This was suppossed to post next week but in my haste to see Nacho Libre I guess I posted it early. Oh well. Enjoy anyways.
10 Songs that never, never get old to me:
My Immortal – Evanescence
Don’t Speak – No Doubt
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – Areosmith
Wonderwall – Oasis
Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve
One – U2
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Yellow – Coldplay
Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
Learning to Fly – Tom Petty
For all the rock music that I love (U2, Led Zep, The Police, Allman Bros., The Who), man, I sure do like me some Billy Joel.
I could sing Scenes from an Italian Resturant into my steering wheel from here to Allentown and never get tired of it.
Don’t Ask Me Why.
It has been a long but awesome week.
I was formally introduced to the congregation and charged with leading the youth ministry last Sunday. The elders placed hands on us, prayed for me, and sent me into the fields. It was a humbling and exciting moment for me.
While in the office this week, I was again struck with how awesome my job is. Not only do I get to hang-out with students, not only do I get to tell them about my Savior, and not only do I get to walk with them through their teenage years but I get paid to study the Bible. I have been planning on teaching 1 Corinthians this summer so I have loved living in and with this letter over the past 2 months. This week’s time in the Word was just wonderful! Praise God!
I have also been reading Practicing the Presence of God by Bro. Lawrence and God is Here, a modern-day commentary on Bro. Lawrence. This is now the fourth time that I have read PtPoG and I am overwhelmed with how much this little book, written 400 years ago, speaks to me. Good stuff.
One of my jobs this week was to change the church sign out front of our church. I thought, “If I’m going to do this, I want to do something that is different from your typical church sign.” So…
Other events this week included buying tickets to Dave Matthews Band in August, getting a new desk for my home office, and a trip to the movies with my teens to see Cars. A fun time was had by all.
Well folks, that was my week in review. I hope everyone has a blessed week.
Peace.
DC Talk’s ground breaking, chart topping, legendary album Jesus Freak turns ten this year.
Could it really be 10 years already?
In honor of the date Gotee Records is releasing FREAKED: The Official Jesus Freak Tribute Project. Follow the link to hear some audio clips. The StorysideB and Reliant K tracks sound great and Sarah Kelly does her best Tori Amos impression. It’s worth a listen.
Wow, 10 years ago I was 16. I had an ’85 Mustang Convertable and I would crank “In the Light” and the title track as loud as I could. As I sang these songs I felt the immense weight and meaning behind the lyrics as they pointed me deeper into the Word and into the arms of my mighty Savior. You can’t help but be sold out to Jesus Christ when you listen to this album.
I remember how much broad appeal this album had. My friend who listen to bands like Cannibal Corpse and Tool was head over heels in love with it. The drive time DJs on the hard rock station here in Dallas would play “Jesus Freak” during their 5 at 5 as commuters headed home. The same for “Colored People” when it was released as a single. I’m not sure I would have ever given Christian music a fair hearing if this album hadn’t come out during this time in my life. In fact, I think we need another album produced as well and as creatively as the original Jesus Freak. An album that unabashedly knocks down stereotypes and reintroduces the world to my Jesus and his kingdom. Truly, that would be a real and fitting tribute.
The FINAL reason to get an iPod Video.
One of my friends happens to be huge Rush fan. Huge. Rush. Fan.
While we loaded up the moving truck he threw some Rush tunes on the CD player and proceeded to freak out all the old people in the neighborhood with Getty Lee’s high falsetto voice. I have always thought that they were an ok band. Of course they’re no U2 but, they’re ok. I’ll admit though that I was rockin’ out pretty heavy while moving all those boxes.
Once we moved in, I went over to Best Buy and picked up the R30 DVD concert set. Not only is this a great concert but the set also comes with a 2 disc CD of the audio of the concert. Score! The set also contains a patch and two guitar picks.
Rush is fully alive in concert. You have to check them out! Their huge sound is overwhelming. I think I’m being won over.
I have never made my feelings for the Recording Industry Association of America a secret. I have always been pretty honest with my belief that the record execs do not have the public’s best interests at heart. We have seen their true colors through the recent payola scandals and their squabbles over the 99 cent price point for the iTunes music store.
This morning I received the following email from XM Radio.
Everything we’ve done at XM since our first minute on the air is about giving you more choices. We provide more channels and music programming than any other network. We play all the music you want to hear including the artists you want to hear but can’t find on traditional FM radio. And we offer the best radios with the features you want for your cars, homes, and all places in between.
We’ve developed new radios — the Inno, Helix and NeXus — that take innovation to the next level in a totally legal way. Like TiVo, these devices give you the ability to enjoy the sports, talk and music programming whenever you want. And because they are portable, you can enjoy XM wherever you want.
The music industry wants to stop your ability to choose when and where you can listen. Their lawyers have filed a meritless lawsuit to try and stop you from enjoying these radios.
They don’t get it. These devices are clearly legal. Consumers have enjoyed the right to tape off the air for their personal use for decades, from reel-to-reel and the cassette to the VCR and TiVo.
Our new radios complement download services, they don’t replace them. If you want a copy of a song to transfer to other players or burn onto CDs, we make it easy for you to buy them through XM + Napster.
Satellite radio subscribers like you are law-abiding music consumers; a portion of your subscriber fee pays royalties directly to artists. Instead of going after pirates who don’t pay a cent, the record labels are attacking the radios used for the enjoyment of music by consumers like you. It’s misguided and wrong.
We will vigorously defend these radios and your right to enjoy them in court and before Congress, and we expect to win.
Thank you for your support.
I heard rumblings about this lawsuit over the weekend but didn’t think much about it at the time. Now, the more I think about it the more frustrated I get.
It isn’t that I am against the RIAA. I am not rooting for piracy or for blatant disregard for the artists. No, what I am for is an industry that seeks innovation and creativity instead of complaints and lawsuits. The RIAA has circled the wagons and has been fighting technology instead of working with it for the better part of a decade now. True, the industry was hemorrhaging money due to online piracy. However, instead of looking for innovative ways to meet the demand for online music they went looking for lawyers and congressman to haul the offenders in front of the public in order to scare us into submitting to their old form. While the music industry was in court, tech companies were we busy in the labs creating. They created the iPod and the iTunes store. These products changed the listening habits of music fans all over the world. The RIAA was begging and pleading to be a part of iTunes. That is until they wanted a bigger slice. Today is no different.
It’s the same old song and dance: An innovated product and company that will allow consumers to get the music they want when the want it is being sued by the RIAA.
I am incensed by this industry embracing litigation over innovation. Get your heads out of the sand: Music on demand is here to stay. Like it or not. The RIAA has two choices. They can keep suing and complaining and crying and wasting tax dollars through litigation or they can begin to look ahead to the future through creative marketing and innovated products and begin to be on the forefront of technology. The industry could look like a stallion: Muscular, strong, beautiful, and running at full stride. Instead, they look more like a little kindergartner on the playground screaming at the top of his lungs to the 12th graders:
“Stop! I can’t keep up. Teacher! They won’t stop! I’m telling! Please, stop!”
Pathetic.
Meet the New Boss… Same as the old boss!
In Daughtry, America had the opportunity to choose distinctiveness, confidence and cool. Instead, it chose bland and boring.
My personal opinion on this whole American Idol phenom can be summed up from one of my top 10 favorite movies. In Almost Famous, Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) warns young William that the people who manipulate popular opinion of music don’t care about anything but money and that “they will ruin Rock ‘n Roll and strangle everything we love about it. They are trying to buy respectability for a form that is gloriously and righteously dumb. And the day that it ceases to be dumb is the day that it ceases to be real. Right? And then it just becomes an… industry of cool. This is a very dangerous time for rock ‘n roll. They won. The war is over. I mean 99% of what passes for music today… Silence is more compelling.
Quit watching American Karaoke American Idol people!!! For a great education on real music check out the following…
The Theme Time Radio Hour w/ Bob Dylan
iTunes School of Rock: Lesson 1- Roots and Blues (iTunes Only)
Roots of Rock ‘n Roll Study Guide (iTunes Only)
I had no doubt.
LONDON (AP) — Apple Computer (AAPL) is entitled to use the apple logo on its iTunes Music Store, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting a suit filed by Apple Corps, the guardian of the Beatles’ commercial interests.
Apple Corps, which contended that the U.S. company had broken a 1991 agreement in which each side agreed not to enter into the other’s field of business, said it would appeal.Judge Edward Mann ruled that Apple Computer used the fruit logo in association with the store, not the music, and thus did not breach the agreement.
“I conclude that the use of the apple logo … does not suggest a relevant connection with the creative work,” Mann said in his written judgment. “I think that the use of the apple logo is a fair and reasonable use of the mark in connection with the service, which does not go further and unfairly or unreasonably suggest an additional association with the creative works themselves.”
This Just In…
I just found out that the David Crowder Band is releasing a companion album to A Collision. This offering is titled B Collision and it looks to be an acoustic version of A.
The album will collide with your ear drums on June 27th. Until then, you can get aquainted with the David Crowder Band through the following recordings. Enjoy.
David Crowder Band
Can You Hear Us?
Illuminate
A Collision
Passion
Hymns: Ancient and Modern
Everything Glorious
Off the Beaten Path
Sunsets and Sushi