Goodwill Goldmine #1

Vanessa and I made a little trip out of state this weekend. Now that she has started eBaying children's books, it's a prerequisite when we go out of town that we stop at a Goodwill. If I have ever been glad to go to a thrift store, it was this time! This Goodwill had THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of used CDs. As I shuffled through their shelves of unorganized discs, I found about thirty albums that are on my "To Buy" list... and there was one set of shelves I didn't even touch! Unfortunately, my conscience would only allow me to buy eight (and one of them turned out to be a DVD). I will be back as soon as I am able. In the meantime, here is my first "Goodwill Goldmine" mix.

1. Bullet the Blue Sky - U2
2. Dry the Rain - The Beta Band
3. Rattled by the Rush - Pavement
4. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? - R.E.M.
5. Even Flow - Pearl Jam
6. Squares - The Beta Band
7. Ballad in Plain Red - Derek Webb
8. Drive - R.E.M.
9. Grounded - Pavement
10. Jeremy - Pearl Jam
11. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
12. Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.
13. I Repent - Derek Webb
14. Man on the Moon - R.E.M.

By the way - I am not revealing the location of my very special budget CD source! Sorry!

(I obviously do not listen to only Christian music. I am a mild audiophile and love music of all sorts, especially artists whose work have provided a soundtrack for my generation, my life personally and especially my faith. The vast majority of the music I listen to is 100% clean, but every so often a song will have a distasteful word in it. I have wrestled with the place of "secular" music in my life for years and have come to believe that whether or not a Christian should listen to it is a personal decision that has to be made with a person's maturity and ease of influence in mind. There was a time in the development of my faith when I needed to set non-Christian music and its influence aside. However, I'm not a kid anymore and my faith is founded. When I listen to music made by non-Christian artists, I try to understand their view of a world that is not Christ-centered; I believe it helps me keep from becoming blind to the state of the world around me. I love good music and I enjoy posting my playlists, but they are compiled with my tastes and personal standards in mind, not those of younger Christians.)

New Playlist: The Indie Rock Sing-Along

Nothing is as sweet as an indie rock tune sung at the top of your lungs at every red light between home and work... here are 30 of my favorites. They're not the most polished tunes, just the most singable!

1. Tournament of Hearts - The Weakerthans
2. Cruel - Farewell Flight
3. Elephant - Page France
4. And We All Return to Our Roots - The Forecast
5. Promise - Pedro the Lion
6. Cannon-Fire Orange - Poor Old Lu
7. Underwater - Switchfoot
8. When I Learn to Sing - Starflyer 59
9. Tow Truck/Vacancy/Chicane Cardigan Smile - Blenderhead
10. When They Really Get to Know You They Will Run - Pedro the Lion
11. Smooth Death - Danielson Famile
12. A Friend I Had - Aaron Sprinkle
13. Young Businessmens Psykick Makeout - Soul-Junk
14. Simple Green - The Merbabies
15. Taxidermy - Sappo
16. Joy I Had Was Joy I Sold - Poor Old Lu
17. Glorietta - Mourning September
18. Coin-Laundry Loser - Twothirtyeight
19. At This Particular Moment In Time - PlayRadioPlay!
20. Chem 6A - Switchfoot
21. Simple Economics - Pedro the Lion
22. Freak Show - Pep Squad
23. Plea from a Cat Named Virtue - The Weakerthans
24. Ring True - Poor Old Lu
25. Stars and Stripes Forever, Baby - Veterans Radio
26. Haunted Church - Rose Blossom Punch
27. Aside - The Weakerthans
28. Jesus - Page France
29. Twenty-Four - Switchfoot
30. Skin - Vigilantes of Love

OK... so some of the songs drifted out of purist indie rock territory. Their singability factor justifies such departure! Also, "Stars and Stripes Forever, Baby!" isn't the easiest to sing along with, but it's an INCREDIBLE indie rock song... one of my all-time favorites. I won't mention that I played guitar in Veterans Radio (oops... did I write that out loud?) I didn't play on that recording, though.

The man doesn't choose the mix; the mix chooses the man.

That's the title of my newest iTunes playlist. I love it, so I thought I'd share it with you:

1) Junkyard Hello Dear Wind - Page France
2) Mouth Like a Magazine - Showbread
3) Destruction, Destruction - Farewell Flight
4) Wake Up Early - Starflyer 59
5) Perfect Obligation - The Myriad
6) Compliment Each Other like Colors - PlayRadioPlay!
7) The Cure for Pain - Jon Foreman
8) With Love from Me to You - Watashi Wa
9) Big Trucks - Pedro the Lion
10) One Hundred Percent - The Forecast
11) Photobooth - Death Cab for Cutie
12) You Feel Like - Denison Marrs
13) Every Gun Makes Its Own Tomb - The Forecast
14) We Are Nowhere and It's Now - Bright Eyes
15) Call It in the Air - Discover America
16) On Standby - Farewell Flight
17) Trouble Is - Jars of Clay
18) Sovereignty - The Merbabies
19) Crash - Michael Knott
20) I Am Always the One Who Calls - Pedro the Lion
21) Confines of Gravity - PlayRadioPlay!
22) Par Avion - Rose Blossom Punch
23) Dead by Dawn - Showbread
24) Sturdy Jive - Soul-Junk
25) Underneath - Starflyer 59

bands i've been listening to

mutemath, mainstay, misty edwards, cool hand luke (jim deserves a "thanks!" for this one). bands i've resurrected from the library recently - rose blossom punch, starflyer 59, denison marrs. it's amazing how musical tastes grow... there are bands i used to LOVE that i can hardly listen to now... over time i've become more critical and i notice the flat pitches and weak songwriting... NOT THAT I CAN DO BETTER, just that i know better. bands i've stumbled across online - half-handed cloud (heard about him first at c-stone '01)... i like his simplistic style... he's "in" with danielson and soul-junk (surprise, surprise!) and reminds me of some of the indie-pop bands from athens like "of montreal" (not necessarily a recommendation... just a comparison).

music & books

what is everybody reading and listening to these days? here are some of the books and albums that i've really enjoyed over the last year or so:




ALBUMS
"altitude" by yellow second (top of the list - i love it!)

"free to conquer" by subseven

"mmhmm" by relient k

"hide nothing" by further seems forever

"bullet" by mat kearny

"monk & neagle" by monk & neagle

"hymns ancient and modern" by the passion worship movement



i like what i've heard by these bands but haven't actually listened to the whole album: kids in the way (rock & roll!!!), house of heros, the chemistry, 4th avenue jones, disciple (their new stuff sounds great)




BOOKS

"ordering your private world" by gordon mcdonald (top of the list - i've set a goal to read it anually)

"waking the dead" by john eldridge

"building true disciples" by george barna

"your first two years in youth ministry" by doug fields (got started late on this one! :)

"developing the leader within you" by john maxwell