As cliche as it sounds, nothing is cooler than being a dad!

Jude turns 1 year old today.  I can't believe it's already been a year.  This morning I went back and read my blog post from the week he was born.  

Here's a portion of it:

"On July 23, 2008 at 1:07 PM a new praise (Jude means praise), weighing in at just under 9 pounds and stretching just under 22 inches, was indeed born to Sarah and I! Significantly enough the first sound that little Jude heard on earth was the chorus of Kevin Prosch's anthem "Praise the Lord Oh My Soul". This was only one song of a large mix that I created the day before. We brought the music in to help the mood during the possible hours of labor. I had no clue what exact song would be playing when Jude made his grand entrance (or exit depending on how you look at it). It just blows me away that the first words a boy named "praise" hears as he enters the world is "praise the Lord oh my soul, praise the Lord"! I can hardly contain myself when I think about it!"

As cliche as this is going to sound I still have to say that nothing is cooler than being a dad.  I've been to almost every state in the US and sang songs for thousands of people on multiple continents.  I've had songs translated into 10+ languages and heard tens of thousands of people sing my lyrics at one time.  It's all pretty cool, but none of it comes close to being a dad.    

As an artist I thrive on the creative process.  Few things feel as good as seeing or hearing something from my own heart manifest in reality. Writing a song or witnessing the creation of something beautiful by the hands of a human being is exhilarating. I pretty much live for those kinds of things. But the day Jude was born it was almost like God said "Let me show you how it's done.  Let me show you what it's like when I write a song.  Let me show you what it's like when I put something together."  It pretty much made my work look pathetic. 

Happy Birthday Jude!

Vinyl = The New Digital?

Plastic discs are still 80% of the "market" or so they say.  Still, between iTunes and pirating, the CD is finding shelf space to be increasingly difficult real estate to occupy.  No one would argue that the CD is basically on its way out.  But what industry insiders are saying is that even the days of the iPod are already numbered.  They expect in the next season that streaming and subscriptions will replace all these formats.    

I certainly enjoy all the convenience of our technology but lately I've been finding that I miss a physical product. 

 For starters I've realized that I'm much more likely to listen to a physical product than a digital one.  A digital product can get lost on my hard drive. Not misplaced necessarily but often I forget to ever listen to it. This happens especially when I purchase lots of music at one time.  The physical product is actually in my house/car and requires that I take notice of it.  

Also I've noticed that I enjoy the music on a physical record more. This is because I actually have to pay attention to it.  When the side is done I have to flip it over.  This automatically requires more participation on my part. When you pay more attention you hear more and notice more of what is going on.  

Beyond that, I like to feel like I have a piece of something. Especially when I really love a band.  I'm the kind of guy who buys even albums he doesn't like if they're by one of my favorite artists just to own their whole body of work.  Song "A" becomes more important when observed in the context of song "B, C and D".  Besides, some of my favorite songs are songs I didn't like the first, second or third time I heard them.    

I guess what I'm realizing is if I'm going to go with a physical product for all the above reasons, nothing is better than good old vinyl.  Don't get me wrong vinyl will never replace the new technologies in a commercial sense but it is making a comeback and I, for one couldn't be more excited.

So 2 things for you:

1.  Records vs Digital.  Who's king in your opinion?

2. What is the name of your favorite record store? I want to check it out when I'm in your hometown.

Why Do I Love Sad Songs?

I'm not sure exactly why, but I sure do.  In fact, a really good heartbreaker is my favorite kind of song.  I guess they just make me feel like a person.  Which is great because that makes me feel alive and I'm pretty glad to be alive.  Maybe sometimes it can be comforting when I'm in a difficult situation to listen to someone else who's in a difficult situation too.  Maybe it brings things into perspective to realize that there are other people in the universe and they don't all feel exactly the way I do.   

I don't know.  What I do know is that songs like "How Do You Keep Love Alive" and "Say Hello Goodbye" never get old to me.  

If I think hard enough about it, I would probably have to say that the reason I seem to be so drawn to these songs may be because sad songs are probably the most authentic songs written.  Love songs are just so dang marketable. That's why there's a billion of them and many of them seem cheap and fake.  You just never hear an A and R guy telling his artist  "man there's just not enough pain in these tunes bro".  Heartbreak is not flattering.  So it seems more likely that someone willing to sing about it may actually be heartbroken.  And though I'm not apposed to fiction, I still want to feel like I'm hearing a person and not just what someone feels like they're supposed to say.

Once again, I don't know. I just love' em.

Should Christians Be More Worldly?

How can John (in 1 John 2) say: “ If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” when John himself explicitly reported (in John 3) that the "love of the Father" is a love of “the world”?

In one sense, don’t you think Christians should be more worldly?