Well it was good to talk to Sara… she’s always a good one to chat with… and currently six months pregnant to boot… new baby, new album, lots of good stuff to talk about… unfortunately, it started a little late and even though i cut it a little short, it ran a little late and i was a few minutes late to the Bridge Deli and, assuming the best, my next interviewee was m.i.a…. oh, Switchfoot just walked by… i didn’t realize that the whole band would be here… anyway, i decided to walk on over to the Hilton since i’m supposed to meet a band for lunch… not sure if i’m supposed to actually interview them or not since you know it’s lunch, but it should be free food and i’m starving… aside from a couple cups of coffee and a banana, i haven’t eaten yet today… and it’s kind of like it’s quarter after 1 for my stomach… something smells good…

it’s pouring outside right now so, i’m glad i’ve already walked over here… bummer… i don’t know where my afternoon interview is supposed to be… just realized that… bummer…

okay, just got called away for the lunch thing and yes, it was an official interview as well… kind of strange to be recording in a sports bar while everyone is just eating and what not… much less conduct an interview… anyway, we mostly chattered away and had a good meal though the publicist seemed to want it to be a little more focused… it was a pretty good time, and probably a really good test for this iPod mic… on the way out a chatted a bit with Rob from Pillar since he was in the lobby… he’s a nice guy… actually, i’ll say that he’s a really nice guy, ’cause he said he might be checking out the site right about now…

Currently, i’m outside across from the Hilton… there’s a fountain and some benches here to make a park and that’s cool and all, but these benches aren’t very comfy and it’s kind of loud here… it’s nice to be outside though… away from the people noise… i should probably go figure out where to meet this next interview…

peace… love… bdg…

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Well, sleep came too late and morning came too early, but that’s the nature of the beast here… it’s almost 11 and it seems like i’ve been up for the whole day already… and really, i’ve only gotten 2 interviews under my belt today… the third one is scheduled for right now, but um… let’s just say that if the guys from this band are actually here where they are supposed to be, they look nothing like their press photos and i have no idea where they might be…

good talks this morning though with The Afters and Chris Rice and some good things to come still… i also got a bit of my article typed up so hopefully that will be done by the end of the day… i scooted over to where my co-workers are supposed to be doing some video interviews, but it was vacant… wonder what happened…

Also, i finished uploading yesterday’s pictures… apparently it was cut off last night… more pictures will come later today i’m sure and hopefully i’ll be getting better at uploading to Flickr so that they’re better organized… i’m gonna go try to grab a coffee and head off to my next interview… Sara Groves… i need to be on my a-game…

peace… love… bdg…

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KJ-52 came to the back of the airplane and used the potty… i thought about wedging the door shut as a joke, but airlines have totally lost their sense of humor lately so i changed my mind… the flight crew also doesn’t like to hear passengers yelling “woo hoo” as the plane takes off… other passengers don’t seem too keen on it either…

Seriously though, KJ was on the plane, a few rows in front of me and on the other side… he looks so different when he’s not performing, it’s kind of funny actually… Anyway, landed fine in Nashville… actually about 15 minutes early which was pretty cool… put me on pace with Josh who was supposed to beat me by like a half hour… of course, Chris was running on Unthank time and was late picking us up, but it’s all good… thanks to Chris for the ride…

Headed to the hotel and due to God’s providential timing – which is sometimes good and sometimes bad – Holly just happened to be checking in at the same time… could’ve been awkward i’m sure… check in went pretty smoothly and we went up to the room with hopes to drop off our stuff and found the door propped open and the maid was in the process of cleaning the floor… we didn’t have to wait all that long, dropped off our stuff, settled in a bit, got ready for registration and remembered that we were still really hungry…

after another brief encounter with the CMC kind, we headed to White Castle and, let me tell you… Harold and Kumar were/are incredibly dumb… Going to White Castle… that’s a bad call… besides not being real food – i mean, there’s no way that’s actual meat – those things will be haunting you the rest of the day… enough said…

Registration was pretty uneventful, i mean, we checked in… the attendees are wearing hard hats to remind us that the Word Label artists are building a house with Habitat for Humanity this week… pretty cool idea actually… i’d love to do that some day, maybe when the boys get a bit bigger… the goodie bag – er, ad bag – included a custom Bible portion of the book of Psalms from the American Bible Society and a DVD for ABS Presents… i haven’t really looked at all the paperwork in there, but there was a schedule and a bunch of other stuff i’m sure will find the bottom of the trash can soon enough..

We went ahead and raided the press room next and then the magazine stands… it’s super cool to see the HM Magazines on the rack there knowing that i have an article AND an ad in there… i know, i’m silly… but ooh… that reminds me, i need to type that up… anyway, after that we bumped into Mr. Robin Parrish… had a nice little chit chat and then the amigos moved on down to the Global Cafe for the Word Records New Media networking event…

This is a good idea, the Global Cafe is a cool place… but inevitably… yeah, it happened… the clash that everyone had anticipated since last week occured and it was a simple handshake at first then, as if dipped in awkward sauce that rivals a hot fondue meal, there was conversation… anyway, i declined starring in a video blog for a certain other outlet and sipped down a rather subpar white chocolate mocha while slowly enjoying a chocolate-chip cookie that could easily have been mistaken for a personal pan pizza… and there was a bit of networking going on… good stuff too… and there was a contest and somehow Josh managed to win the grand prize… funny thing is, he’s gotta figure out how to get it home now…

though i was pretty full from that ginormous cookie, we headed off to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe… i ordered the bodacious boneless chicken strips (or something to that effect) expecting some good buffalo wings without the bones… and i’ll be honest… i didn’t like the sauce one bit… and it wasn’t strong enough to cancel out that other stinking meal from earlier in the day…

back to the hotel for a brief unloading period where i called home and Josh got on the internet and Chris thumbed through his free issue of CCM… then we headed down to the worship extravaganza “hosted” by Michael W Smith and featuring Hillsong United… actually, Josh left us for some fancy schmancy inside look at a recording studio… but Chris and i got to the Ryman for the event… the Ryman is great and all, but our view wasn’t… we were under the balcony and it was a pretty odd angle… and as much as i don’t want to sound cynical or like i’m missing the point, i really felt like the service was very manipulative…

we all know that music can be that way, but this felt more like a pep rally than anything else… the lulls, the high points, the drums pounding in the hands waving the jumping… it all felt so staged… so contrived… anyway, when Smitty got up there, he introduced Jim Caviezel who gave a motivational speech about his time filming The Passion of the Christ and then stood oddly like a bodyguard as Smitty lead us all in Above All…

IT’S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!!

as we were heading over to the songwriter’s showcase, i was reminded by the noise that there was an outdoor roof party co-hosted by Syntax Records and Beatmart Recordings… i managed to convince Chris to head up to the roof and take in some hip hop culture… we saw a few songs from Willie Will, a video from Soul P and a song or two from Soul P while sipping down a Jones soda (sugar free blech)… There were peanut butter ande jelly sandwiches floating around the party as well as milk cartons… Saw TobyMac and he kind of blew me off, but it’s okay… saw KJ again, minus the glasses… and as we were leaving, i said hello to JustMe and Ajax Starglider…

The songwriter’s showcase was pretty cool… but i’ll have to tell you about it tomorrow… i’m getting tired… and this is getting too long… no one will read it all, much less comment…

’til morrow… keep it locked…

ps. there are pictures from today, but i’m not the best at taking pictures… http://www.flickr.com/photos/40751948@N00/tags/sunday/

peace… love… bdg…

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doesn’t make too much sense to be logged on here since i’ll be boarding in about 5 minutes and my battery is draining with great speed… but hey, i felt like it and it’s a good thing i did since my last update to the frontpage messed a few things up… thankfully got that fixed up nicely and we’re all good to go again… had some nice conversation with the sardine next to me on the first leg of the flight… and i got a good start on the article… yee ha… who says that paper and pen is outdated… oh yeah, i’ll have to type it all up later… bummer…

ok… time to shut back down and get back to listening for the boarding call…

currently have a headache and i’m hungry… no counter sponsors for this segment, sorry… well… hey… maybe we’ll count Verizon since i’m using the fabulous internet card to update…

peace… love… bdg…

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Welcome to the official “theTRu: On Location” coverage of GMA Week 2007… clearly, i’ve already jumped the gun and started posting some, but to make this official… this is where i’m going to be dropping in my random notes and coverage throughout the week… this is, as they say, where the magic happens… stay tuned here for comments about the interviews i’ll be doing this week, some shows that i see, random observations and even, if all goes as planned, some guest bloggers dropping in some unique thoughts for your reading pleasure…

here’s to a good week… keep it locked…

peace… love… bdg…

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Sitting here in the airport, ready to go… but still about an hour and a half before i can go… i remember this last year… the anticipation, the nervousness, all that fun stuff… of course, the terminal was much busier last year… there’s not much activity here save for that dude over there snoring and a couple people whose words are echoing down the hallways and reaching my ears… i’m going to try and get a bit of work done while i’m here… writing an article the old fashioned way… pen and paper, yo!… besides, i packed my laptop power supply to lighten my carry-on load… maybe not the best idea in hindsight…

Anyway… just wanted to drop a quick note to kick off this spectacular GMA Week 07 coverage here at theTRu… this segment was counter-sponsored by Caribou Coffee… kind of bitter, but it makes me feel better about myself… or something… next stop…. Charlotte (for a layover)…

peace… love… bdg…

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David tells the story of a father who loves his daughter so much that he buys her more roses than she can wrap her arms around… (hopefully, they were de-thorned)… This generous act of love drew the attention of an entire roomful of diners… and God loves us that much (and so much more)…

i think it’s pretty amazing to experience love in the purest sense… that’s what he’s describing in this chapter… it’s so amazing that you can’t even speak… there’s no words to say… there’s nothing but “wow”…

i’m fortunate enough to have two little boys who wow me with their love just about every day… as they innocently charge across the room to welcome me home or bid me well as i head off to work… and then when i see them peacefully sleeping at night, i know i’m capable of that love too…

peace… love… bdg…

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According to Andrew Osenga (MySpace.com/AndrewOsenga), Caedmon’s Call now has a title and a release date for their next album. Titled (at least tentatively) Overdressed, the group’s highly anticipated return to indie-hood will release on 28 August 07 (at least tentatively).

Derek Webb has reported that one of the songs on the album is called Trouble. Derek performed this song recently at a concert and some sneaky attendee captured video footage of said performance which is now available on the ole, YouTube (Credit goes to CaedmonsCall.net for that tidbit).

Casting Crowns is back from North Korea… North Korea? yeah, that one… apparently the band was invited to participate in the 25th Annual April Spring Friendship Art Festival in Pyongyang,
D.P.R.K. According to the press release, Casting Crowns played “three standing-room-only shows
April 11-13 at the high-profile event which emphasizes artistic exchange and the promotion of peace and goodwill within the country.” Not too bad… I’ll be chatting with Casting Crowns in a few more days as part of the circus that is GMA Week…

MxPx has promised “BIG NEWS” next week via their MySpace blog… as if their recent return to Tooth and Nail Records, a new album (Secret Weapon, due out 17 July), and headlining the Tooth and Nail Tour wasn’t enough…

Rick Cua is back with a new album for you old schoolers… Kevin Max is planning to release The Blood, a gospel music album…

i’m sure that there’s much much more… but i have articles to write and miles to go before good night… miles to go before good night…

peace… love… bdg…

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yeah, so it would probably be helpful if you knew more about what i was talking about… Information on the book, a sample chapter, and purchase options are all available at http://www.gloryrevealed.com/book.php

peace… love… bdg…

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One of the big ways i thought this blog could be useful was in regards to books… i’m always reading a handful of books and it always seems to take me a long time to actually complete a full book so that i can write a review or feature about it, so now, via the blog, tagged as “Bookshelf” i can navigate the chapters of the book and you can read along and interact in some sort of a grand online book club type of thing or you can just see what i’m thinking as i go through the book…

The first book on the docket is “Glory Revealed: How the Invisible God Makes Himself Known” by David Nasser and tied into the CD that i recently features in a walkTRu, the inTRuview with David and Mac Powell and the forthcoming concert review.

The introduction shares a very common experience within the church community… being surrounded by others who seem to be getting that extra dose of closeness with God while you don’t feel a thing… instead of facing what really might be going on, you end up faking a similar experience and playing your part…

the whole notion of seeking the experience rather than seeking God really resonates with me – especially in light of the landscape of worship music these days… we do need to dig into the Bible more and, as David explains in the “How to Use This Book” section, this should be a good way to start… focus on the scriptures and see where it leads…

ready to dig into chapter one…

peace… love… bdg…

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