Category: Music

  • Recapping the U2 Show

    Amazing? Too cool at the U2 show, originally uploaded by mclanea.

    How do I recap the U2 show? It’s an beyond description.

    Here are some thoughts from the trip, in no particular order.

    1. It was well-timed. A week before my trip to Cincinnati for NYWC and with all the stuff stirring at work, a day away from the chaos was God’s timing.
    2. I had good company. Kristen and I rarely get to do a road trip without the kids. And it was great to have Marko and Tash as companions. Technically, Kristen and I were along for the ride since Tash took over driving!
    3. Phoenix is a long way away. It’s a solid 6-7 hours away from San Diego. It’s hard to understand because it’s only a 70 minute flight.
    4. Bono is amazing. He is a captivating performer. How a man puts out that kind of energy for 2.5 hours I will never know. And his ability to do little moments throughout the show for the fans is incredible. I think I saw him grab a camera and take pictures of fans!
    5. The stage becomes the 5th band member. I love production in a show. And this is done so masterfully that the production actually becomes a member of the band.
    6. It was worshipful. Hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. But so many of U2’s songs have deep meaning. There were moments of elation, tears, and just resting in the joy of the show.
    7. It was what I needed. Look, it wasn’t a “Beautiful Day.” Tuesday ranked right up there with one of the toughest days of my ministry career. But that song in the show really spoke to me. Finding moments of joy through sorrow was poetic. I keep going back to that song.
    8. It was worth the money. Tickets to this show weren’t cheap. Getting there wasn’t easy. But the journey, the show, and the memories of the day made the costs a bargain.
    9. I’m still recovering. It’s been two days. And a missed night of sleep is hard to recover from. I am not 21 anymore.
    10. We missed the Black Eyed Peas. Seriously, traffic into the stadium was so crazy that we missed all but their last 2 songs. I’m sure they were great. What we saw was a lot of fun.

  • U2 on YouTube

    Today, Kristen and I are driving to Phoenix to see the U2 360 Tour. I have a figurative bucket list and this was on it. My brain has been mush lately so I am greatly looking forward to driving 5 hours across the desert to lose my voice screaming lyrics with Bono. Just for good measure we’re ride sharing with Tash McGill… and a late edition, Marko. (The artist formerly known as ysmarko.) I need a road trip. I’ve got another one coming this weekend. Stuff like this clears and renews my mind.

    Mentioning this brings up jealousy. Like “Hey, so happy you and Kristen and spending the day together… but I really wanna go and I’m thinking of killing you to steal your tickets.”

    No need to be jealous. You can have Mr. Bono and the massive stage craziness. Just tune in Sunday night for all the goodness of live streaming. Screaming “it’s a beautiful day!” in your home is optional. Better save that for the live experience.

  • David Crowder Band at the Roxy

  • Buy the Harbor Worship CD

    hchwHere on the blog I’ve talked early and often about our church, Harbor Mid-City. One of the things that we like most is the expression of arts in weekly services. In the last year I can’t think of a time when we’ve had a musical solo. But in that time we’ve had spoken word performed, rap performed, and an artists representation of the message. These are amazing wrinkles to worship. Very cool.

    The role of our worship leader is unique. (Based on my observation– not something anyone has ever told me.) It’s a role which I love in view of the rock star worship leader model we see so prevalent in the Evangelical church. First, Matt Cromwell’s job in leading worship is to elevate the rest of the group above himself. He simply won’t take the spotlight. No lead guitar. His mic isn’t louder than the rest. He’s rarely the visual leader of the service. Second, he facilitates the people of the church writing the lyrics for the songs we sing as a congregation.

    It’s that second thing that I want to point you to today. Matt and the worship team have put together a CD of the songs we sing at church… and I think you should check it out. Head over to CD Baby or iTunes, sample some tracks, and consider supporting Harbor’s worship team by purchasing a song or their entire album. If I could suggest one track, Trial By Fire. Yeah, I like that one a lot. You need that one.

  • I knit sweaters, yo!

    This cracked me up.

    HT to YS Marketing Team

  • Saturday Tunes

    Saturday TunesNot a lot of plans this weekend, so we will fall into routines fairly quickly. Kristen and Megan are hiking up Cowles Mountain. Stoney and I are waiting for them to return so we can head to Dog Beach for some beach therepy. After that we have no plans. A nice relaxing weekend lies ahead.

    Right now I am sipping tea and listening to music. I did some rearranging on things in the sidebar, so make sure you check that out. The blogroll is back! Here are the next 10 tunes I’m listening to. As always, these are completely random and my ratings are included.

    #1 Mysterious Ways by U2 ****

    #2 Single Ladies by Beyonce *****

    #3 Going On by Gnarles Barkley ****

    #4 Thanksgiving Song by Adam Sandler *****

    #5 Tell Me Something Good by P!nk ****

    #6 Dare You to Move by Switchfoot ***

    #7 Dissonant Distinction by Brae ****

    #8 Faithful by Steve Fee **

    #9 Made to Worship by Chris Tomlin ***

    #10 Starstrukk by 3OH!3 ****

  • Saturday Tunes

    Saturday TunesI know, I’m a day late. But it felt a little weird to miss this. Yesterday, we had a busy day. I woke up and worked on a friend’s website all morning. Kristen ran some errands. Before we knew it, it was time to go to the beach with our friends from community group. We went up to Torrey Pines, where we met our group along with our refugee family. How is it possible they had never been to the beach before? Not only that… but we were completely amazed at the kids language acquisition. Last Fall they barely spoke any English at all… now the kids feel mostly comfortable with English and mom and dad aren’t too far behind. That’s fun to see.

    A lazy evening followed. This was capped off by the delivery of a brand new mattress. Since moving to this house Kristen and I have slept on a double size mattress on the floor. It was fine but excessively ghetto. On Friday, Kristen and I decided to finally solve this aching (literally) problem and headed to a furniture store in Kearney Mesa called “Real Deal.” Just like the reviews of the place promised, this was a great furniture store. Lots of choices and a friendly, no commission staff. Long story short, we got our long-awaited mattress delivered last night. We went from a double mattress on the floor to a massive king sized bed. We both slept like rocks last night. I went to bed about 10 minutes after Kristen last night and she was completely knocked out… that never happens.

    Anyway, this morning is quiet. Kristen is off running a 5k and I am home with the kids before church. Here are the next 10 tunes I’m listening too. As always, these are completely random and my ratings are included.

    #1 Night Drive by Jimmy Eat World ****

    #2 Plain White Rapper by KJ-52 ***

    #3 Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer *****

    #4 Sea of Love by Cat Power ***

    #5 Nothing Left to Lose by Mat Kearney ****

    #6 Enough by Chris Tomlin ***

    #7 Filled With Your Glory by Starfield ****

    #8 I Alone by Live

    #9 A King A Kingdom by Derek Webb ****

    #10 Lose Yourself by Eminem *****

  • Music Meme

    I wasn’t tagged directly… but I felt tagged in spirit by Marko’s music meme. So here goes:

    The 411:

    1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
    2. Put it on shuffle
    3. Press play
    4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
    5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
    6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool!

    Opening Credits: Over My Head — The Fray

    Waking Up: When I Said I Would — Whitney Duncan

    First Day At School: Make Someone Happy — Jimmy Durante

    Falling In Love:     Homeless –Paul Simon

    Fight Song:     No More — Boaz

    Breaking Up: Listen to the Music — The Doobie Brothers

    Prom: Angel — Sarah McLachlan

    Life: Faithful — Steve Fee

    Mental Breakdown: Every Little Things She Does is Magic — The Police

    Driving: Pick up the Pieces — Brae

    Flashback:
    Hometown Glory — Adele

    Getting Back Together: Sweet Home Alabama — Lynyrd Skynyrd

    Wedding: 42 — Coldplay

    Birth of Child: Who Says You Can’t Go Home — Bon Jovi

    Final Battle: Bye, Bye Love — Ray Charles

    Death Scene: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For — U2

    Funeral Song:     Mona Lisa — Nat King Cole

    Remembrance Song: You Alone by David Crowder Band

    End Credits:     Open Skies by David Crowder Band

    I’m tagging Billy, Todd, Tim, Jeremy, Sara, and Kim.

  • Saturday Tunes

    Saturday TunesAh, Memorial Day. It’s hard to have an “unofficial start to summer” when your kids have 6 weeks left in school and the temperature pretty much hovers around the same 20 degree variable 10 months a year. Alas, it’s summer and I’m excited about that.

    We’ve had a hectic for a kick-off to a 3 day weekend. Last night we decided to take the trolley down to the Gasplamp district of San Diego to enjoy our family date night. While we got settled onto the trolley I got a text that my long-awaited iPhone app had finally released. (You get to submit and wait for Apple, no choice on a release date.) Tucking that distraction into the back of my mind we had a good evening of walking around downtown and eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory. [Just OK food, but the kids liked it.]

    This morning I woke up and did a bit of PR to get things moving with the app. Then I dashed of to Del Mar to film a podcast segment with a comedian… who was funny despite it being 10 in the morning. From here we actually don’t know what we’re doing until Tuesday morning. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

    For now, I’m just chilling and listening to some music.

    Here are the next 10 tunes flowing to my cranium. As always… completely random with my ratings included:

    1. Fix You by Coldplay ***** (Love this free album!)

    2. The Swing by Kimya Dawson ****

    3. Make Someone Happy by Jimmy Durante ****

    4. The Glory of It All by David Crowder Band ****

    5. Stuck to You by Nikka Costa ****

    6. I’m Sticking With You by The Velvet Underground ****

    7. One by U2 *****

    8. Can You Feel It? by David Crowder Band ***

    9. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You by Charlie Hall ****

    10. Hard Times by Ray Charles

  • 5 Songs that Pump Me Up

    Music is a powerful measuring stick for where a person is in their life, isn’t it?

    The songs that I identify with right now reflect a lot of who I am as well as a lot about how I feel about the stuff going on in my life. Here are songs that I listen to on a regular basis and just get me all fired up-n-stuff. A couple of them are obvious while a couple may only make sense to me.

    1. Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J

    2. Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer

    3. Lose Yourself by Eminem (not sure when I haven’t loved this song!)

    4. Rise by Eddie Vedder

    5. You Found Me by The Fray

    What gets you all fired up-n-stuff?