The Number 23

The list of my top albums of all time is nearing completion. I boiled it down and could come up with no less than 23 albums for my list. You may call it the Michael Jordan conspiracy if you wish, but in all honesty, I picked 23 because that was Ryne Sandberg's number!

Be out with it in a day or two...

Stupid TV

Sorry, my list of top albums IS coming out, but I was thrown a little off track Tuesday night. The Tuesday night of Valentines I was a bit surprised that Love Monkey wasn't on TV...I thought it maybe got bumped for the week since they had this "great" celebrity love special with Dr. Phil. I was a bit gunshy, though, because of watching "Ed" get yanked around (in relation to its timeslot) before it got cancelled.

So this week I thought I would check up Love Monkey too see what they said about Tuesday night's show. The show still had a site on CBS' web page, but it wasn't listed to play that night...NCIS was listed to air TWICE! So I did some google searching and it turns out Love Monkey is officially "on hiatus," althought CBS has no plans to bring it back. Stinkin, stinkin, stinkin! I was really starting to like Love Monkey...it had Tom Cavanaugh and it was about music!

Stupid CBS and stupid TV. I again have NO reason (besides sports and weather) to watch TV. Apparently, the only shows that can be aired nowadays have to be either law, crime, or reality. Stink.

My own list of music

Some people are amazed by the number of CDs I have (approaching 300, I think.) But really, what is amazing is that I own more than the average person, yet I hardly even scratch the surface of the overall amount of music albums out there. There is just so much music out there. I own some really great albums...and there are some really great albums I don't own. Then there are times when I let a friend borrow a CD...a group or an album that they didn't have a clue about. I enjoy sharing a musical/lyrical experience with someone who otherwise wouldn't have had that experience.

And so...I thought I would make a list of my favorite albums. I thought a Top Ten...but I already have too many for that...so it will be 15 or 20. Just albums that I really enjoy...musically, lyrically, production-wise (I don't think "productionally" is a word, so I used "production-wise.") Each album will have something I really like about it...something that sets it apart from your average, everyday music. My only limits on my list are: 1) that I own it, and 2) that it was an new album and not a greatest hits collection.

I'll start the list on here shortly...and I'll write a little paragraph about each album and why it's good. Wave Review (wavereview03@yahoo.com) is sponsoring my efforts. Wave Review has done some great CD reviews of their own! But when I start unveiling stuff, please tack on your comments and thoughts on the albums. When I'm done, I'll post a list of all of them again, so you can see them all in one place.

She made TV

Deb Remmerde and her record-setting free throw streak made national TV Monday morning. (And that's big news for NW Iowa!) CBS' The Early Show apparently featured her this morning...basically giving her a little interview and then having her shoot free throws the entire show. She made 580 of her 585, including a string of 256 in a row! To say it nicely...crap monkeys! (She has apparently hit 485 in a row in practice once.) Click here for more, including video options.

Something Lighter

I have been following the season of a basketball player from back in NW Iowa...this week she broke an all-time record for all levels of basketball. Deb Remmerde, sophomore at Northwestern College in Orange City IA (my alma mater's main rival), lives basketball. Yes she plays, but she lives it as well. Spends hours a day shooting in the gym. She originally went to the U of Iowa, but transfered out after getting a stress fracture in her foot and missing her family. Anyway, I saw her play in high school and she is amazing.

And this year, as a sophomore at NWC, she just broke all known records by making 133 free throws in a row. The last known record she passed was 126 by a boys HS player from Louisianna in the 1970s. The NBA record is 97. I think Deb missed like four free throws all of her high school career. Great accomplishment. If you want more reading, click here.

Bono on "Christian" music

I read some comments and thoughts from and on Bono today. (Bono being the lead singer of the rock super-group, U2...if you didn't know.) And I was intrigued on what he had to say about "Christian" music, especially since so much of U2's stuff seems quite tinged by Christianity, if not blatant about it. What I found was a blog entry by Jay Swartzendruber, editor of CCM Magazine, after he attended a National Prayer Breakfast which included Bono (and some guy named George Bush.)

Swartzendruber talked with Bono later in a small group session and asked him about his thoughts on the Christian music industry in the light of U2 seeming to make a point to say they are not a "Christian band."

Bono said:
I've never seen why there should be a separation...much of my life I've been asked, 'Why doesn't your music proclaim Christ?' ...It does!...Creation has its own proclamation [of its Creator). I'd like to think our music has had the same qualities to it. When I read scripture, there are no compartments to your life... When I read scripture, these men are wild with a greed for God and mammon.

I loved reading Bono's words about "no compartments to your life." But check out the whole blog Swartzendruber wrote...it's very good, also explaining a lot about Bono's thoughts on AIDS in Africa.

Click here for Swartzendruber's blog.

You can also check out some related articles on U2, Christian music artists, and AIDS...

This one concerns a meeting in Nashville between Bono and CCM leaders and musicians.

This one concerns Jars of Clay's Dan Haseltine and his thoughts after that meeting in Nashville.

An inspiration in art (and radio)

I'd love to make a change in radio. I'd love to find (or start) a station that plays ALL music. Jack FM plays most everything, yes, and that is my favorite thing there. But my dream is a station that plays Christian AND mainstream music all mixed in. Truth be told, I'm not sure why CCM needs its own industry. What makes "Christian music" "Christian"? I'd rather see "Christian" music be vertical, worship music (aka "praise") and the rest be "music" (aka real music about life.) That's side ranting in relation to this blog, but really, how many Christian songs or musicians are out there in mainstream music? More than we realize, I'm guessing.

Anyway, I want a station that plays ALL music. And now I'm even more focused on WHY. I found a journal entry from Warren Bazemore (from Silers Bald) saying their band has always strived "to be more relevant, more creative, and more excellent at the gift of calling ourselves artist." God doesn't just give us gifts and abilities to do our job (or calling) and just "get it done." He has called us to subdue the earth and have dominion over it (ie do the best we can.) And I think the Christian music industry as a general rule needs a major kick in the pants to be more creative and get out of the streamlined rut it is in.

But read Bazemore's journal entry (called "Apathy as Art.") He references Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live" which notes that a defining feature of the Roman Empire before it collapsed was apathy in the world of art. (Apathy in art? Hmm, that sounds familiar!) Go to Silers Bald's website and click on the "Journal" link...the article should be the current post (even though it is from 2004!) (And good news! Silers Bald is working on a new album!!!)