Doug Van Pelt

Don't Listen To Secular Music

If you listen to secular music, you might be persuaded to adopt the lifestyle or philosophies of the artist. This makes sense in a small way, considering a small factor. It should annoy the follower of Christ to be pestered by a false or undermining message. For example: You have a friend that you like to go shopping with. However, at every shop he or she is always whispering in your ear, demanding, "Let's rip this off! Let's steal this! Let's take that!" Now, being the law-abiding citizen that you are, you do not want to take this friend's advice. Their persistence in the matter should annoy you. Eventually, you will tire and demand your friend to shut up.

When listening to any kind of music in what I like to call "fan mode," you are claiming those songs as your friends. If you really like an album, you soon memorize the whole thing, including the transitions and feel between one song and another. In your mind, you become so familiar with it that you associate track 2 being followed by the sound of track 3's opening bars. You hear the opening chords before they start. That type of "relationship" with music is so fun. If you are listening to an album 2-3 times every couple of days, that's the kind of unabashed "love" that "develops" between you and the songs. Now, let's say a song's lyrics are leaning towards an unChrist-like attitude, like treating overweight people with disdain, for example. After multiple repeated listenings, that message should start to annoy you, the believer, lover, and follower of Christ.

Okay, having made that point, that's one of the only reasons I would give people for not listening to secular music as a believer; because I think it's healthy and balanced TO listen to secular music. Granted, a brand new believer who is freshly and dramatically born again and turning their backs on a lifestyle of selfish sinning -- yeah, he or she might need to make some drastic decisions with their listening habits, places of entertainment, and sometimes even friends. Sure, a drunk or drug addict shouldn't hang out with their drinking and drugging friends (especially while in the context of those friends actively ingesting chemicals...duh!). Abandon them altogether? I hope not all the time. That gets tricky, but it's sometimes necessary. Okay, those are two exceptions where people should think seriously about not listening to secular music. On to my next sarcastic points:

You shouldn't go to a "secular" college or university!
You shouldn't go to a Bible college or seminary, either!
And... you should never, ever travel the world and expose yourself to other cultures.

You'd be surprised how many people lose their faith or get severely disillusioned after going to a theological seminary or a Bible college! It appears that some (many) theological professors don't believe that the Bible is the Word of God. I've known friends that have practically "learned not to believe" in God by attending a Bible college (but that's another point altogether...) And some parents (and students) wouldn't consider not going to a Christian-based or Bible college.

You know what? I went to the University of Texas. I was exposed to all kinds of ideas and lifestyles. Many of them weren't Christian, and many of them opposed the tenents of Christianity, if you boil it down. But, you know what? My God and the faith He placed in me was not so fragile that it crumbled when faced with opposition, persuasion, temptation, or variation. Christianity, the teachings of Christ, the universal body of Christ -- this is the Truth. The Truth is not like a tiny baby or glass statue that must be guarded. The Truth is like a hungry tiger that you turn loose! The Truth can stand up to any opposition. The Truth need not be afraid.

I cannot let my children grow up and leave home! The world outside is too dangerous!

Hogwash! Although hard at times (think of the parenting analogy), it is necessary to let go. Sure, part of growing up is tripping, falling down, failing, not being able to "win" every battle. Have confidence, church! You are not so feeble that you cannot survive testing and interaction with the world.

Travelling the world and/or simply interacting with people from other cultures and other religions certainly is broadening, but it is not something that should be feared. Certainly, you don't take junior high kids into a Palm Reading Psychic and "expose them" to different philosophies. There's a time and a maturity level for everything (and that's a heck of an extreme example!). Early adulthood -- 18-22 years of age is a real formative time and it's exciting, but full of risks and trials. The believer stays most healthy by staying connected to the body of Christ (fellow believers, friends) during this time. If Jesus is Who He said He was (I'm certainly convinced He is), then no question, no philosophy, no theory is too hard for Him to face or tackle. Sure, we might get stumped and not know the answer to every question, but we shouldn't live our lives sheltered in such a way that we never get challenged by stuff that's out there.

Again, I'm not asking us all to become explorers of every religion, philosophy, culture, experience. There is wisdom and truth in the Scripture, "I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil." It's great that Josh McDowell knows a lot about voodoo. That doesn't mean we have to become experts in it, too. Balance, but without fear. (And there's also a difference between purposeful exploration and facing something that crosses your path...)

Let the Truth run wild!

The Secret Life Of Walter Middy

Walter was a daydreamer. A classic movie that plays out this guy's dreams and the shocking realization that he's dozing off when he gets "interrupted" at work. Hilarious.

We're talking about the May/June issue already. The cover story is going to be a "road story" on the band Underoath. Should be great. David says he had a great time.

We're looking at several other bands for articles, but until we finalize the decisions I don't want to list any names, because what'll happen is we'll find out later that this band's album won't come out until late June or July, so we'll bump the story for our July/August issue, but some people will feel disappointed that it wasn't in the May/June. We should have some decisions in the next day or two. Perhaps Monday, after the Panthers upset the Patriots in the Super Bowl (ha... I wish! Don't think it'll happen.)

I needs God's help. I'm so grateful that He is so close and willing and able to help.

I'm Going To The Super Bowl!

This is unbelievable! Through a series of connections, I've actually been asked to suit up for the Carolina Panthers. It's kind of a throwback to the late George Plimpton's Paper Lion book, where he was able to go to training camp and "play" quarterback in practice and in an exhibition game. The deal here is that, if Carolina goes ahead and has a medium range field goal opportunity, they are going to let me come in and kick it. (They're not crazy, I'm not going to make a game-decisive kick...unless of course John Kasay gets hurt (watch what Gatorade you drink, pal!)...then I might be called in, but their punter is the 2nd string guy, so I'd be 3rd anyway. Two "accidents" are harder to stage than one, and I'd probably get caught anyway. I don't really belong in this setting. I mean, I just kicked in high school. I didn't even make the team when I tried out for the Univ of Texas. But what an opportunity, huh? This is crazy. I can't believe it.

Neither should you, really. I mean... I made it up. Sorry. Just a stream of consciousness thing. Call me Walter Middy III.

The new issue is being uploaded over the internet to our printer's FTP site. It feels good to be at a final stage. I spent a few hours last night sending over pages 1 through 39. Only to find out today, through a divine "accident," that I was saving our "postscript" files with the wrong settings. Sigh. I'm glad we at least found out halfway through the mag... So, David is going to send over pages 1-72 instead of just 40-72 this morning. All the printed proofs should have been delivered to the printer today. One ad, from Jade Tree Records, is yet to arrive, and then the entire issue will be in the printer's hands.

I'd love to get back to my dreaming, but I'm too busy answering important emails that I put off this past week, filing it in my "VIP To Do" folder in outlook. One at a time I'm catching up.

God bless you.

What does it mean when we say that?

Anything?

Is the verse that spells out having the ability to bless or curse really speaking truth? What about the power of life and death? Is there anything to that? When you say, "God bless you" to someone, are you conveying a prayer or pronouncing as an ambassador of Christ a blessing over someone? How does that work? Is there any truth at all to this? You know, the "faith movement" has been accused of going overboard with this type of thought... but is there truth to this concept? Bottom line question for this discussion: "Does telling someone the phrase 'God bless you' mean anything/do anything?"

Do You Love Me?

"...Your backstage pass and black sunglasses
Make you look just like a queen
Even the fans, they know your face
From all of the magazines, but

Do you love me..."

Are you a Kiss fan?

I think they are so fun (about once every six months), and it's a blast to listen to pull their songs out about that often and enjoy. More often than that and the simplistic chord structures and slowness of their songs starts to bug me. But for adolescent rock, they brought it.

Still working on deadline. Normally, uniformed agents of Federal Express (not Tom Hanks) would deliver a box that included our magazine files on cdr's and a pile of proofs for the printer to start working. Nowadays, though, we are working in an all-PDF environment, so all of those files are being ftp-d over one at a time from our office here. The only thing I need to Fed-Ex over are the proofs. I'm not done proofing the magazine and making corrections to each page and have yet to place the last couple of pages of ads. I came to work early this morning to guarantee that this gets finished today and that the proofs arrive tomorrow morning (with all the files preceding them today). So, I missed the deadline.

sigh.

But by only one day, so production should just be delayed that long as well. Instead of subscriber copies arriving in mailboxes on Friday, Feb 20; they should be arriving by the next day -- Saturday, Feb 21. The newsstand copies should hit the shelves on the same day, Friday, Feb 27 (because they will have made it to the warehouse of the distributor by the 13th of February)...

Gotta go!

Are Details Dumb?

Man, does this issue look good!

I'm planning on sending a mass email to our email list early next week, announcing the readers' poll winners before any media outlets get it (kind of a perk for our list folks, which they deserve).

The layouts David did for this issue are stellar. Wait til you see the Blindside cover story, or the Project 86, or the Tooth & Nail story, or try reading the wacked-out Live Report (As I Lay Dying concert review). The Readers' Poll center spread layout is trippy, too. And the front cover. Wait 'til you see it. Different.

No sleep for either of us last night. At 4am I had to go home, cuz my wife got called in for a nursing job (helping at a birthing center for someone who just delivered in the middle of the night), and David left not too long after to go hop on one of those ungodly early morning flights. Now he's hanging out with Underoath, who are playing a show tonight in Birmingham, AL. I bet they're all going to have a blast (I feel sorry for David, cuz he's probably a walking zombie. Maybe a good rest tomorrow will catch him up).

I've got to coach a "Little Dribbler's" basketball game tomorrow morning way too early. I'm just putting the finishing touches on the magazine, making corrections from mistakes found during the proofreading process. I really enjoyed a couple of High Energy drinks last night. There's not any espresso/coffee bars open around the office area after 11pm... which is crazy! So I opted for the energy stuff. Nice.

Well, gotta get back to it. Pulling double duty with making sure all the ads are in and ready to go and the articles, too. The Hard News is being assembled tonight as well.

Having been laughing it up to the new Apologetix album. One of their songs is "Listening After Midnight" (a parody of the Judas Priest hit), which talks about the kid who fell asleep during a late night sermon, falling out of the window and dying...only to be raised from the dead. That's such a crazy and fun story. If I was writing the Bible or making up a sacred text, I would definitely leave out incidentals like that.

Arrgh!

Feeling beat and tired.
Feeling guilty for not even spending 2 minutes of undivided time with the Lord (sure, there's frequent communication throughout the day, praying for people, etc...but there's something special about that undivided, "You've got my full attention" time.). Am so glad that I'm not condemned for that, but nevertheless I don't want to "take advantage" or even get careless with that grace afforded me.

DEADLINE

My body is wiped out.
I have to force myself out of bed each morning.
(why can't mornings just be skipped?)

I have to force myself to draw near to God in just spending a few minutes in His Word. I need His strength, but it's easy to ignore that need and just "put it off" until more time opens up. Just when I need it the most, my ugly self wants to forget about it.

Man, the multi-tasking is going crazy! I'm writing reviews, laying them out in the page layout software, being careful not to write too much for the space on the page. The phone rings with a customer service call. I don't have to "put on a smile for the call," because I am truly happy and grateful for our readers and their loyalty and excitement level. Then the phone rings again. Then I get an email from someone that requires action -- could be advertising or could be about a story. Then I'm checking in with those around me. We have a new intern here from the University of Texas, named Colin Hobbs. He can crank out the album reviews faster than you can say, "There's Carson Daly." This is not an exhaustive list of what even happened in one half hour yesterday, but it gets the point across.

Ready now?

"Oh, Doug! You poor thing!"

Ha ha ha ha
Oh well, a blog is a blog.

Today one of the things I'm going to try to pull off is listening to and reviewing albums while listening in to a conference call board meeting for a music distro company called FAVE. I definitely won't be able to spin tunes during that time, huh?

Tonight might be the "sleep is a luxury we don't have" night. I brought a blanket to the office to maybe steal a catnap sometime during the midnight hours when the brain waves seem to be driving in one of those school zones. You don't want to get a ticket or hit any children, but most of your impulse is to go faster, but you can't.

After Thursday night, it should be our printer that has the job and I collapse in a heap of exhaustion, while David hops on a plane to spend a weekend with Underoath for our next "Road" cover story.

Once, Twice, Thrice Times A Lady...

Whew! Been busy. Deadline is crazy. My body doesn't like it.

Today I finished up my Project 86 story. Andrew Schwab and company have been through a lot in the last 2.5 years, and Andy had a lot to say. Fortunately, we were able to devote a good two-page spread story space for it.

Just wrapped up transcribing and editing the "What Thrice Says" story. I talked to Riley Breckenridge, who had a lot of things to say. It's neat to see some level headed musicians making music that people are listening to.

Now I'm through with my "BIG" writing (a 2-page Blood Has Been Shed story, a 3-page Thrice story, and a 2-page Project 86 story). I can look at reviewing some albums, some dvd's, some Letters to Ed, some Hard News info, some book and gear reviews, and a bunch of indie albums in "Pick of the Litter."

And David is just as busy if not more so than I am.

If you remember, say a little prayer for us. A boost of divine energy would be most appreciated. Also, if you live close by and wanna bring by some Venti Caramel Macchiato's from Starbucks, we might even wash your feet!

"What you do for the least of these my brethren, you do unto Me." (I'm not being silly anymore, but I could see a correlation here; where if you "minister" to use, you're blessing God, but I won't go there. This is just a neat verse that seems to tell us that if we look outside ourselves and treat someone with love and care (especially when it's a "loser" or "downtrodden" person that the world doesn't esteem too highly or even just a person who can't help you or help boost your status, then you are touching God's heart. I like that.)

I think I like Thrice's music better than Thursday's. I'm a little closer when it comes to Coke vs. Pepsi. Some of my Coke only friends (notice I didn't say "snobs") think that I prefer Pepsi more -- just because I can and do drink both. I think I like Coke better. (Truth be told, I like almost any cola soda. One of my childhood treats when the ice cream man came by was Italian Ice - Cola flavor.)

Mess Up The Vote

Hi
I just finished tabulating the Readers' Poll winners.
A special shout-out and "Thank You" goes out to Ashlee Allen for inputting all those ballots into our database!!

We have a few ties, however. I am going to attempt to break the ties by sending an email out to our 6,283 email addresses on our email list. (Not on it? Email me and ask to be added -- Doug@HMmag.com)
I am going to ask the recipients to break the handful of ties that we've got.

It's raining in the Austin area today, so it makes it easy to stay holed up in the office, cranking out the final deadline things. I've got to touch up my Project 86 story and "What Thrice Says."

Lots of people are subscribing nowadays, especially with our "Subscribe & Get A Free Gift Subscription For A Friend" offer. Very cool.

Have a great weekend. May your football watching (or non-watching) be blessed with much joy. The question of the weekend is: If you were a placekicker and the ball were lined up for a 50 yard field goal with 1 second left and your team is behind by 2 points...would you make it?

What would be going on in your mind when, as the field goal team was lining up and preparing to snap the ball, the defense of the other team calls a time-out to "Ice" you? Would you stare at the ground? Pray frantically? Look in the crowd for John Candy or some other celebrity to make you laugh?

Kicks that are that long are hard, because you have to put more leg power than usual into it in order to make the distance, which can take the routine swing out of your approach and kick... If you miss the kick, you have the immediate shock and despair of "losing" the game, plus all of next year to think about it.

As a true blue Cowboys fan, I would enjoy it if David Akers, the Philadelphia Eagles' placekicker, misses on such a shot this weekend. Man! I really have a "mean side," don't I? (blame it on the Eagles' fans -- they started it!)

How To Heal Someone

1. Interview the subject. For example, "What's wrong?" Reply: "Our friend is blind."

2. Pray, asking God what to do. "Father, what do you want me to do?"

3. Do what God tells you to do. For example, "Spit on the man's eyes and put your hands on him."

4. Interview the subject again. For example, in Mark 8:23, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" To which the man replied, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."

5. Repeat steps 2 & 3, as necessary. See example in Mark 8:22-26.

As you can tell, this formula is not an independent one. It is wholey dependent on God. (What a funny illustration to go with today's blog, eh?)

Today is Ad Space Reservation Deadline, where I finalize and confirm with anyone not yet confirmed on who is going to be running ads in the next issue.

Gratitude

What can I offer God for such a great salvation?
If there is a God (and there is, believe me), He is the One who gave me my very life - the air that I breathe, keeps the nucleus of atoms held together, and allows this miraculous body (hey, I'm not bragging here) to function and live...if He has done all that - given me those gifts - is it not my completely natural response - and thus responsibility - to love Him and show Him gratitude? And wouldn't this be beautiful in private? Just between Him and I. Me telling my Father in Heaven: "Daddy (insert term of fatherly affection here), I love you so much! Thank you for all that You've given me."

Wow. I bet you that kind of communication actually pleases God. Imagine that - pleasing God, the Creator of the universe. Man, it almost seems trivial and inadequate (simply saying "thanks"), but even though it's a small thing, it's a right thing, and it's gotta make the Giver feel something.

Emotion. We sometimes overdo it and (conversely) sometimes we poo-poo emotions as if Christianity was strictly a tough-man's game. Hogwash. Emotions are what they are; and God gave them to us. It stands to reason that they play some role in our lives and relationship with God. Sure, I've seen weird stuff that's done in a "touchy feely" way that's gotta be in error (hence the "overdo it" part), but I get so turned off by believers who I think are swinging pendulum-like in error in their down-playing of emotion. Howza 'bout a lil balance? Some of our religion/relationship with God is just plain mystical, folks. Admit it. When we casually drop phrases like, "God led me..." or "...what God's telling you..." That's some intangible stuff, people! (I'm not building a case for experiential Christianity here... Our faith is based on fact; not feelings.) There is a little bit of subjectivity involved here. Deal with it.

Whoa! Off the soapbox. And now.

24 Hours A Day

"...Everybody party
24 hours a day..."
Triumph had a song on their Rock and Roll Machine album with that title. The song sounded remarkably like Kiss.

Anyway, I stand at an entertainment precipice at the moment. Actually, I'm sitting down. I'm about to watch the final episode in the Season One boxset of the show 24. I'm about to resolve much of the tension that has been building up for the previous 23 episodes. Since I've been going backwards (I've seen Season Two and I'm watching Season Three as it comes on tv)... It's been weird trying to track who and if and when a certain person was going to kill a certain other person. In the tail end of episode 23 I see the identity revealed. As soon as I push play, the sequence of events will unfold. That, and I will have finished a long process and (like the empty unfulfillment of material and worldly things) there will be that anti-climactic feeling of it being over. Kinda like losing a playoff game or something.

I know I'm not the only one that loves this show. Two of my friends don't watch Season Three. One doesn't want to know any details, cause he's waiting for the DVDs to come out. He doesn't want to be obligated to watch it week in and week out. My other friend has a similar reason -- Season One and Season Two were so "good" and "intense" that he doesn't want to be hooked. Too addicting...

Wow. Kudos to the show's writers. Anyway, I want to get back to my "Play" button here and finish this thing. I just thought I'd write down my thoughts as I paused here. Fun stuff.

I Drink Coffee ... And Feel So Adult

Does our site seem slower to you the last couple of days? I don't know if our server is experiencing difficulties or not, but it seems to load a lot slower for me lately.

The more I read about this Passion movie by Mel Gibson, the more I think it will have an impact. I'm preparing myself to be a slobbering pool of tears at the bottom of my theater seat when I go watch it. If I can't hold back the sobs when William Wallace's dead wife/ghost is whisping through the crowd at his execution, there's no way I'm going to be able to hold it in during the passion of Christ scenes (something that engages my imagination, my emotions, and my Spirit and Soul).

Wow. Maybe, just maybe, this movie will help spark a major revival like we haven't seen since the "Jesus Movement" in the early 70s. Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine once told me that he thought films were the best medium for marrying music and the visual. That being said, this film could have a very heavy impact on our culture. We'll see.

Now, I need to clear up some rumors:

Ted Kirkpatrick of Tourniquet was NOT breeding wild mountain lions and setting them free in the chaparrel brush in and around Santa Monica before he moved to Wisconsin. And he was NOT forced to move to WI to escape the Forestry Department's investigations.

Kemper Crabb is NOT a left-wing revolutionary. His quote of, "If it wasn't for the Crusades, we'd all be Muslims," was NOT meant to incite hatred; just pointing out the origins of an ugly time having a root in a defensive response.

ZAO has NOT reformed to join forces with Zoe Girl.

Kyle Turley of the St Louis Rams is NOT joining FM Static on tour this Spring as an additional guitarist.

Wesley M. Denton, former Advertising Sales Director at HM Magazine, is NOT "marrying up" into the Kennedy family for a better chance at election; although he IS getting married and he IS involved in politics.

Brian V. McGovern, former Assistant Editor at HM Magazine, is NOT training a crack team of paramilitary orangutangs to storm the Vatican and set in place a giant crystal to eminate vibrations through the fibre-optic lines that Time Warner is putting into place.

David Allen does NOT ink tattoo on left-handed guitarists, so stop asking.

Coldplay + Train = Coltrain?

Yesterday and the day before the publisher I'm working with for our book (Rock Stars On God) was sending me revision questions. It was weird having a publisher ask me to change things that I've written. 'It's my book! Don't change it!' Those are real feelings, but pretty easy to deal with. An improvement is an improvement, period. It's just weird. One of the changes proposed was using the parenthetical phrase (expletive) instead of the (bleep) that I've been using for years. Footnote: Back in the day, I would use asterisks, like a** or s*** or f*** but after receiving feedback that, 'This reveals too much and makes me fill in the blanks in my head,' I decided to go with (bleep). David tells me that these are called an "onomatopoeia." They make you hear the sound "bleep" in your head when you read it. Funny, huh? Anyway, after thinking about it, having (expletive) in (bleep)'s place works for me.

I've got a Beta fish named Rufus on my desk. He's keeping me company.

For those rare who care, here's the tracklisting of the video soundtrack of my life this morning:

"Clocks" by Coldplay (what a beautiful song...I wish I could've been in the room the first time one of the band members played that piano line for the rest of the band...)

"Know What It's Like" by Downhere (a perfect substitute for KMax if one was needed...a great voice for a song with lots of soul).

"Calling On Angels" by Train (a great song of despair, looking for hope... while angel worship is an error (just ask any angel if you happen to meet one), it's a great picture of a higher power (and some scholars believe that when Jesus appeared in the Old Testament, He was referred to as an "Angel of the Lord" in places...).

"Meet Virginia" by Train (is Melba Jackson real?).

I'd personally like to see George W win this year's election, but after his second term I'd like to see the guy from the show "24" be our president. I love this character's integrity, fierceness, and general demeanor.

Oh yeah... (I forgot to include this earlier)
I've been talking to a marketing guy with the Passion film (the one made by Mel Gibson you've been hearing so much about). We're talking about getting the 20-something crowd involved in street team-type activity/hype/promotion for the next two months. So, prepare yourselves for this if you are interested. And stay tuned to this site (and, if you'd like to sign up for our mass email list, send me an email... We try unsuccessfully to send out one email per week, with news and contests, merch+sub info. I neglect to keep the frequency up. It'll go once a week in spurts, and then cease for a few weeks and then start up again. My email is Doug@HMmag.com)

First David, Then Me

Several months ago, David wrote a blog with the title "24." It was about that Fox TV show.

I thought to myself, 'Whatever. How could any tv show be that good?' I should have known better, as lots of creativity and dollars are sunk into television programming these days, and some shows are quite excellent (CSI, for example).

Anyway, now I'm hooked. I've watched Season 2. I'm watching Season 3 on tv each week (sigh), and I'm "catching up" by watching Season 1 on DVD.

This show masterfully uses all the tension and cliff-hanger drama techniques quite well and fuses them with a story line that includes terrorism, bio-chemical and nuclear weapons, hi-tech gear, and old-fashioned police action. The characters are well thought out and only ocassionally are they extreme and easy to read. Plenty of irony and twists and turns. Some of it, like much tv these days, is pretty rough. I'm digging it like a good chocolate chip cookie -- I can't get enough.

Calling On Angels

I'm busy transferring old outlook email files from a zip disk to a folder on this new computer and then they'll drop into my outlook. Tedious.

While I'm doing that, I'm answering emails from Relevant Media Group, who are publishing the Rock Stars On God book. Revisions and editing questions are being run by me. I can't believe I misspelled Nietzsche in HM issue #85! (Actually, that I didn't catch it as an editor.) Oh my! (I sound like Keith Jackson calling a football game... "Whoa Nelly! Doug Van Pelt just missed an extra point and didn't see the author Nietzsche's name spelled Niche. Oh my! Now that is an embarrassment for the whole team!"

I'm stoked about this book. Barring any unforseen circumstances...
(In other words, "Lord willing")
...the book should see release in March.

Knock, knock.
"Who's there?"
Whoo.
"Whoo who?"
That's right, whoo-hoo! The book is coming out!

(call me a caffeind)
:?)

Back In The Saddle

Whoa Nelly!
It's good to be back in the editor's chair. I've got a new computer (another emachines steal at 329 courtesy of Best Buy) so as to run the new program we're using to publish our magazine -- Adobe's InDesign. New stuff to learn, but what a bunch of time savers!

One of our writers, the illustrious Chris Rose, has turned me on to a crazy throwback band that's on Atlantic Records, I believe. Check out their video, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." Over the top melodic metal with wailing vocals. Go see and comment me back (with gratitude or shock):

www.thedarknessrock.com