amplify the divine poetry
Guess who’s on the famous IMDB (Internet Movie Database)??
http://imdb.com/name/nm2301725/
Kind of strange, I suppose: a musician getting excited about being part of a Movie database. But getting my music into film and television was one of my goals when we originally moved to LA. So here’s hoping for a few more credits over the next couple years…!
I’m probably going to need a better picture, though…
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I actually wrote this back in October, but I figured it was worth an update, since change is actually HERE, now!
May of 1998.
In May, South Dakota is nice, because it’s becoming summer, or spring, at least, usually… most of the time. The snow is almost all melted and the air is starting to smell like a laundry commercial where the walls melt away and the room morphs into rolling hills with wildflowers and a Whirlpool washer/dryer out in the field. Fresh, sweet, beautiful.
For me it’s the smell of change.
Change is like meth… well, so I hear. I personally find change much more addicting than all the drugs I’ve never done, and starting with that singular move from SD to CO I’d spend the next 10 years of my life proving it.
Between 1997 and 2007, I did not live in the same place for more than a year (or pretty darn close). Actually, it appears as though I am still continuing the trend, because change is in the air again. You can feel it, like the air has a weight it didn’t before. Breathing is a bit more labored, and there’s a little tremble in my bones. I am an addict, and I feel a change coming. Again.
So let’s get to it.
We are leaving the desert. After two full years of Antelope Valley beauty (which, my local friends insist, is an acquired taste that I simply have yet to acquire), we’re headed “down below” into the Big City… Hollyweird… the City of Angels… well, North Hollywood/Toluca Lake, to be exact. It’s a bit of an understatement to say we are entirely elated.
Let the change commence!
P.S. Curse you applications that ask me for my full Residential History.
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Here’s the map of us Movers:
1997 — May 1998
Platte, SD
Little cabin in the backyard of Grandma’s house. (Seriously. You can do things like that in South Dakota.)
May 1998 — Aug 1999
Loveland, CO
Lindenmeier Circle, Senior Year of high school… almost as glorious as I thought it’d be! A great year.
Aug 1999 — April 2000 // Freshman Year
Lakewood, CO
Harwood Building, Central Stairwell, on campus at Colorado Christian University.
May 2000 — Aug 2000
Loveland, CO
Back home with the ‘rents, Summer Youth Intern at Crossroads Covenant Church.
Aug 2000 — April 2001 // Sophomore Year
Lakewood, CO
The “New Building” at CCU, 2nd floor, first door on the right. Enter Allison, downstairs to the left.
May 2001 — July 2001
Lakewood, CO
Other “New Building” at CCU, workin’ on campus for the summer.
Aug 2001 — Dec 2001 // Junior Year, First Semester
Lakewood, CO
West Campus at CCU with Ryan, in the crappiest apartment known to man… Allison wouldn’t even visit.
Jan 2002 — April 2002 // Junior Year, Second Semester
West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Cramped into a bunk space with 29 other unstable musicians, on a New England island, in the winter.
May 2002 — July 2002
Loveland, CO
Back home with the ‘rents, again. Got a job doing “data entry for a title policy insurance company” (now there’s a horrible existence). But I did get a job at Mix100FM and decide to ask Allison to marry me that summer!
Aug 2002 — April 2003 // Senior Year
Lakewood, CO
Off campus at Riata with Gabe & Bird. By a miracle of the cargods, the Prix’s Sony stereo (see above) somehow remained in my dash all year.
May 2003 — June 2004
Lakewood, CO
Got married! Allison & my first apartment, at The Landing at Bear Creek.
July 2004 — Sept 2005
Littleton, CO
We bought our first house! The Cutest Damn Little Townhome You’ve Ever Seen, off Chatfield Avenue.
Oct 2005 — Feb 2006
Loveland, CO
Sold our beloved townhome, and Allison and I moved into the basement apartment of my parents’ new A-frame house on Crystal Lane. Started trying to move to California.
March 2006 — Feb 2007
Lancaster, CA
We made it to SoCal! Cutest Damn Little Rental House You’ve Ever Seen on Date Avenue in Lancaster, California.
Feb 2007 — Feb 2008
Lancaster, CA
Kim & Gerard’s house on J10 with Kim & Gerard, then Steve & Courtney, then Kris.
March 2008 — ??
Toluca Lake, CA (North Hollywood)
After two years in the desert, we finally made it into the City! A beautiful, newly renovated one bedroom apartment on Moorpark. You really should come visit. 
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Does anyone else feel like our present “Information Age” is turning them into a conspiracy theorist??
Maybe it’s just me.
Allow me to explain; those of us who enjoy the constant input of information can (and do!) literally spend hours on the internet just learning things. Strangely, we may even feel that it’s somehow our humanly duty to stay informed and up-to-date about the state of the world.
At face value this is all well and good, but unfortunately, big chunks of the world are pretty messed up.
In our searching we start to notice things. Cracks in the corners. Fractures in foundations. For those of us that, dare I say, “pay attention” to what’s happening, we can’t help but become a bit distrustful of the mainstream current of news. Things just don’t line up. A person like me, willfully drenched in the latest information, and trained in critical thinking (a good liberal arts university will do that to you) simply can’t buy the homogenized bullshit that seeps from every media pore.
To be honest, I hate even talking like this because it makes me feel like some kind of conspiratorial wingnut, out there on the very fringes of reality, completely divorced from any sense.
But what if the status quo is the real nonsensical life? Anyone with even half a brain cannot deny the disappearing act that is the American Middle Class, and it doesn’t take very much economic research to see how this happens.
I’m still very much in research mode about all this and how to connect all the dots, but for now I want to focus on what’s possibly the most pressing, urgent concern in the mind of probably nearly all Americans right now — the fact that our economy is sitting on the edge of the toilet, ready to get flushed.
We all know that present events are never detached from a historical context, and naturally, this isn’t the first economic crisis the US has weathered. Of course, the biggest and most famous happened in 1929, but a few casual searches got me wondering: what in the world actually caused that one? Of course we were all taught that people started taking their money out of the banks, a la “It’s A Wonderful Life,” but what caused that?
I recently came across a documentary called “Zeitgeist.” I haven’t watched the whole thing, but I did watch Part 3: The Men Behind The Curtain. It has a lot of interesting things to say about our economic situation; the rabbit hole may go much deeper than I originally thought.
The fact is, the group madness of 1929 had to originate somewhere, and the more I learn about the nefarious, seemingly endless diabolical greed of humanity, a conspiracy such as “Zeitgeist” sadly doesn’t seem as theoretical as it used to.
What do you think??
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As you probably know, I’m a pretty big Ron Paul supporter. And as everyone should know by now, the so-called “mainstream media” rarely releases any statements about Dr. Paul that even approach the meaning of “fair.”
With most news channels already declaring Mr. 100-Years-In-Iraq McCain the GOP King, I thought it’d be good to post a video of Ron explaining things from his perspective.
If you can get a hold of a copy, there’s a really fantastic article in Newsmax this month with Dr. Paul on the cover, as well.
The big point here is that even if Paul doesn’t get the nomination or become our next president, the Movement has begun. I think many of us have been frustrated and angered by the political state of America for some time now, and as Jim Wallis says, the real winner of this election is change. We’re all fed up with the pathetic war mongering, the declining economy, the injustice of the accepted status quo… we’re ready to be a country that the world can admire again.
P.S. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a brilliant video for my #2 choice, Mr. Obama:
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A few interesting headlines for the day:
That’s all for today!
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This was just too funny not to reprint!!
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Dolphins Aren’t For Driving
by Tom Radler
There comes a point during every drunken evening when all you want is to get home. Paying $100 for a cab is bad, but trying to flag down a passing sea mammal is probably crossing the line.
Two Brits are now in court defending themselves against charges of grabbing onto a bottlenose dolphin and trying to “hitch a ride” after a night at the pub last year. Michael Jukes and Daniel Buck, both 26, have admitted that they disregarded signs near the shore, in their town of Folkestone, which warned against bothering the creature.
“He was happy to have people there. People travel thousands of miles to do that in Florida, so I took advantage while it was there,” Jukes told London’s Metro newspaper. “I grabbed his fin, but he didn’t seem up for pulling us along. I said: ‘Give him some space. Don’t upset him.’ The dolphin came to us. It’s a powerful creature.’”
The two men were spotted by a marine biologist, and have been charged with “interfering with” the animal, which has since gone missing.
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Haha!
(Original post here.)
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I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Jim Wallis speak at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena last night. He just released a new book called “The Great Awakening,” and has just started a book tour to promote it. (I haven’t read it yet, but I will soon!)
I’m a regular reader of Jim’s work (and in fact carry a nice link to the God’s Politics blog right over there in the sidebar), and almost always love what he has to say.
But I gotta admit, he’s even cooler in person. Or as my friend Jon said, “He’s pretty badass.”
We sat in the second row, about five feet from Brother Jim, amongst probably 150 other students, and listened intently as he brought hope to an otherwise rather dismal Super Tuesday. Of course, as of right now, 7am “the morning after,” we don’t know yet what will shake out because of yesterday’s primaries, but priliminary reports are saying that Mr. Hundred Years in Iraq McCain is leading the GOP (seriously, do we have to still call it that? It ain’t so Grand anymore, folks!), and Obama and Hillary are tied on the other side (and does anyone else hate that we have sides?).
But Mr. Wallis gave me some hope last night. Hope that despite whatever madness may occur between now and November, the real winner this year is CHANGE. We hear it everywhere, from the mouths of every candidate, from Democrats and Republicans, from reporters and journalists. And the reason they’re saying it is because they heard it from us, the American people, first.
There’s a social movement going on, and no matter what happens on Capitol Hill, it is US, the true grassroots force for change, that will make the difference.
Jim said that he started his book tour last week at the Bagdad Theater in Portland, and they were showing a movie after his talk. Up on the marquee it said:
Ah yes, I believe so.
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My latest Relevant Magazine movie review about the phenomenal film “Once” is live on their website! Check it out here, or click the banner!
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But mostly…
Source: Associated Press
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