two years ago today, my best friend rob breathed his last breath. on february 13, 2010, he finally found rest from his battle with leukemia.

you can read what i wrote just hours after he passed away here. as this anniversary neared, i knew i wanted to express some thoughts here on the blog but i struggled with exactly what to say (which, for me, is rare).

a couple weeks ago, though, i heard peter rollins speak at uca and a parable he shared was an instant remedy to my lack of words. here’s the story he shared:

The story tells of a mother whose baby dies. She is so distraught that she carries the dead body strapped to her chest and travels around attempting to find someone who would be able to breathe life back into her beloved infants body.

Eventually she finds a holy man who says that he can help her, but only if she can bring to him a handful of mustard seeds from a home whose inhabitants have not suffered the loss of someone they love.

The woman begins to search but is unable to find any home that has not been marked by the dark shadow of death and loss. Yet, in her futile search something truly amazing happens. For as she hears the various stories of these different people she slowly begins to come to terms with the death of her own child. After a little time she is finally able to let go and bury her infant in the soil of the Earth.

i spent a very long time holding onto the infant. i assumed my story with rob was unique and that no one else understood the emotions and the depth of loss.

but then i began to hear stories that sounded nearly identical. i heard from people whose stories, quite frankly, were even worse. i heard stories of pain and suffering and personal loss that i couldn’t imagine.

don’t get me wrong, i still hold dear the memories that i shared with rob. i still think about him in some way at least several times a week. i listen to music sometimes just because it’s music rob loved.

but i’ve buried the infant when it comes to my unhealthy assumptions about being the only person to have experienced loss and suffering. i had to make some choices that allowed me to bury the infant.

i had to choose to discontinue using rob as my singular standard for other friendships. i had to choose to disengage from a facebook page that was created to capture memories from his life (but largely became a place where i was empowered to continue carrying the infant). i had to choose to discontinue to use his death as an excuse for some personal shortcomings.

there’s a community of suffering that, on the surface, sounds depressing, but when you fully discover it, you experience a freedom that allows you to move on in healthy and holistic ways.

i’ll never forget rob and he’ll never cease to have an incredible impact on the rest of my life, but i’m thankful that i’ve finally been able to bury the infant.

a couple months ago, just after the recording academy announced their 54th annual grammy nominees, i blogged my predictions. those are set to air tonight and i thought just prior to the ceremony, i’d repost this to serve as a guide of just how wrong i’ll likely be.

here’s what i predicted in december.

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Album of the Year
Adele – 21
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Rihanna – Loud

snubs: this is the giant one: where is kanye west’s my beautiful dark twisted fantasy? hailed by critics across the spectrum as a modern day classic (it has, by far, the highest metacritic score of any grammy nominee), i would’ve thought this album was the no-brainer choice for album of the year. apparently not. (one could also make an argument for beyonce’s 4 to be included.)

surprises: couldn’t believe when i saw the foos included on this list. while i’m not a huge fan of this album, i’m glad the academy chose something different than the norm.

really?: rihanna? album of the year?

who i want to win: adele

who i think will win: adele

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Record of the Year
Adele – Rolling In The Deep
Bon Iver – Holocene
Bruno Mars – Grenade
Mumford & Sons – The Cave
Katy Perry – Firework

surprises: bon iver’s holocene. not only was i suprised just because of the relative unknown nature of bon iver, but this isn’t even my favorite song from that album. i was also surprised to see mumford make the list.

who i want to win: bon iver

who i think will win: adele or katy perry

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Best New Artist
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex

snubs: i’ve seem some suggest fleet foxes. they’re not really a new artist…but neither is bon iver.

surprises: skrillex was out of left field. not a fan, but glad to see him.

who i want to win: bon iver

who i think will win: bon iver

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Song of the Year
Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie – All of the Lights
Mumford & Sons – The Cave
Bruno Mars – Grenade
Bon Iver – Holocene
Adele – Rolling In The Deep

surprises: surprised, again (and pleasantly), by bon iver & mumford.

who i want to win: kanye

who i think will win: bruno mars

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Best Pop Solo Performance
Adele – Someone Like You
Lady Gaga – Yoü and I
Bruno Mars – Grenade
Katy Perry – Firework
Pink – F***in’ Perfect

surprises: someone like you is an incredible song, but i’m surprised we didn’t see rolling in the deep once again.

really?: i like pink and all, but pink?

who i want to win: adele

who i think will win: adele

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Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse – Body and Soul
The Black Keys – Dearest
Coldplay – Paradise
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger

surprises: the black keys are one of my favorite bands, but their ‘meh’ cover of dearest from a largely overlooked compilation album was surprising.

who i want to win: (for the principle of it) the black keys

who i think will win: tony bennett & amy winehouse

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Best Pop Vocal Album
Adele – 21
Cee Lo Green – The Lady Killer
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Rihanna – Loud

surprises: i’m a little bit (but not too much) surprised by the inclusion of cee lo.

who i want to win: cee lo

who i think will win: adele

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Best Rock Performance
Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall
The Decemberists – Down By the Water
Foo Fighters – Walk
Mumford & Sons – The Cave
Radiohead – Lotus Flower

surprises: i’m not necessarily surprised by anything, but i do have an observation: rock—in the way we’ve known it for a long time—is pretty much dead. the foo fighters’ walk is the only “traditional” rock song on here. otherwise, it’s really sorta synth-driven and acoustic music.

who i want to win: the decemberists

who i think will win: foo fighters

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Best Rock Album
Jeff Beck – Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Kings Of Leon – Come Around Sundown
Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You
Wilco – The Whole Love

who i want to win: foo fighters

who i think will win: foo fighters

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Best Alternative Music Album
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys
Foster the People – Torches
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Radiohead – The King Of Limbs

really?: this isn’t an emphatic really?, but foster the people is basically a glorified one hit wonder, in my humble opinion. maybe more a surprise than a really?.

who i want to win: bon iver

who i think will win: bon iver

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Best Rap Album
Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne
Lil Wayne – Tha Carter IV
Lupe Fiasco – Lasers
Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

who i want to win: kanye

who i think will win: kanye

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Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Beyoncé and Andre 3000 – Party
DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne – I’m On One
Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Grey – I Need a Doctor
Rihanna and Drake – What’s My Name?
Kelly Rowland and Lil Wayne – Motivation
Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie – All Of The Lights

who i want to win: kanye

who i think will win: beyonce and andre 3000

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Best Rap Performance
Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes – Look at Me Now
Jay-Z and Kanye West – Otis
Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On
Nicki Minaj and Drake – Moment 4 Life
Wiz Khalifa – Black And Yellow

snubs: kanye’s power or runaway.

who i want to win: jay-z and kanye

who i think will win: lupe fiasco

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Best Folk Album
The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Eddie Vedder – Ukulele Songs
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest

surprises: interesting spot for eddie vedder’s album. it was a good album, but it’s a bit of an odd fit in the folk category.

who i want to win: the civil wars or fleet foxes

who i think will win: fleet foxes

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alright, if i have time, i might check back in tomorrow to see where i was right and where i completely missed the mark.

yesterday, barack obama’s campaign released a 27-song spotify playlist that serves as the “official” playlist of the president’s bid for re-election. you can see the track list here or you can actually access it via spotify by clicking here.

after viewing the tracklist—featuring songs from wilco, no doubt, ray lamontagne & others—i tweeted the following:

vote for barack obama…because, trust me, he (and his staff) has better music taste than anyone named newt or mitt: http://t.co/rhdHt3SH

02/09/2012 4:41 PM via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@ryanbyrd

ryanByrd

my tweet was tongue-in-cheek, so, no, i don’t really think you should vote for barack obama primarily because he (and, let’s be completely honest, his staff) has good musical taste. yes, i assume the republican candidates’ musical tastes are probably somewhat lacking in comparison, but i’m sure their staffs (much like obama’s) would curate a playlist that would cover many (or all) of the appropriate political/cultural touchpoints.

but with that said…

i actually do believe there’s real value in a president’s engagement and awareness of our society’s cultural distinctives.

let’s be clear: it’s absolutely critical that our president have a firm understanding of the international political and social climate. it goes without saying that the president should have sound economic policies and plans for our country. he or she should absolutely be able to lead our nation through times of tragedy and uncertainty or even times of war. sound policy and leadership are at the very top of the list when it comes to the most important presidential requirements.

but it’s a curious notion to me that our president is somehow better off from a lack of awareness of popular culture. or that policies and leadership live in a vacuum apart from some of the very things—movies, music, sports, technology, etc—that most define our society.

let’s take SOPA. the nuts and bolts of SOPA are fundamentally about copyright, content creation and content distribution. it’s about fast five (the most pirated movie of 2011) and adele’s 21 (the most pirated album of 2011) and crysis 2 (the most pirated pc game of 2011) and glee (the most pirated tv show of 2011). it’s simultaneously about torrents and peer-to-peer networks and search engines and tech startups. fundamentally, it’s about the patterns of consumption of and modes of engagement with popular culture. and without a firm understanding of those patterns, lawmakers (including our president) are handicapped in their ability to make sound policies and appropriate leadership decisions.

to the broader point, i’m not so much concerned that our president likes to listen to kanye or watch jersey shore. but i’m absolutely concerned if someone asks him about one of those things and he offers a blank stare. yes, the president should know who kanye west is and yes, the president should know what jersey shore is. i don’t need him to quote lyrics or tell me every jersey shore character, but he should absolutely be in tune with what is culturally shaping and influencing our society (for better or for worse).

so yes, i’m glad that this campaign playlist is relevant and good. and yes, i’m aware that it was created (as the spotify description states) by his campaign staff. but i think it reflects a candidate who’s in tune with the cultural realities of regular people. and when a president is engaged and aware of the social patterns of the nation he leads, that lends itself to more informed policies and more appropriate leadership.

ball’s in your court, republican candidates. what’s playing on your radio?

why am i blogging about penn jillette? moreover than that, why am i blogging about penn jillette again?

well, it’s not because i’m a particularly big fan of loud, oversized illusionists. no, it’s because penn jillette is a very outspoken atheist and i find myself both regularly agreeing and disagreeing with what he has to say. often, it isn’t so much about agreeing or disagreeing, but more about just being something thought provoking.

so it is with a video i stumbled across in which the question, is religion responsible for a lot of the world’s problems? is posed. while he briefly answers this question, i was more interested in the end of his discussion in which he discussed his preference for “proselytizing, hardcore fundamentalists”. here’s the video:

so penn jillette prefers fundamentalists who will simply say, “you’re wrong”, rather than “liberal” christians who he views as condescending.

why could this be? why would one prefer a staunch, rigid theology to one that represents a more generous orthodoxy?

it might be because “winning” and “losing” is more satisfying than engaging in generative dialogue. when stark lines are drawn between opposing views, it’s easier to walk away satisfied that you’ve “won”. dialogue empowers both sides.

it might be because offers no challenge. when someone simply tells you you’re wrong, it presents no challenge to your viewpoints. if someone engages my ideas, asking questions & seeking common ground, it forces me to be self-critical and to deepen my theologies.

it might be because villianzing the other viewpoint makes us feel more like the hero. why do people typically make fun of others? it’s to mask one’s own insecurities. so when a fundamentalist clearly lays out their theology, it’s easy to label them as the villain while distracting others from our own flaws.

more than anything, though, it might be because penn jillette is, himself, a fundamentalist. we’ve largely segmented the term “fundamentalist” to apply only to christianity, but the fact is that fundamentalism runs deep in a number of ideologies. more than anything, it describes an unwillingness to budge from a long accepted set of beliefs and ways of seeing the world. fundamentalism is a certainty that doesn’t leave room for generative and engaging dialogue.

so what do you think? does penn jillette offer any good points? or does his assessment of fundamentalist and liberal christians reveal more about himself than others?

if, over the last couple days, you were to take a peek at the theological social media circles i run in, you’d be hard-pressed to miss the stunning story that matthew paul turner shared on his blog. delivered in 2 parts (part 1 and part 2), he shared the story of a guy named andrew who, until recently, was a member of mark driscoll’s mars hill church in seattle. you can read turner’s posts to get the full story, but in essence, this guy became subject to church discipline for confessing to sleeping with his fiancée and for having an inappropriate (platonic) relationship with another girl.

along the course of this ordeal, we find that andrew rejected a “church discipline contract” (which you can read here), citing its legalistic, voyeuristic and controlling spirit. at that point, the mars hill pastor tells him that he is “leaving as a member under discipline not as a member in good standing”. the final blow is the most astounding part of the story. on mars hill’s online network, the city, a letter was sent to each member. here’s the letter:

yikes.

a few things jumped out to me when reading through this story and the aforementioned letter, specifically.

1. while in seminary, i did some study and research on historical cults. this, my friends, is textbook language and tactics of cults. i’ll leave it at that…




2. think about the phrase “gospel shame” (used in the letter about socially dissociating with andrew). sounds like something jesus would’ve said, right? wrong. jesus wouldn’t have used this phrase because it’s an oxymoron. “gospel” is about freedom and joy and boldness and anything but shame. it’s an invented and co-opted phrase that is an unfair interpretation of the 2 thessalonians scripture they cite.




3. more than anything, what got to me was the sad interpretation of matthew 18:17, which states:
   

   If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

   the mars hill interpretation of “treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector” means to discard them as if they are a bag of trash. it’s as if being a “pagan or a tax collector” means a clean cut from all social interaction.

   well, the problem with that interpretation is that there’s this guy jesus who really screws things up. why? because jesus didn’t treat “pagans and tax collectors” as refuse, but rather as friends and dinner companions and those in particular need of grace and compassion. jesus did exactly what mars hill instructs its member not to do. while the story of zacchaeus is an obvious example here, let’s just think about the (probable) author of the book of matthew. what did matthew do before becoming one of the chosen 12? he was a despised tax collector. according to mars hill’s membership policies, jesus would be put under church discipline for having dinner with zacchaeus and befriending matthew.

   so how do we treat people “as you would a pagan or a tax collector”? well, you kill them with kindness and grace and love and unconditional acceptance. sure, you challenge and encourage them to be repentant, but you do it the way jesus did it: in relationship.

i’ll be checking back to see if matthew paul turner offers much in the way of updates. i have a feeling this story isn’t going to fizzle out in the next couple days. many damning things (some fair and some unfair) have been stacking up against mars hill and mark driscoll, specifically. this might be one of the most telling things yet. it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

over the last couple weeks, as jeff bethke’s video (above), ‘why i hate religion, but love jesus’, was hitting critical mass on the web, i began writing a post about it. that post quickly made its way to my ‘drafts’ folder (which only has 5 posts all-time). it wasn’t that it was particularly controversial or incomplete, it was just that i felt like the support & the criticism across the internet was overstated and largely unhelpful. the web really didn’t need one more blog post.

but.

this thing has kept going. and going. and going. just yesterday morning, bethke was a guest on cbs’s this morning, paired with a catholic priest who offered a (kind) critique. bethke did surprisingly well in articulating his viewpoint (and reasons for creating the poem/video) in a humble and gracious way. i was impressed.

the priest, much like most of the criticism i’ve read, comes from someone who is invested in the system. someone who has a stake in the institution. simply put, this video has resonated in a remarkable way from those outside (or, at least, on the fringes) of the system and has been (by and large) denounced by those with a stake in that world (pastors, priests, insitutional leaders, etc).

well, it just so happens that i’ve spent the last 31 years of my life (and the last 10 years vocationally) as a part of the “system”. i pastor a church. i went to seminary. i have served on boards. i have perpetuated some systems that haven’t looked very much like jesus. so, i understand some of the criticism. here’s some areas worth a critique:

1. there are plenty of clichés that are, to say the least, eyeroll-inducing. ironically, he borrows some of the clichés that, yes, the institution of christianity has created.
2. speaking of clichés, the end becomes a poetic altar call of sorts. much like many church services that squeeze in a somewhat disjointed and forced evangelistic altar call, bethke just can’t help himself with a simplistic description of jesus’ death on the cross and our opportunity to respond.
3. and yes, the dichotomy between religion and jesus borders on a being far too simplistic and reductionistic.

but, i think the piling on represents some of the disconnect between those who lead the institutional church (folks like myself) and those who are looking to explore what it means to follow in the way of jesus.

here’s where i push back on the critiques:

1. i think there’s been a defensive posture that has led to interpreting bethke’s message through a much different lens than intended. based on my own impressions and bethke’s comments on cbs’s this morning, there seems to be a semantic divide. he’s talking primarily about displays of self-righteousness and judgment and legalism and hypocrisy and pharisee-like behavior—the exact things that jesus stood in clear and stark opposition to. much of the criticism has railed against the word religion defined as “the Church” (big ‘C’). not only does bethke state that he loves the church, but i think he’s relatively clear in distinguishing behaviors of the church and the church itself.
2. while, as i’ve stated above, bethke’s diatribe becomes a bit too reductionistic, i certainly do believe that he’s getting at the heart of jesus’ message. walter brueggemann has written/talked about prophetic messengers being inherently critics. now, don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying jeff bethke is the next great prophet. (he’s probably far, far from it…) but what i am saying is that these types of messages are never received kindly. criticism of the things we’ve worked (long and hard) to foster and create don’t go over too well, to say the very least. so while bethke’s message might not be perfect, let’s take a few moments to honestly evaluate where he might offer something helpful to our church or ministry context or even our own personal life.
3. trust me, there’s a very long list of examples of pastors/churches/etc attempting to create something culturally relevant at the expense of good theology. so when i say that bethke’s video is particularly relevant right now, i don’t mean it in a compromising way. dan kimball wrote a great book a few years ago called they like jesus, but not the church that basically laid out the idea that we’re in a unique time in which people (particularly younger generations) are particularly interested in jesus…but not so much the institution of the church (though big ‘C’ Church isn’t the enemy either). i think bethke’s video contributes to this conversation in a (mostly) helpful way. his dichotomy offers an invitation from those who are open to engaging a conversation about the way of jesus, but have been turned off by the system and the institution.

i think bethke has created a unique and engaging tool that has, if nothing else, created a cultural stir and subsequent conversation. when people talk more about jesus (particularly in the national media) it’s a good thing. and when people bring to attention some of the deficiencies we church leaders often perpetuate, it’s also a good thing.

church leaders (like myself) can either continue to dismiss this as an enemy to what we’re doing or we can recognize that the 16 million people who have viewed this on youtube are interested in discovering more about the way of jesus. and that is certainly a dichotomy worth considering.

we’ve spent the better part of the last 12 months watching the dog and pony show that is known as the republican primary season. this entire process has been, to say the least, entertaining to behold. this is quite the crop of candidates. i mean that in the so-painful-to-watch-yet-so-awesome sense of the word.

i’ll reserve much political commentary in this post. quite frankly, i have plenty of opinions of the republican field, but regardless of who wins the nominee, i’ll be voting for barack obama. and i really think you should also.

in the event that you will not be voting for barack obama or that you still haven’t decided, i’d like to help you whittle down the republican field by using a tried-and-true litmus test: who has the best logo. (you can thank me later.)

regardless of your political stance, it should be clear that barack obama has the gold standard of campaign logos. but what about his potential foe this november? i’ll be ranking the republican candidates from worst to first, based solely on the strength of their logo. whether they have policies that tear apart america or kickstart a great american renaissance, this evaluation looks only at the strength of their logo.

alright, here we go, kids.

7. buddy roemer

[first of all, yes, there's a guy named buddy roemer who wants to be your next president. there's actually a couple more dudes who are currently in the race (on varying state's ballots), but buddy's the only "other guy" who i could find a logo for.]

oh, buddy. you tried to create a unique shape with the hemisphere, which i appreciate. it’s good to differentiate yourself. but what you didn’t differentiate yourself from was the 90s with that blue to red gradient. without the gradient, this logo could’ve easily jumped at least a couple spots in this list. also, buddy, you gotta kill the stars in the “O” and the “0″. or at least choose just 1 of them. (sidenote: i actually really like his website and he employs a different logo on the site…which would’ve gotten him near the top of this list.)

6. mitt romney

barring some freakish turn of events, mitt romney will be the republican candidate facing off with barack obama in november. while he wins the republican race, he’s losing the logo race. one word is all we need in this conversation: aquafresh. in fact, i think when romney unveiled this logo, either the word ‘aquafresh’ or ‘toothpaste’ started briefly trending on twitter (no, i’m serious). toothpaste aside, we’ve been there and done that with the font trajan and the kerning is terrible, particularly with the ‘E’ & ‘Y’.

5. rick perry

would you like to take the blue pill or the red pill? guess what!? with rick perry’s logo, you get to take both simultaneously. it’s not so much that the design is bad, it’s just more that this tells us absolutely nothing about him or his campaign. i don’t think a logo has to be literal (far from it, actually), but it should indicate something about what the candidate stands for. this logo tells us nothing.

4. newt gingrich

the fact that this logo comes in 4th place tells us much more about spots 5 through 7 than it does about itself. really what saves the day for newt gingrich’s logo is the fact that his name is newt. i’m not saying newt is a good name, but immediately differentiate your logo by using a first name and because it’s concise, it lends itself well to a tidy logo. of course, there’s plenty of bad news. primarily, of every font on planet earth, he chooses times new roman as if to say, “eff it, i’m just using the first font that comes on in microsoft word.” plus, good try with the web 2.0 gradient vibe on the logo, but, well, no.

3. ron paul

i went back and forth about this one. by no means is a good logo, but for ron paul, it more or less works. it’s straightforward and lacks flash—just like ron paul. it gets downgraded for a couple reasons. first of all, the little swooshy thing on the ‘A’ adds a little interest, but that’s exactly why it’s there: just to be there. it doesn’t serve any other purpose. the second reason is that ron paul stands for something different than the rest of the field, yet his logo is about as predictable as possible. an uppercase minion font that says his name is what we’d expect from michele bachmann…oh wait…

2. jon huntsman

jon huntsman wants you to believe he’s a different kind of candidate. so he created a logo that’s different. and while it’s certainly different than your run-of-the-mill presidential red, white and blue logo, it’s ultimately more different in the i’m-not-sure-if-this-is-a-presidential-candidate-logo-or-a-logo-for-the-new-line-of-slacks-at-jc-penny sense of the word. i mean, come on, you’d buy some slacks with this logo on the tag, right? it says, “i can wear these for a weekend at the hamptons or i can wear them that one time a year they make me dress up for the work christmas party.” but hey, i’m giving him the benefit of the doubt for trying something different. you’re second place, jon!

1. rick santorum

look, i’m not saying this is a good logo. i’m simply saying that it’s the best of this sordid lot of logos. what works for rick santorum’s logo is that he stayed traditional/conservative, but not in a completely cliché way. the use of baskerville (font) is just enough to differentiate from times new roman and minion and the color palette is traditional while not being gaudy (i’m looking at you, newt & mitt). the eagle also manages to walk a fine line between too literal and too clip art-like. as an added bonus, (and it’s difficult to see) rather than circle above the eagle being completed with stars, it’s actually the word ‘freedom’.

alright, there you have it. the winner—despite his frothy googleness—is rick santorum. that’s who you have to vote for. the logo gods demand it.

[of course, if you want to vote for the best logo (not to mention the best policies) from any political persuasion, you'll just wait until november and cast a vote for brother barry…]

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UPDATE :: apparently my brain was only half functioning when i wrote this post. i left off 2 major albums that are literally in my top 2 or 3 most anticipated albums of the year. one falls into the “confirmed” category while the other falls into the “speculative” category. first, the confirmed:

punch brothers: who’s feeling young now?. their last effort, antifogmatic was one of my favorite albums of 2010. i can still listen to it and it sounds like it came out yesterday. with who’s feeling young now?, i anticipate, not a new direction, but the next logical step forward. i imagine it will be a more layered sound that takes yet another step away from “traditional” bluegrass assumptions. we’ll find out on february 14.

now, the speculative album:

derek webb: tba. derek webb has had very little mention of a new album and hasn’t given any strong hints. he has, though, mentioned some big new things he’s working on. whether that’s a new album in 2012 or something else is up to speculation. it makes sense, given that his last “traditional” release was 2009′s stockholm syndrome. it’s time for something new and 2012 just might be the time to do it.

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2011 was a good year for music. not necessarily a great year, but certainly a good year for music. it featured quite a few surprises and new discoveries and also had its fair share of albums that were highly anticipated. personally, i haven’t anticipated albums as much as i did elbow’s build a rocket boys and kanye/jay-z’s watch the throne (among others) in quite some time.

much the same as last year, there’s a handful of albums that i expect to be great albums. and while it’s always dangerous to inflate expectations to non-attainable levels, i’ve narrowed down a list of nearly 50 albums to 12 that i am eagerly anticipating this year.

i’ve broken down the list into 2 categories: confirmed (or as close to confirmed as possible) and i’m-not-holding-my-breath-but-this-rumor-is-worth-believing. first, the confirmed albums:

1. lana del rey: born to die. del rey’s debut album—set to release january 30—probably has the most buzz and steam behind it of any album on this list. for every music critic that has sung her praises, there’s been another one to write off her sudden rise to indie darling status. i assume the release of her debut album will only intensify the divide.

2. garbage: tba. right now, in 2012, if i were to fire up garbage’s 1998 version 2.0, i could sit and listen to it in its entirety and enjoy every bit of it. and while their last 2 releases never quite lived up to that album’s success, they’re still a band that after 7 years since their last release, i expect their forthcoming album will be exactly what i’ve waited for.

3. mumford & sons: tba. it still blows my mind that mumford’s 2009 release, sigh no more, was the 2nd highest selling album on itunes…in 2011. their success has been unbelievable and i don’t expect it to cease with a 2012 release. it will certainly be difficult for them to meet expectations, but if they come anywhere close, it should be considered a success.

4. no doubt: tba. in 1996, few things were as big as a little band from orange county called no doubt after releasing tragic kingdom in late 1995. after a few albums and a successful solo career by gwen stefani, i’m still a fan anticipating their first album in over a decade.

5. various artists: g.o.o.d. music compilation. it’s rare that i look forward to any kind of compilation album, but this one has something that other compilations don’t have: kanye west at the helm. kanye’s label g.o.o.d. is set to release an album featuring their lineup including artists such as kid cudi, big sean, john legend, pusha t & common. i expect that, much like other simliar compilations, there will be some misses, but the hits are likely to be very good.

6. sleigh bells: reign of terror. in mid-2010, a band from brooklyn came out with an album like we’d never heard before. truly, the term “noise pop” never sounded like such a perfect description as it did with treats. for reign of terror, we have the following description to look forward to (as stated in the press release): “it’s like the sonic equivalent of a beautiful shotgun to the head”.

now, here’s the list of albums that are merely rumors (some more than others).

1. jay-z & kanye west. jay-z has indicated that this is a possibility, but it could very easily be all talk. if it’s true, this would instantly shoot to the top of the list of albums that i’m looking forward to. even moreso than another throne album, if kanye put out a solo album, that would easily be the most anticipated album event of 2012.

2. fiona apple. her last album was 7 years ago. just to give some perspective, 2nd graders weren’t born yet, george bush just settling into his 2nd term and kanye west had yet to inform us that the aforementioned mr. bush didn’ care about black people. come on fiona, we need a new album. and apparently, the album, much like extraordinary machine is being held up by the label (epic).

3. dr. dre. this is my biggest hopeful wishing album. supposedly, dre has been working on the follow-up to 1999′s (!!) the chronic 2001 for several years. so you’d think this was finally going to happen. but then, last month, dre announced that he was taking an indefinite hiatus from music completely. so, who knows. it’s doubtful we’ll see detox in 2012, but i’m certainly remaining hopeful.

4. outkast/andre 3000. this isn’t nearly as much of a longshot as the dre album, but it’s still an exercise in wishful thinking. in some ways, i’d actually be as much or even a little more interested in hearing an andre 3000 solo project. after big boi’s successful solo album last year, i would welcome 3000′s solo project. either way, i just want to hear new music from big boi and/or andre 3000 in 2012.

5. u2. supposedly, this could’ve happend in 2011. and supposedly, it could’ve been any one of 3 albums that are rumored to be done or nearly done. i’m most interested in a project that bono has talked about that was produced by danger mouse. there are very few projects that danger mouse has been involved in that didn’t turn out to be something amazing, so i can only assume mixing in the greatest band in the world will be a recipe for success.

6. aerosmith. while some might be surprised that i list aerosmith, i’ve been a huge fan ever since 1989′s pump. and while their last couple albums (nearly 10 years ago) weren’t exactly my favorites, i’m still curious to see what they can do now. particularly after quite a bit of band turmoil (to say the very least), i’m eager to see how they can put the pieces back together and surprise us all again.

of course, these aren’t the only good albums scheduled (or rumored) to be released in 2012. others include frank ocean, the beach boys, green day, kid cudi, fleetwood mac, andrew bird, madonna, wu-tang clan, janelle monae and the xx (among others). so, there’s plenty to look forward to this year.

what albums are you looking forward to in 2012?

a new year, though, does offer a good opportunity to look ahead and embrace a fresh start. certainly, the analogy of new life is one that is particularly salient right now. so how about we begin the year on the blog with a post about death?

several days ago, i ran across a post by blogger/writer/twitter-extraordinaire kelly oxford titled, nurse reveals top 5 regrets of the dying. it was actually a post she found on the arise india forum and the original poster wrote the following:

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again.

she then listed (with descriptions) the top 5 things, which are as follows:

   1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

   5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

i’ve thought about this list several times and thought it was a good way to begin the new year. i’m not going to add a great deal of commentary because i think, largely, they speak for themselves.

i wanted to post this more as a challenge rather than a set of resolutions. it’s really an invitation to be self-evaluative to begin the new year. resolutions are often about losing weight or reading more books or something that’s relatively surface-level in terms of lifelong significance.

this list, though, is more about a posture of living. it’s about embracing the uniqueness of your own path. it’s about realizing your work is merely a means and not an end (and that it shouldn’t define you). it’s about being true to yourself while sharing life with people you love and trust. it’s everything that, quite frankly, isn’t very highly valued in our culture’s definition of success.

so, may this be an invocation for the new year. may it be a moment of self-evaluation. may this propel us all into a better way of living and being. may this lead to a new year that yields regretless life.

amen.

feel free to go back and check out past editions:

for anyone (read: nerds) who care anything about the album artwork, i’ve gone back and updated the artwork for each of the past editions.

1. may/june 2010

2. july/august 2010

3. september/october 2010

3. november/december 2010

4. january/february 2011

5. march/april 2011

6. may/june 2011

7. july/august 2011

8. september/october 2011

another couple months have passed by, so it’s time to once again bring you two in review. the past couple months have been a little slow in terms of new music. nevertheless, there’s still been some good music and a couple highly anticipated albums. as always, i hope this is the springboard for you to discover the fullness of these artists’ albums and catalogues.

here’s the lineup for 2011′s final edition:

1. the weeknd: d.d. [from echoes of silence]
2. punch brothers: movement and location [from their forthcoming who's feeling young now?]
3. chris cornell: cleaning my gun [from songbook]
4. lana del rey: born to die [from her forthcoming born to die]
5. the black keys: gold on the ceiling [from el camino]
6. waterdeep: so good to have a friend [from no doubt of sunshine]
7. b.o.b. (ft. andre 3000): play the guitar [from his forthcoming strange clouds]
8. butterfly boucher: 5678! [from butterfly boucher]
9. the civil wars: oh, henry [live from daytrotter studios]
10. birdy: skinny love [from birdy]
11. gin wigmore: man like that [from gravel & wine]
12. derek webb: creed [from democracy vol. 2]
13. john mark mcmillan: sheet of night [from economony]
14. the roots: stomp [from undun]
15. alabama shakes: i found you [from alabama shakes]
16. dia frampton: walk away [from red]
17. oh land: wof & i [from oh land]
18. amy winehouse: our day will come [from lioness: hidden treasures]
19. the moth & the flame: how we woke up [from the moth & the flame]
20. common: blue sky [from the dreamer the believer]

enjoy!

// download the .zip //

it is finished.

derek’s webb 2nd year of crowd-sourced covers has reached a conclusion with today’s release. if you haven’t bought this album yet, please allow me direct you to derek’s store where you can purchase the album. it’s only $5, which is a ridiculously low price for this collection. the other great thing about purchasing right now is that you don’t have to wait an entire month for each track. you’ll get it all at once!

this project began in 2010 and if you’d like to take a look back, you can find all those posts through the following links:

january | february | march | april | may | june | july | august | september | october | november | december

throughout 2011, i’ve been blogging about this ongoing project called democracy vol. 2. fans were able to cast votes for up to 10 songs that they wanted webb to cover. then, the 10 songs receiving the most votes would be covered by webb for the album. the collection has been recorded over the span of 2011, with 1 track being recorded and released each month. from march to december, webb has released 1 track each month. for those who would like to catch up, here’s links to each month’s blog posts so far:

1. cee lo green: f**k you
2. bon jovi: livin’ on a prayer
3. the beach boys: god only knows
4. u2: one
5. traditional: be thou my vision
6. simon & garfunkel: bridge over troubled water
7. the beatles: revolution
8. rich mullins: creed
9. the swell season: falling slowly

today, we found out december’s track: nick lowe’s (made popular by elvis costello & the attractions) (what’s so funny ’bout) peace, love & understanding.

lyrically, this song is probably an appropriate ending for the year. and i’d say webb did it justice.

most interesting about this cover is it’s actually a bit of a mashup with one of his own songs: she must and shall go free’s take to the world. he teased this in an earlier tweet:

last ‘democracy, v2′ track coming today. i’ve always said these two songs sounded a LOT alike… http://t.co/KxG3EFTu

12/29/2011 12:56 PM via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@derekwebb

derek webb

the mashup works. while it’s not a direct implementation of the original track (it’s been updated to match the 2011 derek webb vibe…rather than the 2003 vibe…), it’s a pretty good natural fit. i wouldn’t say that this song, by any means, is my favorite song of the year, but it’s certainly one of the better covers of the year. again, it’s a great way to end the year.

as always, don’t take my word for it. check it out for yourself. you can purchase the entire collection by clicking here or you can listen to it here.

———————————————————————————

as a final end-note to my ongoing democracy vol. 2 blog review series, i’m a little surprised at the collection of songs that were chosen. some (cee-lo’s f*** you) were no-brainers while others (this one, actually) were sorta out of left field. by no means am i disappointed with the final collection, but certainly, there were songs that i voted for (and others on the original list) that could’ve been particularly interesting. with so many arcade fire songs nominated, i was sure there’d be at least one chosen. but, i guess it sorta has the “ross perot problem” where people who would tend to vote for arcade fire songs vote for so many that the votes are watered down. maybe next year. here’s the list of songs i voted for (the ones that were actually chosen are in bold):

1. closer to fine: indigo girls
2. f*** you: cee-lo
3. firework: katy perry
4. god only knows: beach boys
5. hide and seek: imogen heap
6. jesus freak: dc talk
7. jesus walks: kanye west
8. my body is a cage: arcade fire
9. the cave: mumford & sons
10. we used to wait: arcade fire

each year, i like to take a look back—more out of curiousity than anything—and see which posts were most read. it never fails that that list is comprised both of posts i could’ve predicted (news-worthy or “controversial” posts) and things i would’ve never guessed.

so, here’s the list of the 10 most read posts on my blog for 2011.

10. the crowning of a kingpin: ‘breaking bad’ season 4 comes to a close

prior to the start of the 4th (and now completed, as of last night) season of breaking bad, writer and producer vince gilligan talked candidly about how this was the season that walter white would finally (and completely) turn the corner from a heroic father to a self-focused monster. this evolution has been relatively slow. in fact, i spent the majority of this season believing that gilligan overstated their intentions for this character. walt had his moments of monstrous power, but had just as many weak moments spent living in fear and paranoia.

read the entire post »

9. a warm fuzzy message from father driscoll: god hates you.

in a nutshell, our favorite protector of truth and all around swell guy, pastor mark, informs his congregation, his legions of devoted followers and the rest of the world (thanks to something we call the interwebs) that all this “god is love” talk is a bunch of hooey. yes, i (and, apparently he) realizes that 1 john 4:8 literally says that, but it obviously can’t be trusted because it sounds like that hippy, limp-wristed jesus that you keep hearing about.

read the post in its entirety »

8. best of 2011: cover songs

i assume that if you don’t love a good cover, then you must hate america. they’re great. while there’s a whole lot of bad covers, there’s always a good list (my initial list before narrowing them down was about 48 songs) of great cover songs each year. from youtube sensations to old country singers trying something new, here’s my list of 2011′s best cover songs:

read the entire post »

7. why are young christians leaving the church?

i pastor a church primarily comprised of 20- and 30-somethings. amongst that group, a relatively large percentage have come back to the church after a period of time away. generally speaking, like many, at some time after high school, they drifted away (or just made a decision to leave) and had a difficult time reconnecting. hearing their stories of why they left and why they’ve returned is always fascinating to me.

read the entire post »

6. zombie theology: what ‘the walking dead’ says about our view of the other

so it was on last night’s midseason finale of amc’s the walking dead. in a nutshell, for those who have never watched it, the show is about a group of people trying to save themselves in a world that has been overtaken with zombies (a.k.a. walkers). generally, i dislike the entire zombie genre, but this show is much more about the interpersonal dynamics of the group. which brings me to last night’s deeply theological episode.

read the entire post »

5. the sacred/secular blur: how reading the bible or shane claiborne might be funding rupert murdoch’s empire

quite a few years ago, i attended a seminar led by tony jones in which he discussed the blurred lines between what we label as sacred and secular. at that point in my faith journey, i had a particularly difficult time buying in to his fundamental thesis. my way of thinking about and engaging god was far too dichotomous. either/or was much more appealing than both/and. even more than that, i feared a worldview where decision-making couldn’t necessarily be eased by the label “christian”.

read the entire post »

4. love wins?: msnbc anchor martin bashir takes on rob bell

so, um, yeah. the whole rob bell thing.

you know the whole rob bell thing, right? i’m way too over it to type out a lengthy explanation, so if you don’t know about it, you can read a relatively brief overview here. over the last couple weeks, i’ve literally written two separate blog posts about it that i ultimately decided not to publish because i was sorta sick and tired of the whole thing (the first one was a doozy, titled when calvinists attack: the social media crucifixion of rob bell…yeah, that would’ve been fun…).

read the entire post »

3. amish for homeland security: shane claiborne weighs in on the killing of osama bin laden

Then and odd thought occurred to me: What if the Amish were in charge of the war on terror? What it, on the evening of September 12, 2001, we had gone to Osama bin Laden’s house (metaphorically, of course, since we didn’t know where he lived!) and offered him forgiveness? What if we had invited the families of the hijackers to the funerals of the victims of 9/11? What if a portion of the September 11th Fun had been dedicated to relieving poverty in a Muslim country? What if we dignified the burial of their dead by our respectful grief? What if, instead of seeking vengeance, we had stood together in human pain, looking honestly at the shared sin and sadness we suffered? What if we had tried to make peace? So, here’s my modest proposal. We’re five years too late for an Amish response to 9/11. But maybe we should ask them to take over the Department of Homeland Security. After all, actively practicing forgiveness and making peace are the only real alternatives to perpetual fear and a multi-generational global religious war. I can’t imagine any other path to true security. And nobody else can figure out what to do to end this insane war. Why not try the Christian practice of forgiveness? If it worked in Lancaster, maybe it will work in Baghdad, too.

read the entire post »

2. how i learned to not laugh at the moms who cry on their child’s first day of kindergarten

i’ve never had an addiction. well, at least the kind that necessitates an ‘anonymous’ group. you know, the kind where you get up and say, ‘hi, my name is ryan and i bite the heads off of my little ponies or i’m an alcoholic or i like to lick concrete.’ never been to one of those.

but it might be good to reveal, publicly, to readers of this blog one of my lifelong dark not-so-secrets.

i’m a crier.

read the entire post »

1. pawn shop shimmy: how a local homeless couple experienced extraordinary act of kindness & mercy

i don’t know who this woman is and i suspect there’s more to the story, but i’m going to do some more investigating. i honestly want to personally thank this woman. my friends might just squander away this opportunity or do the wrong thing. that is entirely possible.
or.
she might be their jesus, who has created a turning point in their life. maybe this is what they needed to get their feet back underneath them. maybe it’s the thing that is their salvation.

read the entire post »

alright, there you have it. these were the most read blog posts of 2011.

were there posts not on this list that stood out to you?

and while we’re talking about the blog, i’m always eager to receive feedback on what people would like to read or what you would not like to read. so, suggestions? complaints? i’d love the feedback.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

yesterday, the 25 days of christmix came to an end. before beginning, i wasn’t quite sure if i could sustain 25 straight days or, quite frankly, if i would tire of christmas music. as previously stated, i’m just not a huge fan of christmas music, but i found this to be sorta refreshing. i hope you felt the same.

in conclusion, i’d like to offer the entire playlist for download. i’d also like to say thanks to those who contributed: christen byrd, don gaines, danielle white, bekah caraway, bryan jones, sarabeth jones & charles peters.

here’s the tracklisting:

1. christmas in hollis: run dmc
2. happy christmas (war is over): the polyphonic spree
3. baby it’s cold outside: leon redbone & zooey deschanel
4. it’s true: sara groves
5. white christmas: bing crosby (via christen byrd)
6. please come home for christmas: jon bon jovi
7. little drummer boy: bright eyes (via don gaines)
8. angels we have heard on high: david crowder band
9. jingle bells: barbra streisand (via danielle white)
10. why can’t it be christmastime all year: rosie thomas
11. come thou long expected jesus: marcy priest
12. o come o come emmanuel: sufjan stevens (via bekah caraway)
13. all i want for christmas is you: mariah carey
14. electronic santa: blazer force (via bryan jones)
15. blue christmas: elvis presley
16. ain’t no chimneys in the projects: sharon jones & the dap kings
17. santa baby: rap all-stars
18. come thou fount of every blessing: sufjan stevens
19. love is christmas: sara bareilles (via sarabeth jones)
20. ave maria: chris cornell
21. all i want is truth (for christmas): the mynabirds (via charles peters)
22. christmas (baby please come home): jars of clay
23. o holy night: kevin max
24. amen, amen: sojourn music
25. o come o come emmanuel: the civil wars

if you’d like to enjoy the entire thing, download the complete mix.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

a couple weeks ago, guest blogger bekah caraway submitted sufjan stevens’ o come o come emmanuel…which was on my original schedule for today’s track. it’s my favorite christmas song and i wanted it to culminate the collection, today on christmas.

instead of changing songs, though, i decided to simply change artists. the song is not only beautiful, but really expresses everything that is deeply meaningful to me this time of the year.

so, here’s a handful of versions of this song in the following order: the civil wars, kevin max, selah, matthew perryman jones, david crowder and sojourn music.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3. (this is the civil wars version)

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

i know relatively little about sojourn community church in louisville, kentucky. from what i do know, though, we would have little in common theologically. but this is why i love music so much: because it’s a powerful, unifying force. so several years ago when they released a free christmas album, advent songs, that has become one of my favorite contemporary christmas albums. this song is a beautiful addition to this collection.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

we’re nearing the end, friends, and i think it’s time for a traditional(ish) christmas song. i’ve been a fan of kevin max for a very long time. his christmas album, holy night, came out several years ago and has been in regular rotation every christmas since then. this is not only my favorite song from that album, but one of my favorite traditional christmas songs since i was a kid.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

over the course of this week, i’ve been posting my annual best of lists. as a complete list nerd, this is my favorite time of the year here on the ol’ blog. here’s the lists i’ve been posting:

tuesday: best new music discoveries
wednesday: cover songs
thursday: songs
today: albums

the granddaddy of all the end-of-year music lists is the best albums. so here we are.

truth be told, i think 2011 was a bit of a down year for music. don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of really good music. but there just wasn’t as much great music as the last couple years has produced. either way, there were absolutely some albums that will live on far beyond this year. from 90s brit rock stars to brand new up-and-comers, here’s my list of the best albums of 2011:

25. tn ep: derek webb & sandra mccracken
24. love & war & the sea in between: josh garrels
23. the king is dead: the decemberists
22. bon iver, bon iver: bon iver
21. lioness: hidden treasures: amy winehouse
20. ukulele songs: eddie vedder
19. strange mercy: st. vincent
18. barton hollow: the civil wars
17. helplessness blues: fleet foxes
16. mylo xyloto: coldplay
15. cults: cults
14. young love: mat kearney
13. follow me down: sarah jarosz
12. 4: beyonce
11. mondo amore: nicole atkins

10. strange negotiations: david bazan
key track: strange negotiations
famously, on his previous album, curse your branches, david bazan told his story of “breaking up with god”. whereas that was a phenomenal album, i was glad that bazan (for the most part) was able to move on with this album. and a great album it was.

9. passenger: lisa hannigan
key track: knots
this was a big step forward from not only her previous album, but even her work with damien rice. this albums features her slow and mellow sound she’s been known for, but also has some big highlights that are upbeat and joyous.

8. 21: adele
key track: rolling in the deep
when every end-of-year music list is said and done this year, it’s likely that this album will average the highest spot. from indie blogs to mainstream music news outlets, this album was universally accepted and lauded. and it was for very good reason.

7. odd soul: mutemath
key track: odd soul
following their debut, 2009′s armistice was a letdown for many long-time mutemath fans. and while odd soul isn’t fully a return to that original sound, it’s certainly a step back in the right direction. they managed to make a great album that continued to showcase their one-of-a-kind sound.

6. w h o k i l l: tune-yards
key track: bizness
this album came out of nowhere. even before the buzz on indie blogs began, i stumbled across this album and it’s afro-indie-eclectic-pop sounds immediately grabbed me. this is one of those albums that was on repeat in itunes for me for at least a week.

5. ceremonials: florence and the machine
key track: shake it off
few albums in 2011 were simultaneously as good, as big and as fun as this album. florence welch’s previous album, lungs, was a breakout success and that only serves to create unattainable expectations for the next album. in this case, though, somehow she attained that level of expectations and crafted one of the best albums of the year.

4. noel gallagher’s high flying birds: noel gallagher’s high flying birds
key track: the death of you and me
when you’re a part of one of the biggest bands on planet earth and you decide to make a solo album, it’s really a lose-lose situation. either people love oasis and are judging it against that standard or they hate oasis and they write you off. beyond those 2 extremes, noel gallagher made a great album that—in the best sense possible—is the best oasis album in over a decade.

3. el camino: the black keys
key track: lonely boy
much like some of these other albums on the list, the black keys were facing some huge, unrealistic expectations following 2010′s brothers. whereas i certainly don’t like it as much as that album, it doesn’t need to be judged against anything. on its own, it’s a great album in which the black keys turned up the tempo and the volume and made a great rock record.

2. watch the throne: jay-z and kanye west
key track: otis
i’m a huge kanye fan and a moderate jay-z fan, but often, when any kind of supergroup forms, the whole isn’t nearly as good as the parts. and while i’ll say that i prefer a kanye solo album, watch the throne was absolutely a huge success for these 2 kings of the current hip hop world. even with the incessant talk of how big their bank accounts are, they managed to make one of the best albums of 2011.

1. build a rocket boys!: elbow
key track: lippy kids
the theme of not-quite-as-good-as-the-previous-album-but-still-great continues with this selection. no, it isn’t the seldom seen kid but it doesn’t matter. elbow managed to craft one of the most beautiful and poignant albums in quite some time. from grandiose stadium anthems to understated poetic songs, this album is a treat from start to finish.

what good would a list of best albums be if you couldn’t get at least a little sample of each album?

// download the zip //

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

i’ve had an up and down relationship with jars of clay. they’ve had albums that sound like the most fresh new sound and they’ve had albums that sound like warmed-over contemporary christian music. but with this song, they’ve definitely shown me everything that is right about them.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

over the course of this week, i’ll be posting my annual best of lists. as a complete list nerd, this is my favorite time of the year here on the ol’ blog. here’s the lists i’ll be posting:

tuesday: best new music discoveries
yesterday (wednesday): cover songs
today: songs
tomorrow (friday): albums

the last couple days—with best new discoveries and cover songs—have been list appetizers. but now we’ve reached the main courses: songs and albums (we’ll get to albums tomorrow). i’ve listened to, um, a few songs this year. and while many were good, there were a select list of great songs. from grunge rock veterans to luxury rappers, here’s the songs that made 2011 a great year for music:

25. strange negotiations: david bazan
24. whirring: the joy formidable
23. science fiction: the hawk in paris
22. go outside: cults
21. the magic: joan as police woman
20. made in america: kanye west & jay-z (ft. frank ocean)
19. (i wanna live in a dream in my) record machine: noel gallagher
18. satellite: eddie vedder
17. the birds, pt 1: the weeknd
16. bizness: tune-yards
15. gold on the ceiling: the black keys
14. magic: leagues
13. someone like you: adele
12. odd soul: mutemath
11. the tourist: sarah jarosz (ft. punch brothers)

10. lonely boy: the black keys
album: el camino
when bands have huge success with an album, it makes putting out the next one extremely difficult in terms of meeting expectations. and part of the key is making sure the lead single signals to fans that those expectations can be met. the black keys did just that with this song as the lead single for el camino.

9. we all try: frank ocean
album: nostalgia
at the ripe old age of 21, this was a bit of a declarative statement of beliefs for frank ocean, offering insights into everything from abortion to the afterlife to the nature of people. beyond the lyrics, this is just a song that sounds great. much like the name of the album (nostalgia), this is a song that feels like it was written forever ago, but specifically for 2011.

8. shake it out: florence & the machine
album: ceremonials
this is florence and the machine at their best. the songs builds in the first verse and then explodes in the ensuing chorus. sometimes we just forget that music should be fun and florence welch reminds us all of that with this song (and her entire album).

7. lippy kids: elbow
album: build a rocket boys!
this was the lead single to their highly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning the seldom seen kid. much like the black keys’ el camino, elbow was faced with trying to maneuver huge expectations. and with lippy kids, rather than trying to give us something over-the-top or trying to reinvent the wheel, they stripped it down and created a beautiful and poignant song about youth and their hometown.

6. rolling in the deep: adele
album: 21
i’ve read quite a few best of 2011 lists and a couple of them dared to leave off this song. and those music outlets instantly lost a ton of credibility. regardless of whether or not you love or hate adele, there’s no denying that this was one of the biggest and most important songs of 2011. it’s one of the best pop hooks in a long time and it managed to make adele have one of the biggest years in all of music.

5. blue jeans: lana del ray
album: n/a (to be released in january 2012)
when 2011 began, we had never heard of lana del ray. but then came video games and an internet sensation was born. whereas video games ended up on many end-of-year lists, i really prefer blue jeans. in some ways, i view those 2 songs as companion pieces that helped to introduce her to the world.

4. cruel: st. vincent
album: strange mercy
there was a lot of buzz leading up to the new st. vincent album from a very passionate fan base. i wasn’t necessarily on the bandwagon of ardent believers, but her album, strange mercy pretty much made me a believer. the album’s strongest track was the catchy cruel.

3. helplessness blues: fleet foxes
album: helplessness blues
whereas some of the songs on this list are just fun, catchy songs that make for a good time on a road trip, fleet foxes’ helplessness blues doesn’t fall into that category. while it’s a great song regardless of the lyrics, what made me fall in love with the song is their big, existential questions they ask. few songs about life’s purpose turn into good songs, but they managed to do it here.

2. knots: lisa hannigan
album: passengers
i love lisa hannigan. i really do. while i miss her days with damien rice, i couldn’t be any more pleased with her solo work. she’s not particularly known for catchy hooks and upbeat songs, but man, she pulled it off with knots. this is one of the most fun songs on this list and (don’t tell anyone) but i’ve been known to turn it up in the car and sing loudly. it’s truly a frightening experience for any innocent bystanders…

1. otis: kanye west & jay-z
album: watch the throne
yes, kanye west very well might be america’s biggest douche and these 2 might just rap about how much money they have, but they sure know how to put it in genius music packages. while most samples serve as a backdrop, they took otis redding’s try a little tenderness and featured it, which turned it from gimmick to almost an homage. it’s a great song and is the best of 2011

what good would a list of best songs be if you couldn’t listen to all of them?

// download the zip //

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

this final christmix guest submission comes from charles peters. we “met” via twitter a couple years ago (?) and through shared interests in music and theological points-of-view, we’ve managed to stay in regular conversation. here’s why he submitted this track (complete with a, um, vivid description of laura burhenn…):

the mynabirds are every hipster’s fantasy. pulsating, rugged american tunes that sound like the came from an FM radio from 1973 that are fronted by laura burhenn, a blonde dreamboat with breasts from heaven and a voice from middle earth filtered thru american spirit cigarettes. plus, they stole their name from neil young.

in this saddle creek christmas single, they do a lot of unoriginal things to do something really original. they took a bimbo xmas tune like ‘all i want for christmas is you’ and mashed it up with john lennon’s ‘gimme some truth’. on top of that they laced it with some expansive slide guitar and xylophone magic. with this song they poke fun at a really commercial holiday and make you feel like you reclaim the former grandeur of the christmas season.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

over the course of this week, i’ll be posting my annual best of lists. as a complete list nerd, this is my favorite time of the year here on the ol’ blog. here’s the lists i’ll be posting:

yesterday (tuesday): best new music discoveries
today: cover songs
tomorrow (thursday): songs
friday: albums

i assume that if you don’t love a good cover, then you must hate america. they’re great. while there’s a whole lot of bad covers, there’s always a good list (my initial list before narrowing them down was about 48 songs) of great cover songs each year. from youtube sensations to old country singers trying something new, here’s my list of 2011′s best cover songs:

25. are you that somebody: bell (aaliyah)
24. fire and rain: birdy (james taylor)
23. the transfiguration: crowder (sufjan stevens)
22. disarm: the civil wars (smashing pumpkins)
21. the scientist: willie nelson (coldplay)
20. (you’re so square) baby, i don’t care: cee lo (buddy holly)
19. tighten up: watson twins (the black keys)
18. pepper: hesta prynn (the butthole surfers)
17. not fade away: florence & the machine (buddy holly)
16. mysterious ways: snow patrol (u2)
15. it was a good day: holmes (ice cube)
14. god only knows: derek webb (the beach boys)
13. lovefool: the morning benders (the cardigans)
12. i can’t make you love me: adele (bonnie raitt)
11. one: damien rice (u2)

10. our day will come: amy winehouse
most people wouldn’t know this long-time amy winehouse live staple is a cover of the 1963 hit by ruby & the romantics. it isn’t just that most people aren’t familiar with the original, but that it sounds like a song custom fit for amy winehouse.

9. time after time: derek webb & sandra mccracken (cindy lauper)
this song has been covered plenty. quite frankly, we didn’t need another cover of it. and in spite of that, husband and wife duo derek webb & sandra mccracken managed to make a great version of it.

8. love is blindness: jack white (u2)
leave it to jack white to cover a song by one of the greatest bands of all time and still manage to make it sound like his own. since the dissolution of the white stripes, we haven’t heard too much from white. but this submission to q magazine’s (Ǎhk-to͝ong Bāy-bi) Covered was a great chance to welcome him back.

7. skinny love: birdy (bon iver)
at the age of 12, birdy won a national singing competition in the uk. just 3 years later, at the age of 15, she released her debut album which included this incredible cover of bon iver’s breakout hit.

6. i can’t make you love me/nick of time: bon iver (bonnie raitt)
earlier this year, justin vernon made an appearance on jimmy fallon’s show. rather than singing a song from his new album, everyone was surprised to hear this stunning cover of bonnie raitt’s 1991 hit song. after his live performance, it was released as the b-side to calgary.

5. hiding my heart: adele (brandi carlile)
it would be hard for me to love brandi carlile any more than i do. she has a unique and beautiful style that is hard to duplicate. few people would dare attempt it. well, except adele. and she pulls it off better than anyone else that might try. here she does it by covering a song from her hit album, the story.

4. look at me now: karmin (chris brown, lil wayne, busta rhymes)
i’m not a huge viral video kind of person. people getting hit in the crotch or hamsters playing the xylophone isn’t all that entertaining to me. but give me a beautiful, vintage-y looking girl singing lil wayne and busta rhymes lyrics and you’ve got me hooked. actually watching her sing is almost as good as the song itself.

3. rolling in the deep: john legend (adele)
it isn’t wise to try to take on one of the biggest songs of the last several years. unless you’re john legend. in this stripped down, soulful cover of adele’s smash hit, john legend shows us why he might just be the reigning king of r&b.

2. forever young: brandi carlile (alphaville)
ah, brandi carlile. we had the pleasure of seeing her this year and the highlight of her amazing set was when she sat down alone at her piano and led the audience in a chorus of alphaville’s 1984 hit. she somehow takes a cheesy one hit wonder and makes it immediately relevant and poignant.

1. the tourist: sarah jarosz (ft. punch brothers) (radiohead)
i’m a nominal fan of radiohead. and i wasn’t even too familiar with the tourist when i first heard sarah jarosz’s version. but i was instantly converted into a fan. accompanied by the incomparable punch brothers, this turned out to be one of the most striking songs—not just covers—of all of 2011.

what good would a list of cover songs be if you couldn’t listen to all of them?

// download the zip //

one of my all-time favorite bands is (was?) nickel creek. and no member shined brighter than mandolinist and vocalist chris thile. since his departure, he’s not only had a successful solo career, but is now forging a new trail with one of the most fresh and inventive “bluegrass” (for lack of a better word…) bands in quite some time.

the punch brothers’ album, antifogmatic was one of my favorite (#5, to be precise) albums of 2010. it was complex and layered and just a beautiful album.

now, with the announcement of their upcoming album, who’s feeling young now?, the brothers have released a new track (as a free download) called movement and location.

if the track is any indication of the direction of the album as a whole, we can look forward to a more complex and less-bluegrassy (feel free to borrow that word, if you’d like…) sound than antifogmatic. my initial response was, this sounds like if radiohead started playing bluegrass instruments. and, funny enough, the album will feature a cover of radiohead’s kid a. here’s a full track listing:

1. Movement and Location
2. This Girl
3. No Concern of Yours
4. Who’s Feeling Young Now?
5. Clara
6. Flippen
7. Patchwork Girlfriend
8. Hundred Dollars
9. Soon Or Never
10. New York City
11. Kid A
12. Don’t Get Married Without Me

alright, without further ado, here’s the punch brothers’ movement and location.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

we protestants don’t talk too much about mary, but maybe we should. and while ave maria isn’t, specifically, a christmas song, i’m including it for a couple reasons: 1. more and more, it’s become a part of many traditional advent services and 2. because chris cornell did an amazing version of it. so, let’s talk about mary, shall we?

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

over the course of the next several days, i’ll be posting my annual best of lists. as a complete list nerd, this is my favorite time of the year here on the ol’ blog. here’s the lists i’ll be posting:

today: best new music discoveries
tomorrow (wednesday): cover songs
thursday: songs
friday: albums

for best new music discoveries of 2011, these are bands that i personally initially discovered during this year. it doesn’t mean that they first appeared to everyone or within the industry this year, but rather, i discovered them in 2011. from up-and-coming british songbirds to the best new indie folk band, here’s my list for 2011:

25. birdy
24. anni b sweet
23. amy lavere
22. ivan & alyosha
21. david wax museum
20. foster the people
19. alabama shakes
18. the black belles
17. the joy formidable
16. the belle brigade
15. kimbra
14. grouplove
13. the apache relay
12. abigail washburn
11. joan as police woman

10. leagues
key album: leagues ep
key song: magic

this is the most unknown supergroup of all time. comprised of music veterans tyler burkum, thad cockrell, jeremy lutito & mike simons, leagues released a three-song ep that caught everyone by surprise.

9. dale earnhardt jr jr
key album: it’s a corporate world
key song: vocal chords

it would be easy to write off a band with a gimmicky name like this. but not these guys. they put out one of the best albums of the year and managed to create quite a bit of buzz leading into 2012.

8. the hawk in paris
key album: his + hers ep
key song: science fiction

much like the aforementioned leagues, this is a bit of a supergroup, consisting of dan haseltine, matt bronleewe and jeremy bose. haseltine, the lead singer of jars of clay, used this project as a chance to break from the mold of jars of clay.

7. kopecky family band
key album: the disaster (released 2010)
key song: birds

kopecky family band (who only has one person named kopecky in the group) emerged in 2010, but they were a new discovery for me this year. and i’m glad they were. they have a unique sound and has emerged as the one of the top indie live acts.

6. gary clark jr
key album: the bright lights ep
key song: bright lights

i heard about gary clark when i found out he would be opening for mutemath while they were in little rock (he ended up not opening). when i heard his music, i was excited to find someone who sounds like 1 part black keys, 1 part stevie wonder and 1 part something totally new.

5. frank ocean
key album: nostalgia
key song: we all try

frank ocean began getting quite a bit of buzz a couple years ago when he was dropped from his label. he stuck to his guns musically, believing that he was a talent worth hearing. and he was right. before putting out his debut album, he appeared on a series of high profile albums (kanye, jay-z, etc) and kept moving up the musical ladder.

4. cults
key album: cults
key song: go outside

here’s the plan: start an indie band who samples cult leaders to make our music. no? yes. it worked for the appropriately named cults in 2011. in 2010, the buzz was huge for this band and all they did was back it up with their self-titled debut album.

3. lana del ray
key album: n/a (full album coming january 2012)
key song: video games

this was truly a scenario that couldn’t have been predicted. whereas we’ve have youtube sensations that became stars, lana del ray was even more unknown than that. rather than youtube, she began to get buzz on smaller indie music blogs and behind the incredible song video games and blue jeans, she became one of the biggest music stories of 2011.

2. the weeknd
key album: house of baloons
key song: wicked games

much like lana del ray, the weeknd came out of nowhere. behind their own brand of dark r&b, they became a huge buzz band on the indie music blog circuit. the weeknd’s music has no comparison in music and i think they’ll continue to surprise us with great music.

1. the civil wars
key album: barton hollow
key song: poison and wine

their story doesn’t get much better. joy williams and john paul jones were randomly paired at a songwriting workshop and after clicking, they decided to start a band. oh, and that band made one of the best albums of 2011. another great story here is how joy williams, a former contemporary christian artist, has become a hip, indie artist.

if you’d like to learn more about these artists, i’ve created a mix of songs that will help you discover more.

// download the zip //

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

last week, we heard from bryan jones, who gave us a chance to watch our kids do the robot with his submission, electronic santa. as much fun as that was, we now get to hear from his better half, sarabeth jones. here’s why this is her favorite:

I can easily tire of relentlessly bright and cheery Christmas music. I am more drawn to bare tree branches and late afternoon light and less to excess this time of year, so give me a spare song – simple piano and voice, that hints at the deeper beauty of the season, and I’ll love it. This has been that song for me this year.

Also? Fun fact for you – Sara’s name is really Sara Beth Bareilles. One more reason to love her!

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

hands down, my favorite christmas album (or albums, i guess i should say) is sufjan’s christmas collection, songs for christmas. between 2001 and 2006, sufjan recorded a series of EPs for friends and family each christmas. finally, these were all released to the public and have become a staple for me.

while come thou fount isn’t a “traditional” christmas song, because of sufjan’s inclusion and the nature of the song’s message, it’s become one of my favorite songs during this time of the year.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

somewhere along the way in the mid- to late-90s, a bunch of rappers thought, hey, we should sample eartha kitt and make a christmas song.” because of course they did.

here in 2011, it’s worth taking a look at the all-star lineup:

puff daddy is now diddy (we think).
mase is now a preacher (we think).
onyx is on the side of a milk carton somewhere.
rev run is making reality tv.
salt n pepa…not quite sure, but reality tv is also a safe bet for them.
keith murray is still a rapper named keith murray…
and snoop dogg is, well, still snoop dogg.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

one of the highlights of 2011 for our family was a move to a new neighborhood. well, maybe i should say a new ‘hood. yes, we moved into a part of town that, well, isn’t so desirable to most people. and despite the regular gun shots, stolen items from the backyard and the drug house 2 houses down from us, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time in the new ‘hood.

so, this song seems all the more appropriate this christmas.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

very few ornaments have survived on our christmas tree for the entirety of our marriage. things break. trends change. kids happen.

but one ornament that is a staple in the byrd household is our elvis ornament. christmas without the king isn’t really christmas at all. and an elvis christmas demands the song blue christmas to be played early and often.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

today’s submission comes from my boss, bryan jones. and this christmas, i’m thankful that i have a boss that i not only like but that is actually a slightly larger, beardier version of me whose name is only one letter off from mine. ok, maybe that’s just creepy, but nevertheless, it works for us. ok, onto his submission. here’s his concise description of why he chose this song:

Because it’s an absolute blast to watch your kids do the robot.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

EDITORIAL NOTE :: a while back, i had a brief (but positive) twitter exchange with derek webb. much to my surprise, it seems he has kept up with this democracy wins blog series. while he was appreciative of my reviews and support, he expressed concern over the lack of a call to action, if you will, for the reader/listener to go purchase the collection of songs. here was one of his tweets:

@ryanbyrd on the whole, i am. but if folks don’t pay, i can’t make them. i love the reviews, might prefer a buy link over the tracks

09/15/2011 9:11 AM via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@derekwebb

derek webb

so, please allow me direct you to derek’s store where you can purchase the album. it’s only $5, which is a ridiculously low price for this collection. the other great thing about purchasing right now is that you don’t have to wait 30 days for the next track (at least for the preceding 9 tracks).

———————————————————————————

if you’d like to take a look back at 2010’s democracy vol. 1, you can find all those posts through the following links:

january | february | march | april | may | june | july | august | september | october | november | december

throughout the year, i’ve been blogging about derek webb’s ongoing project called democracy vol. 2. fans were able to cast votes for up to 10 songs that they wanted webb to cover. then, the 10 songs receiving the most votes would be covered by webb for the album. the collection is being recorded over the span of 2011, with 1 track being recorded and released each month. from march to december, webb has/will release 1 track each month. for those who would like to catch up, here’s links to each month’s blog posts so far:

1. cee lo green: f**k you
2. bon jovi: livin’ on a prayer
3. the beach boys: god only knows
4. u2: one
5. traditional: be thou my vision
6. simon & garfunkel: bridge over troubled water
7. the beatles: revolution
8. rich mullins: creed

today, we found out november’s track (better late than never, right?): the swell season’s falling slowly.

i was glad to see this track not only because i voted (originally, in 2010) for this track, but i thought it would be a cool way to get his wife, sandra mccracken, involved once again with this project. well, we didn’t get sandra, but i’m glad to report that his solo rendition of falling slowly is a successful addition to democracy vol. 2.

as we’ve come to expect, webb gives it his own mark, rather than simply duplicating the original effort. with this version, he’s sped it up considerably, to the point where the song isn’t immediately recognizable. his version is driven by a pulsating downbeat and an added whimsy actually has a little bit of an arcade fire flare. all in all, it’s a great cover of a song that was previously great.

as always, don’t take my word for it. check it out for yourself. you can purchase the entire collection by clicking here or you can listen to it here.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

i see a lot of mariah carey hate every year at this time. and in fairness, the last 10 years of mariah carey hasn’t been, well, too appealing. cough*glitter*cough cough*nickcannon*cough

but let’s keep it real: the 90s are quite a bit less fun without mariah carey. and in 1994 when she put out her christmas album, we were all smiles.

especially for those of us who were in junior high and saw the video. roll the tape…

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

some of you may remember my thank god it’s mixday days when i was back at abpg. with our company collaborative mixes, i always knew i could count on advertising coordinator and general-person-with-good-music-taste bekah caraway to deliver the goods. today, she’s doing just that with her christmix contribution.

I keep a christmas mix cd in my car to get me in a jolly mood and help me avoid my usual road rage on the way to and from work. while I absolutely love “the christmas song” by nat king cole and amy grant’s “rockin’ around the christmas tree”, my christmas musical taste has always leaned toward the hymns. when I learned that sufjan stevens, one of my favorite artists, had released a christmas album back in 2006, I was more excited than a child on christmas morn. the man is a genius, even when covering christmas songs. there are 5 discs in the album, each with about 8 or 9 songs. probably my favorite is “o come o come emanuel” from the first disc. note: there are three different versions of this song on the album – another characteristic I love about sufjan. the song is beautiful and raw. great for celebrating the birth of my Savior.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

i didn’t grow up in churches that celebrated (or acknowledged) the season of advent. in fact, i literally had never heard of that until i was probably in college. over the last several years, though, i’ve begun to see the beauty of that season.

it marks a time in which people who follow in the way of jesus anticipate the coming of the christ child. for so long, people waited for and expected a savior to come to restore both humanity and the world. this songs beautifully expresses this season of hope and expectation.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

rosie thomas makes a lot of very soft, mellow music. no doubt, her music is great, but i particularly love that in this song, she just lets go and has a good time.

i think christmas should be that way. forget the stuffy christmas parties and the rigid rituals that surround this holiday. i just wanna have a good time and listen to good music. rosie thomas does both those things in this song.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

in my everyday life, my wife keeps my life in order. but at work, my life is kept straight by cjrw interactive project manager extraordinaire danielle white. today, she plays the role of guest blogger.

I have the most amazing and beautiful younger twin sisters. Always made up fun songs, voices, skits and games growing up. Every year at Christmas, even as adults, Babs come out on mom and dad’s old stereo and the twins begin the roller coaster of a ride through this song. Wide eyes, dramatic arms, loud voices and laughing all the way…. Merry Christmas to Amy and Erin. You are my absolute heart.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

as i mentioned in the original christmix post, i’m, ironically, not a christmas music fan. more specifically, i’m just not a big fan of the “traditionals”, such as songs like angels we have heard on high.

leave it to david crowder and company, though, to throw in a little banjo and foot stomping to right the ship and give it new life. instead of a dirge, they’ve made it fun. this is what christmas ought to be.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

a couple days ago, we had our first guest blogger and today brings us another. my favorite unhip hipster and vegan extraordinaire (and all-around good guy) don gaines shares with us his favorite christmas song.

This has always been my favorite Christmas song. There’s something about the idea of someone with virtually nothing to give, save their talent, that inspires me. This song can make me weepy at times, overjoyed at others. Conor Oberst and the Bright Eyes boys pull this song off magnificently with some help from Jenny Lewis. I also love that Conor, an outspoken atheist, did an entire Christmas album. It speaks volumes to his character, I believe.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

let’s just get this out of the way:

bon jovi is one of the lamest bands of all-time.

i affirm that reality.

but. when i was 15 years old and the video for this song came on MTV—you know, the one with cindy crawford…back when cindy crawford was, well, cindy crawford—he could’ve been singing the dictionary and it would’ve been just fine with me.

in all seriousness, i actually like this song. jon bon did it right and it’s a fun song for christmas time.

here’s the video just in case you’d also like to enjoy, um, the song.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

if you’ve never seen hbo’s boardwalk empire, some have described it as the sopranos set during prohibition. while that might be an overly simple description, it does offer a bit of insight into the nature of the show: gangsters, deceit, betrayal and violence all executed perfectly by a brilliant script, visionary directors and an inspired cast.

while the entire season (the show’s second) has been a good one, this past sunday’s episode was particularly powerful. a lot of major plot twists and character insights were contained in this episode, but it was a simple dialogue that most caught my attention.

after margaret schroeder’s daughter, emily, is diagnosed with polio, as an act of self-imposed penance, she gives a large sum of money to her local church. while in the hospital during her daughter’s first attempt at physical therapy, her priest shares a story with margaret about a man who visits heaven and hell. watch it here:

while it isn’t a new parable (this is a somewhat commonly known parable), it’s a beautiful and eloquent description of the afterlife and one that i can buy into. as an aside, one of the things that struck me most was that this description dovetails extremely well into rob bell’s analysis of the afterlife as presented in love wins. i certainly think bell and this priest are onto something with this description.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

i promised to have some guest bloggers. that begins today. and how better to begin than with my lovely wife, christen byrd?

when i want to listen to christmas music, i want to listen to classic stuff like bing crosby, frank sinatra, nat king cole. i love this movie, i love this song. so do you…don’t pretend you don’t tear up at the end of the movie. every time.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

sara groves is a rare example of an artist who can comfortably live in the christian music industry while still creating beautiful and theologically provocative music. in it’s true, she both affirms the truth of the story of the coming of christ while expressing our hesitancy to fully embrace the realities. she sings,

In your heart you hope it’s true
Though you hold no expectation
In the deepest part of you
there’s an open hesitation

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

we really didn’t know zooey deschanel could sing until the shower scene in elf. (ok, calling it a “shower scene” might be a little misleading…) in said scene, she partners with buddy the elf (will ferrell) in an impromptu version of the christmas classic, baby, it’s cold outside. and while we all love will ferrell, i think she did us all a solid by partnering with leon redbone for this version.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

what are the 25 days of christmix? find out here.

in 1969, john lennon and yoko ono rented billboards in major cities around the world with a message that read, WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko. two years later, as the united states continued to wage ware in vietnam, along with the harlem community choir, john and yoko wrote and recorded this song.

several years ago, our favorite creepy cult-like band, the polyphonic spree, recorded a new version and it’s as relevant now as it was when the original was recorded.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

on february 12, 2012, the recording academy will convene to hand out their annual awards for the best music of the year. between now and that night, we’ll have plenty of time to make predictions, talk about snubs and anticipate the biggest night in music all year.

undoubtedly, the grammys receive plenty of well-deserved criticism. years in which albums by herbie hancock and taylor swift won album of the year were signs that the academy were becoming more and more irrelevant to discerning music fans.

but then there was last year. arcade fire—who spawned this—took home album of the year and it was a signal (i believe) from the academy that the times, they are a changin’. indie music and music that lives outside the traditional parameters of popular music is moving closer to gaining a seat at the proverbial adult table at the family gathering. (now, there’s a whole other conversation as to whether or not that’s a good thing…think constantine and legalizing christianity…)

this year’s list of nominees was announced a couple days ago and it reflects the aforementioned shifts. certainly, there is still some fluff and just plain head-scratchers, but with increased presence by bands like bon iver, skrillex and even mumford & sons, there’s signs of new approaches by the voters.

we’ll see if this new trend translates into victories on that evening. in the meantime, i thought i’d make some predictions, offering my thoughts on surprises and snubs.

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Album of the Year
Adele – 21
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Rihanna – Loud

snubs: this is the giant one: where is kanye west’s my beautiful dark twisted fantasy? hailed by critics across the spectrum as a modern day classic (it has, by far, the highest metacritic score of any grammy nominee), i would’ve thought this album was the no-brainer choice for album of the year. apparently not. (one could also make an argument for beyonce’s 4 to be included.)

surprises: couldn’t believe when i saw the foos included on this list. while i’m not a huge fan of this album, i’m glad the academy chose something different than the norm.

really?: rihanna? album of the year?

who i want to win: adele

who i think will win: adele

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Record of the Year
Adele – Rolling In The Deep
Bon Iver – Holocene
Bruno Mars – Grenade
Mumford & Sons – The Cave
Katy Perry – Firework

surprises: bon iver’s holocene. not only was i suprised just because of the relative unknown nature of bon iver, but this isn’t even my favorite song from that album. i was also surprised to see mumford make the list.

who i want to win: bon iver

who i think will win: adele or katy perry

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Best New Artist
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex

snubs: i’ve seem some suggest fleet foxes. they’re not really a new artist…but neither is bon iver.

surprises: skrillex was out of left field. not a fan, but glad to see him.

who i want to win: bon iver

who i think will win: bon iver

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Song of the Year
Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie – All of the Lights
Mumford & Sons – The Cave
Bruno Mars – Grenade
Bon Iver – Holocene
Adele – Rolling In The Deep

surprises: surprised, again (and pleasantly), by bon iver & mumford.

who i want to win: kanye

who i think will win: bruno mars

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Best Pop Solo Performance
Adele – Someone Like You
Lady Gaga – Yoü and I
Bruno Mars – Grenade
Katy Perry – Firework
Pink – F***in’ Perfect

surprises: someone like you is an incredible song, but i’m surprised we didn’t see rolling in the deep once again.

really?: i like pink and all, but pink?

who i want to win: adele

who i think will win: adele

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Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse – Body and Soul
The Black Keys – Dearest
Coldplay – Paradise
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger

surprises: the black keys are one of my favorite bands, but their ‘meh’ cover of dearest from a largely overlooked compilation album was surprising.

who i want to win: (for the principle of it) the black keys

who i think will win: tony bennett & amy winehouse

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Best Pop Vocal Album
Adele – 21
Cee Lo Green – The Lady Killer
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Rihanna – Loud

surprises: i’m a little bit (but not too much) surprised by the inclusion of cee lo.

who i want to win: cee lo

who i think will win: adele

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Best Rock Performance
Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall
The Decemberists – Down By the Water
Foo Fighters – Walk
Mumford & Sons – The Cave
Radiohead – Lotus Flower

surprises: i’m not necessarily surprised by anything, but i do have an observation: rock—in the way we’ve known it for a long time—is pretty much dead. the foo fighters’ walk is the only “traditional” rock song on here. otherwise, it’s really sorta synth-driven and acoustic music.

who i want to win: the decemberists

who i think will win: foo fighters

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Best Rock Album
Jeff Beck – Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Kings Of Leon – Come Around Sundown
Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You
Wilco – The Whole Love

who i want to win: foo fighters

who i think will win: foo fighters

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Best Alternative Music Album
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys
Foster the People – Torches
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Radiohead – The King Of Limbs

really?: this isn’t an emphatic really?, but foster the people is basically a glorified one hit wonder, in my humble opinion. maybe more a surprise than a really?.

who i want to win: bon iver

who i think will win: bon iver

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Best Rap Album
Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne
Lil Wayne – Tha Carter IV
Lupe Fiasco – Lasers
Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

who i want to win: kanye

who i think will win: kanye

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Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Beyoncé and Andre 3000 – Party
DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne – I’m On One
Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Grey – I Need a Doctor
Rihanna and Drake – What’s My Name?
Kelly Rowland and Lil Wayne – Motivation
Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie – All Of The Lights

who i want to win: kanye

who i think will win: beyonce and andre 3000

——————————————

Best Rap Performance
Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes – Look at Me Now
Jay-Z and Kanye West – Otis
Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On
Nicki Minaj and Drake – Moment 4 Life
Wiz Khalifa – Black And Yellow

snubs: kanye’s power or runaway.

who i want to win: jay-z and kanye

who i think will win: lupe fiasco

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Best Folk Album
The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Eddie Vedder – Ukulele Songs
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest

surprises: interesting spot for eddie vedder’s album. it was a good album, but it’s a bit of an odd fit in the folk category.

who i want to win: the civil wars or fleet foxes

who i think will win: fleet foxes

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alright, what did i get wrong? what did i get right? let me know.

of course, we’ll all find out together in a couple months.

over the last handful of years, i’ve become a little scrooge-like during the christmas season. don’t get me wrong, i love christmas, but the spreading of christmas cheer has been diminishing on my part for quite awhile. [cue rant on commercialism & other hippy-type things…]

it’s time to change that. and there’s no better way than with a little christmas music.

so, i’m embarking on 25 days of christmas music—or what i’m calling my christmix. i’m actually not a big fan of christmas music. in fact, quite frankly, i dislike most of it. which is why i think this will be a fun exercise. over the course of the next 25 days—leading up to christmas day—i’m going to attempt to compile a mix of christmas music that is, well, tolerable (and maybe even good).

these won’t necessarily be the best christmas songs out there, but they’ll be a mix of songs that will at least break up the same ol’, same ol’ that we get accustomed to every year at this time.

in addition to me posting my selections each day, i’ve excited that i’ve also invited some friends to share their favorite christmas songs. those will be intermixed with mine throughout the next several weeks.

i really hope you enjoy. i know i’ll have fun with it.

so, let’s do it.

first up is something just to get our feet wet and to have a little fun with. and how else better to do that than with rev run, dmc & jam master jay? yes friends, from hollis queens circa 1987 (where they’re probably still cookin’ chicken & collard greens) to your heart here in 2011, this is run dmc with christmas in hollis.

if you have any problems using the audio player above, you can always download the zipped mp3.

i can’t decide if it’s a blessing or curse that i tend to see the world through a theological lens. either way, it leads to some unexpected (and often humorous to most people, i’m sure) observations about the nature of both god and people.

so it was on last night’s midseason finale of amc’s the walking dead. in a nutshell, for those who have never watched it, the show is about a group of people trying to save themselves in a world that has been overtaken with zombies (a.k.a. walkers). generally, i dislike the entire zombie genre, but this show is much more about the interpersonal dynamics of the group. which brings me to last night’s deeply theological episode.

this season—the show’s second—began with sophia (12ish years old??) being chased into the woods, away from the group, by some walkers. throughout this season, as they continued the daily searches for sophia, they set up camp at the farm of a family who has survived the outbreak. while at the farm, they discover that their barn is full of walkers that the family has captured and chosen to keep. the father, who is the head of the house at the farm, tells them that the reason they keep them is that some of them are family members, including his wife.

the father’s (and family’s) stance is that they’re still humans who simply have an illness. it’s just like, he says, a family member who contracts a terminal illness. in that case, you wouldn’t kill them, but rather have even more compassion for them. the traveling group, though, continue to see the walkers as non-human threats to their survival.

this tension comes to a head at the end of the episode, when one of the group decides it’s time to eradicate the farm of all the walkers. here’s the scene that follows:

**please note that this clip contains extreme violence. it’s hard to watch, particularly if you don’t like blood and gore.**

if the lack of a broader context didn’t let you know, the girl who walks out at the end is sophia, the little girl who they’ve been searching for throughout this season (her mother, of course, is the woman who falls down crying).

what almost immediately struck me about this scene is the juxtaposition between the rage of the shooters as the walkers pour out of the barn as compared to their timidity when little sophia walks out. their brashness in the execution of the nameless walkers completely faded away when someone they knew and loved and could name walked out.

john franke has talked about the idea of localized theology, saying,

in one sense all theology is local in that all attempts at doing theology are both influenced by the particular thought forms and practices that shape the social context from which it emerges and bear the distinctive marks of that setting.

while franke isn’t nearly as specific as my interpretation of the scene above, i think his description applies. localized theology takes into account “social context”, whereas generalized theology often has a detached objectivity.

i’m regularly amazed by the theologies of those who demonize and tear down the other. whether it’s racism or vitriol towards gay people or brutal critiques about another’s theological camp or general judgment about a speck in another’s eye, i’m always interested to find out what would happen if someone they loved fell into one of those categories.

what if their brother was gay? what if their best friend was a calvinist? what if their mother renounced christianity as the exclusive path to god? what if [fill in the blank with a loved one] was [fill in the blank with your sin or prejudice of choice]?

when it’s someone we love or respect or care deeply about, suddenly our theological high horses come crashing down. our detached theologies are scrutinized when our local “social contexts” present an opposing reality.

when the nameless walkers come walking out of the building, we have no problem putting a bullet through their brains. but when the person we love, the person we know, the person we’ve invested ourselves into, comes walking out, suddenly our convictions are less convincing.

so, how do you see the other? who do you hold in judgment? who have you, from a distance, shot down? and who might you view differently if you actually knew them? who might you see past the speck in their eye to the see the person they are? to whom might you apply, as brian mclaren has put it, a more generous orthodoxy?

ok, gotta get back to some tv-watching. beavis and butt-head is coming on and i’m bound and determined to find some lesson about the eschaton or transubstantiation…

while in seminary, in a small group, i read richard foster’s classic, celebration of discipline. each week, we’d discuss a chapter with the weekly leader determined by who was struggling most with the particular discipline (each chapter was a particular discipline). the week i chose to lead—which amounted to sharing about my struggles while engaging the text—was the chapter about solitude.

i like to talk. and talk. and then talk a little more.

and not talking is a key tenet within the discipline of solitude. solitude isn’t just about silence, but it’s certainly a close ally. so when you love to turn your music up and play loudly with your kids and talk during the remaining hours of your day, silence can be a difficult discipline to master.

one thing i learned, though, from reading foster’s work is that silence is a mysterious and powerful thing. when you and the world around you refrain from our culture of noise-making, transformation is possible. something stirs within us when nothing is there to distract us.

all of this has been at the front of my mind over the last several days as the events at uc davis have played out. in case you’ve been completely out of the news loop, a group of students associated with the occupy movement were peacefully protesting on campus by sitting in the quad in the middle of campus. police in riot gear showed up and told the protesters to move. because it’s public space, they declined to move.

in one of the most viral examples of citizen journalism, we see one of the most horrifying and disturbing cases of police brutality in quite some time. since a number of videos emerged, someone has taken them and merged them into a single video.

as we all should be, students at uc davis were outraged and demanded answers from the school’s chancellor, linda katehi. when they were barred from a press-only press conference, they refused to leave the outside of the building she was in. after quite some time of refusing to leave the building, katehi finally emerged. when she exited the building, she was met by one of the most stunning protests i’ve ever seen.

here’s what she experienced (and no, you don’t need to adjust your volume):

i’ve watched this quite a few times now and it still gives me the chills.

silence is powerful. much more than shouting. much more than hurling slurs. much more than an angry mob. much more than police brutality.

silence is shaming. it is piercing. it says things that we cannot otherwise say with words.

silence is a discipline. one that’s often difficult to achieve. but when we do—much like the students at uc davis—mysteriously powerful moments occur.

there’s been quite a bit of wisdom and truth from the occupy movement, but possibly none more than this moving act of silence.

alright, it might just be time to follow my own advice and wrap this up.

[the above photo was taken a couple days ago at her birthday party. yes, it was an alice in wonderland party and yes, olive was alice. ]

today, our little olive becomes a little bigger olive as she turns 3 years old. as much as one might tend to say, “i can’t believe she’s already 3″, i almost can’t believe she’s only 3. i really can’t remember a time when olive wasn’t here. avoiding all cliché, my life is deeply incomplete without hers.

it seems fitting that as i write this, i can hear olive upstairs—who was put to bed 10ish minutes ago—singing to lucy (whose bed is pushed up right next to hers) “i got my swagger back!”. (yes, a jay-z/kanye song is one of her favorites…) regardless of age, she’s one of the most hilarious and bubbly and heartwarming people who can instantly put a smile on your face. she has no worries in the world and she can immediately make you forget you have any either.

since her last birthday, many things in her world have changed. mainly, lucy’s gone to school, making olive the big girl at home during the day. she’s dutifully taken to that role and has not only has she enjoyed her time as big kid on the block but it’s made her appreciate her big sister even more. one of olive’s greatest traits is how much she loves being a sister to max and lucy. year number 3 has only strengthened that characteristic.

another year with olive has only deepened my love for her. she’s a reflection of her beautiful mother and she brings into the focus the best aspects of her brother and sister. she reminds me to laugh when i don’t feel like laughing and to cry tears of joy in those moments when nothing around me seems joyous. she melts my heart and repairs it all at once.

happy birthday, olive. i love you.

EDITORIAL NOTE :: a while back, i had a brief (but positive) twitter exchange with derek webb. much to my surprise, it seems he has kept up with this democracy wins blog series. while he was greatly appreciative of my reviews and support, he expressed concern over the lack of a call to action, if you will, for the reader/listener to go purchase the collection of songs. here was one of his tweets:

so, please allow me direct you to derek’s store where you can purchase the album. it’s only $5, which is a ridiculously low price for this collection. the other great thing about purchasing right now is that you don’t have to wait 30 days for the next track (at least for the preceding 8 tracks).

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if you’d like to take a look back at 2010’s democracy vol. 1, you can find all those posts through the following links:

january | february | march | april | may | june | july | august | september | october | november | december

throughout the year, i’ve been blogging about derek webb’s ongoing project called democracy vol. 2. fans were able to cast votes for up to 10 songs that they wanted webb to cover. then, the 10 songs receiving the most votes would be covered by webb for the album. the collection is being recorded over the span of 2011, with 1 track being recorded and released each month. from march to december, webb has/will release 1 track each month. for those who would like to catch up, here’s links to each month’s blog posts so far:

1. cee lo green: f**k you
2. bon jovi: livin’ on a prayer
3. the beach boys: god only knows
4. u2: one
5. traditional: be thou my vision
6. simon & garfunkel: bridge over troubled water
7. the beatles: revolution

today, we found out october’s track (10 days into november…): rich mullins’ creed.

ok, i’ve gotta admit, when i first learned it was a rich mullins song, i was disappointed. i actually really, really like rich mullins the person…but i’m not too big of a fan of rich mullins’ music. it’s not even that i dislike rich mullins’ music, but more that i’m just not into it. also, among the list of songs that were up for the vote, there are so many great songs that didn’t make it.

but.

with all that said…

this is a great cover. he’s taken a song that i just feel ‘meh’ about and turned it into a song that i really believe is one of the stronger tracks on this covers project.

instead of a stale remake of a somewhat bland song (sorry rich…), he’s used strong instrumentation and a commanding clap repetition to create something that is powerful. while i never like military/christian analogies, he’s almost created a sort of marching cadence, which is fitting to the lyrical content. with this, he’s created a song that is his own. it’s now a derek webb song, not just a rich mullins cover.

as always, don’t take my word for it. check it out for yourself. you can purchase the entire collection by clicking here or you can listen to it here.

derek webb / creed: