Archives for September 2007

Monk & Neagle “Interview,” Part Two

19 September 2007 by

(Because one post could not contain all the interview goodness.)

(Ahem.)

Also from Sara: What’s your favorite part of promoting a CD?

TM: It’s a whole new ballgame with a different label, a bigger label, but our hands-down favorite part is playing the shows. Absolutely. No matter what’s going on during the day, we can get in that box – it’s a safe place, a happy place, and we just have a ball.

from Amy: If you had to create a personal life soundtrack, what would be the first song by another artist on your CD?

TM: The Superman theme song – because that’s the first time that I was moved by music when I watched that movie. I remember listening to that song over and over and thinking, What is this? This feeling? I LIKE IT.

[lots of laughing]

MN: My two are so different. One of them would be “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2. And the other would be “Country Roads” by John Denver – my dad used to play it. My dad would pull his guitar out, and that was the only song he knew.

So what’s your favorite song right now?

TM: There are a couple of songs I love by an artist named Feist. I don’t even know the names – but it’s great. Good stuff.

MN: Mine has to be James Morrison. So good. He’s great. And Snow Patrol has been a band the last couple of years that I can just put on and listen to all the way through.

So if you could see anybody perform live, who would it be?

TM&MN: U2!

MN: I just really, really want to see them before they’re done. I feel this urgency all the sudden.

Well, he’s a superstar.

MN: I wanna see them really bad.

TM: We HAVE to see them.

from JP’s Mom: Can you tell us a little bit about your testimony?

MN: I grew up in church – and was 19 when I became a Christian. My youth pastor was really instrumental in my life. And it’s really been in the last three years a friend of mine from Alabama has taught me the true meaning of accountability; I’ve really been on quest [to go deeper in my faith], to seek God and love Jesus – learning how to walk out my faith.

TM: When I was a little kid my grandmother would read Bible verses to me and take me to camp meetings. I think I understood a little bit as a kid, but I went through a stage of rebellion. I really, really fell in love with the Lord after that time – shortly after my brief attempt at college. I got plugged in with my home church again, and I had a youth pastor who really poured into our lives.

Are y’all at the same church?

MN: We were then.

So is that how you started singing together?

TM: Yeah. There was a little college group, and we would learn a couple of worship songs. I played a little Casio keyboard – we were horrible.

MN: We would lead worship at women’s Bible studies until they just kicked us out.

from Holly: Were you Monk & Neagle right away? Or did you have some different names?

TM: Well, there was always something special when we would sing together. And when we were leading home group we would throw around band names.

MN: I remember In Bed By Eleven.

Good one.

TM: Another one was Propane-Powered Bottle Rockets.

Oh, EXCELLENT.

Are you still completely blown away by the fact that you get to minister to people through music?

TM: Oh, everyday. It’s amazing. Part of the joy of doing this is – when we hear stories, man? We always have fun, but when we hear people tell stories about different songs, it just blows my mind that God would use us like this.

So when you were playing your little Casio keyboard, did you ever think you would get to go on the road for real?

MN: There’s a little pond south of Amarillo, and we used to go out there and call it Fishin’ And Dreamin’ – with more dreamin’ than fishin’. We’d talk about doing this someday, but I don’t know if we ever thought it would happen.

That was God putting that dream on your heart.

MN: We knew there was something special – we knew there was something there.

TM: We feel blessed.

Really, I’m just so happy for y’all. I feel like you’re my younger brothers who are making it big. What will you do Tuesday with the CD coming out?

MN: We have a show in Springfield, Missouri. We actually have a show in Amarillo on Wednesday, and that’ll be sort of a homecoming – and we’ll get to see our wives and have a week off before the Mercy Me tour.

Is it easier being on these big tours more than you did when it was just the two of you on the road?

TM: I like it better because you can really get into a rhythm and a routine when you’re on the road, and that’s really good for me. I’m not really so much for the details, so the routine of the road is good for me.

MN: When it’s just the two of us, I’m kind of the one who does [the detail stuff]. But I really like having someone to do that for us. It’s nice to just be able to get on the bus and let someone else handle the details.

Y’all, this has been so cool – thank you so much for doing this. I can’t even tell you how much fun this has been.

[and then there were big hugs all around]

Filed Under: Rambling

For Your Bloggy Reading Pleasure

19 September 2007 by

This post by JMom at Lots of Scotts is great food for thought.

And this post by Kathryn at Daring Young Mom has pictures of some great food. Though that’s really not the point. Because it’ll make you think, too.

You may notice a theme of TIME MANAGEMENT in these posts.

So they hit me right where I’m living.

I’m just sayin’.

Filed Under: Bloggity Fun

A Real-Live “Interview” With Monk & Neagle

18 September 2007 by

About a week ago I emailed some questions to the Monk & Neagle boys because I wanted to do something SPESHUL to commemorate the release date of their CD. I mean, I’ve blogged about the CD at least once a week for the last two months, and it wouldn’t make much sense to abandon my obsession now that it’s finally, you know, IN STORES.

But the M&N guys were not content to do a somewhat impersonal Q&A, OH NO – and they suggested that we actually sit down and talk in person since I was going to be in my hometown for their show this past Saturday night.

I thought about it for about five seconds, said yes, and then made them promise that they would not make fun of me for my complete and utter lack of any interviewing skills whatsoever.

So what I’m saying is that I was completely professional from the get-go.

Saturday afternoon I parked around the corner from the tour buses, gathered my trusty computer and microphone (NERRRRRD!), and met Michael Neagle in person for the first time, though you’d be surprised at how comfortable you are around someone who has been playing in your car non-stop for about eight weeks running, to the point that your little boy does not know how to respond if anything different is playing and will say, “Mama! Mama! We need NICKEL NEAGLE to sing!”

Really, it’s a wonder those boys haven’t filed some sort of restraining order against me.

Oh! Here’s a tender memory for you: when Michael and I were about to walk through the theatre door, another guy was coming down the sidewalk, and Michael said, “Hey man, this is BooMama BlahBlah. BooMama, this is Shane Everett.” As we were shaking hands I realized that he was one of THE SHANES, and here is what I said:

“Hey! Good to meet I was just listening, uh, CD in car and LOVE ‘Beg’ want me sing it?”

Thank you. Thank you so much.

So for better or worse, this is my “interview” with Trent Monk and Michael Neagle, two fabulously talented guys who love the Lord and made me laugh a whole bunch.

Also: Trent drinks diet Coke.

SCORE.

Here’s part one:

[much blathering on my part about how the theatre used to be a clothing store]

[I even used the phrase “it’s a little jewel” in regard to the theatre]

[and yet they did not flee]

Do y’all hang out when you’re not on the road?

TM: We do some – but I tend to become a hermit when I’m not on the road.

MN: I do, too.

TM: We’ll do couples’ nights where we all get together.

Do your wives ever get to come on the road with y’all?

MN: They did before – they don’t anymore. They meet us sometimes – we met in Austin a couple of weeks ago.

I bet that’s hard.

TM: It can be – but God gives you grace for what He’s called you to do. Both of our wives are very strong – they’re not wilting lilies. We’ve kind of committed now to not going for more than two weeks without spending time together. In the past we’ve been on a run for six weeks and were kind of like, “Well. Hello.” when we got home. So we see each other more often now.

Now I have a few questions from “the internets,” so I’m going to run through the list, okay?

TM: Aw, I love that.

So when did y’all first start to realize that this CD is really special? Because it is, you know. So you’re not being arrogant if you say it’s special.

MN: Aw, thank you.

Well, it’s true. It’s totally special.

TM: It was in the studio when we were recording it. We’d finish a song, and we’d be so excited about it. When we finished “The Twenty First Time,” we thought, man, the Lord really did something special with this song. And then we started working on “What Soldiers Do,” and when we got that one done, we were like, MAN.

So do y’all write as you go?

MN: “Soldiers,” definitely. It started a long time ago. Trent had a melody, and he and our producer, Ed, just knew there was something special there. Trent talked to a buddy who was in the military and was getting ready to leave for thirteen months. That’s what inspired it – and in the studio we’d write, get a version done, like it, and the next day, we’d be like, Oh, it’s gotta go. We’ve gotta change it. We can do better. That was the one that was kind of the monster in the studio. We wanted to get every word right on.

And I can honestly say that with this record, and this time in our lives, I feel the hand of the Lord on [the CD].

from Veronica: Where do you strike the balance between artistic freedom and Christian faith? Are there areas of music or lyrics you want to explore but feel limited by the Christian genre?

MN: That’s a great question.

[laughing] It wasn’t mine.

TM: Well, the natural tendency is to feel that way. And we’ve always kind of been rebels in that…we’ve always written love songs and put them on the records, we’ve always wanted to tell stories. Like “Soldiers” – it’s not a worship song, it’s a story song. We’re hoping that we’re kind of pushing the boundaries out a little bit.

Well, I think part of the reason the love songs resonate so much with women is because marriage can be such a huge part of how we live our Christian faith. But you don’t hear about [marriage] a lot in Christian music.

TM: We’ve been really blessed with our label. They’ve just been very flexible – a lot of labels would have said, “No, sorry.”

MN: I think in the beginning there definitely was a wrestling with the thought of having to maybe keep things in the box. Just naturally, for me, I was in youth ministry for five years, and there was just a tendency to try to put [an overt Christian message] on everything. Even with “Soldiers” in the studio, we wrestled with it. Our producer had an idea to take the last chorus and put a twist on it…

…to spiritualize it?

MN: Yeah. And we ended up just saying, You know what? It is what it is. It’s spiritual just like it is. It doesn’t get much more real-life and heartfelt than that.

from The Preacher’s Wife: So, the internets would like to know about your wives.

TM: Like, everything?

[laughing]

TM: Well, I met my wife at our home church.

What’s her name?

TM: Sorry. I’m, uh, a little new at this. [laughing] Her name is Micah, and she’s a registered dietician who’s going to go to med school. She’s independent – very caring, very loving, and she’s a big dreamer. No kids for us yet. Really, I just love her to death. I miss her like crazy when we’re gone and love spending time with her. She’s awesome.

So sweet….

MN: My wife’s name is Rachael – I met her at a Bible study almost nine years ago. We’ve been married eight years now, and she’s actually pregnant with our first right now.

AWWWWW.

MN: [laughing] Yeah, we’re almost eighteen weeks along.

Are you going to find out if the baby’s a boy or a girl?

MN: Yeah. We actually have a sonogram scheduled in a couple of weeks. My wife is also really independent – very well-spoken, very gifted at communicating. She was teaching school – but had just quit teaching seventh grade science when we got pregnant.

You realize that your life is about to turn upside down in every good way.

MN: I know – my heart already hurts. It’s awesome.

from Sara: What’s your least favorite thing about being on the road – besides being away from your wives?

TM: We enjoy it so much – I think that if we have a really long run without a break, too much of anything is not good. You get worn out and burned out. Sometimes that happens, and you just get physically and mentally worn down. We try to find balance with that. Otherwise, I just absolutely love it.

Do you ever forget where you are?

TM: EVERY DAY. I roll out of the bunk and ask the first person I see, “WHERE ARE WE?”

MN: It’s like Groundhog Day.

Do you get to where you can sleep on the bus?

TM & MN: OH YEAH.

MN: It’s addicting. There’s this huge fan set up at the end of the aisle, and it blows in cold air from the lounge area, and you get in your little bunk and pull the curtain while that fan blows – it’s like a cave.

TM: OH, I love it.

So after a show, how long does it typically take you to wind down?

MN: A while. On the road, we’ll finish the show around 10:30, go hang out with the audience until 11:30, tear down the merchandise booth at 12:00, call our wives – that’s usually the best conversation of the day – and then we get on the bus, and everybody’s wired.

TM: We usually watch movies, watch TV – it’s usually 3 or 4 before I go to bed.

It’s like college!

TM: It IS like college. It’s like a big dorm room.

MN: You want to be up and talk about the show and have a good time – you don’t want to be in bed while everybody else is up talking and having fun.

Yeah, ’cause you might miss something.

TM: Oh, I’m definitely that guy.

I’m that girl!

(And I’ll post part two in the morning….)

Filed Under: Jesus Music

About The Podcast (And Other Matters Of Little-To-No Consequence)

17 September 2007 by

So last Thursday night Big Mama and I sat down in our respective homes and recorded another podcast.

Unfortunately, said podcast will never see the light of the interweb because it was about seventy-four different kinds of mediocre.

(And right about now you’re probably thinking, “Why, BooMama – ‘mediocre’ has never bothered you before. I mean, JUST LOOK AT YOUR BLOG!”)

(To which I say: I KNOW!)

But it’s one thing to read a mediocre post for approximately two minutes – sort of like you’re doing right now, in fact. It’s quite another thing to spend 35 or 40 minutes listening to a mediocre podcast when you could be doing infinitely more important things, like spending time with your family or cooking a delicious meal or scrutinizing your pores in a magnifying mirror while simultaneously composing a blog post in your head.

And by the way? That last option?

I wouldn’t know a thing about that.

Also.

I determined last week that there seemed to be a correlation between the onset of my writer’s block and the onset of my Semiannual Allergy Pill Extravaganza. I don’t know what it is that blooms or sheds or molts or whathaveyou in early September, but I have to take a prescription pill so that the majority of fluid in the upper half of my body doesn’t attempt to pour out of my eyes by lunchtime every single day.

So for the last couple of weeks I’ve been taking two industrial-strength pills a day and yet – because I AM A GENIUS – wondering why in the world I felt a little out of it. And why my train of thought was spotty at best. And why I was spending a considerable amount of time perfecting the light catnap at inappropriate times.

Like, for instance, when sitting in my car at a red light.

The sound of horns can be so rude, y’all.

Anyhoo, I’ve cut back on the allergy medicine for the last four or five days, and LOOK! SENTENCES! MANY SENTENCES! IN A ROW!

Well, sort of.

Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow with an extra-special interview, though I should probably say “interview,” because I don’t know if y’all have noticed, but I am not a serious journalist.

Shocking, isn’t it?

However, I did get to sit down and talk with two of my new-favoritest people in the whole wide world, and I connected a microphone to my computer, and I recorded all the questions and answers because I knew I wouldn’t remember anything otherwise. And now I’m a little afraid to listen to the “interview” file, much less transcribe it, because I have a feeling I’m going to be terribly embarrassed when I have to listen to my voice in the context of an “interview,” and there’s no question, really, that it will cause me to have some form of sinking spell.

Or perhaps to eat large quantities of peanut butter and chocolate swirled together, only not like a Reese’s, because I would really like for the chocolate-y part to be a little warm, thank you.

Filed Under: Rambling

Shane & Shane CD Giveaway

17 September 2007 by

So I knew that the latest Shane & Shane CD, Pages, was going to be pretty special when, in the two weeks before it was released, I found myself dropping by their website every single day just to listen to thirty-second snippets of the new songs.

And last week? When a copy of the CD arrived in the mail? I was blown away. The lyrics have depth and substance (chock-full-o-Truth, they are) – and the arrangements are absolutely beautiful. Not to mention the harmonies. HAVE MERCY at the harmonies.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I thought my favorite song on the CD was going to be “Beg,” and I’ll just go ahead and say that it was an excellent call on my part. I have listened to it over and over because it goes straight to our modern-day tendency to miss authentic worship by “singing praises to the things that make [us] feel all right,” even though we know that “these songs are noise in [His] ears, a clanging drum.”

In a word? Strong.

This is a challenging CD – one that doesn’t offer up pat answers or cute little Christian greeting card sentiments. Pages deals openly and honestly with struggles and questions that every believer experiences at some point – and the Shanes articulate those seasons of spiritual wrestling with reverence and wonder and awe for a God who is faithful and worthy to be praised.

So if you’d like a chance to win one of four copies, leave a comment on this post. I’d love it if you’d check out Shane & Shane’s website so you can hear some clips of the new music, too. It’s an extraordinary CD.

I’ll leave comments on this post open until Friday, September 21.

Filed Under: Rambling

But We Must Never Speak Of The Calories

16 September 2007 by

Because you asked…

Mama’s Ice Cream Pie

1 package original Oreos
4 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 gallon Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
1 gallon Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate ice cream, slightly softened
homemade fudge sauce (recipe below)
strawberries, for garnish
fresh whipped cream, for topping

Crush package of Oreos in a food processor or with a rolling pin. Combine with sugar and butter, then press in the bottom of a Pyrex pie dish.

Sprinkle walnuts or pecans on top of crust.

Spread a layer of vanilla ice cream – about an inch thick – across the bottom of the dish. Follow with an inch-thick layer of chocolate ice cream, then another inch-thick layer of vanilla.

Which brings us to three inches of delicious ice cream goodness.

Place pie back in freezer to set.

Fudge Sauce

1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup corn syrup (we use Karo)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup half and half
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Stir together all ingredients except for vanilla extract in a saucepan. Boil five minutes, then remove from heat. Add vanilla extract. You can store the sauce in the refrigerator if you need to – just heat through before serving.

To serve, cut in wedges, garnish with a strawberry and fresh whipped cream, then drizzle about two tablespoons of fudge sauce over each slice.

You won’t even believe how good it is.

Well, yeah you will. You’ll absolutely believe how good it is. Because any sort of sauce that has cocoa, corn syrup, sugar and butter is pretty much a sure thing.

Unless you try to eat said sauce over some ham.

In which case it will probably be none too pleasing.

Filed Under: Cooking
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