the west coast. we're very excited. first, we head to Henderson, Nevada, Riverside, California, then Point Loma for a week! I can't wait, PLNU is the next closest thing to heaven on earth, plus getting to play a show and lead worship for a week is going to be so much fun.

Looking forward to the left coast,
adam.

Less than a MONTH...

2006-06-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Until the new amazing CD comes out!!! Yeah, we're a little excited. Too bad about creation, we will most definitely be there next year so no worries.
So I heard our song Me and Jesus on WayFM here in Nashville for the first time on my way home after watching the movie "Cars" with Sharon. It was great-the movie that is. Hearing the song was cool too. :)

We'll be in Morristown, TN on saturday and then look for us at some festivals coming up. Please come see us at a show and hear some new songs live. Everybody have a great 4th of July and listen for Me and Jesus on the radio.

JULY 25
JULY 25
JULY 25

AND if you haven't pre-ordered the new CD yet, DO IT!! :) We love you for it.

Be sure and visit the myspace and purevolume sites. :) -------->>>

adam.

CREATION EAST!!!

2006-06-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

We have just been added to the Creation East festival in Pennsylvania! We play friday at 1pm on MAIN STAGE. Come out and see us. We're so glad to be able to come play this festival and see all our friends from Penn, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and all the other states around there.

Check out our new myspace look and preorder the cd if you haven't already.

Also, we're having a CD release show in Phoenix on July 25th...more details soon. :)

adam.

HUGE AMAZING NEWS!!

2006-05-09T19:46:00.001-07:00

Ok SK fans! Just to let you know our new CD is now available for pre-order! To order "We Can't Stand Sitting Down" just click on the link below. It will be delivered to your house the day it comes out (JULY 25), some people will even get it a day early. The CD booklet will be autographed and we're also throwing in a free SK wristband fo free. :) I just thought I'd give you hardcore SK fans the first opportunity to get the new CD. Have fun!

CLICK HERE TO GET THE NEW CD!!

we love our trailer...

2006-05-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we were driving our van and trailer from Woodbridge, VA to Hilliard, OH. Brian was driving, Jordan was in the front seat, and Cody, Sharon, and I were sleeping in the back. At about 9:30am, I wake up to the sound of 18 wheelers passing us as we sit on the side of the freeway. I ask, "what happened?" and the boys tell me the good news...we've LOST a trailer tire. Not a blowout, not a flat, LOST. The tire, rim, and hub fell off as they were driving and then proceeded to pass us as we skidded to a stop. We never found the tire. It might have rolled all the way to Ohio. The axle was ground down from the friction of scraping on the highway and was damaged beyond repair.
So we had to get the trailer towed, get a new axle, a new tire and rim. Fun times. Lots of money that we don't have. But that's the way it goes sometimes. When you come see us at a show, say hi to the new axle on the trailer.

By the way, our new CD will be done on Wednesday of next week, so we'll start leaking some songs for you to check out. It's gonna be fun.

adam

Tour Dates

2006-04-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

ok here's the problem...i cannot update our website, we have to have it done for us and some of the tour dates are wrong and have been wrong in the past. i'm so very sorry to any of you who have shown up to a SK show and it was not actually the right date. i really wish i was allowed to update our website, but i am not. that's why i make sure that the myspace dates are correct.

i wanted to let you guys know about a show coming up that is on our website that's wrong. it says that we will be in Grove City, OH and that is incorrect, we will actually be in Nitro, WV on that date. sorry for those of you planning on the grove city show, i hope this is enough warning for you. hope to see some of you in west virginia. :)

thanks for your patience as we get our website fixed up.

peace,
adam.

read below
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New Album and New Website

2006-04-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

JULY 25
JULY 25
JULY 25
JULY 25
JULY 25

MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDAR!

ok, so the new SK album "WE CAN'T STAND SITTING DOWN" comes out July 25th, 2006. It's going to be amazing. To go along with the album release, we'll be redesigning the website and it will look good this time. :) Until the website is ready, we'll be directing traffic to our myspace site. So for tour dates and news and stuff, go to www.myspace.com/stellarkart

there you have it. the tour is going great, we just had an amazing show in Toledo, Ohio and are on our way to Woodbridge, Virginia in a few minutes to play there tomorrow.

see ya,
adam.

TOUR UPDATE AND ALBUM TITLE...

2006-03-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

So the tour is amazing. :) Seriously, we are having the time of our lives. It's so awesome being on Disciple's bus! Life is so easy right now. We get to play shows everyday for thousands of people, meet new amazing people everyday, and since we're on tour with Kutless, we get to eat really good food too. :) They're high rollers. :)
Jordan has been shopping and going to movies, Cody has been riding his skateboards, I have been playing golf all the time, and I'm sure Brian is having a good time, but I have no idea where he is all day.

So we're in San Jose, California right now and we are waiting on rough mixes of the new songs. It's killing us. We still haven't heard the songs. We can't wait. Hopefully we'll get songs soon. :) By the way, the new album will probably be called,
WE CAN'T STAND SITTING DOWN.

Hope you like it, :)
adam.

STUDIO WRAP UP

2006-02-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it. The whirlwind is over and the album is done! I can't believe it. i finished all the vocals in 3 days and couldn't even talk after that. :) But we are now on tour with Kutless and Disciple! We are actually riding on Disciple's bus and they are absolutely crazy. We thought we were crazy and a little out there until we met these guys. With all that craziness, they are some of the nicest guys we have ever met and I am so glad to be out on tour with them. The first couple shows have gone well and everybody is getting along just fine.

I'll let you know later on how the tour is progressing. See you at a show!

adam.

STUDIO DAYS 6 & 7

2006-02-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

Well we finished all the guitars and bass for all 12 songs on the record and now have moved on to vocals. :) It's so exciting, amazing, exhilirating, and exhausting all at the same time. Tomorrow is the last day and i still have 5 more songs to sing including background vocals, so i've still got a lot of work to do. I can't tell you how excited I am for this CD. I'm sure most artists are super excited about new material, but I really think we've got something special in the making. Hopefully I'll get through the rest of the songs tomorrow and then we can go on tour with the record done. :) I hope.

adam.

STUDIO DAYS 4 & 5

2006-02-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was not a great day. We couldn't get the right sounds for the guitars so we actually had to pack everything up and move studios. Once again, we never do anything the easy way. :) We moved all the stuff over, but really wasted a day because we didn't get a whole lot done.

That all changed today. We motored through song after song and really got a lot done. The guitar tones are great and the bass is great too. I am in a much better mood today than I was yesterday and I apologize to anyone who had to cross paths with me because I was not very happy. But it's all good now. We are rolling. We have four more songs to do tomorrow on guitars and then it's on to vocals. We should get all the vocals and background vocals done on Sunday night, Monday, and Tuesday just in time to leave Wednesday on tour with Kutless. Yep, piece of cake. I don't know why everybody doesn't make a record in 8 days. :)

The new studio is awesome and we're back to having a great time making an amazing record. I know you're going to love it. :)

adam.

STUDIO DAY 3

2006-02-16T00:39:00.000-07:00

So today was a long day...again. We started at about 10am setting up guitar amps and getting sounds. The sounds are amazing! I'm blown away. I really can't wait until you get to hear the new stuff. By dinner time we had 2 songs completely done with all mine and cody's guitars and ready for vocals. Pretty exciting. We came back from dinner and began work on another song and got it almost done before calling it a night. I think tomorrow will go faster and we'll get a ton of songs done in a lot less time now that we know what sounds we're going for and how to get them.

I think tomorrow will start with Jordan re-tracking one song (the first one we recorded on day 1) because it doesn't feel like the right speed. So after he's done, we'll dive back in to guitars and bass. Brian did amazing for his first time in a real studio and nailed the bass parts with no problems whatsoever. We are all very impressed. So 9 and a half songs to go and then it's on to vocals. aaahh yeah.

until tomorrow,
adam.

STUDIO DAY 2

2006-02-15T01:17:00.000-07:00

Well, today was easier. At least we didn't have to load in through the snow. :) Jordan was studly today and finished all his drum tracks for the entire record. Yep, one and a half days was all it took for the magic to happen. It was a good day overall, we just plowed through songs to get as many done as possible and we wound up getting all of them done. Tomorrow should be more exciting for the rest of us as we dive in to bass and guitar parts. I love it.

I'll let you know tomorrow how tomorrow goes...something like that. i'm tired. i'm going to bed. good night. sleep tight. ok.

adam.

STUDIO DAY 1

2006-02-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

WOW.

What an amazing and exhausting day. i just want to fall asleep on the keyboarddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd. Ok I'm back. We arrived at the studio at about 10am and loaded in. IN THE SNOW. Yep, snow in Nashville. So then after we thawed, we started setting up. Here's a visual for ya...Jordan's drums are set up in a room that is about 20 feet wide by about 40 feet across. In that same room we have Cody and Brian with their guitars/bass. The amps are in seperate rooms right next to the big room. I am the loner stuck in the Control Room. If you don't know, the control room is where the huge soundboard is, it's where the really smart engineer guys are, and it's where me and the producer are making sure all the songs are perfect before we start tracking.

So we spent the majority of the day getting drum, guitar, and bass sounds and by about 3pm, we began to track some drums. We played the whole song all together to make sure the parts were right and then Jordan tracked them by himself and did a fine job at that. So far we have 4 songs done on drums. :) That's good news. Now that we have all the amazing sounds, we should be able to blow through the rest of the drum tracks tomorrow and then move on to bass and guitars. Once we have all those done, then it's the icing on the cake, the vocals. That will be later in the week though.

That's it for today, check in tomorrow for the next update. Now it's time for sleep.

adam.

ps. we got some good video today so hopefully we can get some stuff up on the web within the next few weeks. keep your fingers crossed. :)

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

2006-02-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

No not the Olympics, the Stellar Kart In The Studio Extravaganza! What that means is that we are in the studio tomorrow! We will be working for the next 8 days and will hopefully get the whole CD done. :) We are fast. We will have a video camera in the studio to let you guys see what's going on. We'll try to get those up on the website as soon as possible.

We'll also be redesigning our website for the new cd so i'll keep you posted on that progress.

Stay tuned...I'll update you guys on how the studio is going,

adam.

Stormy Weekend

2006-02-11T00:59:00.000-07:00

I have some bad news...We were unable to make it to the show in Culpeper, VA on February 11th. We just got back home to Nashville and I'm writing this to let you know how sad we are. We left early this afternoon in the rain and were keeping a close eye on the forecast. We got to Knoxville, TN (about 3 1/2 hours away from nashville) and stopped to eat dinner and also to check the weather. At that time, they were predicting 8-12 inches of snow in the mountains on our way to and from the show. We had to make a seriously hard decision at that point and felt that it was the safest course of action to turn back and go home.

I can't tell you how sorry I am that we are not going to make it and to all of you who were planning on seeing us, please please please come see us again this spring/summer when we come back. We saw a lot of you at Winterfest this year and it was amazing, and the Culpeper, VA show on the spring '05 tour with Kutless and BarlowGirl was one of our favorite shows ever. We will miss seeing you guys and gals again, please forgive us and come see us soon. :)

adam.

COUNTDOWN TO THE STUDIO

2006-02-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we are just about done with pre-production on the CD and have come up with all the music and melodies and lyrics and have just about put the puzzle together. We're so excited about the new songs! We will be testing them out on tour with Kutless this spring so come see a show.
We should get into the studio on Monday and record the whole album in 9 days just in time to take off on the road on tour.

So...I'll talk to you soon,
adam.

SK Nominated!!

2006-02-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

So I just heard the news...Stellar Kart was nominated for two dove awards this year! Best New Artist and Rock Album of the Year! Thanks to all of you who voted for us. :) We now have to wait until April to find out if we won either category, but for now we are excited and honored to even be nominated.

We are practicing the new songs and getting ready to go in the studio in about a week, so i'll keep you posted on how that's going...

adam.

The new CD...

2006-01-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a question for ya...What should we title the new CD? any suggestions you have would be appreciated. just comment to the blog like normal. :) we have almost completed all the writing and will be getting in the studio in a few weeks! we will have a video camera in the studio with us and will hopefully be able to put some video stuff up on the website so you can see what we're doing in the studio. i'll keep you posted about when we're for sure starting to track the record.

until then, see if you can come up with a sweet album name for the next sk record. :)

adam.

Tour Dates

2006-01-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and gals, our website is having trouble with letting us put tour dates up there so please check out our complete tour schedule on our MYSPACE site. Hopefully the problem will be fixed soon.

By the way, our next show is in Houston,Texas on January 28th at Cy-Fair Christian Church. It will be nice to be back in Texas again!

See you soon,
Adam

Myrtle Beach Will Never Be the Same

2006-01-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

so here's a story from the road...

WHEN: Monday morning, around 1am
WHERE: 10th floor, Sand Dunes Hotel, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
WHO: Stellar Kart boys of course
WHAT:

Ok, so Cody and I are staying in the hotel room next to Jordan and Brian. At about 1am i hear voices in the hallway and get a bit curious. Then I hear a cop yelling into a radio and I jump up and go look through the little peep hole in our door just in time to see the cop head into Jordan and Brian's room. So I text Jordan and ask, "What is happening?" Then he texts back, "Our room is flooded." So I open our door to see the hallway under 3 inches of water and Jordan and Brian walking out of their room with their shoes and bags soaked. They had to switch rooms and I had to use towels all around the base of our room to keep the water out.

Apparently Brian used the bathroom in their room, flushed the toilet, and went to bed. Jordan was already asleep as he turned out the lights. Then about 30 minutes later their hotel phone rang and the lady at the front desk asked, "What are you doing?!" Brian had no clue what she was talking about and she seemed really angry. She told him to check his room to see if it was flooded, and when he did he found the toilet still running out of control and the room was a lake. The lady said they were getting calls from the floors below saying that water was pouring down the walls and out of the light fixtures. The rooms below were evacuated all the way down to the 6th floor.

So that's the story of how SK destroyed the Sand Dunes hotel. :)

adam.

PHOENIX

2006-01-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

Well we just got home from the RAGE fest in Phoenix, AZ and let me tell you it was amazing. It was possibly the craziest show in the history of Stellar Kart. :) Just so you guys know, we had an unbelievable time in our home town and you made us feel so proud to be from AZ! Nice work. :) Thanks again for coming out to see us and hopefully you recover from the bruises soon. Some of you know what I'm talking about for sure.

We'll be back in PHX (actually Mesa) on March 2nd with Kutless, Disciple, and Falling Up so come to that show and see us again then.

Thanks again for a great night,
adam.

Happy New Year

2006-01-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hello SK fans!! It's good to see you again. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! We have been writing for the new record and will be in the studio almost all of Jan/Feb until we head out on tour with Kutless, Falling Up, and Disciple. Wow that's going to be fun. :)

We had fun this past weekend at Winterfest in Virginia at Liberty University. It was such a sweet way to ring in the new year with Audio A, Kutless, Hawk Nelson and SK all on the same stage as the clock struck midnight.

Anyway, we're heading out this weekend to South Carolina, then next weekend we'll be back in PHOENIX, AZ for the Rage Festival at Castles and Coasters. I think we're going to go surfing with the sharks in Charleston, SC this weekend. Pray that Cody doesn't get eaten.

See you soon,
adam.

New Stellar Kart Songs and Tour Update

2005-11-09T00:25:00.000-07:00

So we just got out of the studio where we were practicing some new stuff for the new record! we are all very excited and can't wait for you guys to hear the new songs. you'll have to come to a show to hear it though. :)

Speaking of shows, i have some good news and some bad news. Good news first...We just started the See Spot Rock Tour with Pillar, Falling Up, and The Wedding and played shows this past weekend. It was so much fun and the other bands are really cool and fun to be around. Here's the bad news...We had to cancel some shows on the tour in the next few weeks. So we will not be at the show in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, or Utah. I'm so sorry to any of you who already bought tickets wanting to see us. I promise you'll still have a great time at the show, but it looks like you'll have to wait until this spring to see us. More Good News...We will continue with the tour in December :) also...We are doing a 50 city west coast tour this Feb-April '06 with Kutless, Disciple, and Falling Up and will be in the cities that we are missing this fall along with many others.

We have made so many friends in the Northwest and I so wish we could be there with you guys, but we can't so please don't hate us. :( Hopefully we'll see you real soon,

adam.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2005-10-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

We've been on the road forever and have had some amazing shows. Thanks to all of you who have come out to see us. :) We are writing for our new record right now and will be recording in January. Exciting! Also, we start the See Spot Rock Tour on Saturday so that should be fun. Hopefully we'll see you at a show coming up and pray for us as we finish up our songs for the next album.

see ya,
adam.

Rock of Ages in Cali

2005-10-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

So we played a show in Mesa, AZ on Friday night that was great. Then we tore down our stuff and left for Cali as soon as we could. We got on the road at about 1am with the four of us and Sharon and all our gear in a ford expedition. we were sardines. anyway, we drove for 12 hours straight and arrived in Calistoga, CA (north of san fran) at 1:20pm and walked on stage and played at 1:30pm. it was amazing. the show was crazy and the crowd was awesome! we couldn't believe we made it. by the time we went to sleep that night, we had been up for about 60 hours straight. just to rock YOUR face. :)

we are back in phoenix right now getting ready to head out tonight to Modesto, CA then Salem, OR then Chino, CA so please come see us.

adam.

TIME FOR SOME LEFT COAST

2005-10-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

We are gettin' ready to fly back to PHOENIX!! aaaahhhh yeah. We're playing in Mesa on October 7th at Mesa Baptist Church and then we're going to Cali for a week of shows and then we're back in the valley of the sun. October 16th at the Bridge in Tempe, then October 17th at Parkway Church in Surprise. Please come see us, we have many road stories to tell.

can't wait,
adam

SK returns to Green Bay

2005-09-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hello SK fans. It's good to see you again. We are returning to the Cup O Joy coffeehouse in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday, October 1st and we hope to see a bunch of you again. Our last show there was one of our favorites so far and we hope to top it this time. Come out and bring a friend!

see you soon.
adam.

SK on MySpace...

2005-09-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

Come check it out.

Stellar Kart on MySpace.com

We had a great show in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin at the United Methodist Church and then the next day at Dominican High School! Thanks to everyone who came out to see us and all you high schoolers are crazy. :)

Come see us soon!

adam.

SK at Disney World

2005-09-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we just got home from playing a show at the happiest place on earth! We played Night of Joy at Walt Disney World and it was really amazing. Thanks so much to all of you amazing fans in florida for coming to see us. And to all of you who were at a SK show before, it was good to see you again.

We're home for a few days in nashville and we are moving in to our new townhomes! Cody, Delana and the boys live right next door to me and Sharon. We just couldn't get enough of each other in the van everyday. :) In a few days, we'll be off to michigan to open for Third Day, then over to Connecticut and Massachusetts, so come out and see us.

I don't know if I've told you this or not, but we are confirmed on a 50-city WEST COAST tour this spring with Kutless! We are excited. :) It will start around February 20th and end in mid April and as soon as we have dates, we'll put them up.

Sooner than that is the See Spot Rock Tour this fall with Pillar and Falling Up. We are actually redoing our website and it should be up in a few weeks. it will look cool. as the dates come in for the tour, we'll post them so you guys can come see the rock show.

thanks,
adam.

On the Road Again...

2005-08-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we just had 2 days off in Phoenix and now it's back to work. We head out for Washington for a few shows, then to Oregon and California. After that, we drive all the way to South Dakota on our way to Maryland with a stop in Nashville on the way. I know it might sound like a lot of driving in the van, but if you really think about it, it's a ridiculous amount of driving in the van. :)

Come out and see us at a show...remember to say, "hi."

adam.

CODY GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-08-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

2 down, 2 to go here in the Stellar Kart family. Cody is the second kid to get married (me being the first) and he did so on August 6th, just a few days ago. Congrats to Cody and Delana and I hope they are having an amazing honeymoon!

Now, back to business. As some of you may have heard, Stellar Kart is being played on your local Christian music radio stations! You should be either hearing STUDENT DRIVER or LIFE IS GOOD.

We need your help...
1. Please call and request these songs and help get the word out. The more requests, the more times the songs get played, etc...
2. WHAT TO DO IF YOU GO INTO A STORE AND CAN'T FIND OUR CD: Go up to the sales clerk and say, "Do you have the Stellar Kart CD?" If they say yes, have them help you find it and buy it. If they say no, throw a fit and yell at them. No, I'm just kidding, don't do that. :) If they say no, ask them to order some and then send us an email telling us where you couldn't find the CD. We want you guys to be able to get our music wherever you live, so let us know.

summer's almost over... :( back to school. do your homework. go to bed early. :)

adam.

What a weekend.

2005-07-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well, let me tell you guys that we had one of the strangest weekends in the history of stellar kart. Here's what happened...

First, we drove to Prescott, AZ to play at a camp and we had an amazing time. The kids there were so great and it was a perfect night until we drove home. Sharon and I took the van home with Brian while Cody drove with his mom, fiancee and Jordan and his girlfriend in Cody's mom's Ford Excursion. Sharon and I were already home when we got a call from Cody at 4:30 in the morning. Apparently, right after they left the campground, a drunk driver came around the corner of the two-lane road in the wrong lane and was heading straight for Cody. Cody swerved and made the drunk driver miss the truck, but he slammed into the trailer ripping off the left wheel and fender. Then, the drunk driver ran head on into the truck behind Cody going about 50 mph and totalled both vehicles. Amazingly, none of our crew got hurt, but all the other people involved in the accident went to the hospital. Our trailer had a broken axle and a destroyed wheel so it had to be towed back to Phoenix. It was so weird, but there were some serious angels helping us out that night.

So that was Thursday. (well, friday morning)

Then there was Sunday.

We were planning to leave at 10am to go to Riverside, CA to play at Harvest Christian Fellowship that night. We were planning to get there at 3pm for our sound check, the service started at 6pm and we were supposed to play around 6:40pm. haha. So we had to use Cody's dad's trailer since ours was still out of commission and we went to hook it up at 10am and the lights didn't work. So it took about an hour and a half to get the lights to work, then we were on the road.
So we were cruising along the freeway in the california desert on I-10 when a hurricane hits us. Traffic slowed to about 20 mph and the wind was blowing in our face at about 50 mph with about 2 inches of water flowing across the freeway.
Then we had to get gas and the gas station was packed with a line of 50 cars so that stop took an hour.
We finally got back out on the road and were going to make it in time to get set up and sound checked before the service started. Then traffic stopped AGAIN. We waited another hour stopped on the freeway until the cops cleared a huge accident and we could finally move again. By this time it was 5pm and we still had 80 miles to go.
We were praying that we would make it on time and we pulled in to the church at 6:30pm. We walked in to the back room, rolled our amps on stage and started playing at 6:37pm. We didn't sound check, we didn't even line check and just put our fate in the sound guys' hands and they came through. Our show went great and it was a miracle that we even made it. Wow.

So now Cody is fixing the trailer and we head out to Spirit West Coast tomorrow night. We are tired, but we can't wait to play at Spirit West Coast and Creation West. See you there!

adam.

I love festivals!!

2005-07-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we just got back to Phoenix after being on the road for 52 straight days. I'm a little tired. :) But, it was one of the coolest runs we've ever had. We played so many festivals and got to meet so many new fans! It was amazing. We got to meet a bunch of other bands and got to hang out with some of the coolest people in the music industry. What a summer so far! Now we are home for a few days before we head to Cali to play at Harvest and then Spirit West Coast, then we move on up the coast to play at Creation West in Washington.

I want to say thanks to all our amazing fans who braved the summer heat to come see us and then waited in line forever to get to meet us. That is our favorite part of the show, getting to meet you guys and sign stuff and take pictures. If you come see a show, please come by and introduce yourself, we'd love to meet you.

Our music video for LIFE IS GOOD is done!! I'll let you know when we are able to send it out and you can see it on TV. It should be soon. Please keep requesting LIFE IS GOOD and STUDENT DRIVER on the radio!

thanks,
adam.

LIFE IS GOOD...

2005-06-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well we are done shooting our music video for the song Life is Good and we are sooo tired. I'm sure any of you who were there for the shoot are tired as well. :) Thanks so much to everybody who came out and was a part of the video. Otis, Matt, and everyone else on the crew, thanks so much. And a very special shout out to Ronn Tabb - you are the man. The video will be in editing for a few weeks and as soon as it's done, you'll be seeing lots of it!

Our singles are doing well and we are among most added the past couple weeks with LIFE IS GOOD and STUDENT DRIVER. Please call and request to hear SK on the radio!

Please come out and see us at a show or festival this summer! Our next stop is the Pro-Life Music Fest in Warsaw, Indiana on July 2nd, so come out and see us.

adios,
adam.

More Shows, Music Video, and Radio Singles

2005-06-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

What's up SK fans!! I hope you are well. We are doing great after a day off in Atlanta. I got to play golf with my dad. It was going great until he beat me by chipping in from about 30 yards away on the 18th hole. It was OK because I had to let him win so he keeps taking me to play golf when I come to town. :) Anyway, we had some fun shows in Oklahoma, Michigan, Maryland, D.C., Georgia, Ohio, and Indiana since I last said "hi." Thanks to everyone who came out to the shows! We've met some amazing people on this journey (and put about 65,000 miles on our van!)

We're leaving tomorrow morning to go play a show in Prattville, Alabama with BarlowGirl. If you don't already have their CD, go buy it! They're amazing. After that, we head back to Atlanta for AtlantaFest on Saturday. We play at 2pm on the Pavillion stage. I think. It should be fun.

After that, we have a few days off and then go a little crazy. We play at Alive Festival in Ohio on Thursday the 23rd, then Friday in Charlotte, NC, then Saturday in Pompano Beach, FL, then Sunday in Jacksonville, FL. Here's the deal...Sunday in Jacksonville, Florida we will be shooting our second music video for the song "Life is Good." It is at a place called the Murray Hill Theatre and it costs $8 to get in. The cool thing is, this video is a live video. So if you show up to the show, you will more than likely be in the video! So bring your friends and get your tickets early because I heard a rumor that it is close to selling out.

OK...there's more.

We are releasing 2 new singles TOMORROW to radio. LIFE IS GOOD to CHR and AC radio (Air1, WayFM, KLOVE, etc.) and STUDENT DRIVER to rock radio. We need all you SK fans to call your local station and request to hear Stellar Kart! Keep calling and bugging the stations to play the songs and don't stop! I'll keep you posted on how the singles are doing.

Thanks and go watch some TV after reading this book I just wrote.

adam.

Gettin' back on the road

2005-05-24T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
I just wanted to remind everybody that we're playing at Spirit West Coast this Sunday, May 29th at 1:30pm on the C28 alternative stage. So go see BarlowGirl on the mainstage at 1pm and then run over to the C28 stage and catch our show. I promise it will rock your face! :) Hope to see you there!

Also, we just added a new show in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (near Tulsa) on June 1st. It will be at Rhema Bible Church and it's FREE and it starts at 6:30pm. Be there!

See you soon,
adam.

Last Day of Tour

2005-05-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we're not really on tour, but this is the last show of this little 2 month run we've been on. we are in omaha, nebraska at THE ROCK playing with DAY OF FIRE and KRYSTAL MEYERS. should be fun. last night we played at club 3 degrees in minneapolis, minnesota and it was great. we got to play with EVERYDAY SUNDAY, KIDS IN THE WAY, AND HOUSE OF HEROES. all of which were amazing. it was fun getting to know all of them.

right now we're just hanging out with the guys from DAY OF FIRE watching KRYSTAL MEYERS soundcheck before we go up and check. omaha is windy. and cold. it's time to go home. to phoenix. where it's warm. and not windy. it will be nice to be home for a few days, but we can't wait to go play at spirit west coast in del mar. everybody has to go see us. we play on SUNDAY MAY 29th on the C28 stage sometime in the early afternoon. BE THERE. it will be a great time.

see ya later.

adam.

happy mothers day!

2005-05-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

happy moms day from SK! we just got done playing a show in cedar rapids, iowa in brian's home town. last night we played at cup o joy coffeehouse in green bay, wisconsin and it was amazing! thanks so much to all of you who came out and supported us! it was definately one of our favorite shows ever! now we have 2 days off before we play wednesday night in cedar falls, iowa at orchard hill church.

then, friday we are at club 3 degrees in minneapolis, minnesota with KIDS IN THE WAY and EVERYDAY SUNDAY. that show should be amazing. and our last show before we have a couple weeks off is in omaha, nebraska with DAY OF FIRE on saturday. it should be a fun week to end this run we've been on.

my sister gets married on the 21st of may, so we are taking some time off for that in phoenix. we'll hit the road again at SPIRIT WEST COAST in del mar, california on may 29th, so come out and see us! continue to spread the word about STELLAR KART!

adam.

WELCOME BACK TO THE JOURNAL!

2005-05-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

so our road journal is finally back up! check here for updates about the road, touring, recording, and all that jazz. right now we are in atlanta, ga taking a few days off after playing some shows in maryland and ohio. there's so much that has been happening for us in the last couple months. our single has been #2 on the christian rock chart for like 3 months! we don't even want it to go to #1 really, we just want to be known as the band with the longest running #2 single. :) http://www.radioandrecords.com/Formats/Charts/Christ_Rock_Chart.asp

what else...we've played some amazing shows and met some amazing people. we finished up the Kutless/BarlowGirl tour in march and that was a most excellent experience. they are some of the coolest people we have ever met. for the last month, we've been playing a bunch of shows on our own around the country and wearing out our van.

so if you see a silver van with a red trailer in your town, follow it to the SK show! hope to see you on the road.

adam.

HAPPY NEW YEAR SK FANS!

2005-01-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to 2005!

Ok, so our first radio single SPENDING TIME is hitting the airwaves as we speak. Now is the time to start requesting Stellar Kart on your local Christian radio stations. Also, please vote for our song on RadioU at http://tvulive.com/radiou/tmw.htm
It's already #4 right now so let's get it to #1!

Our new website will be up any time between now and January 10th, so keep checking it out

Hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy new year!

adam.

2004-12-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

OUR MUSIC VIDEO ROCKS!
The music video shoot was a great success! Our video crew was the best ever, thank you guys so much for working so hard for us. It was a lot of work and it was very hot, but it was some of the most fun I've ever had. Thank you all for making it a great experience.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!!!!
The debut CD from Stellar Kart, All Gas. No Brake. will be in stores February 15, 2005! You must buy it. Go to www.wordrecords.com/stellarkart for more info.

We are playing some AZ shows in January.
1/14/05 - Mesa, AZ
1/15/05 - Tucson, AZ
1/16/05 - Phoenix, AZ
I will have more details for you soon, but keep these dates open cause we're probably not going to be able to come back to AZ until summer. Other tour dates are being confirmed so I will post them soon.

ALSO, if you haven't already done it, click the link to the right that says "Have a Listen" and you can hear music from the CD. Tell your friends about www.purevolume.com/stellarkart

That's all for now. check back soon.

a.