I have noticed that some authors are now including a list of the music they listened to while writing their book (Donald Miller comes to mind). I thought that might be a pretty cool thing for me to start doing. Below is my soundtrack for 2007. Each of these twelve songs has impacted me this past year. I’ve even set up an easy way for you to buy this soundtrack!
Archive for the 'Music' Category
I’ve wanted to write this post for a while but haven’t made the time for it. Since the beginning of the summer I’ve been trying to expand my horizons when it comes to my choices of music. I had gotten myself into a bit of a rut, only listening to the bands and singers I already knew about. You see, I don’t listen to the radio because I can’t stand it. Even Christian radio. Especially Christian radio.
I’ve really soured on the Christian music industry in recent years. I guess I’m just sick of songs fitting into one of two categories: (1) Christian pop that is musically inept and lyrically shallow, or (2) worship music, much of which is either poorly made or just a rehash of a song that’s been recorded by a dozen other artists. Plus when it comes to worship music I don’t like to listen to it unless I’m actually going to be concentrating on God and His character. If I’m just typing away at my desk or I’m hanging out with friends and want some music in the background I don’t want worship music because my attention will be elsewhere.
I’ve recently rejoined the world of secular music. I know, I know. Blasphemy. Don’t worry though, I’m not listening to anything too sketchy. I wanted to blog about some of the great artists I’m now listening to. I’ll give you three names today with more to come later.
Leading Off - I have a major case of the Mondays today. It didn’t come on until after attending a staff meeting not too long ago. I was doing fine. I was actually feeling good. Now I’ve got a headache and I’m wondering if my watch and every other clock in the office is wrong.
Elder Affairs - So as I mentioned in my last update, I went on my very first business trip last week. It was in Tampa and it was for a SHINE leadership meeting. It was… well, let’s see. Fun would be far too strong an emotion. Educational would be an out and out lie. I think the best word would be different. Yeah, it was different, in many ways. I was out of my cube, which I’ve decided is the best part about business trips in general. I was dealing with my coworkers on a quasi-personal way since I ate meals with them and was staying in the same hotel as them. I put faces to names for all the PSA liaisons and many of the volunteers, which was surprisingly enjoyable. I find it strange to correspond with people that I’ve never met.
Leading Off - There’s a lot a could talk about today. Sports, for instance. I could mention the Marlins pitcher throwing a no-hitter two days ago. I could talk about the Dolphins coming up short against the Steelers. I could talk about the things going on in my life. I could talk about the new job or the new roommates and how each of them is progressing. Or I could even go spiritual and talk about meeting one-on-one with Jacob or about Nav Night. But no. Today there’s only one thing to talk about.
Good Monsters - Let me be as clear as possible. If you only buy one CD this year, make it Good Monsters by Jars of Clay. I’m absolutely astonished. Now please, I know you’re likely to think I’m a little biased, and you’re probably right, but I’m trying to come at this from an objective point of view. True, I am a huge Jars fan (some call us jarheads) but I’m also a musician and I know what it takes to create even one good piece of music. And I’m telling you, this CD has twelve incredible songs.
Quote of the Day #1: “He was going off like a frog in a sock.” — Paul Colman, who was the emcee on the Soul Fest main stage, on more than one occasion said this to describe some of the better performers
Quote of the Day #2: “Substitution!” — Stephen Mason, guitarist and singer for Jars of Clay, after an air horn was sounded off in the audience, prompting Dan Haseltine to run off stage and for Paul Colman to take his place
Quote of the Day #3: “After that altar call a minute ago I would have thought all the Yankee fans would have left.” — Dan Haseltine, lead singer of Jars of Clay, who was referring to an altar call that had asked its receivers to go to a nearby tent, after getting a mixed reaction when stating that their tour drummer was a diehard Red Sox fan
I’ve got quite an update for you today. Not only has it been a few days, but I since last posting I had one of the best days in recent memory.
Last Thursday was St. Patrick’s Day. While most of my college was drinking green beer and drunk by noon I was celebrating in a different fashion. Okay, so I wasn’t celebrating the holiday at all, but you get what I mean. After getting through class (where most notably we were taught a lesson in bracketology by my Religion & Science professor) I got to hang out with the Joel Helms for the first time since October. He’s going to be here for six weeks, so get in line. We had lunch at Momo’s at around 1 pm and I basically talked the whole time (weird, I know). The Captain joined after about an hour, then Joel took off and I hung out with Dave until around 4 pm talking over some pretty deep theological questions, a few of them that came up in my Bible study the night before. I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but a day spent with both Dave and Joel already makes it a highly ranked day, but there’s more.
Man I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve got a paper due tomorrow for Christian Tradition (albeit a 2-page paper) and a test tomorrow in Spanish. Yuck! The paper is on Saint Augustine and is coming along. The Spanish isn’t any fun but I guess I’ll survive. Who knows.
I think today I accidentally became a stalker. What? Okay, so I’m a Facebook addict. Every so often I search the word “Navigators” to see if any of my Nav buddies have joined recently. Well, today I search and see that my dear friend Catherine Slocum is on. Great, I’ll send her a friend request. So she says yes at some point during the day and I go check out her profile. Get this - she just became a member today. And I’m her first friend. That’s creepy. Before she had a chance to search for anyone herself someone found her. Yeah, if I were her I’d think I was a stalker. (Did that make sense? Because if I were her I wouldn’t be thinking I was a stalker, because I’d be her and not me. Get it? No? Sorry.) So I just want to go on record and say that I’m not stalking Catherine and I hope she doesn’t get any kind of crazy court order to keep me away.
Quote of the Day #1: “Talk amongst yourselves for a minute folks.” — Mac Powell, lead singer of Third Day, as he takes a break from his set to have a little snack
Quote of the Day #2: “You can believe in soap and still be dirty.” — David Nasser, one of the speakers at Soul Fest, on needing to not only believe in Jesus but let Him work in you
Quote of the Day #3:”I was on the ground saying, ‘I love Him, I love Him.’ My [Iranian] dad walks in and says ‘Oh no, my son is the gay.’” — David Nasser, on the night of his conversion (and yes, the grammatical error is the correct quote)
Quote of the Day #4: “This woman told me that I couldn’t sing this song. She told me it wasn’t a Christian song and this is a Christian festival. I told her I looked through it and didn’t find anything vulgar about it, but she insisted that I couldn’t play it. So I said alright, but before we parted I asked her one last thing. ‘What kind of car do you drive?’ She said, ‘A Honda.’ I said, ‘Well I don’t mean to alarm you but that’s not a Christian company.” — Paul Colman, on his right to sing a traditional Australian song
So how was Soul Fest? I thought you’d never ask! 
Yesterday and today have been uneventful overall. Yesterday I called up Dave Wirgau to catch up on things. I hadn’t talked to him since April (besides a couple of quick emails) so it was good to talk to him again. But mostly what I’ve been doing is preparing for Soul Fest.
Speaking of which, tomorrow I leave for Soul Fest 2004. Who’s going to be at Soul Fest? I’m glad you asked: Jars Of Clay, Steven Curtis Chapman, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, OC Supertones, Third Day, Relient K, Petra, Kevin Max, Rebecca St James, Jeremy Camp, John Reuben, Pillar, Ginny Owens, Paul Colman, and many many more. I have to admit that I am a little sad that Seventh Day Slumber won’t be there this year. They’ve been one of my favorite non-headliners over the past few years.
Continue reading ‘You Have Another Chance To Do Your Homework’
If any of you haven’t seen Hey Ya, Charlie Brown yet, it’s must see TV. It was taken down off of its creator’s website because of a cease and desist order from United Feature Syndicate, but I found some dude who put it on his site. I’m going to save it to my computer, but I’m not going to post it up myself. You can check it out on this guy’s site for as long as he’s got it up. Trust me, this is hot! You’ll need QuickTime, but almost every computer has that right?
Edit: I found it on YouTube.
