i sang for people: here's the update.

remember when i told you about how i was going to do something scary and i was going to sing in front of people?

well that has come and passed and you know what, it wasn't nearly as terrifying as i thought it would be. it was actually pretty fun.

see i wrangled a friend who knows how to play guitar into helping me (since i don't know how to play guitar, don't worry, it's on the new year's resolution list) and we practiced some christmas tunes and showed up on a rainy december morning to play for a handful of people who were all either drinking coffee and chatting with loved ones, knitting, or having a bible study. we did all covers (i'm not ready to completely wear my heart, emotions, and soul on my sleeve with my own tunes just yet) and only screwed up once or twice, which i am totally blaming on my singing partner.

it reminded me how much i love creating music. i used to perform with my high school orchestra and i loved concert nights. and even though these songs weren't something i had penned myself it was still this sense of rightness when performing them.

so i will continue on in music even though i may not have the best voice and despite the fact that i'm not the most naturally musically inclined because it is something that fills my heart with joy. it feels like where i am supposed to be, even when it takes getting over myself to get there.

"far better to fail at building a magnificent world than succeed in monochromatic survival." -jon foreman

xo

top 20

recently i was asked to write my top 20 christian album releases of 2012.
so here they are, in no particular order (because let's be honest, i can't decide who gets first in this race):

·      Paper Route- “The Peace of Wild Things”= One of those albums that is straight-up captivating.

·      Future of Forestry- “Young Man Follow EP”= I was tardy to the party with Future of Forestry but I am a fan now because of this EP.

·      The Classic Crime- “Phoenix”= Crafty writing and driven beats garner this release a spot in the top 20.  And ‘Glass Houses’ has a sing-a-long part!

·      The Wedding- “No Direction”= Their first full-length in years, it was worth the wait.

·      NEEDTOBREATHE- “Keep Your Eyes Open EP: Songs from The Reckoning Sessions”= I love their recordings, I love them live, so obviously I would love a live recording.

·      Capital Kings- “I Feel So Alive”= It’s fun. And dancey.

·      Stomptown Revival- “Stomptown Revival EP”= It has harmonica, I mean come on.

·      Brandon Heath- “Blue Mountain”= The first track, ‘The Harvester,’ is what got this album on the list.

·      Write This Down- “Lost Weekend”= Such a solid sophomore release, gritty and raw and perfectly imperfect.

·      Britt Nicole- “Gold” = She sounds a little more grown-up, and a little more polished. And she got Lecrae to join her on a track, don’t worry, it works.

·      Anberlin- “Vital”= Stephen Christian and Co. are really good at hitting the nail on the head.

·      Owl City- “The Midsummer Station”= With the summer anthem ‘Good Time’ and unexpected songs like ‘Silhouette’ it nabs a spot.

·      Summertime Dropouts- “Rewind”= A sparkling new band with a sparkling new pop-punk summer soundtrack.

·      Love Out Loud- “Catch Me If You Can” = If Owl City, Family Force 5, and Relient K got together and had a baby it would be this album.

·      Benjamin Dunn and the Animal Orchestra- “Fable”= Unabashedly Christian, not a drop of cheesy.

·      Heath McNease- “The Weight of Glory”= Making an album inspired by the works of C.S. Lewis could go horribly wrong or horribly right, in this case it was the latter.

·      From Indian Lakes- “Able Bodies”= I just like these fellas.

·      Josh Anderson- “All the Little Things”=He’s like a rough Jon Foreman, I’m for it.

·      Dave Barnes- “Stories To Tell” =Sometimes you just want a solid pop album from a talented singer-songwiter.

·      Honorable mention: House of Heroes- “Cold Hard Want” = I have heard so many great things about this album but have yet to really spend time with it, my fault. 

here's to a 2013 filled with great jams!

xo 

oh be careful little pen what you write.

semantics are important. words, i'm a fan of 'em. there are certain words i won't say because i don't like the way they feel in my mouth or i just think they sound ugly. and they aren't even bad words!

because i am such a fan of words i hate cheap rhymes/dumb phrases in songs. train is super guilty of this crime (but i still love them). ed sheeran wrote one that i hated so much i tweeted it (and he's "ginger Jesus"). even jon foreman has written a rhyme that i could have written (and i expect more out of him, we all know how much i adore him).
so here are some lyrics that i wasn't thrilled with and how these same people completely redeemed themselves:

train: well let's just say there are a TON of awful lyrics from the pen of pat monahan but we'll stick with a famous one, "but my heart is 'bout to beat right out my untrimmed chest." redemptive lyric: "in a world where what we want is only what we want until it's ours." 

ed sheeran: out of his first single here in the states we get this gem, "but lately her face is slowing sinking, crumbling like pastries." redemptive lyric: "all i want is the taste that your lips allow."

jon foreman: this one hurts me more than you will ever know, "i want to thrive and not just survive." (added note on this one, i don't disagree with the content i just feel like he can write SO MUCH BETTER than this). redemptive lyric: "if it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love."

so i think the valuable lesson we have all learned here is to think twice before you write a song that will go on to gain you popularity and bring you monetary gain because i might not like it and blog about it.

xo

mistakes and learning.

i am a firm believer in the idea that you never stop learning.
it's not always book or classroom learning.
often we learn from making mistakes.
recently i learned that if you are going to take pictures with cookies featuring the faces of your favorite band boys expect them to be seen by the band boys.

*if you have no idea what i am talking about, scroll back to earlier this year and read the story about how my roommates are wonderful people.*

my one roommate decided that she was going to the music with a mission tour in a town a couple of hours away. i didn't end up going. what i didn't know was that icon for hire was on that tour. not a huge icon for hire fan but i am a fan of their drummer. or rather, i'm a fan of his huge biceps. so that is what i put as the caption when i took a picture with my "adam" cookie and put it up on facebook. i know, i'm a real class act.

see? super classy.

while at the show my roommate decided to show adam the picture of me holding the cookie with his face rosie-the-riveter-style. i know my muscles are super impressive but it's probably really awkward to see a picture with your face on a cookie being held by a girl you have never met.
they then proceeded to take a picture of him balancing her phone (with my cookie picture on it) on his bicep. now i'm the one who's awkward.

but look at those biceps! 

but then i figured he already knows that i'm weirdly obsessed so i friended him on facebook. now we're friends and you know if i meet him someday that i will straight up tell him that i'm "that girl who had the cookie with your face on it" because clearly i don't learn from my mistakes.

xo

"but i don't run...."

i'm not a runner. i don't like being sweaty and i don't like hearing the sound of my own breathing.
a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if i'd be in his music video. i said, "of course! that sounds like so much fun!" without actually knowing what the video shoot would consist of. i assumed i would be a blurry extra in the background that you would see for a half of a second and i was psyched for it.
after a couple of texts back and fourth and one phone call i learned i would be one of the more major characters in the story of the video. alright.
i found an outfit i thought would work and then just waited nervously until the day of the shoot finally arrived.
i showed up to the set just before the sun came up and was then informed that majority of the shoot would consist of us running through the woods. awesome.
filled with adrenaline i was sure i could take on anything and besides we were just doing short sprints, it's not like we were running miles at a time, i can handle short sprints.
well, actually, i can't. see i could have handled it if we had been running on flat (or even semi-flat) ground. but no, we were running through woods. like legitimate woods, no trails. and i think we hit a bog or two? i don't even know i just know that i struggled. majorly.
so in the video there were people that were supposed to die so at various points they were told to fall. i was one of the lucky characters that was supposed to live, therefore i didn't need to fall. BUT I FELL MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE.
seriously, first shot, started running, five steps in i hit a random hole in the ground. girl down. two shots later i fell again. and this wasn't a cute little trip and stumble this was a full on face plant, body sprawled in the overgrown, thorny brush kind of fall. after some "big group" running shots we started doing smaller shots of two people at a time. when i was up it was just me and a rather attractive guy i had just met that day who were supposed to run. it was a pretty thick part of the woods and my foot caught a root. i was stopped by my face hitting a tree. the dear boy behind me managed to not trip over my flailing body for which i was thankful. best part: they were filming that part in slow motion and in the playback you could see my head bounce off the tree branch. second best part: everyone laughed at me. everyone.
at the end of the day i walked away with numerous scratches and sore legs and we aren't even finished with the video yet. but never fear, i will be back for part II, i won't let a scrape on the cheek and public humiliation stop me. 

xo

dirty pretty.

music festivals are where all the pretty boys congregate. this is not even close to an exaggeration, seriously, i think they all call each other and tell each other to be there.
so, as an appreciator of beauty, i am a big fan of music festivals.
it just so happened to be the first night of a festival when i spotted a pretty boy. he walked by, i looked at my roommate and said, "i don't hate it."
i kept seeing him throughout the weekend (helped that he wore the same shirt all weekend, what can i say, i'm a sucker for "dirty pretty") and eventually figured out what band he was in. HUGE bummer, he's in a band that i am really not a fan of and wasn't planning on going to their show.
but i decided to lay aside my dislike for a half an hour and catch part of their set. the show was about as mediocre as i expected but he did a fine job and and looked real handsome while doing it.

i may have stolen this off of his instagram account. 

so after 3 days of seeing him around and being sleep deprived and overly caffeinated i got ballsy and walked up to him, introduced myself, and told him i thought he was pretty.
he threw his head back and laughed and then gave me a hug. and then, when i wanted nothing more than to turn and walk away, he proceeded to have a ten minute conversation with me. he asked my name (since clearly he wasn't listening the first time i said it) and when i told him it was sara he said, "like the dinosaur in land before time" and i said "yeah, but spelled differently" and he asked if i was an "h" or "no h" and i said "no h" and he said "that is what i would have guessed" and i said "yep, it's pretty unbiblical" and he said to friend him on facebook and we made random other small talk and i finally made my exit.
3 days later i found him on facebook and friended him and my instant attraction started to fade. see, it's not that he's a bad person or into questionable stuff, we just have virtually NOTHING in common. he's super into eating healthy (i really like chips and diet coke), he's really into dinosaurs (i should have known from the land before time comment), and he framed a star wars comic to hang on his wall (this was really the nail in the coffin).
so i highly doubt we are going to get married and adopt babies together but i can still think he's pretty, right?

xo

lists.

lists. in my generation of twitter and shortening attention spans they are so handy!
i was recently asked to write a list about the top 25 most influential christian albums of all time. holy buckets that is difficult. but i plowed ahead and did the best i could leaving off some albums i know others would have added but this is my list so shush. these are in absolutely no particular order

·      Business Up Front, Party in the Back by Family Force 5- These boys brought us crunk.

·      Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth by Rich Mullins- “Awesome God,” need I say more?

·      She Must and Shall Go Free by Derek Webb- He toes the line, he swears, and I like it.

·      The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot- The album where Christians cried the band sold out because it got mainstream airplay and Jon Foreman solidified himself as one of the best lyricists of our time.

·      Step Up to the Microphone by the Newsboys- the first album featuring the fab five as the Newsboys should be: Peter Furler, Phil Joel, Jody Davis, Duncan Phillips, Jeff Frankenstein.

·      My Forever by He Is We- A ridiculously sing-able album and there isn’t one song about purity (not that singing about purity is bad, I am just sick of that being the target market for female singers).

·      Phenomenon by Thousand Foot Krutch- “Rawkfist” crossed over into mainstream and did that polished rock thing really well.

·      Ocean Eyes by Owl City- Hello, electronica made for a wide audience.

·      Heart In Motion by Amy Grant- My very first CD. She got herself pretty much shunned from the Christian community but we’ve accepted her back. I think.

·      Almost There by MercyMe- When you’ve got a blatantly, contemporary Christian song (“I Can Only Imagine”) being played on top 40’s radio it has to make the list.

·      Beyond Belief by Petra- Classic rock that inspired many of the artists that inspire today. And John Schlitt can still work a crowd.

·      Rehab by Lecrae- Good rap/hip-hop was not easy to find in the Christian market until Lecrae and the 116 Clique came along.

·      The Outsiders by NEEDTOBREATHE- The album that took them from being a great band to a phenomenal band. Hey, Taylor Swift noticed.

·      MuteMath by MuteMath- They were progressive way before they were ever on the Twilight soundtrack.

·      Jesus Freak by DC Talk- Can we all just go ahead and agree that this one is on the list without having to talk about why?

·      Do You Feel? by The Rocket Summer- The one-man wonder under the moniker “The Rocket Summer” shows his chops and his heart.

·      The Silver Cord by The Classic Crime- It’s raw and honest and has lines like, “There’s more glory to been seen and savored through suffering than ever was through self-serving escape.”

·      Who We Are Instead by Jars of Clay- The band that changed their sound on almost every album. This was my favorite…though If I Left the Zoo was pretty great too.

·      Comatose by Skillet- This is one where they honed their sound. Unfortunately, they haven’t expanded much beyond since.

·      Young Love by Mat Kearney- He has a style all his own and this album is exploding like none of previous albums have.

·      Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars- Longtime Christian artist Joy Williams paired with John Paul White to produce a stripped-down, haunting release that reminds us we don’t always need bells and whistles.

·      To Hell With the Devil by Stryper- Yellow and black. Hair metal. And a Stryper t-shirt was seen in the movie “Whip It” so there’s that.

·      Who Can Know It by Showbread- Their first album on Come&Live! and they did a Kickstarter before Kickstarter was the thing to do.

·      Anatomy of Tongue in Cheek by Relient K- They endeared themselves to 14 year old girls everywhere with witty lyrics that were, well, tongue in cheek. And now Matt Thiessen writes for Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, and Owl City.

·      The Peace of Wild Things by Paper Route- This one just released but it’s got all the ingredients of a “this is such a classic album.” It’s the influencer for future artists.

which albums are on your list?

xo 

you don't know unless you try.

sometimes you have to do things that scare you. how do you grow if you never do anything that makes you nervous? how do you know what you're capable of if you never push yourself? how do you reach your full potential if you don't give it a good old-fashioned try?
so i am going to be doing something that scares me witless.
something that makes my insides flip.
you know that feeling where you're pretty sure you're going to pass out, or throw up, or maybe both at the same time?
that's what singing in front of people does to me.
but i am going to do it.
i have enlisted the help of a friend who plays guitar and sings ("band" is his day job so he's real used to being onstage and in the spotlight) so i won't be flying completely solo. we are going to be doing obscure covers and christmas songs.
so mark your calendars: dec. 15th @ silverwood park cafe.
here's to doing scary things.

xo

if you're a five iron fan i would suggest not reading this post.

as a lover all music there isn't much i don't like but there is one genre that i can't really stand. it's called ska.
never got into the supertones, the insyderz, the w's, or five iron frenzy.

horns and guitar= i don't like.

as many people know five iron recently did a kickstarter and got back together. the hearts of all the used-to-be-awkward-teens-now-mid-twentysomethings cheered.
so they put out an album (or maybe they're still working on it??? i don't know, again, i really don't care for ska) and booked a couple of shows. much to the delight of a couple of my roommates, one of their scheduled shows was at lifelight. yay.

one of the most intruiging things about five iron frenzy is that their frontman, reese roper, refuses to sign anything. he says he doesn't want it to be about him, he wants it to be about God.
well that's wonderful, i say!
but here's the catch: he is a COMPLETE showboat onstage. i caught a good portion of their show at lifelight and here are just some of the "God-glorifying" antics that happened during that show:

-he just ran circles around and around the trapset
-someone threw a potato onstage, he took a huge bite and spit it on the front row
-he ripped the head off a pinata with his teeth

the entire show seemed to be all about reese roper. i actually can't even remember if he mentioned God, or Jesus, or even loving people at all. maybe he did, but it was in passing and completely outshined by flying potato and the fact that you could tell he was totally winded because he isn't 25 anymore and hasn't toured in years.

i'm all for crazy stage antics and having a good time and putting on a great show (not that i think spitting food on a crowd is a great show but you get my point) but then don't turn around and say that you won't sign the the t-shirt you are selling for profit because it's really all about Jesus when ten minutes ago it was clearly all about you. i wouldn't even care as much if he didn't sign if the whole set was filled with worship music, prayer, and words that truly brought attention to the Lord but to be a complete attention-hog onstage and then refuse to sign afterwards is totally bull.

i'm sure in person reese is a real nice guy. i heard he had a big hand in a church plant. i truly believe that he does care about lost souls.

but cut the crap, reese, and sign a dang poster.

xo

14 years in the making.

phil joel touched my shoulder.
eek!
i know as a 26 year old i should not be so enamored with a married father of 2 but the man captured my heart with flowing locks and bass when i was 12 and when i fall, i fall hard.
so take the adoration from my 12 year old self and fast forward to lifelight 2012. my first love was playing multiple times on multiple stages. jackpot. terra (a friend who knows more of my secrets than i am comfortable with) and i hit up the coffee house show with some friends who are considering starting a side-project band called, 'phil joel's lips'.
the show was intimate and incredible. peter furler joined phil for a couple songs, playing the drums and singing backup. two men who seemed untouchable to me as a teenager were suddenly 20 feet from me with nothing but a strategically placed folding table as a barrier.
after the show phil graciously decided to do an impromptu meet and greet right then and there.
this.was.my.chance.
i got in line with nothing for him to sign but a question that i wanted to ask. see, he was playing a late night worship session later that night and in all the times i have seen him play i have never heard him play his song, "resolution" (track 10 off his sophomore album, 'bring it on'). while it's not really a worship song i just wanted to know if he was going to play it during the worship session because i love it and it could be worship-y.

the next band was warming up/soundchecking and it was getting difficult to converse, this is how the conversation went:
phil: hello.
me: hi. i was just wondering if you were going to play "resolution" tonight?
phil: (leans in and places his hand on my left shoulder) i'm sorry, what?
me: i was just wondering if you were going to play "resolution" tonight?
phil: (blank look) that's a fun song, huh?
me: (puzzled) yeah....so you're not planning on playing it then?
phil: no, i don't think i have ever played that song.
me: (super puzzled) okay? (smiles, walks away).

clearly, he had no idea what i was talking about or the fact that i was talking about a song that he, himself, had penned. it hurt my heart a little. i just had the most un-magical encounter with a fellow i had wanted to meet for years. i wanted him to say, "well i wasn't planning on playing that but i will. just for you, sara." maybe we'd hug and become facebook friends. but all i got was confusion and a blank stare.
well that and a shoulder touch.

xo

fun.

i really appreciate fun.
i'm talking the band here. i mean, i appreciate having fun as well but the band fun. is quickly becoming a consistent spin in my car to and from work. the album is made up of a ton of different sounds but is still wonderfully cohesive. it's delightful.
one song, however, breaks my heart every time it plays.
track 9.
one foot.
the second verse goes a little something like this:

I happened to stumble upon a chapel last night
and I can’t help but back up when I think of what’s happens inside.
I got friends locked in boxes and no way to live.
But you call it a sin isn’t up to them.
After all, I thought we were all Your children.
But I will die for my own sins thanks a lot,
we’ll raise up ourselves thanks for nothing at all.
So get up off the ground for our fathers who are nothing but dust now.

i fear it was christians who hurt the writer of such sad lyrics, not Christ. i am afraid it was a well-meaning christian who condemned rather than loved. who pointed fingers instead of extending grace. who felt it was their place to judge in order to save when saving isn't our job in the first place. maybe i'm wrong. i hope i am.
one thing i do know is that i feel compelled to pray for them whenever i hear "one foot."
i will probably never meet them but i hope that someone who meets them is able to show them the true face of Christ.
'cause you can't raise yourself up, fun.

xo

word vomit. it never ends.

so i know the last post claimed wisdom with age but apparently age doesn't create a filter (i'm telling you, the fact that i've been alive 26 years makes zero difference). here are two more short stories of the times i've said idiotic things to boys holding instruments:

the classic crime just came through town  first time in two and a half years. their new album came out and i just absolutely love them. i literally walked into matt macdonald (lead singer) on my way into the club but managed to just smile and say, "hi." i thought to myself, "woohoo you didn't embarrass yourself, win!" and then went on to enjoy the show. after the show i was standing around chatting with a friend and mr. macdonald came out onto the floor. we made eye contact and because of some disorder in my brain, BAM, word vomit. it started off alright and then quickly went downhill, "thanks for writing songs that matter. also, maybe this sounds really fan girl but i just love your blog and think you have really great things to say. sorry, you can go sign stuff for people now." it's like i have no clue what social appropriateness is. he was kind enough to at least pretend to be touched by my words and thanked me for reminding him that he needed to blog again.

this next story is almost worse because i have met this fellow before and he lives in the same state as i do and we have some mutual friends. oh yeah, and i sang gang vocals on his cd. but i don't really know him. so a few weeks back i went to the summertime dropouts concert. after the show i promptly walked up to the bassist, we'll call him steve, and said, "this probably isn't appropriate to say to a twenty-something year old dude but i just think you're real precious." and the fact of the matter is, i can't deny any part of that. i can't deny that i said it and i can't deny that i think it's true. i do think he's precious. he responded by saying that he'd never been called precious before and that his daddy didn't raise no punk, which was ironic since he's in a pop-punk band.

xo

older and wiser.

in past years my summers have been filled with music festivals (generally between 3 and 4), this year i have attended one day of one festival.
ashamed.
i mean, i made it count. i watched multiple shows, including some bands i hadn't seen before. i got ridiculously sunburned. i sang my little heart out. but i still only went to one day when in years past i would have given my front teeth to be there the entire time.
now i wasn't exceptionally bothered by this until i got a text from a friend basically calling me old. i texted said friend during the switchfoot show because we have a long history of a mutual love of switchfoot (literally one day during lunch in high school we talked about one song the entire hour). i gave my friend guff for not being there and friend responded by asking if i was in the pit. i said i was down front but by the soundboard, not in the way-front getting elbowed by 14 year old girls. the text back, "yeah, we're not made for that anymore."
i wanted to be mad. i wanted to argue. i wanted to say something snarky and prove my friend wrong by shoving myself to the front. but truth of it is, my friend is right. i would now much rather be able to hear and see the show as opposed to fighting to keep my spot the whole time while i'm face-to-sweaty-armpit with some tall dude who doesn't realize (or maybe he just doesn't care) that i can't see a blasted thing. and it's a pretty great thing being able to leave a show knowing that if you're sweaty, it's only your sweat on you.
so as we come upon the end of the summer and the final festivals of the season you'd better believe that i'm going to the entirety of lifelight in south dakota. i will soak up all the music i have missed out on this summer. i will give a solid attempt at getting some fading summer sun before the cold winter greys rear their frigid head. and i will sing until my throat is raw.
you can find me back by the soundboard.

xo

i'm a writer?

i have never once thought of myself as a writer...despite the fact that i have this trusty little blog here. maybe it's because i never had a diary that i wrote all my secrets in as a melodramatic teen? maybe it's because i never got to write about the stuff i actually cared about in school? when i went on internship and had to keep a journal of my experiences it dang near killed me.
but one of the most fun (and challenging) things i have gotten to do recently is write.
weird, huh?
the end of last year i thought it would be just fantastic if i were able to contribute somehow to a music website. i frequent a few different sites often looking for news on bands for the radio. so i emailed the head of one of those sites asking if they needed any help or if there was anything i could do. he responded saying they needed more album reviewers. i said, "sounds great!" so for the past few months i have been reviewing albums and writing my "professional" opinion about them.
it has been a ton of fun: i've gotten the chance to hear new albums before they are released and when the album is awesome it's super easy to write about.
it has been super challenging: critiquing an album is not as easy as one might think. and i know musicians develop a think skin but it still isn't easy to be the one that says, "this kinda sucks."
if you care at all to see the reviews (and one interview, woot) that i've done, all my reviews are stored here: http://www.indievisionmusic.com/reviews-by-author/?reviewauthor=9295   
OR
if you just want to keep up-to-date on what's happening in the christian music world make sure to check out www.indievisionmusic.com on a regular basis...it's got good stuff!

xo

this is sappy but we'll call it poetic.

there are few bands that still make me fall head-over-heels in love with live shows over and over again.

i mean, i always love going to shows but there are few bands that just completely captivate you for the entire show. the ones that make your pulse beat a little faster when they take the stage. the ones that strike one chord and a huge, cheeky smile appears on your face and doesn't leave until the next morning, hours after the show is done. the ones that leave everything on the stage; their hearts, their souls, their sweat. the ones that don't need extravagant pyrotechnics and moving stage pieces to put on a killer show (though don't get me wrong, i appreciate fireworks and spinning drum kits every now and again).
these are the bands that remind me that music is where my heartbeat lives.

photo credit: kristina c.

thanks, switchfoot.

xo

one of those days.

it's days like today (summery, hot, and i know there are festivals going on) that make me want to be on the road so bad i can taste it.
it's not that i don't enjoy my job, i do! not necessarily the administrative-desk-work-type-stuff but i get to dig around for new bands/artists, write reviews about albums that are coming out, and play dj on the radio so i realize my job is pretty rad and i am super thankful that i get to be the one that does it,
but...
there's a part of me that has wanted to be on the road since i was 12 and no matter what i do i just can't get her to shut up. so i need to get my butt in gear because i'm sick of waiting for my lead singer in a tour bus (my version of a knight on a white horse) to come rescue me from life in an office.

"decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it" -bill cosby

xo

movin' on up, to the (north)east side.

i like change. i need change. i think it's exciting. it keeps me sane.

there is change in the wind.

our house (the upper duplex that my roommates and i inhabit) has been affectionately called "the rockplex" since we moved in back in fall of 2010. this week the rockplex is moving! okay, not our physical house but the four of us girls are leaving our current residence in south minneapolis and are moving to northeast.

we've found a house that has four bedrooms (no more sharing!!! as a 26 year old with more clothes than necessary this is stellar news), is set up much better for hosting guests (generally of the band persuasion), and is directly across the street from a park (complete with skate park, sand volleyball court, and basketball court)!

so if you know any bands that ever need a place to stay while they're in minnesota let 'em know we've got space for them....we can even give references ;)

xo

i was in a gang.

bucket list....a thing i think everyone should have. creating one gets your creative juices flowing and really makes you think about what it is you'd like to accomplish in life and then motivates you to get your booty in gear.

items on my bucket list include (this is by no means the exhaustive list):

• visit south africa. i have some friends who run an orphanage there and said they would love to have me come visit and play with the kids.
• make out in the rain. sounds fun, right?
• own a vespa. scooters=cool

another item that was on my list for a long time was, "sing gang vocals on a cd" but now i can successfully check that one off the list! one of my friends started a band and they needed girls to sing gang vocals on one of the songs. so i went over to the recording studio with a couple of my roommates, we listened to part of the track once, practiced a couple times, and recorded our part. the whole process took about a half hour. it's crazy, i speak into a microphone every day on the radio but put me behind a mic and tell me to sing and my palms get clammy and i barely manage to sing above a whisper. so glad my friends were right beside me singing loud and proud!

now here we are, 3 months later, and the album is set to release in just two weeks. the guys have put a ton of work into it and i think that they are going to go far (and i'm not just saying that cause they're my friends)! they are called, Summertime Dropouts, and their music feels like summer in the 90's. yep, it's that nostalgically wonderful.

check 'em out on whatever social networking site floats your boat.....and make a bucket list while you're at it.

xo

crybaby.

i don't cry often. i think i have cried at (maybe) 2 movies in my entire life. i have never cried over a tv show ending. i only teared up at my sister's wedding because i saw both my mom and dad lose it. something about songs though just get my tear ducts running. something about words and music put together that hits that place in my soul that apparently not even the end of Friends could touch (and i LOVED that show, i still watch the syndications of it almost every night).

short list of bands who have made me cry during a set:

• NEEDTOBREATHE
• Switchfoot
• The Wedding
• Parachute
• Relient K (they sang "Deathbed", i was toast)

 songs that make me teary every time i hear them:

• Let That Be Enough- Switchfoot
• Salt in the Snow - The Classic Crime
• Twenty-Something - Graham Colton
• Through Smoke - NEEDTOBREATHE
• Good Life - One Republic (but this one is only because of that Disney commercial with all the happy families and this song is playing in the background and it reminds me of my childhood. we went as a family to Disney World a couple times and i adore my family and Disney World so i feel i can't be faulted for this)

"music gets under the skin without permission" -jon foreman

xo

baby.

i recently was listening to a christian radio station (one that broadcasts nationally) and was pumped when a needtobreathe song came on. cranking it up thinking "this is my jam" i started singing along. loudly. you wouldn't think i'd get so excited being that the song is on a cd i own that happened to be right next to me in my car but i just love it when i hear christian radio embracing christian artists who have crossed over into the mainstream market....or so i thought they had embraced it.
see because i was singing along so loudly (out of my love for the song and the band) i almost missed it.
the version on my cd goes: "wake on up from your slumber, baby, open up your eyes."
the version i heard on the radio: "wake on up from your slumber, come on, open up your eyes."
WHAT?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
SERIOUSLY?
i know there are a lot of four-letter words that are not uplifting, are inappropriate, and are unnecessary but baby?! why are we (as Christians) cutting ourselves off so much that we can't even use the word "baby" in a song. a song that is a charge to get up and do something worthwhile. why are we so afraid of the world that we hole ourselves up and fight against the very art that is impacting the world for the better?
so i say, if you aren't going to play the original version, don't play the song. stand behind the artists who are able to cross that bridge into the "secular" market without making a super Christian version of their music, baby.

xo

dancing queen.

i am old. okay, i'm not, but i'm certainly not the 16 year old pit kid i used to be. i now prefer to stand somewhere in the back, near-ish the sound board and really soak in the whole experience. lame? perhaps.
a few weeks ago we (me and the roommates) went to a show because we had some friends in town who were playing. the turn-out was horrible. seriously, if you had taken the bands and the people who were personally friends with the bands out of the room there were probably about 15 people left. sad.
so we decided that to be good friends we'd leave the back of the room, put on our dancing shoes and cut a rug to support our friends.
at first i felt uber stupid...i have never been good at dancing and i felt a bit on display in the sparsely populated room, but we went for it anyway. we boogied and shook our booties like it was going out of style. our friends in the band joined us for the opening act which made us feel less dorky out on the dance floor. one of my friends was even called up on stage and won the "dance contest" scoring herself a pair of free sun glasses, go steph!
it turned out to be a ridiculously fun night and a fantastic workout, my legs were SORE the next day!

xo

copyright permission.

i really hate talking on the phone. i mean, really hate it. i generally only talk to my mom and sister, everyone else knows to just text me if they need me. so you can only imagine how much i was dreading making a call to a musician who has been previously mentioned in this blog.

if you didn't know, i run an online radio station at a college and we decided to make a sampler cd to give away as a marketing strategy. well, this requires a LOT of leg work since you have to get copyright permission to use songs (even just clips of songs!) from every artist on the sampler. so i got my butt in gear and starting texting and emailing every artist we play on the radio. i got a text back from said artist asking me to call him so i could explain the sampler in more detail.

okay....

so monday rolled around and i'm sitting in my office really not wanting to make that call. i finished everything that i needed to do for the day and worked on some things that really didn't matter if they got done or not trying to avoid making this phone call. just the thought of calling him awoke the butterflies in my stomach. finally, i bit the bullet and picked up the phone. four rings later his voicemail picked up and his gravely, incredible voice invited me to leave a message. i left what i hope was a calm and collected message asking him to call me back. i sincerely hope he didn't pick up on the "i love you and think you're pretty" that surely could be read between the lines of my message.

two minutes later he called back.

my insides lurched and i was instantly sweaty (instantly, it was gross) as i picked up the phone and said "hi, this is sara."
we had a lovely chat, he granted me permission to use his song on the sampler and said he would send up his new ep once it's finished in mid-april.
we hung up and i realized that mr. toops had managed to raise the bar, yet again, for all other boys...and just maybe talking on the phone isn't so bad.

xo

can't take it back on live radio.

so i work for a radio station, right? we're a small, online, Christian station that is mostly "staffed" with current students in the communication department of the college. we were finally able (as a radio station) to host a concert!

we brought in the love out loud "couch tour" and packed out the fireside room with students wanting to hear the electronic pop/dance band do it acoustic-style. the show was great, the crowd was great, and the event was labeled a success! my favorite part of the night, however, was the interview we did with the band on the radio about an hour before the show started.

they asked to bring down their chili since they had arrived late after getting stuck in traffic and we said it was fine as long as they didn't spill on the equipment. we got right into the interview talking about their upcoming album, cd release show and which bands each of them would want to put on a super tour. at some point dillon, the lead singer, was really getting into what he was saying and almost knocked his chili in his lap. now this would have been bad enough if he had ended up with a lapful of chili but then he proceeded to to say, "oh man, that almost landed in my crotch! can i say crotch on air?"

nope...you really shouldn't.

xo

my birthday boys.

it is no surprise that i love men who make music, if you haven't figured that out yet you clearly have not read enough of my blog posts. it's an on-going obsession that started when i was 12 and 14 years later is holding on strong. since all of my friends and roommates know this (i don't even bother trying to keep it a secret) my roomies decided to make me cookies with edible pictures on them for my birthday. they found pictures of my favorite men through the years and had them affixed onto cookies...greatest. thing. ever.

obviously i couldn't eat these gems without documentation first. so i took some pictures with my handsome boys and made a little album on the ol' facebook.

the album is affectionately titled, "my birthday boys" and i sincerely hope that none of them ever stumble on it because yikes, that would make me look like a creep.

xo

show me something real.

i come from a generation that doesn't tolerate fake, we don't like it when what you see isn't what you get. i recently saw a show by an artist, who is a christian, that pretty much said the same thing from behind his guitar. he said his pretty words, confessed his imperfections and wore his authenticity on his sleeve. it was impressive.

after the show he ended up at a bar, got more than a little tipsy and made out with a girl he'd just met.
i was left feeling a little cheated. setting aside the worldly issues (being drunk, sexual impurity, etc.), i felt cheated because it seemed he had created a persona of himself that he had no intention of living. he had never said, "drinkin's for sinners" and "no kissin' til my wedding day" (not really sure why he sounds southern in my head) nor had he said that he had it all together but he seemed to portray that there was something different about him when in reality i saw no difference in him and the guy playing in the pub that doesn't love Jesus.

so i am asking all of you in the industry to stop. stop saying words you don't mean, stop trying to convince us (or maybe yourself) that you love Jesus with your speech when your actions don't tell the same story because you're crushing this girl's heart.

xo