SPRING BREAK!

Here's a pic of Kelli and I at St. Pete Beach last week in Florida. We had a pretty sweet hotel room with a balcony right on the Gulf. During the day Kelli gave me swim lessons because I really suck at swimming. It was a little embarassing being a grown man and everything but at the same time I don't want to drown when we go to St. Lucia this summer for our honeymoon. That would be a little worse. My favorite part of the week was when we ate at Levrocks, Leverocks, something like that. It was a seafood place. Kelli got the King Crab Legs which were freaking huge! I've never seen her more determined or focused in my life. Once those legs got there she didn't talk or even look at us, she went right to work. Nice focus Kelli. Well done. Although we promised ourselves we wouldn't see comedy outside of New York City after we saw a horrible show in Peoria we broke our own rule and saw Tom dang it, what was his name??? Anyway, he was a young dude and very funny.

On a music note (of course) I am hooked on these songs this week. I know there will be a lot of people who say to me, "well i've never heard of any of these guys." And all I have to say to you is, "listen to them then and give them a shot." Download Now:

Rocky Votolato - I'll Catch You
Iron & Wine - Jezebel
Jimmy Eat World - Work
Josh Rouse - Sad Eyes
Yo La Tengo - Tears Are In Your Eyes
Bell X1 - In Every Sunflower

A Few Good Releases

Tomorrow The Decemberists new album Picaresque comes out which i'm pretty excited about. Maybe I'll go to Virgin Records at midnight and pick it up. I guess that would be pretty dorky though huh? I'm excited to hear it, it got a ***1/2 in Rolling Stone. Not bad, but i guess Rolling Stone isn't as credible as it used to be. It's more of a political magazine than a music magazine.

In other news Yo La Tengo's new cd Prisoners of Love comes out tomorrow too so i will be excited to give that a listen.

Next week is a crazy release Tuesday. Here's what's coming out:
-Beck - Guero
-Glen Phillips - Winter Pay for Summer
-Mae - Everglow
-The Bravery - Bravery
-Damien Jurado - On My Way to Absence
-Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
-Album Leaf - Seal Beach EP

I'm excited to hear all of that. I'm not a huge Beck fan to be honest, loved his last CD because it was really sad but not really into his normal stuff.

On a side note, i've been listening to Jimmy Eat World Futures again and it is one freakin awesome cd. Wow!

Save Toby!

If you haven't checked it out already i would suggest going to www.savetoby.com

Absolutely hilarious. Don't forget to read the hate mail under the updates section.

By the way, i think i'm the only one in the country to pick:
-West Virginia beating Wake Forest
-Wisc. Milwaukee beating Alabama.
-NC State beating UCONN

I'M GOING TO WIN!

Sugarcult - Irving Plaza

Saw the Take Action Tour tonight with Sugarcult and Anberlin. It was a good show. Thankfully my friend Brian (formerly with a band the Fizzy Bangers) used to play with Marco from Sugarcult so we always get to get in free and hang out back stage. Anberlin started out a bit shaky but ended strong. I think it was more sound problems than their fault. Hawthorne Heights played after Anberlin and I thought it was awful. Those guys suck so bad. I have no idea how these crappy bands make it. Horrible.

I love seeing Marco play because you can tell that even after all these years he still loves it. The way he talks before the show you know he's excited to be there. You can tell they really love playing. There's nothing worse than seeing a band get up and they seem like they're pissed to having to be playing that night.
They love partying too apparently, last time Brian and I ended up carrying Tim (lead singer) to the tour bus because he couldn't walk after the show. That was when they played with MXPX and Sucky I mean Simple Plan. Ok, off to Florida.

Travels with Dusty (Clever Steinbeck Reference)

Ok, it wasn't a great reference, so what? Huh? Well?

This is where i'll be leaving for on Friday! WOOHOO! I can't wait to be laying my white out of shape body on the beach next week. It's so freaking cold here right now. It's going to be awesome. Remember, just because you're out of college doesn't mean you don't get a Spring Break.

In music news my favorite song this week is by a band called Bell X1. The song is called In Every Sunflower. I heard it on the OC last week on Episode 14 (yes i watch it regularly) and it's been in my head this whole week. It's a beautiful song. I highly recommend downloading it.

I was also reminded this week that Something Corporate really sucks, really really bad, horribly bad, really bad. I think that's all I have to say.

Clem Snide Live @ Bowery Ballroom

Last night Kelli and I saw Clem Snide at my favorite venue in New York. The two opening acts kind of tired us out. Archer Prewitt and the dude from Apples In Stereo. I was soooo bored. The worst part was they each played for about an hour! Usually opening acts play about 5 or 6 songs but that didn't work out for us.

Clem Snide on the other hand was awesome. They came out in white tuxedos with their "animal spirits" embroidered on the back. They sounded great live and played some interesting instruments. The coolest was the banjo that the guitarist played with a violin "thing" what are those things called? Anyway, he had some cool effects on his banjo that as he strummed it sounded like an incredible electric guitar.

On thing the lead singer Eef said during the show was that Jane reviewed their new CD End of Love and said at the end that they were Christians. I can understand because there are a lot of religious symbols and language in their music. Then he went on to say, "but would Christians play a song like this?" The song they were talking about is a good song, the chorus goes, "now that I'm found, I miss being lost." At the end he says, "Now that I'm saved I wish I were damned." It's an interesting song, you should give it a listen. The song is called, "Jews for Jesus Blues."

The only disappointment was that they didn't play for all that long. They seemed pretty tired. I didn't get to hear "African Queen", "All Green", or "I Love The Unknown." That was kind of a downer but what we did hear was great.

BPC

Today I helped Ryan, our new teamate at Forefront move in over at Stuyvesantown and tried to start a snowball fight with a group of teenagers. Everyone hates moving but I thought things went pretty smooth. Didn't seem too tough. Tonight I helped set up at Mosaic and then walked over to Picassos Pizza afterwards to grab a slice. I miss Picassos. I haven't really been over there since I moved in August. I took a walk afterwards around Battery Park City. It was a nice night and it was very peaceful, not many people around. I feel like it's a lot easier to pray and walk when it is that quiet. I need that quiet once in a while being in this city so it is nice to get down there and walk around. This picture is right about where I was walking. I lived about a block from that for two years. I enjoy where I live now in the East Village but it was fun living in BPC as well and I had two great years there. It will always be the first place I lived in New York and the first place I moved to be completely on my own. What a great starting point.

On a similar note, it's starting to feel a little more like spring everyday. It's still cold but there's something you can just feel that lets you know that spring is coming. I CAN'T WAIT. I'm so excited for spring. The city really comes alive again! WOOHOO.

Oscars in perspective

The Emmy-winning comedian has taken some heat for an Entertainment Weekly interview in which he called the notion of giving awards for art "idiotic" and added: "what straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars?"

But he offered Leno some toned-down criticism of Oscar hype.

"The awards don't really affect anybody's lives in the crowd," Rock said. "Meanwhile, the Nobel Peace Prize, there's no one there. Nobody cares what the scientists are wearing. What are you wearing Professor Allen? 'Pants!'"

Rock, asked if he was rooting for anyone to win, said he would favor Don Cheadle, who is up for best actor for his role in "Hotel Rwanda."

"I like it if the award will affect the person's life," Rock said. "If he wins, he's gonna get better scripts, he's gonna work with better directors."

And he had some advice for acceptance speeches.
"Don't thank God," Rock said. "God's busy working on the tsunami, so leave him alone."

Good point Chris. I'm thankful that someone has the courage to point out the vanity of these fashion nights where people walk down a red carpet and reporters pretend like they care about what someone is wearing. How tiring.

A Brush With a Furry Death

A few moments ago, I just got back from working out and was sitting typing on my computer. All of the sudden I heard this horrible noise to the right of me. I looked over and saw a black squirrel inside my apartment. I have no screen on my window so he was inside sitting on my window ledge. My immediate response was obviously to swear and then after that I sat completely still as he looked me over judging my size and quickness. I have to admit that I was afraid but did not want to show my fear. I could only pray this squirrel would not see me shaking or he might feel free to attack. Fortunately for me he took one last look and then ran away and right at that moment I ran as fast as I could to my window and slammed it shut. My heart is still pounding. Who knows what could have happened had he jumped down and hit the floor. It could have all been over for me.

On The Road

This weekend Kelli and I drove down toward Philadelphia (our first road trip) because I was invited to open up for Phil Di Tomasso, a comic from Brooklyn at the Collegeville Inn. The turnout was certainly a great surprise, there ended up being 250 people show up for the show. I emceed the event, gave out some door prizes and then had a 15 minute set to open for Phil.

The show went ok, the last 7 minutes were better than the first. There was some weak material in the first half but the audience wasn't necessarily what I am used to either. It was people mostly in their 30's - 50's. Normally I perform to people in their 20's to early 30's so it's hard to adjust to that. Why did I think they would know who 50 Cent would be? I made a few pretty obvious mistakes but pulled it together for the last half. I felt like I ended strong and that's the most important thing. Overall it was a good night but very tiring. It just wore me out for some reason. I'm not sure why.

Talking with Phil was good, he's been doing comedy for 15 years and started out doing the same type of shows I'm doing at Gotham Comedy Club and Carolines and stuff so he gave me some good critique and encouragement.

I went to Christ's Church of the Valley the next day. I have wanted to visit for a while. They meet in a movie theatre so right away as you walk in you feel comfortable because it's a familiar atmosphere. I have visited some churches lately that I haven't been real fond of or felt like it was just way too fake and because of that I'm always a little cynical visiting a new church but I have to say, I really enjoyed CCV. For the first time in a while visiting a church I felt like they helped me to worship God. I was able to sing because you could tell the worship leader wasn't trying to put on a show. There band was good but they weren't trying to be flashly or put on a production which I found refreshing. Brian Jones' message was helpful and proved that he really knew the people in his community very well. Sunday was a great experience. When I left I told Kelli, "if i lived here, i would definitely be involved here." Thank God for good churches where anyone can come and belong.

Music Pick of the Week

I have been listening to Clem Snide's EP "Moment in the Sun." I didn't realize that was last seasons theme song to the TV Show ED. Weird.

Clem's new CD comes out on Feb. 22nd and is entitled End of Love. Kelli and I are going to see them at Bowery Ballroom in the beginning of March so I'm pumped about that. I really like their music, it's hard to put them in a category. The title track of this EP is playing on my music player so check it out. Well, do you like it? Do you not like it? Really?

Tonight Kelli is coming in town. I've got Theology Pub at 7:30 for happy hour and then I am going to come home to cook Chili for when she gets here so she doesn't starve. The last time I made chili i forgot to drain the meat and it was all greasy and made me sick. Oops.

Today Brian and I went to a place by Tompkins Square Park called Coffee and Computers or Alt.Coffee or something. It has some couches and tables and free wireless. It was cool but everyone in there are hippies. They are way cooler than we are. I think I heard a record scratch when I walked in. They played Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Weezer - Pinkerton while I was sitting there so i think i have found a new place to hang out. Beats the crap music at Starbucks and the Frappucino's that are 5 dollars although i still love you caramel frappucino. Don't think I've forgotten all we've had together if you are reading this.

Super Bowls and Birthdays

The Super Bowl was a much better game than I thought it would be last night. I couldn't believe it was that close. I was glad to see NE win however. I'm not a big T.O. fan and definitely not a Freddie Mitchell fan after the dumb things he said. "I've got something for you on Sunday Harrison." I guess he was talking about that one 11 yard catch he had. I'm not for sure.

Today is my birthday. I'm the big 25 today. Wow, 30 is right around the corner. That's sad. I almost forgot about my birthday until Kelli reminded me in the early morning hours. Not really doing anything special. Woke up late, went and worked out, picked up a package at the post office and have just been doing some work at home. Exciting birthday. Just another day I guess. Can we celebrate it when you get here Kelli? What about Thursday? What should we do?

I've got this new poll thing on my sidebar. It's a cool free thing but I think when you visit my blog now you get some pop ups. That's dumb. After reading Kirk's blog today I took his suggestion and have been having a Counting Crows marathon. Man, i almost forgot how good August and Everything After and Recovering the Satellites were. I hope they create a record like that again. I think it's really gone downhill since Satellites.

Easy Prediction - Illinois is going to run the table. Only four more games to win. Wisconsin being the toughest one but it's at Illinois. They should pull it out unless something crazy happens.

www.shipoffools.com

www.shipoffools.com

I Gave It a Shot

Albums I listened to this week that I quickly deleted:

Mojave3 - Boooooooooring. I just don't like Brit Pop which will explain the rest of these too. I find BritPop's vocals are very monotonous and tiresome and the guitar effects are all the same.

Supergrass - Same complaint with the monotonous vocals and rhythms, almost put me to sleep.

Trembling Blue Stars - Is this the same band as Mojave3??? Well, it should be.

Clinic - Music is not bad but the dude's voice is terrible. Plus you have to question a band that dresses in scrubs for every show. I think they are taking the theme a little too far.

Bands I've listened to lately that I've enjoyed:

The Long Winters - Saw these guys open for The Decemberists and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Clem Snide - Creative, funny at times, song writing. Some nice twang once in a while. I really enjoy the smoothness of it.

Sleep Station - As close to boring BritPop that I'll get.

The Black Keys - As my friend Kurt says, "they're a 60's rip off band but they're good at it."

Corporate Rock Song I Can't Get Enough Of: Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams
I can't get it out of my head. DARN THAT TRL!

Life Aquatic

I watched the Life Aquatic with Bill Murray yesterday and was pretty disappointed. It was long and pretty uneventful. Your typical "indie" movie where it is cool to have no plot but just many unconnected events that is supposed to get people to think deep. In other words, it was garbage. There were some funny parts but overall it wasn't worth seeing.

My friend Elvyss dared me to go to the front of the theatre beforehand and talk to everyone for 20 seconds. I went ahead and did it. I welcomed everyone to the theatre, told them what movie we were going to see and told them where they could get refreshments. It was quite an embarassing moment. You should have seen their faces! But I got 20 dollars for the humiliation so it was worth it.

Last night my knee started hurting really so i got up, took some Vikaten and continued to wake up in pain all night long. Today it is a little better but I've just been laying around. Tomorrow I get to go and get the sutures taken out. THANK GOD!!!!! Hopefully that will clear it up!

Friday Breakthrough

Today my knee took a bad turn so I've been literally sitting on my couch all day long watching Seinfeld, writing emails, literally sitting and staring at the ceiling at times. Because of that it's almost like I had a day long silent retreat. I've thought a lot today and realized that I'm really in a preparation stage right now in every aspect of my life. I'm preparing for a new church, preparing for a new marriage, preparing my knee to be strong again....and more stuff that you don't care about. Preparation is a tough position to be in. You don't get to see any fruits, you are just stepping out in faith believing that all of the things you are doing during this time will pay off. It's hard to believe that sometimes.

I can't wait until Spring! By spring my knee will be fully rehabilitated, we'll have a lot of wedding stuff done, we'll be meeting for church! So much will happen in the Spring! It's tough right now not seeing anything happen but just waiting. Waiting sucks! I read one of my favorite passages tonight and it encouraged me.

"Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run wiht perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it's shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Heb. 12:1-3

It's clear that during this waiting period that there needs to be a focus. This time is a great opportunity to prepare myself for what I have ahead in every aspect, spiritually, emotionally, physically. I don't want to look back on this time knowing that I wasted it and I am the same person that I was before. God help me.

3 Releases for 2005!!!!!

Just saw on Ryan Adams website that he has three albums being released this year, one of which is a double album! Oh my word! And he's touring all year! I can't wait to hear it. They come out in April. How much does this guy record????

The first album is called 29,
the second is Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cold Roses (double LP),
and the third is called Jacksonville.

Looks like he might return to some of his alt-country roots. That would be awesome. Still waiting for a Whiskeytown Reunion although that doesn't look like it's going to happen. I also found out tonight that Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst lives two blocks from me. Kurt saw him the other day walking around and it turns out he lives off of Tompkins Square Park two blocks south of me. I guess I'll see him around the hood. Weird. Ryan Adams lives over here somewhere too but I haven't seen him. He used to play at the bar I hang out at called The Lakeside Lounge a lot but hasn't for some time now that's he a big guy.

20-0

Somebody back off the Reverend!

Scary game for Illinois tonight. Didn't look like they were going to pull it out. They can really turn it on in the end. I think they have everything they need to win a championship. They might just run the board but it might be better to get a loss before tournament time. I hope Duke loses soon. Who cares about Boston College.

GO ILLINI!

Colin Meloy - The Decemberists

Tonight Kelli and I went to a small club called the Fez to see Colin Meloy (lead singer of the Decemberists) play. It was a tiny little bar. There were probably only 75 people there total due to the enormous snowstorm. It was an absolutely amazing concert. I am speechless with how good it was. He played a bunch of stuff off of Cutouts and Castaways, a few Morrissey covers and about three songs off of their first EP which I LOVE! When we were waiting in line to get in Colin walked by us and I didn't even notice until Kelli said, "hey is that him?" That's why I don't see anyone famous, because I don't pay attention. I'm stupid. But he was there, right by us. So I jumped on him and kissed him all over which was weird for even me.

Anyway, after they drug me off of him, he played a great, long set! Unfortunately before Colin Meloy was the girl from the band the Places which sucked big time. It was horrible. I can't imagine anyone in there really enjoying that show. The girl across from us wrote down Colin's set list probably to put on her blog. What a freaking nerd. I wouldn't even do that. Although he did play California One, I Dreamt I Was An Architect, Shiny, Apology Song, My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist and three songs that will be on the new album which comes out on March 22nd. Maybe I am just as much of a nerd. Darn.

To get to the concert we had to walk through about 2 feet of fresh snow on the ground. They are calling it Blizzard 2005. The news is always a little dramatic. On the way back from the concert I tackled Kelli about 5 times on the street. It was fun. I let her take me down once to make her feel better about being soaked with snow. And then we made out. By the way, the Decemberists are touring with Okkervil River this spring. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I can't wait to see it. Man I'm a nerd.

It was an excellent evening.

Colder than a mother.....................

Tonight Kelli and I walked to an Italian restaurant to have dinner with Brad and Noelle (we're doing counseling with them) and I cannot believe how cold it is outside. HOW DEPRESSING! I can't wait until Spring already. Afterwards we walked over to the Lakeside Lounge where The Damnwells were playing. It's a tiny little room so we were disappointed that they were done by the time we got there. At that point Kelli and I just went to a little Spanish Bar to have some Sangria and came home to watch Battle of the Sexes on MTV. Go BOYS!

You didn't ask but I'm going to tell you.
I'm reading.....The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Awesome)
I'm listening to......Clem Snide, The Long Winters (thanks to Adam), Green Day, Old 97's.
Concerts I'm going to see.......Colin Meloy(from the Decemberists), Clem Snide, The Honorary Title, and Lucero.

So is it spring yet? Is it? Well? Is it yet? What about now? Darn.

Surgery

I had knee surgery for the second time in two years this Friday. The dude that did my surgery is the surgeon for the New York Knicks and traveled with the Olympic team this year. He was rated one of the best knee surgeons in the country so that really made me feel good about it. The last surgeon just kind of gave me a temporary solution which I didn't know at the time.

Anyway, i've just been laying around and am starting to go stir crazy. Kelli is here taking care of me so we've played Scrabble, Upwords, and watched a lot of TV. We watched Collateral the other night. Kind of a disturbing film but enjoyable. I watched my first episode of Dawson's Creek and the Gilmore Girls. We've been trying to decide on our honeymoon location which we have. We're going to.....

St. Lucia. We really love the island because of the volcanos, mountains, rainforests, sulfur springs, botanical gardens, and great resorts. It's a beautiful island and has the best of everything as far as nature goes. Now we just have to decide on a resort.

College Student Stops Kissing Dating Good-Bye

RICHMOND — Neil Granger, 19, took author Joshua Harris' advice and stopped kissing dating good-bye after reading the book of the same title.

"It sounded good at the time," he said. "I liked the purity thing."
But six months later, he's burned out on chastity and says he's kissing dating hello again.

"Two words: bodacious babery," he says, referring to the attractive women at Overland University (formerly Overland Bible and Missionary College).

At Overland, as with most Christian colleges, female students outnumber male students by about 8 to 1. Granger says Harris' book was getting in the way of finding a "terrific little Christian tart" to hang on his arm on Friday nights.

"You cannot imagine how little action you get when you're not dating," he says. "Harris must have had superhuman will power." Granger says he is very much enjoying his new kissing career, and that his whole life has improved, except for his grades. He is also holding to certain dating standards. "I keep it above the neck, like my dad says," he says. "I'm an ear man. I play it like a violin and make them squirm."•

Oh man, that's hilarious. Thanks www.larknews.com I love you!

Clubs, Bars and Coffeehouses.

In Matthew Turner's book, "The Coffeehouse Gospel" he says "It's a Christ followers ultimate goal to reach out to those who do not know the loving-kindness of God. Yet in many ministry organizations, fraternities, and churches, they expect people to come to the safety of their environment to learn about Christ or hang out with those who do know Him. Unfortunately, we Christians have become experts at creating clean and safe surrounding for ourselves, but in the process, some of us have lost the true ideals of the Great Commission. "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." The Bible doesn't say, "Let all the sinners come to our little world of traditional religion so we can preach the hell out of them."

This is what part of my chapter was about in The Relevant Church (which by the way is #142727 on the sales chart). That's not good is it? Anyway, i feel very similarly about this issue of evangelicals trying to create an event where we feel safe and secure and try to get pre-believers out of their comfort zone when God has called us to be the ones to go and be out of our comfort zone. I've found myself in some pretty weird places and some very uncomfortable situations in the last three years but I've learned to realize that this is part of God's plan! He wants us to spend time with people! All kinds of people even if it does make us uncomfortable. It's so easy to get in the habit of being selfish (but I want to remain pure and untainted) rather than selfless (i'm not sure i'm comfortable here but this is a great opportunity to build relationships with people who need God's love).

Theology Pub and Church Names

I'm excited because Theology Pub will start this upcoming week. My boyz Kurt, Todd and Brad will be joining me in the beginning. I'm hoping we get some more people to hang out and talk theology over a couple of full pints of Guiness. Man, there is nothing more fun than that! Still trying to find the right bar to meet in. It's tough in the East Village because most bars are so noisy over here with bands playing and stuff. Plus we want there to be an array of beers on tap. I'm pretty picky. I'm hoping to do something specific that will be relevant right now. I'm thinking reading and talking about Mark Driscoll's book The Radical Reformission will do some good right now with the new church plant that will be taking place since these guys will be leaders.

Brian Moll and I met today at Starbucks (our office) and talked about names for the new church here in Stuyvesantown. Let me know if you have any suggestions for names because it's a toughy. So far there are a few we like but nothing jumps out at us so far. In a few days I will post a list of them and you can tell me what you like. Anyway, it's 2:30am and it's about bedtime I guess.

The Big Day 

St. Lucia
Our newest selection. This island is beautiful, complete with rainforest, waterfalls and hidden caves to explore plus plenty of snorkeling. I love this place!

Honeymoon Choices! Too many island to choose from.

Harbour Island - Bahamas
This island has pink sand and was rated number 1 island in the Caribbean by the Travel Channel. At high season there are about 50 people on this beach so it's pretty secluded. The last thing we want is a tourist trap with hundreds of people. That would suck.

Bora Bora
This would be our first choice except that it would cost us about 10,000 dollars total. The overwater bungalos are amazing. They have glass bottoms that light up at night so you can see what is swimming under you. This resort is located in a lagoon formed by coral reef so there is lots of sea life. Oh, maybe for our 5 year anniversary or 10 or maybe 25.

Bermuda
I just don't want to get sucked up by the triangle!

Mr. Nice Guy

I just read Doug Van Pelt's "Rock Stars On God" which was a set of very interesting interviews with several music artists that I enjoy. Alice Coopers interview was shocking as always. Here is what he wrote.

Doug asks, "Well, you have seemingly avoided the Christian celebrity, "Let's get him on the 700 Club mentality." And my question is: Where did you acquire the wisdom to make that astute decision?"

AC replies: "I have been surrounded by guys that are strong Christian guys. A youth pastor, my pastor, and all of them have protected me. They've all said, 'You know, it's great who you are. Be careful of celebrity Christianity.' because it's really easy to use somebody. It's really easy to focus on Alice Cooper and not on Christ. It's so embarrassing in the very beginning, when somebody would say, 'We want you to speak at our youth thing.' And you get there and it says, 'ALICE COOPER' in huge letters, 'speaking about Christ' in small letters. And I'm sitting there going. 'That is blasphemy’ That tells me something right there that something’s wrong. I'm a rock singer. I'm nothing more than that. I'm not a politician; I'm not a philosopher. What I really am is a follower of Christ. My job is rock n roll; my life is dedicated to following Christ. When I go to speak to people, they think I’m going to have some answers. I go, 'I don't have any answers. Please, give me some answers. I can give you what I think. I think that the most important thing that I know is dependence on Christ. That's all I know, is that I have absolutely no answers, and I have no power. I can entertain you, but when it comes to being subject to Christ, I consider myself low on the totem pole of knowledgeable Christians."

I didn't even know Alice Cooper was a Christian (where have I been?) or the fact that he's good friends and golfs with RC Sproule! He's never stops shocking people!

Incredible Animal of the Week

The Tomato Frog - Amazing.

When threatened, the tomato frog inflates its body. If the predator grabs the tomato frog in its mouth, the frog's skin secretes a thick, whitish substance that gums up the predator's teeth and mouth, causing the predator to release the frog to free up its mouth. The gummy substance clears out of predator's mouth after several days; it contains a toxin that occasionally causes allergic reactions in humans.

I saw the frog do this on Animal Planet and it was amazing. The white stuff is exactly like glue. The snake that tries to eat it goes away with it's mouth stuck shut for up to 2 days! More proof that there has to be a God. Nature is way too incredible for their not to be. Scientists should be the greatest theologians in the world.

Great Band Names, Not Great Music

I've been noticing that many bands that have great names have pretty bad music. Here goes:
The Arcade Fire
The Rapture
The Fiery Furnaces

On the other hand you have bands with really bad names who make good music.
Clem Snide
Grandaddy
The Weakerthans

It's a weird phenomenon. It's tough to come up with a good band name. Apparently some bands spend more time coming up with a cool name than on their music.

Christmas Vacation

Only a few more days and I'm outta here! Woohoo! Can't wait to be back in Illinois with my fiance and family and the snow. There's snow there right? Looking at my blog I can see that I've certainly had enough lists for the end of the year. Done with that.

Yesterday was my last official day at Mosaic. I preached yesterday which went alright. The night service was a little rough however because Gregg and Glenn and I were talking about how you could ever use a certain word that I won't disclose in the sermon. So at this point we were laughing quite a bit and in a silly mood. When I was speaking I was at a pretty serious point in the message when I see Gregg standing in the doorway at the back of the auditorium and give me a goofy grin and wave. At this point I start laughing right in the middle of this story and lose everyone. They are all just looking at me like, "What's wrong with this dude?" So I said, "I'm sorry guys, Gregg just made a goofy face and made me laugh" at which point Gregg started rolling around in the hallway on the floor along with Glenn because they were laughing so hard. Oh man, we can't be around each other without laughing. Our prayer meetings always get out of control and now we can't even preach without losing it. Oh, it was a fun last Sunday. I will miss it.

Most Anticipated Releases of 2005

I am hoping this is going to be a better year for music than 04. It was pretty rough. Any year that Franz Ferdinand have the best record and are referred to as the "saviors of rock" you know it's a pretty poor year for music. So anyway, here are the releases that I am looking forward to hearing. In order of my excitement:

Denison Witmer - titled "Are You A Dreamer?" Spring '05
Weezer - Spring '05
Brand New - Currently Recording
The Stills - Sometime 2005
The Postal Service - Not sure but definitely 2005
Counting Crows - please be less produced than Hard Candy! Please???
OK Go - Soon

I'm hoping that on top of these there will be some creative new bands that come out this year that aren't just a copy of what's cool right now. For further discussion on this see my post "I hate the Strokes for doing this to music." Don't try to argue either because I'm right. If you don't believe me then you can just go out, buy a vintage suit and tie, grow your hair out until it's real messy and go play some garage rock.

A Few Unsupported, Subjective Statements

-Oceans Twelve - Sucks Big Time

-People who email me and spell my city Man Hatten - Not too bright.

-Straight Plan for the Gay Man on Comedy Central - Genious

-www.heebmagazine.com - The Jewish Relevant Magazine

-Not being able to think of more than four subjective statements - just as bright as the guy who spelled Manhattan wrong.

Top 5 Concerts of 2004

I don't know why but I love making lists, especially at the end of the year. Every magazine does it and I usually am not satisfied with them. Case in point. Greatest guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone. #9. Jack White. #41. Eric Clapton. #73. Les Paul Are you serious? Jack White? That almost made me puke. Anyway, I'm sure people could care less what the top five concerts I've seen this year are but I'm going to tell you anyway because I write down everyone I see and I've seen 35 bands perform this year! Man, imagine all that money I could have saved right now. Crap. Anyway, here goes:

1. Death Cab For Cutie - Bowery Ballroom
2. The Decemberists - Bowery Ballroom
3. OK Go - Mercury Lounge
4. Ben Folds - Bowery Ballroom (this was cool because it was a private show - WooHoo)
5. Pedro the Lion - Northsix

Honorable Mentions: Blindside - CBGB's

Worst Show of the Year: Starflyer 59 (they played with tracks!)

Anyone see anybody cool this year?

12 Favorite Crows

August and Everything After:
Round Here
Perfect Blue Buildings
Sullivan Street (I think about this every time I walk by Sullivan Street here in the village)
Raining in Baltimore

Recovering the Satellites:
Long December (seriously, is there a more beautiful song out there?)
Walkaways (the best 1 minute song you'll ever hear)
Goodnight Elisabeth
Daylight Fading
Children in Bloom

Hard Candy:
Black and Blue
Holiday in Spain

Across a Wire:
Angels of the Silences (Storytellers)

Notice how many selection are from This Desert Life. Hahahaha.

Out of all of those my favorite Counting Crows song of all time would be......................
Round Here - I was only about 13 when this came out but it made me go, "Whoa, music is powerful". This is one of the songs that really made me get interested (addicted) to music.

Changes

It's weird making a transition in life as we all know by this point. In three weeks I will be done with Mosaic Manhattan and begin work on another church plant that doesn't have a name yet www.manhattanpartnership.org. It's going to be hard to leave. I've been here for almost three years and was the first person on staff with Gregg. Everything the church has been through, i have experienced right along with it. It's hard to think and plan for the next year with the staff knowing that I will not be around to see any of it. I know that this is what needs to happen right now. I've learned a lot in the past 3 years at Mosaic and now I feel like I can be a bigger part of this next church plant being a better leader and having made many mistakes that we will not need to repeat again. It's an exciting time but also kind of a sad time. There have been so many good times here and have had so many laughs with everyone it's going to be hard to say goodbye to all of that.

Dustin's 2004 What The F Award.......

We Have a Winner

Goes to Kings of Leon for their new release Aha Shake Heartbreak. I listened to this album tonight and I don't know what to say. I can honestly say that I liked their first effort Youth and Young Manhood. I thought it was pretty cool but i don't know what this album is all about. I guess I can say i like a few songs but some of these songs sound like....well, just download the song Day Old Blue and I will guarantee you that you will laugh out loud. You might think you like it as it begins. I thought it was good and then the chorus happened and I am speechless. Can't wait to hear your response.

The Radical Reformission

I read Mark Driscoll's book a few weeks ago. This is a thought provoking and laugh out loud book in places. The most impressive aspect is that you can really hear his heart in this book. I think he gets it. I love the whole chapter that precedes this short quote. He's very honest about his own self righteousness right before this section, i hope you get a chance to read the whole thing.

"Self-righteousness has so seeped into American Christianity that being a missionary to one's neighbors is easily overlooked because of the sickness of our faith. How sick are we when the most popular books among American Christians are about how to get blessed by praying a small section of Old Testament Scripture like a pagan mantra, and about the Rapture, as if the goal of the Christian life were to get more junk and leave this trailer park of a planet before God's tornado touches down on all the sinners? Only through repentant eyes will we see that God has a plan, by the power of the gospel of grace, to build a community of transformed people."