Michael Jackson – Part 4 – Favorite Song & Memory

My favorite memory of Michael Jackson is watching the HBO Live Concert special back in 1996 in my dormroom at college with my roomate, Buddha.  It was the first time I had seen any live footage of any of his concerts.  2 hours long from Bucharest.  Amazing.  He closed the concert with an absolutely amazing, energetic, inspiring singing of “Man in the Mirror”.  Take a look.

The concert ends with one of the coolest things I had ever seen in my life.  I didn’t learn until years later that it was actually a stunt man (pretty good illusion though).  At the time, it simply rocked my world and confirmed to me that Michael Jackson was and always will be the best musical performer on the face of the earth.  Here it is…

Michael Jackson – Part 3 – Earth Song

My 2nd favorite Michael Jackson song….one that many people are not familiar with.  Of the 15 or so times I’ve lost my voice in the car singing along with his stuff, about half of those have been because of this song.  Enjoy.

What about sunrise, What about rain
What about all the things, That you said we were to gain.. .
What about killing fields, Is there a time
What about all the things, That you said was yours and mine…
Did you ever stop to notice, All the blood we’ve shed before
Did you ever stop to notice, The crying Earth the weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah

What have we done to the world, Look what we’ve done
What about all the peace, That you pledge your only son…
What about flowering fields, Is there a time
What about all the dreams, That you said was yours and mine…
Did you ever stop to notice, All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice, The crying Earth the weeping shores

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaah

I used to dream, I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don’t know where we are, Although I know we’ve drifted far

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah

Hey, what about yesterday (What about us)
What about the seas (What about us)
The heavens are falling down (What about us)
I can’t even breathe (What about us)
What about the bleeding Earth (What about us)
Can’t we feel its wounds (What about us)
What about nature’s worth (ooo,ooo)
It’s our planet’s womb (What about us)
What about animals (What about it)
We’ve turned kingdoms to dust (What about us)
What about elephants (What about us)
Have we lost their trust (What about us)
What about crying whales (What about us)
We’re ravaging the seas (What about us)
What about forest trails (ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas (What about us)
What about the holy land (What about it)
Torn apart by creed (What about us)
What about the common man (What about us)
Can’t we set him free (What about us)
What about children dying (What about us)
Can’t you hear them cry (What about us)
Where did we go wrong (ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why (What about us)
What about babies (What about it)
What about the days (What about us)
What about all their joy (What about us)
What about the man (What about us)
What about the crying man (What about us)
What about Abraham (What was us)
What about death again (ooo, ooo)
Do we give a damn

Michael Jackson – Part 2 – Thoughts / Memories

I was pretty much hooked on MJ back around 1983 when I saw my parents Thriller album and the picture of Michael with his pet tiger.  Probably the coolest thing I’d seen.  The only other vinyl album I remember at home at that time was one of John Denver….totally not cool in comparison.

I have a cousin named Dianna.  She’s a year older than me and we’ve been great friends our whole life.  We had a lot of funny moments in the months/years after the song “Dirty Diana” came out on the Bad album.  It was always funny sing because she was one of the most kind, gentle, sweet, and not-dirty people you could ever know.

I’ve lost my voice many, many times over the last 15 years or so from singing along with Michael Jackson songs in my car.  My voice seems to forget that his is about 4 octives higher.  It doesn’t care.  It must sing along.  And it must sing with the same intensity.

In fact, my favorite thing about MJ, probably the main reason I’ve been a fan of his music, is his intensity.  Heck, I don’t even know the lyrics to many of my Top 15 songs I posted about.  I’ve always found it more fun to sing along with him when I didn’t know all the words.  Ask me about this sometime, and I’ll perform for you to show you what I mean.  But his intensity is unmatched.  I’ve always felt like most of his grunts and screams basically stem from that….he’s so into the music, so into the song, that he can’t help but to scream.  It’s one of the main reasons his concerts were always so phenomenal….the dude gave everything he had at every show, the crying, the sweating, the energy.  The crowd felt like he had given them every ounce of what he had in him to make that concert great.

I was totally stoked when Invincible came out, because I had thought for a couple of years that he was probably done.  I remember sitting in the Mitsubishi car dealership where I worked at in 2001, singing along with “You Rock My World” with my sales manager.

A few years ago, I performed “The Way You Make Me Feel” at Big Mama’s Karaoke Cafe in Seymour, TN, just south of Knoxville.  Grunts, screams, dance moves and all.

One of his more popular songs – “Black or White” – is probably one of my least favorites.

It always amazed me how a person so soft, quiet, gentle, and boyish during interviews could turn into an angry, confident, energetic dancing maniac on stage.

Shocking fact – I don’t actually own the Thriller album.  Almost every song from that album is on Disc 1 of the His-tory album, so I never bought it.  Probably the only song from Thriller that’s not on the His-tory album that I actually want is “PYT” (Pretty Young Thing).

When I was a kid, the evil guy’s voice on the song “Thriller” used to really freak me out.

Michael Jackson – Part 1 – Songs

I can’t possibly put all my Michael Jackson thoughts into one post.  I could, but you’d probably get tired of reading.  So I’m breaking it up into parts.

Part 1 – my favorite songs.  I couldn’t figure out how to narrow it down to 10, so I conceded to 15.  So, here are my 15 favorite Michael Jackson songs, in order from 15 to 1.  Feel free to critique.

15. Off the Wall (Off the Wall) – amazing bass line!

14. Wanna Be Startin Somethin (Thriller) – what a fun song … to this day, I still don’t  know why he says, “you’re a vegetable” about 4 times.

13. Is it Scary (Blood on the Dance Floor) – a very intense song, basically asking whether or not you get scared when you look at him.  Probably his least popular selling album, so you may not have heard this one.

12. Get on the Floor (Off the Wall) – another amazing bass line.  This might be the easiest upbeat song every written to sway back and forth to if you’re not a great dancer.  Not that I’m not a good dancer.  I am really.  Club style dancing though, not line or waltz or swing.  And there’s a great part toward the end of the song where he’s basically grunting, “shic a bope a ba, schic a bope a ba”.  It’s so cool.

11. Stranger In Moscow (History, Disc 2) – you’re going to see a few songs from this disc on my list, please tell me you’ve listened to them before!  A slow, almost creepy sounding song about his experience of being in Moscow.

10. Remember the Time (Dangerous) – known by many because it was a theme song/video to the Eddie Murphy movie, “Coming to America”.  Another song with great grunting sounds.

9. Break of Dawn (Invincible) – chorus line – “and we’ve got to make sweet love until the break of dawn”.  Come on, how can you not love that?  Great song off his final album.  Very smooth beat and great vocals on this one.

8. The Girl is Mine (Thriller) – awesome song featuring Paul McCartney.  How many times have you heard the line “I’m a lover, not a fighter” used?  This song is why.  Nuff said.

7. You Rock My World (Invincible) – his last hit single.  Really catchy chorus.

6. Keep the Faith (Dangerous) – a very gospel choir type of song.  Inspirational, as the title would suggest, with a GREAT build toward the end of the song.

5. Billie Jean (Thriller) – considered one of the greatest songs ever written, and the video is infamous.  Great story line, easy to sing, and anyone who hears the amazing bass line at the beginning immediately knows what song it is.

4. Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough (Off the Wall) – I totally love the quiet dialogue that builds into a very tense but hushed scream to start the song.  Grew to love this song more when I heard a bonus track of Michael and his brothers/sisters playing pots, pans, and random percussion instruments in a living room to lay down the original demo for this song.  It’s crazy good.

3. Scream (History, Disc 2) – incredible song, GREAT video.  If you’ll remember, this was a duet of sorts with sister Janet.  Again, the intensity is what I love about it.

2. Earth Song (History, Disc 2) – unfortunately, not many people are familiar with this song, but it’s an amazing, nearly 7 minute long song where he cries out about how we’re mistreating the earth.

1. Man in the Mirror (Bad) – I have every grunt and scream memorized on this one, along with the words.  Ask me.  I’ll perform it for you on the spot.  I’ll tell more stories about this one next week.

bruno vs eminem

Have you seen this yet??

just in case you forgot that Shaq used to rap

Be sure to laugh really hard at the first one.

And be sure to watch for Zeus in the second one.

AMAZING!!

muslim hip hop

Last Thursday night after small group, Scott, Chris & I went to the Carousel Theatre on the UT campus and saw 2 Puerto Rican muslims from Brooklyn, New York perform a live hip hop show.

How’s that for random?

arrested development live

I can hardly believe that, last night, I actually got to see Arrested Development in a live concert in downtown Knoxville – for free.

Nearly 18 months ago, I had written this post, wondering what had happened to this group.  I’ve had their original CD (pictured) since 1993, and have always loved it.  Little did I know that when I wrote that post, Speech had just reunited 4 of the original 6 members and they had just released a new album and started touring again in Europe and Asia.

Apparently, for a while after getting back together, they purposely did not tour or promote heavily in the US, mainly because of America’s hip hop affection for negative messages and gangsta style lyrics, both of which are on the opposite side of the spectrum from Arrested Development’s music.

Anyway…they were the headline show for Market Square’s first Sundown in the City concert of 2009.  Reid (friend from small group) and I headed downtown after small group.  Unfortunately, I think we missed the first 2 or 3 songs of their performance, but still got to hear them for another 90 minutes or so.  It was actually much better than I expected.  Their live music was amazing, they had great energy, the did all their old songs that everyone knows and loves.  And one of the group members is a 76 year old man named Baba Oje who dances around the stage, getting into the hip hop groove.  It was awesome.

And Market Square was PACKED.  I’m guessing maybe 10,000 people?  It was standing room only in the entire square.  We were fortunate to muscle our way fairly close to the stage, although left of center just a bit.

So, to answer my own original question, where did Arrested Development go?  Well, they split up in 1994, did some solo stuff, got back together around 2006-2007, and now they just came to the big town of Knoxville.  Makes me happy.

Amazing Worship Album

Over a year ago, I posted some thoughts about 12 years (now 13) of listening to worship music.  One of my issues was that not much has been out recently that really grabbed me or moved me in ways new worship music used to.  After that post, I ended up finding all of Tim Hughes solo stuff at McKay’s.  Good, not great.  Hillsong United was another suggestion, but I could never find them used, and I haven’t spent the dough for a new CD in a long time (not too mention I’m not a hip member of the IPod / ITunes revolution), so I just haven’t gotten to listen to them yet.  I know the handful of songs we do at Crossings, which I really like, but that was it. 

Then, last week, I borrowed the live 2 CD Hillsong United “I Heart Revolution” album from Greg.  Over the last 3 days, I’ve been able to listen to all 30 songs.  And I’ve been blown away.  Out of 30 songs, there are probably only 6 I didn’t really care for.  And, although the other 24 are not all necessarily that singable on a Sunday morning, they are all really great.  Great lyrics, great musical quality, great rhythm and tempo changes, powerful builds, songs of adoration, songs of action, songs of reflection.  Most of the songs just have such a powerful feel and are so easy to worship to.  I will say that the music sounds very similar on a lot of songs.  They’re really into the smooth, almost U2 like electric guitar rhythms, which has really infiltrated the sound of a lot of popular worship today.  Regardless.  It’s still amazing.

Disclaimer:  Hillsong United may may not be quite as good as Jeff Moody, circa mid-90’s, but it’s VERY VERY good.

Disclaimer II:  If you link to the 12 years of woship post, notice that Tony from Tony & Donny actually commented on the post.  I emailed him after receiving the comment, but never heard anything back.  So, Tony, if you happen to be Googling your name again and come across THIS post, feel free to comment again.  If you do, I promise to email you again.  And you better respond.  If you don’t, I’ll never sing “I Oh I” in the shower ever again.

Music Recommendations? Anyone?

This is something I’ve blogged about before, but I’m revisiting the subject and need some recommendations if you’re able.  I’ve had an ongoing interest over the last year or so to begin listenting to older music (from the early 70’s through the early 90’s mainly) that has stood the test of time, but that I’ve never really heard much of.  Stuff like Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, Lynard Skynard, Fleetwood Mac, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, etc. You know, classic stuff that has always been good and remains so to this day.  I’m sure there are many bands/groups that fit this description that I don’t even know or remember the names of.

My problem is, I grew up on rap and popular 80’s music, got into Christian in the 90’s, and that’s about it.  I like a lot of the older, classic stuff when I hear it, but when I visit McKay’s (our incredible used cd/book/movie store in Knoxville), I have no idea what albums are good, I don’t recognize song titles, and it’s a complete shot in the dark if I buy something. 

So, who should I listen to?  What should I consider buying (or trading for)?  About a year ago, I got a generic Bob Dylan hits cd.  Really liked it.  Loved 3-4 songs, didn’t care for 3-4 songs, like the rest okay.  Picked up an old Dave Matthews cd a few months ago…can’t remember the name, but it was from the early 90’s.  Liked it okay, didn’t love it.  About 6 months ago, I bought a best of The Who album, with 20 songs that spanned their career from the mid 60’s to the early 80’s I think.  It was cool to listen to, but out of 20 songs there were probably only 4-5 that I had interest in listening to again.  And then, just a few days ago, I picked up an album from Phish called “The Round Room”, which I think is about 10 years old?  Don’t like it at all.  I mean, not at all. 

Come on people, help me.  I want to listen to some good stuff.  I’m completely uninterested in most new music today….I’m sure there’s smaller, more indie stuff out there I’d like, but I have no way of knowing who or what, since I’m not really invested in the music scene.  I’m open to rock, folk rock, lite rock, bluegrass.  Some stuff I like listenting to …. Nickel Creek, Emmy Lou Harris, Waterdeep, Dylan, Pearl Jam, Genesis.  I’d actually really like to get a Beck album, but need a recommendation on which one would be best to start with.  I enjoy hearing music that you can appreciate the talent of when you hear it.  I’m definitely open to newer stuff as long as it sort of fits the mold.  So help me.  Help me.  Help.  Me.

DC Talk – Top 12 Songs

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.  I’m a HUGE DC Talk Fan.  Have been ever since a week of church camp in 1991, when a summer travel team from Cincinnatti Bible College spent the week at our camp.  One of their team members, Kevin Comp, would play the song “Heavenbound” over the sound system in chapel every evening before the service would start.  It was sort of the “get all the campers pumped up” song of the week.  I had never heard Christian rap before.  Ever.  And, much like the first time Barry took the ‘roids, I was hooked. 

 

Went out that summer and bought the first DC Talk tape.  Wore it out.  Memorized every song.  Less than two years later, after installing a cd player in my first car, one of the very first cd’s I ever bought was the “Free At Last” cd.  Still have it to this day. 

 

Then, it was Jesus Freak.  Went to the christian bookstore in Lexington on the day Jesus Freak was released.  To this day, Jesus Freak has sold more copies in it’s first week of sale than any Christian album in history…and I helped make that happen.  3 years later, Supernatural.  Same thing.  Opening day of release.  Christian bookstore.  Me.  Money.  Smiling. 

 

I’ve seen them 5 times in concert.  In fact, the very first concert I attending in my life was Audio Adrenaline & DC Talk in Louisville, Ky, in the fall of 1993 on the Free At Last tour.  Saw them at Kings Island.  Saw them at a concert Festival at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.  Saw them in 1996, again with Audio Adrenaline, in Columbus Ohio.  Finally, saw the Supernatural tour when it came to Knoxville in early 1999. 

 

My old friend Lee and I co-deaned a week of Intermediate/Jr High camp at Camp Calvary back in 1996.  We called it “Jesus Freak Week.”  To this day, I’m pretty sure it’s the largest week of camp in Camp Calvary’s history.  It was ridiculous.  To open the chapel service each evening, we would play the Jesus Freak music video over the sound system and project it on a screen and all the kids would mosh around and dance like freaks.  A good way to get them to burn some energy before a message, you know? 

 

For the last 8 years, I’ve been hoping and praying for a DC Talk reunion.  I don’t know, man, there are mixed messages out there.  Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.  Their solo stuff has all been pretty good, but it hasn’t matched the quality of what they did as a group. 

 

So, with a lot of hard thinking, tears, sweat, and apologies for the songs that didn’t make the list, I’ve come up with my Top 12 Favorite DC Talk songs of all time.  There are another 4-5 songs that could have easily made this list, but I had to cut it down to 12.  12 is just a good number.  God says so. 

 

And Toby, Kevin, Michael….if any of you guys happen to be Googling your own names, or the name of DC Talk, and you happen to stumble upon this blog, and read this post, and hear this heartful plea….please, please, please get back together.  Write new stuff.  Let the creativity flow.  With the exception of “Nu Thang”, everything you guys did was money.  Swallow your pride.  Do what’s right.  Millions of fans like me will thank you for it. 

 

 12.  Heavenbound  (DC Talk)

11.  It’s Killing Me  (Supernatural)

10.  In the Light  (Jesus Freak)

9.  Socially Acceptable  (Free at Last)

8.  Sugarcoat It  (Intermission)

7.  What If I Stumble  (Jesus Freak)

6.  Just Between You & Me  (Jesus Freak)

5.  Like It, Love It, Need It  (Jesus Freak)

4.  Consume Me  (Supernatural)

3.  Jesus Freak  (Jesus Freak)

2.  What Have We Become  (Jesus Freak)

1.  Dive  (Supernatural)

 

the singer in the family

It has become quite obvious that our son loves to sing…and is actually good at it. I have to tell you something that brings tears to my eyes. For the past 3-4 weeks, when we put Eli to bed, we’ve been quietly playing Rich Mullins music on the little cd player in his room, to help him fall asleep. It’s sort of an alternative to a nightlight, I guess. So far we’ve been playing “The World as I Remember It”, both volumes 1 and 2, and “Liturgy, Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band.”

A couple of nights ago, Erin was in Eli’s room getting him ready for bed, and called me in to the room with them. “Listen to Eli” she said. Quietly, and accurately, Eli was singing “Oh God, you are my God, and I will ever praise You. Oh God, you are my God, and I will ever praise You. I will seek you in the morning, and I will learn to walk in Your ways. And step by step You lead me, and I will follow You all of my days.” He learned this chorus simply by hearing it in his room with the lights off before going to sleep. And it’s one of my favorite songs of all time….actually the song we were singing in my high school youth group when I committed my life to Christ. I was definitely tearing up to hear Him singing it so beautfully.

For the record, Eli also loves to sing “You’ve Stolen My Heart” and “Hey, You’re the One” (both by Leeland), “Mush (Bus) Driver” (by Caedmon’s Call), “You Never Let Go” (by David Crowder), as well as a few others I can’t immediately remember.

Now, considering how well he’s absorbed the nightly Rich Mullins music, I’m wondering what else I should start playing for him to sleep by. The languages of the world? Mark Nelson’s podcasted messages? The Purpose Driven Life? High school level calculus theories? Anything by John Denver?

the beastie boys felt left out

Somehow or another, I felt it unfair to post a favorite songs list regarding Caedmon’s Call without following it up with a similar one for the Beastie Boys. I’m not sure why. It just seemed like something I needed to do.

Considering I’ve been listening to the Beastie Boys for over 20 years, “License to Ill” was literally the 2nd cassette tape I ever owned in my life, I’ve had the song Paul Revere memorized since I was 11 years old, and the dudes are now like in their mid-40’s and still doing some pretty good stuff, I don’t really feel that bad about it.

However, I was unable to dwindle my list to 10. Partly because I didn’t want to take as much time agonizing over it. So I’ve trimmed it to 12 … and they are not really in an particular order, so I won’t trouble with numbering them. So, here goes:

Root Down (Root Down)
Body Movin’ (Anthrology)
Negotiation Limeric File (Hello Nasty)
Paul Revere (License to Ill)
Brass Monkey (License to Ill)
Check It Out (To the Five Burroughs)
Right Right Now Now (To the Five Burroughs)
Shake Your Rump (Paul’s Boutique)
Sure Shot (Ill Communication)
Get it Together (Ill Communication)
The Move (Hello Nasty)
Just a Test (Hello Nasty)

Caedmon’s Call

A couple of days ago, I was thinking to myself, “you know (Jason), some day down the road, Caedmon’s Call is going to call it quits, and no longer continue making new music.”

I’m not sure why the thought came. What I do know is that it made me terribly sad to think about it.

I can remember being introduced to their music in July 1997 at a week of church camp. I remember listening to “Long Line of Leavers” for the first time while driving in Michigan in the fall of 2000. I recall seeing them live for the first time around 1999 and marveling at the use of 30 gallon trash cans on stage during the performance of “Thankful.” I’ve been fortunate enough to see them live 3 times. There are times when watching them that I can’t take my eyes off the percussion guy, who plays about 20 different things over the course of a concert. They have at least 2 dozen songs that I’ve listened to over and over and over and over and have never gotten tired of.

So, with GREAT stress, frustration, changing of my mind, changing it again, and again, and finally just going with what I had…I’ve compiled my Top Ten favorite Caemon’s songs. A few things of note … I have not heard the entire “Share the Well” album yet, so I have nothing to offer from it. There are no songs on my list from the 2nd Company of Angels album, as I find that to be my least favorite by far. I’m not including the Derek Webb solo albums…if I did, a couple of his songs would almost definitely crack the Top Ten. I’ve always liked best the songs sung by Danielle Young, and/or the songs written by Derek Webb. Finally, I should say that my list started with 26 songs. From there I narrowed it down to 18. And with great pain, I finally whiddled it down to 10. It made my brain hurt.

So, here it goes, in order from 10th place to 1st place….

10. Sacred (from Overdressed)

9. The Emptiest Day (from Back Home)

8. You Created (from Back Home)

7. Climb On (from 40 Acres)

6. God of Wonders (from In the Company of Angels I)

5. What You Want (from Long Line of Leavers)

4. Prepare Ye the Way (from Long Line of Leavers)

3. Not the Land (from Caedmon’s Call)

2. Close of Autumn (from Caedmon’s Call)

1. Somewhere North (from 40 Acres)

What are your thoughts on Caedmon’s? Any memories? Favorite songs? Hottest band member?

some brief updates on life, music, and vegetarianism

My son turns 4 in about 3 weeks. Amazing. That means it’s been nearly 5 years since I lived a single day without thinking about our child. Some thoughts are wonderful. Some are maddening. Some are frightening. But for roughly 1700 days now, I’ve lived life as a father, rather than just as some guy.

I changed the strings on my guitar last night for the first time in roughly 5 years. Actually, back before we were even married, Erin had bought me a package of Elixir guitar strings for my birthday. Right around the time I had stopped playing. I’ve kept the strings ever since, and finally had occasion to use them last night. It was tough….I never ever have liked changing out guitar strings….but it still felt good.

Because of the example, testimony, and recommendation of our friends Emily & Chase, we bought a rice cooker this weekend. Black and Decker. 14 cups (cooked) capacity with a steamer basket so you can steam veggies while the rice cooks. Non stick removable cooking bowl. Already used it, and I’m very excited. Finally, a kitchen gadget I really feel like I’m going to get real value out of. Unlike the waffle maker, toaster oven, sandwich press, and hard-to-use electric can opener that have graced our kitchen at some point.

12 days with no meat. But plenty of rice, broccoli, zucchini, squash, ramen noodles, pasta, baked potatoes (dan quayle spelling), veggie pizza, a veggie burrito from Salsarita’s, the veggie plate at Shono’s in the City, homemade whatever-I-can-think-to-put-on-it salads, tofu (marinated in heinz 57 sauce this weekend), peppers, and Mello Yellow….a staple vegetarian drink.

a few more random tidbits…

My Mamaw Edelen was born on leap year day. Today is her birthday. She’s turning 20. How cool is that?

My fingers and my wrist are really sore from practicing guitar again over the last couple of weeks. But it feels better than my eyes hurting from doing nothing but watching tv every night.

So, it looks like our choices in November 2008 are going to be an inexperienced Senator whose middle name is Hussein, who never shows up to vote on bills, and whose campaign is based primarily on rockin-the-hizzouse ….vs…. a guy in his 70’s who has the cordial personality of an angry donkey, has almost spooky transparent skin, is anxious to exercise even more miliary strength, and who, frankly, wasn’t even a good enough candidate to beat out George Bush in 2000. Bummer.

I’m currently infatuated with the Toyota Yaris.

I’m beginning to realize that, as I move forward in this vegetarian venture, that I need to bid a sad farewell to fast food. In general, here’s what is offered at fast food places that I will actually be able to eat: baked potatos, french fries, apple pies, yogurt, bean burritos, ice cream, plain biscuits, and not much else. This is going to be tough. But I’ll be better off for it.

Has anyone noticed that the NBA is back in full force? Remember 6 years ago when you sort of forgot it existed, and any mention of it made you cringe?

During the UT – Vanderbilt game, Bruce Pearl was so angry at one point he actually turned green. No kidding. Me and a few friends were watching the game at Spicy’s and thought he might actually tear his clothes off and morph into the Incredible Hulk.

It’s lunch time, so I gotta go. Today’s menu – Ramen noodles. Hmmm, good.

guitar separation blues

My guitar is pictured to the right. I bought it in the fall of 1999. It’s a limited edition, Takamine Santa Fe model. Each year, Takamine makes a Santa Fe style that is exclusive to that year. Mine is a 1999 exclusive. If I remember right, it cost me about $1100.00. I got about $400.00 out of a Yamaha (my first guitar) that I sold to a friend of a friend, so my net expenditure was really only $700.00. Still. A lot of money.

This guitar is sweet. The design is beautiful, it’s got a fully digital pick-up with a built in tuner, reverb, and pre-settable EQ levels. And it sounds awesome. All Takamine’s do.

The problem is, over the last 5 years, I’ve BARELY touched my guitar. Seriously. I think I’ve played it about 4 times in 5 years. I used to play all the time when I was involved in the worship ministries at previous churches. That basically ended in 2002. And I’ve never enjoyed playing just for the sake of playing. The whole reason I taught myself to play back in the mid-90’s was to play for youth groups, church camp, and in worship services within the church. Once that opportunity ended, so did my motivation to play music.

I toyed with selling it. This picture, taken back in May 2007, was one of several I took to put a flyer together to try and sell the guitar, case, cords, stand, and pedals as a package deal. I didn’t really try that hard to advertise it, and it did not sell.

So now I’m struggling with whether or not to pick it back up again. I’ll be extremely rusty. Any callouses my fingers ever developed are long gone. I wonder if I’ll even have the time to devote to practicing again. Yet, somewhere deep down, I know I want to. I want to play all the great worship songs that have impacted me over the last few years. I want to play during my quiet times, even singing spontaneous songs of worship to God. I want to spike my hair, put on some cool glasses, and play while standing on my bed, imagining that I’m David Crowder, leading worship under disco strobe lights with some funky record scratching going on in the background. I’d like to think that if I devote myself again, that in a couple of years I could play better than I ever had before. We shall see. I just don’t know. But I’ll make sure and update you if I do.

the imposter, once, and other tidbits

Yesterday, at McKay’s Bookstore, I traded in about 9 cd’s and got $26.00 in trade credit. For $24.00 of that credit, I picked David Crowder Bands “Remedy”, Kanye West’s “Late Registation”, and Kevin Max’s “Between the Fence and the Universe” and “The Imposter.”

For those who don’t know (shame on you), Kevin Max is one of the original DC Talk members. Granted, his solo career since dc talk hasn’t quite rivaled that of Toby Mac’s. But listening to “The Imposter” over the last day has once again confirmed for me that this guy has quite possibly the greatest singing voice I’ve ever heard. I’d read good things about this album. On Amazon, the album actually has 5-star reviews from all 23 people who reviewed it. But it’s actually kind of hard to find, and I’d been looking for it at McKay’s for several months now. Yesterday, I got it for $5.95, and it was still in it’s original cellophane wrapping. If you’re not a dc talk fan (again, shame on you), don’t worry. If you can find it, you should give this album a try. It’s very poetic, smooth yet edgy, and his vocals are as clear and amazing as ever. And it leaves me hoping – more than ever before – for an eventual dc talk reunion.

Side note…I finally saw the movie “Once” yesterday on dvd. It’s gotten great reviews and it’s songs have been played during our church’s pre-service music pretty much ever since the movie came out. I was very impressed. I actually went to McKay’s hoping to find the soundtrack, and ended up with the other stuff instead. The acting was great, the plot was great, the music was incredible, and the ending left me with my hands over my face wishing for more. If you haven’t already, check it out.

PS – Kevin Max just released a brand new album entitled “The Blood“, and one of the songs features dc talk members Toby McKeehan and Michael Tait. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

where are you, arrested development?

At this moment, on my Windows Media Player, Arrested Development is singing the song, “Washed Away” from their excellent 1992 album, “3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the Life Of…”. Definitely one of my favorite albums to listen to, ever.

Every time I listen to them, I can’t help but wonder, what in the world happened to them? They were big time, had several really awesome songs (Mr. Wendal is an incredible song), and then they disappeared. Poof. Gone. No more music.

They weren’t the only music artists I listen(ed) to that made sort of a sudden disappearing act. I know sometimes it’s because of outside circumstances, sometimes because of talent, and sometimes because they’re just not making money. Regardless, here are a few that I can think of….and these are only people that I actually listened – or still listen – to.

Arrested Development
Fu-Schnikins
Vanilla Ice
Snow
C&C Music Factory
Burlap to Cashmere
Reality Check
Waterdeep (any word on them?)
Young MC
Heavy-D
O-Town (j/k)

Well, those are the ones that come immediately to mind. I’m sure you can think of others that were important to you.

PS – Now I’m listening to Heavy D and the Boyz, “Now That We Found Love”. Awesome song. Where are you Heavy, still trying your hand at acting?

eli loves greg’s music

My friend Greg has just released two new Cd’s….”Chasing the Western Sky” and “Thirty Three”. You can check them out or buy them here. Me, Erin, and Eli went to see him perform this past Friday night at The V Cafe. He played 12 songs with a full band, it was pretty awesome.

What really blew me away was how enthralled our son Eli was. He watched the entire show. He played percussion on the table he was sitting at, bounced up and down in his chair, and even got up in front of the stage and danced to an entire song. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a camera with us. It was so funny.

This morning I was taking Eli to school. We were listening to the “Thirty Three” album in my car. During the very first song, he recognized it was Greg singing. He asked me, “Dad, why is Greg singing in our car?”

Then when the song ended, he asked, “Can we listen to another Greg song?”. Then when the second song ended, he asked again, “Can we listen to another Greg song?”. Then we made it to school. Thankfully, one of the songs we listened to was entitled, “Four Bucks.” I hope Eli listened to it closely and learned an important lesson about inflation and gross overspending.

Thanks, Greg, for your subliminal influences on my son.

Surprised By Bob Dylan

My friend Greg has been a Bob Dylan fan for a long time. I’m pretty sure he has every single album Dylan ever made. I remember about 8 years ago borrowing a CD from him, cuz I don’t think I’d ever listened to Dylan before in my life.

I took the CD home. Listened to about 4 songs. Hated it….brought it back. Boring music. Annoying voice. Harsh harmonica sounds. Hated it.

For the last several months, I’ve been listening almost exclusively to either worship music or talk radio when driving. That’s pretty much it. There’s really been no music otherwise that has really pulled me in or interested me in any way. I find that sad, so I’ve been considering trying listening to some “classic” type stuff….Lynard Skynard, Beatles, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, The Who, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Paula Abdul, you get the point….just to see what I maybe have been missing out on my whole life.

Well, yesterday my family and I were at McKay’s – the greatest used book/dvd/cd store probably in existence – and I decided for some reason to buy a scratched Bob Dylan greatest hits CD for about $5.00. Listened to the whole thing yesterday in my car…..and absolutely loved it. I can’t explain it. Makes no sense. I can hardly understand a lot of what he’s singing. The harmonica sounds out of tune. Some songs are nothing more than guitar and a tamborine. But it’s raw, real, emotional, and the lyrics I can decipher have deep meaning and texture to them. I loved it. Listened to it almost all the way through again on my way to work today.

So, if anyone’s actually reading my blog (all 3 of you?), maybe you can suggest to me some music that I should try. I can usually find things at McKay’s pretty cheap, even if not on the first try. I’m definitely not looking for weird, enigmatic, new age type of stuff. It can be from the 60′, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, this year….whatever. My cd’s at home have been collecting dust, and I simply need a new outlook on music. It’s either that, or I stick with talk radio.