Doug Van Pelt

Does Anyone Wanna Hear...

...about Advertising?

I doubt it. When I flip through a general-interest magazine like Time or whatever, I skip over the ads as fast as possible. When I read a fairly focused magazine, like ESPN, I'll skip over the beer and car ads, but will stop if I see something that's directly related to football or skateboarding. But, with a specialty magazine like HM or some other music genre magazine, each ad is usually geared directly to my interests, so I certainly gaze at and read the ads. So, I guess in a way, talking about advertising in HM Magazine wouldn't be too boring...

For the past several years, all ad sales have been done in house. Recently we just signed up to take these duties out of the house, so to speak. Longtime friends Bruce Adolph (who runs Christian Musician mag), DeDe Donatelli-Tarrant (who sold ads for CCM for years and years and always lent an ear and gave a word of advice when asked), and Scott Shufford (who used to be one of those rare hip and informed sales reps for Diamante) ... they all joined forces and started The Adolph Agency. I knew it'd be a good deal to work with them, but shortly after they started as a company they signed up a magazine that competes with us a little bit (editorially not much, but ad clients quite a bit) - a nice mag called Seven Ball. Since they sold ads for them, they couldn't work for us. But when that detail changed, the possibility opened up, and we started talking excitedly among ourselves. A month or two ago we signed on and now they are representing us. This brings a great sigh of relief to me, cuz I wasn't enjoying having to write and edit and steer and make administrative decisions and, on top of all that, sell all the ads. I was never much of a fan for multi-tasking. Ask me to quarterback a flag football team and "read" defensive coverages and take the snap, etc. I can handle that kind of focused multi-tasking, but throw me in front of desk and ask me to create, evaluate critically, and sell ad space at the same time. There's worse things to complain about, but I'm happy to be getting back to being Editor/Publisher.

We always close ad space reservations one week before the ad files/materials are due. This gives us time to see how many ads will be in the magazine, which ones are color, black & white, etc. We mail our magazines "Periodical Rate," which goes right behind first class. The cost savings are big, but we are required to have no more than 50% advertising in the magazine to qualify for these rates. If we go over that ratio, it's considered a catalog and can only ship at the "Standard Rate," which used to be called "Third Class." Thus, the # of ads we sell dictates in a large way how many pages of editorial we'll have. We like to have a decent-sized magazine of at least 72-80 pages. This past week the ad sales totals didn't meet our goals/expectations/needs, so we've had to keep the magazine "open," meaning we're still selling ad space. This makes it harder to plan the issue, but with a little mapping and thumbnail sketching, we can get pretty accurate on how the magazine is going to look. So, that's the challenge we're facing today, yesterday, and probably at least part of tomorrow. Hope I didn't bore you too much!

Currently listening to the Freddy vs. Jason soundtrack. Apparently the film is world premiering in Austin, and the film companies are going to stage a camp atmosphere with lots of creepy Nightmare and Friday the 13th fun for the media and fans. I need to get to that premiere! I'm not big on gore and shock horror anymore, but something like this should be fun.

Hard To Breathe

Whew!
Sometimes deadline compacts duties/goals/confirmations into such a short time that the compression seems impossible to survive. But, Lord willing, this deadline will be over and a new wonderful issue will hit the newsstands in just a few weeks. I'm looking forward to being on the other side of this one.

I had a nice Strawberry/Banana smoothie this morning. My daughter's been begging me to make some smoothies lately, and so this morning I blended some up, but I was the only one who liked them! (Not that they were bad. My daughter had her heart set on chocalate and not strawberry... oh well)

I took her to see Charlie Peacock at Hope Chapel on Saturday Night. Saw a lot of good friends. Did you ever hear the story of how One Bad Pig started from the prayer/evangelism at local punk clubs like Liberty Lunch in the mid-80s in Austin? Well, one of the old friends at the show on Saturday was there. It was fun to remember those times. I recall having some spirited and unusual conversations outside that club. The Charlie Peacock set was excellent. He had a local guest musician on standup bass that really tore it up. The modal Jazz interplay between the two was hot.

The previous night I went into town to see FSF and Anberlin play. While Anberlin rushed from Houston to Austin to make the gig, they went on 10 minutes early and finished by 6:11pm as part of a 4-band bill that was supposed to start at 6. Sigh. I missed every single note of the Anberlin set, but was able to catch up and chat with them, which was nice. FSF played a good show, even with 3 microphones breaking for poor Jason. They sounded great. Especially noteworthy was a cover of Bjork's "Pagan Poetry" - it was so powerful.

Well, better get back to deadline stuff.
More later.

Outlook.pst

I've got a problem.
It's a personal problem.
I probably shouldn't talk about it here,
but it's so frustrating, it's hard not to.

My personal folder in outlook is corrupt.
It became over 2 gig in size (!),
mostly due to my "filing system" of keeping
pertinent emails in specific folders.
It's probably all those attachments.
Anyway, I can't open outlook. All my contact info,
those emails.
Sigh.

It's a good thing I have already forwarded the content for this issue to other people and applications.

Now I'm searching the internet and looking for a solution.
And praying for wisdom.

Will the real Dr.Pepper Please Stand Up

Last night was cool. Great supreme pizza a la Pizza Hut, and my friend turned me on to a bottle of Dr. Pepper with real sugar. This is like what they bottle at the Dr Pepper Museum up in Waco. That's right! Instead of corn syrup, they use real cane sugar. You can taste the slight difference. Hard to describe... A broader sweet taste with the same ole Dr Pepper kick.

Watched the movie The Believer last night (late). Man, that movie is messed up! But what a striking commentary on fascism, fitting in with peer groups, skins, neo-nazi's, violence. Wow. There's some ROUGH scenes in it, though.

We're close to wrapping up all the text for the Sep/Oct issue. It's shaping up well. We've got a nice Living Sacrifice poster. Just a way to kinda say goodbye, with respect and color...

DVD's and more...

Whew! Finished reviewing a bunch of albums over the weekend.
Today I typed in reviews of 4 dvds for the next issue.
I also decided to bump Die Another Day in favor of the smaller
but compelling The Believer, about a neo-Nazi. Much to-do about faith.
I'm looking forward to checking it out.
Since Jonathan turned us on to this style, I'll probably hand off the review to him. I loved The Hunted. Amazing. Tears of the Sun was great, as well.

Am going to have dinner with a great couple friend of ours. The guy's a huge U2 fan, and many times I get to hear or see rare U2 collectibles. It's fun in a guy kinda way...

I Saw Jump 5 Last Night

For the first time thus far,
my daughter dragged me to a concert instead of me dragging her to one. As she sat on my shoulders looking over the small mass of squealing little girls, I thought to myself, 'Hmmm. Do I have the Lip Sync-ing To Tracks talk tonight? Or do I wait a few years to bring it up?'

Ha ha ha ha.

It's sad to look at the quality of entertainment sometimes. But hey, my daughter and her friend had a blast (even if Kaela, sporting a black Still Breathing t-shirt, wanted to leave and go play mini-golf halfway through the set). So, I'll put off the "That's not real entertainment/skill/talent" talk until later...

Sometimes I get slack in my Bible reading. I've read through the book entirely a few times and it seems oh so familiar some times. While that's good, it can also feed complacency. Well, this morning I was reading through John chapter 11 & 12 and it was wonderful to see the Living Word feel alive to me. It didn't seem boring or "Been There / Done That" at all... Sure, I heard a quote from a book or a sermon when I went over the shortest verse in the Bible - "Jesus wept." The comment about the fact that "He didn't have to weep." (Implying that He knew what was going to happen in a few minutes with the resurrection of Lazarus, but that He chose to cry...) Yeah, I heard those familiar "voices" as I read, but I also had new angles to chew on as well. That is the kinda freshness that is exciting. The fact that Jesus prayed out loud some things for the benefit of those within hearing distance was a nice affirmation for me. Many times I pray out loud with the introduction, "Father, we come to You in the Name of Jesus," because it's such a good reminder to myself and those around me of proper doctrine and an understanding of the trinity and the roles of God. It's easy to think, "That's not praying! That's preaching to those around you. How distasteful!" Well, while I'm certainly not Jesus the Messiah, His actions do validate this method to a certain degree. So, that tiny lil' tidbit was cool to chew on.

Then Jesus went on to talk about Himself being "lifted up," which signified the way He would die. My mind flashed to how much I don't like that AOG favorite, "Lift Jesus Higher" (which goes, "...lift Jesus higher, lift Jesus higher, lift Him up for the world to see / He said if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Me..."). If the song was sung properly, we would really be saying, "Crucify Jesus higher, crucify Jesus higher. Crucify Him high so the world can see..." Ouch. That's just a bad song. Bad doctrine. Good intentions. Bad results. My mind also flashed to Keith Green's death when Jesus came to the point where He said, "...unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies..." Well, I never said my mind didn't wander when I read the Scriptures, now, did I?

Ha ha ha.

The Hunted

My wife and I settled down and watched The Hunted on dvd last night. Great flick. I'm glad our daughters didn't interrupt us and come in the living room too much, cuz parts of the movie are pretty violent. I loved watching Tommy Lee Jones crawl around on the forest floor. I kept thinking, "Man, you can get bitten by spiders and stuff by doing that!"

Am busy editing the Killswitch Engage Says story.
Do you know that the new issue of HM is going to have a Living Sacrifice poster? Now you do.

What do you guys think of the new Spoken sound?

Drink more Jones Soda.

Once For All

Reading Hebrews 10 today. Loved the rich phrase "...the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." It was done only once, as necessary; and it was done for all, not just the supposed righteous or just the Hebrew people. All. Perhaps this could even overlap that concept in Romans about "all creation groaning" and "awaiting" redemption...

I wonder how Judgment is going to go down. The end of this chapter talks about how those who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses and how much greater a punishment a man deserves if he tramples the Son of God under foot. I wonder if this is conjecture about a scenerio on earth, or one in Heaven on Judgment Day... Will those who have never heard the Gospel be given a chance on that Day to believe?

On another note, since I was listening to the new Zebra album while on the way to work, and I passed two zebras in a field...does that mean anything?

Jet Circus is Back

Yes, the Swedish metal hybrid freaks are recording again.

Check out this link.

Working on wrapping up the next issue. Lots of music to listen to and review. We're doing some more giveaways in this next issue - 5 signed copies of the Pillar Fireproof re-release/remix and 20 copies of the Daredevil soundtrack.

When Peter was released from jail by an angel, and he visited the house where the believers were hanging out and a girl answered the door, screamed "It's Peter!" and slammed the door shut in his face... The people inside (in the NIV translation) said that it "...must've been his angel." That's strange. Do you think that one of our guardian angels looks like us? Or do you think the translation would more accurately read "...must've been his spirit" ??

Read INTERN DIARIES

Not that my subject title is telling you what to do (oh, yes it is), but let me kindly suggest some fun reading - discover what our interns do on a daily basis. HM Real World (sort of).

Bonnie Plott's Intern Diary

Jonathan Nolte's Intern Diary (Note: Jonathan is not Nick's son)

In case you forgot, the images on the "Individual Blog" page here are from a special date my 5 year old daughter and I went on, where I turned her loose with a digital camera. I wish I would have had such an opportunity when I was 5. Kaela, my 7 year old, introduced a few bands at Cornerstone this year. The closest I ever came to that was calling the local radio station when I was 7 and requesting "Temptation Eyes" by The Grassroots. I still have that 45.

A friend of mine burned the Simpson's episode where Homer starts praying in hopes of having his every wish come true. What a hilarious episode! I watched it last night and was afraid I'd wake up my sleeping wife with my outbursts of laughter. And whenever I see Ned Flanders on that show I can't help but recall Frank Marino's claims to not be Ned (or wanting to associate with that charicature of Christianity).

Cstone Flashback: During the P.O.D. video segment on the jumbotron screen, the band members not only illustrated the cone of feces experience at the cstone portapotties, but they introduced a guest guitar player who played on their new album - Phil Keaggy. It was explained that this guest musician hookup was courtesy new player Jason Truby.

Rock Stars On Heroin

Getting caught up from the Cstone trip and gearing up for the Sep/Oct issue. David and Bonnie are watching a video with David Berkowitz talking on it about choices. David Allen has done an interview with Berkowitz that will show up in a future "Intermission" section in an upcoming HM.

More Cornerstone flashbacks:

The 20th Birthday Bash celebration/show on the mainstage last Friday was cool. The 77s came out first, with Mike Roe clad in a personalized Packer's jersey (guess which number?) as they launched into "The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes And the Pride of Life." They played two songs, Rez played two songs (including "When The Love Comes Down") with Dave Beegle on lead guitar, as Stu Heiss was up in the Maryland area (I think) attending the funeral of a close relative. Rumor was that it was the very last Rez show ever. This is sad, but the fire, energy and boogie found in the Glenn Kaiser Band kinda makes up for it.

Squad Five-O came out, romped through a recent song, and then introduced an icon, Michael Knott, who ran out on the catwalk stage in the middle screaming, "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess ... that Jesus Christ is ... (then he sang) Lord." The band backed him up for a rousing version of "Rock Stars On H."

Jan Krist, Ashley Cleveland, Derry Daugherty & Steve Hindalong, Relient K, Lost Dogs, and Karin Bergquist & Linford Detweiler(?) of Over the Rhine all shared wonderful songs, enriching the star-studded "all-star jam" variety show vibe. The fairly long "coming out of retirement for this" set by Steve Taylor was fun, and preceded by an even funner mockumentary film on the jumotron screen about his career and propensity for falling down on stage. I loved the comment about his Meltdown album, being what many critics called "his second album."

More flashbacks and highlights will come later (and in our Sep/Oct issue, of course).

JFK is still dead...

Home, Sweet Home

After leaving towards the end of Living Sacrifice's set (somewhere during "Local Vengeance Killing"), we arrived home some 18 hours later the following day (around 8 pm Sunday). While the fest was fantastic (the people, the music were top notch, the weather and the tortuous long distance driving were difficult), it feels great to be back (even if 1245 emails awaited my eyes in the inbox...).

I remember the view walking up from the packed rear of the Encore Tent during the last Living Sacrifice show I would ever see. An ominous sky brooded overhead, with lightning flashes and strong, somewhat lukewarm winds promising some much needed rain. While many times a late night show on the last day of the fest is not well attended, young and old were packed in to take in this finale. Fitzhugh and company delivered a super tight and heavy show that did their reputation for high quality metal justice. It was hard to turn around and leave, as I heard myself whisper, "Goodbye Living Sacrifice..." Truly, there was a great band.