Eric's Eddyfications

Cubs and Jim Edmonds

Once again, I'll paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld: Welcome, Jim Edmonds. As a Cubs fan, clearly I'm only rooting for laundry...

Eric Bramlett www.ericseddyfications.typepad.com www.communitychristian.org

No A-eye Yet

Haven't watched American Idol yet, not sure when it'll happen. We're planning the Big Idea for the whole year today, and someone who is awesome gave me three sets of tickets to see the Cubs all this week, all at the same time while my living room fireplace wall is being re-drywalled and drastically altered. So needless to say, I'm a little bit goofy. Heard that it was kind of boring though. I think that the #1 show may be losing it's edge. Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts.

Biblically accurate?

I'm currently working on a video for Kids' City where we take a Bible story and tell it a la the Fandango paper bag puppets. Its gonna be goofy for sure, it's in a series called "family feud" and we're calling it "feud-dango."

The guy who is working with me on building the puppets just questioned a costume idea (for one of the sack lunch paper bag puppets) on the grounds that it might not be "biblically accurate." Ummmmm...

I will not tell you who said that, or even that his name starts with the initials "Bret" and ends in the initials "Koontz." It's a learning process, my young padawan...

Eric Bramlett www.ericseddyfications.typepad.com www.communitychristian.org

Dude

Have you seen the Dude Commercial Parodies yet? At the Exponential Conference, we created three comedic vignettes to show "a day in the life" of a church planter, in three phases of the process: First, raising the money. Second, meeting the neighbors, and third, Opening Sunday. Hope you enjoy them, I think they're pretty funny, but then, that's just me...

Top Four - American Idol Rocks

Here come my thoughts about the Final Four, remember - always before the judges say whatev...

David Cook - Hungry Like The Wolf - first of all, the fact that Duranx2 is in the rock and roll hall of fame is suspicious at best. He was fine. He's a shoo in for second place. Not a great show off of his voice - one group of notes all the way through.

Syesha - Proud Mary - This is a CCR song Syehsa. She's gone to the Kristy Lee Cook school of Glitter. And added a little shake-your-tail-feather. Maybe her best so far, she seemed less bland than she's been.

Jason - I Shot the Sheriff - I shot the boring. He is clearly stoned and has stopped trying to hide it.

David Archuletta - Stand By Me - Who is dressing this poor boy? He looks like Tom Hulce in Parenthood. I expect him to ask for 2 grand for a new business venture. "And all you beautiful girls..." Is that an ad lib? Oh and he sang great.

David Cook - Baba O'Riley - Interesting pick - Can't quite hit the high notes, but I'm impressed again with his ability to take a song and arrange it to suit him and tell a story with it. It shows how much more badderish the Duranx2 song really was though. His oblong head must be hypnotizing me.

Syesha - A Change has Gotta Come - she's playing the race card, try and vote her off this week, middle America! Simon's right, she shrieks up there - but still, can she please get further than Dread-head Spiccoli?

Jason - Mr. Tambourine Man - He is soooo baked. I think I prefer William Shatner's version. And then he goes up on the lyric. Wow. this guy has got to go. They should just escort him, his dreads and that ridiculous guitar out of here without giving out phone numbers. They should just grab the little pouch of weed that he surely has on him and arrest him on the spot. So much for the "year of the besterest talent ever." What a joke.

David Archuletta - Love Me Tender - a great choice for teenybopper target #1. He could get all the phone calls he needs. Imagine how many more he would get if he'd just OPEN HIS EYES.

Seriously. Spiccoli must go. I just hope he has the decency to order a pizza during the elimination round and have it delivered to Simon. That would make me love him. I can hear him now saying "I just thought it would be funny."

UFC pics from the shoot

Here are some pics of the Icon Theater as transformed by the UFC: Ultimate Family Challenge sketches coming soon to the Big Idea near you!

You Can't Go Back

It's tough for these old rockers these days. They all seem to be releasing new CDs with brand new songs, and getting up from their wheelchairs to play at the House of Blues. The problem, of course, is that those new songs are not nearly as good as the hits that gave them the forum with which to rise from the dead in the first place. And for me, these are bands that I really liked "way back then", and so I'm curious to hear what their new material sounds like.

But sitting through an entire new CD from some rockers who really are only trying to cash in on their former fame is pretty tough. That's where my Ipod comes in. When I get a hold of one of these new CDs by an old band, I put in on a playlist with a greatest hits CD of the same band. It's the sugar that makes the medicine go down. So far this year, I have employed this trick with the following bands and their new material, and it's worked like a charm: The Eagles, Crowded House, Level 42, Asia, Duran Duran, REO Speedwagon, Styx, World Party.

There are new CDs that I haven't heard yet from Whitesnake, and coming soon... Night Ranger. Wow.

I do not recommend this plan with any new material from the Rolling Stones. They cannot for the life of them make any new music that even comes close to their legacy. So just stick with the greatest hits on that one.

Pop Culture Red Alert

We have an alert people. Prepare yourself for whatever version of armageddon you find theologically probable, because I just found out that BOSTON, (whose lead singer Brad Delp passed away this year), is going back out on the road this summer, doing some touring side by side with the Dennis DeYoung-less STYX. This should be alert-worthy on its own, but it gets more bizarre. Along for the ride to play guitar and sing some of those ridiculously high notes is none other than Michael Sweet, lead singer of STRYPER. Bring on the locusts...!

More to come on old bands and their habit of getting back together...

Eric Bramlett www.ericseddyfications.typepad.com www.communitychristian.org

Ultimate Family Challenge

Just got a sneak peek on the set of the new sketches for our upcoming series "Ultimate Family Challenge." My brother Elic along with TJ Friesen and the media team have transformed the Icon Theater at the Yellow Box into a full on UFC fighting ring. It looks awesome!

I've read and worked on the scripts, and they're funny too - looks like it's going to be a win on all 8 sides! I'll try to take some pics later and get em up!

Eric Bramlett www.ericseddyfications.typepad.com www.communitychristian.org

Twitter-schmitter

Dave Ferguson is trying to convince me to start "twittering" - I can't imagine this being a good idea. Anyone out there with unbiased pros and cons?

Eric Bramlett www.ericseddyfications.typepad.com www.communitychristian.org