get rich off Christ dyin'

I was in a recent church service where the pastor was talking about the evils of the entertainment business, Hollywood, violent video games, and MTV. He was saying that these media vehicles were spiraling out of control. More violence, more sex, more depravity.
In conversation since then I've posed the question, "are Christians partly to blame for this problem?" Here is my theory: Christians in the media, left their positions of influence to create a smaller niche where they could completely control the content; "christian entertainment". Christian consumers took their purchasing power to a "christian marketplace" abandoning the popular marketplace. How can we complain about how bad everything has gotten when we abandoned that marketplace a long time ago? We retreated to our own subculture. We left "them" to their own devices. We created our own music, our own literature, our own clothing, our own art, in my town there are even a few "christian restaurants"! They are owned and operated by Christians and they market through word of mouth; "have you been to "so 'n so's", Oh you should really check it out... they're Christians!"

I understand the initial thought of these separatists. They were trying to be holy, trying to be separate. But if the end result is that we've become so separate that we are rendered impotent is it really worth it?

Another aspect of the "christian marketplace" that worries me is the thought that if you put a christian label on it, Christians will buy it. I read a review of a video game a few years back. The game was about a paper delivery boy. The paperboy would go along his route throwing papers in order to get to the end of the game where a bikini clad young woman jumped up and down to congratulate him on a job well done. It was a stupid game.
The game flopped.
The gaming company had a brilliant idea. They changed the game up a little bit. The had the paperboy deliver Bibles. They changed the story line so that the paperboy was on his way to Sunday School. They changed the bikini babe to a dowdy looking Sunday School teacher. They put a cross on the front of the video game box, and they started marketing to Christian book stores.
The game was still stupid.
It was a smashing success.
The video game review I read was in a "secular" magazine. The reviewer had seen both versions of the game. His closing comment was along the lines of, "Those stupid Christians, they'll buy anything you tell them to as long as you call it a christian product."

Even more disturbing is the fact that people will avoid something that has been marketed towards Christians even if the product is amazingly beautiful! I went to a pre-release screening of "the Passion of the Christ". It was a big deal. Mel Gibson was there answering questions and the whole deal. At first I thought, "this is amazing." Then I realized what they were doing. They were marketing to Christians.
They invited pastors to the screening so that we would go back to our churches and tell our congregations that it was their duty to go out and see this movie... you know, because it's "christian." Obviously, "passion" was a huge success (but was is truly the "biggest evangelistic opportunity in 2000 years" as it was hyped? That's another post I guess.). Recently a similar marketing campaign was used for the movie "Chronicles of Narnia". Again, a beautiful, excellent movie, but I have read on blogs, and heard people say in conversations that they would avoid these movies just because they were being marketed to Christians, and they didn't want to be fed church propaganda.
Read a little more about the Narnia marketing machine by CLICKING HERE, HERE, OR HERE.

What's wrong with letting the art speak for itself?

Here's an idea: If you are talented in music, or visual arts, or movie making, or script writing, or clothing design, or whatever, go into the marketplace and let your art speak for itself. Create excellent art that is indicative that we are creative beings, made in the image of a creative God. Don't tell people they should partake in your product because of your faith. Tell them they should partake in your product because it is a quality product.

Go out there and redeem the marketplace.

If you disagree and prefer to purchase only christian goods, your prayers have been answered!
CLICK HERE to be redirected to "LordMart" your one stop shop for Jesus Junk, and Holy Hardware (Jesus Saves... especially when He shops at LordMart).
Ask yourself... WWJB (What Would Jesus Buy)?

field trip

One of the benefits of being in the music industry is the opportunity to go to the massive trade shows that happen at the beginning of the New Year. Last week I went down to Los Angeles to go to the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show.
I took a few pictures of some of the cooler (or weirder) stuff and thought I'd share with you.

The coolest thing about going to "the show" is the chance to see new companies coming up with cool ideas. This company was making guitars out of metal. It's not an entirely new idea but these guys would also scribe, and fatigue the metal to give the instruments an antique look. Very cool.

This company was doing custom engraving on cymbals, guitar headstocks, and pickguards.

It's kind of hard to tell with the fancy script but the correct spelling of the name on this custom made amplifier is Fuchs. The owner of the company was at the booth. Her name is Annette Fuchs. If it's pronounced the way I think it's pronounced I want to know how she made it through High School with a name like Annette Fuchs.

This is where it starts getting wierd. This company was marketing the "Neck Sock", it looks more like a neck condom to me.

This gentleman was demonstrating a "fretless" keyboard. The idea is that you can slide from one note to the next without the interval. I.E. you could do 1/3, 1/2, or 1/4 notes if you wanted. I guess you could use those 1/3 notes for arabian scales? It kind of sounded like a Theremin. It has a neoprene "keyboard" that has lines printed on it so you know where you're at. I played it for a while. It was actually pretty fun. But I could not think of a single practical use.

OH YEAH BABY!!!! THE KEYTAR!!!! It works kind of like an autoharp. You play a chord with your left hand which holds down the strings on frets underneath the keyboard. Then you strum to your hearts content. It doesn't sound real good, but it definitely draws a crowd!

Besides the instrument manufacturers there are electronic parts manufacturers that are peddling their wares as well. This company thought it was important not only to know where your product is coming from but also who made it. Check out their slogan: "Made in China... but made by Korean people". I didn't know that this was a selling point? Interesting.

There was a guitar string company at the show called "knucklehead strings". This was one of their T shirts, "Dark Side of the Trailer Park".

They actually had a White Trash Trailer at their booth! AWESOME!!!

There were tons of small booths with custom made instruments like these Basses.

Now THAT'S a Bass!!! This baby has ELEVEN strings!!!
CLICK HERE to listen to one of these bad boys in action.

Some of the major manufacturers had cool stuff at their booths as well. The Fender booth had this guitar on display. This is Jeff Beck's Telecaster. They had a video running directly over the guitar that showed Jeff Beck holding the guitar.

Fender also showed off many of the guitars from their Custom Shop. This guitar was hand painted to replicate this painting. It was very beautiful!

This is definitely a collector's item. It looks so good you'd feel guilty for playing it.

Another really cool thing about the show is that there are tons of musicians doing live shows. You get to see some pretty wild stuff! This young lady had a Cello on a guitar strap around her neck! She actually strummed it and played very aggressively like a rock guitar player.
She had a great voice too! Very interesting sound.

Taylor Guitars also hosted an intimate acoustic show with Switchfoot. There were less than a hundred people there and I was about ten feet from the front of the stage. It was KILLER!!!
I met the guys from Switchfoot about seven years ago when they were opening for Delirious?. They were super cool guys and it's great to see them making such a huge impact in the music scene.

I got the chance to say hi to John Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot after the show. He said he remembered meeting me back in the day but I think he was just being nice.

Although, I must say, I do make an impression.

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I was able to get a little bit of video from the Switchfoot show on my digital camera. It's not the best quality but it's still cool. It's a HUGE file so don't even try it unless you've got DSL or cable.

That's it, that's my report on my field trip.



Good times were had by all!

quality time

i love this game

So, my time at the gym has been paying off nicely. I've decided I'm not going to pursue any further step class activities. The leotards kept riding up. Plus there were only a few other guys in the class, and they kept hitting on me.

Anyways, I've been working on my hoops skills, you know, workin' on my "hops".

I even figured out the secret trick to the most coveted move in basketball: the SLAM DUNK! There is a trick believe me.
This is no easy feat for a man who stands as tall as your average 6th grader (5' 6" to be exact)!!!!

To learn the "secret of my success" CLICK THE PICTURE

resolutions

I'm gonna get into shape. I'm gonna do it.

I don't really want to lose a ton of weight or anything, I just want to feel like I can run a few miles without throwing up, or at least climb a flight of stairs without panting.

I did pretty good with last year's resolution. I resolved to give this "blogging" thing a try. I've enjoyed it. It's been a nice outlet. I've made new friends, pissed off old friends, and gotten called into the office on more than one occasion. Good times were had by all.

Anyway, I'm pretty worn out. I just got back from my step class. DON'T LAUGH! I can step like a madman. I'm feeling the burn. I feel so good I'm gonna have a celebratory doughnut!