I am the news GURU!

Here is my nifty news page, which is guaranteed to be just as accurate as my dubious sources!
Aww, don't worry-- everything on this page is true. Except when it's gossip. :)

Added 1/20/02

Thanks to Nena for calling attention to this article about Thrive.

Added 1/16/02

Inasmuch as the Winter Jam 2002 tour isn't even approaching the west coast, much less hitting southern California, I've been a bit lackadaisical about reporting it. Or maybe that's just my pathetic excuse, but anyway the Newsboys began touring again this month and you can see all the remaining dates here or buy tickets here. Also appearing at some or all of the dates will be NewSong, Michelle Tumes, Brother's Keeper, Phat Chance, Paige, and Freddie Colloca. Thanks much to Sara for sending this picture! Click it to see a larger version.

Now I know you'll all be shocked when I inform you that the release date of Thrive, the Newsboys' new album, has been pushed back again. We're hearing "March 26", and I think they mean it this time. The amazing Zeborg offers this picture of the album cover; however, Shara believes it's just a prototype and the final official album cover will be different. I don't know where she got the info and I'm too busy to email her and ask, but we'll know the truth soon enough. :) Zeborg adds that Steve Taylor produced this album, which is interesting. As all good NB fans know, Steve and Peter Furler co-produced Not Ashamed, Going Public, and Take Me To Your Leader, and wrote most of the lyrics together. Peter then got solo credit for producing Step Up To the Microphone and Love Liberty Disco, doing the songwriting mostly with Phil Joel, though Steve continued to be a friend and collaborator. With Shine: the Hits it was back to Steve; the three new songs on that album were co-written by Steve and Peter. I'm guessing that if Steve produced (or co-produced?) Thrive, then he most likely also had a hand in writing lyrics... which usually means we can expect quirky stuff, "sweeter than a patch of Rogaine hair...." But who knows? The two songs we've already heard from the album are "Joy" and "It Is You", but I don't know how representative they are of the rest of the album. And now I think I'm done chatting for one night.

Added 11/11/01

A little something from Jesus Freak Hideout... thanks to Nena for pointing it out:

If you think you might have heard music by the Newsboys at any point during the World Series games, you're probably right. It has been reported, and heard live on TV first hand, that clips of Newsboys' songs "Take Me To Your Leader" and "Step Up to the Microphone" were played while New York Yankees' third baseman Scott Brosius was coming up to bat. Hey, Scott, you guys may have not won the series again, but we gotta give you props on your taste in music! (By the way, we were rooting for the Yanks)

I dunno... it was time for someone else to win... but that is good taste in music. :)

Added 10/28/01

"It Is You", one of the Newsboys' new songs, is being featured on the front page at worshiptogether.com You can download the whole thing or see the sheet music for it at their site. They're raving so much about it that I can't resist quoting them:

We have recently been introduced to an amazing new worship song, It Is You. This song, written by Peter Furler, was the first song recorded on the upcoming Newsboys release (due February 2001) and they've given us permission to offer this free song to our members. We do want to note, however, that this new CD will not be a Worship CD, but this one song is so incredible we feel compelled to make it available to you.

My goodness. Do they love all their featured songs that much? It is wonderful, though-- I've heard the Newsboys play it twice in concert and they filled it with a lot of passion. (And don't believe Peter when he whines about not being a good singer.) You'd better hurry to download the song because I don't know whether worshiptogether.com will keep it up very long.

And speaking of new songs, you can hear Phil's latest by buying the Unshakeable album, released five days ago. :)

Added 10/15/01

Well, all good things must come to an end: Festival Con Dios is over. I myself saw it twice, on September 22 and 23, and it rocked my socks off! Peter has talked of plans to make FCD a yearly thing, but I don't know if that will happen, or whether the Newsboys will be involved next year even if it does happen.

Regarding Phil's sophomore solo album, a fan says he told her that it will be released next January or February. If that's true, it'll come out right on top of the Newsboys' new album. Boy, that would be a happy time for Newsboys fans! But I'm not sure it's true; I'm just spreading the rumors. :) I've already told ya'll that one of Phil's new songs is on Unshakeable, a compilation album that's coming out October 23. You can hear a clip of it right now! There's a review of the CD there as well. It's a bit critical of the album as a whole, but favorable to Phil.

Still speaking of Phil, it seems the long hair and wild clothes and earrings just weren't enough for him anymore. So he went and had his nose pierced a few weeks ago. Becca has provided us with photographic proof. (Right nostril. Look closely.)

And not to let Phil hog all the attention, but... his daughter Phynley turned one year old today. Aww...

Added 9/15/01

The fall leg of the Festival Con Dios tour started up on September 13, more or less as planned, with a show in Ohio (which is within driving distance of Nashville, fortunately). They were in Indianapolis on the 14th, and you can read MelPel's review of that show here. Half the Supertones are stranded in California because of the airline groundings, but I hear that things are going well anyway. Some members of Audio Adrenaline are filling in for the missing guys, and the resulting hybrid band calls itself "The Ertones".

Beth tells us that the show in Minnesota on the 17th has been cancelled, but so far that's the only cancellation that I know of. In fact, FCD will be helping to raise money for families of the rescue workers who died in New York. You can read about that here. (Thanks to Nena for pointing out that story for us.)

And finally, Jody is not playing solo at FCD. *sniff* Though of course he will be playing with the Newsboys.

In other random news, The Phantom Tollbooth reviewed FCD some time ago. I won't link to the review because I didn't like the reviewer's snippy tone. However, I can't resist quoting what he said about the Newsboys-- even he couldn't find anything wrong with 'em:

Their hour-plus set was well paced, booming and appreciated. Vocalist Peter Furler is a compelling figure; tall, imposing, hairless, and dressed in black and red. Furler shared the frontman and mic duties with longtime Newsboy, "he of much hair," Phil Joel, who seems to have moved over to bass guitar. The Newsboys filled the last hour of the festival with their alternative pop hits, and once again proved to be deserving youth group faves.

Very nice, but why is everyone confused about Phil these days? He's been the Newsboys' bassist ever since he joined!

I am officially clueless concerning the release date of Phil's sophomore solo project, but I do know that you'll be able to hear at least one of his songs by next month. A compilation CD called Unshakeable is releasing on October 23, and Phil recorded the title track. :)

Added 8/14/01

Some news from the messageboards. :) dc recently posted on ccmbuzz about the Newsboys' new album, which was scheduled to come out towards the end of this year:

it's not official news yet...
but, I think the album release date has been pushed back to February..
the guys kinda are thinking this album is by far the best they have ever made, so instead of just throwing it out like they usually do, they have allowed sparrow etc to do a large prerelease advertising campaign for the album..
the good news I guess is that you will probably hear the first single well before then..

So it's "by far the best they have ever made," huh? I can't wait to hear this record! ...But I guess I'll have to for another six months. :P For those who don't know, Sparrow is the Newsboys' record company.

Speaking of new albums, we have yet more unofficial news. A fan called Mother got to meet Phil a week ago and posted about it on ccmchat:

I asked him if he could tell me anything about the album that he is working on right now. He thought for a minute. He said that he didn't think that any songs from the album would make it on the radio. That wasn't why he made it. He said he wrote these songs for his friends and for people and not really for the radio. He wanted to write songs that non-Christians could understand. He said that some of the sounds would carry over from his first record, but it would have its own style too. He told me the name of 2 songs that he new would be on the album for sure. One was called Adore and I think the other one was Return. It was either Turn or Return, and I can't remember which he said...

Last I heard, Phil's album was still scheduled to release sometime this November, but we shall see... release dates always seem to get pushed back.

And the wait is finally over for the Peter Furler interview. Members of ccmbuzz came up with the questions and voted on the ones they most wanted to ask Peter. He gave a rather honest interview; much more interesting than the usual sanitized articles you see...

Added 7/29/01

I've got lots of news for once, so let's get started. :) First, Peter's label Inpop has signed a new-- or rather, a very old-- band called Petra! They'll be recording their third praise album, probably called "Revival", and it's set to release in November. At least, this is what I hear. There have been no official announcements yet but I think inpop.com will have something on it soon. In the meantime, if you're interested in Petra, you can read this very informative interview with John Schlitt, the lead singer. It's from early this year when the band was still looking for a record deal, and he talks a bit about Inpop. (If that link still isn't working, go here instead.) You can also check out the messageboard at thepetrazone.com, where diehard fans might be willing to fill you in.

The August issue of CCM Magazine reviews the Festival Con Dios tour, calling it "a production that shatters the paradigm" and "definitely like nothing you've ever seen". The review also gushes over our favorite band: "Arguably the best live show in Christian music, Newsboys played an unforgettable hour-long set." You know it, babe! I can't wait to see this show myself!

However, there's a bit of sad news for those of us who are looking forward to FCD... I'm told that there will not be any backstage access for the fans on the fall leg of tour. The only folks with passes will be the artists, their families, and the media. Fans were able to wander pretty freely on the spring part of the tour, but the crowds got to be such a problem that the artists were left feeling mobbed and trapped on their buses. So no more of that, and I certainly don't blame the artists for trying to save their sanity. But to all you fans who saw FCD in the spring-- thanks a LOT!

Oh, I'm not mad. :P At the spring dates a lot of the artists came out by the merchandise tables to talk to their fans, so hopefully they'll keep doing that at least.... Thanks to Eanah for bringing the news!

Finally, you all remember that Kevin Mills, who was Phil Joel's predecessor in the Newsboys, died last December in a motorcycle crash.... At the time it was hard to find any details about what happened, but a few days ago I came across this article from a Louisville local paper that has more information.

Added 7/21/01

When I don't have any news, I like to point out new pictures instead. :) So... you can see some shots from FCD, as well as older pictures of the Newsboys, at this page on the christianconcerts.com website.

And someone posted some nice pictures of a concert Phil gave last week on this thread at the ccmbuzz boards.

Knock yourselves out. :)

Added 7/11/01

The July 16 issue of Newsweek dedicated its cover story to Christian rock, and I must give them credit-- they sent their reporters to do research at Festival Con Dios! There are lots of pictures from FCD in the article, including this one of our beloved Newsboys. (Click on it to get the larger versions.) You can read the whole article for yourself here. I thought it was pretty good, although the writer couldn't resist a few bad Christian puns. Peter Furler was interviewed for it. And check out my favorite quote:

And groupies? Out of the question. In fact, some band members even bring their wives. The closest thing to rock debauchery is girls gazing dreamily up at Newsboys' barefoot guitarist with his shoulder-length blond locks and flowing, gauzy garb.

I'm pretty sure Jody's hair is still short and brown, so Newsweek must mean Phil. Their reporter was obviously too besotted with him herself to notice that the instrument he plays is a bass, not a guitar. :)

For some reporting on FCD that's lower-profile but possibly more accurate, go to this page from the About Guide to Christian Music. There's a good article, lots of pictures, and a long interview with Peter about the festival. (Just once I'd like to see Jody give the interviews...)

The news section finally got to be too long for one page. :) It's been split in two, and you can find the second page right here.

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