WHY DOES BILLY MAYS FEEL THE NEED TO YELL IN HIS COMMERCIALS?

I picture him when he goes home after a long day of commercial shoots saying things like, "HI HONEY, HOW WAS YOUR DAY?" or "KIDS! DID YOU FINISH YOUR HOMEWORK?" or "I'M FEELIN' SUSHI TONIGHT!"

Anyway, I know it's not very Christian of me, but every time his commercials come on, I kinda want to punch him in the face.

P.S. There are some hilarious videos of him (some for fake products) on YouTube. Specifically the gangsta remix.

crossdogs.com

I haven't blogged in a long time so I hate for my first blog in this long to be a negative rant but here goes...

I am writing this blog for one simple reason: to let the world know that www.crossdogs.com is unprofessional and a waste of money. I would not feel the need to do this if the company had not continued to promote itself as a worthwhile venture and if the company had not saturated the pages of google with press releases on websites that all hold the same inaccurate claims.

If you are not a Christian artist then you might as well not waste your tmie reading this.

I am a Christian artist in a regionally successful band that is on the rise. I book gigs for the band so I thought it would be a good idea to sign up with Sonicbids.com and the Christian version crossdogs.com.

I was right about SonicBids. I was dead wrong about CrossDogs. Both sites allow you to create an online press kit that you can send out to churches and venues where you would like to play a concert. That's a fine option but it is unnecessary if if you have a website and MySpace and PureVolume and any other number of free websites available to artists.

The option I was interested in for both sites is the ability to submit your band to festivals, concerts, churches, colleges and other opportunities that are looking for a band that matches what they need. For instance, if a church said they are looking for a band that could provide a celebratory concert with a lot of fun and a message of hope..well I'd submit in a heartbeat. So, for a small fee equal to or around the amount one would spend to create and send a press kit (folder with CD, bio, photo, recommendations from past venues, requirements, etc.), one could do it online with a music player and all of the things venues have come to expect in a press kit.

Well, SonicBids is constantly listing new events for just about every state and several countries around the world. I have not always had success when submitting to events, but there has never been a shortage of opportunities on the site.

CrossDogs on the other hand has literally and without exaggeration had 3 events listed for the past year.

SonicBids charges $5 a month and you can opt out at any time. I have not opted out because there have been so many new opportunities listed each month that I feel it is worth it to continue my membership even if I do not submit to an event each month.

CrossDogs, on the other hand, charges $49.95 a year and literally offers one to two new events a year despite claims to the contrary.

I am not trying to destroy this company. I wish them the best and hope they will begin to provide the services they say they offer. I am, however, trying to let others know not to waste money. I have emailed several times in the past, as have many other artists about what the company is doing to remedy this and have heard nothing but empty promises and lame excuses. For the past year their message boards have been filled with complaints and laments from the people that paid for their "services". I was going to tell you to see for yourself but they actually took the message board down.

So there you go. Please do yourself a favor and do not pay Crossdogs.com for a year of nothing.

Music City?

Starwood Ampitheatre is closing. No more. Caput.

Nashville is a strange town for music now. And yet we're known as "Music City".

Big concerts don't come to Nashville because there isn't a big venue for them except Gaylord downtown. Most cities that have an NFL stadium open it during the off season (and sometimes during the season) to large tours. Not us.

And now, with the demise of Dancin' In the District and Starwood's closing, there is no large outdoor concert venue for Nashville. So let's hope someone steps up because we're missing out on big tours.

It's ironic that Bonnaroo is so close. They have announced that newly reunited The Police will headline at this year's festival.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

I've lamented on many occasions the lack of quality programming on television and the larger lack of well represented Christians. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip provides both. But despite its all-star cast and stellar writing from West Wing mastermind Aaron Sorkin, Studio 60 is in danger of camcelation by the numbskulls at NBC.

This is not the first show about a show to come around (Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore, Murphy Brown, The Ben Stiller Show), but it's one of the few times I've seen it really work. It's based on a Saturday Night Live premise and the writing makes me wish Sorkin would go to work for SNL.

Studio 60's breakout character is a Christian actress played by Sarah Paulson. Her character, loosely based on Sorkin's real-life girlfriend and Christian actress Kristin Chenoweth, is one of the finest portrayals of a Christian I have seen on network television. A Christian who is funny? What? Compare that to the new character--or should I say idiotic Christian stereotype--played by Busy Philipps on ER.

Watch the show tonight at 10 eastern/9 central on NBC. Then go here to sign a petition to keep it on the air.

Caffe, where have you gone?

Whilst driving home today from yon church in Mt Juliet (take that, Google!), I smelled--with car windows up--a distinct waft of garlic bread floating through Hermitage. They say smell is the sense that most strongly conjures up memory. It took me a moment to figure out where I associated that particular smell.

And then it hit me...Caffe Milano. What the heck happened to that place? For years it won The Nashville Scene's best sounding room and hosted some amazing concerts. Then, seemingly our of nowhere, it shut down. Gibson purchased it and re-opened it for a minute and then they shut it down too.

I saw so many great artists there: Over the Rhine, Sixpence, Patty Griffin, Caedmon's Call, Vigilantes of Love and others I can't remember at the moment (but I'm sure Jennifer will comment with some...please?).

Anyway, I miss that place and its food. Now I have to figure out where that smell on Lebanon Road was coming from.

Dude, I don't got a Dell

Well the Dell stopped charging...so I can't check emails much....

Update on my Dell

So here's the deal with my Devil 5150. It's a collosal piece of crap. Here's some proof. Take a look at all the people worldwide who have had problems with this thing.

I had my motherboard replaced several months ago (right around 1 year of ownership). Dell tells me I may need to do this again. But, as I stated in my last blog on this issue, I no longer have a warranty.

Bottom line? Now, in addition to the battery not charging, the screen doesn't work! I'm using it with an external monitor right now. All of this means I can't use SongShow Plus until I get it fixed. I'm leading worship at a retreat this weekend and can't use the stupid computer for the very reason I bought it!

Yes, Gavin, I think I'm going to Mac. But when? Because I was an idiot and bought this thing on credit (which Dell jacked waaaayyy up after I bought it without telling me), I now owe more than than the retail price of it. Never again. And yet, what the crap am I supposed to do now? I have to have a laptop. It's part of my job. So what the heck am I to do? Pray I suppose.

"Dude, don't buy a Dell!"

So I bought my Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop in July of 2004. And it has been mostly trouble since. I have had to replace the motherboard. The built in mouse barely works. The left control button barely works. It sometimes slows down to a crawl when projecting video when I lead worship or VJ due to its ridiculously slow video card (which can not be upgraded!).

And now it won't charge when you plug the AC power into the back of the laptop. You have to push the cord in and pull it out and then get it sort of just barely in there and...well sometimes it works.

So, whenever an issue comes up like that (a really serious one), I have to call Dell. And their "much celebrated, world renown" customer service kicks in. Wow. First of all, THEY ARE IN INDIA. The 800 number kicks you over to their call center in India and you talk with nice folks who just simply don't understand English very well. It's a difficult language barrier that can certainly get in the way. But when it comes right down to it, like most American call centers these days, the Dell folks simply are not trained on LISTENING.

When I called today I had to (as I always do) repeat the same things over and over again. For instance I clearly and succinctly described that there was nothing wrong with the AC adapter and that I had tried another Dell AC adapter and had the same problem. Therefore it must be something with the jack on the back of the computer. 4 separate times the guy asked me, "now, are you sure it is not the AC brick?" Yes, I am sure. I have told you that 4 tim

So we finally get somewhere and the guy tells me my warranty was up on May 31. I was told when I purchased the thing (at least I thought) that I had a three year warranty. You do the math, but the way I see it that's not even a full year...let alone three years.

So, all of this is to say. Don't buy a Dell.

P.S. I had to stop (I counted) blogging this 5 times to jiggle the cord in the back of the computer.

Stopping Stupid Spammers

I said a while ago that I was getting tired of stupid spammers putting stuff about their fish tank company or their discount cat furniture (I'm not kidding) in a comment on my blog.

Anyway, you probably already know this (I'm kind of slow sometimes), but Blogger has implemented some good steps to get rid of blog spam.

So, that's why you have to do one of those weird word verification things when you leave a comment on my blogs now.

Blog spam

You know what I hate? I hate it when someone puts a comment on your blog simply to advertise their blog.

If you want to advertise your blog, go ahead and comment about the post and then everyone will think, "Now, that guy is pretty insightful. Think I'll check out his blog."

Instead you get comments like, "Wow! You have a great blog. So do I and it's about diabetes!" Tell me, what does diabetes have to do with the death of one of my heroes? Oh, right. IT DOESN'T!

A couple minutes ago you could go through my site and see what I meant. Now you can't because I did what I will continue to do. I deleted their silly adverts.

I'm probably setting myself for more of this garbage by blogging about it. Oh well.

I hate my MTV

So, I came in on the tail end of the day apparently.

And how does MTV follow this century's biggest call to combat poverty? With an episode of Pimp My Ride.

I can't sleep. And when I can't sleep, most often I watch television.

I wish to God there was a decent Christian network on television. I wish there was good Christian programming on television. We can lament all day and night about the lack of good television on the major networks, but when it comes right down to it the worst television off all is on Christian channels like TBN.

What's worse is that TBN has decent programs but throws them out there at 3 in the morning on occasion. So, instead of airing a reality show like Travel the Road or TruthQuest during prime time they elect to show a fifteen year old re-run of some idiot in a bad wig preaching Hell-fire and damnation.

Shame on us Christians for not standing up and asking for more from the major networks. But shame on us twice for not asking for more from the so-called Christian networks!

Start a Christian network aimed at the MTV/VH1/Comedy Central crowd. Somebody find some money and start a Christian network for people like you and me.

Start out small. Read Bob Briner's Roaring Lambs and Final Roar. Show re-runs of Joan of Arcadia and the quality Christian shows the existing Christians networks shove into the wee hours on the morning. Show movies like Levity, Bruce Almighty, Shadowlands, Stigmata, and The Big Kahuna.

Of course PAX TV was supposed to eventually offer all of this and do a decent job with shows like 7th Heaven and Touched By An Angel. But for the most part they show gameshows like Family Feud every night and offer little original programming,

Here's the thing. Bob Briner mentioned his friend Mack Perryman who was to head a Christian branch of HBO that never got off the ground. Well, after many years as senior VP of HBO Asia, Perryman retired a few years ago and moved back to the states. Someone out there find him, hand him a big wad of cash and tell him to call Cameron Strang, Steve Taylor, Billy Graham, Mel Gibson, Phil Vischer, David Bruce and whomever else makes sense.

Maybe I just need a satellite dish (I have been made aware of JCTV), but please pray with me for something radical like this to happen and for it to be made widely available. In a year where Christians proved that they are a marketable commodity with The Passion of the Christ, I think it's time we stand up and do something about it.