Courtesy of my brother in law, Paul Fricke, I have become a fan of a wild-haired, beanpole of a Texas gospel music phenomenon named David Crowder.   2 years ago or so, when visiting family in Madison, Paul started playing me some of Crowder’s material.   At first, I sort of didn’t get it.  I mean, the music wasn’t bad, but I am old.  So I figured I was missing the appeal of what I thought were various repeating versions of “E” chords.   Lyrics were good but I wasn’t sparked.    You gotta see this guy to believe him, he really does look like a wild eyed crazie in some of his photos.   Over time, I started to find myself humming melody lines and wondering where they were coming from.   Or a lyrical snippet was sneaking around in my brain.   And I realized there was more than E chords to DC.   

I ended up looking forward to seeing him when I found out (courtesy of lovely wife Sandi) that he was coming to town.   We got floor tickets which were GA and required us to stand outside for about an hour before being seated, but then we were just a few rows back and center stage, so I knew at least we were going to be able to discern him from the rest of the band by more than just altitude.    After some pretty good “openers” (three as I recall), Crowder’s band came out.   And lit the whole place up!   Big time!   From the opening to the encore, from some pretty fine drumwork from Bwack and electric violin from Mike Hogan, and the rest of the players giving it all up for about 90 minutes, it was outstanding.   Lots of creativity, rock and even some bluegrass.  Memorable was the bandmember who made a contraption from the Guitar from Guitar Hero and put it in Crowder’s hands for a rollicking and fun treatment of one song.   What a riot!   He knows how to shake the house and the spirit was as sweet as it was superb.   I have the Remedy CD which includes the DVD and I highly recommend it if you are looking for an amazing collection of live and recorded gospel music.

But don’t miss him when he comes back to town!    Great stuff!   G’head….try and keep your feets from moving!

(Martin, Blog Usurper here).

I rented Ghost Town, a comedy with Rick Gervais.   I have to say, this movie is FUNNY.  We really enjoyed it.  The only thing bad I have to say about it was that it could have been done without some of the language.  I didn’t expect some of the blue words and wouldn’t ordinarily have had my kids see a movie with them.

However, much to my chagrin, my kids are getting older, and probably won’t wilt.  Although I hope NOT to hear that my son has used any of these questionable phrases at school!

The main character was brilliantly and hilariously portrayed - he had us all laughing out loud for several scenes.

I have to give this one 4 of 5 stars, but don’t show it in front of little kids, because of the unfortunate slight use of bad language (including the F-bomb).

I am amazed at how inefficient I have become.  I thought I was a pretty good multi tasker.  Pre-computer, I kept a legal pad on a clipboard nearby and had a system whereby I put a small date on the bottom of each page and wrote notes of things on the days I needed to accomplish.   I would draw a line through the item when it was completed, and add more items as they occurred to me.   Usually after a phone call, or an idea, or after I noticed something, I would make the note and then I would resume my process of piling through the list of things.   This note had a name and phone number and a one or two word instruction.   My desk had paperwork sorted…..sort of vertically fanned downward from top to bottom.   These were pending and working items.   A living breathing system of piles and notes, and I could easily see what I had accomplished and what was waiting for me.   It was a good system.  

Then computers came to save us from paper.   HA!   Email, text messaging, Twitter, cellphone, homephone, extra email addresses, Facebook, MySpace, My GOD!   Suddenly the excrement has hit the oscillator!   I don’t know what happened, but my desk regularly looks like a bomb hit it.   There are sticky notes with phone numbers I don’t recognize and encrypted notes that the CIA would not be able to disentangle.   Flyers, folders, business cards, receipts, notes.   I am looking at a scrap of paper at this writing that has a phone number, the words 3 kids, and the number 246.   Can someone help?  

I didn’t used to be like this.   But the problem is too much incoming.   Too many sources to review, catalog, disseminate, order and it changes constantly.   Email alone is a source of endless distraction.   I get up in the morning and I sit down to “check email”……next thing I know I am heading off in three different directions at once, responding, making notes, thinking and I find that an hour has passed and I am still sitting in my………well…….you get the idea (don’t bother with the picture).    And my desk gets worse.   Fortunately, its all ‘contained’…….I don’t delete email unless its spam and I know that everything that I need is “somewhere”………either on my desk, or in my email.   That is some small comfort.   It is the only thing that keeps me from complete madness.   I know that I can lasso the thing if I spend about 26 uninterrupted hours putting everything in order, deleting the unneeded emails so that I can find more easily what I need, and making another promise to myself that nothing gets written down on a scrap of paper without leaving clues to decode it later.   I know I can do this, because every 2-3 weeks, I do it and return my world back to some kind of order.    Then sigh.  And begin again.

But I miss my legal pad.

Martin here (blog usurper), in celebration of my kids’ stellar grades (3 kids, all A’s save 2 B+’s) this semester, we took the kids out to dinner and then to see Bedtime Stories.  

We all enjoyed this movie.   It was definitely kid-friendly but pleasant to watch for adults as well.  (Keri Russell has to be the epitome of wholesome looking.)  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an awesome movie, but offers a nice distraction.   The kids in the movie were super cute, and the plot was pretty clever.  Although I’m not a huge Adam Sandler fan, I thought he did a good job, as did his co-star Keri Russell.  There were a lot of other familiar faces in various roles and the music took me back to high school with Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing heavily featured.  (I’d forgotten how clear and crisp he could sing.)  The sound and lyrics was well-suited to the movie.

If you’ve got kids and are looking for something pleasant and benign to take them to, go see this light-hearted and fun movie. 3 1/2 stars.