Continuing with the music reviews theme I seem to have started this week…today we come to Andrew Osenga’s “Letters to the Editor” project. From concept to release, this project is unique.

Andy decided to record a 6-song EP to release. It’s been a while since “The Morning” released (has it been a year already?), and the new Caedmon’s Call CD won’t be coming out for a while. So Andy decides to make new music. That’s cool.

Even cooler than that is that he decided to write the songs based on ideas sent in from the people who frequent his web site.

Even cooler than that is that he set some rules for himself on what he could do when recording:

• Only 1 guitar (an acoustic) per song, but he could use unlimited tracks of that guitar.
• The only other instrument would be his voice, and he could use as many tracks of his voice as he wanted.
• No picks

Even cooler than that is that he broke the rules when he had to choose between keeping within the rules or making the music better.

Still cooler than that is that he had people on his web site (not me…don’t worry) sing, as he called them, “webground vocals” on one of the tracks.

Then (and this is pretty cool, too) he made a little pdf booklet for the album.

Coolest of all, he made the music free. You don’t have to give out email addresses or anything. You just click a link and download a zip file. (And if you like it, you can hit the tip jar to help Andy be able to continue making music.)

If you’ve been waiting (for whatever poor excuse you have) to check out Osenga’s music, here’s your chance.

More music reviews from Ron today…I got some cash for my birthday, and I used some of it to pick up Derek’s new CD “The Ringing Bell” from iTunes.

I’ll be totally honest here. I like Derek. He’s a great guy, and he’s doing some great things with his music, but I don’t always immediately fall in love with his stuff. There are at least 2 reasons for this: I’m not familiar enough with him and his writing style, and his writing is far more intelligent than I’ll ever be.

Over the past 4 or 5 months, I’ve been consciously trying to get to know Derek’s music better. I can’t necessarily make myself more intelligent, but I can try to appreciate good music, right? Well, I must be doing something right, because I absolutely loved “The Ringing Bell” from the first listen.

When trying to cram “The Ringing Bell” into a genre, I guess I’d call it a rock album. I can’t find another genre in my iTunes list where it would be a better fit, plus that’s what Derek calls it. I saw somewhere that some guy called it Alt Country, but I think that’s a wrong label. It sounds a lot like something The Beatles would have done, which makes me like it a little more.

Lyrically, “The Ringing Bell” is full of lines that make you think.

For example, the first verse and chorus from “A Love That’s Stronger Than Our Fear”

What would you do
if someone put a gun to your head
and asked you to tell them a lie?
What would you say
if you were pushed that way
to betray yourself to keep yourself alive?
Is life worth so much?

There’s got to be a love that’s
stronger than our fear
of everything being out of control

and “A Savior on Capitol Hill” is another of my favorites, which includes the lines

So come to DC if it be thy will
because we’ve never had a savior on Capitol Hill

and this one always makes me laugh, probably because it’s so true.

You can always trust the devil or a politician
to be the devil or a politician

I may break some world’s record for longest blog post if I mention all the noteworthy lyrics in this album, so I’ll not keep going. You can hear the whole album over at theringingbell.com if you’d like to try before you buy.  I suggest you do both.

I have intended to post about Jeremy Casella’s new CD “Recovery” for some time now, but I’ve not really had the time or the words. I’ve got time now, but I still struggle for words. It truly is beautiful music.

I spoke to Jeremy in Nashville last fall (Octoberish, I think) and he was telling me about the CD he was working on. He told me of strings and drums and horns…I could tell his passion for the art he was making, but I struggled to truly understand exactly what he was describing.

When I had the option to pre-order the CD (and download immediately, which was nice), I jumped at the chance to finally hear what Jeremy had done. I listened in awe - it had grabbed my full attention. I listened to all these instruments blend together in ways that I’ve rarely heard anywhere before.

Reading the liner notes, I see the following instruments:

• acoustic guitar
• grand piano
• upright piano
• bass
• pedal steel
• drum kit
• chamberlin
• cello
• viola
• violin
• french horn
• flugel horn
• concert bass drum
• snare drum
• electric guitar
• slide guitar
• accordian
• bass
• mallet drums
• tympani
• sleigh bells
• cymbals
• wind gong
• tambourine
• trumpet
• bass harmonica
• clarinet
• water jug
• 12 string guitar
• trombone
• tuba
• flute
• bass clarinet
• microkorg
• indian drum
• glockenspiel
• organ
• tom toms

What a list! I’ve had this music for a while now, and I’m still nearly speechless when I listen to the music and the way it has been so finely crafted.

The best part about reviewing “Recovery” is that I can let the music speak for itself instead of trying to find words good enough to describe it. You can hear the full CD over at virb.com under Jeremy’s profile. So go listen. And then go get it here.

Credit goes to Aaron for finding this one.

Worst Business Name Ever (jpg)

We went to the Waffle House around the corner to eat last night.  While I was at the register paying for our food, I saw that they were accepting applications for employment.

There was a list of reasons to work at Waffle House.  It included items like:

• Health benefits for you and your family
• Opportunities for advancement
• Flexible working hours

There were some others, but I don’t really remember them.  Those weren’t at the top of the list though.  What, you ask, would be the #1 reason to work at the Waffle House?

• Weekly pay in cash.

Recently I needed to get a passport. I needed it pretty quickly, but the problem was that the U.S. Department of State said that passport processing was pretty delayed. My friend Aaron suggested that I use Passport Express to expedite the passport processing. Normally, I wouldn’t turn something like that to a third party, but Aaron had used them, and he highly recommended them.

So I went to their web site, somewhat overwhelmed at the amount of material required to prove that I am who I am. They have a nifty checklist that helps you be sure you have all you need. So you print the list, gather materials, go to the post office, get your picture taken, and have the passport agent at the USPS seal your envelope. Then you send your stuff up to Passport Express and they rush it through for you.

DHL picked up my application on Thursday afternoon, May 31 and delivered it to Passport Express before noon on June 1. Yesterday morning (11 days - only 5 business days later) my passport was delivered.

I used their “Urgent” processing, which isn’t cheap. (Actually, it seems that they have raised prices in the past 2 weeks…) Obviously, the most cost effective way of getting a new passport is to plan your trip 6 months in advance so that the Department of State can have plenty of time to process your application, but based on my experience with Passport Express, I would even consider using their “Regular” processing services for obtaining a passport that didn’t need to be expedited.

The only negative thing I can really say about the whole process is that when I called their support line for a quick question, I was on hold for about 10-15 minutes.  There could be any number of reasons for that, and once I got to speak with someone, the lady was really friendly and was able to answer my question right away.

Their checklist of things to get together was a huge benefit, since I had never processed a passport application before, and government forms tend to be somewhat wordy and confusing. Passport Express made it easy, and it was nice having someone working for me who is familiar with the process.

Some time ago, I gave Don Wildmon and the folks over at the American Family Association some grief about their boycotting missions. Most recently was March of 2006 when Don launched a boycott against the Ford Motor Company. Basically, Ford supports (financially) homosexual movements in favor of gay marriage, so Don and the AFA want us all to stop buying Ford cars in an effort to send a message to the company that we do not agree with them.

I usually just delete Don’s emails (yes, I still get them), but last night an old friend forwarded me a note from Don. I took the time to read through this one. Don is bragging that their boycott of Ford has caused a drop in sales for Ford for the 13th month out of the last 15 months.

I have thought a lot about what Don Wildmon and the AFA are doing. Don sent that email as a proclamation of “Hooray! Our boycott is a success!” but I see things a bit differently. I see Christians rejoicing that they have intentionally hurt their nation’s economy. I see Christians rejoicing in the hardship of Ford. I have a problem with that.

How many American jobs at Ford have been lost by the efforts of the American Family Association? How does putting families out of work tie into the “Family” in the AFA’s name? Where did we learn how to organize our masses and gripe and moan in the name of God to get what we want?

When my kids complain, I tell them to stop, and I send them to their rooms. Not once in my childhood did whining and complaining change my parents’ minds about an issue. Not once did they even imply that whining would ever be appropriate. I wonder what it is about Don Wildmon and the American Family Association that makes it acceptable for them to gather the masses and complain like 4 year-old children.

So go buy a Ford, if you feel so inclined. And if you happen to see Don Wildmon, tell him I said he needs to go to his room and think about what he’s done.

Anybody who believes that their children are safe from harm when unmonitored online is either ignorant or severely misinformed. Regardless of any of our views on censorship, we can all agree that there’s more online than children need to access. That’s why my family uses Safe Eyes.

I have a computer setup so that my 6 year old daughter can get online and play some of her favorite Flash games. Everything else is blocked - everything else. Safe Eyes lets me configure it to be so. When she’s older, she’ll have more access (since she’ll need it for school), but her little brother will be using a more limited account. Safe Eyes gives us peace of mind knowing exactly what our children are able to access online.

The new version of Safe Eyes was released today, but I’ve been using a pre-release copy for a couple of weeks. There’s a new feature we are exited about: Email Blocking.

It’s wonderful. I setup an email address for her and setup her email client with addresses of family and friends. Then I configured Safe Eyes to only allow email from those people. If email from anybody else comes through, it gets deleted.

There is some administrative overhead with the use of this feature. Anytime she wants a new email contact, she has to ask me to add her friend’s address to the list of approved addresses. For me, this overhead is no problem at all - especially considering that I can make the change from any computer with internet access.

So my daughter is thrilled that she can send emails, my parents (and inlaws, and grandparents) are thrilled that they can hear from her (directly) on a regular basis, my wife is thrilled because the kids aren’t on her computer, and I’m thrilled because my little girl is geeking out on email.

And we’re all thrilled because she’s safe when she’s behind the keyboard.