Marcus Elzey

Hey everyone, God is doing some awesome things in my life! Here’s the update…

• Whitley and I ave been together for over 2 years now and I couldn’t be happier! She’s literally the model girlfriend. I’ve been so blessed to have someone in my life who loves me and supports the decisions I make for myself concerning the present and the future. I love her way mucho.
• Just want to give a shout out to my awesome friend Kyle. He really knows how to hook a guy up. 2 weeks ago I ordered some custom molded Westone Dual Drivers and they should be in this week. I’m super stoked! Everyone should buy stuff from him!!!!!!
• My gear hasn’t changed that much, but I will be but a Bad Cat Classic amp in two weeks from the guy who makes Bradford Amps.  YES!!!!
• God has opened up so many doors that have allowed me to make music my job for the last few months. I played at Summer Xtreme conference last month and have a few other dates booked, along with stating to teach 20 guitar students.
• I want to go fishing.

So Michael sent this photo that he took of me this past weekend at Oak Leaf and thought it was too awesome to not share so here ya go!

Here’s a quick update….

• I just got back from playing at a retreat in Ellijay Georgia. It was a ton of fun and I had a blast hanging out with the band!
• When I made it back home I noticed I had a box on the kitchen counter with my name on it. Turns out it was my 500 freshly printed business cards for my guitar teaching. I made a pretty spiffy design on it and I plan on writing a post about my job soon!
• Was bummed that I over slept today and missed Oak Leaf Church, BUT I was able to watch it online and Michael spoke an excellent message on tithing. If you don’t go to Oak Leaf and have no church to call home come check it out!
• I haven’t been able to hang out with my lovely lady Whitley lately, so being with her today was definitely a breath of fresh air. She rocks
• If someone can convince me that using a POD X3 Live is just as good as using a a good tube amp please feel free to speak up and demonstrate. I’m trying real hard to give these units a shot but every time I do I end up being disappointed.
• I’m looking into getting a larger pedal board soon. Any of my guitar friends have some suggestions as lto what might be best
• Life is awesome

I stated in my last post that God was opening up more opportunities for me to play music at some cool new places. This weekend just happens to be one of them. I’m in the Blue Ridge Mountains in a little ole’ town called Ellijay with Will, Matt and Paul playing a weekend long church event. So far it’s going okay. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way that I played but God was still glorified, and tomorrow will be even better! Here are some updates on the trip so far….

• Before we left Cartersville I found out that I was going to have to play out of Will’s Line 6 POD X3 Live, and if you know me you know that I’m not very crazy about these systems. It took me a while to figure out how to actually adjust the sounds on them to not sound like suck, but I was even surprised by the tone I was able to get out of it.
• We had to pick up Paul in Woodstock before actually going to our venue, and got lost along the way. Yes, that happened.
• Our set went pretty well. I was glad to see the people were actually worshiping despite not really knowing any of the songs.
• Matt, Paul and I discovered a secret room in the church sanctuary that a scary person would probably look out of as soon as you saw it, and Paul serenaded us with his piano skills.
• On our way to the house we’re staying at……..we got lost……
• On the plus side, the house we’re at is AMAZING. Not to mention freaking huge. we all even got our own bedroom.
• I miss Whitley a freaking ton.

Seriously, I have been the absolute worst about being a committed blogger. But I WILL tell you all that there have been a lot of changes in my life since my last post. Here’s the skinny on it all.

• In just a few weeks, Whitley and I will celebrate our 2 year anniversary. WHAT THE HECK! Where did all the time go? I can honestly say that there is no way I can be any happier with another person in my life(other than Jesus of course ) than with her. Finding her has been one of the greatest thing to happen in my life. No lie dawg, I be in love fo realz.
• I’m now interning for the creative arts department at Oak Leaf. So far it has been a rather awesome experience. I’m learning so much and couldn’t imagine another thing I would rather do with my life than just serving my church and the world.
• I HAVE A NEW JOB! Yes, it’s true. I quit my job at Chick-Fil-A to pursue a career that uses my passion in music, so i now teach guitar lesson. Business has been great lately, I teach about 15 students currently and have a hand full more starting one summer comes around. If you or anyone you know are looking for a guitar instructor, you know where to find me G
• I’m getting a lot of opportunities to play music at different churches/retreats/conferences lately and I’m loving it. God has really opened some doors for me to play guitar  more. GO GOD!
• I’m going to be buying a new guitar soon. What guitar you might ask?  THIS ONE.

So I’ve decided to start this once a week post dedicate to a certain person thats played a role in my life. And the honor of my first one of these will be dedicate to one of my best friends Kyle Troop.

Kyle and I haven’t necessarily known each other as long as most of my other friends from Oak Leaf, but he has with out a doubt been one of the most influential. Kyle and I met when we both were playing music in the church’s elementary school environment. He was an interesting character at least I believe I had seen him around the church, but that was the point in my life that I was very awkward, especially when it came to talking to people. Kyle and I soon became quick friends mainly by just talking about music. He’s seriously just one awesome dude who I can’t imagine not ever meeting. If you know kyle then you would probably agree with me, if you don’t then you suck. BUT if you are a musician looking for different products, Kyle is an authorized dealer for companies like SJC DRUMS, PEDALTRAIN, ELECTRO-HARMONIX, WESTONE and a few more companies. You can find all of these products HERE. CHECK HIM OUT!

Haha, so as most musicians will probably agree with me, being a guitar player is not exactly the cheapest hobby in the world. Usually the most essential items that are used in your style of playing are the ones that need replacing/modifications/repairs. Recently I was fortunate enough to get a Line 6 DL4 Delay modeler and after playing with it for a while I can’t imagine not having it on my board because of al the different sounds and effects that it can make(especially if your a guitar player that likes to make ambient swells). Here is my problem. The DL4 breaks more than just about any stomp box out there, and has an infamous volume drop when turned on. How do I fix this? There is a guy named Jack Vaughn who does a JHV3 mod on DL4’s that fixes the volume drop and also replaces the switches on the unit to ones that work much smoother and are less likely to fail. I’m also going to be sending my Fulltone Fulldrive 2 to Jack to get the switches replaced because it has been acting up on me lately. Jack has a great price for every one of his mods and fixes your pedal to be 10 times better than it was before. Although Jack has great prices for his mods, what I need to get done can also burn a hole in my pocket pretty quick! Hopefully I’ll be able to fund these essential quick fixes in the next couple of weeks. Until next time!

I’m sitting in the green room at Winter Xtreme 2009/2010 and I’m pretty sure I’m getting fat off of all of the food they have been feeding us. The Pigeon Forge Convention Center is DEFINITELY the largest venue I’ve ever played in(I mean come on, it’s holding 4,500 people) and I have been having a blast. It’s been so cool hanging out with Will, Matt and Jake and leading all these kids in worship. I’ve enjoyed this experience/opportunity so much thus far and hopefully more doors like this will open up one day!

So there are a few Christmas gift that I’m hoping to get this year. I stole the idea of this post from Jake. You should check his out too!

• Line6 DL4 Delay Modeler
• White VOX premium vintage coil guitar cable
• A 25 foot Gold Mogami Guitar cable
• Some new velcro for my pedal board
• Gift cards from Gap, Heritage and Buckle
• Clothing wise, I would really love to get THIS, THIS and THIS.
• “The Jerk” statrring Steve Martin on DVD. This is one of my top 5 movies of all time!
• Who could forget about CA$$!
• And if you want to be REALLY generous……..This Vox AC30HH head with the matching cabinet.
• Lastly, a 2010 Ford Escape. I’m not really an expensive sports car type of guy, I just want a nice car that I can fit all of my gear in with good gas mileage!.

Well, there is my Christmas wish list. What do you guys want for Christmas?

Typically when I lay down in bed (like I am now) i beging to think. Not about anything specific, just about what going on in my life. Here’s what I’m thinking about now….

I don’t deserve any of this

I wish I could just be done with college already

I can’t wait for this weekend at Oak Leaf Church

How am I going to get better both musically and physically

Why do so many people in the world try to prove that God is non-existent, yet ignore the evidence that He is alive when it’s right in front of their face.

These things I usually will sleep on and God eventually shows me the answers.  So……what’s on your mind before you go to sleep?