Living On The Back Burner

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9635542456727798402011-07-07T22:32:23.539-05:00Living On The Back BurnerTrappings of a musician, comedian, actor, filmmaker, and follower of Jesus Christ.Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-61036806038604110572010-02-26T23:39:00.000-06:002010-02-26T23:40:32.939-06:00Play! Play! Play! Play!

Normally, when you think of the work that you do, playing is the last thing that comes to mind. Yet it is so imperative that you find some way of making your work fun. In this installment, I’m going to talk about why working is so much better when you play, especially if you’re working around others.Now chances are, if you have a job that puts you around a lot of people at any given time, you’

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-59574427449447836522010-02-26T15:12:00.002-06:002010-02-26T15:18:35.696-06:00Make Their Day - The Details Hold it All

“Go ahead. Make my day.”Most people that don’t pay attention to pop culture will tell you that Clint Eastwood spoke that line in the movie Dirty Harry, but they would be wrong. The line was actually spoken in the 1983 film Sudden Impact, a detail that wouldn’t seem significant to most people. But to a trivia hound, this detail is gold. It’s a detail like this that allowed someone to win

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-88435797741866296372010-01-26T01:13:00.003-06:002010-01-26T01:20:56.553-06:00Be There - Not Just for Warm Bodies Anymore

When you show up for work, are you ready for it? Are you the kind of person that arrives just seconds before your shift starts, punches the clock, and then spends the next 15 minutes getting your coffee ready? Or do you come in ready to tackle what you have in store for you? Well, if you’re the kind of person that doesn’t really like your job, then I can understand why you’d take your time

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-63243763189546029622010-01-24T15:21:00.008-06:002010-01-24T16:09:05.340-06:00Choose Your Attitude - It Starts Before the Start

Last week I posted a blog entry wherein I talked about my church's worship team's performance and how our approach to our service that day was set by our choosing to come in ready to work, ready to be in a good mood, and able to push through any issues we might have. Then today and yesterday, I saw two more examples of that in motion.The first was on Saturday, when I woke up at 6:10 a.m. to

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-12811869345089515712010-01-19T16:34:00.009-06:002010-01-19T17:25:41.032-06:00Assigned Intimacy

I don't make a habit of airing dirty laundry, mine or anyone else's, in a blog. But recently, I was given a recording of our worship team's Sunday morning set in order for us in the band to critique ourselves.My immediate reaction to hearing the recording was to sit down and list off every single thing I heard that was wrong and share it with our team coordinator. That was the arrogant,

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-31799504185476933412010-01-11T16:50:00.003-06:002010-01-11T16:51:37.468-06:00Why Make it Fun?

The following is a blog entry I recently posted for the DJ company I work for, Complete Music and Video. Since the bridal show season is underway, I thought it would be good to post it here, too.-------------------------So here's the deal. If you want people to remember your event, it needs to be fun. Otherwise, why else would people decide to attend? But many times throughout the year, I hear

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-51094720558651739232009-09-25T10:55:00.006-05:002009-09-25T14:28:03.371-05:00Most Worship Music is WAY Too Simplified

Last night my church hosted a concert that featured Christian artists Meredith Andrews, Andrew Witt, Chris Sligh, and Aaron Shust. Shust is known for his contributions to modern worship, and Sligh is more known for having been a contestant on American Idol.What struck me throughout the evening is how focused on worship music these artists seem to be. I understand the need for the Church to be

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-21101779455720676092009-06-03T13:27:00.014-05:002009-06-03T13:54:30.202-05:00The Most Influential Films (To Me, Anyway) Of All Time

I’m normally not the kind of guy to make endless amounts of lists, but the last one I put together (Top 25 albums) really got my creative juices flowing. It reminded me of why I’m a musician and a songwriter. And throughout the years, films have had a major impact on me as well, although I didn’t realize why until I began writing and directing short films and promotional videos at my church.By

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-62029239414858813442009-05-09T10:26:00.007-05:002009-05-11T20:07:44.498-05:00The What Happened

Is there anything more heartbreaking than hearing someone describe, in detail, every facet of their lives that has convinced them that they should not believe in God?Because of the Twitter fad-nomenon, I'm tempted to let that statement stand on its own, but I feel like this is something I need to spend some time addressing. And while it may not be the biggest revelation in the world, I hope that

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-8456565787739954682009-04-17T21:53:00.005-05:002009-04-27T13:53:10.380-05:00The Gong Show

Some time ago I purchased the film "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" on DVD. George Clooney's directorial debut was the alleged true story of Chuck Barris, creator of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game and The Gong Show, and about his exploits not just as a television show creator and producer, but also as an agent for a branch of the U.S. government as a contract killer. It's a very interesting

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-45432272708647778112009-04-14T22:27:00.002-05:002009-04-14T22:44:06.454-05:00Musings of a Comic, Vol. 3

I use the term "brilliant" too often when I talk about people. I don't understand why I do this when someone obviously has done nothing to achieve brilliance in their life. I don't think you become brilliant in life until you try stuff that does not work and fail, many, many times. And you say to yourself, "Hmm. I should not do the things that do not work. I should do something different and

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-78437841408790694432009-04-09T09:42:00.006-05:002009-04-09T16:18:23.326-05:00Random Thoughts from the Back Burner

Here are some random thoughts from The Back Burner.I work with a guy who's our pastor's son. He's a brilliantly gifted graphic artist and creates many of the animated video introductions we use for our message series, and he's taken a year off between high school and college to save up some money and work at the church on staff. But he's 19, and he has some habits. One of them is to break wind

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-72483991441360869462009-04-02T22:35:00.007-05:002009-04-07T00:13:57.755-05:00Churning 'em Out

It's getting more and more difficult to come up with things to write about on a weekly basis. Forget daily -- I don't have enough hours in the day, it seems to take care of the items on my lists, and there always seems to be something else to take the place of a recently vacated list spot. However, something potentially exciting happened this week.I started writing a rock opera several years

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-28921154861087093142009-03-28T10:41:00.002-05:002009-03-28T10:59:13.564-05:00Sunday, March 29th, 2009

March 29th, as far as I know, doesn't have a significance in history. There's no place that I can easily think of where a prime numbered date of the third calendar month stuck out in people's minds for any reason. Julius Caesar wasn't warned about the "twice ides minus one" of March. Which makes sense, since he was killed on the 15th. He wouldn't have seen the 29th anyway.But where I'm

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-37551145989764810992009-03-21T01:16:00.004-05:002009-03-28T13:52:10.093-05:00There Is No Box (or, FX Stole My Idea)

Oblivion can bring about revolution. Allow me to explain.In my position, I'm compelled to operate as much in the realm of creativity as I possibly can. I've been reading a book by Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Texas, called The Creative Leader. So far, it's an engaging, critical read that I need to study in great detail as I go from chapter to chapter. There are few surprises that

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-15776115518497508932009-03-12T22:09:00.004-05:002009-03-14T14:04:35.299-05:00Kim.

Kim is a woman in our church. Like many people in our church, Kim is blessed with an overabundance of word useage per day. Get her in a conversation, and you'll have a hard time getting a word in edgewise, but you'll find that with Kim, you don't really mind.Kim is a mother and grandmother.Kim is a wife.Kim is a former drug addict who celebrated 9 months sober last week.Kim has a husband who is

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-91415478081589305622009-03-12T21:23:00.006-05:002009-03-12T21:46:46.257-05:00Watch . . . watch . . . wrist.

There are times I wonder if I know what I'm doing in life.Okay, enough of the heavy stuff.My friend Tim and I are planning on heading down to south St. Louis County tomorrow night to see Watchmen on IMAX. Unless you count the screen at the St. Louis Science Center, this is the only IMAX theater in the metro STL area, and we're planning on making this trip out count. We had gone last summer when

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-22074264095135271242009-03-05T14:24:00.005-06:002009-03-05T17:31:39.900-06:00Dora and Billy Must Know Something

My wife has worked in child care in one form or another since she was 15. For nearly 25 years she has helped to shape minds, care for young babies, teach right and wrong, be a surrogate parent, and otherwise wrangle groups of kids into a somewhat cohesive, comprehending mass of eager youth. Which, from both what I remember as a kid and what I've seen as an adult, is no small task.Her last job

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-9145258695207106142009-03-02T15:50:00.038-06:002009-03-02T17:29:22.110-06:00The 25 Most Important Albums (To Me) Of All Time

Amidst the countless posts of Random Things and Stuff About My Peeps and all the other mindless, anonymity-destroying notes that people post on a daily basis, a friend of mine posted this on Facebbok. Except this one actually piqued my interest (BTW, people, please learn how to spell “piqued”...).“Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-69875741196179627652009-02-20T22:19:00.002-06:002009-02-20T22:44:26.948-06:00Musings of a Comic, Vol. 02

It's good to see people, even if I don't know them.I've been wearing glasses for about a year. I considered myself to have really good eyesight when I was younger, and then when I was 32, I got my first pair of glasses. And I'll tell you what -- nothing made me feel older. At 31, I was pretty active, pretty full of energy, but I went to go see an optometrist because I realized I was having

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-20336275779319845822009-02-11T22:43:00.002-06:002009-02-11T22:45:53.399-06:00iMac OS 10.3.9

I have nothing of any value to report, except that this entry is being created on my computer at home. This may not seem significant to most of you, but I haven't had a computer in my home since 2003, before I got married, and even then I was running America OnLine 4.0 on Windows 3.1, so my ability to browse and use basic internet functions was very limited.Anyway, this is more of a test than

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-34369231579161423942009-01-20T14:25:00.003-06:002009-01-22T14:33:04.402-06:00Musings of a Comic, Vol. 01

Hello, all you happy people. Here are some thoughts I had one day. I often try to put together material I think will work as a stand-up comedy act, and this is some of my train of thought.December 20, 2008. 1:52 p.m.One of the things that has always occurred to me that I think has been a little lost by the men of this country is a sense of chivalry. I'm talking about the way men treated women

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-70771388509205372532009-01-07T13:10:00.002-06:002009-01-07T13:31:12.850-06:00Why the Back Burner?

Why the Back Burner?Years ago, I had a thought of using this as a name for a band, The Back Burner. Or The Back Burners or something to that effect. The idea wasn't to make a cheesy correlation to the fire and brimtone futures of a life without Christ, much like a lot of metal bands in Christian music did with their names and album titles in the early 1990s. I was instead thinking of the

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-963554245672779840.post-82891385705066351472008-12-30T12:22:00.005-06:002008-12-30T14:50:26.770-06:00Welcome to the Back Burner

For everyone that has ever felt that the world around you is too small for your ideas . . .For everyone that sees the beauty in the grotesqueries of life . . .For everyone that has identified more with what's in your mind than what's in your home . . .For everyone that has ever had to field questions from family or friends like "Why in the world would you want to do that!!?" . . .For everyone

Living On The Back Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07969773209824697880noreply@blogger.com0