Tinted Windows. Your New Supergroup.

I’ve always been intrigued by supergroups—bands that form from the prominent members of other bands. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Audioslave; Asia; Damn Yankees; Traveling Wilbury’s; Velvet Revolver; Cream; Bad Company; Temple of the Dog; Journey; and Eagles (to name a few) have all formed from at least two members of other popular rock/pop bands coming together in a new amalgamation.

So, imagine my excitement when I recently got news that a new band was forming with four prominent power-pop icons. Strap on your seatbelts for Tinted Windows.

Meet the band:

Adam Schlesinger, currently of the band, Fountains of Wayne, has been a hero of mine for the past ten years. Long before “Stacy’s Mom” was playing in every mall and heating up living rooms with it’s corresponding video, FOW has been on my iPod or in my CD player. Schlesinger wrote songs for my favorite family-friendly movie, “That Thing You Do” (including the Oscar nominated theme song) and the box office bomb, “Music and Lyrics” that had some great pop tunes even if the movie sucked. FOW songs have been on at least 20 other TV shows and movies from Gilmore Girls to NFL commercials. Schlesinger is a freaking genius. Period.

James Iha, formerly of The Smashing Pumpkins is one of the biggest reasons The Pumpkins rocked the Casbah in the early to mid nineties. If you ever screamed out the lyrics to “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” while driving down the road at breakneck speed, or were mesmerized by the repetitive yet haunting guitar hook in "1979", you owe a little gratitude to Iha. Sidenote: Iha is a co-owner of independent Scratchie Records with Schlesinger.

On lead vocals . . . Taylor Hanson. Yes, that Hanson. I don’t care what you say, the Hanson boys were not cut from the same cloth as the other boy bands of the 90’s. Did the radio play “MmmBop” to death in the late 90’s? Yes. Did it get stuck in your head? Yes. Did many think it was annoying? Yes. Do people make fun of it? Yes. Was it nominated for two Grammys? Yes! These kids wrote great hooks. Great pop. Played their own instruments and wrote their own songs. And, the kid has a great voice. Do I own Hanson albums? Yes. No apologies.

Last but not least . . .

Cheap Trick drummer, Bun E. Carlos is 32 years older than Hanson and has been rockin’ like Dokken since the 70’s. Cheap Trick first kicked my booty with a little offering entitled “At Budokan.” I was 11 years old. I remember screaming out the lyrics to “I Want You To Want Me’ in the back of the bus on the way to school when I was in 6th grade and Bun E. Carlos was laying down the groove. I saw Mr. Carlos rock with Cheap Trick a couple of years ago with my friend Scott and he still has it.

The band will be on The Late Show With David Letterman on my birthday, April 20th. The album hits stores the next day.

Do I think the band will stay together for years and years? Probably not. I don’t care. This will be fun as long as it lasts. What an incredibly eclectic and wonderfully bizarre lineup.

What weird party did these guys meet at?

Frightening Japanese Sex Ed

The following video has a PG-13 rating.

I guess this is Japan’s version of “Where Did I Come From?” or “Everybody Poops.”

Inochi is a creepy looking pubescent peculiar creature that teaches young men it’s okay and normal to get erections. And, apparently, to have extremely large heads.

When I was in 6th grade, we were forced to watch strange sex ed movies with really bad humor. I so wish Inochi was around then. We could have had some good laughs. Then again, this may have scarred me.

Parents, please have real conversations with your children about sexuality.

I don't know if I'll be able to fall asleep tonight.

What I do appreciate about the video is I don't think they are trying to be nasty. It isn't overtly and unnecessarily sexual. I get it.

But, I think things of this nature outside of real conversation have the potential to further confuse sexuality for kids. Sex isn't just something you do, or have, or have happen to you. So, I don't know how helpful this is.

What do you think?

Sayid Bombs at Standup

To watch or not to watch. Choose wisely.

If you aren't a L O S T fan, you probably:

(a) won't get this
(b) won't think it's funny
(c) will wonder why I wasted five minutes to post it

If you ARE a L O S T fan, you probably:

(a) will pee your pants
(b) will once again be thankful you are in the secret club
(c) will thank me for posting this

40 Things I Don't Want to Give up for Lent

We had a discussion in the office today about what would be really difficult to give up for Lent. Since Lent is 40 days long, I thought I’d share the top 40 things I’d have a hard time parting with for the next 40 days if I observed Lent—in no particular order and excluding people.

1. Carbonated beverages
2. L O S T (or television, period)
3. My iPhone
4. My MacBook Pro
5. My guitars
6. Sex
7. Paint
8. Scotch
9. Wine
10. Google
11. iTunes
12. High-Speed Internet
13. Coffee
14. Sushi
15. U2’s new album
16. My Bible
17. My pipe
18. My jacket
19. Twitter
20. Tea
21. Vegetables
22. Playing live music
23. Facebook
24. Movies
25. Westwinds
26. Exercise
27. Best Buy
28. Hummus
29. A video camera
30. News
31. A piano
32. Headphones
33. Mints
34. Notebooks/scratchpads/moleskines
35. Art
36. My fuzzy slippers
37. My Jeep
38. Ann Arbor
39. Eating out
40. Carbs

L O S T Untangled

It's officially Wednesday on the East Coast. You know what that means!

I'll Go Crazy if I don't Go Crazy Tonight

This song speaks to me. I heard Bono say once he would "never be as good as his ideals." This song reminds me of the relationship I have with my wife and how she has always supported me in every crazy endeavor and dream to change the little corners of the parts of the world I feel I am called to influence.

Babe, I love you. Thank you for loving God and loving me. Thanks for putting up with me and the dreams that sometimes drive me insane. Thanks for being a dreamer yourself.

I'll Go Crazy if I don't Go Crazy Tonight by U2

She's a rainbow and she loves the peaceful life
Knows I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight
There's a part of me in chaos that's quiet
And there's a part of you that wants me to riot

Everybody needs to cry or needs to spit
Every sweet-tooth needs just a little hit
Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot
How can you stand next to the truth and not see it?
Change of heart comes slow..

It's not a hill it's a mountain
As you start out the climb
Do you believe me or are you doubtin?
We're gonna make it all the way to the light
But I know I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight

Every generation gets a chance to change the world
Divination that will listen to your boys and girls
Is the sweetest melody the one we haven't heard?
Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear?
The right to be ridiculous is something I hold dear
But change of heart comes slow...

It's not a hill it's a mountain
As you start out the climb
You see for me I've been shoutin
But we're gonna make it all the way to the light
But I know I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight
Baby, baby, baby, I know I'm not alone
Baby, baby, baby, I know I'm not alone Ha, ha, ha

It's not a hill it's a mountain
You see for me I've been shouting
Let's shout until the darkness,
Squeeze out sparks of light
You know we'll go crazy
You know we'll go crazy
You know we'll go crazy,
If we don't go crazy tonight

This Song is Haunting

When the U2 album hits in a few days, you need to run, don't walk to buy it.


Lyrics | U2 Lyrics | Moment of Surrender Lyrics

Goals for Westwinds

When Dave and I do video segments, we don't like to script them. We like to see what happens naturally. This is a clip of the one we remade a couple of times but I like the unedited version here better.

The idea was to banter back and forth but Dave talks the entire time and won't let me get a word in.

Noisy Babies in Church

Tonight, Kasidy and I recorded a PSA about noisy babies in church. I love my little girl. She's got it.

(Oh, and brother Connor makes a cameo)

I'm up This Weekend

I'm speaking this weekend at The Winds.

We are going to talk about forgiveness. Of others.

Not gonna lie . . . this is a tough one. Forgiveness is that place we get to where we give up the right to punch people in the neck who have wronged us.

C.S. Lewis said, “I said . . . that chastity was the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. But I am not sure I was right. I believe the one I have to talk of today is even more unpopular: The Christian rule, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Because in Christian morals “thy neighbor” includes “thy enemy,” and so we come up against this terrible duty of forgiving our enemies. Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”

But, honestly, as hard as it is, if we don't learn how to forgive we run the risk of becoming ugly people. Not only inside--but outside as well. I believe that bitterness and anger which are the results of an unforgiving disposition actually change the shape of our face.

Those old people who walk around the store mumbling under their breath and looking like they have been sucking on lemons . . . need to forgive someone.

If you want to hear my last message out of Malachi from a few weeks back go here.

Cyber-Confessionals

Today was a great day at The Winds.

We opened up with The Who’s “Join Together” which, I must say, is a great call to worship. We also covered Eddie Vedder’s “Rise Up” from the “Into the Wild” soundtrack. Great tune. Vocal and mandolin. Period.

We are in the middle of this series entitled, “Sin Monkey.” The idea is that sin is like a little pet monkey you buy and bring home. He’s cute and cuddly and a joy at first but, as he grows, and you begin to lose “control” of him, he thrashes your furniture, claws up your family, pees on everything, and flings poo at your kids. Pretty soon, none of your friends wants anything to do with you because of your little pet.

We showed this video today (below) which is spooky macabre, and looks like something Tim Burton might produce. The video is a good picture of the effects of sin that is enjoyable for a season but has long lasting damaging effects. The music is creepy cool—it’s the song that plays in my head when my daughter’s porcelain dolls run around the house in the middle of the night.



Today’s highlight for me was the first-time use of our cyber-confessionals. Five booths were built in back of the auditorium space where “confessors” could go behind a curtain and confess sin anonymously to anonymous “confessees” on the other end of a terminal. We used Yahoo! Messenger and set up profiles for confessor1,2,3,4,5 and linked them to confessee 1,2,3,4,5 respectively. So, when a confessor went in to a booth and started typing, their confessee was ready to listen and pray with them. The confessees were from Michigan, California, Tennessee, and other states. We will have the booths up for a few more weeks.

Stay tuned for more interactive worship confession ideas. This series is full of them. We have some creative and meaningful things planned that I can't wait to share with you!