<![CDATA[Musically Inspired]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html en-us Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:25:18 GMT <![CDATA[Lakeside @ Lakeview]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=12


And hey, it's a pretty exciting time.  In just a few days, we (Lakeside Community Church) will be spending the month doing our Sunday services in a different building.



For those that don't know the back story, a quick recap:  Lakeside is moving.  We're currently in the midst of a building campaign.  We just have too many people to stay in our current building, and we can't exactly expand in the space we have.  So, we're in the process of selling the building, purchasing new land and then building on said land.  Of course, when we sell the building we are currently in, we won't exactly be moving into the new building the next week.  We are going to have to "go mobile."  And that's what this month is all about: giving the congregation a taste of what that will be like.  We're going to be meeting at Lakeview High School at 10:30 AM each Sunday in October.  Yeah, one service.  We're going to be bringing the two together.  Because the whole series is "Together We're Better."  Together we do this better, together we do that better.



I'm excited about this on all levels, because it (hopefully) will be a motivator to show people "Hey, this is what's ahead for Lakeside."  It's going to be an exciting time.



But I'm specifically excited on the musical level too  (Of course, you were probably wondering when I was going to get around to the music, right?), and for two reasons.  First, we're going to be doing some pretty sweet special tunes throughout the month.  We start it off this week with...Switchfoot.  We're going to be doing Meant To Live, and that's going to be pretty sweet.  Later in the month, we'll be doing Kutless' Sea Of Faces and Stellar Kart's latest single, Me And Jesus (Yes, it's a terrible song grammatically speaking...but it's still a solid track).  And, to top the whole thing off, we will be doing Chris Tomlin's Party.



That last one excites me, but I don't mean the specific song.  Yeah, I think it's a great track (I suggested we do it...mere minutes after Ken suggested it).  But it's the message that week that excites me.  Together We Party Better.  Mmm...tasty.  And yes, I am still speaking musically.



See, if you've read this at all (And if you haven't, you're welcome to backtrack), you know that I've been creating mixes for the "dead space" before and after services.  The only restraints were/are no hip hop and no screaming (And by no screaming, I mean no Underoath screaming where it's the main focus...Anberlin screaming, where it's just sporadic, has been used frequently).



However, we're talking about a party, right?  So I gave Chris a disc o' stuff to listen to...a lot of hip hop.  I left him a note with the disc saying that, even though we have the "no hip hop" rule, this party week might be a perfect time to use some high energy stuff.



And he agreed.  That excites me.  I'm going to get to introduce Lakeside to some hip hop.  Not much, mind you (I would be surprised if more than three or four tracks made the final cut), but some.  And that's a step in the right direction.  Because one of the things I try to do with those discs is create a diverse atmosphere, where there is something for everyone from the middle schooler in the balcony to the old lady in the center of the auditorium, all the while bringing them and everyone in between something positive to listen to.



And look, we're a very white church.  But what kind of impression would it make on someone's black friend if they walked in and heard some hip hop?  And not just hip hop, but good hip hop?



I like to take the mentality with these discs that they are helping someone determine whether they're coming back next week if they're new.  I want them to walk in and, even before worship, say, "Wow, this church is different, and I like it."  And, on the last week in October, at Lakeview High School with Lakeside Community Church, there will be no better way to show that difference than to infuse some high energy, bumpin' hip hop beats into the pre- and post-service times.



And I, obviously, am excited about it.
]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:25:18 GMT <![CDATA[How Quickly Can One Star Rise?]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=11 Panic! At The Disco has taken the music industry by storm.  Barely a year ago, they were a bunch of no-name kids from Vegas.  Nine months ago, no one but the Purevolume kids had heard their name.  A month later, there were rumblings.  The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage started gaining some attention.



But then...then I Write Sins Not Tragedies came out and took the world by force.  By April, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out reached gold status.  By July, it went platinum.  And just last night at MTV's Video Music Awards, the band was nominated for five awards and went home with the biggest award of the night, Video Of The Year.



Whether you're a fan of them or not, it's hard to imagine a band rising so quickly.  I mean, a band that didn't even get the award for New Artist Of The Year (Avenged Sevenfold...really?  So many better choices than them...) managed to outclass some of the most popular acts that have been out there for years.  It truly is impressive.



Granted, it is MTV.  Most people have lost respect for their ability to represent good music, and rightfully so.  MTV cordones off the music to MTV2, MTVU, and any other sub-MTV station they can find, settling for a bunch of Real World and Road Rules ripoffs on the main station that have little or nothing to do with music.  And even the sub-stations that do play music play the same thing over and over!  I kid you not, twice in half an hour this morning I saw two of the same videos (Evanescence's Call Me When You're Sober and The Killers' When You Were Young) being played, about a minute apart, on MTV and MTV2!  Don't get me wrong...I enjoy both songs, but they really could use some variety in their playlists.



All of that being said, however, for a band that has been selling discs for less than a year to win Video Of The Year on their first try with their first video...honestly, how much quicker can one star rise?
]]> Fri, 01 Sep 2006 17:52:35 GMT <![CDATA[Free Derek Webb]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=10


Go there.  Now.  Download Derek Webb's entire album, [i]Mockingbird[/i], for free.  You don't need a credit card, you don't need to send anyone money, you just have to send an e-mail to five of your friends that tells them about this.



Seriously, we all spend so much time online every day doing nothing...sitting on Myspace, talking on AIM, forwarding idiotic e-mails that mean nothing.  If you're going to sit around and do nothing, why not sit around and do nothing while listening to music you got for free and sending out an e-mail that actually has some value?



If you don't know who Derek Webb is, he is what we like to call a singer/songwriter...AKA an artist with actual talent.  His music is very acoustic, and his lyrics are excellent.  You should be checking him out.  And now, like I have, you can do so for free.
]]> Fri, 01 Sep 2006 17:38:29 GMT <![CDATA[Christian Hip-Hopper.COM]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=9














It started last Sunday at church when we had a discussion going on what "Christian" music is these days (I was commenting on some of the things I've commented on here before...such as Taking Back Sunday's sales numbers in CCM Magazine, Hawthorne Heights on Christian radio, etc.). We were discussing how the line is just becoming so blurred on what "Christian" music is.















Enter my perusing of music message boards from day to day. I saw a post about Christian hip hop...I can't think of the exact title off the top of my head, and I'm too lazy to go search for it at the moment. I clicked it, and it was a link to see this site, christianhiphopper.com I started looking around. The site itself is decent right now. It's not fully up at the moment, and I expect it'll be pretty solid when everything is fully functional.















But the site itself is not what caught my eye. Rather, it was the site's message...the site's vision...the site's purpose. The following are two direct quotes from the site's section, "Which 1 Is It?"



Well if you're looking at me, I am not ashamed to tell you, I'm a Christian Hip-hopper. But immediately when I say that, I recognize that Christian might have the effect of an adjective. Meaning, it describes what kind of Hip-hopper I am. So in that equation, “Christian” is the adjective, the Hip-hopper is the subject. But if it is an adjective, it is open to some degree of subjectivity or relativity. What does it mean to be Christian? Normally the term means follower of Christ, or Christ-like. If this is the case, how much like Christ does something have to be in order to qualify? In todays world, if something or someone is at all Christ-like in the tiniest sense, people will almost certainly argue that it can be called "Christian." This is ironic, since the first Christians had to earn that name, and often it cost them their lives.








It continues on...













If I tell you that when you look at me, you're seeing Jesus Christ in a Hip-hopper, than Christ becomes the subject and I as the Hip-hopper am just the context that you are seeing Him in. Now your expectation is different. Seeing Jesus in a Hip-hopper should be no different then seeing Jesus - period, since Jesus doesn't change for His surroundings but rather, He changes His surroundings. So, you would expect to see no less virtue, no less commitment to truth, no less humility, no less compassion than you would see in Jesus. When you hear that Grandma is a Christian, you sort of expect to find this type of character in her, but what would the streets look like, and since Hip-hop influences the world, what would the world look like if we could see Christ in a Hip-hopper.










It then makes points about this applying to our lives even if we're not members of the hip hop community. But think about that. The difference between being a Christian hip hopper or Christ in a hopper. Heck, extend that thought...the idea of either being a Christian musician or Christ in a musician. People who claim to be Christians should be the latter, not the former. "Christian" truly has become an adjective; something used to describe a musical genre or to describe a person. And there would be nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that different people have different ideas of what "Christian" can describe. Some may argue artists like DMX could be considered "Christian" because he includes a couple songs on each disc that refer directly to his relationship with God. And do not misunderstand me, I enjoy those tracks quite a bit (I just purchased his new release, Year Of The Dog Again, solely because of the last track, Lord Give Me A Sign...the last four tracks ended up being spiritually guided, which was even better). However, if we say that DMX is a "Christian" artist, then we open up the definition of Christian music to include artists who curse through most of their tracks and take violent and overty sexual tones to a lot of their music. On the other extreme, some people would say that artists such as Underoath or Family Force 5 are not "Christian" artists because they don't directly mention God in their songs, and if you don't mention God or Jesus in your songs, you can't be "Christian."












The idea behind christianhiphopper.com (Or christ-in-a-hip-hopper.com, both which take you to the same place) is to get rid of the adjective and just explain exactly what these people are all about. No guessing. These hip hop artists and labels represented on this site are saying, "Look, we are using the gifts God gave us to show you Christ, plain and simple."








So, feel free to check out http://www.christianhiphopper.com (or http://www.christ-in-a-hip-hopper.com which also works) and show these guys some support.  Even if you're not a hip hop fan, I say go check out their logo, at the least...check out how they've put their logo together to say both "Christian hip hopper" and "Christ in a hip hopper."  'Tis good stuff.






]]> Sun, 06 Aug 2006 04:20:24 GMT <![CDATA[Internet Radio]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=8 body, but there is no station out there that encompasses great music from all realms.  For example, there is no station that isn't primarily hip hop that provides a real platform for some great hip hop bands.  Mars Ill, Deepspace 5, The Procussions, LA Symphony...just to name a few of the best artists you've never heard of.  And that's the problem.  The best artists you've never heard of should be artists you haven't heard of because they're poor artists, not because they're grossly underexposed.  Take another example in the hard rock genre.  Project 86...a band that's certainly a bit more well-known than the previously mentioned artists.  And yet their most recent disc, ...And The Rest Will Follow (One of my favorites from 2005), sold only 8,000 copies in it's first week...and this was the band's best showing in five discs!  310,000 copies sold total from all five discs.  Now yes, many artists will never make it to five discs or show that kind of consistency and continually grow their fan base.  Many bands will never even make it into Billboard's Top 200 or their Heatseeker list, let alone at #131 and #3, respectively.  And yet, many bands and artists with far less talent will sell three times the career sales of Project 86 in one week!  It is insanely frustrating to see great bands be outdone by terrible artists.



That is why I want to start my own station.  There is great music in every genre out there, better music than you could ever imagine hearing from your local radio stations.  And if people are willing to give that stuff a chance, then maybe (just maybe) these bands that are the best you've never heard can become the best thing you've ever heard.



Updates will be coming if I do decide to start up a station.  And I hope that you will take the opportunity to listen if I put it up.  I promise you, it will be worth your time.
]]> Fri, 28 Jul 2006 04:36:15 GMT <![CDATA[Another Late Night]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=7


I'm sure I can occupy my time easily enough tonight.  I just finished watching a rerun of the ESPYs, I'm currently watching the Dierks Bentley special I recorded off of CMT tonight (Which is followed by the new episode of Mind Of Mencia), and I'll probably kick out a few games of MVP NCAA Baseball '06 as well.  Not to mention what I'm doing right now, which is updating this lovely site of mine for all three of you who read it (Okay, I underexaggerate...but Lord knows I don't keep this thing up and running because of I get 8,000 views a day...).



I've been on a writing binge as of late.  And I'm not talking song writing.  I'm not particularly gifted in writing songs or poetry or anything of that sort.  I'm great at writing in general (Never can I say that I've had a problem cranking out a paper in my school years for whatever purpose...even research papers come pretty easily for me).  Rather, I'm talking about writing for the upcoming school year for the middle school group at my church, The Storm.  The ideas have been flowing recently, which is great.  Because I really love teaching my own stuff.  Other people's writings...they're great and all and they have great use in a youth ministry (There's only so much writing one can do before they burn out a bit).  However, as I found this past year, I felt far more comfortable teaching these guys and gals off of something that I wrote myself.  And I didn't write much last year.  Two or three different series were my own creations, the rest of them were, I suppose you could say, by the book (Technically they were "by the box" since they came out of Kurt Johnston's collections from Simply Youth Ministry).  The series themselves were solid material.  However, it was just something I felt very confined with.  It wasn't written the way I would write it.



This year, it's going to be almost solely my own writing.  And, if the past two weeks are any indication, it is going to be a solid year.  I've got seven different series lined up already in some fashion.  Some are more developed than others, but the ideas just keep flowing.  It's really been cool stuff.



So why do I mention this in a blog I've dedicated to music?  (Dierks Bentley, by the way, has come to the point in his performance where he is doing a song of his upcoming November release, and I am enjoying it.)  Well, I should think that it comes as no shock when I say that a lot of my ideas have come from songs (and poetry).  Some of the ideas have been pretty straightforward; Family Force 5's track Love Addict inspired a five-week series of the same name on...you guessed it: love.  Others have been more roundabout; the most recent idea sprung from Relient K's This Week The Trend.  And, though the song doesn't really have anything I'm using directly in the series, the title itself seemed like a great series title, and the idea has become a series on how Christianity can become a fad and how to keep your faith from just being a trend in your life.



The ideas first started coming through right after Alive Festival.  I purchased Bradley Hathaway's book/CD combo, All The Hits So Far But Don't Expect Too Much.  Two poems in particular, Manly Man and Silence, became ones that I just felt I had to use in some way.  Both have turned into three week series' for the upcoming year.



So yeah, yet again music has become so engrained in my lifestyle that it actually affects, in a sense, the way I teach middle schoolers.  And I'm loving it.
]]> Mon, 17 Jul 2006 07:23:35 GMT <![CDATA[1st Annual World Cup Of Music]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=6


So here's the deal.  This is like the World Cup, only, as you can see from the title, it's musically based.  What ensues is tournament of sorts, pitting band against band.  And let me tell you, this was not an easy thing to do, especially once I narrowed it to 16 bands/artists for the "tournament" portion.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  There are 32 bands in the entry to come, broken down in eight separate groups.  How did I pick these bands?  Well, the first eight (The top seed in each group, AKA the first artist listed in each group) I picked.  The other 24...I put iTunes on random and ranked them.  Pretty simple.  Anyone who has ever done a fantasy football draft knows, at least a little bit, how they're put into groups.  1 seed to group A, 2 seed to group B...8 seed to group H, 9 seed to group H, 10 seed to group G, etc.  So here are the eight groups:



Group A:

dc Talk

Shaun Groves

Linkin Park

Death Cab For Cutie



Group B:

Chevelle

Mat Kearney

Sanctus Real

Mark Schultz



Group C:

Relient K

Mars Ill

Switchfoot

Jeremy Camp



Group D:

Project 86

The All-American Rejects

Anna Nalick

Jazon Mraz



Group E:

David Crowder Band

Thrice

Scott Krippayne

Flyleaf



Group F:

Kenny Chesney

Underoath

Chris Rice

Demon Hunter



Group G:

Dierks Bentley

Brad Paisley

Motion City Soundtrack

Taking Back Sunday



Group H:

Sara Evans

Panic! At The Disco

The Classic Crime

Falling Up



So there's the groupings.  Now what happens is that 16 artists, two from each group, move on to the elimination bracket.  And if you think it's the top two seeds in every group...you're wrong.  Yes, that is the case in some, but in others, not so.  A few two seeds are knocked out, and even one of the top seeds says farewell before the bracket.



How did I choose who moved on from round to round and crown an eventual World Cup of Music champion?  Well, there were a lot of factors.  First, there is the overall; where the band/artist ranks all-time for me.  Secondly, there is current activity (Or, in some cases, inactivity).  A band who has been without a single for two or three years is bound to take a hit, especially against an artist who has consistently thrown out hit singles on my personal charts.  Thirdly, there is wealth of material (And by that I mean quantity and quality).  A band with one disc in my collection is definitely going to have a fight on their hands against a band that has five, six, seven or more CDs in the collection, especially when those five, six or seven discs are all truly quality discs.



So below is my 1st Annual World Cup of Music.   If I felt a need to explain how or why a band/artist moved on in a particular round, you'll see it.  If I feel it's pretty obvious, then there won't be much.  Anyway, read on and enjoy!



Group A:

Winner: dc Talk

Runner-Up: Shaun Groves

Out: Linkin Park, Death Cab For Cutie

dcT rolls through the opening round, and Shaun Groves takes second pretty easily.  Death Cab comes out in third place, leaving Linkin Park in the dust.



Group B:

Winner: Chevelle

Runner-Up: Mat Kearney

Out: Sanctus Real, Mark Schultz

Chevelle makes it 2-for-2 with the top seeds rolling.  Mat Kearney escapes the group with the runner-up position, though not after a hard-fought battle from Mark Schultz.  Kearney pulled through due to the momentum of his single, Nothing Left To Lose.  Sanctus Real is the distant fourth.



Group C:

Winner: Mars Ill

Runner-Up: Relient K

Out: Switchfoot, Jeremy Camp

In the first mini-upset of the tournament, Mars Ill comes out of Group C as the top seed, besting top seeded Relient K.  However, Relient K keeps it from being a major upset and rolls over Camp and Switchfoot to take the runner-up position.



Group D:

Winner: Project 86

Runner-Up: The All-American Rejects

Out: Jason Mraz, Anna Nalick

The competition was relatively non-existent in this bracket.  Project rolled, and AAR bested Mraz for the runner-up position.  Anna Nalick put up a strong fight, but she was really out of her league this time around.



Group E:

Winner: David Crowder Band

Runner-Up: Thrice

Out: Flyleaf, Scott Krippayne

The top seed was never in question; DCB rolled through the opening round.  The runner-up position was hard-fought for, however.  Thrice’s lyrical prowess proved enough to outdo Krippayne’s own lyrical ability and Flyleaf’s edgy music and strong vocals.



Group F:

Winner: Chris Rice

Runner-Up: Underoath

Out: Kenny Chesney, Demon Hunter

The biggest upset of the tournament thus far happened in Group F.  Consistent favorite Kenny Chesney was knocked out of the tournament by Chris Rice and Underoath.  Rice also came out of the bracket as the dark-horse winner.



Group G:

Winner: Dierks Bentley

Runner-Up: Motion City Soundtrack

Out: Brad Paisley, Taking Back Sunday

This was definitely the hardest fought bracket in the tournament.  Bentley kept his top-seeded status, but it was not easy.  All three of the other competitors could’ve made it in and/or knocked Bentley out of the tournament.  However, Bentley kept the top seed and is joined by Motion City Soundtrack in the round of 16.



Group H:

Winner: Panic! At The Disco

Runner-Up: Sara Evans

Out: The Classic Crime, Falling Up

Newcomers The Classic Crime fell just short of the round of 16, with top-seeded Sara Evans just squeaking by.  However, Evans did fall to Panic! At The Disco, putting her in the runner-up position.





Round Of 16:



dc Talk VS Mat Kearney: dc Talk continues to roll through the tournament, keeping their throne as my favorite band ever nice and cozy.  Winner: dc Talk



Mars Ill VS The All-American Rejects: Mars Ill proves that their ousting Relient K from the top spot in Group C was no fluke, with a thorough thrashing of AAR.  Winner: Mars Ill



David Crowder Band VS Underoath: In a valiant effort and riding the momentum of a new CD, Underoath proves a worthy foe for DCB.  However, in the end DCB comes out on top.  Winner: David Crowder Band



Dierks Bentley VS Sara Evans: Two of country’s superstars meet in the round of 16, and it is Dierks Bentley, riding the longest streak of consecutive weeks on my personal Top 25 (46 weeks and counting), who advances to the quarterfinals.  Winner: Dierks Bentley



Chevelle VS Shaun Groves: As great of a songsmith as Shaun Groves is, running into Chevelle in the round of 16 is a fatal blow for nearly anyone.  Winner: Chevelle



Project 86 VS Relient K: This is a heavyweight battle, especially for the round of 16.  However, Relient K’s loss of the top seed in Group C proves to be a blow that puts them in a less-than-desirable match-up.  A solid live show simply can’t match-up to a band with an even better live show and the current #1 single on my personal chart.  Winner: Project 86



Chris Rice VS Thrice: Another hard-fought match-up in the round of 16, but Thrice pulls off the upset in overtime to advance to the quarters.  Winner: Thrice



Panic! At The Disco VS Motion City Soundtrack: Two of the most infectious bands of 2006, this is yet another match-up that could have just as easily be seen in the semifinals.  However, the match-up is here now, and it has to go to penalty kicks (Or, perhaps more accurately, songs that aren’t found on the original releases from each band).  As infectious as Panic! is, the three live/acoustic versions of songs from A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out available on iTunes simply don’t outdo extra tracks from MCS, such as The Worst Part… from Sounds Of Superman and Invisible Monsters, from the re-release/Deluxe Edition of Commit This To Memory.  Winner: Motion City Soundtrack





Quarterfinals:



dc Talk VS Mars Ill: In what is one amazing match-up for the quarterfinals to see, Mars Ill comes out as a once minor long shot turned favorite to win the tournament, pulling off the upset of the tournament’s top seed due to the simple stat of activity versus inactivity (A band that’s been inactive for nearly 10 years, no matter how amazing, can only last so long).  Winner: Mars Ill



David Crowder Band VS Dierks Bentley: The match-ups in the quarterfinals continue to pit one heavyweight against another and prove that it’s anyone’s tournament to win.  This one has to go to overtime.  DCB’s spectacular ability to write a worship song, and the sheer quantity of material produced by the band is nearly enough to oust Dierks Bentley from the tournament…almost.  Bentley’s consistent ability to produce hit #1 singles, along with his spectacular Top 25 streak that will almost certainly continue with the introduction of a new single from his upcoming 2006 release, prove to be just barely enough to squeak by David Crowder Band.  Winner: Dierks Bentley



Chevelle VS Project 86: In the match-up of everything hard, it is no shock that battle is just as hard as these two bands’ music.  Project has come on as one of the biggest bands in the past few years, but Chevelle has been one of the top two bands of all-time for me.  The match-up is a hot one, but Chevelle proves to have enough to get by Project 86’s amazing live show.  Winner: Chevelle



Thrice VS Motion City Soundtrack: In the match-up of the also-rans of the quarterfinals (With absolutely no disrespect meant to either of these amazing bands), Motion City Soundtrack proves to have been worn out by the match-up against Panic!  Thrice takes this one with relative ease compared to the other three match-ups of the quarters.  Winner: Thrice





Semifinals:



Mars Ill VS Dierks Bentley: Dierks Bentley’s spectacular bid for the title of champion is ended by Mars Ill in the semis, sending Bentley to the third-place match-up.  Winner: Mars Ill



Chevelle VS Thrice: Thrice simply proves to be no contest for Chevelle, and Chevelle rolls to send them into the championship match.  Winner: Chevelle





Third Place Match-Up:



Dierks Bentley VS Thrice: Quite simply, Thrice ran out of gas.  A spectacular band worthy of great recognition, they simply can’t get it done against one of country music’s biggest stars today.  Bentley takes a very respectable third.  Winner: Dierks Bentley



Championship Match-Up:



Mars Ill VS Chevelle: Two amazing bands meet in the final match.  Mars Ill is easily the best hip hop act to come around in years and they take it to overtime against Chevelle.  However, Chevelle proves that they are one of the best bands of all-time for a reason.  Ill takes an extremely song second-place finish.  Winner: Chevelle





So there you have it.  In a tournament filled with surprises (Even to me), Chevelle came out as the winner.  Not too much of a shocker, they were the #2 seed (And now get the automatic 1 seed for next year's tournament...if I remember it).  But with artists like Mars Ill, Dierks Bentley, Thrice, Project 86, David Crowder Band and so many others waiting in the wings...there are simply no guarantees...not even the guarantee that any or all of them will make it through round 1 next year.
]]> Fri, 07 Jul 2006 05:33:12 GMT <![CDATA[Alive Festival Recap]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=5


I've been trying to get to one of these festivals for years.  This year, things just fell into place.  I went down to Ohio by myself, but I did not spend the week alone.  On the contrary, I spent the week with a spectacular group of people (Apparently we are all gangstas now, and I'm a hitman...guess that's what late nights and random people get you, eh?).



And I also spent the week with a spectacular group of artists and bands.  And I think I should tell you all about those bands that I got to see.



First, I will start with the negative aspects of the week.  First, the weather was a problem.  Saturday gave me some massive sunburn.  It doesn't hurt, but yeah...  However, the bigger problem was the rain on Thursday night, which rained out part of the concerts.  In fact, the group of people I was with...we ended up missing the entire main stage that night.  No David Crowder Band, no tobyMac, no Sanctus Real.  Three of the bands that I really wanted to see (Thursday was, in fact, the biggest day of the week for me when I entered the week, and I missed half of it).



So that was one disappointment (Or, I guess, that would actually be four disappointments...throw Day of Fire into the mix, whose Beach Stage show was cancelled on Thursday because of the rain).  There were others throughout the week, and these were from bands I actually saw.  They were, however, expected disappointments.  For example, Wednesday night's main stage was, for the most part, a joke.  Rebecca St. James was boring, both as a speaker and as a singer.  Matt Redman...not a bad show, but I just have difficulty getting into his worship songs.  Kutless was...well, Kutless.  And yes, that is a problem.  MercyMe was also disappointing, and it probably didn't help that we left early.  But that's moreso because of their style of music than because of their actual stage talents.



Saturday also had an expected disappointment, in the form of Hawk Nelson.  Now, do not misinterpret what I'm saying here.  Hawk Nelson was a crowd favorite, and they tried to put on a good live show.  Tried is the key word.  Too hard needs to be added to the phrase, however.  These Canadians just tried too hard to impress the crowd with their antics.  Their musical talents and lyrical abilities simply don't impress me enough to make their show any good.



However, most of the week was pretty solid.  As expected, Chris Tomlin put on an excellent worship set Friday night (And he wasn't even the worship band, which gave him a longer set).  Thousand Foot Krutch did some awesome things on Saturday night.  And Relient K rocked the house as Friday's headliner.   And honestly, any band who is going to do an 80's set (Songs included In Love With The 80s (Pink Tux To The Prom), Danger Zone, Take My Breath Away and The Top Gun Theme Song) and, more importantly, do it well...they deserve some props.  Their show was superb, as expected.  They did all the songs that were expected and then some.  And, for those wondering, my thoughts on Relient K's show when I first started this blog last year stand.  When they have a short set, they have to cut out extended portions of songs, such as the slow portions of Be My Escape and I So Hate Consequences.  When you give them plenty of time to do a show, they pull that stuff out, like they did at Alive.



Anberlin impressed as well.  I expected a good show from them, and I was not disappointed.  It was my first time getting to see them live (After about four or five tries this year), and it was well worth it.  I hope to be in the pit next year when they return so that I can even more thoroughly enjoy the show.



And there were many bands and artists that exceeded my expectations.  Seventh Day Slumber was the first band to pull it off on Wednesday afternoon.  The show itself was, well, run-of-the-mill.  Not spectacular, but nothing to scoff at (Their music is solid, so it certainly helps).  However, it was the altar call led by SDS's lead singer that took the show higher.  His testimony was amazing.  They even skipped the last song (Presumably Oceans From The Rain) because the testimony just kept going, and the altar call kept extending.  It was a very touching moment.



Thursday brought some great surprises too.  Bradley Hathaway.   I'm not going to lie.  I had some preconceived notions about this guy.  Just based on his looks, I pegged him as your everyday pop singer the likes of a boy band.  On the contrary, he now had me getting his book/CD special ordered when I returned home, because he was just that good.  Poetry.  That's what he did.  And good poetry.  Great poetry, in fact.  The right mixture of humor, offensiveness and serious thoughts.  It was truly impressive.  and Manly Man and The Hug Poem have become two of my favorite tracks to play the past few days since coming home.



Likewise on Thursday, Project 86 went above and beyond my expectations.  And believe me, though this was my first time seeing them, my expectations were extremely high.  Somehow, they managed to outdo those expectations.  They started the show in extreme heat.  By the end, it was torrential downpour (Plus a little hail).  Yet, for those of us who stayed the whole time, in our completely soaked clothing from head to toe, it was absolutely worth it.  And I do say that for everyone who ended up in the crowd jumping around (I don't think my friends enjoyed the show quite as much as I did...but they were sitting in the back, so, you know...).



The Afters also impressed me, at least mildly.  Their show on Friday was better than expected.  I do find myself enjoying a couple of their songs now.  That being said, I still can't stand their hit, Beautiful Love.  It just bores me.



Saturday brought the most surprises of the week.  Five different bands who exceeded my expectations (Assuming I even had expectations for them).  First off was Manafest.  I didn't expect too much.  But he did well, and put himself over the top with his freestyle section.  Trident, brown shirts, cell phones, and anything else people could find to hold up...he used them all in his freestyle.



Right after Manafest came The Fold.  And it was a solid show put forth by the band members.  They have pretty solid music, and that really managed to shine through in the show.  Family Force 5 was next, and they drew the biggest crowd of the week that wasn't at the main stage.  And after seeing the show, there is no doubt why.  These guys simply put on a great live show.  I mean, it is to expected if you've heard their music.  But really, it was just spectacular and beyond description.  When you have a roadie who is so involved in your show that he is on stage with you for most of the show...you know it's high energy stuff.



Right after FF5, one of the Artist Ovation winners made an appearance.  Mile Seven played to a crowd of no more than 30 (A crowd they claimed as "one tenth" the size of Family Force 5, saying the people needed to be just as loud as that last crowd...really, it was less than one tenth of FF5's size, but that's beside the point).  But they were good.  They did some truly solid music, and it was easy to see why they were one of the bands that won a spot on stage during the week.



Saturday's biggest surprise for me (And really, the biggest surprise of the wek), however, was Audio Adrenaline's final Alive performance.  I had very low expectations of this show.  I haven't liked their music since Underdog in 1998, and with Mark's vocals just going to trash, it was hard to imagine an enjoyable show.  Yet it became a truly great event.  They stuck to most of the older stuff, which made it possible for me to enjoy the show at all.  And yes, Mark's vocals were shot.  They made up for it with a lot of crowd participation and use of Tyler's vocals throughout the night.  And they did some of my favorite tracks that I was not expecting to hear, such as Chevette and We're A Band.  It truly was an impressive performance.



My overall thoughts on the week are as follows: There are more than a few main stagers that I would like to see not come back next year.  There are a lot of Beach Stage acts that I would like to see main stage it next year.  And there are some artists that should get to headline next year (Can you imagine a Family Force 5 headlining set?  Or, even better, an Anberlin or Project 86 headlining set?).



The five best shows of the week were as follows:



(Honorable mentions to Bradley Hathaway and Seventh Day Slumber)



#5: Audio Adrenaline.  The farewell-to-Alive show was a once-in-a-lifetime, and I truly am happy to say that I got to see it.  And I really never thought I would say that.



#4: Relient K.  You cannot deny how awesome the live show is that these guys put on.



#3: Anberlin.  Their short set was a very sad thought.  They definitely deserve more time next year to pull out some older stuff (And, by that time next year, stuff from the new CD).



#2: Family Force 5.  Their high-energy attitude towards music gets people going in a very big way.



#1: Project 86, undoubtedly.  As great as all these other shows were, this one simply blew them all out of the water.



So there you have it.  The Alive Festival recap.  If you get the opportunity, go next year for the 20th anniversary spectacle.  If this year's any indication, it's going to be well worth it.
]]> Wed, 28 Jun 2006 04:03:14 GMT <![CDATA["Christian" Bands...The Definition Widens]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=4 Relient K and Switchfoot have faced backlash from the Christian market since going mainstream.  It hasn't hurt sales a bit, but the disapproval is there.  Some people simply believe that the Christian market should be kept out of the mainstream (I don't know, maybe they think it's a separation of church and state thing...).



My question is: where are these people when mainstream bands go Christian?  Look, do not get me wrong at all.  I love to see mainstream artists go Christian...as long as they're really "going Christian."  For example, former Korn bassist Brian "Head" Welch radically changed his ways, and it was a great thing to see.



But there are three recent things that have caught my eye.  First off, the last issue of CCM Magazine I purchased (It was either April or May, I'm not sure) had some 2005 sales figures for the Christian market, showing gold and platinum albums and singles.  Most of them were not surprising, but one artist/disc appeared that I was shocked to see on the list: Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends.  Strange, no?  Taking Back Sunday, to the best of my knowledge, is definitely not a Christian band, nor have they ever professed to be.



Now, it's gotten a bit stranger in the past two days, when I saw two singles that are headed to Christian radio.  The first was Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.  This one was mildly surprising but didn't necessarily shock me, mainly because I don't listen to her stuff, so I can't say that her stuff is "Unchristian" (On the contrary, Unwritten has a very spiritual side to it if you pay attention the lyrics).  It is a bit strange though.



But the one that really confused me is...Hawthorne Heights.  Yes, Hawthorne Heights.  Their new single, Pens And Needles, is not only going for adds at mainstream rock and alternative stations, but it also heads to Christian radio on June 12.  Now look, don't get me wrong.  I don't have a problem with Hawthorne.  In fact, I own the disc, If Only You Were Lonely.  But a band who sings things like, Cut my wrists and black my eyes...it seems very...wrong, for lack of a better word, to see them at Christian radio.  Now, I suppose that it's possible that from the debut disc to the sophomore release, Hawthorne band members had a huge change of heart.  But, based on the lyrics, I don't believe that to be the case.



If the Christian arena feels the need to embrace mainstream artists, I am okay with that.  Just choose the right bands.  For example, a band like Thrice would be a welcome addition to the Christian radio scene.  No, the band is not "Christian" by name...in fact, not all the members are even Christian.  But the songs they sing are deeper then 98.9 percent of Christian music out there right now...on the spiritual level!  This is stuff that everyone relates to, but it takes on stronger meaning for Christians, if they'd only pay attention.


]]> Wed, 07 Jun 2006 03:24:14 GMT <![CDATA[The Latest Music Video Trend]]> http://www.geocities.com/jabthejesusfreak/MusicallyInspired.html?p=3 The music industry follow trends.  We know that.  When someone from a specific genre hits it big, everyone in that genre follows suit and blows up.  It's the reason that CHR/Pop radio stations are so fickle in what they play.  Hip hop is the fad one year, alternative the next, rock/pop the next, and so on and so on.



Music videos also tend to follow trends.  This latest one is a rather annoying one.  It began with The All-American Rejects' video for Move Along.  And already you know what the trend is that I'm talking about.  The constant change in outfit in that video was...unique.  And it seemed to fit with the message of the song, that, no matter what the circumstance (i.e. no matter what your life may look like...different lives represented by different outfits/environments)...move along.  It's definitely not my favorite video in the world, but I enjoy the song.  And I liked that the outfit changes came, consistently, on the beat..



Then came Yellowcard's Rough Landing, Holly.  The same concept.  And, being that it was an idea I wasn't huge on in the first place, seeing it again so soon was a bit annoying.  But the boiling point came with country star Billy Currington's latest video, Why, Why, Why.  It's poorly disguised as a different idea from these first two videos by using full body shots and having Billy in different outfits in different places in the room he's singing in.  But it has nothing to do with the song.  It's basically a way of showing Billy in different clothing, nothing more.  And, look; I get it.  The man is a good-looking man.  Anyone who saw his last video, Must Be Doin' Something Right, knows that.  But this video has no point, except for following a trend.  And this is when music hits a rut and you begin to find a lack of creativity.



Now, at the moment it's only a minor problem.  With bands like Panic! At The Disco following the plot of their songs-turned-videos (I Write Sins Not Tragedies and But It's Better If We Do) and artists like Kelly Clarkson creating unique new videos (The video for Walk Away is not only hilarious, but a completely accurate representation of her fans...man or woman, they're singing along), we should be okay and this should only pose a small problem.  Even with artists like Fall Out Boy recalling the days of old in music video (A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me" certainly bears a striking resemblance to Michael Jackson's Thriller), we can keep the music industry from driving itself into the ground through it's videos.



We already have problems in the creativity of albums that needs to be addressed.  We really don't need to also start addressing that in videos.]]> Thu, 11 May 2006 17:31:23 GMT