Perhaps I've Shed Too Much

New EP!

2011-10-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

My new worship EP has dropped! If you're interested in buying an actual CD of this new 5-song worship project, go here: http://rosskingmusic.com/home_buy.htm.

If you want to download it, go here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/god-undefeatable-ep/id469947046. right now they have it priced too high, but it should be corrected within an hour or so. While you're waiting for the change (to $4.99), you can sample it and see what you think!

John 1:1-7 to music

2011-09-09T09:45:00.001-07:00

Want to memorize John 1:1-7? Or maybe want to go CRAZY and memorize it in Latin?

here you go:

English

Latin

Oronjo, the host for this service, is a pretty simple site, but if you have any trouble getting the file, email me direct ross@rosskingmusic.com and I'll help you.

Also, I just wrote a little about my long absence from the blog world, and it's in the post below this one. But I figured some folks might just want the song.

Hello

2011-09-09T09:15:00.001-07:00

OK, OK, what can I say? I got tired of blogging and started hanging out here and here and here instead.

And on top of that, I started pursuing more songwriting -- as in, writing songs that other people can sing instead of just writing songs for me to sing -- and slowed down in my pursuit of gigs and such.

It's a long story. In short, I'm still alive and I'm still doing what I've always done, but my life and career are just shifted and shuffled a little.

If you want to know more, just ask.

In the meantime, here's something that some of you have asked about. The homeschool co-op that my family is in needed to memorize a short section of John chapter 1 in both English and Latin. So I put it to music for them. This isn't a super-high quality recording (it's not bad, just not maybe up to my regular "put it on the record" standards), but I think it's pretty fun. Also, my Latin isn't very good (which is to say that I don't speak Latin). I learned this by listening to the recording of a Latin teacher reading the passage. So have a little grace if I'm mispronouncing anything.

OK, here it is in English:

And in Latin:

Ninety-nine cents each. Good for teaching your kids (or yourself!) 7 verses of scripture. And I think it's a decently catchy tune as well.

Obviously I have much more to catch you up on. I won't make any promises about how well I'll do with that. If you really want to keep up with me, follow me on Twitter or friend me on facebook or like me on facebook.

Thank you sir, may I have another!?!

2010-11-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Actually, I hope you're not actually spending today reading blogs, so ideally you're reading this at a time when it would make more sense for me to say "hope you had a great Thanksgiving."

Either way, I've got another video for you.

After watching the last one, I was thinking that maybe I did too much talking, and didn't get to the awesome-face-rocking soon enough. So I decided that this time I'd just upload the song without the "here's how I wrote it" stuff. If you really must hear me talk about these things, you're welcome to come see me play sometime soon. Info on upcoming shows can be found here and here.

Anyway, the new video is below. For some reason, if you watch it here on the blog, I'm like half out of the shot. It's framed better here.

A little bit of back story:
I actually didn't want to play this tune on my ukelele, but we were at Jeff's house, and my acoustic was locked up in a church building for a gig we were doing that evening, so I just went with the uke. It turned out pretty good anyway, and made for a nice, different-sounding arrangement.

Also, this arrangement is in A, while the version on the album is in Bflat. Again, that wasn't something we planned. It just turned out that we only had one capo, and I wanted it for the uke, since I can only play like 6-7 chords on it (mainly chords in D, G, and E), and Jeff didn't want to play acoustic in actual Bflat. I know, that's all terribly hacky, but there you go.

Having said all that, I think this turned out really good.

Enjoy, and please go buy and tell your friends!

Mo Vid Yo

2010-11-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

Hello.

A quick update. The CD is selling great. I mean, it kind of has to sell great, because in about 40 days, sales will drop off like crazy. So it's good news that the CD is selling well. Thanks to everyone who bought it, and special thanks to anyone who told someone else to buy it or bought several to give away. If you have the project and like it, please tell your friends. You are my PR firm, people. The pay ain't great, but... well, the pay ain't great.

Secondly, I'm working like mad on a new website, and it's just taking longer than I'd hoped. The RK World Tour office is rather spartan in it's personnel, so it takes us a bit longer to roll out these big changes than it sometimes ought to. Hopefully I'll have it rolling the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Finally, in my continued efforts to drum up interest in the record, I've got another video to show you. Check it out and feel free to send your "I don't know if I want to buy another Christmas record, especially from some goober that I've never heard of" friends to it.

another fun video! it's like actual marketing.

2010-11-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

Yep, here's something else for you to watch. I know I always love to have videos of me to watch, and if you're like me, then you do too.

Seriously, go watch this. My pal Andrew Kilzer shot and edited it.

A weekend of great causes

2010-11-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hey! Quick Update!

The CD will be out this Friday. I'll be mailing them this weekend to anyone who has pre-ordered. If you want the pre-order price, you've got 3 days left!

Now, onto upcoming dates:

If you're in the Central TX area, there are two great opportunities this weekend to give your money, your time, and your ears.

First, this Friday, I'll be in Waco, joining Brett and Emily Mills and James Mark Gulley for a night of great music and powerful stories of redemption. Jesus Said Love is an amazing ministry, bringing light and hope to dark and hopeless places. All the info you need is here, and of course you can just email me or leave a comment on this post and if you want more info.

Second, this Saturday I'll be playing here in BCS for Hope Pregnancy, a wonderful group of folks who reach out to young women who find themselves unexpectedly with child. As an adoptive father, I am deeply grateful to ministries like this, because they play a huge part in the way that infertile couples get babies! That's obviously a self-centered way to look at it, I know, but there you go. They do lots of great stuff and they need money to do it. So come see us or, at the very least, go find a ministry like this and give them some of the money that you'd use to buy unnecessary stuff.

As always, I'm thankful to be playing music, especially for great causes like this. What a great job I have.

Vidyo.

2010-11-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hey. Have you bought the Christmas album yet from Ross "talks about himself in the 3rd person" King? Well, you should.

But either way, watch the video below.

My good pal and resident idea-guy/consultant/creative genius Andrew Kilzer shot and edited the "bumper" thing at the beginning. We're still working out the kinks on it, but I thought it looked cool enought to try it out. It's not like I'm known for super-professional-looking videos.

Anyway, check it:

News and things of that nature

2010-11-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

OK, first of all, a big thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered the new album. I’m so thankful to have your trust and, well, your money. For those of you who haven’t ordered yet, there’s still time. I’ll be doing pre-orders for another 7-10 days. Go here to order for a discount.

And of course, as most of you know, I’m running a sale right now on my back catalog. All of my older CD’s (except for the ones that are out of print), are $5 for a limited time. I’ll probably extend this sale for another 2-3 weeks. Go here to buy cheap stuff!

Barring any weird surprises, the new CD – The Christmas Stories – will release between Nov 11th and 15th. I will alert everyone as soon as I have them, so that you can have some idea of when to expect them in the mail.

The album should be available for download –on iTunes, Amazon, etc – a few days before the actual CD is released. Probably early next week.

Now some tour/concert news. Below you will find my travel calendar thru Christmas. All dates subject to change, but I doubt that will happen. All these are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Nov 6 – Kids’ concert in Houston, TX. I think this show is closed, but if you have questions, call me and I’ll see if I can get you in.
Nov 7 -- leading worship in The Woodlands, TX for this church.
Nov 12 – benefit concert for Jesus Said Love in Waco, TX. This show has a ticket price, but there are two other acts playing, and the proceeds go to fund an awesome ministry, so it’s worth it. More info here.
Nov 13 – benefit for Hope Pregnancy in Bryan, TX. This is the kind of ministry that, among other things, allows couples like me and Staci to get babies even though we can't make 'em the "normal" way. Support this!
Nov 14 -- leading worship in The Woodlands, TX for this church.
Nov 21 -- leading worship in The Woodlands, TX for this church.
Dec 3 – Christmas concert at The Village Café in Bryan.
Dec 4 – Christmas concert in Tyler, TX at this church.
Dec 5 – Leading worship in Tyler, TX at this church (same place as the night before).
Dec 8 – Christmas concert in Richardson, TX at this church.
Dec 10 – House concert in Arlington, TX.
Dec 12 -- Christmas concert for my peeps at Community Church in College Station, TX.
Dec 17 – Christmas concert in Houston, TX (details coming).
Dec 19 – leading worship, doing mini-concert in Arlington, TX for this church.

As always, if you have questions about any of these shows, leave a comment on the blog, email me, or contact me thru facebook or twitter or whatever.

If you’d like to host me for a house concert (or whatever) sometime in the next 2 months, please let me know. House concerts are free as long as you provide me some food and invite lots of friends!

Finally, my new website should be up around the time that the CD is released, if not sooner. Be on the lookout for that.

It's the "Ross Needs More Fans SALE!!!"

2010-10-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Christmas record is pre-selling, at a discount, right here! Go buy it, please! And tell your friends.

Also, in celebration of the new project, I'm running a sale of my entire back catalog. Normally, my CD's are $12 at my online store ($10 plu $2 shipping), but for the next couple of weeks, I'm running a super-cheap sale. All my CD's will be $7 ($5 plus $2 shipping).

Not sure if you want to buy? Well, if you're brave enough to wade thru the retro-tastic and somewhat skank-nasty myspace waters, you can hear some samples here.

So, if you've got some friends that you want to turn into crazed, maniacal Ross King fans, this is your chance to do it at a discount. Got some family that only listen to old Carman records? This is your chance to blow their minds with musical awesomeness, while also making yourself look super-generous.

Or maybe you've got some friends who you want to fool into thinking that you're now really rich! I know I do. Well, go buy a boatload of CD's and then be all like, "yeah, it's no big deal. I just buy tons of CD's cause i'm rich." Ha! They won't know you spent 5 bucks a pop on 'em! Zing!

OK, seriously, go buy some stuff.

Oh, and I'm still working on the site, so be watching for a whole new look by the end of the week.

Thanks for your support!

Merry Christmas?

2010-10-12T14:27:00.001-07:00

The CD is done. That’s the cover up above. Photo by the great Tim and Kristen Douglass of Fidelis Photography, and design by my pal and sometime drummer Michael Steele of The Bright Company.

As for the audio part (even though my 38-year-old hotness will surely compel many to buy, I still have to have some music on the CD as well), I will be sending it off to be mastered (a process not worth explaining to those who don’t know what it is) and then duplicated within the next few days. It will be ready for download on iTunes and Amazon by the end of the month, and the actual CD’s should be out the first week of November.

I’m very excited to show you these songs. I’ll probably try to put a few preview tracks up on myspace (just because it’s got a free music player) and/or somewhere else sometime early next week.

I’ll be posting more updates frequently, but for now, here’s what you need to know.

Pre-orders will begin next week. I’ll be making the CD significantly cheaper to anyone who pre-orders. In addition, I’m going to be running a HUGE SALE on my entire back catalog, probably running thru the rest of the year, or at least until Christmas.

Oh, and I’m in the middle of a website update. That should be up early next week as well.

Finally, I’ll be announcing a bunch of shows early next week. Mainly Houston and Dallas, but probably a few other places as well. If you’re interested in hosting or helping with a show, let me know!

Progress Report

2010-09-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

The Christmas CD is nearing completion. Basically I’m now just listening thru all the tracks and making sure that everything sounds the way I want it to sound. For the first time in several projects, Keith (co-owner of The MixLab and good pal) won’t be mixing the record. I love Keith’s mixes, but he’s wanting a little break from mixing, and I’m fine with that. My old friend (and my original partner in engineering/producing) Jon Meyer is going to mix. I’ve already started sending him stuff.

Right now, it looks like I will have no problem getting the project ready for download (on iTunes, Amazon, etc) by November 1. The actual, physical CD’s may not be out until a few days after that. I’ll know more in a couple of weeks.

I’m currently putting together concerts for the release. Right now, I have 2-3 in DFW, 1 in Houston, and 1 in Tyler. I’ll keep everyone posted, but if you’re interested in me doing something (and if you’re in TX or pretty close), let me know asap.

I plan to do some pre-sales, as well as some giveaways as previews. Keep a lookout for that stuff.

New Christmas Project!!!

2010-09-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

OK, I’m way behind with my updates, so I’ll try to catch you folks up just a bit.

The Christmas project, tentatively titled Christmas Stories, is well under way. Here is the song list. The first 4 on the list are the traditional/covers, and the other 7 are songs that I wrote:

The First Noel
Jingle Bells (a very fun duet with my wife!)
Joy to the World
Angels (this is a variation/re-work of “angels we have heard on high”)
Song of Gabriel
Bethlehem
Merry Christmas to All
Rise Up (co-written with Michael Farren of Pocket Full of Rocks)
My Christmas Eve (co-written with Jimmy Needham, and also a very fun duet with my wife!)
All Things New
Macy’s Parade (a very strange song which may end up being titled “Weird”)

Some of you may remember "Song of Gabriel" from way back when I had it for free download on my old site. And you may have heard "All Things New" here.

One thing that I'm really excited about is that, even on the songs that I didn't write, I added/wrote/re-worked something on the song to make it seem more personal and creative to me. Don't worry, I didn't ruin any classics (I don't think). I just did some fun little tweaks and additions that I think/hope people will enjoy.

I’m very, very excited about the record. I plan to release it on November 1. I’ll give more updates asap. Tell your friends!

But I will say that I’ve already got some Christmas concerts lined up, and I’ll be looking for more dates very soon. I’ll post about that asap.

That’s all for now. More updates soon!

Various Things!

2010-08-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Like the title says, here are some various things.

First, I meant to do this like 3-4 months ago, and I didn't, but it's not too late. My good pal Todd Wright is a fantastic songwriter. He consistently writes worship music that is singable, powerful, and has meaning. If you know anything about the "business" of worship music, you know that there's lots of fluff and "rock star" going on. That ain't Todd. He's the deal. If you don't have his All the Freed record from a few years back (which I had the honor of producing), go get it. It is, song for song, one of the top 5 worship CD's I own. No kidding.

But that's not what I want to tell you about. Go get this. It's a tune that Todd wrote a few months ago called "Maker of My Days." For some reason that completely escapes me, he decided to record it at some other studio instead of mine. In spite of that epic fail, the track turned out great. It's really a very, very good song and a great production. And hey, it's only 99 cents. I don't tell you folks to go out buy very many things (usually I tell you to buy things exclusively from me, because I am completely unfettered in my desire to pay my bills), but I feel confident about encouraging you to spend your money on this.

Second, if you haven't ever heard of these people, go read about them now. Moreover, get on their mailing list and let their powerful stories of real, on-the-edge ministry move you.

And even moreover to that first moreover (the public schools didn't teach me how to use multiple "moreovers"), find a way to support what they do. Here's just one example of the amazing stuff God is doing thru Brett and Emily.

And finally, in the least important news of the day, I really am going to do a Christmas CD. I've already scheduled the studio time. To promote the record, I'll be doing some Christmas-ish concerts in November and December. Mainly house stuff, but some bigger shows as well. If you're interested in hosting something, contact me directly at ross@rosskingmusic.com.

That's all for today.

Nice to meet you.

2010-08-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes. I know. Where have I been, you say? The answer, for the most part, is that I've been writing songs. There's more to the story than that, of course, but most of the other stuff isn't all that interesting, so we can leave it at that.

I'll do my best to blog a little more in the coming days/weeks, but in the meantime, here are two things of import.

First, I am working on a Christmas CD. It will be mainly original songs that I've written about Christmas, and a few "standards." I know that no one on earth -- well, maybe my mom -- is dying to hear Ross King versions of holiday classics, so I won't fill the CD with too much of that. But I do have several new songs that I want to share, and I have some ideas for how to produce/arrange some of the familiar stuff as well.

So be looking for news on that. When I release it -- Lord willing, in late October or early November -- I'll be doing some concerts to promote it. Let me know if you're interested in hosting something in November or December.

Second, go watch this:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=535454070421&ref=mf.

I love it when real people act crazy and embarassing on video for the whole world to see, and I love it even more when they use my music as the soundtrack to their craziness.

And speaking of "Juicebox," who has ideas on how to get Juicy Juice to use my song as their jingle? How hard can it be?

Houston! I'm coming for you! Be warned!

2010-07-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hey people. Come see me this Saturday night. Randall Goodgame and Clayton Faulkner will also be playing. Info can be found here and here. It's a free show and the proceeds will go to an amazing charity/ministry. Hope to see you there!

Allow me to introduce myself

2010-07-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's Ross. You know, the guy that used to blog here.

Sorry for the long absence. I have no excuse, other than the fact that I've been working, mainly writing songs. Despite what you may think from reading my brilliance and wit on this page, I don't make any money when I blog, at least not directly. Songwriting pays the bills. So when I am faced with limited time, and choices have to be made about how to spend it, songwriting always wins.

Hence, my absence.

I have a couple of upcoming shows, and I hope to post about those this week. Either way, I wanted you to see this. It's a video of me and Sam (my 6-year-old son) playing music together. This video marks the first time he's ever actually played with me at a gig. I've been hesitant to put him on stage, especially when leading worship. I have lots of reasons for my hesitation. First of all, putting children on stage and trying to make them into stars seems to be a highly dangerous game, even when it's highly profitable. Second, I -- rightfully, I think -- take worship leading pretty seriously. I don't want to turn it into a gimic or a talent show. Putting your child on stage with you could probably do that.

On and on.

The point is that I haven't been eager to do this kind of thing.

However, I had the pleasure of doing a children's camp this summer, and since many of the kids at the camp were Sam's age, I figured it was a good time to give it a go. I did worship every day and night for the kids, but Sam just joined me for one session. Baby steps and all.

Anyway, here tis, below. Enjoy. There's nothing fancy, but he does a fantastic job of keeping time and he doesn't show off. Those of you who are musicians will notice how adeptly he handles the interesting time aspects of the pre-chorus of this tune. Lots of drummers try too hard to do something cool with it, when it often works just as well just to play right thru it. I was proud of him for (well, lots of things, but specifically for) keeping his head in the game, so to speak, thru the difficult parts.

Tomorrow night!

2010-06-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'll say it again, mainly because it's the only thing I have to say right at this moment, COME SEE ME TOMORROW IN HOUSTON!

That is all for now.

Shows! Updates! Wanna book me for a house concert? Ecksetera!

2010-06-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

Don’t you hate when people say that word wrong? Well, I do. And you should too. I spelled it wrong just so that, if you are one of those people, you'd see how silly it looks. Sound it out, people.

Well, I am officially unemployed again. May 30 was my last Sunday at this church. I’ve had a great time, but I’m ready to go back to being an extremely un-famous musician with a “how will my bills get paid this month” life.

Many of you have been asking about the Rudy’s jingle. All I can tell you is that I’ve turned it in and it’s been approved. I really don’t know when it will be online and/or on the radio and/or on TV. But you can be that I’ll post updates here about it. I ain’t shy about such things.

In the meantime, I’ve got lots going on. Here’s a list of the stuff coming up soon.

June 14-17: I’m doing a children’s camp for this church.

June 18: I’m doing a concert for this church in Houston on that Friday evening. My pal Johnny Simmons will join me on percussion.

June 20-25: I’m going to Nashville for various co-writing sessions with writers out there.

July 4: I’m leading worship for this church in Arlington, TX.

July 12-16: I’ll begin recording/producing a record for these super-talented people.

July 17: I’ll be doing a benefit concert in Houston with this guy. More info here.

July 25: I’ll be leading worship for this church in San Antonio.

So, let me know if you want more info on any of the concert/worship dates, and pray for me as I write in Nashville. As many of you know, I would really love to be more of a “songwriter” by trade. I’ve already been blessed that a significant chunk of my income is from my writing, but I’d really love to have that be my “main deal,” so that I could travel only a little. I still love leading worship and doing house concerts and such, but I don’t like leaving my hot wife and my awesome kids at home, and we can’t afford a tour bus.

One last thing: I’d like to book some house concerts around the DFW and San Antonio dates listed above. I’ll post something specific about this later in the week, but if you’re interested in hosting a DFW or SA show in July, please let me know.

That’s all for now.

More shows! Barbecue Songs!

2010-05-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hey. You. Yeah, you. Listen to this.

I'm playing two concerts this weekend. The first one is in SAN ANTONIO. Specifically, I'm playing here at 4 pm on Saturday.

The second concert is in Bryan/College Station. Specifically, I'm playing here at about 6:30 or 7. It's a big picnic for Grace Bible Church, where I've been working for the last 20 months or so.

Both concerts will be a mixture of kid tunes and my regular grown-up stuff.

And, for those who have been following along, I turned in my Rudy's jingle yesterday, and as far as I know, it's a hit with my clients. I'm not sure when it "drops" (can I use that term here? Well, I'm gonna), but I'll let you know.

Finally, I have more shows to announce soon, in Houston, DFW, and a few other places. I'll be starting a new "who wants to book a house concert" campaign in the next few weeks. Be on the lookout.

Shows!

2010-05-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Several upcoming shows to tell you about, some of them, like, extremely soon.

Saturday May 15 -- House Concert in Irving, TX

Sunday May 16 -- Concert at Community Church (my church) in College Station, TX -- Andy Gullahorn will be playing as well!

Saturday May 22 -- Concert in San Antonio, TX

Sunday May 23 -- Concert for Grace Bible Church in College Station, TX

Saturday July 17 -- Concert in Houston, TX -- Randall Goodgame will be playing as well!

All of these shows will feature some of my kid music as well asmy regular stuff for grown-ups. If you want info on any of these shows, email me directly: ross@rosskingmusic.com.

More info and updates coming soon!

4 out of 5 Big Mamas Recommend Juicebox

2010-05-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

OK, OK ,I know it's been forever. I have excuses -- writing/producing/pitching/tweaking a jingle for a barbecue chain, preaching a church service and a wedding, numerous co-writing sessions and trips, etc -- but mainly I've just been lazy about blogging. I'm working on a big update and some concert/tour date info, but in the meantime, go read a new review of my kids' CD.

For reasons that completely escape me, some people still don't own Words That Rhyme with Orange. More specifically, almost everyone on earth has yet to buy it.

Allow me to explain. Ahem.

There are -- I've read -- approximately 8 billion people on the planet. If that data is correct -- and I got it on the internet, so you know it is -- then, using my mathamaticotious calculations as a proficient songwriter, I see that approximately 7,999,999,300 people still haven't purchased my CD. Now I know -- from my other readings on the internet (and in magazines when I am in the doctor's office and I'm trying to find something to do besides play games on my phone in front of people) -- that at least a billion or two of those people don't have CD players or (I'm not kidding about this) even iPods. So those people have an excuse. Someday, when all is made right with the world, this travesty will be corrected and shoeless children everywhere will have access to Kanye, Ne-Yo, and Taylor Swift. Until then, let's assume that I have maybe 5 billion potential buyers on the planet.

To be fair, at least a few hundred of those haven't learned English yet. Again, how we Americans can sleep at night knowing that so many in this world have yet to learn how to say brilliant things like "I'm drinking my drink until I've drunk all of it and then I'll be drunk" or, "I know, right?" is beyond me.

But this is getting too political, and I'm really just here to talk about juiceboxes and bacon and monkeys disguised as humans. I mean, no matter who we are, we can agree on those things.

So moving on, if you haven't bought the CD yet, and if you can afford it, and if you speak English, you should go read this, then go watch this, then go here and buy something.

Oh, and in caes you don't get sarcasm and you think I'm really a boneheaded, heartless American capitalist, go here, here and here to see what shoeless children really need.

Me, live.

2010-04-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hey peeps in Austin. Come see me tonight at 7, here. I'll be doing a mixture of kid tunes and songs for grown-ups. I will not be playing my new Rudy's jingle, even though it kicks lots of behind. You'll have to wait for the commercial for that.

See you tonight!

Concert in Austin

2010-04-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

OK, sorry for the long absence. Been busy doing lots of songwriting and such. More on that later.

For now, I have a concert this Friday night in Austin. It will be at NW Hills UMC at 7. Come check it out.

More details tomorrow, hopefully.

Also coming soon: a show here in B/CS with the great Andy Gullahorn, and some news on my new jingle for Rudy's Barbecue. Fun stuff!

Sunday Show

2010-03-27T21:10:00.001-07:00

Hey folks. One last blurb about the show for Sunday Mar 28. It will be at the amphiteater/pavillion thing at Sienna Plantation in Missouri City, TX. I'll play from around 2:00 to 3:30. Lots of kids' songs, plus some of my regular music for grown-up people. Come see me!

Ever wonder...

2010-03-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

...who regionally-almost-formerly-famous celebrities go see in concert? Well, this friday, I'll be doing this:

In case you can't see the details, it's the Robbie Seay Band doing a concert at the Palace Theater in super-cool Downtown Bryan this Friday (tomorrow!) at 7. Go here for more details on this show, other upcoming shows, and their new record, which is fantastic.

Also, I heard it before you did because Robbie likes me. But it's not something we need to make a big deal about. I'm just saying.

Anyway, come to the show if you live around here. I'll be in the audience, singing along and thinking about how much of a rock star I'm not.

More info on Sunday's show

2010-03-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

OK, after getting a few emails wanting more info, I chased down some details for Sunday's show. Here they are:

What? Family/Kids' concert (there will be other kids/family activities as well)
Where? In the outdoor amphiteater/pavillion of Sienna Plantation in Missouri City, TX.
When? This Sunday, March 28, from 2pm to 3:30pm

I'll be doing a bunch of the songs from my new kids' record, a well as some of my regular songs from grown-ups.

Email me for further details.

Houston!!! Come See Me!!!

2010-03-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hey people. Just a heads-up that I'm doing a special kids' music concert at Sienna Plantation in Missouri City (basically, Houston), TX. It will be this Sunday at 2 in the afternoon. It's a big family/kids event. If you live in the area, come see me.

And let me say again that I'm starting to book concerts for summer and fall. If you'd like to do a house concert (or help me organize several), send me an email and I'll hook you up.

Ridiculous But True Stories Volume 4 or 5 or whatever

2010-03-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

This is my 200th blog post. I don't blog much, so it's taken me 3 years to get here.

Among my many posts, the "fan favorite" seems to be the Ridiculous But True Stories. They are long, rambling, somewhat humorous tales of my adventures as a musician and world traveler.
You can view the past ones here.

It just seemed appropriate that my 200th post ought to be another chapter in that "book," so here goes. It's a long one, but I don't think it will be boring.

Enjoy.

I don’t consider myself to be a dramatic person. Meaning, I don’t think I overdramatize my life. But to be fair, dramatic people probably aren’t terribly self-aware when it comes to their ability to assess the drama in their lives. So who knows? Maybe I’m a drama king.

Either way, I’ve dialed 9-1-1 several times in my life. To my count – and I may have forgotten some – I’ve dialed it 7 times. I figure that’s more than normal, but I have no idea really.

I haven’t written any “Ridiculous But True” Stories in a while, and I know you’re eager to hear one, so if you’ll bear with me, I’ll tell you a little about all 7 times that I have dialed 9-1-1. Then you can decide if I’m dramatic , or if I’m just supposed to become an EMT or a superhero or something (please say “superhero!”).

The first time was maybe 12 years ago. It was Halloween night. I was driving home from a friend’s house and it was pretty late at night. Close to midnight I think. I was on a 5-lane road in College Station called Wellborn. Wellborn runs right along the west side of the Texas A&M campus. I was in a little Nissan pick-up that I had for several years way back. I loved that little truck. Lots of great gigs and road trips.

Anyway.

Heading home with not a care in the world, I spot headlights approaching in my rear view. Approaching very fast. Definitely well over the speed limit. I decide to change lanes to get out of the way of this maniac. Only right at the same moment, the other car changes lanes as well. Now we’re both trying to anticipate each other and the whole thing is a mess. I barely avoid a super-fast rear-end collision, but instead the other car smashes my passenger side, hard, going probably 70 miles an hour. It’s like one of those scenes in an action movie where one car tries to knock another car off the road by side-swiping it. I don’t think that was the driver’s intention in this case, but he actually did a really good job of it nonetheless.

My pick-up goes swerving into the oncoming lane which, fortunately, is unoccupied. I whip the wheel back to the right and get control of my vehicle. The vehicle that hit me continues down the road, apparently undeterred by our little (big!) smash-up. The car doesn’t even appear to slow down.

Just as I’m getting my breathing back in check, another car passes me going just as fast. From what I can tell, this second car is chasing the first car. Neither car is pulling over to see if I’m okay. Maybe they didn’t see me.

Well, now I’m curious – and a little ticked – about what’s going on, so I give chase.

About a mile down the road, the first car pulls into a campus parking lot, followed by the second car. I arrive seconds later. Both cars have stopped; both drivers are out of the car. By the time I pull in next to them, the driver of the second car is laying a blue ribbon beat-down on the driver of the first car.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I get out and try to talk down the situation, to little avail. (As a sidenote, watching people fight isn’t much fun in real life.) So I decide that I’d rather let the po-po’s handle this one. I call 9-1-1. The cops come and take both dudes away.

By the time the story gets straightened out, here’s what I’ve learned. The driver of the first car left a party where he’d been drinking copious amounts of the booze. On his way out of the parking lot he smacked into the second car. He freaked and drove off. The guy in the second car wanted to, er, exchange insurance information. So he pursued. The guy in the first car realized he was being pursued and decided to run for it. I got in the way of said pursuit and you know the rest.

Happy Halloween.

The second time was about 5 years ago. Many of you already know this one, so I won’t give the whole story, just the basics.

I was on the way to a camp just north of Waco, where I was scheduled to lead worship for 5 days. The short version is that a 15-year-old girl ran across 2 lanes of a major highway and right into the path of my Suburban. I hit her going about 45-50 miles an hour, and she flew up over the top of my car like a rag doll. Appropriate yelling and panicking ensued. Andy Crawley, my longtime drummer and good friend, actually did the 9-1-1 dialing on that one, but that was only because I was hyper-ventilating so I couldn’t talk. I get a pass.

If it sounds like I'm making light of this, don't worry. I was plenty sober and freaked out when it happened, and for months after.

The part that you’re interested in is that she didn’t die. In fact, she only got a really badly broken arm and some other minor injuries. Of course I didn’t know that for a while. Due to the nature of the law with regard to medical records and privacy and such, I had no idea if she’d lived or died or been paralyzed or whatever for about a year. I finally got the whole story when her family sued me for negligence. Long story. In the end I was absolved of all wrongdoing.

But I did ride in a cop car, take a “drunk test,” sit on a witness stand, and a few other interesting-but-not-fun things. Oh, and I think I saw an angel. That’s a long story too. But again, I’ll just give the short version.

Rewind to about an hour after the wreck. While I was waiting for the cops and ambulances to sort everything out, I just stood by my car in the turn lane of a 5-lane highway. Turn lanes aren’t very wide, so I was actually standing really close to the oncoming lane. It wasn’t safe, and you’d think I would’ve been extra-aware of that kind of thing on a night like that, but I needed air, and I was a little loopy from the experience, so I stood out in the road, safe or not, leaning against the driver’s side door while the cops and EMTs worked it out, thinking about what life was going to be like if I’d killed somebody.

Anyway, cars rolled by slowly, rubbernecking and trying to get a sense of what was what. At some point, a car pulled right up to me and a woman inside rolled her window down and starting describing the accident to me – in pretty good detail – and telling me how I hadn’t done anything wrong and that I had no reason to feel fear or shame. Then she drove on.

Pretty sure that was an angel. You may not believe in such things, or maybe you just don’t believe me. Not sure I would’ve believed it either.

I didn’t end up leading worship at that camp.

The third and fourth times happened that same summer. It was quite a summer.

Only a few weeks after the wreck in Waco, Staci and I were driving around in Bryan – where we live – and we pulled up to a red light. While we were waiting for it to turn green, we sat and watched a little white pick-up truck drive right by us, smash into a light pole, flip over, end-over-end, and land upside down in the road we were about to cross, maybe 20 feet in front of us. I dialed 9-1-1, then handed the phone to Staci while I ran to the truck and checked on the driver. To my surprise, he wasn’t wearing a shirt. For a moment I thought, “I’m rescuing Matthew McConaughey! This is my big break!” But it wasn’t him. Just some other dude who loved to be shirtless at inappropriate times. I would never have the guts to try something like that. So anyway, other than being shirtless, the guy was relatively fine, and even though I would’ve probably recommended that he not move until the ambulance got there, he insisted on crawling out, so I helped him.

No big deal on that one. Far as I know that guy was fine. By “fine,” I mean fine other than being a shirtless driver who didn’t know how to steer clear of a 15-foot light pole in broad daylight…

This seems like a perfect time to say just keep livin’.

Only a couple weeks after that, Andy (aforementioned drummer and pal) and I were at another camp. We were in Daytona Beach, Florida. We had some time off during the days, so we would head over to “the strip” and see what there was to see, which was mainly MTV rejects and people who probably drove shirtlessly into light poles fairly often.

Whilst cruising the strip one day – on foot, which probably doesn’t count as cruising – we were surprised to see a woman running frantically toward us, looking scared and just sort of “off.” We stopped her and asked what was wrong. She told us a crazy-sounding story about how she was being pursued by her ex-husband who was abusing her and her child. Who knows what’s true and what’s not in these kinds of situations? With an almost reflexive move of my fingers, I dialed 9-1-1 and invited the cops to sort thru it. We stayed with the woman for a bit to wait for the cops, but then we had to get back to the safety of singing songs about Jesus to half-interested teenagers.

The fifth time was a whole year later. Andy and I were at a summer camp in South Texas. Our good pal Brady Redwine was also there, playing like 17 instruments and generally making everything sound better. This camp made two grave errors. They gave us golf carts. And they didn’t give us or the golf carts any kind of curfew.

So one night after worship a bunch of us were out driving our golf carts. Brady had decided he wanted to teach us all how to do a “j-turn.” According to Brady (who may have been making it all up), a j-turn is basically when you’re going in reverse, real fast, and you pull the park brake while simultaneously whipping the wheel. If you do it right, you end up facing forward at the end of the turn. Cops on TV shows do it all the time. Only with cars, not golf carts.

Well, you know how this is going to end, so I’ll just get there.

Me and Brady were in a golf cart together, and Brady decides to try a j-turn while driving downhill. In reverse.

So of course when he hit that brake and whipped that wheel, the golf cart flipped. Brady and I both flew around a little and I ended up on top of him, both of us landing pretty hard.

I was pretty shaken – sort of half-conscious, really – and I spent a few seconds just trying to get my bearings. Once I did, I could see two things. First, the golf cart was pretty wrecked. Second, Brady was laying perfectly still with his eyes open.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve watched way too much TV in my life, and on TV, when people are perfectly still with their eyes wide open, it means they are dead. Somebody always has to come around and do that thing where they close the dead dude’s eyes with the palm of their hand. I think it’s supposed to be some kind of tender and respectful way to say “goodbye old buddy, you were the best d**n partner this ol’ cop ever had” or something. Just a watch a few hours of primetime and you’ll see it.

So anyway, that’s Brady. Totally immobile. Eyes wide open. Standing at the pearly gates, playing his little dobro gee-tar for the angels.

It’s important to remind you that, at this point in my life, I was awaiting a court date for the lawsuit from the aforementioned car wreck. So of course my immediate thought was “Brady’s dead and his parents are gonna sue me and I’m gonna have TWO LAWSUITS GOING AT ONE TIME. I’ll be broke and no one will ever want to hear my songs ever again. And Brady’s dead, which is also sad as well.”

Poor Brady. Killed un-glamorously in a bizarre golf-cart stunt, only to have the emotional weight of his passing overshadowed by the threat of litigation.

Well, he wasn’t dead. I yelled at him for what seemed like a couple of minutes (probably 10 seconds) and he finally woke up. Well, he didn’t really wake up, but he did start moving.

By now, the other cart-drivers had made their way down the hill to check on us.

We got on another golf cart and made our way – slowly, safely, and without any stunt-driving – back to the main area of camp. We had to call for an ambulance. This particular time, the 9-1-1 dialing was only required because it was too late at night to get a hold of an ambulance that would come out to the boonies and get him.

There are some other funny parts of the story that I have to tell before I move on.

First of all, Brady, who ended up having a concussion and an injured shoulder, was cussing a lot after his injury. Like I said, he had a concussion. I don’t think I’ve ever had one, but supposedly, it sort of makes you do weird stuff. Anyway, we’ve got him on a back-board (not knowing the extent of his injuries) in the nurse’s station of the camp, and he’s talking really calm, only he’s throwing in profanity every few sentences. Like, just sort of randomly. Those of you who know me well know that I’m not offended by the occasional curse-word (there are even rumors of my usage of some such words, but don’t believe them). But we were at a Christian camp. We were the worship leaders at a Christian camp. So it wasn’t apropos for us to be cursing. So as Brady is blathering on in curse-laden nonsense, I’m trying to convince the dozen or so people who are standing around that he is out of his mind, instead of just really uninhibited. I think maybe I tried to blush a lot and look appalled. I don’t know if it worked.

The story turns out ok. Again, just a concussion and a messed-up shoulder for Brady. Those things were bad I guess, but considering the fact that I thought he had died (and that I might be sued or jailed for it even though it was totally his fault), it kind of seems like we got off easy.

The only other thing that seems important to mention is that I rode in the ambulance, and the driver went – I’m totally not making this up – 90-100 miles an hour for most of the way to the hospital. When I asked him about it, he said something like, “well, I’m allowed to drive as fast as I want if I think my passenger is in dire need of medical attention.” At that point, I was thinking, “well, Brady’s cussing more than normal, but I think he’s okay, but if we wreck at 100 miles an hour, we’re all gonna die.” But kept it to myself.

Even funnier is the fact that my friend Aubrey Spears – who was speaking that week at the camp – had to follow us in my Suburban. If you do the math, you’ll realize that Aubrey was driving my Suburban at 90-100 miles per hour as well.

Somehow, we had arrived at a place where amateur-stunt-driving golf carts weren’t the most dangerous vehicles cruising around South Texas that night.

OK, two more, and these are both pretty boring, but I’m trying to tell all these stories in the order that they happened, and this is just how it worked out.

Number 6 was odd, but not exciting. A year or so later, Staci and I were on the way to Brady’s wedding. Yes, somebody married that cussing, brain-damaged goofball. It’s a miracle.

Anyway, the wedding was in Wichita Falls, so Staci and I were driving thru Arlington to drop off our son at her parents’ place. We’re on I-20 and a pick-up truck in front of us is loaded down with furniture, which is packed in extremely tight and not-very-efficiently. So of course, at some point the truck hits a bump or something and all the furniture just starts flying out of the back of the truck onto the highway. Staci and I are a few hundred feet behind the truck, so we have enough time to kind of swerve around it all, but then we realize that we better pull over, because the furniture is covering like a half mile and several lanes. Cars are smacking into end tables and lamps and such. Couch stuffing is floating around. Etc. Traffic is backing up like crazy.

Next thing you know it’s a parking lot on I-20.

We dialed 9-1-1. We didn’t make it to Brady’s wedding. I am told it was a G-rated affair with zero profanity.

OK, last one. This was about a month ago. I was on my way home from our Sunday meeting of Community Church. We meet at night, so it was nighttime. I had just picked up some takeout for me and the wife. I pulled up to a stop light and saw two cars stopped in the left turn lane. Both drivers are out of their cars and there’s some yelling going on. I roll down my window and catch some hostile language. Both dudes look ready to go at it, only one of the dudes is much bigger and meaner-looking than the other.

I had learned many lessons from the multiple crazy altercations that I’d witnessed over the last 12 years.

Don’t try to break up fights between two dudes that you don’t know.

Don’t assume that every shirtless idiot is a famous shirtless idiot.

Always put a gag on the mouth of your concussed friends.

The list goes on. But the most important truth that night was one that I had learned without the assistance of any drama or law-enforcement.

Don’t let your food get cold.

I dialed 9-1-1. I assume everything worked out ok.

What I did in Nashville

2010-03-10T14:38:00.000-08:00

Most of you know that I did some songwriting in Nashville a few weeks ago. In many ways, the trip represented a new “chapter” in my story as an artist and songwriter, so I figured I’d share about it here for those who care.

OK, here’s the brief back story. About 10 years ago, I was approached by a record label regarding one of my songs. It was a song called “wake up” (it ended up on my 1999 CD Big Quiet Truth) that I wrote with my pal Andy Gullahorn, who many of you know and love. He’s probably one of the best songwriters alive today (I’m serious), and I totally ride his coattails any time I can. This was one of those times.

Anyway, Andy and I signed over the publishing (insert technical music biz mumbo-jumbo) to the record company and they agreed to try to pitch the song in pop, country, and Christian music circles. The deal was only for a year or two, and nothing really ever came of it. But during that time, my primary contact at the record label was an extremely nice lady who, for her privacy, I will call Lucy.

After a couple of years, the record label relinquished all the publishing back to me and Andy. Easy come, easy go. I went on with my life and lost touch with Lucy, who went on to become very successful and extremely connected and respected in the music biz.

Fast-forward until this past November. I was at a conference for Taxi, the indie A&R company (insert more technical music biz mumbo-jumbo) that I work with (these are the folks that are getting me the TV/film work that I talked about here). Thru a random circumstance, I ran into Lucy. I wasn’t sure who she was at first, but we started talking and quickly figured out how we knew each other.

Lucy asked about what I was doing these days, and I gave her the story. Then she took some of my music, and we exchanged contact info and wished each other the best.

Well, she called me a couple of weeks later and was really excited about my songwriting. She was quoting my lyrics and talking really specifically about stuff she liked, etc. Of course, as a songwriter, this was really a great encouragement to me, considering all the talent that Lucy has been around for the last couple of decades.

So after a decent amount of talking, I decided to hire her in a consulting role. Again, long story, but basically she was just agreeing to help me improve as a songwriter and help me make connections that would, ideally, lead to me being able to make a decent living as a writer. I love leading worship and doing concerts and producing in my studio and all that, but my real passion is writing songs.

So fast-forward again to February. Lucy arranged an entire week of co-writing sessions with professional writers in Nashville. It was really cool. Basically, I spent all day long, for 4 days straight, writing music with extremely gifted musicians and songwriters. Several of them have written hit songs on country, pop, and Christian radio.

Every writing session was totally different than the one before. I wrote music that was very normal to me, and I wrote stuff that was absolutely, completely different from what I normally write. That part of it was extremely rewarding and challenging. It’s hard to explain, but I just love making music. Obviously I enjoy writing the kind of music and lyrics that I would want to put on my own projects, but I also really enjoy just creating. And the idea that I could get paid to create; well, that’s just insane and beautiful and cool.

Well, so far nothing significant has come out of my time there, in terms of big career stuff or money, but it was a fantastic learning experience, and I made some great relationships and – I think – helped write some good songs that may someday end up on the radio or on someone else’s projects.

I also got to hang out with my good friends Andy and Jill Gullahorn, and I got to (randomly) spend some cool time in the studio watching Andrew Peterson record cello and organ for his new record. That was kind of “geek out” moment for me.

That’s really all that’s worth telling. I’ll keep you all posted when/if things develop. I’ll be heading back to Nashville soon for more of the same. We’ll see where it leads.

One more thing. I’ve done some good writing for my own projects as well. I hope to get back in the studio early in the summer for a new project of “grown up” music. I’ll keep you all posted on that front as well.

OK, that’s it. Not sure who actually cares about any of this, but I just figured it was worth telling the 4 or 5 of you who like to keep up.

More soon!

MTV stands for Me Tele Vision

2010-03-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

Hey peeps. At the bottom of this post, there's a cartoon music video for my song "happy to be me." Big thanks to the absolutely brilliant dudes at Phodder for their work on this.

OK, here's what I need. As good as the sales of the record have been so far, I'm still not really "breaking in" to the whole kids' music scene on any kind of national level. Maybe I never will, and that's fine. I'm not looking to get rich or become the next, er, I don't know who. But I would like to have reach more folks with my music and hopefully teach them about The Kingdom That Lasts Forever.

So, if you are a fan of my music and/or the kids' record and/or the video, PLEASE tell people about this video by linking to it on your Facebook, Twitter, blog, youtube page, etc.

Thanks, everyone, for your support. Enjoy the cartoon version of me, even though he only has four finger, and even though the real me is a better dancer.

Things I've been doing

2010-02-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

Had a great weekend of gigs in Houston and Salado. Big thanks to everyone who came out. After the concert on Friday, I’m itching to do more. Just a reminder that if you’d like to book house concerts, it’s easy and (basically) free. Contact me if you want more info, or go back thru the archives of the blog to find instructions.

In the “my job is so fun and weird” category, I give you this:

My good pals Andrew Kilzer (who is also an amazing sports photog) and Michael Steele (who is also an amazing drummer/musician) asked me to compose some music for a corporate promo that they created for Northcutt Media. For context, Northcutt Media works with companies like TexAgs to provide quality advertising. They are cutting edge and brilliant, and they hired Michael and Andrew to help create an extended “commercial” that they could show to potential clients. Anyway, I composed and recorded the music, which you will hear throughout the video. This sort of thing isn’t my primary skill area, but I’m excited about how it turned out. Check it.

For more context, this is Michael's first major flash/video/cartoon project, and this was Andrew's first time to write this kind of copy and do voice-over. I mean, all of us were kind of "winging it," and somehow it still turned out super-cool. At least I think so.

Anyway, enjoy. Mainly I just wanted you to hear the music I did. As I get more and more into instrumental work and composition, I like to share with you folks. If anybody wants the music track, I'd be glad to send it for free. Just email me.

Also, I’m working on a recap of my recent Nashville trip. Hopefully I’ll have it up this week.

Finally, I’ll be posting some more concert/gig dates within the next few days. Be looking for those.

Show tonight! Free CD's being mailed! LOUD NOISES!

2010-02-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. It's kind of a "clean-up" day around here. Got a few things for you.

First, go here to get more info about the concert tonight in the Houston area. It's free and it should be a big crowd. I mean, for me, a "big crowd" is like 70 people, but you know what I mean.

Second, the Great CD Review Giveaway of 2010 is officially over. Thanks to all who participated and gave me big props and much love. The free CD's are going in the mail today. If you haven't given me your CD preference and your address, I can't send you a CD! So get me that asap. Depending on where you stay at, you'll get them sometime next week.

Third, in case you're wondering who all these strangers are showing up and commenting, they are all mainly followers of this chica, who is doing a giveaway of her own. Feel free to go over there and get some free stuff.

Fourth, I really want to tell you all about my trip last week to Nashville. It was tons of fun and I learned a lot. In addition, there were some really cool "career" things that happened. So hopefully I can get to that next week.

That's all for now. Hope to see all the Houston folks tonight!

where have i been?

2010-02-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

In Nashville, doing some really fun stuff. I will try to blog about that in the next day or two.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who posted reviews in the various places I asked. I really appreciate it. If you didn't email me with specs on what free CD you wanted and where to mail it, do so quickly and I shall make haste in getting you your RK jams.

More later. Too busy and tired to type.

See dee baby? (A Contest!)

2010-02-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

For some reason, when I wrote that sentence, I said it outloud with an unidentifiable European accent. Like many of my jokes, you had to sort of be there to appreciate it.

Anyway, my kids' CD is now available at CDBaby. I'm hoping to generate some sales there, so I thought I'd run a little giveaway/contest thing.

Here's how it will work. I'll give a free CD -- anything from my catalog that is still in print -- to anyone who will do 2 of these 4 things:

--go to my CDBaby page and post a review (hopefully a very positive one) for the new CD.
--go to my iTunes page and post a review for the kids CD.
--go to my Amazon page and post of review for the kids CD.
--go to any of the pages that i listed here and post a review in the "comments" section of any of those blogs/pages.

Just do 2 of those things, then email me (ross@rosskingmusic.com) or comment on this post, letting me know that you did it (links to your reviews would be appreciated, but if you're not very tech-savvy, just tell me where the reviews are), then let me know what CD you want. It's that easy, people!

I figure if I get several good reviews, I'll be more likely to sell some stuff in those various places. These different webpages/services represent different markets for me, because most of my "fans" would probably just buy my stuff direct from my website. But people who buy at CDBaby or thru the other above places are more likely to be the kind of folks who just stumble upon me one way or another (especially now that I have a CD in a different "genre").

So, most of you probably have all the CD's of mine that you want, but if not -- or if you want to give some as gifts or whatever -- go post some reviews and let me know about it. I'll send you some free stuff!

Houston show details, etc

2010-02-03T11:55:00.001-08:00

OK, go here for more info on the Feb 19 Houston/Missouri City show (which is open to the public and totally free).

Also, go here to read the brilliance and thought-provocation of my pal and co-laborer, Thad Norvell, who is currently using his mental and verbal superpowers to talk about Haiti, adoption, and the Kingdom that lasts forever.

Erbody love Juicebox (and my other songs too!)

2010-02-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

Lots and lots of reviews being posted all around the cyberweb netverse or whatever it's called. So far, everybody has been extremely positive! Whew. Color me relieved, which, I think, is a kind of pale yellow-ish with hints of crimson and puce.

I contacted these people a few weeks ago and asked them if they would be interested in reviewing my new record, and they said yes. So this week there are tons of reviews popping up all over the place. If you haven't bought the record yet, or if you know somebody who needs convincing, send them to any of these places:

Review

Review

Review

Review

Review

Review this one is especially fun because she shares some email dialogue that I had with her about the record, and I think it really conveys my heart for the record.

There are more, but I didn't want to overwhelm you. Here's what you can do to help. Go read a few and post on their "comments" sections and see if we can stir up some more sales.

These are mainly moms with kids. That's pretty much the main demographic that I'm needing to reach and impress with the new record, so it's great to get all this positive feedback.

More news to come.

T-shirts? Yeah, I think I'm going to do it within the next month or so.

Cartoon/iPhone app? Coming along. Supposed to be ready late next week. We'll see.

Concerts/gigs? I'm starting to book lots of stuff, so if you're interested for something in the spring or summer, let me know!

Proof that I am, indeed, a cartoon!

2010-01-31T22:23:00.000-08:00

OK, here is a sample of the thing I was talking about a few days ago. Basically, this is going to be a music video/iphone app (we may work some interactive game stuff into it as well) for my song "happy to be me" from the new record. It's just a fun little cartoon thing that hopefully will help kids to connect with the music a little more.

Big props to my friends at Phodder, who are working hard on this for me. Check back in the next 2 weeks for the final product. Come on, everybody loves cartoons, even when a big doofus like me is the star of them! Fun, huh?

Victories

2010-01-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

I know there has been a lot of Haiti talk around here and elsewhere, but I just had to share this one. Tim Pearson is a guy that I served with for a few days last summer when Com Church sent us to Port au Prince. We connected pretty well. He's a funny guy and a true servant, so of course everybody loved him.

He was there for several reasons, but one of them -- or rather, two of them -- were Sammy and Gino, the two little boys he and his wife were, at the time, in the process of adopting. It was heart-wrenching and beautiful to watch him interact with those boys. Tim was really impressive and inspiring to me because, among other things, he really modeled the Kingdom to me as a father, as an adoptive parent, and as (at the time) a servant for Jesus in Haiti. There would be times when Tim's boys were 30 feet away from him and he had to focus on other work that he was there to do (he was integral in helping orchestrate the rooftop garden that was one of our primary jobs while there). I knew it must've been really hard for him to keep his sanity in those moments, but he was always joyful, hilarious, and encouraging.

OK, so the point of the post is to share this with you. Go read the story of Sammy and Gino's homecoming. Go ahead and cry. It's good for you.

Gig details, etc

2010-01-29T11:33:00.000-08:00

I mentioned some gigs a few days ago. Well, I've got details for those gigs, plus info on one more. Here it be:

Jan 31 (this Sunday night), 6 pm -- Worship/Concert at Calvary Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX

Feb 19, 7 pm -- Concert at First Baptist Church in Missouri City

Feb 20, 21 -- Various worship/concert stuff at First Baptist Church in Salado, TX

April 9 -- House concert in Dallas area (exact time and location TBA)

Let me know if you need more info on any of these shows. I'll get it on the blog asap.

That's all for now.

She likes it!

2010-01-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Got another positive review of the new kids' CD, this time from a mom with a kid! That there is the target demographic, people (my college roommates went to business classes, so I know these things). Go read it and, if you haven't bought it yet, seriously, how much convincing do you need?

I still play gigs

2010-01-27T06:08:00.000-08:00

Hey folks. Wanted to give you the scoop on a couple of upcoming gigs. I haven't been playing out as much over the last 18 months, since I took the interim worship job at Grace Bible in College Station, but that job is coming to an end in May, so I'm ramping up the gigs.

Here are a few over the month or so:
Jan 31 -- Concert in Lufkin, TX
Feb 19th -- Concert in Houston, TX
Feb 20th -- Leading worship in Salado , TX

As you can see, the first one is this Sunday night. Any Lufkin folks out there? Come see me.

I haven't realy booked any kids' concerts yet, but I'll do that soon as well.

If you want any info about these shows, or about booking me for other stuff, just comment here or email me ross@rosskingmusic.com.

I'm a cartoon!!!

2010-01-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

OK, so in my ongoing efforts to market the kids' record (see some of my ideas and thoughts here and here), I've got something new to show you. I'm not going to tell you exactly what this is, but it won't be that hard to figure out. Basically, I have some friends who do something really cool and hip for a living, and I'm going to partner with them to turn one of my songs into... well, you can try to figure it out, or you can wait a couple of weeks and I'll tell you when it's done.

But anyway, here is the hint:
If you look closely at the pics, you can figure out what song this is. As for what this is going to be, well, it's not that hard to figure out, but I'm going to make you wait anyway.

Check back the week of Feb 1 for more details!

Perspective

2010-01-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

I know people on twitter and facebook are probably tired of me talking about this, so I figured I'd come over here and talk about it. Go read this blog and get some persective. And if you haven' given any money to some sort of Haitian relief effort, please consider doing so.

Pray for Haiti

2010-01-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

Some of you will remember that I spent some time with orphans and saints in Haiti this past summer. There was a pretty massive earthquake there today. The people (and kids) that we worked with there are all ok, but I know they would appreciate your prayers. Haiti is the second poorest country in the world, so an earthquake is like adding insult to injury. Go read about how my friends at Heartline are doing.

He likes it!

2010-01-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

Got another review of the CD. I sent one to this guy because I found him on the internet and saw that he was a cool, diserning dude who liked to review kids' music. He agreed to review it. Check it out. And thank him for listening!

Clothe yourself

2010-01-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. Sorry I've been away from the blog for a bit. After the craziness of gettting the CD released, and then the holidays, I was a little worn out.

Updates:
Well, the CD is selling great. I've sold around 200 actual hard copies, which I know doesn't sound like much, but considering I haven't done any shows to promote, and that I'm the only "store" that's carrying it, it's not bad. And it's doing really well on iTunes and other download stores as well. So big thanks to all of you who have been buying and telling your friends and such.

I'm doing lots of writing these days. Hoping to start working on a new "grown-up" project in a few months. I miss writing and playing music that isn't about boogers or juiceboxes or monkeys.

I'm booking concert for the winter and spring, so if you'd like me to come play for you (grown-ups, kids, or both), let me know. If you don't know how it all works, send me an emai or comment on this blog and I'll fill you in. It's extremely cheap and easy. And it will change your life for ever.

And now, onto something new. Check it:

OK, I've never done anything like this before, so I have no idea how people would react. So look at the pics below and then read on.

These were designed by my pal Josh Taylor, who is not only an amazing artist/designer, but is also the lead singer and guitarist for Clairmont, a fantastic band that you need to hear and see and support.

Here's the thing. Shirts aren't cheap to order and, as I said, I have no idea if any of my "fans" would even be interested in something like this. So here's what I'm looking for. I need to know if any of yo would buy these if I offered them.

How much? Well,I need to charge $14-15 just to make any money on them. But I could give discounts for purchases of multiples, or "buy a CD and get a shirt for half-price" kinds of things.
And I ca definitely get "get lots of friends to buy my CD and get a shirt for free" deals.

Oh, and I can get kid/baby sizes as well as grown-up sizes.

Soooo, thoughts? If enough people respond postively, I'll get these going in the next month, in time for the spring weather. We all know that erbody love juicebox, but I'm trying to find out if erbody love juicebox t-shirts.

Shameless.

2009-12-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

Wanna hear me show off my jingle-writing chops? Wanna see cute pics of my kids? how about a look at the ukulele that my in-laws got me for Christmas? All that and more (well, there's actually not much more, that's pretty much it) if you watch the video below:

Christmas thoughts

2009-12-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

With only a few hours until it's actually here, I thought I'd share a bit about the holy day. The holiday.

I’ve been thinking a lot about all the beautiful paradoxes and surprises that you find in the Christmas story. They’re really the same kinds of paradoxes and surprises that you find throughout the life – and death – of Jesus. The parents who hadn’t enough influence or charisma to find a hotel for the night gave birth to the baby king who would someday have, still, no place to lay his head. The child whose birth illuminated a star for faraway travelers would grow to become a man whose death would blot out the sun for an afternoon. The infant whose first visitors were shepherds without sheep would one day look upon the uncertain masses among him and see them as sheep without a shepherd. The star-worshiping priests of a false religion, led by the Spirit to usher in His birth, would be replaced by Jehovah-worshiping priests of a true religion, led by Satan to usher in His death.

I suppose the list could go on and on, and if it did, we’d only grow increasingly more confused and perplexed and enchanted by it all.

It’s all so beautiful and mysterious, and – if we’re honest – not at all what it “ought” to have been. Not at all what we thought it would be.

No one anticipated (or wanted) a king born in a barn on a cold and lonely night. Nor did anyone anticipate (or want) a king who offered both sides of his face to be slapped, both hands to be nailed, both shoulders to bear the weight of a trillion criminals, and doing so with criminals at both his sides (two spots that Zebedee’s wife had once requested for her sons; no doubt she would’ve changed her mind on that day).

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The point I want to make could be made at any point in the story of Jesus, and perhaps in the stories of any of His followers throughout history. It is simply this: His Kingdom is not of this world.

Said another way: there are lots and lots of kingdoms in this world, and Jesus doesn’t belong to or submit to or care much for any of them.

It’s not that He’s a superior-acting snob or even a revolutionary. He is, by His nature, Superior. He is, by His essence, Revolution. In every way He is higher and greater and set apart. He is Other. For Him to stop pursuing His business to take interest in our kingdoms would be like a firefighter who stops racing toward a burning hospital to settle a quarrel between two ants fighting over a potato chip. His thing is just infinitely more important than ours. Infinitely.

He is simply too great for our understanding. And that’s why so much of what He does makes no sense to us. That’s why we God-following humans spend so much time trying to over-explain Bible passages that don’t make sense to us. “Oh, it doesn’t really mean that.” “That would’ve been completely different had you read it in Greek.” “He’s not talking about the same thing in that passage that He was talking about in that other passage.” Fire doesn’t mean fire and all doesn’t mean all and He doesn’t change His mind even though He just did.

Etc.

And on and on we go trying to make sure He stays within our doctrinal understanding of Him, because of course we’ve already decided what He will and will not do. Our poor God is in a theological judo hold, unable to ever do anything that we haven’t pre-destined Him to do.

Don’t hear me saying context isn’t important. Quite the opposite. I’m actually saying that context is everything, and that our context is so small and narrow that we may never – this side of Heaven, at least – comprehend His context.

And even as we try to understand His context, we’re also busy inserting Him into ours. Only He doesn’t really fit into our context. At least not in the way that makes sense to us. Sure, He fits if we’re okay with a baby born in a smelly barn. He fits if we’re thrilled with him scaring off a good crowd of followers with talk of cannibalism. He fits if we like cryptic, down-home parables for the lower class and insulting, crystal-clear metaphors for the upper class.

And of course now I’ve gotten far away from the Christmas story, haven’t I? I’ll go ahead and tie this thing up, lest I lose all 3 of you.

I was just trying to say that I think the Christmas story is alive to me again this year. It’s alive to me because I love how unexpected and surprising it all was. And in that way – if in no other way – our crazy, over-commercialized gift-exchanging is sort of appropriate. Presents, wrapped up and secret, under the tree, waiting to be opened. We all love a good surprise. We all love a gift that changes everything. Even when it isn’t what it “ought” to have been. Even when it isn’t what we thought it would be.

Merry Christmas, world. Happy Birthday, Jesus.

thoughts?

2009-12-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

I did my best to make that pic cool and interesting, but instead it just came out creepy and odd and well, a little unsettling. Probably not the best way to market my kids' record, right? Funny you mentioned it, because that's the point of this post. Read on...

OK, some of you pre-order-ers may have already gotten the CD, and I know that it's been downloaded some as well. And many of you will get them tomorrow and Tuesday. So let's start getting some reviews. Here's all that I ask. If you like the CD, tell people about it!

Again, the Ross King World Tour Promotion Machine is kind of tiny and sad and pathetic, so I need your help to get the word out.

Here's what you can do. If you use twitter or facebook or myspace or if you blog or whatever, just go on the world wide internets and say "hey, I just got this new kids' CD and it's very, extremely (insert your own verbiage here) and you should go get it too." then you can link to iTunes or Amazon or my website or whatev (I've been hanging out with college students a lot, and they say stuff like "whatev.")

Of course if you don't like the CD very much, I suppose you could tell a bunch of people not to buy it, but that's just cruel. I mean, at least play it for some 5-year-olds and see if they like it before you make a judgment.

Anyway, I'd love to hear feedback from anyone who's got the record, and I'd very much appreciate your free PR help. Hey, I'm more than willing to come do a house concert for anybody who sells some of my music.

Thanks everyone. I hope to have a couple of other fun things up before Christmas. But either way, have a great holiday.

I leave you with a second attempt:

There. Is that better? No? Seriously, I need help here.

Drop.

2009-12-18T06:54:00.000-08:00

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/words-that-rhyme-with-orange/id345953572

go get it!

Check your mailboxes tomorrow and Monday if you pre-ordered!

New Christmas song, etc

2009-12-16T10:40:00.000-08:00

Three things of import!

First, it’s my awesomely hot wife’s birthday today, so if you haven’t already told her happy birthday, do so now on her blog or, if you’re her “friend,” tell her on facebook. Or, and this is really crazy, call her on the telephone. I know, I know. Who uses telephones anymore?

Well, I do, but only to shoot videos. But I’m getting ahead of myself. More on that in a sec.

Secondly, I have confirmed that the CD will be delivered to my home/office – and available for download – on Friday. Expect to be barraged with info on my various networking sites. And hey, if you want your pal Ross to sell tons of records, get on the aforementioned facebook and tell all your friends to be a “fan.” And if you’re not a “fan” yet, that’s just sad.

Thirdly and finally, here’s something I’ve been working on. Lots of folks have been asking me about my “regular” songwriting career. You know, the songs for grown-ups that I used to write. Well, as I’ve said a few times lately, I am diligently working on those kinds of tunes for a new record that I will hopefully record in, I don’t know, 6-7 months and maybe have out late in the summer. I’m just guessing here, but that’s my plan at this point.

Anyway, in the meantime, I’m going to try to be better about sharing new songs as I work on them. I like the idea of my closest fans/friends/supporters being in on the creative process. It’s a little scary to show things to the world before they are completely done, but I’ve been writing songs – and being critiqued as I do so – for over 15 years now, so I think I can handle it.

Having said that, I’m not totally sure this is the “final” draft of the song, in terms of writing. There are aspects of it that I’m not sure I love yet. It’s not really a song about anything specific (I mean, other than the Christmas story), and that’s not my usual way.

Whatever, I’ll let you be the judge.

Other thoughts, as you listen: I’ve been fascinated for a while with 3 distinct aspects of the Christmas story. In no particular order, they are angelic encounters, massive cultural change, and “favor.” I’ll explain.

Angels encountering humans:
In the Christmas story, there are several angelic encounters. And it seems like every time the angels appear, they have to assure the humans who are seeing them that there’s no need to fear. I think that’s interesting. Are angels scary? They’re never scary in Christmas plays, cartoons, Christian bookstores, or TV shows? I don’t know. It’s just interesting. Some of you may have heard another Christmas song that I wrote called “Song of Gabriel.” I used to have it for free up on my site. Anyway, that song is pretty much centered around the idea that angels are scary beings with weird jobs. I’ll record it formally someday and you can hear it.

Massive cultural change:
This one is simple, but it’s something that I don’t know that I ever thought much about until recently. When Jesus arrived on the scene – as a baby born in a barn, no less – people must’ve had a terribly hard time believing that this was the promised messiah. A messiah coming changed everything about their world and their view of life. Moreover, a messiah born as a baby in a barn changed things further, because it wasn’t at all what most people expected. I won’t go into this too much, because there are countless sermons and books (and probably songs) that cover it in depth. But I just think it’s cool, and I sort of wish I could understand what it felt like to be there in that world at that time. I wonder if I would’ve believed it.

Favor:
The angel tells Mary that she’s “highly favored.” The scriptures then tell us that she was very troubled by that message. Isn’t that strange? Mary was told that she had high favor from the Almighty God, and it troubles her. Boy, I wish I had some context for that one. But then you jump ahead 9 months or so, and she’s shivering in a barn with her carpenter husband, squeezing out a baby with sheep manure filling her nostrils. You have to wonder if she thought, “favor, huh?” I mean, I’m not doubting Mary’s faith or her tenacity or any such nonsense. Don’t worry. Again, it’s just interesting.

OK, anyway, that’s enough set up. Go watch/listen. Here’s the tech talk, if you care. I recorded the video on my iPhone. I recorded the acoustic and vocal at the same time with my Edirol handheld recorder. And I added the production with Ableton Live. The production isn’t anything fancy. Just some stuff to make it sound more interesting. Oh, and I didn't edit any of the singing, so beware of pitchy notes here and there.

If you have thoughts, feel free to share. But I warned you that it may not be finished yet. I’m being vulnerable here, so don’t beat up on me too hard.

More new CD info coming as I get it!

Fans of my face: Unite!!!

2009-12-13T22:20:00.000-08:00

OK, at the urging of my good friend and pseudo-publicist Andrew, I now have a "fan page" on facebook. I know, I know. But seriously, this is how REAL musicians sell records, so I figure I have to do it.

So, what are you waiting for? Go inflate my ego.

Also, it helps me pay the bills.

But mainly it's good for the ego.

2 mo day

2009-12-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

If you haven't already pre-ordered the new CD, hurry hurry! Sometime Monday afternoon I'll be pulling the plug on the pre-order option. After Monday, you'll have to wait until the 18th to get your grubby little paws on it. That's when it will be available at iTunes and Amazon, etc, and that's when I'll be mailing all the CD's out. So go get one (or 20) for $9 while you still can.

thanks! More updates throughout the next week.

He likes it!

2009-12-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

My good friend Todd Wright has posted reviews on his ubiquitous vlog and on his not-as-ubiquitous-as-it-once-was-before-twitter blog. But he hasn't posted anything on his schlog or his phlob or goobletyglob. Sorry, I just had to do that because I felt so silly using all those words that were only invented in the last week or whatever.

Anyway, go hear what Todd thinks of the record. He's my pal, so I'm sure he would've had a hard time saying "this record is depressingly bad and makes me want to smash my nose with a caveman's mallet," but it as far as I can tell, he likes it. Todd is a fantastic musician and songwriter in his own right, so he's got some street cred. He seems like he's being pretty honest about my record, and I know him well enough that I can tell he ain't working too hard to sell it for me.

So if you're curious to get a song-by-song evaluation of the record, go here and here. And while you're at either of thos places, get to know Todd and his extremely loyal group of internet pals.

Oh, and buy Todd's music.

The continuing saga of self-promotion

2009-12-07T21:01:00.001-08:00

OK kids, I've got 3 pieces of news fo ya.

First, I've switched out the songs one last time on the myspace player. Two more songs, plus I've uploaded the actual mastered versions of some of the tunes that you've already heard. Basically, they'll just sound louder and cleaner than they did before. This will probably be the last time I'll mess with myspace for awhile, so you can quit going there if that's been difficult for you. I've heard from several of you who feel as if you need to shower after spending time in my space or in anyone else's space.

Anyway, with these new songs up, it means that if you've been following along, you've had a chance hear most of the record. Lik 9-10 songs I think. There are 13 total, so that's definitely more than half. Basically this means that, if you still aren't convinced to buy it after hearing all those songs, the record stinks. Or you have terrible taste in music. I sure hope that neither of those things are true but I mean, what else am I to conclude?

But you know what? This isn't the kind of negative talk that we champion here at RKWT. Let's not dwell on how stinky my record might be or how knuckleheaded your artistic sensibilities probably are. Let's move on from that. In fact, let's move right over here and give these tunes a listen. Go listen and let the magical whimsy overcome you. Or whatever. Then go buy it. Or if you've already bought it, go buy a few more and give them to friends who have forgotten how to smile. I think this record is a cure for all chronic frowny-faced grumpertons.

OK, second thing. I will officially shut down the pre-order deal one week from today. I anticipate that the record will "drop" (as they say in the music biz, which I am totally a part of even if you think I'm just pretending) on Dec 17 or 18. Both the "real CD's" and the downloads should be ready by then. So I will cut off the pre-orders a few days prior to that, on Mondy Dec 14. That's your warning. One week from now, no more pre-orders, and no more super-cheap pre-order prices.

Thirdly, we're trying out some stuff with the rosskingmusic site, so be patient as it goes thru some random changes over the next several days. I hope to have it all worked out by the time the CD comes out, but the Ross King World Tour and Music Producing Machine is kind of a mom-and-pop deal, so sometimes things are a little messy.

That's all for now. I will probably post almost daily from now until the release, so my apologies if you're already sick of hearing from me.

Me on TV

2009-12-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

So a couple of days ago, Staci and I decided to take the kids to this new locally-owned yogurt shop here in town. Everybody's been making a big deal about it, and it's basically ice cream that lets you pretend you're not a gluttonous double-wide lardo, so of course we thought we should check it out.

Well, we get there, and there's this news camera guy there shooting video of everybody loading up on yogurt. This particular establishment is self-serve. You choose your flavor and then you add toppings. The topping selection is overwhelming in that way that Toys-R-Us is overwhelming to a toddler on a sugar high. They have sprinkles and chocolate chips and all the normal stuff, plus really ridiculous stuff like cheesecake chunks and brownie bits and -- I'm not making this up -- sweetened condensed milk in one of those hotdog-mustard style squeeze dispensers.

Let me just say this as frankly as I can. Sweetened condensed milk is the elixir of the gods. It is ambrosia flowing like a waterfall down a candy mountain in Narnia. It is the stuff of dreams. I suspect that it is made from Entwash and Unicorn milk, hand-stirred by hobbits who have passed thru the Grey Havens and entered into Hobbit Glory. When it touches your lips, it brings a pleasure so immeasurably decadent, you feel the need to repent and cover your nethers with fig leaves, for certainly you have tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and now you must surely die.

Only you don't die. You live on. Cuz it's just sweetened condensed milk, and ain't nuthin' wrong with drinking it! Live on to run your finger around the rim of that can until it's shiny as a new quarter. Live on!

So they have that stuff out for you to put on your yogurt, just in case you were afraid that eating yogurt was somehow robbing you of the chance to consume butterfat.

Anyway, the news was there filming, and I hate being on TV. Most people find this odd. First, it's odd because, as we know from watching Cops and The Today Show and all of reality television, Americans love being on TV. It's part of who we are as a culture, like our love of ranch dressing and our excellent public education system. Americans will do what they gots to do to get on the TV. So it's odd that I, fine American that I am, don't want to be on TV.

It's also odd because (tangent coming!) about a year ago, I came very close to being on national TV. I've wanted to tell this story for awhile, and I've even promised to tell it once or twice, but I've always chickened out when it came time to post something. There are some legal issues at play (contracts and such).

Anyway, I still won't tell it (contracts may still apply, and I’m too scared to find out), but I will say that due to some extremely strange occurrences, I got asked to try out for a reality TV show last year. Man, I really want to tell this story. It's easily as ridiculous -- and every bit as true -- as this and this. But in the end, it turns out kind of like this. Other than getting to play a couple of my songs in front of the creepiest musician-turned-TV-star ever, it wasn't all that life-changing.

Anyway, in that situation, I only submitted myself to the possibility of national TV because it was a chance to play music for the world, and because (I am not making this up, either) they called me on my home phone and asked me to do it. As a general rule, when a major network casting agent calls your home and asks if you want to be on TV, you at least consider it. So I did. Long story. Someday maybe I'll tell it and just risk getting sued.

In the meantime, ask around and get one of my friends to tell it to you. Or ask me about it next time you see me at a house concert.

But listen, even in that situation, the prospect of being on TV was so scary to me that, in the 3 weeks leading up to it, I lost 15 lbs. I was too nervous to eat. These cameras add 10 lbs! That's what they say, and I am too pudgy to risk not believing them.

So back to the story I'm actually telling (not the one I'm not telling but only giving hints about). There I was about to maybe be on TV, and not only did I not have 3 weeks to lose 15 lbs by being extremely vain and unhealthy, but I was maybe going to be on TV for serving myself dessert!

If you’re just joining us (or if you’ve been skipping paragraphs hoping to get to the point), I’m just trying to stress the fact that I don’t like being on TV. And here was this news guy filming people loading up their self-serve yogurt buckets like pigs at the slop trough. No thanks.

But I really wanted that yogurt. And that sweetened condensed milk. And my kids would’ve cried if we’d left without getting anything. They had already spotted those rainbow sprinkles that taste like candle wax, and they weren’t leaving until they got some.

So we stayed. We got our yogurt on. And I avoided that camera. It was kind of amazing, really. The yogurt shop ain’t that big, but I somehow managed to stealth around that place, invisible as a miniature ninja on a moonless night. I’m not even sure that anyone could prove I was there. I mean, other than an empty squeeze bottle of condensed milk, I left no trace of my presence.

But I had 4 people with me, and they are all beautiful and extremely camera-worthy. So I’m busted.

Go here, watch the video, and see if you can spot me. I was wearing a cap, a brown jacket, and a hoodie. For a ninja trying to not be on TV, I was looking kinda bing-bang-boomtastic. It's a curse, really, to be so effortlessly fashionable. But you won’t see anything but an occasional glimpse of me in the background.

You'll definitely spot my hot wife, who looks insanely hot even when she's carrying an infant and trying to put sprinkles on yogurt.

Wait for the shot at the end of Jude, my 3-year-old, making the place look funner than DisneyWorld.

Now, if DisneyWorld ever starts having self-serve sweetened condensed milk on the Space Mountain ride...

More music in my personal space

2009-12-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

I've switched out some of the tunes on the myspace player. Go hear two new songs from the record. I'll change out one or two more in a few days.

Also, I'm trying to think of ways to get reviews for the record. Does anyone know of any high-traffic blogs or kid-focused websites or music websites that might want to review this thing? I'll give a free CD to anyone who can hook me up with such things.

Finally, I'm working on some fun video stuff to promote the record. Think low-budget, very amateur, homemade music videos shot on cheap cameras. I mean, those are the best right? It's all taking longer than I'd hoped because me and the wife are both fighting thru a nasty cold. My voice is pretty much gone. And of course being sick affects my dance moves, which will of course be on full display for any videos.

Prepare for blessed awkwardness, coming asap.

Thanks!

Purchasing has begun!

2009-12-01T14:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all you extremely trusting folks who have preordered. Both of you are very kind.

No, seriously, thanks. I won't say how many people have pre-ordered because I'm not a bragadocious boastful braggart. But if I was, I'd be seriously bragging about how many copies I've sold. Like a whole bunch.

OK, now that we've covered me not bragging about the truckload of CD's I've already sold because I'm awesome, let's talk about a little bit about me.

I kid, I kid.

Do the people who come to this blog know that I am, at times, a little bit sarcastic? Goodness I hope so.

But now I'm really being serious. Two things: first, I am going to be switching out the songs on the myspace player over the next few days. I want to give people a chance to hear almost everything on the record. So if you have been directing people to go there and hear certain songs, you better warn 'em that I'm changing out the songs later tonight. But I will be replacing them with more songs from the record that nobody has heard yet, so that's the upside. It's like musical chairs, only without the chairs, which are really the worst part of that humiliating, Darwinian game.

Second thing is this. Some of you have asked me when I'm going to do another project of my "normal" music. Like this one or this one. Well, don't worry. I don't have any plans to become Nickelodeon's new high-paid music star (though I'm open to it as a side job). I'm still diligently writing music about Jesus for grown-ups. I won't make promises about how soon I'll do another record (if you haven't noticed, I'm not so good at predicting these things). But I will say that I am already writing for a new record and I'm eager to get back in the studio with an actual band (as opposed to the way I did the kids' record, which was mainly me and a keyboard and some tamborines), and I'm eager to talk about deeper stuff than boogers and juiceboxes and monkeys that know karate.

Wait, maybe not. That actually sounds pretty awesome.

In the meantime, I would still love to plan some house concerts for the spring if anyone is interested. I can do kid shows, grown-up shows, or a mixture. If you have questions or thoughts, comment here or email me (ross@rosskingmusic.com).

Anyway, that's all for now. Be watching for more announcements and such as the release date draws closer.

Oh, and if any of you are into the twitter, I'm doing that now, though I'm not sure why.

More.

2009-11-28T12:33:00.000-08:00

Still haven’t pre-ordered the new CD? Need more incentive? Not sure if the thing is going to be any good? Well, I’ve uploaded 2 more songs to the myspace page. Go check ‘em out. And after you get done dancing around the room with a huge grin on yo’ face, go here and order a big pile of 'em before you have to pay regular place like all the common folk.

Lend me your ears!

2009-11-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

Remember myspace? Me neither. Well, apparently it was the cool thing before facebook, which was the cool thing before twitter. But that was before we all just got video cameras embedded in our underwear and psychic microchips implanted into our skulls and the world lost all sense of privacy and discretion, but at least we were always up to date on current events and funny quips from John Mayer and Sarah Palin.

No seriously, remember myspace? Seriously, me neither.

No, SERIOUSLY. I'm being serious this time. Some of you have asked to hear some clips of the songs on the new record. I'm going to have some up on the website by the end of the week, but in the meantime, I've posted some songs on myspace. It was weird. I hadn't signed in to my page in like 6 months or something. I felt dirty for some reason. Poor myspace. So judged.

Aaaaaaanyway... go here and listen if you want to get a sense of what you're buying before you pre-order. And remember, you save $3 if you order before the release, which wil be in about 15-20 days.

Orange you ready to hear it?

2009-11-23T21:52:00.000-08:00

Come on, you had to know I was going to go there with the jokes.

But seriously.

If, like me, you believe the children are our future, go here now and pre-order.

Pre-announcing the pre-order in advance

2009-11-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

OK, the CD is being mastered this week, and we expect for it to "drop" around Dec 15 or 16. But, we will begin taking pre-orders at http://www.rosskingmusic.com/ within the next couple of days. I'll let you know here and on facebook, etc.

If you pre-order the CD, I will guarantee that it will get to you by Christmas. And, pre-orders wil be $9, no shipping cost, for an actual hard copy of the CD. Once the CD is out, it will be $10, and mail orders will include a shipping charge of (probably) $2, so you're saving $3 if you pre-order. Also, since there are 13 songs on the record, it will probably cost more than that on iTunes and in other download spots (they usually charge 99 cents per song). So this is a deal you don't want to miss.

By the way, this is (basically) what the CD will look like:

The left side is the back. The right side is the front. Fun, huh?

So, who wants to buy some cheap, hilarious, educational, and family-friendly music for Christmas gifts? Check back tomorrow bring yo money!

extremely awesome pictures of my face and body

2009-11-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

That headline was misleading. The pics I'm referring to are extremely awesome. My face and body are not.

Go see for yourself. Here's a link to the blog of Tim and Kristen Douglass, the very creative and gifted folks who took my pictures for the new record. The current post is about the photo shoot that we did. Listen, I hate photo shoots. The camera adds ten pounds, and I can't use jokes to distract people from my physical inadequacies, because pictures don't contain audio. Maybe someday, when we get the rocket cars and the pills that turn into turkey dinners that are served to us by robot maids. Until then, I have to count on great photographers to make photo shoots bearable. Tim and Kristen pulled it off. I actually had fun. So go check out the cool pics and commentary on their cool blog, and maybe peruse their site as well.

Various and sundry

2009-11-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

First, we just sent the kids' project to be mastered. That means I'm done working on it. It also means that, God willing, it will be out in 2-3 weeks. Weird. It only took a year.

I'll be posting something about pre-orders within the next week or so, hopefully. I'm going to make the record sigificantly cheaper for people who order early, so be on the lookout for that.

Second, I need promotional ideas. Who has thoughts on cheap ways to tell as many people as possible about this? I'm not all that savvy with the twitter and the facebook. And I don't think anyone is uing the myspace these days. Anyone? Thoughts? Brilliance? Good ideas will get you free copies.

And speaking of free copies, my recent contest had the worst turnout in RKWT contest history. I guess people don't think Nickelback is as bad as I do. Well, that's just a really sad statement about our culture, but whatev. At any rate, my old pal and former bandmate Alex Burdine was the clear winner, so he gets the prize. Alex, send me your address and I'll get you a copy asap.

Next, there will be a new look at http://www.rosskingmusic.com/ very soon, like this month. No, I'm serious. I have to do it now. Since I have the new record coming out, it means I can no longer have a website that says "under construction." Musicians with "under construction" websites don't sell records. I'm no marketing genius, but I know that much. So you can expect to be slammed with "new website!" posts and emails and tweets and such fairly soon. I'll be trying to get folks to go see it.

Here's a pic that I'll probably use on the site:

I have lots of jobs and passions and hobbies and such, so I thought it would be appropriate. Get it?

Finally, I'd like to start talking about concerts to promote the new record (but also to play my other songs as well, of course). So if anyone would like to talk house shows (or non-house shows) please let me know.

That's all for now.

I want my nickel back, nickel back, nickel back.

2009-11-07T16:10:00.001-08:00

While my kids’ record is being mixed, I’m spending the weekend at a conference in L.A. The conference is for Taxi, an independent A&R organization that I’m in. Remember when I sent out those free instrumentals and told you guys to look for them on TV, etc? That was a connection I made with these folks.

It’s been an interesting experience for me, being here. There are about 2500 musicians at the conference: songwriters, producers, singers; pretty much every genre you can imagine is represented. In addition to that, there are lots and lots of “important” industry people here. Well-known songwriters, publishers, record label execs, that kind of thing.

The point of the conference, as far as I can tell, is sort of two-fold. First, we’re here to attend all kinds of seminar classes and informational panels and keynote speakers and such. Those have been pretty good. Classes about what music supervisors are looking for when they are trying to find music for TV shows, movies, commercials, etc. Classes about how to make great sounding recordings without spending lots of money. Classes about how to market your own music cheaply and effectively. Etc, etc.

Second, we're here to network and schmooze and hand out business cards and CD's and such. That part of it is pretty much a nightmare to guy like me, but I'm trying to be teachable and jsut go for it. There's a weird tension in trying to promote yourself while also fully embracing the Gospel. I won't go into all that here. You guys know that I'm always asking silly questions like that and taking all the fun out of stuff.

Anyway...

Right now, I’m in a huge room (The Grand Ballroom!) listening to a panel of big-time record label A&R reps who are critiquing music that is being played for everyone in the room. Basically, conference attendees can put their music in a big box and hope that it will be chosen, at random, to be played. If chosen, their song is played for maybe 45-60 seconds, and then the panel will critique it in front of everyone. If this sounds brutal, it is. I’m sitting here thinking of how thankful I am that I didn’t put anything in that box.

The conference as a whole has been excellent, but this last hour or so hasn’t been too good.

However, here’s something I just couldn’t resist telling you. A few minutes ago, they chose a rock song to play. The song wasn’t bad, but the singer was pretty great, at least within the rock genre. It was that typical gritty rock singer sound, and the singer did a great job with it. But here’s the fun part. One of the panelists is pretty involved in the pop/rock genre and, when asked what he thought of the song, he said this:“It’s not bad, but this kind of song has to pass The Nickelback Test.”

He then proceeded to tell us about this test. I don’t remember what he said, because every time I hear the word Nickelback, and it isn’t followed by phrases like “sucks toilet water” or “is terrible” or "makes me want me to stab my own ears with meat thermometers," my brain shuts down and has to reboot.

After my brain rebooted, I was sort of curious to know more about this Nickelback Test. Could I pass it? Is it a written test? Essay or multiple choice? Would there be a word bank from which to choose answers? How smart and original would a singer/songwriter have to be before they were disqualified? Would there be any sort of physical or medical qualifiers? Maybe you have to have a bad perm-and-dye job to pass? Maybe it would be necessary to bludgeon the listeners in the ears over a 3 and a half minute period in order to pass The Nickelback Test.

I can’t answer any of these questions, because I didn’t hear the explanation of this elusive test.

So I’ve decided to run a quick contest. The winner of this contest will get the notoriety of being honored on this blog, as well a free copy of Words that Rhyme With Orange when it releases here in a few weeks.

Here’s the contest: Come up with a compelling, convincing theory about The Nickelback Test.The theory must answer questions such as these. What is it? What purpose does it serve? How does one pass it? What happens if one fails it? Does The Nickelback Test have an application fee? Maybe a dime or 6 dollars? If one passed The Nickelback Test 5 times, would that make them a Quarterback? If a band consisted of 5 pennywhistle players, could it be automatically absolved from taking the test? Stuff like this. I just need to know.

I'll take submissions for 3-4 days. Enter as often as you like!

Is this the end for me?

2009-11-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

It's funny, because as the whole kids' CD developed, I kept making jokes about how I was making a record of "booger songs." At the time, I honestly hadn't written any songs about boogers. That was just my way of joking about it. When I'm insecure about my career, I make jokes, OK? It's not something I'm proud of, but there it is.

Anyway, people started saying stuff like "I can't wait to hear those booger songs!" or "I really need my 5-year-old to hear this song because he eats his boogers" or "my husband wipes his boogers under the couch and I think he needs to see a therapist." I didn't know how to help with that last one, except to advise that husband to be a little more covert about it.

But all those comments got me thinking that maybe I really did need to have a booger song on the record. I mean, I know it's extremely immmature and low-brow and such, but that's exactly the kind of stuff that I find hilarious. Monkeys! People getting pummeled in the crotch! Boogers! That's comedy.

So I wrote something. And when it came time to record it, I decided to invite my old college roommates for the background vocals. I mean, one of them is the VP of a big bank, and the other works for ministry that reaches out to street kids and gangs. Neither one of them has ever sang in the studio or performed at all, really.

So of course they were perfect.

I had to make a video. It is below.

In other news, the CD is now being mixed. The artwork design is nearly done. This means the record is less than month away from release. Thanks for your patience.

More kid stuff

2009-10-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

OK, so I think I told you about a week ago that I was done tracking the kids’ CD. That was true, and then I wrote two more songs for it.

So I tracked one of those yesterday, and I’ll track the other one tomorrow. I’m very excited, because the one I tracked today allowed me to fulfill my lifelong dream of pretending to be a hip-hop artist. Many of you know that I dabbled in the hip-hop world way back when. As successful as that foray was, it was to be short-lived. Since that time, I have longed to return. But, since I’m still very white, and since I’m even less cool than I used to be, I knew I had to be careful. I needed some help from someone who could increase my hip-ness. It was one of those times when it pays to be an old guy who other people “grew up listening to.”

This guy is one of those people, and he had told me before that he’d be glad to help me if I ever needed it. Well, he’s more famous and more talented than I, and way better at sounding like he belongs on hip-hop songs, so I called him. The video below chronicles a tiny little bit of our session. You won’t get to hear the whole song. Only enough to show you how I am totally channeling Kanye, only without the congnac-inspired public jackassery.
Anyway, enjoy. The song is called “juicebox,” and you’ll hear it soon enough.

In other news, below are a couple of pics that we took for the new record.

Music about boogers for the glory of God

2009-10-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

“Going Secular”

That’s what we used to call it when a Christian artist all of a sudden appeared on mainstream radio (or even – gasp! – in a music video on MTV) with a song that didn’t mention Jesus, or maybe only talked about God in the vaguest of terms.

He’s going secular!

She went secular!

I think they’re trying to go secular!

It sounds ludicrous to me now, but at the time it seemed like juicy, scandalous news. It was sort of the ultimate sin in Christian entertainment (every time I say those two words together, I either giggle to myself or shudder a little).

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, this sort of thing was big news in the evangelical Christian community. And it was all really controversial and divisive, too, because you never knew where people were going to stand on it. Was “going secular” tantamount to denouncing one’s faith? Was it a divinely-inspired way of doing ministry to the world outside of the CCM culture? Or was it something in the middle? Something more organic and unintentional? Like, simply, a particular artist was making music that was so good that it suddenly demanded to be heard by people, regardless of faith or lyrical content?

I honestly don’t know. It was probably a case-by-case thing. I’m sure there were some folks who “went secular” because they stopped believing in Jesus (or at least stopped believing in Him in the same way). And I’m sure there were some who just got embraced by the “secular” world without even trying or changing a thing.

Personally, I’ve never cared for all those labels and divisions. I wish people could just make music and not try to pre-categorize so much. There’s a lot of really inspiring, God-pleasing music out there that never makes it onto the shelves of your local Christian retailer.

Where am I going with this?

There’s something sort of distinctive about my soon-to-be-released kids’ record, and that same something represents what seems to be happening in my career as a whole right now. So I figured now was a good a time as any to talk about it.

Confused? Gimme a little of your time and I’ll work it out for you.

Can you handle a little backstory? I really think this will help.

OK, so maybe 15 months ago, when I first started thinking about the possibility of doing a record strictly for kids, my first thought was that I would just write whatever came to my mind, with no regard for how overtly “spiritual” any of the songs needed to be. The thread that would hold the songs together would simply be “things I want my kids to sing and learn and enjoy.”

So the songs, as I started to write them, had the potential to end up being about obeying God; or they could be about eating boogers.

Hey, I want my kids to understand both of those basic principles. They’re not necessarily on equal ground or whatever, but you get the idea. I mean, if you raise up a little scripture-quoting, sin-overcoming saint who eats his boogers, that’s a fail in my book. Nothing ruins a witnessing opportunity like a booger snack.

Random Stranger: “I really appreciate you stopping on the side of the road in this heat to fix my two flat tires. Why would you do something like that?”

Your Super-Godly Kid: “Well, Jesus said He came to serve, not to be served, and I just want to live like Him, because He loves me and saved me.”

Random Stranger: “Wow, tell me more about this Jesus! I am really interes… Hey! What are you doing?!?”

Your Super-Godly Kid: “Nom-nom-nom…”

Random Stranger: “Are you eating your…?”

Your Super-Godly Kid: “Nom-nom-nom… gulp. What? Sorry, what was that you were saying?"

Random Stranger (running away now, deeply disturbed): “AAAAH!”

Your Super-Godly Kid: “Where are you going?”

Random Stranger: “I don’t care how nice or articulate you are! I don't want your Jesus, you booger-eating wacko!”

See what I’m saying? And that’s exactly how it would happen, too.

The point is that I wasn’t going to try too hard to write songs in certain categories. I just wanted to cover the whole gamut of kid topics. I’ve always approached writing from a very organic perspective. Out of the 300-400 songs I’ve written in my life, maybe 30-40 have been writing with a great deal of planning-ahead intentionality. Mostly I’ve just written things that seemed important or relevant or urgent. Jeremiah talks about a “fire shut up in my bones and I am weary of holding it in; indeed I cannot.” Like that.

Well, at the same time as all this was going on (in other words, over the last 9-12 months or so), I was starting to get more opportunities to write other not-overtly-Christian music. I won’t go into all the details or reasons, but I was being presented with good, money-making reasons to write everything from country to instrumentals to jingles. Being a person who just really enjoys being creative (and a person who loves changes and challenges and such), I got into all that. Some of it even paid some of my bills and got me some fairly significant “interest” from people who pay significant money for such things.

So suddenly I was writing all kinds of music – and having a great and fulfilling time doing it – and most of it wasn’t the kind of stuff that I would normally put on my CD projects.

There’s a whole other story I could tell here about how, sometimes when I’m alone in my thoughts, I kind of get a little self-pitying about the fact that I’ve been pouring my guts out for 15 years, writing music for Christians, and I’ve never had any real interest from the mainstream Christian music culture. Believe me, when people who don’t know Jesus start to value my talent more than people who do, it makes things weird.

But that’s not entirely relevant to this story, nor is it all that helpful. Maybe I can blog about it some other time. For now, I digress.

Well most of you know what happened with my instrumental work. I have been getting some affirming and financially viable interest in that field, which I’m really thankful for. Many of you also know that I’ve written a fair number of jingles and had varying levels of success in that field as well. And a few of you have heard some of my country tunes. Nothing big going on there at this point, but I have gotten some pretty great feedback from "industry" types as I've pursued that aspect of my art.

The point is that, with regard to the content of the kids’ songs, I found myself writing all kinds of stuff. And maybe 6 months into the process, I realized that I had a ton of music that I really liked, but only some of it was overtly “Jesus music.”

So I started thinking about the Gospel and relationships and how the world perceives Christians and evangelism and such.

And I came up with a plan. Here’s where I might lose some of you. I hope not, but I’m prepared for the possibility.

I’m going to do a different kind of kids’ CD than many of you might expect. Hopefully, I’ll end up doing two CD’s. That’s the plan right now. The first one is pretty much done. Many of you have heard a couple of the songs. We’re already well into the mixing stage. Artwork design is being finalized. If things go as planned, it will be out within 4 weeks or so. But this CD isn’t going to have much God-talk on it. In fact, to the casual listener, it will probably fit right in with this guy and this lady and these people. I have no idea if it’s as good as what those artists do, but it will cover some of the same kind of ground.

What I hope to do is to get this music into the hands and iPods and cars of people who would normally have no interest in my music. People who have no interest in the Gospel or Christianity or Jesus. People who would never let their kids listen to music that promotes what is, to them, “religious propaganda.” I’m not trying to trick anybody or whatever. I’m just trying to do something with my career that is rarely done by “Christian artists.” And that is, to get non-Christians to listen to it. Can you imagine? What a crazy idea!

If I can get people to listen to this CD, maybe I can build a little trust with them. Maybe you (if you are the person who tells them they should get it or buys it for them or whatever) can build a little trust with them.

“Hey, thanks for the tip on that music. My kids really like it, and I like it too. Does that guy have any other music?”

I have no idea if the CD is good enough to endear my art to people in that way, but I think my plan is worth a try. Like I said, I’ve actually been getting some of my best responses, as a writer and artist, from non-church goers lately. Go figure.

I’m not turning my back on any of you. Just letting you know that if I have a chance to share what I do with people who don’t know Jesus, I’m going to do it.

Something else. A few paragraphs ago, I said I’ll probably end up doing 2 CD’s. That’s actually my plan at this point. See, I still have a bunch of kid songs that are very much God-talk, and I want to show those to the world as well. But, if I can get people to listen to the first one – and hopefully, love it – then it will be much easier to convince them to listen to the second one.

That’s the theory, anyway.

Don't freak out about this strange plan. As far as I know, I'm not selling out or hiding my faith or any such nonsense. I'm simply trying to reach a wider, less religious audience with these songs, in the hopes that I (and those of you who buy it and share it) can build relationships with children and parents for the sake of the Gospel, and then share more songs (and more conversations and more life, etc) with them.

Maybe this doesn’t make sense to anyone but me and the few trusted folks who I’ve counseled with thru this process. But hopefully you can trust me that I have a big-picture, long-term plan for trying to share the Kingdom with parents and children who may or may not know (or even want to know) about Jesus.

I say all that to let you know that you can feel free to pass the CD (or select songs, or a link, or whatever) to co-workers and friends and family and whoever, whether they are interested in Christian music or not, and you don’t have to worry that people will think you're throwing religion at them. Unfortunately, that’s the way people think these days. Trust me, non-believers love it when we just give them stuff, without any sort of agenda other than to bless them. If you like the songs, let them be that kind of blessing to your friends.

I’m not trying to propose that we should stop doing overt, controversial things in order to reach the world. If you’ve ever listened to my lyrics, read my blog, or been to my church, you know that I’m okay with overt-ness and controversy. But maybe we can mix in a little of this kind of thing as well.

I’m open to thoughts and discussion on this. I’ve sought wise, trusted counsel, so I feel okay moving forward with this plan, but I really would like to hear from anyone who has thoughts, agreeable or not.

Oh, and two last things. To all of you who were eagerly anticipating a new CD to teach your kids Bible verses and such, I apologize. I really do think your kids (and you) will be pleased with this “going secular” CD. It’s fun and wholesome and I’m really proud of it. Again, if all goes well, the “Christian” one will be out fairly soon as well. I’ve written about 70% of the music already, and I actually even recorded a fair bit of stuff for it, back when I was planning to put all these songs on one CD. I don’t think it will take anywhere near as long as this one took. I’m thinking of actually paying some people to play on it rather than doing it all myself.

And to any of you who are wondering if I'm ever going to make any more "normal" CD's, I can only say that I absolutely plan to keep writing and recording thought-provoking, God-praising music for grown-ups.

I just have to get this crazy kid thing out of my system first.

In closing, I give you this reassurance: of all the genres to “go secular,” children’s music is probably the least scandalous. In fact, sometimes I’m more worried about Christian children’s music than I am about secular children's music. I mean, if we’re honest, which one of these guys is weirder?

It’s a tie, at best, right?

Worship thoughts Pt.3: Why "Corporate" Matters

2009-10-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

OK, sorry for the delay in getting to this. Busy busy.

I finally finished tracking the children’s record a couple of days ago. Keith is starting the mix, and hopefully we’ll be printing and releasing the sucker very soon. I’ll keep you posted.

Anyway, continuing on in my multi-part series on worship and worship leading (the other stuff I’ve written so far is here and here), today we’re going to talk about gathering together in a “corporate” (communal, group, lots-of-people-in-one-place, etc) context, and why the “corporate gathering” is important and unique in the realm of singing and God-worship.

This will probably be the least music-related of all my worship thoughts. Many of you know that I have very specific views on the Church. This will speak more to that than it will to music, specifically.

Let me be clear from the outset and say this. When I use the word “corporate,” I don’t have any particular size of form or method in mind. I am simply referring to the fact that it’s always been good and right for believers to get together and worship God, as a group, sharing the same time and space. I have opinions about “institutional church” (whatever that means) and “traditional church” (again, whatever that means), etc. But I’m not going to go into that here.

How do I know that corporate gatherings are good and right? Well, we sure have lots of scripture passages devoted to how to meet and live and be together. Aside from the rather famous passages like 1 Cor 12-14 and Romans 12, one could argue that aside from a handful of New Testament books, the entire New Testament was written to read to a large group. And by “large,” I just mean more than 2-3 folks.

And as for singing together, the word “sing” appears, as an instruction and/or command, more than any other word in the Bible. And –especially in the Psalms – you have loads and loads of text and subtext devoted to song leaders, music leaders, and worship leaders. If there are leaders, then the assumption would be that there are followers. And that adds up to a group.

So, I doubt anyone here has serious arguments against any of this basic doctrine of group-gathering-for-the-glory-of-God, but in case you do, post something in the comments or email me and we can hash that out. Despite how opinionated I sound, I really am willing to engage some disagreeing dialogue. Bring it on and maybe we'll all come out smarter.

For now, I’ll move on to the specific topic at hand. I’m a worship leader, rather than a Bible scholar or an ecclesiology expert, but today I’m going to attempt to speak outside of my normal wheelhouse a little.

Basically, here’s what I’d like to propose. Simply this: that the “just me and God” view of worship is, at best, incomplete and, at worst, a little dangerous. And because that view is inadequate, the best thing for Jesus followers to do is to continue to meet together – often and with intentionality – for worship of the Lord (which includes singing) as one body.

Make sense? I'll explain a little further, just in case.

At various times in the early years of my spiritual journey, I heard two principles over and over again.

The first was usually posed as a rather loaded question, and it went something like this:

“If you were alone on a deserted island, and all you had was your relationship with Jesus, would that be enough?”

Sometimes it was the same question, only all you had was your Bible on the deserted island.

When asked this question, you were supposed to be able to say yes. And so of course any time you felt like you weren’t at a place where you could say yes to this question, you were supposed to feel sufficiently guilty/convicted, and said guilt/conviction was supposed to compel you do some stuff that would get you to a place where you could say yes.

Let me give you some free advice before I dive into this. If anyone ever poses a question to you that is supposed to be a litmus test for your spiritual legitimacy, make sure that question has nothing to do with a deserted island. In fact, make sure it has to do with something that is actually practical and real and applicable to life. Why? Well, I have never known anyone who has ever spent significant time on a deserted island, and I would venture to guess that most of you haven’t either. And I don’t anticipate that I, or anyone else that I know, will ever spend time alone on a deserted island. If I did think this possibility was in my future, honestly, I would probably be worrying a lot more about how to make an ocean-worthy raft out of bamboo or how to start a fire with my bare hands or how to survive consuming only palm fronds and saltwater.

I’m not at all ashamed to say that the possibility of being on a deserted island compels me to learn how to be Bear Grylls more than it does to memorize Bible verses or meditate on Jesus with more intensity. Perhaps this makes me a bad Christian. If the point of being on a deserted island is to die and go very quickly from the island to heaven, then I suppose I get the logic. Otherwise…

The point I’m trying to make is that the proposition of spending life in some sort of societal vacuum is sort of ridiculous and inconceivable. It’s certainly unlikely and impractical. So why were people always asking me if I loved Jesus enough to pull it off?

I don’t really know the answer. I think it probably had something to do with the fear that all of us were simply claiming Jesus as our Savior out of some kind of peer pressure or family tradition. I understand that fear. But – and here’s a little more free advice – if I were you, I’d always be a little wary of developing a spiritual ethic around fear of what people might do. Legalism is nearly always the only fruit that that seed will bear. And in this case, I think that fear drove some folks to over-individualize the idea of conversion and sanctification.

All I’m trying to say is that the "deserted island" question – and the answer it was meant to provoke – serves to pull us toward a conclusion that has little value in the life that most of the world lives or will live or should live. Are we going to have times of solitude, some voluntary and some not, in our lives? Absolutely. Can those times be good and growth-intensive periods for us? Definitely. Will we need to have certain spiritual strengths in order to persevere thru those times? Yes. But “just me and God” is certainly not a picture of the primary way that we are to relate to and grow with God thru the course of our lives.

And I would argue that it’s not the primary way we are to express ourselves in worship either. Some of you will disagree with me on that point, and that’s okay.

Before I move on, let me quickly address the second principle that I repeatedly encountered as a young believer.

It went like this:
“If you were the only one who would ever get saved, Jesus would have still died on the cross, just for you, to get you into heaven.”

I promise I’m not trying to be controversial here, but this is, strictly speaking, not a biblical idea. Sorry. Is it absolutely wrong or heretical? I don’t think so. But it’s just not biblically supportable. Yes, Jesus died and rose again to save sinners. But just as important (if not more so) is the fact that Jesus died and rose again to establish His Church and to empower His Kingdom.

The simple fact is that the Bible never says anything like “if it was only you, He still would’ve endured the cross.” That idea can be inferred from scripture, but it’s not a clearly expressed idea in the text.

I don’t know for a fact that He wouldn’t have died to save just one person. And I’m not even saying that it’s a bad philosophical proposition. I’m just saying that we don’t know it to be true. And worse, there’s really not a lot of reason to tell people that. Again, I understand why people went around saying it. I suppose they wanted us all to know that we were specifically known and loved – as individuals – by the Lord God. I agree with that, and the Bible agrees as well. After all, we were knit together in out mothers’ wombs and fearfully made and such.

But the downside to that way of thinking is that it further drives us – like the earlier principle – into a view of our faith as some sort of purely (or at least primarily) individualized endeavor. And that’s just not the case.

You see, we were meant to see ourselves as a collective, “Chosen People.” As a royal priesthood, a holy nation, etc. I am not The Body of Christ in the world. We are. I am not the Bride of the coming Jesus. We are.

We were meant to need each other. We are actually made to need each other. Many of you have heard this before, but in the early part of Genesis, everything that God did was followed with “and it was good” or “and it was very good.” The first “not good” moment was when the Lord looked at Adam and said “it’s not good for a man to be alone.”

And that’s been true ever since. What was Jesus’ prayer in the garden before His crucifixion (John 17)? “… that they [we] be perfectly one,” as He and the Father were one. And what did Jesus, in that same prayer, say would be the most legitimizing factor of Jesus as Messiah and King? Our love for each other.

So, why does “corporate” matter? It matters because when we meet together, we are drawing upon an aspect of our relationship with the Lord that cannot be accessed without the Body. It matters because it gives us a chance to love each other and serve each other and give each other money and put others before ourselves. It matters because, when we sing together, we are saying that we all agree about who God is and who we are. It matters because it forces us to sing along even when the style of music isn’t our favorite. It matters because it challenges us to use our hands and bodies and voices in ways that aren’t the most comfortable to us.

This leads me to my final point. When we all get together to worship, it’s okay if some people stand and some people sit and some people raise hands and some people dance and some people don’t do anything. That’s okay. But it’s not the way it should always be, all the time. Sometimes we should just all do the same thing, as a way of saying “this isn’t about me, this is about us.”

And our level of expression before the Lord shouldn’t always be rooted in what is “comfortable” or “natural” to each of us. Sometimes we should do the exact opposite of what is “natural” simply because the Kingdom of God is a place where first things are last and humble things are exalted. Sometimes we should resist our urges to be “who we are,” simply because you are not your own.

We should always always always be open to the Lord calling us out of our comfort zones, privately and publicly. If you say “well, I will never lift my hands in worship because that’s just not my way,” you’re in trouble. I don’t know any other way to say it. Be careful with that kind of talk. It has no place in the Kingdom. Other than outright sins, Jesus followers aren’t allowed to have “I will never” in their vocabulary.

And that is what is so dangerous about the “just me and God” mentality. It insulates us from the differences between us and other Christ followers. We need to be around other people to remind us that the Body of Christ is made up of many parts, and all the parts need each other. We need to be around other people to see them dancing while we are standing still; to see them sitting in sober silence with their eyes closed when we are singing at the top or our lungs.

When we worship together, we do something emotional and vulnerable together. When does that happen in life? We need that. It shapes us and molds us and reminds us that other people are just as important as we are. And that they are just as messed up as we are. And if we’re open and willing, it reveals to us more of God’s power and Kingdom thru His people.

So, it’s absolutely okay for you and me to sit alone in our closets and worship in isolation with the Lord. In many ways, that taps into a hugely valuable (maybe even essential) aspect of our relationship with God and His Spirit. But if that’s the only way – or even the primary way – that we relate to God, we are missing out on the fullness of what He has for us in worship.

And if you’re a worship leader, this overarching view of the Kingdom -- and the gathering church -- is key to doing your “job” well. Singing together matters. Lifting our hands together matters. Giving our money together matters. Praying together matters. Agreeing together matters. Being emotional together matters.

Corporate matters.

Thoughts?

It's not that gross unless you start thinking about it.

2009-10-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

I spent the day in the studio working on the kids' record. Got some great stuff. So close! Hopefully I can have some definite news soon. I'm planning to take some photos this week for the CD art. Despite the fact that no one buys CD's anymore, you still have to have CD art so that there is a picture to look at when you play it on your iPod, Zune, or other device.

Anyway, in the meantime, here's something.

On Friday night, I did a concert for some nice, hospitable folks in Fairfield, TX. It was a reall great night. Michael Steele sat in on percussion.

We had an adventure. I could probably write about it and make it funny, but I had my flip video wth me, and got some good footage. So here's a little something that I threw together over the weekend.

Enjoy.

No monkeys were harmed or humiliated in the making of this movie

2009-09-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

More worship thoughts and kids’ CD news coming soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you about a conversation that happened in our house a couple of days ago.

The boys were watching a movie, and it was taking longer than Staci and I had hoped. Bedtime was looming nearer, but we really didn’t want to deal with the chaos of turning off the movie before it was done.

So the brief conversation went like this:
Staci: “Is that movie almost over?”
Me: “I’m not sure. Let me check." I go look at the screen for a few seconds.
Me: “I think it’s close to the end.”
Staci: “How close?”
Me: “Well, a monkey is driving an ice cream truck, and there’s also some small explosions. If that’s not the climax of the story, then this is the best movie ever made.”

There are only two kinds of people who willingly watch movies like this: children and weed-smokers. Weed-smoking monkeys, like the one above, would love it.

Bonus points if you can name the movie.

Anyone? Anyone?

2009-09-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

OK, so after getting more hits than this blog has ever seen by a massive margin (I wonder if it had anything to do with free stuff?), I've gotten almost zero feedback on these tunes. That either means that you've all gotten together and agreed that, since the songs are so terrible, it's probably best to just pretend that none of this ever happened, or you're all so engrossed in listening to my brilliance that you can't take time away from dancing and clapping to even type.

Or it could be something else. Either way, thoughts? Email or post them here. Also, let me know how the "passing along" is going.

More blogging soon. I mean, I'm on a roll here.

Words that rhyme with frustration

2009-09-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

OK, so the bad news is that I had a really frustrating day in the studio. Long story filled with techno-talk, but basically, I was hoping to finish up all the vocals today for the kids' record, leaving me with only a few acoustic parts to do, then mix. But it didn't happen.

That's the bad news. I'm a few days behind now. This shouldn't surprise anyone. I mean, the tentative release date for this thing has changed like 9 times. I think it was originally supposed to come out in '06 or something.

I blame the economy. Or the health-care reform. Or Sarah Palin. I don't know. It's someone's fault.

Anyway, here's the good news. I'm tired of waiting and working and talking about this project with nothing to show for it. And I know that all 17 of you are tired of that as well. I'm really excited about this music and I can't wait to share it.

Sooooo, it's time for more GIVE-AWAYS!

That's right, kids. It's on. Just like last time, only this time you'll be getting (unmixed!) songs from the new kids' record.

But here's the thing. I'm going to make this one a little more involved. I mean, posting a comment on my blog to get free music is a no-brainer. So I think I'll ask a bit more of you on this one, but I also think you're getting something a little more significant.

Here's what we're going to do:

As most of you know already, I'm extremely close to being finished with the record. I'm going to write more about it in the next couple of weeks as the release gets closer, but for now my big issue is HOW DO I MARKET THIS THING?

I mean, I've never done a record even resembling this one in terms of musical style, lyrical content, or target audience. So I'm just honestly at a loss for how to get it "out there." My usual methods for this kind of thing just don't seem like they will work this time.

So that's where you come in. I will send 2 of my kids' songs -- again, these are "rough draft" versions, not the final mixes -- on two conditions.

First, that you promise to send the songs to 3-5 friends each. Preferably these will be the kinds of friends that you think might be interested in the record once it comes out. So, mainly parents of young-ish children.

And second, that you promise to buy the record when it comes out.

I don't think that's too much to ask for two free, pre-release, sure-to-be-chart-topping-hit tunes from a formerly almost regionally famous celebrity like myself.

After you get the songs, you forward them to your 3-5 lucky friends, and then you just email me and tell me that you did it. You must do this! Obviously you'll already have the songs, so I can't coerce you to do it; and obviously if you do it, I'll just have to take your word on it, because I can't monitor what you're actually doing.

But the ethical standards of RKWT blog posters have always been top-notch (other than an occasional inappropriate joke, but I'm usually the only one that does that; and maybe Johnny), so I know I can trust you.

Basically, here's the plan in 7 easy-to-follow bullet-point steps:

Step 1: Post on the comments page, and give me your email (even if you sent it last time; I'm a songwriter, not a book keeper).

Step 2: Wait for the songs to come to your email. Take deep breaths and try not to call me at home and bother me while you're waiting.

Step 3: Enjoy songs with your children or the borrowed children of loved ones.

Step 4: Forward songs to 3-5 friends and/or family members (potential buyers!)

Step 5: Wait with eager anticipation for whole CD to come out, all the while spending inordinate amounts of time on various Ross King online venues.

Step 6: Buy CD upon release date.

Step 7: Hound aforementioned friends and family to buy CD also.This is what the kids call "marketing on the cheap." I am shamelessly engaging in it, and using the lure of free stuff to entice you to do the same.

Got it? Cool.

I think this can be a great tool for buliding relationships and blessing people in your life. I mean, who doesn't want some free music to play for their rowdy kids in the car? You? You sir? How about you, madam? Don't look away from me! Take this free music and find much enjoyment!

So,who wants some free stuff?

Final thought: I'm only going to do this for maybe a week. So don't tarry.

Worship thoughts Pt 2: The Worship Leader

2009-09-10T10:08:00.001-07:00

The job/role of the worship leader.

Let me start by saying that, if you want to get into the finer points of this one, context is key. There’s obviously going to be a vast array of places and groups and times within which one might find oneself leading worship. (Wow, that was a sentence that could’ve been better.) But I can’t possibly try to cover all that here. Instead, let’s just paint with a broad brush and then you guys can hopefully do the fine tuning for your own individual contexts.

So, here we go. By the way, I’m going to use some terms that I don’t care for, simply because not using them would force me to find and define new words to replace them. And that’s just more work for everyone. When I have to use a word that I don’t like, I’ll put it in quotes so that you know I’m pulling that word from The Great Ancient Glossary of Baggage-Laden Christian Lingo.

The role (or job) of a worship leader is a 3-step process:
1) Determine the spiritual identity/health of a given “congregation.” You could call this identity/health the where they are (spiritually) of the group.
2) Acknowledge that identity and resolve to love the people right where they are.
3)Take the group as far as you can, in the time allotted to you, to a new where they are, which is to say, deeper into love for and fellowship with the Lord.

OK, so that may be hard to decipher. So let me say it in a shorter way.

The role of a worship leader is to acknowledge where his/her people are and then to lead them from that point into a deeper maturity.

Make sense now?If not, here it is, really short: Acknowledge, Lead, Mature.

In other words, if you are working in a sort of “full time” capacity with a group of people (like, say, you’re "on staff" at a church or leading consistently with your home group or something), then you are constantly acknowledging the identity and health of the group (yourself included, because you’re a part of that group; more later on that) and constantly trying to help the group mature and grow and express at a deeper level.

But if you’re only with a group for a short period (like, say, a one-night “gig” or a retreat or a summer camp or something), you have a different sort of strategy. The overall assignment is the same. You just have less time to do it, and maybe you change your expectations for how far you can go with them.

Got it? Making sense? Thoughts? If so, post them.

Before I’m done, here’s one important note. No matter how long you are with a group (for one night, for two years, or indefinitely), you are part of that group. Every determination that you have about them; every goal you have for them; every frustration you aim toward them; all of those things include you. Always keep that in mind. Nothing ruins spiritual leaders faster than an absence of community.

Which leads me to my last point. I don’t really include this in my broad-strokes description of the worship leader’s job, because it’s just too nuanced to try to work it in, but I’ll say it here, because this is key to the way I lead (and to the way I attempt to fulfill the “3-step” approach that I’ve outlined above).

Be honest. Be real. Be vulnerable.

The two most common things that are said to me are:
“Thanks for singing songs in keys that I can sing.”
“Thanks for being a real person.”

I’ll address the first one later in the series. I suspect that some of you aren’t going to like that one.

But the second one ought to be significant to us. Why would people say that to me so often? If “being real” is fairly common among worship leaders, there would be no reason to pull me aside, time after time after time, and thank me for doing it. And I’ll be honest, sometimes they’re not thanking me, they’re just saying it as a fact, for better or for worse.

I remember a few years ago I led worship at this big week-long college thing where there were like 3000 college students. I was with them for a full 6 days, so they got more than enough of me. I’m not sure what was different about that week than other things I’ve done, but for some reason, I heard some variation of the “you guys are real people” thing probably 25 times. I’m serious. And the funny thing was, it didn’t always sound like a compliment. Sometimes it sounded like a puzzled, what-planet-are-you-from accusation. It wasn’t like they were picking on me or mad or anything. It was just an honest “I haven’t seen this before,” or maybe “aren’t you supposed to be cooler than this?” kind of thing.

I won’t attempt to explain or over-evaluate all that. What I do know is this. Among the thousands of qualified worship leaders in this country, I’m not even close to being the best singer or the best songwriter or the best instrumentalist or whatever. I don’t think those things have been the primary contributors to my 15-plus years in this field. I honestly think people call me because I try to bring something genuine, something “just like you, only maybe more messed up” to the table. And not everybody likes what I do. I’m not offended or holier-than-thou about that. It is what it is, and there is plenty of worship-leading work to go around.

But I do think that people are longing to be led by leaders who are accessible and real. They want to be led by people who are participants in the worship; co-travelers on the journey. They don’t want rock stars. Or if they do, they shouldn’t. Rock stars look at a crowd and see fans. Worship leaders look at a crowd and see family.

OK, that’s enough of my rambling. Thoughts?

Worship thoughts Pt 1: Definition of Worship

2009-09-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Let’s start out with a wide angle lens and then focus in.

For the sake of time, I won’t define worship as anything other than the worship of God. Obviously people can and do worship other things, people, etc. But instead of going into the philosophical and cultural nuances of all that, I’ll just give you my definitions of worship as they relate to the Jesus-following life. I think it’s pretty easy and appropriate to use those definitions to talk about any sort of worship (i.e. to take the God-words out of my definitions and insert other words), but that’s really out of the scope of what I was doing at the seminar. I was speaking to Jesus-following leader-types who hopefully have some mechanism for rooting out idolatry in their lives. So again, let’s just assume that we’re talking about worship of the Trinitarian God here. Cool?

Moving on.

Broadly speaking, worship is simply this: in view of what God has done and is doing, we offer ourselves – momentarily and continuously – to the Lord as living sacrifices. If that sounds familiar, it’s supposed to. I took it from Romans 12. I like using that passage as a blueprint for worship, simply because that’s what it claims to be. I like the idea of saying “sure, singing is worship, but this says that real worship is the lifelong act of offering our bodies up for God’s discretionary use.”

The word-picture is rich: one of a person voluntarily taking on the role that – in the Jewish or Roman (etc) heritage – would’ve been occupied by a valuable, but dead, animal. (Lots of stuff in Leviticus if you want to read up on this.) As a general concept for worship as life, I think this is a pretty great way to go at it.

So, again, if we look at worship from a broad, lifestyle perspective, we’re simply defining it as intentionally devoting oneself to the Lord, over and over, deeper and deeper, throughout life.

Any issues with that? Comments are welcome.

Now let’s get more narrow. After all, most people, when asking for a definition of worship, are probably trying to hone in on something that they can apply in the more specific context of “what are we supposed to do when Christians get together and say ‘let’s worship’?”

That definition has a little more texture, a little more complexity. There will definitely be disagreement about this among varying religious upbringings and spiritual leanings and such, but here’s what I think.

Narrowly defined – and for the purpose of use in basic Christian dialogue and practice – worship is the collective, corporate and unified expression of the people of God, in acknowledgement of Who He is, in appreciation for all He does, and in participation of His Kingdom work. That’s wordy, I know, but this ain’t something that we want to just rush thru. This is the worship of God we’re talking about.

But I know that definition is long, so let me do it another way. Worship is what happens when people who know God get together and agree about – and with – Him (think Acts 2-4, 1 Corinthians 12-14, etc).

Better? Well, either way, now we have a good starting point.

That’s about all I have for this first entry, but let me say this.

Some of you might think “but what about private worship? What about the me-and-God times of intimate praise?”

I’m not saying those times aren’t worship. According to my broader definition, they absolutely are. Time alone (mediation, prayer, fasting, study, etc) is hugely important to the Christian life, but I’m not sure that I’d ever want to call that my primary “worship” time. I’m not trying to be legalistic here. Again, remember that using the broader definition, all that stuff is worship. But one of the things that I’m learning is that we really are missing out on all that worship is if we undervalue the “believers gathered together” aspect of it.

I mean, think about how many times Paul talks about what should be happening in the group as a whole versus how much he talks about personal quiet time. It ain't even close.

And honestly, I just think those personal worship times have been heavily overemphasized in recent years, to the detriment of our corporate, unified worship times. Again, I"m not saying people are praying and meditating too much. I'm saying that sometimes we treat our corporate worship times as personal worship times, and that's not really the point.

Way too many times, we stand in a room full of several hundred people and sing songs about “me.” Way too often, we hear “it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing, you need to worship God in your own way.” There’s some truth and value in that sort of thing, but there’s some potential harm there as well.

I’ll cover all this a lot more in the “Why does “corporate” matter? sections, but for now, just know that I am trying to get to the heart of what it means to deeply enjoy the worship of God, in all its facets. So I want to make sure define worship in a way that brings balance among those facets.

To that end, let's spend some time talking about the power of unified Jesus followers agreeing in song (and otherwise) that God is great.

More to come.

We’re in Tyler, TX tonight and tomorrow for Naomi’s adoption finalization hearing, so I will probably post part 2 of this on Wednesday or Thursday, and then another entry every 2-3 days.

So…

Thoughts? Disagreements? Questions?

If requests for free music were $100 bills...

2009-09-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

...I'd be a multi-thousandaire today. Hey, thanks to everyone for showing interest in my somewhat out-of-nowhere instrumental music. I just sent out the third batch. I probably won't send out any more for a while. If you still want to hear them, you're out of luck, because I'm done, at least for now. If I get more requests, I'll get them out in a week or so.

In the meantime, I'm going to take the worship topics 1-2 at a time. I was hoping that more of you would actually read what I wrote and actually respond to it appropriately by saying "I'd like to hear about this specific thing," but instead most of you just said, "yeah, I'd love to hear all your thoughts on worship." I mean, I'm flattered, but I've already blogged more this week than I have in the last 2 months, so the prospect of writing a mini-book on worship is a tad overwhelming.

Oh well, I live to serve. And eat queso. But mainly to serve.

So I'm working on the first batch of worship thoughts right now. I'm not going to write a ton (at least not on purpose), but hopefully we can get some discussion going in the comments. Also, the seminar was recorded, so I'll try to get a link to that asap.

Second, this giveaway thing was fun. I'm thinking that I'm going to do another one this week. Don't start sending me your emails yet. I'm coming up with something a little more involved. The songs will still be free in terms of money, but I'm going to make you work a little harder.

I'll let you know within a day or two.

And just in case you've stuck around here long enough to know that I sometimes say "I'll let you know within a day or two" only to not say anything at all for like a month, this isn't one of those times. I'm on a roll this week, and I'm really getting excited about showing you guys what I've been working on with this kids' stuff.

So check back tomorrow or Tuesday for some worship thoughts and some info on more free music.

I only know about a few things

2009-09-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

But this is one of them. Leading worship. I mean, I've been getting paid to do it for like 15 years, so that definitely makes me, I don't know, something.

I did a worship leader seminar today at Grace Bible Church here in B/CS.

(Speaking of "leading worship for 15 years," today, at the seminar, I was told by three very-much-grown-up minister types that I was their first introduction into good/modern worship. They were like, "yeah, I was just a kid and you were teaching me how to..." I appreciated the encouragement, of course, but gee whiz did I feel old. Oh well, you take your atta boys where you can get them, right?)

Here were some of the topics that we covered in the seminar, mostly in response to questions from the audience:

What is worship? (Broad definition and narrow definitions)

What is the job/role of the worship leader?

Why “corporate” matters.

How “corporate” affects what the leader does.

Interacting/co-laboring with teachers/preachers.

The integration of other creative arts into a worship gathering.

The pros and cons of tech/multimedia in a worship gathering.

It went really well. I don't usually enjoy teaching in large groups (read: I'm bad at it), but this was really just a long Q&A with a few planned teaching points. I had a good time.

Anyway, since I've never really talked at length about leading worship on here, I thought I'd see if there is any interest in that sort of thing. It would take days to write on all these topics, but if anyone is interested in hearing about any of this, let me know what stuff on that list is more interesting to you and I'll just kind of regurgitate my notes on here and maybe get some discussion going. If not, I won't get my feelings hurt. I've had more hits on this site in the last few days than I've had in a long, long time, so I'm feeling loved and all that. I'm sure all the traffic had nothing to do with the fact that I was giving away free stuff.

Free stuff

2009-09-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

OK, I just sent out the songs to everyone who has asked for them so far. Let me know if you didn't get them, and of course feel free to share any feedback here.

Oh, and if anyone else wants them, let me know and I'll do another big email in a few days.

Thanks for all the encouragement and support. I love sharing this kind of thing with all of you.

Making space for the One who deserves it and all that nonsense

2009-09-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

OK, so here’s something you didn’t know. It's long, but I don’t think it will be boring.

I was in Haiti, on the mission trip that I’ve talked about a few times already. The furthest thing from my mind was how I can make big money in my music career. I mean, I love me some money and I love me some me, so that sort of thing is always wandering around in the back room of my brain, but when you’re in the second poorest country in the world handing out de-worming pills to orphans, your mind tends to exist on a higher plane.

So I get this email. We had wi-fi there, believe it or not, and we usually had time to check it once or twice a day. Anyway, the email is from this lady who says she represents the lead singer of a hugely successful Christian band (she tells me which one, but I ain’t telling you because I don’t want to get into trouble later; I know that probably makes it seem like I’m lying, but honestly, after this many years of crazy stories, you think I really have time or energy to make this kind of thing up?). She says this lead singer fellow – we’ll call him Willie, only because it would be even cooler if this story was about Willie Nelson, even though it’s not – wants to talk with me about something. She doesn’t say what.

Believe it or not, I didn’t pee my britches right then and there and beg her to tell him to call me asap. Don’t get me wrong. I was curious, but for some reason I played it cool. Maybe it was the crazy poverty and the orphans and the assault rifles and the other stuff I was bumping into over there, or maybe I just had a rare moment of “some things matter a lot and some things matter a little.” Whatever it was, instead of emailing her back and saying “MY PHONE IS ON AND I’LL BE EAGERLY AWAITING HIS CALL PLEASE TELL HIM I LOVE HIM AND WANT TO HUG HIM TIGHTLY BUT ONLY IN A PLUTONIC WAY!!!” -- instead of that, I just emailed her and said, “tell him I’m in Haiti and I’ll be back in about 8 days and I’d be glad to talk with him then.”

All cool like that. Can you imagine? What was I thinking, right?

So anyway, after I get back to the states, I start getting a little curious. I wonder if Willie is ever going to call.

About a week or so passes, and I start thinking, “I guess that was just a random deal and I’ll never know what it was really about.” Maybe a day after I started thinking that, I get a text from him one afternoon. He’s like, “hey ross, it’s Willie from Huge Christian Band. I’d love to talk. Can you call me?”

He gives me his number and I call him. I’m a little anxious, obviously.

Well, we talk for a bit, and Willie tells me that he was recently at youth camp with his church (I thought that was kind of cool that he went to his church’s youth camp) and somebody plays this video of my song “Clear the Stage.” He says that he really loves the song and that now he’s recording it for his band’s new record, and is that ok with me?

Well, of course, I’m trying not to say “YES IT’S OK WITH ME ARE YOU CRAZY AND ALSO I THINK THIS MEANS I’M GOING TO BE RICH AND MAYBE WE COULD BE BEST FRIENDS AND START CO-WRITING SONGS TOGETHER AND ALSO WHAT DO YOU THINK I SHOULD WEAR TO THE DOVE AWARDS BECAUSE I REALLY WANT TO LOOK BETTER THAN TOBY MAC AND THAT DUDE IS SMOOTHER THAN BUTTERED SNOT SO IT MIGHT BE TOUGH TO LOOK BETTER THAN HIM BUT EITHER WAY OF COURSE YOU CAN RECORD MY SONG AND WHERE DO I SIGN?!?!!”

But I don’t say that, because I have said lots of stupid things in my life and I’m learning to say them less often and never in ALL CAPS. Instead I just say “yeah, that sounds pretty good, Willie.”

Well, things get a little weird and surreal from there. I talk to Willie’s manager on the phone a couple of times; I talk to an entertainment lawyer to make sure I know what to do next; I tell a few of my friends who are totally impressed and already figuring out ways to borrow money from me. Stuff like that.

On a totally serious note, this whole thing sent me into a bit of a dreamland where I start imagining that now, finally, I can write music for a living. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thankful for worship gigs and house concerts and CCLI checks and download sales and all that. Of course I’m thankful for all that. But my passion – my main thing – is that I love to write music. And this seemed like the sort of thing that might give me some leverage in that world. As most of you probably know, I’ve never been a big hit in the mainstream Christian music world, so it’s not like I have ever (at least not in the last several years) really thought I had a shot at making any real money or having any significant influence with those people.

This development seemed to be the beginning of something new. I was surprised, excited, honored, and nervous. But mostly excited.

So it went like that for about 3 weeks. I talked to Willie a couple more times, and he told me how excited he was to have the song on the new record. I tried not to have Pokemon seizures every 17 seconds. You might even say that it was something that I wanted with all my heart; something I couldn’t stop thinking of.

Yeah, now maybe you’re starting to see where this is going.

And then one day Willie calls and says the deal has fallen thru.

The song just doesn’t seem to be coming together the way they want it to. Willie says he just doesn’t feel like he’s able to make it “his” in a way that feels comfortable. So, sorry man. But thanks.

Hang up phone. Pick up pieces of shattered dream from floor. Initiate self-pity.

Now, explain this to me. If fame and fortune and notoriety in the Christian music world are things that I no longer want or care about, why was I so devastated to get that call? Wasn’t I fine before this all happened? Wasn’t my life really great without knowing that Huge Christian Band was recording my song?

Clear the stage indeed.

Anyway, that’s basically the bummer end to the story. For about 3 weeks, I thought I was going to have a little extra money and a lot of extra influence in a culture that I’ve never been able to really break into. And then it went away, as if it was never there in the first place.

I feel fine with it now, in case you're worried. I mean, there are much wors problems in the world. I don't think Haitians complain about their songs not getting recorded by famous people.

Obviously I still would like to know what God was (is) up to. Couldn’t He have just left me alone and not allowed me to get all worked up? I mean, it’s not like I sent my CD out to Nashville and knocked on doors trying to get “discovered” or trying to “make it big.” I’m 37 years old for goodness sakes. I think that window has closed.

And honestly, I’m really fine with that. I used to write songs and hang out a lot with a guy who is arguably the most famous Christian musician on the planet, and I don’t want his life. He’s rich and famous and single. I’m middle class and unknown and I have the greatest, most beautiful family I can imagine. Really, I don’t want his life. I think he's really happy and I'm thrilled that he's out there writing songs that are inspiring (literally) millions -- compared to my hundreds -- of Jesus followers to love God more. But I don't wish I was him. I really don't.

But, for fleeting moments, I do still want – for better or for worse – to write music that has broader impact and deeper influence. I know that’s narrow-minded of me. I know it shows a lack of thankfulness. I know it flies in the face of all that I know about God’s first-shall-be-last and narrow-roads-beat-wide-roads economy.

I know all that. But I’m still working it all out.

Following Jesus is hard. Following Jesus while trying to entertain people for a living is weird.

Just wanted you all to know, because you’re the kind of folks who like to know these kinds of things about my world. Thanks for reading and being so nice and honest and real.

The end.

Epilogue:

Then a couple of weeks after that, I got a sent a contract from some music publishers in Hollywoodland who want to add two of my instrumental songs to their movie-TV-commercials catalog. Yeah, I know, it's weird. Most of you didn’t even know that I write instrumental music. I actually don’t do that much of it. But occasionally I do and sometimes I submit that stuff to various industry people who seem to be interested in such things.

So right as I started feeling really sorry for myself because “nobody appreciates me” and blahblahblah, God gave me a little, random bit of encouragement. At some point, a couple of my songs will be on TV or in a movie. That's pretty cool, right? It’s not much money, and I’ll probably never even see the show or movie or commercial where my songs play, but it’s still kind of cool.

And that brings us to the last thing.

This is for those of you who actually read this far. Way to go, you.

If you want to hear those songs, post a comment on this particular post and give me your email. I’ll email you the mp3’s. Then you can join me in keeping a lookout for my instrumental music on “According to Jim” or “One Tree Hill” or "Project Runway" or wherever it might play. You’ll let me know and then my next blog post will be titled “I’m on TV!”

Only I won’t have to worry about the camera adding 10 pounds. Which is a real relief. Because there’s no way I’d look as cool as Toby Mac at the Doves.

Despite what you've heard...

2009-08-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

I live.

First up, many sorrys for the long delay in blogging. I’ve had a weird and interesting few weeks, and honestly, I didn’t have much time, energy, or desire for writing. It’s not personal. You’re fine. It’s not you, it’s me. You deserve better. When you finally meet that blogger that truly blogs for you the way that you deserve to be blogged for, I know you’ll be happy.

Anyway, here’s what’s been happening in my life.

As many of you know, I returned on July 4 from an 8-day trip to Haiti. I never debriefed all of you on that, so here’s the short version. We spent most of our time building a rooftop garden over the boys’ home (orphanage), using a really cool technique known as aquaponics. I don’t totally understand the science of aquaponics, but if you go on my facebook (look to the right for the link) and look thru the Haiti pics, you’ll see that it works. According to those pics, it looks like the ministry there will have plenty of vegetables this year, for both eating and selling.

Considering the fact that we worked 8-9 hour days in 105 degree heat, it’s pretty satisfying to see the “fruit of our labor.” Ha! See how I did that? I almost said “the vegetables of our labor.” That would’ve been pretty sweet, too. Couldn’t decide. So I just went for it with the “fruit” option. It was a gamble, but I think we all agree that it was worth it. Ha! The Comedy Stylings of RKWT strike again!

Yeah, so anyway, we also hung out with orphans a lot, which was heartbreaking and awesome. And we spent lots of time with people who have decided to leave the luxuries of America and live among poverty and violence and Satan-worshiping (Haiti has been actually, officially dedicated to Satan two different times by its leaders).

It was all really incredible. Great trip. Unfortunately I came back to the states mad. Mad at my clothes and my TV and deep love of food and all the people who tell me that I don’t twitter enough. I’m still mad at all those things and people, but I’m better than I was. When God moves in your life in a big way, and the only emotion you can muster up is “mad,” something isn’t quite right. So I’m cooling down and forgiving all those people and inanimate objects for inadvertently sinning against me. Atta boy, me.

Since then, lots of stuff has happened. I’m really, really going to try to blog about it all over the next several days. I’ve got some good stories for you. One of them is guaranteed to be almost ridiculous enough -- and absolutely true enough -- to be considered an RBT story. To keep you interested, here are some topics that we will be discussing:

--Huge Christian Superstar (no, not me)

--New House

--"I'm on TV!"

-- Bicycle built for two

-- It's August and I'm wearing my jacket!

-- A jingle, just for you

All that and much more, next week. Tune in.

Oh, and I’ve got some giveaways coming up. The children’s record is about 6-8 weeks away from release, and I’m going to be giving out some free previews for the truly dedicated blog followers among you.

Finally, I am launching a new website early in September. After only about, oh I don’t know, 9 months, I’m finally updating the old thing and actually doing something else web-related to coincide with the kids’ record release. Lots of fun stuff. More details next week.

Home sweet home

2009-07-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

We got back from Haiti on Saturday night. The trip was great. if you’re interested in pics, go to my facebook page to see tons. I’ll do my best to write some kind of trip summary in the next day or two. Right now I’m too busy trying to catch up with my life after being gone for eight days.

Until then, I'll give you a little taste. Below is a pic of me with my little pal Richardson, a 4-year-old orphan boy who I got some great playtime with while we were there. He and his brother Ricardo are already chosen for adoption by a sweet American family. God (and the Haitian government) willing, this "forever family" will be together soon! Pray for that.

Needless to say that my time with little cuties like this made me really eager to look into adoption from Haiti. We'll see...

update

2009-06-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

don't have time for blogging right now, so I'll just send you here. tiffany is a com church friend and co-laborer on the trip. she'll give you a brief rundown of recent goings-on here in haiti.

One thing to note: there is a pic on the blog of some kids chicken fighting in the ocean. One of those kids is naked. the back that he's on is mine. this was a first for me. and probably a last.

Too many inappropriate jokes to make...

More updates soon. Got to get to bed. Have to be up by 6 am to start work on a rooftop garden.

Pray for Haiti!

suffering for jesus

2009-06-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow around this time I'll be in Haiti. Weird. I'm really excited and anxious to see what sorts of things God has in store for me and the other folks coming along.

One interesting little tidbit is that, because Haiti is such a poor country, food is scarce and, at least to my American appetite, a little odd. Our host family -- who run the orphanage where we'll be spending the majority of of time -- gave us a long list of things to bring, some of it for the orphans and some of it for us. Due to a severe lack of quality meat/protein, they suggested that we bring canned meat. Yeah, you read that right. Canned meat. I'm a rich, white American, so I don't eat a lot of canned meat. Fortunately, during the "leaner" years of my childhood, the King family indulged in a good bit of Spam. Spam gets a bad rap (maybe?), but if I'm honest, I can tell you that I don't mind it. I mean, I haven't had it in about 20 years, but my memory is that it wasn't that bad.

At any rate, I love protein, so I decided to dive right in. So, over the next 8-9 days, as you are munching on chicken strips and steaks and cheeseburgers and ham sandwiches and such, you can think of me, consuming this, which I purchased today at HEB:

So I guess when I say "pray for me," I'm talking about more than just the usual missionary stuff.

Trip

2009-06-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

Next week at this time, I’ll be spending my second night (of 7) in Haiti. Our church is sending 12 of us there to live the Gospel among orphans and the other people that spend their lives there. I won’t go into the long story here, but I just wanted all of you to know about it, so that you can be praying or whatever.

Haiti is the 2nd poorest country in the world. Over half the population is malnourished, and most of them are illiterate. In addition, the country is plagued by governmental corruption, violence, and cults. To put it mildly, it’s a pretty dark place. We’re going to spend a week sharing a little Light.

In other random news, I’ve been entering some songwriting contests. It’s not something that I’ve ever really done before, but I just thought I’d try it. I’ll keep you posted if I win any. Which is to say, I'll brag on it probably act too cool like I never knew you.

Oh, and the children’s record is still coming along great. I’m starting to see the end. I’m 90% the record will be out by late August. I’ll keep you posted on that as well.

words that rhyme with orange

2009-05-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure that's the title of the kid's record (I wrote about it at length here). For those that care, it's coming along slowly, but great. I am doing about 90% of the work myself. Usually I hire a bunch of musicians and pay them to play various instruments. These people are typically really good at what they do. This means that they do things very well, very fast, and at a very expensive price.

This time, I'm playing most of the instruments myself. Some of the instrumentation is being done with this software, and some is being done the traditional way (you know, where I pick up an instrument and, like, play it and stuff). When I play everything myself, things are done very slowly and very cheaply. It's a give-and-take deal.

Anyway, I'm taking it a song at a time, and I've completed 7 songs. I hope to have 12-14 on the final record, so I'm a little over halfway done. I am really trying to get some samples up for those of you who are faithful to the blog, so keep a look out for that.

For now, know that I plan to have this thing done by mid-summer. Really. Seriously.

Thanks to everyone who has asked about it.

Hmmmmmmmm?

2009-05-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

A few thoughts for today. Please feel free to disagree.

On my career:
--If I ever did a CD made up entirely of covers (i.e. songs that were written and performed by other people before I recorded them), I’d call it Ross King: Gently Used Songs.

--I’m pretty sure I’d be more famous if I had a better chin and jaw-line. I don’t have a good one of either. There are lots of famous people that are much fatter than me that still have a skinny chin and chiseled jaw-line (see two tubbies below whose jaw/chin combos are totally sweet). It’s some sort of genetic issue, I suppose. I feel certain this has held me back, but I have forgiven my ancestors.

-- If you listen to my old projects, you’ll discover that my old songs are pretty bad, but at least my voice was irritating.

On parenting:
--I don’t understand the decision to use a child’s full name only when a parent is especially serious about something. If little Timmy is sticking his finger into his sister’s eye, is he so intent on blinding her that he won’t know he’s being admonished until he hears “Timothy Joseph Gorkenstein!”? Perhaps this tradition began in George Foreman’s home, which would be understandable. In every other home, it ought to be enough to say “hey timmy stop doing that.” Followed by, if necessary, a swat on his little Gorkenstein.

--And speaking of names, I don’t understand the decision to name children based upon letters of the alphabet or rhyming or anything else other than saying “she looks like a Susie” or “he looks like a Ted,” or “he looks like a Percy McSissypants, so let’s name him Cobrastrike and hope to God that he grows into it.” I’m not sure if this letter-based-name-choosing method qualifies as “trying too hard” or “not trying hard enough,” but it seems fishy to me. "Let's go with M!" says the mother excitedly upon deciding that she wants five children. "Nothing but M's all around!" A group of cohabitating creatures named Madison, Mason, McKinley, Minnie, and Millicent ought to be hamsters or cartoon characters perhaps, but not children who will someday be grown-ups that will probably go by their middle names by then.

On entertainment:
--I’m rooting for Britney Spears. I really am. Any time someone goes bonkers in public and shaves their head while dropping their infant on the dirty sidewalk in front of the second best tattoo parlor on the block and then manages a comeback, I applaud them. Clearly Britney had some tough times, and now she has somehow resurrected her career, at least for the next 3 or 4 days. Let me be clear that I am for that. But please, can someone explain why her voice now sounds like someone is holding her nose with industrial clamps, especially when she says “oh baby baby”? I don't remember this from before. I think this is new. Is she actually talking to her infant child when she says this, because it sounds like she’s doing a voice. Sometimes I do a voice when I’m talking to my infant child. I usually do Mickey Mouse or Goofy, but sometimes I do Cary Grant or Hank Hill, and I can’t tell if she appreciates the nuances of my uncanny impersonation skills. But that’s not important. I suppose if Britney is doing a voice (Fran Drescher in a high school mascot suit, perhaps?), it’s of some comfort, but then of course we hear the rest of what she’s saying, and we are alarmed to realize that she’s saying it to a baby. And this is only further proof that K-Fed was a shoo-in for custody.

--I don’t watch American Idol. I like the general idea, but Randy Jackson’s face-skin is getting really, really inhuman-looking to me, so I have chosen to boycott the show on principle. Randy's face is so tight and smooth that I feel like maybe he might be turning into a street-lingo-savvy, slick-talking wax statue. Of a lizard. Most people hate Simon or Paula. Not me. I hate Simon and Paula. Ha! Gotcha! No seriously, I hate them, too. But for other reasons that aren't as superficial as why I hate Randy. And that is because, to be totally honest, he gives me the heebs. And I worry that he’ll soon melt under the lights.

Nice jawline, Rand-izard (not to be confused with Randizzle, which would be a pretty sweet nickname).

On tanning:
If you go tanning in mid February and get all glowy orange like an atomic-powered Dreamsicle, are the rest of us allowed to ask you about how your skin got like that? Why is that offensive? It's not a secret, is it? Are people ashamed that they went tanning in a “salon”? Tanning places aren’t like adult bookstores or Carl’s Jr restaurants. People don’t hide their faces when they go in. We have a tanning establishment in our town that is quite popular . It’s nestled, rather unashamedly, right between Jason’s Deli and Pier One in an upscale shopping center. I’ve seen the attractive, friendly-looking people who work there. They seem normal, in a “my skin is as soft and comfy as an alligator-skin speedo” kind of way. So I don’t understand why we can’t just talk about it. “Wow, you are some serious tan, my friend. Is that painful? Cuz it looks excruciating. How much money did it cost to get like that?” Fair questions, right?

--And what’s with these UV rays? On sunny days, I’m supposed to be really careful and make sure I wear lots of sunscreen. I get this. But then on cloudy days, I’m also supposed to wear lots of sunscreen because – and this is the sort of logic that I get from the science geniuses who always seem to be on the beach towel next to me – I am actually in more danger when it’s cloudy: “Watch out! On cloudy days, you actually burn worse, because you don’t know you’re getting burned!” So when I do know I’m getting burned, I’m not getting burned as badly? This seems like some kind of tactic to trick me into going into that tanning place. I can’t go in that place. I wouldn’t even know what to wear in the… what? Booth? Bed? Pod? What do they stick you in these days while they cook you up for a summer glow? For how long? And what would an hour in the tanning pod do to Randy Jackson’s waxy lizard skin? Would he know he was getting burned, and would that make it worse? Fair questions.

On bumper stickers:
--I don’t get bumper stickers. Do people put them on their cars and think “watch out world, here comes my opinion!”? Or, rather, “watch out, Person in Car Directly Behind Me, that’s my opinion back there, and if you catch up to me later maybe we can argue about it!” I just sort of picture these people as riding around thinking that poll numbers are altering like crazy simply because they drove to the Dairy Queen. "This Blizzard is great tasting, but it goes down a little smoother knowing that people on this stretch of road will now think twice about gun control!"

--I’ve often thought it would be funny to put several bumper stickers on my car, only make it so that they have confusing, competing messages. Like “God is My Co-Pilot” next to one of those Darwin-Fish-with-feet-eats-Christian-Fish-without-feet-things next to “Kinky Friedman 2012” next to “Bush/Quayle 2000” next to “Stop Global Warming” next to “My President is Charleton Heston” next to “Eat Vegan or Die” next to a Calvin peeing on whatever model of car that I’m actually driving right then, which would hopefully be a Prius limo with monster truck tires. And hopefully you’d have plenty of time to read them all when you sat behind me in the drive-thru line at Carl’s Jr. Maybe Dairy Queen for dessert.

Hmmm...

2009-05-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

Two links for you today, along with some verbal head-scratching from yours truly. Beware of bitter-sounding rants. I'm pretty sure I'm not mad about any of this, just kind of confused.

First, check this out.

To be clear, I’m all for fasting (feel free to make jokes about the thing I posted on Monday).

And I do love me some Jon Foreman. Compared to most of what CCM is turning out these days,that dude is in another musical/lyrical universe. But I’m a little perplexed by the idea of famous people fasting publicly and other people writing magazine articles about it (I actually made a joke about this in an interview I once did with Todd for worshipnotes, but I don't know where that interview is now). I mean, I guess it's better than spending millions of dollars giving away fake, Christian-ized Grammy's to the wealthy, famous, idolized Christian musicians who are the most wealthy, famous and idolized. But that's another blog.

Anyway, pulicized fasting. Anyone else think this – the publicity of it, not the fast – is odd? Not bad, not evil, just odd? I mean, honestly, maybe this is a great thing. Maybe this will cause more people to contemplate fasting. I guess I just get a little nervous when I read that article and then I read this.

Thoughts?

Second thing:

Any of you remember that song "happy" on my last record? Any of you wonder what I was talking about?

Well, when you read this you'll either get the connection or you won't, and if you don't, then all I can say is this: please do your best to convince me that I'm way off. Because this confuses me. A lot.

I guess I'm just tempted to propose this crazy idea: let someone else preach. Maybe, just maybe, God can speak thru other people in the 99 other church bodies that you're broadcasting to. Maybe, just maybe, He wants to speak thru those other people from time to time. Maybe, just maybe, it's dangerous to have people say "if that one guy doesn't preach, this thing won't be any good."

Here's another question. How much money does it cost to do this? Is it enough money to pay the salaries of some young pastors who are eager to be trained up to use their gifts?

And no, I'm not saying these people are evil or ungodly or anything. I listen to this guy's sermons from time to time, and I generally like them. I trust that the leadership of this church is doing their best to follow Jesus. I'm just saying that I'm not sure God is happy about this.

Sure, I could pick on any number of preachers who are doing this sort of thing. These guys are actually doing some great stuff, so why not just leave this alone? Because in this instance, I want to make it clear that even churches who seem to be doing lots of great things for the Kingdom can go wrong when they inordinately exalt preaching and preachers. Feel free to chime in. I promise I really do want to hear what people say.

Eat, drink,and be very unsure what to make of it.

2009-05-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

I've had this entry sitting on my desktop for a while, but I've hesitated to post if for reasons that will be clear (at least to the "lifelong evangelicals" among you) when you read.

A few months ago I got to go to Disney World.

By the grace of God – and the generosity of my wife’s parents – Staci and I spent several days at Saratoga Springs Resort in Orlando, taking our boys to the Disney Parks and generally having the kind of vacation that we could never have had without someone else paying for it. It was a fantastic week, and as always, I’m so thankful to have cool in-laws.

It was so ridiculously fantastic that I’d feel guilty elaborating much further. It's very difficult to think about this or this while talking about free vacations to the most magical place on earth. So I won't spend a lot of time bragging on it. However, I do have something, from the non-theme-park aspect of the trip, that I’d like to throw out there.

One of the cool things we got to do while we were there was called Party for Senses (some info about it here and here). Basically, several hundred people get together in a huge room and try out food and wine from the many of the best chefs and wineries in the country. They give you little tiny portions so that you can eat and drink and sample lots of stuff. I ate stuff like duck wrapped in bacon over fresh greens, and barbecue-braised short ribs over cheese grits. I had smoked pork loin and scallops and lamb filet. Desserts were abounding: chocolate brownie with white chocolate mousse and coffee ice cream; orange-honey cheesecake; various chocolate truffles.

Oh, and wine.

I won’t elaborate on the wine, out of respect for some of you.

Here’s what I want to talk about. I ate too much. I was gluttonous. It’s a fact. I know I ate way past “full” and indulged to sinful excess. Some of you might be quick to cry “legalist!” Hey, sin is sin. I’m not beating myself up over it or trying to over-dramatize. I’m just being honest and, as much as I know how, biblical in dealing with myself. Just because gluttony isn’t something we talk about anymore doesn’t mean it’s not sin. More on that in a bit.

Bear with me.

I also had a glass and a half of wine over the course of 3 hours. I did not drink in excess. I don’t like to get into this kind of stuff very often, but for clarity, I will say that I was with family the entire night. In case anyone is tempted to bring up “weaker brothers” and all that, the only people in the room that knew me were the people with whom I shared a table, and I’ve known all of them (and their opinions/perspectives on alcohol) for over a decade. Though I don’t agree with the way that many people interpret the “weaker brother” passages, I will say that I feel confident defending myself within that context ( I’ve dealt with all of this before, so I won’t spend time on it here). In short, I am as certain as I can be that I wasn’t sitting in the presence of (what Paul would call) weaker brothers (or sisters). The people that knew me are fine with drinking alcohol and following Jesus, and the people that didn’t know me wouldn’t have any reason to pay attention to me. (Again, if anyone wants my interpretation on the “weaker brother” passages, let me know and I’ll give you my take.)

Anyway…

Here’s the weird thing. Lots of Christians wouldn’t think twice about eating too much. In fact, lots of Christians would think it's kind of silly for me to even talk about it with any kind of seriousness. But lots and lots of Christians would scorn my alcohol consumption – which was in moderation, and didn’t lead to drunkenness in the least. I actually repented over my eating, because I was confident that I ate to sinful excess. But there wasn’t anything sinful about my drinking.

And I just think that lots of Christians would disagree with my perspective on this. I'm not trying to invite a fight or assume the worst about people. Maybe I'm wrong and nobody even cares about drinking alcohol, so long as it's in moderation. Maybe I'm wrong and everybody really cares about gluttony. I'm honestly just perplexed by what I perceive to be a weird imbalance.

Any thoughts? I’d really love to hear what people have to say.

But first, let me address what I think might be the knee-jerk reaction for some folks. Aside from the weaker brother idea (again, I'm aware that my perspectve on it will be problematic for some), most people, when comparing/contrasting drinking with gluttony, will say, "well, if someone eats too much, the worst thing that happens is that they are unhealthy, but if someone drinks too much, awful things can happen."

Assuming that someone might make this kind of argument (and I admit that they might verbalize it a lot better than I just did), I guess my response would be, "If Jesus wanted us to weigh sin based upon its consequences, he would've never equated 'hating your brother' with murder or 'looking lustfully on a woman' with adultery." (I'm referring to the latter part of Matthew 5 here, in case you're wanting some documentation.)

See, its not enough for our argument to be about consequences. It has to be about more than that. So, to that end, let's hear it. Keep it civil. Readysetgo.

Show tonight

2009-04-24T07:11:00.001-07:00

Like the title says.

I'm playing tonight at the Palace Theater (more details in the previous post, below). It's one of those "lots of bands/artists play" things, so the whole deal goes from 6 until 10. The plan is for me to be on around 8. See you there.

Things of Interest

2009-04-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

This will be quick. I fly to California tomorrow for a gig. I'm flying out of Houston at 8 am, which means I need to be at the airport by 7 am, which means I have to leave my house around 5:00 because Houston traffic is some nasty, unpredictable stuff. So I can't write long, because I have to go to bed at like 9:30 tonight, which is going to be extremely weird. But I need to give you a couple of vital pieces of rosskingworldtour info before I retire (for the evening, not for life; I won't retire for life until I can get Gwen Stefani and Willie Nelson to record a duet "Why Me Lord," which could totally happen).

Firstly: go here and check out my new "under construction" website. Since I got into a habit of hardly ever utilizing my relatively fancy (and expensive) website, I've decided to go simple and functional with the new one. It still needs tons of work, but the main thing I wanted you to know is that you can now purchase my CD's there. One of the areas that needs work is that a couple of my CD's are out-of-print, and we haven't fixed that on the site yet. So despite what you will see there on the "stuff you can buy" page, you still can't get Too Much Free Time anywhere, and you still have to use iTunes or another download service to get Sullivan's Flaw. I know it's going to be hard for you to resist clicking those links and longing for some nasal-singing, cheesy-drama-songwriting, pre-computer-tricks RK action, and some pre-world-famous, still-mullet-ish-working Chris Tomlin, but you've got to be strong, cuz you can't get those CD's. We'll do our best to have the site fixed in a jif, so that there won't be a mass outcry of angry fans, which could totally happen.

An if you have things that you'd like to see on the new site, let me know. I'm open.

B: I'm doing a concert at the Palace Theater in Downtown Bryan Friday April 24. Some of you remember that I did a concert there a little over a year ago. It's a really cool venue. This should be a great show. It's basically a fund-raising/awareness show for International Justice Mission, which is an organization that is so Kingdom-minded and important that I feel like a bonehead even representing them just a little bit. But I'm also honored, so there's that. In addition to a performance by ME, there will also be some song-playing and general stage-domination by Clairmont and Ian Nelson, among others. You've probably never heard of Ian, but I just finished recording/producing his debut project, and it's ridiculously good. I'm serious. All local-ish folk gotta be there.

That's all for now. Enjoy your weekends. I'm going back to Cali, where I may just get discovered by a talent scout who's looking for a late-30's, not-really-in-shape dude who used to work with pre-famous Tomlin, which could totally happen.

Boo Hoo

2009-04-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

I don't really know how to set this up without sounding preachy, so I'll just jump right into it. Below is a conversation I had with Sam, my 5-year-old son, yesterday.

The backstory is that, for reasons indiscernible to an imagination-choked grown-up like me, Sam loves to play in my car. I have a 1995 Toyota 4Runner that is on it's last legs. It runs, but only barely. However, it has a sunroof and a tailgate and it's messed-up enough that I don't care if he plays in it. So he does. Yesterday we were sitting on the tailgate messing with a busted-up plastic toolkit that he had found under one of the seats. It was missing some stuff, and wasn't that great to start with, so I said he could have it, which thrilled him to no end. But some of the plastic was coming off, and Sam decided that all of the plastic needed to come off (he likes things consistent and tidy, like his mommy). Only he wasn't strong enough to break the plastic off, so he asked me to do it.

The resulting conversation ended in Daddy trying to hide the fact that he was crying his eyes out right there on the tailgate.

Behold the great blessing of children:

Sam: Daddy, can you break this? Cause you’re the strongest.

Me: Sure. Someday you’ll be stronger than me, buddy. Did you know that?

Sam: What? When?

Me: When I get old. We’ll both be grown-ups at the same time, only you’ll be a young grown-up and I’ll be an old grown-up, and you’ll be stronger than me.

Sam: Oh.

Me: And someday you probably won’t want to play with me anymore.

Sam: Huh? Why?

Me: Well, when kids get older, sometimes they don’t want to play with their parents.

Sam: That’s not nice.

Me: I know, but it’s just the way it is.

Sam: I’ll play with you forever. Until you die. And then when I die and go to heaven, I’ll still play with you forever.

I'm not sure what I said after that, but I know it was all choked up and weepy.

Also, this is Sam on top of the car. Yeah, the Kings be some strict parents.

Now, later, neither, both.

2009-03-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

During the early years of my “on the road” career, I traveled with a ridiculously gifted drummer named Craig. Some of you know him. Many of you own CD’s that he’s played on.

Craig and I had lots of jokes. When you’re out on the road – in hotel rooms, cars, etc – 12-15 days a month, for 7 years, you cope anyway you can. Namely, you either kill each other or you come up with lots of jokes. We chose the jokes. Sometimes, when other musicians were traveling with us, they probably wished we had chosen to kill each other. It’s tough to just jump in when two dudes are riffing and zinging and such. It’s tough to immediately get hold of the kind of weird, twisted humor that arises out of thousands of miles of late-night driving and thousands of hours of hanging out with church people. So other folks usually felt left out. I mean, we had jokes within jokes. Triple-decker joke sandwiches. Joke stew, made from equal parts cynicism, sarcasm, extreme fatigue, and gas-passing.

Not everybody appreciated it. But whatever. We mock what we do not understand.

One of our bits went like this. Maybe we just finished some gig that maybe didn’t go so well, and maybe we get in the car for, like, I don’t know, a 9-hour drive. Maybe like Amarillo to College Station. (You’re thinking that I should’ve flown for a trip like that, right? Only you’re not realizing that Amarillo-to-College-Station is probably a 4-leg flight. Amarillo to DFW to, I don’t know, Phoenix or Memphis, because that’s just the way these things work, to Houston to College Station. And that would take way more than 9 hours and we wouldn’t even be able to stop in Abilene and eat at Joe Allen’s. And it would’ve probably cost $642 per person, plus we’d have to check extra bags because musicians have so much crap to carry around when they go places to rock faces. So flying isn’t always a good option.) So we’d have this 9-hour drive ahead of us, and we’d sort of be in a bad mood because maybe the gig was not so good, but also we’d sort of be in a good mood, because the gig is finally over. So one of us would make a joke. Any joke. All of our jokes were funny, so it doesn’t matter which one. Any joke. I’m telling you, Craig and me were like Abbott and Costello or Rocky and Bullwinkle or Zack and Cody even. Have you seen those kids. Even as they get less cute, they're still comedic dynamite, those two bowl-hair-cutted runts. Hilarious.

So like I said, one of us would make a joke, and we’d both laugh. And then the other guy – the one who didn’t make the joke – would say,

“It’s funny now, but it ain’t gonna be funny in Temple.”

It wasn’t anything against Temple. I’m honestly just picking that town at random. I think it’s on the way back from Amarillo. I don’t know for sure. I’m not Rand McNally, okay.

The point of this joke-on-top-of-a-joke was that, when you first get in the car, and you feel kind of fresh and alive, lots of stuff is funny. But 7 and a half hours later, when you’re still in the car coming home from a gig that wasn’t great anyway, nothing is funny. You know what I mean?

Some trips are like that. Something that’s funny at the beginning of the trip won’t be funny later, when you’re just very ready to get home; when all the ingredients of your joke stew have dried up except for the gas-passing, which actually only gets more prolific after long drives due to all the sitting down and fast-food eating and coffee-drinking. And by that time, the gas-passing isn’t so funny.

OK, gas-passing is pretty much always funny, unless you’re the only one not doing any passing. But that’s your own fault.

But anyway, that’s one kind of humor. The “funny now but not so funny later” kind.

But then there’s another kind that’s sort of the opposite. It’s the “not funny at all now, but funny later” kind. This is actually more common. You’ve probably seen lots of examples. Here are a few:

Slipping on the ice.
Getting kicked, punched, pummeled or otherwise stricken in the crotch.
Puking on somebody or getting puked on.
Accidentally passing gas, loudly, in public.
Exiting your car while it’s still in neutral and watching it roll – unoccupied, hopefully – into a pond.
Getting chased by bees or dive-bombed by bats.
Calling your current girlfriend by your ex-girlfriend’s name.
Falling into a vat of hot baked beans.
Discovering your child ate a dead roach.
Puberty.
Diarrhea.

All that stuff would be pretty horrible at the time. Some of it would temporarily end friendships or other social connections. But it’s all pretty funny later.

This past weekend, Ben Love and I lived a day of “funny later.”

We had a gig in Alamogordo, NM. I only know a little bit of Spanish, but I can tell you this much. Alamogordo means “fat Alamo.” That’s pretty funny right there. I mean, picturing the battle of the Alamo as a movie starring fat actors is pretty funny. Kevin James as fat Davy Crockett, Jack Black as fat Sam Houston, Chris Farley as fat Santa Anna, and the guy who plays Randy from My Name is Earl as fat Judas Iscariot (who wasn’t actually at the Alamo but would appear in a flashback scene that would serve as a cautionary tale and maybe bring in the evangelical crowd). Fat Alamo is funny stuff.

But that’s not what I’m talking about. Again, that’s actually funny right now, and it would’ve been funny then as well. Pay attention, people. This is the kind of advice you can't get on Third Day's blog.

Anyway, Ben and I were headed out there to meet up with John Simmons and Voddie Baucham. Voddie does these conferences on family and education and God and stuff, and he invites me to do music at lots of them. I like Voddie, his teaching is never boring, and I like to have stories to blog about, so I go.

So here’s the story.Voddie and Johnny were going to be flying out of Houston Intercontinental, because they live in the Houston area, but Ben and I were scheduled out of Austin. We like that airport better, plus the flights were cheaper. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

10:30 flight, so we left my house at 7:30 to have plenty of time for parking and such. About 15 miles west of town, we get a flat tire. It was about 40 degrees and raining, so changing the tire was totally sweet in that way that getting pummeled in the crotch with a vat of hot baked beans is totally sweet.

Sissy musicians are known for their way-good automotive repair skills and general love of manual labor, so that was a plus.

Fifteen manicure-ruining minutes later, we’re back in the car, feeling like real men. And wishing we had some lemon-scented moist towelettes. Maybe some styling mousse and some venti cappuccinos too. No luck. But we pressed on.

Only we couldn’t press on, because now the car won’t start. Dead battery. See how funny this is? Now, I mean? Ha!

After a few unsuccessful attempts at getting people to stop and give us a jump, I called my wife. She drove out to where we were. Another 20 minutes later, we’re trying to jump the car and we realize that the cables are no good. Ha! HaHa!

So now I call AAA. I know, I know. You’re thinking, “why didn’t you call them in the first place?” Are you ready for this? Because I thought it would take too long. HaHa! So funny NOW.

By the time the AAA guy gets there, we’re too late to make the flight. Long story, but we end up flying out of Houston, only paying WAY more because we changed the flights the day of. HaHa! So funny!

I mean funny now. Not then. Then it was funny in that way that it was funny that time when you were in the middle of puberty and you slipped on the ice while publicly passing gas which resulted in diarrhea in front of all those people, some of whom were pretty girls. Funny like that.

I’m thrilled to say that, after that, nothing "funny" happened for several hours. Or at least nothing that needed to wait a few days to become funny. Ben is almost as witty as me, so of course lots of funny stuff happened. But nothing worth telling.

Oh wait! Our plane, while landing, did get – I’m pretty sure this is correct – 17 inches from the ground and then suddenly shoot back up into the air and fly around some more before landing again 10 minutes later. (The pilot later explained that he had to pull up at the last second because we weren’t going to have enough runway to land and we would’ve crashed and maybe all died. HaHa!) But that still isn’t all that funny, really. Not yet anyway. Maybe in a few days.

The next “funny” thing happened a couple of hours later. The kind people that were hosting the conference had arranged for a rental car for Ben and me to get to the gig. We had landed in El Paso and had to drive the 90 or so miles to Fat Alamo.

Maybe 45 minutes into the drive, we come up on one of those border checkpoint things where, I assume, the Border Patrol is attempting to catch smugglers and druglords and such. Criminal riffraff. Instead, they caught us.

Yeah, the officer – who was wearing gloves, which, for some reason, scared the crap out of me –asked us to pull our car into one of the “now you’re gonna get it” parking spaces. At this point, Ben and I are just kind of laughing. It wasn’t funny yet, but we were teetering on the ragged edge of sanity, and that produces laughter as well. Also, we were both thinking we were about to get strip-searched and asked to recite the Gettysburg Address or whatever they make you do to prove you’re a bona fide American. Ben and I were both educated in the public school system, so we were screwed if that possibility materialized.

Thankfully, it was only this: our rental car was an unregistered vehicle. That’s a new one, huh? I’m not even totally sure what that means, but I think it’s pretty weird. The cop/agent guy seemed strangely excited at the possibility of confiscating our vehicle, but he let us off with a “warning.” I wasn’t totally sure what to do with a “warning” about my 24-hour rental vehicle having a clerical error. I decided not to say anything cute like “I am sufficiently warned” or “you warned me good” or “guess which orifice of my body is currently housing 3 pounds of ganja!” That probably wouldn’t have been funny until many years later, and then only to the people who used to know me.

So he let us go. We did the gig. I’m pretty sure the rest of the story is uninteresting, but sometimes uninteresting now is better than funny later.

good work if you can get it

2009-03-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

As many of you probably know, I’ve been working a “regular job” – by “regular,” I mean regular relative to my previous ways of making a living – for the last 8 months or so. The job, for those of you late to the party, is Interim Worship Coordinator for Grace Bible Church here in my hometown. It’s a good job. At least I think it is. I haven’t had a job, well, ever. I mean, I had jobs as a kid.

Let’s talk about that. I haven’t had much time for blogging lately, and it’s mainly because of my inability to re-order my life around this new job.

But I’ve got a few minutes right now, and since the topic is “ross’ jobs and how they affect his life,” this is as good a time as any to list a few of the wonderful, bill-paying endeavors that I’ve enjoyed in my life. This is always fun.

So, here are a few jobs that I had in my high school and college years:

Sno-cone stand sales guy
Apartment maintenance
Video store worker (I made it all the way to manager at that gig, thank you very much. Then I got fired)
Food delivery driver
Camp Counselor
Flower delivery driver
Travel agency courier (This one wouldn’t make any sense in an age of paper-less airline tickets)
Cotton picker for the Texas Agricultural Extension Agency
Janitor and maintenance for USDA

I did some other stuff to make money throughout that decade or so, including raising hogs for the local livestock show, writing songs for some camps and other ministries, and working at the concession stand of the Snook Rodeo. But all of those things were sort of random, one-shot deals, so I left them off the list.

But since I graduated from college, I’ve never had a real job.

I remember the day I finished my last college class, I drove over to the USDA lab and told them I was quitting. I had no idea if I could make any money in music, but I figured it would be weird for a college graduate (especially one with a prestigious, multi-dimensional degree like Political Science) to be making $8 an hour buffing floors and scraping the gum off of brick walls with a razor blade.

This was when the economy was still pretty good. These days, there might be a fair number of college grads who’d be willing to do that sort of thing.

Anyway, now I’m working for people again. It’s been interesting. I’m learning a lot about communication. I’m learning a lot about myself. I’m learning that I, myself, am not always so good at communication.

I’m learning lots of other stuff too, and maybe there will be a reason and a time for saying all of that later.

But for now, know that I apologize to those of you who probably wonder where I’ve been lately. The answer is – and I never thought I’d hear myself make this excuse – I’ve been at church.

But just remember that the first word in my job title is “interim.” That means, I think, “until they get the person that they really want.” Or something. At any rate, I’ll be back to my old ways – house-performing, worship-leading-on-the-road, etc – fairly soon.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for my children’s record. The tentative title is "words that rhyme with orange." It’s coming along great. I need to figure out some way to post demos on here for those of you who are interested. Anyone have any idea about the best/easiest way to do that? I ain’t shy about showing off my art. Show me how and I’ll show you what.

Also, check out the cool updated version of my wife’s blog.

That’s all for now.

Locally famous

2009-02-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

Me and Keith making hit records for the Bryanites and College-Stationians.

the KINGDOM that lasts forever

2009-02-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

There are about a million reasons to cheer for this.

Coming up for air

2009-02-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

Boy oh boy. What’s it been? Like, a month? Sorry. Busy, busy, busy. This particular entry won’t be long, but I did want to explain why I’ve been absent.

Here’s a brief synopsis of my last 4-6 weeks:Producing a couple of records, working alomst-full-time at GBC, doing more gigs than I’ve done in a long time, leading worship at Com Church, writing music for the children’s record, writing and producing a local jingle, writing some instrumental music to try and get some work in a new field, working on a new website (yeah, I’ve been doing that for about a year, but still) and of course raising 3 kids while maintaining my status as Hot Love Provider for my super-fine wife.

It’s my own fault, really. I just said yes to too much (Hot Love Provider is a non-negotiable, but some of the other stuff could probably have been put off or avoided altogether). But this is just temporary. I’ll have a bit of a break at the end of this month. Hopefully I’ll be back to blogging more soon. Until then, go find something more important to do. The internet is mostly a waste of time, anyway, and you know it.

Shows!

2009-01-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

Come see me this weekend if you live in the DFW area. Friday night, I'll be playing a concert here as a benefit for this ministry.

Saturday night I'm leading worship here for this dude, who many of you will recognize as a percussion genius that sat in last year for a house concert in beautiful Sanger, TX. I'll have a full band for both nights. Should be fun. If you want more details, email me or comment on this post.

Finally, I think I deserve some props for maximum link-age in this post. Just sayin'.

Pay what you want.

2009-01-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

I like "pay what you want." Those of you who have attended any of my house concerts know that I utilized this method there. I've found that people generally pay well when they are given the freedom to decide what something is worth. For the buyer, it's a chance to act as a sort of "art appraiser," and for the seller/artist, it's a chance to walk in faith. Win/win, right?

Well, these people agree, and they now carry my music. Right now, they only have my most recent project, which most of you probably already own. However, I hope to release an EP of some sort within the next few months, and I'll probably sell that project there as well.

Anyway, for now you can check out the site. I'm on the "most recent" page, right at the top. If any of your friends don't have my music, feel free to send them there and tell them to pay what they want. It's a win/win.

Post #127

2009-01-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody. I couldn't think of any good titles for this one, so I just took some data from my blogger dashboard. I do what I have to to keep things lively around here.

The writing retreat was a huge success. I mean, I don’t know if I wrote any huge hits, but I definitely accomplished the goals that I set for myself. I completed 3 songs (2 of those were “from scratch”) and half-pseudo-almost-wrote 5 others. It’s weird how productive I can be when I sit in a quiet room with nothing to do but pray, read, and write. Thanks to everybody who said a prayer for my time. And thanks also to anybody who really wanted to pray but instead spent their daily prayer time praying for starving children or world peace. Those are really important things too.

I made some great progress on the children’s record that I mentioned a while ago. Thanks again to all of you who gave me ideas. I won’t tell which ones I used just yet, but I can say that a few of you are going to find yourselves in the liner notes of my huge international smash hit record.

That’s all for now. I’ve a got a few gigs coming up that I’ll write more about soon. In the meantime, be looking for my music here. What a cool idea! I’ll have it up there sometime this week.

One more thing. I've found that more people read this blog when there are pictures of my kids, so here's another recent shot of my precious little heartbreaker: