adam|riggins

I’ve been a closet Alice in Chains fan for a long time now, and one of my favorite classic songs of theirs has always been “Down in a Hole”.  Well, on their latest cd, they have a song called “Private Hell” that sounds a lot like Down in a Hole, at least in my opinion.  Harmonies, tempo, time signature… it is pretty similar.  Listen to each song for a few minutes and you be the judge:

Down in a Hole: 

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Private Hell:  

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So?  Do they sound the same?  Sort of?

Have you ever been watching a video on Youtube of a concert or some other music performance and thought, “Gee golly, I wish I could put this song on my iPod…”?  No?  Well, humor me for a minute.

Video2mp3 is a free service that lets you enter the URL of any Youtube video, and they turn it into an mp3 for you to download and do with as you wish.  Here is how it works:

First, you enter the web address for the video of which you want the mp3:

If you want a higher-quality mp3, make sure you have that option selected.

Once you click “convert”, it will start to convert the video to an mp3:

Once it is done, you will be able to download it:

That’s it!  You’re done!

Now, go grab all of my YouTube videos and save them to your iPod

Video2mp3

The song “Los Angeles, by Peter Bradley Adams, is a very beautiful song.  In fact, it’s almost haunting.  But, the odd thing is that I can’t seem to figure out what the song is about.  It sounds like it should have some deep meaning, but it’s almost as if someone said, “hey, write a song about Los Angeles, and make it beautiful.”  Well, mission accomplished.

Give it a listen:

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Oh Los Angeles we leave you now
At the setting of your skies
As we leave the comfort of your ground
With your angels we will fly

Well you carried us in broken dreams
Like a mother does her sons
We were scattered ‘cross your dirty streets
We were dying one by one

And you held us in your city lights
When our eyes had lost the stars
And we made our peace with lonely nights
And you healed our broken hearts

Well they say the Big One’s gonna come
And you will fall into the sea
We will know that then your work is done
And your angels will go free

Thoughts?

What have you had to wait on in life?  For me, it seems like my life over the last few years has been a series of events that have caused me to have to wait before there can be closure or resolution.  Maybe it is issues I am dealing with in life, maybe it has to do with relationships.  Either way, I am a very impatient person, so waiting is not always the easiest of things.

The musician Steven Curtis Chapman is a prime example of someone having to wait on something.  In May of 2008, Chapman lost his 5-year-old daughter in a tragic accident, and as you can imagine, it devastated he and his family.  He has since recorded a new cd full of songs that are an outpouring of his emotion and the feelings that he and his family have been going through.  It is heart-breaking and comforting at the same time.

One of the songs, Just Have to Wait, is a great example of how Chapman wants nothing more than to see his daughter again, but he knows he will have to wait to do that.  Have a listen to the song and read the lyrics (press the little play button next to the title)

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Well, I can’t wait to see your smile again,
The one when your eyes disappear along with all my troubles
And I can’t wait to hear you sing a song
Maybe Jesus Loves Me or a song you learned up there

But I, oh I’ll just have to wait
‘Cause I know that day is coming
So I, oh I’ll just have to wait

I can’t wait to hear your mama laugh
The way that only you can make her laugh when you get silly
And I can’t wait to see you in her arms
I know the wound so deep inside her heart is healed for good

But I, oh I’ll just have to wait
‘Cause I know that day is coming
So I, oh I’ll just have to wait

And I can’t wait to dance with you again
Knowing that this time we dance, we’ll never have to end

But I, oh I’ll just have to wait
‘Cause I know that day is coming
So I, oh I’ll just have to wait

And I can’t wait to see your sisters play
The way they do when all of you are playing all together
I can’t wait to watch your brother’s face
When he can finally see with his own eyes
Everything’s okay
And I just have to wait
‘Cause I know that day is coming
And I just have to wait

Hearing this songs shows me 2 things.  First of all, whatever I have to wait on in life is nothing compared to his waiting.  It also shows me that in my seasons of waiting, it is sometimes just a necessary thing to do as much as I don’t want to do it.  And most of the time, that waiting is a perfect time to allow God to mold us more into who we need to be.

What are you waiting on?  Or, have you had to wait on something in the past?

As most Third Day fans know, Brad Avery was one of the lead guitarists of the band for around 13 years.  A little more than a year-and-a-half ago, he left the band to pursue other endeavors, and since then, little has been heard from him.

He has recently been playing guitar every so often at Northpoint Community Church, and I have to admit, it is so awesome seeing him up there, making his crazy faces as he tears it up.  So, there is your Brad Avery update!

Here are some pictures.  Sorry about the quality, it was dark and all I had was my little iPhone…: