U2- 3,528
David Crowder Band- 960
Coldplay- 759
Passion (Worship Artists include David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, etc.)- 712
Dave Matthews Band- 450
Third Day- 386
Matisyahu- 340
Johnny Cash- 289
David Gray- 270
The Beatles- 263

Recorded at 3:50pm CST November 30, 2006

I would have thought that Johnny was closer to the top. I would be lying if I said that I was surprised that U2 topped the list but I was blown away at the number 3,528. That is over 3 and 1/2 more times than the David Crowder Band at number 2. I am too predictable.

Your tax dollars at “work.” This kinda stuff drive me crazy. Thanks to Seth Godin for posting it.

As a good member of a Resoration brotherhood, I have never celebrated the Chistian year. The reason always given to me for this fact was becuse we don’t see Peter or Paul or Barnabus or John celebrating the Christian year in the New Testament. It wasn’t until a few years ago that it occured to me that a good half of first century New Testament Christians (the Jewish half including the men I mentioned above) were busy celebrating the Jewish calendar. Imagine that.

This year I intend to celebrate the Christian calendar which begin this Sunday.

To assist me on this journey I will be reading through Robert Webber’s Ancient-Future Time. I already read through A-FT back in 2004 but I am now working through the text at a Berean pace so as to fully understand each of the cycles that I will experience throughout the year.

I will also be using the daily readings found in the lectionary Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer to guide me each day.

I am extremely excited about having my daily devotional walk me through the entire year in a new yet well worn path. I look forward to blogging my way through this experience.

Anyone out there want to join me? Drop me an email at

kickingatthedarkness (at) gmail (dot) com

Yeah, that’s Venom alright.

See more here and ENJOY!!!

Second movie of 2007 that I’m looking forward to.

We all know the first.

Here is a section of a shuffle session I’ve been enjoying this morning.

Possession… Sarah McLachlan
Wayfaring Stranger… Johnny Cash
Hurt… Johnny Cash
Daughter… Pearl Jam
What’s Goin’ Down… TobyMac
The Purest… Watermark
Elevation (Influx Remix)… U2
Desire… U2
Even Better Than the Real Thing (The Perfecto Mix)… U2
Stop! In The Name Of… The Supremes
Eight Days A Week… The Beatles
Defying Gravity… Wicked Original Cast Recording
Just Like a Pill… P!nk
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?… R.E.M.
When The Levee Breaks… Led Zeppelin
Up Where We Belong… Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
Jesus Christ… Woody Guthrie
You’re Everything… David Crowder* Band
Nervous In The Light Of Dawn… Leigh Nash
Immigrant Song… Led Zeppelin
Gone (Live From Boston)… U2
To You God on High (Psalm 92)… Venus Hum with Ginny Owens
Grace Is Gone (Live at Fenway Park)… Dave Matthews Band
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)… Jimi Hendrix

I know people who gripe and complain that would be.

Scott Adams has a great post today over at the Dilbert Blog about fault-finders that commonly write to say that a particular post/strip might, possibly, even the slightest, perhaps, very likely, could offend someone. Of course the ones writing the angry letter wasn’t offended but they know someone who would be.

The post points out how frustrating and potentially damaging random, inconsistant criticism can be. Like, Adams sometimes the disparaging comments and emails that ministers recieve fall into this same catagory.

The post is worth a read if you get the time today. Check it out.

link

According to Fortune:

While details remain to be worked out, Fortune has learned that iTunes is close to a deal to bring the Beatles catalog online. Apple Computer is said to be angling to become the exclusive online music store for the Beatles for a limited window of time. Other music stores, such as Microsoft’s MSN and Rhapsody, have courted the Beatles over the years to no avail, but it appears Apple is close to getting first dibs on the band’s hits.

At a recent industry conference, David Munns, head of EMI North America, said the Beatles would be available online “soon.” The parties were hoping to make a splashy announcement to coincide with the Nov. 21 release by EMI’s Capitol Records of “Love,” a mashup of Beatles songs that serves as a soundtrack to a Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil production. That didn’t happen. Apple Corps declined to comment.

As Fortune went to press, numerous deal points were still being hammered out. According to a music industry executive apprised of the talks, the parties were discussing how lengthy a window of exclusivity iTunes might get and how many tens of millions of dollars Jobs - who is said to be personally involved in the discussions - will commit to an advance for the band and marketing costs.

Also being discussed is whether the band would be willing to take two steps at the same time and endorse the iPod by allowing its music to be used in a commercial. Another scenario making the rounds is the prospect of the Beatles following U2’s example with a branded iPod. “If the Beatles were in an iPod ad, that would be humongous,” this executive said.

Humongous indeed. I too thought that it would have been a great coup for the Beatles to make their digital debut last week to coincide with the release of LOVE. When Tuesday came and went without “A Day in the Life” or “Yesterday” or “Strawberry Fields Forever” in the iTunes store I went on about my business of buying the physical copy at Target. Oh well. There is still light at the end of the tunnel.

When the Beatles’ Apple Corps lost their lawsuit to Apple Computers last year I felt that Jobs had a huge advantage at getting the digital rights to the Fab Fours catalogue. Don’t go after lawyer fees or court costs but ask for a meeting to discuss the future.

It looks like that is exactly what happened.

link

The shackles are undone
The bullets quit the gun
The heat that’s in the sun
Will keep us when it’s done
The rule has been disproved
The stone, it has been moved
The grain is now a grove
All debts are removed

Oh, can’t you see what love has done
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
What it’s doing to me

Love makes strange enemies
Makes love where love may please
The soul and its striptease
Hate brought to its knees
The sky over our head
We can reach it from our bed
If you let me in your heart
And out of my head

Oh, can’t you see what love has done
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
What it’s doing to me

Please don’t ever let me out of here
I’ve got no shame
Oh no, oh no

Oh, can’t you see what love has done
Oh, can’t you see
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
What it’s doing to me

Oh, can’t you see what love has done
I know I hurt you and I made you cry
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
Did everything but murder you and I
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
But love left a window in the skies
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
And to love I raphsodize

Oh, can’t you see what love has done
To every broken heart
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
For every heart that cries
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
Love left a window in the skies
Oh, can’t you see what love has done
And to love I raphsodize

Oh, can’t you see

Window in the Skies
U2
U218singles

It will be a great New Music Tuesday tomorrow. Two of the big boys have “new” albums coming out.

I am excited about U218singles. While I’m not exactly thrilled with the tracklist (I’ll trade another listen to “I Will Follow” for “Walk On” anyday but where’s “Until the End of the World,” “Bad,” or anything from Pop?), I can’t wait to listen to “Window in the Sky.” I am going to get the deluxe edition for the extras including 10 live track from this past summer in Milan and videos. It should pretty good.

As excited as I am about a new U2 best of I am even more giddy about the “new” Beatles album. I am a bit of a Beatles purist but come on, the 5th Beatle has his hands all over this.

Love is the soundtrack to the new Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas and it is a completly new rendering of Beatles’ classics using the original masters. George Martin and his son Giles, with the blessings of Sir Paul, Ringo, Harrison’s widow and Yoko, reworked the catalog to produce a truly unique piece of work.

t’s a mashup, even though Giles Martin said he hates the word. John Lennon sings “he’s a real nowhere man” in the background of the instrumental track to “Blue Jay Way.” The keyboard of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” dissolves into the plodding guitar of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”

“Strawberry Fields Forever” builds from Lennon’s acoustic demo into a psychedelic swirl of sounds that incorporates bits of “Hello Goodbye,” “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” “Penny Lane” and “Piggies.”

The rules were simple: Beatles tracks only, no electronic distortion of what they recorded, and no newly recorded music. The single exception was a string arrangement, written by original Beatles producer George Martin, to accompany an acoustic version of Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

I’m trying to decide if I want the deluxe edition of Love because it comes with a DVD with a 5.1 mix of the entire album. I have yet to set up my surround sound in the new house. Maybe this will help move things along.

link

I’ve be experiencing a sense of synergy as of late. It seems that everything that I’ve been reading or talking about has all centered around the idea of taking the risk.

That’s why it came as no surprise to me that Mark Batterson’s newest book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day, continued pushing me to reflect upon the nature of uncertainty and the desire within me to put it all on the line.

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day is all about taking risks. The title comes from what seems like one of the most insignificant passages in all of scripture. 2 Samuel 23:20-1 tells us all we need to know about a man named Benaiah:

There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab’s mightiest warriors. Another time he chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.

In Texas we would call Benaiah a hoss! I had to read the story over and over in every translation of the Bible I have available to me to believe that this story was in there. I had never heard it before and now I can’t stop thinking about it. What an incredible dude!!! But according to Batterson, we can all be lion chasers like Benaiah, every single one of us.

Batterson believes that God uses “past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities” but warns “those God-given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions. And how we react when we encounter those lions will determine our destiny.”

See, Benaiah could have walked away from the Moabites because he was out numbered, he could have avoided the fight with the Egyptian, and he could of certainly steered clear of the lion but would he still have been hired as a bodyguard for David which eventually led to him taking over as commander of God’s army. I’m not sure. According to Batterson, “God is in the business of resume making.”

The book is a great read. Batterson’s style is engaging, funny, and at times, incredibly challenging. Using stories from his own experience in the risk-taking world of church planting Batterson grounds the book firmly in reality.

The book is presented well and it can be read very quickly. Each chapter has a summary and questions for further thought or to be used within a small group setting.

Batterson is the pastor at National Community Church in the nation’s capital. I have been reading his blog, Evotional, for quite some time and I have benefited greatly from his thoughts and his heart for ministry. (Evotional has the best banner pic hands down)

I am highly recommending this incredible book to everyone that I know. It isn’t your typical book where you highlight your favorite passages and then place it on the shelf to be forgotten. Batterson dares you to move asking “What lion is God calling you to chase?”

After reading In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day I made some pretty difficult decisions about taking on some big, hairy lions in my life. Opportunities have presented themselves and I pursuing them. I don’t want to miss out on what God has planned just because I was too afraid to move.

So right now, I’m out chasing lions with my Dad. Take the risk. Come and join us!!!

ChasetheLion.com

A reader of Entertainment Weekly wrote the following letter about their fiance’s obsession with digital music.

I used to wonder how my husband-to-be had more than 700 music CDs and more than 300 movie DVDs and hundreds and hundreds of record albums until I discovered that he had $43,000 in credit-card debt. In looking at his last bill (for one month) he had charged more than 8,000 iTunes at 99 cents each and had charges at places that sell music and movies, too. This guy made $45,000 a year. Called off the wedding. — Susan P.

What!?!?!?!? $8,000 dollars worth of music? In one month?!?!?!?!?!? Shnikies!

I felt bad over the summer when I bought 3 albums in one month. I cannot imagine what this guy purchased. He must have downloaded the Dylan Digital Box Set and the Complete Works of Menuto. Wow!

Via

I don’t know how these things happen to me but I am glad that they do.

I received an email inviting me to the Dallas premiere of Columbia Pictures’ newest release, The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith. The invitation stated that not only was the event free and not only would we get to see the movie a month before it was released but the real treat would be that the Fresh Prince himself would be there for a Q&A immediately following the film!

So we drove all the way out to NorthPark last night to see the movie and I’ve got to tell you:

Go See This Movie!

The Pursuit of Happyness tells the story of Chris Gardner and his young son who were forced to live on the street after Gardner’s wife left them during the early eighties. Gambling everything for a better life, Garner takes an internship with a brokerage firm with no pay and no promise of future employment with the firm all in the pursuit of happyness.

And yes, I am spelling it correctly.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house and afterward Mr. Smith was articulate and passionate about why he made the film and what he hopes it will accomplish. As you watch it, you cannot help but ask yourself when you would have given up. When you would have let the dream die.

You ought to see this film.

Probably the neatest experience was when an executive from Columbia Pictures led a prayer before the movie started.

I don’t know how I got invited last night. But I am forever thankful that I did.

Synopsis:

A tongue-in-cheek look at contemporary culture through the eyes of a screenwriter who pens a hit about the last unbeliever on Earth navigating a thoroughly Christian world.
An unwary “pagan” discovers he’s one of the last remaining unbelievers in a world populated by Christians. Or so imagines Larry Hutch, a screenwriter with hopes of writing a hit movie. While struggling in his faith and dealing with personal crises, he imagines a strange new world where song lyrics are altered to conform to “Christian” standards (the Beatles belt out “I Wanna Hold Your Tithe”) and French fries, newly labeled “McScriptures,” are tools for evangelism. Larry’s screenplay is a big hit with his agent, Ned, but Ned’s Southern Baptist wife is less than amused. Both men’s futures will be on the line when the world witnesses A PAGAN’S NIGHTMARE.

From the author Ray Blackston:

Some will call this new novel a comic spoof of legalism. Others may call it controversial and insensitive. I hope at least a few will call it humorous and daring!

I can testify that I felt obedient in writing this book. I wrote it for this reason: Over the past couple of decades the Christian community in America has created (for better or worse) its own subculture, complete with videos, audios, non-fiction, fiction (I’m a tiny part of that!), trinkets, clothing, billboards, bumper stickers, and buzzwords. In some instances, originality is sacrificed on the altar of profit as we, the Christians, “sanitize” secular products for our own benefit. Now, whether all this is healthy or not is a topic that can be debated for days upon days. (And I am not volunteering to moderate such a discussion!) But consider this: if the only thing the lost world ever observed was our products and buzzwords instead of our authenticity and grace, if they were only exposed to the commercialization of religion but never introduced to the person of Jesus, the result might well be . . . a pagan’s nightmare.

May God grant us the grace to laugh at ourselves.

Looks interesting. Not my genre but thought-provoking nonetheless.

More Zune fallout:

Zune Sinks- Forbes

The new Zune Marketplace is even stupider. Microsoft is trying to break open Apple’s near monopoly of the music market, so they’re launching an online music store that competes with iTunes. The only difference here is that iTunes is simple, elegant, and intuitive. The Zune Marketplace seems like the polar opposite. It has fewer songs. No audiobooks or podcasts. It doesn’t sell movies or TV shows. And if you actually want to buy a song, you’ve got to lay out big chunks of cash and jump through more hoops than a circus lion. Get a load of this passage from Walt Mossberg’s Journal review:

“To buy even a single 99-cent song from the Zune store, you have to purchase blocks of “points” from Microsoft, in increments of at least $5. You can’t just click and have the 99 cents deducted from a credit card, as you can with iTunes. You must first add points to your account, then buy songs with these points. So, even if you are buying only one song, you have to allow Microsoft, one of the world’s richest companies, to hold on to at least $4.01 of your money until you buy another. And the point system is deceptive. Songs are priced at 79 points, which some people might think means 79 cents. But 79 points actually cost 99 cents.”

Don’t feel bad if you have to go back and read that a few times before it makes sense –I know I did. Buying music from Microsoft seems awkward, over-complicated, and designed from the bottom up to squeeze every last cent out of the consumer.

Tune Into Zune? by Steven Levy (Newsweek)

What’s more, when I tried to send a Rolling Stones song I just bought on the Zune Marketplace to another Zune, I got a message reading, “Can’t receive songs because of rights restrictions.” Huh? Microsoft says that in a minority of cases it was unable to secure artist rights for even this limited form of sharing, and that’s the message you get when you try to send songs from those holdouts. Seems to me that when you buy those non-sharable songs from the Zune Marketplace you should be warned about this. But Microsoft says that they have no plans to give you that information, even if it makes you look like an idiot when you waste a friend’s time by trying to send a song and getting only that insulting error message.

Full Disclosure: Levy’s book The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness is in my Top Ten Books of 2006

Ok, so it looks like the Zune player is being plauged by setbacks and detractors- on its launch day!!! However, let me say two things.

1) I like the choice to add the color brown. Every article has been overly critical of this palete choice. I say good move.

2) It does look pretty. The Newsweek article had a great picture:

The Social is a tough place. Better bring you’re A game.