Listen at Your Own Risk

Hey guys. Since I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Casting Crowns, I got a copy of the new material that is on their new CD, Until the Whole World Hears. This CD encompasses why I fell in love with the group in the first place. There are only 2 songs on the CD that I tend to skip over when I am listening for my own pleasure. Those are the title cut, Until the Whole World Hears, and what seems to be the only other up-tempo song on the album, Holy One. Both of these are great tunes, but I usually just can't wait to get to the next song.

The main reason I love this record is that it is another great worship record like I feel Lifesong was. In fact, last week I was driving home from my mother's house after some hard work and found myself so in to the worship experience I had my eyes closed, singing out. Did I mention I was driving too? Luckily Cassi called my cell phone within about 20 seconds of that.

Cassi and I had the pleasure of sharing 2 of my favorite songs on this record with our small group this past Sunday. Both of the songs, Blessed Redeemer, and Glorious Day talk about the sacrifice that Jesus made as he was marched to His death. The imagery is breath taking. In fact, I had to have Cassi finish reading the lyrics to our small group as I was choked up. Megan Garrett, keyboardist and vocalist for Casting Crowns, even got choked up at their Nashville concert during a song titled Mercy. This song is a great ballad that says, "Your Mercy saved me, mercy made me whole." It says that we are sinners and in desperate need of mercy, which we are given.

I also got to share the song, Always Enough with a friend that had been through some incredibly tough times over the past few years. They say that the music of Casting Crowns literally saved their life. This particular song was a comfort also. It captured me from the first line. "In a dry and weary land, Lord You are the rain." When we cannot rely on the world, family, peers, or anyone else, God is always enough for us.

There are a few more great mid tempo and slow songs on this record that are worth listening to. I love all but 2 of the songs those 2 still get a "like" from me.

If you want an album that is full of cool riffs and sounds "poppy", this one may not be for you. If you like music to take you to a high plateau where you can get lost in the worship, dance in the presence, and bask in the message, there is not a better album than this one.

If you are listening to this while you drive your car, please listen at your own risk.

Peace

P.S. The album drops today. Do yourself a favor or someone else having a hard time. Go buy it! This one is going to change and save more lives.

Storm vs. iPhone: Take 2

I had a notification in my Application Center on my Blackberry Storm that new software was available. It is an app called Blackberry App World. This is basically RIMs attempt at a localized App world for the Blackberry. There are many apps out there for the Blackberry, but there has not been a good central location to find them.



Taking their lead from Apple, this App World makes my Blackberry so much better. Now I can search Apps that are free, top downloads, made from many different developers, all in one place. My favorite one was the free download from Pandora. I have been a Pandora user for a few years, but, to my knowledge, it was not available on the Storm until just recently. And yes, Pandora works fine even without built in WiFi on my phone. I was driving down the road and using it fine.



There are apps for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Vlingo, games, GPS tracking of my phone, mobile CRM and many more. Ahh...this makes the Blackberry that much better.



Try the Blackberry, we have had Cut & Paste since version 1. :-) Actually the iPhone is still more slick and has way more Apps, but if you are one of the millions and millions on other networks (other than AT&T) get a Blackberry.

Something a little embarrassing happened to me

So are you a sick individual that saw the title of this post and decided that you had to see what dorky Bryan did? "Let's see if we can kick him while he is down!" Right? It is ok I would have done the same thing.

I teach guitar and bass lessons and one of my students wanted me to chart a song for her. The first one was a Kelly Clarkson song. At first run through I liked the tune and started charting it. Then she decided that, "oh wait there is a brand new Miley Cyrus song I have to learn." I am not a Miley Cyrus fan, to be fair, I am not her target audience.

The embarrassing part is coming. I started listening and charting it. I actually liked it. It seems to be a really good song. It is called The Climb.

Enjoy, or not.

Peace

BlackBerry Storm review

I have been using a BlackBerry Storm for over a week now. It is not what I expected.

Everyone has said that it was a poor design and that the guts and software have problems. There are some problems, minor ones, but this is by far the best BlackBerry I have used.

I remember when the iPhone came out it was $600, it took about 48 hours to have it activated. There were some minor problems with it but those have been remedied now. This BlackBerry will get tweaked over time too.

The best thing is the starting price. It was $198 at Walmart and that included a SIM card and 8Gb micro SD card. The media portion of this phone is really what got the upgrade. It has a great 3.2 mega pixel camera that will do still and video shots. The music player syncs with my iTunes. It is also much easier to download songs and ringtones than on previous Blackberries.

The 'clickable' screen is really one of the only areas that is better than the current iPhone. This eliminates accidentally clicking on links while scrolling through emails and pages in a browser. Also, this phone has 3 different typing modes so it is easy and fast to type on once you get the hang of it. In fact a total stranger on a recent flight commented about how fast I was typing.

My recommendation is that if you want a toy that can be a light saber or have a Crash Bandicoot game ready to go, get an iPhone. If you want a tool that edits spreadsheets, documents, and powerpoints out of the box get the Storm.

So remember, toy=iPhone and tool=BlackBerry Storm.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry