Happy Christmas! ‘Tis the season for the singing of songs full of nouns and verbs that we have no idea what they mean. Like, “tannenbaum” (a German word for a species of fir tree, which you could kind of figure out by the repeated use of “Christmas tree” in its place, but still),  or, “troll”, as in, “troll the ancient Yule tide carols” (turns out “troll” is not a mythical cave dwelling being), and what’s a “Yule? Or, how awkward referring to an infant as “tender”, especially with the smell of turkey in the air? It’s just not appropriate. But yes, ‘tis the season for song, and for giving, and so… We have for you a very LIVE recording of the Holiday Classic, O Holy Night, from our church service at UBC (our home church) last week. We truly hope this season of the year is a special time with family and friends and that the awareness of the redemptive gift of God’s son is ever present with you. So, before getting back to the next email in your inbox (And if our inboxes are any indicator, the next email waiting is an advertisement for a large chain bookstore, an online shoe shop, or ebay) click the following link and consider it a very homemade gift from us to you.http://davidcrowderband.com/christmas2010/ Grace and Peace DC*B    P.S. We’ve been asked about the SMS (Shine) video being posted on iTunes. We are happy to say it is up now and available for $0.99! Here it is!http://itunes.apple.com/us/video/sms-shine/id401618948

i’ve gotten several emails about this, and well, after tracking them down i thought i’d just post them here.you can find them on, well, audiocubes.commerry christmas

hooray! our latest video has been posted on the internet machines.i have a friend named, wesley, who often tells a story of being a kid and spending an entire day setting up dominoes, like, when you set them up in a line with the intent to flick the first one in the line and set off a chain of events begun by the one domino falling into the next. he would set up these elaborate pieces of work in his garage after he had talked his parents into parking their cars outside for a few days. so, anyway, he would get these intricate, serpentine creations set up and then he would walk away, leaving them set, not flicking the first domino over, it sitting there, everything waiting. at this point someone usually asks wesley, “why?”his answer is always the same, “because it was always more fun to see something happen that you hadn’t planned for.”so the dog would walk in the garage and wag his tail, or his brother would ride in on his big wheel, or, well, who knows what happened, but he would get up the following morning and most of the dominoes would have fallen over by some unknown cause.an answer like this was frustrating for those listening to this story because it’s expected that the most fun would come from being present when the dominoes start to fall.this came to mind when i thought of posting this video and asking you to send it to all of your friends and family. granted, the hope is that you would enjoy and, dare i say, be moved by this little video, but you won’t get to see, exactly, what may come from your help in getting it in front of people.this video is our attempt at creating a visual supplement to the song, sms (shine), that appears on our latest album called, “church music”. the thematic content of the song is this: god shares in the suffering of life and brings redemption for everything that is broken, and this revelation causes, no, demands, that those of us who have experienced and participate in this great rescue, display such a thing to those who live unaware of a balm, a fix, an answer to and for all that is bent.the video began as a simple idea: “hey guys, i have an idea for our next video. do you remember that 80s toy, the Lite Brite(r)?”to which they responded: “uh, what is that parenthetical ‘r’?”“well that’s there because Lite Brite(r) is a registered trademark owned by Hasbro and this company does not give permission nor support making a video out of their children’s toy.”soon the little Lite Brite(r) idea expanded into a story of a girl and a boy. it made sense, if you’re going to open up a conversation (and this is what you are doing when posting such a kitschy piece of pop art like this – opening a conversation) it would be helpful if it were about the stuff of life that is unavoidable and is universal in its experience. death would be one of those topics. the christian response to death is very much at odds with current culture. current culture insists that the material is all that is important, that the ‘here and now’ are all we have, that when the body dies, that’s it, the end. yet despite our collectively ‘enlightened’ state, we’re still scared to death of death. either: this is it, or there’s more. i believe there is something in us that “knows” there is more.sorry, i got sidetracked. the point is, when you want to tell a story to someone who’s not really listening, you want to take your time and get it right. so, when this means purchasing every Lite Brite(r) peg on eBay, you do it. and when your math reveals that you’re not even close to having enough pegs yet, you do it again. like four times. this, the purchasing of every Lite Brite(r) peg on the internet felt like a bucket list item – you know, you’re sitting around, thinking, “hmmm, what i’d really like to do today is buy every Lite Brite(r) peg that exists on the internet right now.” and then you do it. i’ll tell you though, by the fourth time you do this, the buying of every Lite Brite(r) peg on the internet, it’s more annoying than fun.then the boxes start arriving on your front porch.then there’s that first day, when you start actually sticking the Lite Brite(r) pegs into the metal grids that you’ve made specifically for this project, as in, the plan is to make 270 frames at a time and so you have cut 270 grids out of metal that you purchased off of amazon into the appropriate Lite Brite(r) size, and you realize that this idea, the one of making over 1200 frames of Lite Brite(r) images and taking a picture of them, is impossible if you don’t get some help.and so then you have very good friends, pitch in, some of which contributed over 50 hours of “pegging”, which is a noun root that turned into a verb quickly and intends to indicate the pushing of tiny pegs into black pieces of paper affixed to homemade metal grids. (also, “litebriting” was used often. both have the same linguistic development as “googling”.) yeah, there were about 80 of these angelic individuals, most of which still have nerve damage in the index finger. we explained our insurance coverage was, well, non-existent, so, yeah, they’ll just never feel the delicate fuzz of a peach, at least not with their index finger, and they were ok with this.over 700,000 pegs are visible in the video (this doesn’t even come close to the actual number used due to our amateur stop motion skills, as in, for every sequence you are viewing there was some mistake, or story piece that didn’t work like we hoped, which means hours of “pegging” gone to waste. i’m confident that we, and our dear friends, pushed well over a million pegs. that is certifiably insane when i think of it. the world record for the largest Lite Brite(r) ever made on planet earth (i don’t want to be presumptuous) is just over 300,000 pegs. we didn’t just beat such a number, we crushed it completely.) we shot over 1200 frames. we had to learn animal and plant origami. and there was then the stop motion trickery, as in, how do you make something jump through the air and capture this in still photography. we knew nothing about any of this until we started down this trail. (don’t get me started on how much time it takes to cause confetti to appear to be thrown from a hand and fall into a Lite Brite(r))things you should look for in the video:the strings attached to the jumping origami frog. the discovery of the water material flowing off of the table. the player piano playing in the background. the monkey clapping on the couch. the strings holding the pegs falling from the watering can whose effect was accomplished by distance parallax. bwack frame by frame through out the wedding sequence, amazing! dust specks on the table coming and going. the lighting changes. the purple pegs that appear in the moon in two frames as it rises. there’s more, of course, some things i’m sure you’ll spot that we haven’t even noticed, and yes, this is all mentioned to get you to watch the thing over and over, which will, of course, drive up the view count, which brings me to my closing…it would be amazing if you would help flick some of the dominoes over. i know you won’t be able to see or hear all that comes of it. we spent a whole lot of time, meticulously organizing these tiny little pieces of plastic that arrived on my doorstep, from places unknown, from people i’ve never met, and these organized bits of plastic will have a bit of light shown through them and our hope is that the story of redemption and reclamation shines through.

why does this make me feel so not safe?

delivery. two cheese. two pepperoni.

kids, drugs is bad.

last night i woke myself up from a dream, as in, i was in the dream, and realized, “this is the weirdest dream ever.” and so i woke myself up so i could consciously say to myself, “woah, that is the weirdest dream ever!” it goes like this…i was a towel.as in, david crowder was not a human anymore, but a white, fluffy towel, folded on a shelf. it was actually quite pleasant. i seemed pretty happy.weirdest dream ever?

jack, our (dc*b) guitar player, sent me this video and told me that it was culturally relevant. i never doubt jack, especially when he sends me videos. and so i post it here now, so we can contribute to the current metaphysical, esoteric conversation regarding natural phenomenon.jack’s video response to Hungrybear9562’s video: Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10. behold, Triple Wolf Moon.

since it has been so long since my last post, i really wanted to say something clever and substantial here. instead, i give you this:you know how entertaining it is to stumble upon whole pockets of culture that exist despite your ignorance of them? i have had numerous discoveries broaden my understanding of the eccentricities of humanity.whether it be circuit benders: or ferret owners: or consumers of the ghost pepper (aka: the bhut jolokia!): i do receive an emotional benefit from finding, unexpectedly, a niche of people passionate about a thing that i have yet to give much thought. it’s the exact same sensation i receive from watching a marathon of sober house, which, i’m sure, is yet another indicator of my depraved state, but the following brought much marvel and astonishment:there are, in fact, people, as in, real-live-walking-around-people, as in, fellow human beings, who believe in fairies. literally. now, my parents issued warnings about this in my formative years. growing up in a conservative, christian home, navigating supernatural phenomena is nothing short of difficult, i.e.: “the force” is ok, (i think mostly because star wars was awesome) but bewitched is not, since, well, it had a witch in it, and this was fine with me, because, as a kid, bewitched was infinitely less awesome than star wars, maybe. it was never too clear what crossed the line of make-believe into the dangerous realm of real-possibility, and i so i cheered for tinker bell when she needed happy thoughts to stay a living breathing thing, despite admonishments suggesting this may be akin to participating in the black arts. but i now attest that my parents were right – there are, in fact, fairy-believing individuals out there, although i’m irresolute as to the level of threat they pose us, given that their capacity for the suspension of reality is pretty decent, which, i would think, would lend to the potential for meaningful conversation regarding spiritual matters to be severely high.regardless, here’s how i know this, the existence of fairy believing individuals: while searching for outdoor playhouses (or, more accurately, outdoor dollhouses) for my niece, charlie, i discovered the work of a craftsman with such imagination and attention to detail that i felt, what i recognized to be, inspiration, while viewing his creations. these creations, as it turns out, are, in fact, “fairy houses”. the intention, it would seem, is for them, the “fairy houses”, to be placed in a suitable nook of the yard and left alone. these things look like they sprung from the head of tim burton or something. here:
 they were so bizarre and fantastic in appearance i wanted to know more, such as, could they be durable enough for a 4 year old to play with, despite their fragile appearance; do they have access points affording the addition of miniature furniture; you know, questions of practicality. and so i clicked the “frequently asked questions” link. to my surprise, i found both questions and answers i had not anticipated. in fact, i’m confident that not a single question in the “frequently asked questions” would have ever occurred to me, which i thought was remarkable, considering these questions must be asked repeatedly enough to fall into such a category as – frequent. here are the questions and answers from the website:“How does a Fairy House work? A Fairy House is a little like a radio tuner; radio waves are present all around us but unless we have an antenna and a way of bringing them into our audio range, we can’t hear them.  Fairies are in many places around us, too, but we can’t see them, hear them, or interact with them unless we’re tuned to their frequency.  A Fairy House is one way of tuning in.A Fairy House, or a Fairy door or window is a way to say, “I believe.”  And when we believe, the Fairies hear us and are drawn to us.  Our act of belief opens the door between their realm and ours and allows communication.Where should I put my Fairy House? When your house arrives, choose a place for it on a special table or shelf in your home, a secluded spot in your garden, or in a large flowerpot. Give your imagination free reign to create a miniature world around it with stones, plants, shells, or anything you suspect might appeal to Fairies. Children are a great help in this process but, if none are available, trust the child inside you to know what to do.How can I attract Fairies to my Fairy Habitat? Place a welcome gift of a crystal, special stone, gold or silver inside your Fairy House, next to the door of a TreeHouse Transformation Kit, or other Fairy habitat that you have created. Fairies like sparkly things. Warning! They don’t like iron or magnets.  They love chocolate so leave them a small piece as a treat; then  send an invitation from your heart for the Fairies to move in. You may have to repeat the invitation a few times, but one day you will notice that the quality of light around the house has changed or you will hear distant laughter or music. The Fairies have moved in.When is the best time to give Fairies gifts? Fairies like to get presents any time but they are particularly active at the solstices, equinoxes and, of course, at each full moon. Fairies love to feast and dance at the time of the full moon, so this is a particularly good time to show your goodwill toward them. Contribute to their feast by placing a small (fairy sized) plate with food from your evening meal adjacent to your Fairies’ habitat. Be sure to include sweets,  fruit and, especially, chocolate!How can I connect with the Fairies? Fairies are spritely beings whose energy fields vibrate so fast, they don’t have solid form in the human dimension. They can, if sufficiently intrigued, change their vibrational speed to allow us to see them. When they do, they appear in many different sizes and shapes because they appear to each of us as we expect them to be. Fairies prefer to appear very small because that requires less energy.How can I see the Fairies? Fairies are most easily seen when you don’t look directly at them. Again, be very quiet, both inside and out. It may help if you soft-focus your eyes, look straight ahead, and concentrate on your peripheral vision. If you detect movement, resist the temptation to look directly. When you sense a Fairy presence, a friendly greeting is appropriate.”i have to say, my favorite question is: “when is the best time to give fairies gifts?” it is encouraging to know we humans, despite our eccentricities, are so very generous.

i’m hoping you’ve already seen this, but in case you haven’t, here’s something that i might be so bold as to call, “a real treat.” it is rockumentary number 5. i mentioned the plot line in one of my answers to the q and a that kicked off this new blog, and it is as follows: jack has become obsessed with the 2012 apocalypse, most likely because he watched that preposterous movie, 2012, which starred john cusack. he, jack, not john cusack, has begun stock piling. also, he has started a band with steve3PO our newest band member, a robot drummer built by bwack, our real live drummer. the band, the one started by jack, is called, lambz of abyss. you can check it out on myspace. one thing that becomes apparent in the rockumentary is that, unbeknownst to the band, steve3PO is permanently tuned into a local hispanic radio station. also, it should be noted, that all steve3PO perspective shots are in actual 3d. you will want glasses, the old school, red and blue, kind. this, the shooting of a few scenes in 3d, is because there is a satirical subplot lampooning the epic game changer, avatar. we think it might be the third best rockumentary yet. maybe. here it is below. oh, and if you have any suggestions for future plot lines, let me know. obviously, nothing seems too outlandish.