I don’t go to a churchy church so I haven’t seen anything like this in a while.

I’m singing in a wedding on Saturday and we had rehearsal last night. This place is gorgeous. It’s in the historic district of Lakeland and it’s actually one block over from our first apartment. Back in the hood. Word to your mother.

Sorry that’s not bigger.

I’m singing with an organ!

That tiny lady is fierce. She was the accompanist at the college I sang at.  I think she still works there.

This one is the balcony.

Pretty cool to see some old school stuff every once in a while.

Did I mention the stained glass windows?

I’m psyched. And nervous.

I can’t remember the last wedding I did. But don’t worry, ’cause after this one I still have 2 more to go this summer.

WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?!

Ok, so my buddy Travis just did a really cool post on the first 10 songs that pop up when you hit ’shuffle’ on your ipod.

Here are mine:

No Doubt – End It On This
Finger Eleven- I’ll Keep Your Memory Vague
Matchbox 20 – You’re So Real
Dashboard Confessional – If You Can’t Leave it Be
MIKA – Stuck in the Middle
Dashboard Confessional – So Beautiful
Oasis – Untitled
Accidentel Deth – Rilo Kiley
Four Left Feet – The Ditty Bops
In the Shadows – Story of the Year

I think you can learn a lot about a person from their first 10 shuffle songs.

Go tell Travis what your first 10 are. 

My sound booth is completely torn apart. This is what it looks like right now, Wednesday 3:34 PM. Gabe F. is redoing it for me. Organized, with labels. HOW EXCITING. How terrifying.

What an incredible show. We saw them last night in Orlando with Against Me and Jimmy Eat World.

I almost felt bad for “Against Me” (the first opener). I mean their little emo 45 second songs were nothing against the FF. Nothing.

Jimmy eat world was pretty incredible too. I felt like I was living out all my high school fantasies seeing them live. He actually nailed the solo from “The Middle” and I have it on video, but the audio is atrocious so I’ll spare you.

Then. Ooooooh and then the Foo Fighters came on. Dave was like, “Ok, so we aren’t little kids that play for an hour and fifteen minutes. We’re the old guys and we play for like 2 hours plus, ’cause we’ve learned how to do it.”

And they did.

Also, about 30 feet from us was a stage that came down from the ceiling where they did an acoustic set. It was pimp. They had an accordion player, a violinist, and a percussion player on top of their regular band.

This is the stage while it was up in the air.

There was a catwalk between the main stage and the acoustic stage. Dave kept teasing us.

This is the acoustic set right in freakin’ front of us. Sorry about the blurry and the lighting. It was not working in my favor.

I think Dave is my new boyfriend.

He moves so fast you can’t even see him.

Ok so that’s all I’m putting up. Mike will have more pics later today or tomorrow and possibly some video if he so desires.

-Em

Foo Fighters concert 8:00 PM. Against Me and Jimmy Eat World are opening. Section 108, Row C, Seats 1 and 2.

Mike got me the tickets for my birthday!

OH MY GOSH I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!

I once met a very smart lady named Kem Meyer. I sat in one of her breakout sessions at a conference, and something that really stuck with me was this: she said a great way to quickly assess the state of the culture is to look at the lyrics of the top 10 songs on charts/iTunes/etc. I think this is a great idea, and I think I’m going to start a weekly column about it.

So as of October 17th at 1:05 PM, here are the top 10 selling songs/artists on iTunes, a quick view of their lyrics, and some (mostly) silly comments about them:

1. Crank That– Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em
“Soulja Boy up in it (OH!)
Watch Me Lean And Watch Me Rock
Super Man Dat (OH!)
Then Watch Me Crank Dat Robocop”

This is mostly a dance song…I’ve caught the music video once or twice while getting ready for work in the mornings. They lyrics are mostly nonsensical, but that’s usually OK for a dance song. Somewhere in this verse though, he starts picking a fight (lyrically) and talking about what he’s going to do to the guys girlfriend (called B****) in the song…let’s not go there though. Main theme: weird.

2. Gimme More– Britney Spears
“We can get down like there’s no one around
We’ll keep on rockin’ (We’ll keep on rockin’)
We’ll keep on rockin’ (Keep on rockin’)

Cameras are flashing while we’re dirty dancing
They keep watchin’ (They keep watchin’)
Keep watchin
Feels like the crowd is saying”

This is another dance song. Oooohhhh Britney. I know you guys are so sick of hearing about her, and so am I. Let’s stick to the topic of the song. It’s not about her wanting more, it’s about the people watching her and wanting to see more. She can’t satisfy them. Later in the song she even says, “Oh, they want more? Well let’s give ‘em more!” It’s like they want her to be more outrageous and she has no choice but to satisfy them. Main theme: I’ll do whatever it takes to be famous.

3.Bubbly– Colbie Caillat
“It starts in my toes
and I crinkle my nose
where ever it goes i always know
you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go”

If you wear a bra you have to admit you like this song. It’s really cute and very sweet, but as far as a theme….it’s a you-make-me-feel-good-so-we’ll-date/sleep together/play house-until-you-make-me-feel-bad song. It perpetuates the myth that relationships are successful because your partner makes you feel good. I’m not cynical. Main Idea: love is fun.

4. Apologize–Timbaland
“You tell me that you’re sorry
Didn’t think I’d turn around, and say…

that it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late”

Moral of this song: don’t cheese off Timbaland. He won’t forgive you. Not even 70 times 7. Main Idea: shame on me if you fool me twice.

5. Stronger– Kanye West
“Work it, make it, do it,
Makes us harder, better, faster, STRONGER!”

Uhhhhyeah. It’s kind of true. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…unless it makes you weaker. Then we’re diving strictly into philosophical strength. It’s the attitude that I hear from this song that bothers me…it’s almost like, “Whatever doesn’t kill me will make me stronger, so I’m going to put myself in a series of situations that will probably kill me so I come out looking like superman.” However, this song might be Kanye reflecting on his hard work to get into the music business. Either way, it’s a good song to workout to. Main Idea: I’m important.

6. No One– Alicia Keys
“No one no one no one
Can get in the way of what I’m feeling
No one no one no one
Can get in the way of what I feel for you
You you
Can get in the way of what I feel for you”

So, if you caught the VMA’s this year you got to see a little bit of this song performed…Alicia is so freakin’ talented. I could listen to her sing for days. However, for my current purposes, this song is all about feelings. You make me feel good. Life is life though, and your husband/wife will not always make you feel good, and that’s OK, because THAT ISN’T THEIR JOB. Main Idea: our love is strong, love is fun.

7. Rockstar–Nickelback
“I’m gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I’d even cut my hair and change my name”

Ok even if you aren’t a fan of this song, you have to admit it’s pretty cool that a rock star is willing to make fun of himself. Main idea:i’m important, and being a rock star is just like you think it is. But, to attain that status you have to be willing to change everything from your hair to your morals.

8. Ayo Technology– 50 cent featuring Justin Timberlake
“Aayoo
I’m tired of using technology, I need you right in front of me”

That was the cleanest part of this song I could find to put on my blog. The basic premise of this song is some girl has been dancing for some guy over the internet and he wants her in person, ’cause he really REALLY likes her dancing. Main theme: sex. Lots of it.

9. Cyclone– Baby Bash
“She moves her body like a cyclone”

Can’t put much of this one in here either….apparently this very flexible lady is a good dancer. And this “gentleman” really appreciates it. Main theme: sex.

10. Hate that I love You– Rihanna
[Rihanna:]
“You know exactly what to do
So that I can’t stay mad at you
For too long, that’s wrong”

[Ne-Yo:]
“Girl, I hate it
You know exactly how to touch
So that I don’t wanna fuss and fight no more
So I despise that I adore you”

Give me a break. Main theme: we fight a lot, but darn it that pre-marital sex is freakin’ awesome and we should probably stay together until that wears off….maybe that isn’t the main theme, but that’s what I’m getting from it. This is just retarded. Kids, listen to me: don’t stay with someone you fight with all the time. Marriage only complicates whatever you have in the present, it doesn’t make you magically get along. I guess this song could be cute if I thought of it in a positive light, but whatever. I’m in a cynical place today.

Let’s recap the main ideas:
Weird.
I want to be famous!
Love is fun!
I don’t forgive you.
I’m important.
Love is fun!
I’m important.
Sex.
Sex.
Sex.

So I hope this was helpful to some of you. It’s always good to keep your finger on the pulse of the culture.

Ok, so here I’d like to say that my ideas are mine only and may not be shared by RidgePoint Church or any of its affiliates. This post is not meant to offend or shock anyone…I’m merely throwing out there what your kids are listening to, what I’m hearing the few times my ipod isn’t in the car…it’s what the world listens to on their way to work. If you love these songs, don’t send me hate mail for picking them apart. I like some of them myself, but when you break them down for moral commentary…well…ya can’t really argue with content, but feel free to give me your interpretation.

***UPDATE*** Literally 30 seconds after I posted this, the top 10 on iTunes changed after being the same for 3 days, so if you compare my blog is behind. I’ll note for the future and try to keep my post times relevant with iTunes refresh times.

That’s what I yelled out from the stage yesterday. I hope none of you heard it.

I was just walking around minding my own business, getting ready for the service to start, not really paying attention to anything (except for everything that’s my job). I’m singing this morning, so I’m totally pumped. I’ve got family visiting, so I’m even more pumped. So the lights dim, the band takes the stage, the first song starts, I look out into the crowd and yell out:

HOLY CRAP!

It’s true. You guys startled me! All 1928375298374 of you. That is a slight exaggeration but good Lord there were a TON of you there yesterday, and Timm said it’s ok to be scared so I’m going to admit that it’s terrifying to see all of you! Not because we aren’t prepared for you or because we don’t want you, but because what we’re doing is important and we want to get it right. We have to. You’re worth it. God’s worth it.

Anyway, I’m excited and I’m not sure how many RPC-ers read this, but if you do, I hope you’re just as excited as I am. Another exciting this is MarriedLife Live this Friday. It’s going to be the best one yet for sure…we have really good food planned and Timm has an interesting and applicable lesson, so I hope you’ll come.

So, Sunday after a SPECTACULAR church service, my friend Emma and I jumped in the car and headed for Miami. It’s about a 4 hour drive. The reason, you ask? MIKA! The hottest new artist to not quite yet blow up in the United States! Seriously, if you’re sick of cookie cutter music on the radio, and you like happy music loaded with hidden meanings and thoughts about life, you’ll love Mika. We had a marvelous time at the concert…the venue was gorgeous. We were literally like 2 feet from the stage. Mika really performed his tush off (I have pics to prove it) and we were all covered in sweat and danced-out by the time we left. AND we had porn-star parking (pardon the expression) right outside the doors, so it was pretty much the best night I could’ve asked for. Here are pictures!

Back to the church service…check out the 11 AM crowd…they were really into the worship.

Basically, it was a great day.