Fiction

You know, my great friend (and cousin) Carrie got me thinking about my favorite novels. I don't know that I have a comprehensive list. Like I said in my review of House I don't read much fiction. I'm doing some real head-scratching to come up with a list. I'm just going to write down some novels, in no particular order, that I have really liked:

The Oath, F. Peretti
To Tame a Land, L. La'mour (can't help it; I love westerns)
Thr3e, T. Dekker
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
The Chamber, J. Grisham
Without Remorse, T. Clancy
Tom Sawyer, M. Twain
The Perfect Getaway (The best Hardy Boys Case Files ever; it's #12) F.W. Dixon
The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
Silas Marner, G. Eliot
Penrod/Penrod and Sam/Penrod Jashber (3 of the funniest books ever written), B. Tarkington
Great Expectations, C. Dickens (I've read and reread this book more than any other)
Cain, J.B. Huggins
Huckleberry Finn, M. Twain
Big Bad Wolf, J.Patterson
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, V. Burton
The Young Explorer, H. Alger (I actually like all of Horatio Alger's books even though you know what's going to happen from chapter 1 on)
This Present Darkness, F. Peretti
Oliver Twist, C. Dickens
The Sackett Brand, L. La'mour
Curious George, H.A. Rey
The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
1984, G. Orwell (very interesting and thought-provoking)
The Langoliers, S. King
Ramona the Pest, B. Cleary
The Pelican Brief, J. Grisham
Little Men, L.M. Alcott
The Reckoning, J.B. Huggins

Man, I can't believe I came up with that many. That's just off the top of my head. There were a few books, whose titles elude me at the moment, that I loved as a kid. I'll have to track them down.

So, anybody want to post their top 5?

House

I received 2 great Father's Day presents from Trey and Kassady (via Lori). A CD of Crossway Quartet (which was OK) and the first book from the writing team of Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker entitled "House". I highly recommend the book for those who are into weird, supernatural-type, abstract fiction. That means that I really liked the book. I rarely read fiction unless it's written by C.S. Lewis, Louis L'amour, John Grisham, or Tom Clancy. It just doesn't appeal that much to me. However, I have enjoyed Frank Peretti's books in the past, especially "The Oath" which I would rate in my personal Top 20 novels. I haven't really been hooked by the writing of Ted Dekker thus far, even though "Thr3e" has a good ending. Anyway, I was curious what the duo would produce. It's good stuff. Freaky, but yet addictive. I would guess that Dekker did a lot of the actual writing. The book's concept reminds me of something Peretti would dream up, but the abstract storyline brings to mind Dekker's style.

Interestingly enough, Ralph Winter (producer of the X-Men series, Fantastic Four) is already touting it as a made-for-movie script. He is starting to become the hottest Christian movie producer in the industry. He helped produce Peretti's novel "Visitation" and is in production on Dekker's "Thr3e". I think this could possibly be a better movie than book.

I just watched "Visitation" today, and it was just OK. Nothing like Winter's X-Men movies. Why do Christian movies come off as kind of corny? I don't know...

Anyway, try the book. I did enjoy it.

Liberty and Crossing

We just finished a fun weekend with Phil Cross & Crossing. It's late, I'm tired, and I can't think of any creative captions, so I'll talk more about it later. Enjoy the pictures.

You wouldn't have ever known that it was Crossing's first weekend together. They did a fabulous job! Two songs that I predict will become classics for them are "The Great I Am Still Is" and "Heaven's Hero". Phil's arrangement of "Heaven's Hero" far surpasses the Greater Vision version. You can hear my favorite "The Great I Am Still Is" by clicking on the link: http://www.crossingofficial.com/html/home.html.

Phil sings tenor for the group, Rebekah, his wife (middle picture) sings alto, and Sheri Thrower (bottom pic) sings soprano. In addition to being a backup studio singer, Sheri also teaches at the Steve Hurst School of Music. She also toured with Larnelle Harris, singing backup vocals for a couple of years. She's a lot of fun to be around. Rebekah has one of the sweetest spirits of anyone I've been around. We really enjoyed traveling with Crossing.

Dan got excited singing Phil's #1 song "Yes, I Am". I would love to know what Phil is doing in the background.

We were singing "Wedding Music" together with Phil (he was singing tenor, by the way, and hitting some incredibly high notes) when all of a sudden he stopped everything, turned and said, "Keith, I have some bookends at home that are miniature globes, and that's all I can think about with Royce and Dan standing between us."

Check out that tonsil shot! Lil' Phil and Dr. Phil. That's us.

Each night, Phil did a visual illustration about worship with the kids at the concert. Very creative. I'm impressed with his approach to communicating the message. You don't easily forget what he talks about.

This line was delivered tongue-in-cheek. Nice form, Royce. He's auditioning for Vegas.

Crossing did "Long As I Got King Jesus" with Avery (Sheri's daughter, in the middle) and Julianne (Royce's daughter, right). And that's Phil singing with them (he's on the left). I like using these parenthetical indicators (as you can see).

Great pic! And those two girls tore it up. I was impressed! Look out Brian Free.

Reason #17 why we don't get invited to do concerts with other groups.

Everyone was able to sing on this song, but me. I just can't figure it out. I wasn't invited to birthday parties as a kid, I never was picked for baseball, I couldn't get a date...I'm a mess (sound of nose being blown vociferously into Kleenex).

I apparently was enjoying this number. Doran isn't too sure about what his response should be.

Dan enjoyed the opportunity to cheer on Crossing.

It was nice to not have to do a whole concert. We kept things flowing pretty well, between the dueling emcees (Phil and Royce) and two groups.

Doran has many expressions while on stage. Here are two of them. Larry and Cynthia Klimes were at our concert in Wendell, ID and Larry told Tammy that "when Doran was a pastor at Grace Bible Church he didn't act like that".

Just for the record, it probably wasn't the greatest idea to have Doran and I do the sales pitch. Doran has that far-away look in his eyes again.

Catching you up-to-date

We had a fabulous Homecoming concert this evening with Phil Cross, Testament, Jamie Thietten, and the phenomenal Homecoming choir directed by the unimitable Gerald Van Order. It featured the debut of Crossing a mixed trio consisting of Phil Cross, his wife Rebecca, and another lady who has been a family friend of the Cross family. They had an outstanding first outing! Their style is the melding of Southern Gospel with vertical praise. Awesome! I will soon be posting a review of their new CD.

We're heading off to 3 more concerts this weekend with Crossing in Wendell, ID; Caldwell, ID; and Baker City, OR. After a week of all-day studio sessions and evening rehearsals my voice is weary. God has been good to me, though. I can at least still sing.

I'll be posting a more in-depth concert review next week. Stay tuned.

By the way, be listening for a new song penned by Doran Ritchey and Phil Cross entitled "I'm His" which will be on our new CD (coming out in September or so). I love the material on our new album already, but I think this song is on a whole other level from everything else.

Looking Ahead and Behind

I got in early yesterday from another weekend in Oregon and Washington. We had a great time. Sunday night we were with another group, the King's Heirs. They are some of the greatest guys in the world. We had a fantastic time together. The concert (in Clarkston, WA) was held at the First Christian Church and they, along with the congregations from the First Assembly of God and the Clarkston Church of God, came ready to praise God. We had a beautiful time of worship.

I just returned from the studio. I feel like we have lived there the last few weeks. Fortunately, we are almost finished with our Old Time Gospel Songs album (just a few touch-ups to take care of). We are now working on a project featuring brand-new songs, most of them written specifically for Liberty. We got to the studio about 10 this morning and stayed for about 7 hours. Phil Cross is working with us, arranging and producing our vocals. This is the first time I've been able to spend time with him and I have to say the guy has an incredible ear for harmony. I'm very happy with the two songs that we cut today. Good stuff!

We'll be in the studio the rest of the week finishing up at least half of the album. Then, this weekend we'll be singing at the annual Idaho Homecoming concert featuring Phil Cross & Crossing (a mixed trio), Liberty, and several other groups here in the area. There is also a 100-voice choir singing on about 9 songs. I think it's going to be a fun evening. We're going to be traveling with Phil Cross on Saturday and Sunday in Idaho and Oregon.

I probably won't be doing a lot of updating this week due to my schedule. We'll see what happens.

By the way, Travis, I'm praying that the Cubs fall off the end of the earth. They have cast some sort of spell over the Reds, I'm confident. The Reds can't take out the weakest offensive team in the Central division. Pathetic!

Oh yeah, one other thing for my motorcycle-riding compadres: Wear a helmet, for crying out loud!