you’re just too darn loud. next please.

Here’s an interesting multi media article about “The Loudness War” in modern music.

Have you ever wondered why one song on your pod might be way louder than the previous one, causing you to drop your blackberry and spill your mega-mocha mula-mula as you reach in a panic for the radio’s volume knob and swerve into three parked SUVs? Me too. This article will explain why.

If you want the full text version of the article, which is much more technical, that is here.

 

Be careful out there.

seattle in october

In 2001, I took a trip to Seattle with a couple of friends to attend a conference. I had been in that city a few months earlier, in May, for a similar conference. The weather in May was beautiful: Hardly a cloud, pleasant temperatures. In October, we landed in the rain. It rained the entire week. The weather conspired with the recent terrorist attacks to make us all miserable. The only respites were a couple of dinners we shared with our friend Melissa, who lives in Seattle.

Here in PA in 2007 the sun hasn’t made an appearance in five days. Today’s promised clearing and warming has yet to materialize. It’s feeling like Seattle in October.

I need a road trip.

underneath the bridge

The Bridge Avenue School in Cleveland has been profiled by a local TV station. Why is this important to me? Watch the video and then I’ll tell you.

The Principal who picks up kids himself? That’s my buddy Dan, a former youth ministry student, and then one of the best leaders I’ve ever worked with. Once, on the night before a mission trip to South Dakota, the rental car agency called to tell me they wouldn’t have my two 15 passenger vans in the morning; the ones I had signed a contract on months before. They said they would give me four minivans instead. The problem with this plan was I had only three drivers. I called Dan and said, “Dan, what are you doing for the next 13 days?” He said, “Going to South Dakota with you.” And he went. That’s the kind of guy he is.

His mother, the other teacher in the school, is the person who encouraged me to pursue my writing more seriously. She even encouraged a small private class she attended to open itself up for me. I’ve been published five times in international devotional magazines, Susan has read and edited each one of those manuscripts. Her suggestions made them publishable.