I was distressed to see this article indicating that the end of King’s X could be near. In the midst of the article, bassist/vocalist Doug Pinnick makes the statement that “it’s not over until the fat lady sings, they say… well, she’s at the mic.” However, a few sentences later, he says, “we’re not done, we’re not breaking up,” so it’s a little unclear.

In the interview, Pinnick expresses his frustration over the way the band’s career has played out over the last 25 years. They have never developed a huge fan base, he says, and they have trouble getting promoters to book them for gigs. Plus, the lack of support from management and record companies have compounded the problems. It would appear that having to continuously climbing this mountain is causing the band to consider calling it a day.

I will say this - I think they’ve been one of the better bands over the last 20 years. True, they have been one of my favorites, so I’m biased, but I really believe they’ve always been underappreciated. And if they decide in the near future to throw in the towel, there will be a significant hole in the music world.

I first heard King’s X when I was just out of college, living in Memphis. For the first time in my life, I had cable that included MTV, and so I would watch it occasionally. (This was back when they actually showed music videos.) One of the videos that was getting a lot of airplay in 1990 was “It’s Love” by King’s X. After hearing it a few times, I knew I had to hear more from them, and so I purchased their latest release, Faith Hope Love by King’s X (1990). The Christian imagery in the lyrics was evident right away, and I later found out that the band members were Christians. This really made no difference to me, but they did grow a pretty decent following among Christian music fans (even though they were not in the “CCM” industry.) I loved the disc, which was their third release, and soon I also aquired their first two, Out Of The Silent Planet (1988) and Gretchen Goes To Nebraska (1989). Gretchen is still considered their best effort to date by many, and it may very well be. I was also fond of their next release in 1992 - the self-titled King’s X - and later releases Ear Candy (1996) and Tape Head (1998). Tape Head was never as big a favorite among fans, but I’ve always loved it. In contrast, their 1994 release Dogman is also considered among their best, but it was never as high on my list.

The band’s popularity seemed to fade a little more in the late 90’s, when Pinnick made the admission in an interview that he is gay - something he’d been trying to overcome all of his life, but with little support from the church - that led many Christian fans to stop supporting the band. Along with this, their post-Tape Head releases Please Come Home… Mr. Bulbous (2000) and Manic Moonlight (2001) did not do as well as past albums. (I admit they were not my favorite, either.) Then, with no real new material on their next two releases - a selection of never-before-released songs from the past on Black Like Sunday (2003), and then a live album (2004) - they may have lost even more fans. However, I thought they came back very strong last year with Ogre Tones. I felt Bulbous and Moonlight were both somewhat of a departure from what King’s X had been known for, and Ogre Tones had returned to playing the music they do best (in my opinion.) But, perhaps it was too late for some fans.

Nevertheless, King’s X has produced a great catalog of music over the years, and I will be deeply saddened to see it end sooner than it should. I’ve been a huge fan from the day I bought Faith Hope Love - 16 years now - and I’m not quite ready for it to end. I hope Doug, Ty and Jerry will be able to hold it together a little while longer. As Doug says, he still has many more songs in his head, as I’m sure Ty and Jerry do as well, and I, for one, want to hear them.

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Speaking of King’s X, I bought the self-titled King’s X album along with the U2 disc Achtung Baby, which was released around the same time. Just a little CD purchasing trivia about me. Anyway, I came across this U2 quiz which I actually did not do that well on. I only managed 14 correct out of 30, but I have only really been a big U2 fan in the last 6 or 7 years. In fact, Achtung was the only U2 disc I’d ever bought when it was released until the recent How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. (Since All That You Can’t Leave Behind was released during Napster’s heyday, I did manage to aquire it immediately, but didn’t actually purchase it until much later.) So, perhaps my score would have been better had I jumped on the U2 wagon earlier.In other music news, P.O.D.’s lead singer Sonny Sandoval is being given at least some credit for helping to popularizethe name Nevaeh. The name is now in the top 100 names for girls, having moved up the last rapidly in the last 6 years. In 1999, there were 8 girls born and given the name. In 2000, Sandoval mentioned on MTV that he’d named his daughter Nevaeh and pointed out that it was “heaven” spelled backward. Since then, the name’s popularity has skyrocketed, and in 2005, 4,457 girls born were name Nevaeh. I’m sure some viewers took note of Sonny’s comments at the time, so he may very well have inadvertantly helped advance use of the name, but I find it difficult to believe that he single-handedly caused such an increase.

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We were fortunate to see the Watoto Children’s Choir at our church on Sunday. Watoto Child Care Ministries is located in Uganda and is placing orphaned children (usually by war or disease, especially AIDS) with new families who will love them and provide for their physical and spiritual needs. Their music and dancing was great and a lot of fun, but their stories of how God has changed their lives through the Watoto ministry were even better. We were able to talk to a couple of them after their performance and, despite all they have been through, they were pretty amazing kids. There are, of course, many more that need rescuing, and that’s one of the reasons for their tours - to continue to raise money for Watoto so that the lives of even more children can be changed.

If you have an opportunity to see the choir in your area, do not hesitate to do so. You will not be disappointed. To learn more about Watoto and the choir, visit the website.

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An image of an “alien” has been spotted in an x-ray of a duck’s gizzard. The “alien x-ray” is now for sale on eBay.

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In high school and college - in other words, during the 80’s - I loved hard rock music (and I still do.) I was particularly fond of Iron Maiden (still one of my favorites) at the time, but listened to many bands - AC/DC, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Queensryche, and many more I won’t name. While I was never a huge Van Halen fan, I listened to them a lot, too.

I thought when they showed David Lee Roth the door in the mid-80’s that it was going to be the end of the band. True, their debut album was the best thing they’ve ever done, but the Roth-era albums were all pretty good. I thought Sammy Hagar could do a decent job, but it would never be the same. When 5150 was released, I actually liked that record. It was a little different, but still Van Halen, and it wasn’t bad. But it didn’t last. It is still the best they’ve done in the post-Roth era. It may have nothing to do with the absence of Roth or the presence of Hagar. Maybe they’d just run their course, regardless of who was singing. But I still say the combination of Edward’s guitar playing and Roth’s vocals and on-stage presence are what made the band go. Once they parted ways, neither was ever the same again.

So, why am I bringing this up? Well, in this article, Dave says that he believes he will once again be on stage with Van Halen. He says it’s inevitable. How hard will it be? He says it’s very simple, that (and this is a quote), “it’s not rocket surgery.” What about the hard feelings of the past? “It’s water under the dam.” You gotta love Dave. They’re way past their prime, but everyone seems to love a good reunion tour - especially when the career has been over for a long time - so I won’t be surprised to see David and Eddie back together again.

In one other music note, I just purchased tickets to the Third Day/David Crowder Band “Wherever You Are” tour, coming to here to Little Rock this fall. I was telling my wife last week how they are two bands I’d like to see (and never have), and how they’re on tour together right now, but unfortunately Little Rock is not on the schedule. Minutes later - literally - I found out this was no longer true. A pre-sale began this week and so we’ll be there when they come. I’m very much looking forward to it. And if you haven’t heard DCB’s newest A Collision, you need to as soon as possible. It’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in years.

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I cannot actually believe that this exists. Evidently it’s not a joke.  Who could think this is a good idea, and are people actually buying these?? (source: GKB)

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How Stuff Works takes a look at the science, technology, art and history of The Da Vinci Code.

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Albinos tired of being portrayed as evil in movies, and one is striking back with a parody titled The Albino Code.

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I doubt very many people are blogging about this subject, but I decided to anyway. I figure it could use the publicity. So, while you may not have heard anything about this, here’s the news: The motion picture version of The Da Vinci Code opened this past weekend.

On Saturday, I took my daughter to a birthday party at a local movie theater. Instead of this movie - which six and seven year olds would be uninterested in - they saw an animated film with talking animals, I believe (that’s a safe guess - most kids films are animated and feature talking animals). What I got to see, though, was a group of local folks (whom I assumed to be Christians) picketing the theater. I didn’t get to see many of the signs, and the only one I can remember contained the “blasphemy” written in large red letters. I suspected that this was due to the theater showing The Da Vinci Code, and not the talking animals movie. And they weren’t even anywhere near the theater. I suppose the theater dictated where they were allowed to congregate, and it was at the far edge of the parking lot, away from the primary entrances. Therefore, not a lot of people were seeing their signs to begin with. The theater is new since I lived here before, and I’ve only been there once before, and thus the only reason I saw them at all is because I made wrong turn.

I acknowledge that I’m not really the boycott or picketing type. I just don’t believe that it often does any good, and possibly does harm. I seriously doubt that there were very many people who, on their way to see the movie, saw the people with the signs and changed their mind. My opinion is that they might better have served those they were attempting to turn away by either reading the book or seeing the movie, and then discussing with others why they believe Dan Brown - the author of the novel The Da Vinci Code - is wrong.

If you’ve read the book - as I did couple of years ago - it’s easy to see from the opening page that while Brown wrote a fiction book, he actually believes that what he is writing about is based on fact. He believes it’s true. Now, in my opinion, it was not a particularly great book. Not because I disagree with what Brown espouses in the book, but because large chunks of it were pretty boring. It appears Brown wrote down what he believes, and then wrote in a few characters to state those beliefs, then threw in a little action around it. Basically, it was a series of lectures, with some “bad guys chasing the good guys” thrown in to break up the monotony. I’m convinced had it not been controversial, we would have never heard of it. But what Brown writes about in the book is not simply fiction to be easily dismissed - it’s what Brown believes and, evidently, people are believing him. That seems like reason enough to leave the picketing behind and try to talk to people about it instead.

As for the movie itself, I expected a lot. With Ron Howard behind a film, you expect good things. You think of Apollo 13 or A Beautiful Mind. With Tom Hanks starring in a film, you also expect good things. You think of Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan. With both of them together, I would expect very good things (although I never have been a huge fan of Splash.) Nevertheless, when you have an international best-seller that sold millions of copies, and one of the best directors and best actors out there involved, you have high expectations. My thought was that maybe these two can do more with the film than Brown did with the book.

But, so far, it appears I may have been wrong. The film has not been receiving great reviews. Evidently, laughter could be heard among viewers at the Cannes Film Festival during scenes which were not intended to be humorous. I’ve never been one to pay a lot of attention to movie critics, but even when critics give negative reviews, it’s not often that you also hear that they were laughing out loud during dramatic scenes. That just can’t be a good sign.

One story stated that the movie would need to do well since the first two “blockbusters” for this summer have not. According to this article, Poseidon - which is a remake - apparently fell short of expectations during it’s opening week. And, not surprisingly, Mission Impossible III did as well. This movie had two black marks against it - it’s got “III” in the title, and it stars Tom Cruise, whom I believe the general public sees as more of a nut every day. But it appears that Da Vinci did have the biggest weekend opening of the year. I’m not sure if it met the expectations or not, but I guess if you’re the best of the year so far, that’s something.

Many people are asking Christians if they’ll see the film.  As for me, yes, I will.  Regardless of not-so-great reviews and the fact that I didn’t think the book was very good, either, I will see the movie eventually. Anytime I read a book and it becomes a film, I like to see it (unless the book was exceptionally bad.) However, I plan to wait for a DVD or cable rental, instead of paying much more at the theater. Since I’ve read the book, I already know the story, so I’m not in a big hurry to see the film. There are only a handful of movies I’m willing to pay more than a few bucks to see. I’m just not convinced that The Da Vinci Code is one of them.

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Today was the last day of school for my daugther. I visited chapel again this morning, as the last day is also “Awards Day.” She recieved the “Reading Award” for her class. I was very proud of her. She just finished first grade and is reading at nearly a third grade level. And, as one who loves to read, I am glad that she is doing so well in that area. I hope that she will continue to value reading much more than I did while growing up, and that she will always be a reader. I avoided reading anything that was not necessary as a child and student. I even bought the occasional CliffsNotes in college literature classes. I would usually do whatever I could to read less.

I can only recall really enjoying reading two books during my high school years (I don’t recall any from my college years.) One was George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, which we read in my senior English class in high school. I actually remember very little about it 21 years later, but I do remember I liked it at the time. The other book, which I was also required to read in that class, became my favorite fiction book of all time - Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill A Mockingbird. (We also watched the movie that year, starring Gregory Peck, and it is one of my favorite movies as well. I think Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch is one of the greatest performances in all of cinematic history. He was just oustanding.) Due to my love of the movie as well, I’ve never actually read the book a second time. I own a copy and have wanted to for years, but never have. It’s easier to find a couple of hours to watch a movie than it is to find the time to read the book.

It would be a while, however, before I would find more to read and enjoy. As I said, I tried to avoid reading more than necessary in my literature classes in college. It wasn’t until I was out of college and on my own that I actually began to read regularly. I had begun listening to a lot of “contemporary Christian music” as I ended my college career, and so I began visiting Christian book stores more often in search of new music. This led to also checking out the books on occasion and various titles would catch my eye. Since then I’ve read many books, and found many authors who I love to read - people like Philip Yancey, Ken Gire, Brennan Manning, Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker, and, more recently, Don Miller and Erwin McManus. I have many more books that I want to read - shelves full, in fact. It seems these days it gets harder and harder to find the time, but I’ve still got a long list I’m looking to get to as soon as I can.

I hope to find a little extra time here and there this summer to do more reading, and continue to encourage my daughter to do the same. Her school sent home a “summer reading challenge” in which her teacher encouraged her to participate. She will need to read a certain number of books over the summer to complete the challenge. She was not terribly excited about it at first - I think the idea of having “homework” over the summer was not appealing. But I anticipate she’ll do great and enjoy it as the weeks go by. I’m challening myself, as well, to finish a book every two weeks. I love to read, but read too slow at times, and I’m trying to pick up the pace (and felt a book per week was too much to ask of myself). So, we’ll see if I can meet my own challenge as well. Maybe I’ll even find time to squeeze in To Kill A Mockingbird along the way.

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With all of the Da Vinci Code hype this week, I was going to try to write something about it and may do so in the next couple of days.  However, in the meantime, I want to mention this: I’m beginning to believe that hollywood is simply running out of ideas. It seems in the past 10 years or so every third movie released is a remake. That is probably overstating it, and maybe there really haven’t been that many, but it sure seems like it. I noticed recently that yet another one opened up last week in Poseidon, which, of course, is a remake of the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. Now, maybe this will be a great film (although I doubt it), but can’t these people come up with something new every now and then?

There’s been a string of remakes in recent years, including Red Dragon in 2002, a remake of a great film from 1986, Manhunter. That’s only 16 years, and the first film was very good. Why was it remade, and so soon? Was it that they wanted all three Hannibal Lecter films to star Anthony Hopkins, and since he wasn’t in the original, they remade it? It makes no sense to me. Others include King Kong (again), The Amityville Horror, Ocean’s 11, and two starring Denzel Washington in the same year - The Manchurian Candidte and Man On Fire, both in 2004. Most of these are less than 30 years old, and it seems to me that if a film is that young (and especially those that are less than 20 years old), that it’s too soon to remake it - even if the original was really bad.

I’m sure there are many more I could list, but the most egregious remake mistake in my opinion is the recent remake of The Longest Yard. Now, I’ll admit it - I haven’t seen the new version. But the 1974 original starring Burt Reynolds was great and just simply did not need to be remade. I’ve always loved that movie and have (thus far) refused to see the new one simply because I feel it is unnecessary and should not exist. Plus, the fact that it stars Adam Sandler and Chris Rock - guys who are only funny for short periods of time - is a huge negative, too. They’re fine for SNL skits, but they can’t quite pull it off in full-length movies, or at least haven’t proven it yet if they can.

I hope that, in the near future, Hollywood can find a handful of people to come up with some original (and good) ideas before we have no new movies to watch, but only newer versions of films we’ve already seen.

(Perhaps at another time I’ll comment on how they also can’t seem to stop releasing bad films based on old television shows, like Starsky & Hutch and The Dukes of Hazzard. This is really uncalled for.)

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