Welcome fans and friends of Dustin.
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My name is Shawn Blanc. I am on staff at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City and traveling with the onething young adult conferences.

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Today’s interview is with Dustin ‘nice beats, and is that a tube going into your drum?’ Ragland; the drummer for Charlie Hall and non-hater of puppies.

1. When you’re in a city do you have any unsaid goals, like visiting a cool hole-in-the-wall restaurant or coffee shop?

When I go to a city i kind of have rules of sorts. the rules are somewhat as follows: 1. Eat somewhere local, seafood if on the coast, BBQ if in the south, etc. tricky because i am sort of a vegetarian, though not strict. i have In N Out’s phone number in my phone… 2. go to local coffee holes only. no Starbucks unless there is no other option. also tricky cause i don’t drink caffeine…3. go visit local indie record stores. try not to spend too much. 4. take lots of pictures. i am a photograph fiend. 5. the biggest rule, from which all others stem, is to be near the center of town if possible. downtown, especially in big cities, is my lifeblood. i love urbanity in all its glory. the suburbs are frightening in how same they look across the US. Cities downtown can be so full of personality and life, full of crazy people and kind people, full of shopping and art. Suburbs are scary in their ease and complacency.

2. What do you do to grow in love with Jesus while you’re traveling?

Well, one thing is i am greatly affected by places, by being in large cities, by visiting the local inspirations, seeping in local history. place has one of the largest roles in tuning my attention towards God, i try to pray while exploring by myself some downtown somewhere. Likewise, mountains and natural areas have a profound impact on my sense of place and God’s
grandeur. I find myself naturally praying as i simply read or watch people in these sorts of places. I also try to translate Scripture. my
degree is in Biblical languages, and so i try to maintain that through translation as i travel. sounds geeky, and it is, but it soaks me in
Scripture.

3. What’s the dumbest/funniest experience you’ve ever had while drumming?

hmm. i have played behind a projector screen while the rest of the band was in front on stage. i have actually held a snare drum in my lap while playing because the snare stand was taken from the stage at some point before we played. i did this the whole set. that was a ways back. and crazy. i have jammed onstage improv (with the rest of the Charlie band) with an Indonesian hip-hop crew, in Jakarta,
Indonesia…i have bled on the drums many times…mostly on the Passion tour in 03…i did play a big drum intro as a 90 year old man came up to the stage to pray. apparently i was supposed to wait…one evening i played four whole shows in about 5 hours, in three different places…in Westport Rivers, MA we played in an old Quaker meeting house, and due to little space and no electricity, i played pews, the floor, chairs, and some percussion. it was one of my favorite nights ever.

4. If you had to live in either Colorado or California where would you live? Why?

Since it is an impossible choice in fantasy land, here are my thoughts on both… Colorado - I would want to live in Denver, but near where i worked, or near public transit. i think they have a new train. i love Denver, near the mountains, great city, great airport, good arts scene, and i could go climbing easily. expensive, and sprawling. good winters, but it gets cold.

California-Big cities, and i would live in LA only, ONLY if i could live near where i worked, and near public transit. we are in LA as i am typing this, and i wouldn’t tolerate the traffic, nor the sprawl. plus side: areas like Silver Lake and Echo Park, where you are close to downtown, but in cool areas, built on neighborhoods. but the sprawl is one of my enemies. the beaches are great, especially Venice, at home with my miscreant fellows, and Costa Mesa, with a great arts scene, but these are mostly a traffic jam length away from al centro, no? San Francisco is a bit more attractive, as is San Diego, but like LA, they have a lot of spread to em, save for the downtowns…very expensive property, but the weather is perfect year-round!

Keep in mind i love my city (Oklahoma City) but it is the epicenter of sprawl. it keeps vital scenes from growing too big (and too self-important!), and i despise wasting the Earth on my driving to go get a coffee and do emails…

In honesty, i would rather live in Brooklyn than anywhere. Urban at its grittiest, a mixture of neighborhoods and ethinicities, cheaper than Manhattan, and lots of great public transit. i could sell my car, and walk to my local grocer, shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. Not to mention it is the home of so much great music, so many interesting people, and is close to Manhattan, which is still a great place: up all night! The best city in the world, NYC.

But if i had to choose between the C’s, i would go with Cali, it is forever lodged in my mind as an archetype of locale for the movies of my childhood. i skate because of Cali, and the other day i drove through San Dimas, saw the high school, and yelled “San Dimas High School Football Rules!” (if you don’t get that see also, Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted’s)

5. How do you feel about being a musician considering that prayer and worship will be used by the Lord to usher in revival?

I feel like my job as a musician is a gift, and the validity one gets from working in one’s art is immeasurable. i feel so honored by God just to be able to travel and play my art, a crazy notion for someone who didn’t plan on it at all! it almost seems like i was simply pulled along by God to be here. so i guess it feels very humbling to be a part of how God moves in music. it is a magical, mysterious thing, and so i feel like i have to lose myself to be a part of it in the biggest sense i can. what i mean is, there are moments where i feel like my limbs are playing simply in tune with the spirit, in the context of a room of people who are in part responding to the music, and in part then, to my percussion. this sense of linking my simple drumming to the Holy Spirit moving in our hearts as we pay attention to God’s heart. it is crazy!

Now this is not to say that because i play in a worship setting i somehow have some transcendent ability or beats or something like that. i have felt God’s pleasure (another wild idea!) playing in bars, in studios, and all manner of contexts. i feel like artists who claim to make art as Christians, whether they make representational art of Christian themes, or whether they make art of even offensive themes, if what they do is in honor of God, and his truth, which is all truth, then all art that attempts or reaches excellence is God’s art. He will use the offensive to show sin (such as Pedro the Lion, a classic example), and the sublime but ammoral (Sigur Ros is a classic example), and the expectedly beautiful and devotional to show Himself (such as Sufjan Stevens). I believe God is God of everything, and He intersects us at even the darkest places, meaning things that may make us cringe in offense, or lives that grovel in the dark of sin, if sin is called out as destructive by art, then it is at least as prophetic as any worship record.

I hope to be an excellent artist, in order to honor God to the extent of my music, or photos, or whatever. Doing it as best as i can, and not excusing my poor art as “oh, it doesnt matter because it is worship, and the heart is all that matters…” Of course the heart matters, and from the heart i create, and Christ is in me forming every single thing i make, but also from my mind i toil to be excellent, and i work hard, not to win God’s favor, but because God’s love ignites me to be as good of a drummer as i can be, or it is no love at all. I would consider it raggedy for someone to think God’s sons and daughters only strive for the mediocre.

I feel like we are stewards of creativity, and that in the midst of prayers and worship, with our fellow believers, we have an environment of creativity, in the image of our Father, that is unparalleled in any art world. all of this is done in submission to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who author all creative things.

That’s awesome Dustin. Thanks.

Alright. Again, I am honored to be a part of this. I hope I said something intelligent…

I hope I asked something intelligent. If people wanted to check out more intelligence where should they go?

As far as website stuff goes, www.flyover-states.com hasnt been fixed in awhile, but i will try to fix it up this fall of 2006. music downloads, etc are found there. Also i have www.myspace.com/flyoverstates. music for download, and news and what not.

Here is some of Dustin’s photography.

You can read the rest of the interviews here:

• Monday - Billy Humphry, Director IHOP-ATL
• Tuesday - Zack Hensley, Nightwach at IHOP-KC
• Thursday - Jonathan Mills, Worship Director at ZHOP
• Friday - Andy Hailstone