Brian's Blog take 3

I haven’t written a review of a new cd in years, since my days as a music buyer for a christian bookstore. Not too many times has anything come across my cd player that has been remarkable enough to warrant a review. However i'm happy to say that one such cd has come into my possession. Smash-Ups is that cd. Smash-Ups is described as:

 "Like nothing you've ever heard before, Smash-Ups features 10 new hit songs that will blow your mind! They're half of one hit song - smashed together with half of a different hit song. Featuring today's top Christian artists including dc talk, Newsboys, ZOEgirl, Audio Adrenaline, Grits, and many more, Smash-Ups will be one of the most-talked about records this year! Each Smash-Up song matches the rhythm, melody and underlying spirit of the instrumentals of one song with the vocals of another. They're not remixes and do not feature any new additional music - just the different halves of two hit songs!" (www.familychristian.com)

If you have never heard of the concept it works something like this. Two songs are mixed together using the music from one, and the lyrics from another. For example the lyrics/words from Newsboy’s Entertaining Angels are mixed on top of the music for DC Talk's colored people. Those of you who are musically talented/knowledgeable could probably explain it better, but I believe that these songs are in the same chord and have the same chord progression. With a little tweaking of speeds they can be mixed together easily creating a whole new feel to an old familiar song.

The first time I had ever heard of anything like this was on a recent trip back from vacation. I was in the middle of nowhere central California. The only radio station that I could get was a station out of Bakersfield. They played a song that was a mix of a current Jessica Simpson song and an 80’s Madonna song (Celebrate or something like that)  Even though the genre was not my favorite it really was amazing how well the songs worked together. So last week when I discovered Smash-Ups I was quick to pick it up.

Notable songs are the above mentioned Colored People/Entertaining Angels, DC Talk’s Jesus freak mixed with ZOEgirl’s Dismissed, Toby Mac’s Yours mixed with Reliant K’s Pressing on, (notice a trend here? Well those are the only dctalk/toby mac songs on the album) and the three part Audio A’s All Fall Downmixed with Steven Curtis Chapman’s Dive mixed with Grit’s Get Down.  

Other contributors are; Rebecca St James, John Reuben, Pax217, Earthsuit, Out of Eden, The Benjamin Gate, and Switchfoot. 

Anyway, to wrap this up, I highly recommend you take a listen to this cd. You can hear some of your old favorites in a whole new refreshing way. Smash-Ups is a guarantee satisfaction or your money back or something like that anyway J

tomorrow starts my last year of school (at least thats the plan). i'm on track to graudate in may of 2007! i'm very excited to be that close to finishing, however i'm learning so much i'm kind of sad that it will be over so quickly. i have decided that i will not pursue my PhD unless the funds make themselves available other than through student loans. so unless someone wants to kick in about 20k to make me Dr. Brian i'm done with school after may.

 

my classes this semester are:

 

Current Trends in Children's Ministry

The Church & Society

Hermeneutics and Bible Study Methods

Theology of Christian nurture

 

should be a very cool semester.

 

Also, today marks my 40pd weight loss day. one year ago i weighed 282, today i weigh 242. 22 more pounds to go till i hit my goal of 220!

Well i'm back in Santa Clarita after a nice 2 week vacation. My sisters wedding went off without a hitch, glad i got to be a part of it. Boise was great, was able to hang out with the football team (Meridian High) in the morning, then visit many friends in the evenings. Was great to see everyone! Now i'm back, tired, but glad to be done traveling. School starts in a week so its time to buckle down and get back to work.

 

-b

i'll be out of town the first part of august, in oregon for my sisters wedding until the 5th, then heading towards boise from the 7th-11th. see some of you in boise, some in sweet home! :)

this is really getting ridiculous. my fingernails are sweating. its over 95 degrees at 10pm. how am i supposed to sleep in this heat!!

 

 

uninspired to write any blogs. but i figured i'd check in. summer's well under way, way too hot so far!! 100 degrees loses its novelty after about a week in a row. next week is summer camp, will be nice to hang out with kids and escape the heat up near Big Bear Lake in SoCal. After camp i head to Oregon for my sisters wedding, then to Boise for a few days for vacation. then i'm back and school starts up about a week later. where do the summers go? anyway thats all i got in my for now. :)