The Inkpen Summer

I have been home for about 24 hours now and my Summer is just beginning. I have so much I want to share about my first year at ORU, my first missions trip, my ropes experience and everything in between. Not to mention all that my summer will entail. It is still a mystery to me, but I know that God has a plan for the next 2 months of my life. Even if that plan is just for me to write music and work on my book... that is quite alright with me.

 That is why I'm calling this the inkpen summer. It is my time to write. I have had so many experiences this year that I need to write down and so many revelations that I want to share with you. When life is moving at 200 miles per hour its hard to take time to write it all down. So now I have 2 solid months to relax, read and write out all of those locked up thoughts. 

On top of writing the blogs and working on the book I will be working hard to get a few solid songs written for my EP. God is opening the door for me to record an EP next semester and I am very excited about it. I hope to bring glory to His name through my songs and I know that He will give them to me throughout the Summer. 

All that to say although i don't have any big Summer plans I have an exciting Summer ahead of me nonetheless. 

Worship Fast

Fasting is important. We know this. Many Christians do not fast nearly as much as they should, myself included. We don't fast because we think that we can't handle it, we are selfish and just don't want to do it or we don't fully grasp the importance of fasting to our lives as Christians. This blog is not to discuss fasting food even though that is the standard and most effective way to fast. My topic of discussion today is fasting music.

Music is a big part of my life. I don't go more than an hour or two with out poppin my iPod in my ears. By my calculations I listen to music for a minimum of 90 minutes every day. With the average song lasting about 3 minutes that means I hear about 30 different songs throughout my day. I have the one of the most random itunes libraries I've ever seen. It is about 7,000 songs ranging from musicals to country(like 10 songs) to worship to heavy metal and everything in between... like I said... random. Many youth pastors strongly encourage students to listen to only Christian music. While I do encourage young people to steer clear of secular media, I have to admit that a large chunk of my music is not by Christians. I do avoid content that is profane, violent or sexual in nature, but if it is clean and has a good message chances are I'll give it a listen.  I wish the Christians had better music... however, that is a whole different discussion. I think what you can "handle" listening to depends on your current spiritual level & how much that music affects you.

Time to contradict myself... you cannot say that the music wont affect you. Humans are very impressionable beings and what we let in is what will come out. We can see this natural principle in the Word of God. Matthew 12: 34 tells us that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." Whatever you let into your eyes and ears does make its way into your heart. I know that by listening to love songs you aren't just going to fall in love. I also know that listening to the Wicked soundtrack doesn't make you believe in witchcraft. I understand that your music does not directly change your thoughts, but it does start to play in your mind and heart. One of the greatest attributes of music is that it has the ability to make you feel things when you hear it. There are songs that can make you happy, sad enough to cry or pumped up to work out. This is where the fast comes in.

Over spring break I got to spend a few days at Southeastern University with my oldest friend, and a guy that I just met (but I am sure that I will stay friends with). During one of our many conversations throughout the weekend the guys told me about a fast that they had done. They said that they set aside a certain amount of time and listened to only worship music. I told them that it sounded like a really cool idea, but I left it at that. Throughout break and my first week back at school I just continued to listen to random music. Lots of the usual pop-punk and Christian jams (Christian doesn't necessarily mean that the music is about Christ... anyone else notice that?) I have gotten really jaded by worship music lately. Other than a few standout artists (David Crowder Band, Hillsong London, Worth Dying For just to name a few) all of our current worship music sounds the same. I realized this when my sister asked me if  a band was gospel before I put the CD in. She assumed in advance that the CD would be boring if it was Christian just because that is the lovely reputation that we have given ourselves. God has recently birthed a strong new desire in me to write worship music that kids like my sister will actually enjoy listening to. I have gotten off-topic, but all that to say that worship music is not the majority of what I've been listening to.

This weekend I started listening to worship music a lot more again. No reason really, I just came across a Planetshakers CD in my library that I haven't listened to in a while and got addicted to it again. Through the weekend I kept listening and then sunday I wrote a new worship song. I haven't written a full song in a long time. And as far as upbeat songs for worship this is the first one. That is when it hit me. What I was pouring into my ears & spirit all weekend through listening to worship had came out of me through my writing. This morning I remembered what Brandon & Justin told me of in Florida and I have now started my fast. From now until next week I won't be listening to anything but worship music as long as I can help it. I am not just doing this to improve my worship songwriting, but to renew my mind. The same renewal that we receive through reading the Word can come to us through listening to it in music. For as much as I listen to music I know that using this time to worship will put my focus on God for much of my day. I'll be blogging about this again in a week to let you know the great things that God did through this time. I encourage you to pray about it and give this fast a try for yourself. If you do it please leave me comments on my facebook or on my blog to let me know how it goes.

Be Blessed and stay electric!

Brandon

My Warped Experience

After 7 years or so of listening to Punk, Alternative, Pop-punk, "emo", screamo, etc. , wearing skate shoes and lots of black t-shirts, and watching the x-games (cuz I can't skate) I finally made my first pilgrimage to the punk-fest that is the Vans Warped Tour. 

*Disclaimer* This is no way a professional review of the show. This blog is me simply sharing my experience yesterday and my opinion on some of the bands and the festivities. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog...

My Warped experience began as soon as I pulled into the massive parking lot at the Post-Gazette Pavilion. All of the cars were in two lines slowly making their way down the driveway(if that's what you call it?) toward the main lot. I had my windows down so that I could talk to the parking attendants and the car next to me offered me a smoke (i'm not sure of what tho). Of course I declined and just put the window up when he started asking me why and stuff (I totally missed a ministry opportunity there, but of course I didn't know what to say). The funny part of that wasn't that he did that, but that he was really just trying to be nice. That's just not my crowd I guess.

After finally getting into the parking lot we watched a kid climb out of the trunk of the car next to us (who needs mini-vans when compact cars have such spacious trunks?). We then made our way to the first of many long lines that we would stand in throughout the day. We stood in the sun and listened to a guy running up and down the line promoting a band. That's cool and all, but I can't even type some of the stuff that guy was saying in order to be humorous. Why do kids find that vulgar stuff funny anyway?

After getting into the amphitheater and making our first trek over the steep hill and down through the bazaar of band-merch we had finally made it to the main stage (Which was no where near the actual main stage. There was no one big at all playing on the amphitheater's stage. I still can't figure that one out.).

One of the first performances of the day was the alternative-rock act Anberlin. They were a great way to start the day. While their show wasn't too high-energy, the music was great and they put on a decent show. One of the best parts of the show was listening to lead singer, Stephen Christian. I love when a band's singer has a voice that really sticks out, especially when it is the same live as on their recordings. Christian has one of those voices so it was really cool to hear that unmistakable sound at a live show. I can't say that it was one of my favorite shows I've ever seen, but it was still enjoyable and I can now take Anberlin off of my list. 

After Anberlin's set we wasted an hour at the merch tables waiting for Family Force 5 to start. They were the single biggest reason for me attending the warped tour yesterday. I have been addicted to their music since winter and I could not wait to see how their crunk-rock craziness translated into a live show.

We went over to their stage a little early so we could be close and we got to see the stage being set. Their logos all over the amps made it cool enough, but I got way excited when I watched Nadaddy bring out the Family Force 5000. I'd explain what that is to you, but words wouldn't be enough so enjoy this video clip:

Pretty awesome eh? Being a music-tech geek I sat there figuring it out the entire time they were setting it up. I love that stuff.

After getting all set the band came out and kicked into "Drama Queen". This set the tone for the rest of their set. The best way to describe their show is just fun. The lead singer (Soul Glow Activatur) was just having fun the whole time and seemed to be a really cool guy. They were all real laid back for as insane as they can get while they're rockin. All of their music is fun on CD, but it goes from a fun CD to jam to to a full fledged party when they do it live. There was never a low-point in the show. It was 30 minutes of crunk-rock fun. 

The only thing I didn't really like about the show was their support of Sen. Obama by changing the lyrics of their single Kountry Gentleman from "My momma raised me in the dirty south" to "Obama raised me in the dirty south". I was disappointed just because I'm so against Obama's run for presidency. I certainly wasn't holding that against FF5 though and I enjoyed the rest of their show. I am really looking forward to seeing them do a longer set at the Winter Wonder Jam tour @ ORU.

After FF5 we got in line for Relient K's signing @ the "Kia Lounge" tent. After briefly meeting my favorite band of the last 6 years we grabbed some food and wasted more money at the merch tents. 

The next band we watched was Relient K. Yet again, we pushed to the front and got to see them up close. This was my third time seeing them live, but i had never got to be that close before so that added to the experience.

Due to the shortness of the set they didn't get to do many classics (Sadie Hawkins, etc.). They just started with "Be My Escape" and played their singles off of the last couple of albums. Their live shows are known for covers and other randomness and even at the warped tour they didn't disappoint. They kicked off one of their newest singles "The Best Thing" by playing a brief cover of Kanye West's "The Good Life". It was random, but fun to listen to. One the highlights of their show for me was their ode to The Office (my favorite show). Here's a clip of them doing it on another tour:

As you just heard their ode segued right into the theme song from The Office. I thought the ode was hilarious and I loved listening to them play the theme. I had heard them do this bit last winter when they were on the Appetite for Construction tour with Switchfoot, but I couldn't quite make out the ode's lyrics from where I was sitting.  

They continued to play some great songs off of their latest full-length CD as well as one song off of their EP that came out this month. They concluded with their boldly christian anthem "I Need You" and singer Matt Thiessen Stood on the rail in the crowd and sang out the last song with the crowd's help. Their show was great and they proved once again why they have always been one of my favorite bands and will continue to be for years to come.

We had all been getting really beat down from standing around in the sun all day and I didn't want the girls to get sick so we decided that we'd leave early after catching a little bit of Angels & Airwaves' set. We moved toward the back of the massive crowd and listened to their first song and decided to leave when lead singer Tom DeLonge introduced them as "Angels & F****ing Airwaves". I wasn't shocked, but I just would rather not listen to that on pupose. Their first album was parental advisory, but their recent "I-empire" album had considerably less profanity than usual and contained a few tracks that were blatantly pointing to God. I thought that was awesome and was hoping that their live show would contain that same spirit, but I wasn't too surprised by DeLonge's  language. He is a former member of Blink-182 after all. I understand that it's the Warped Tour and all, but is that really necessary? DeLonge is quoted as saying that they will be the biggest band in the world someday. I would argue that cutting the profanity out of their show would help them achieve their goal and make them appealing to a much wider audience. Who knows, maybe their maturing sound and content will continue over the coming years. They might be a whole different band when they're on their own headlining tour and maybe they will be the biggest band in the world.

After stopping by the Relient K booth one more time for a shirt we found the car and headed home. I am glad that I finally went to the Warped Tour, but I don't know that I'll go back. I vastly prefer arena tours to outdoor concerts. The lights and stuff just make it feel more like a show. As far as the bands go I'll be seeing the ones that I liked again at other locations and I think it'll be a more enjoyable experience. All of the vendors and stuff is cool, but when you aren't into that many of the bands it isn't that big of a deal. If it was a Christian festival where I knew I'd like all of the bands I know that I would enjoy it all much more. I'm glad I went once and I can't say that I hated it, but in the end it just wasn't for me. I know that I am in the small minority, but I normally avoid profane language in music and all secular music for the most part. I can respect the artists musically and 6 years ago when I listened to everything regardless of language I would have loved everything there. I just live by a different standard now and I know how to enjoy music with some redemptive value to it. There are plenty of awesome bands out there that are completely devoid of four letter words. Hopefully bands like Relient K and FF5 keep rising up in the mainstream and creating a new standard for everyone at Warped Tour and all of the music industry. The whole scene is changing and I can't wait to see where the music industry goes over the next few years.