Posts Tagged ‘God’

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Calling all foot fetish freaks!

Joke, people. Joke.

More than 60 celebrities have donated a pair of shoes for MAG (Mines Advisory Group) — an organization that helps those affected by landmines. Each pair will be auctioned to raise money for the cause. Great news, right?

Of course it is, but I’ve got to be honest. As I was looking over the shoes being donated, I laughed a little. I effing love Pink for donating a pair from Aldo. Really, Pink? Aldo?! That store is in pretty much every mall across America, you think she would’ve gave up something a bit more exclusive. I kid, I kid. Kinda.

In all fairness though, the Aldo pair from Pink, in many ways, most likely corresponds with her normal, highly genuine, down-to-earth, anti-celebrity view of a lifestyle? Which is one reason why I think the chick is awesome.

The main point is that these shoes will most likely raise money and awareness to a cause that deserves our attention, and that’s never a bad thing. All the shoes are cool, I just had to share that rant.

To see the shoes being donated click here.

Will you bid for a pair of these kickers or donate a few bucks to the cause and go to your local mall instead?

And for shits and giggles (someone care to explain this expression to me?), take a flashback tour to Pink’s God Is a DJ, below.

By: Maria Ciezak
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Live is one of my favorite bands of all time. I’ve seen them a myriad of times on tour, and their music never seems to get old to me. Only problem is, it seemed to get old to them. Solution? Bring together something new. Lead singer, Ed Kowalczyk, is currently touring solo with new single Grace, off the album Alive. Is he as good without his bandmates backing him? Hell yes.

This lead single is intensely strapping. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few weeks back and was given the opportunity to watch him perform this track, and it blew me away upon first listen. It’s a hard-hitting, soaring song: “You were wrong, there was grace. You saw the enemy, I saw your face. People like you and I, spinning from space, you were wrong, I still have faith” — these lyrics can relate to a lot of things, including his separation from the group, or even situations in life.

Ed Kowalczyk is not just a celebrity that makes money playing music; he is an intellectual artist that should be the role model for many forthcoming musicians. His interviews alone prove he is intelligent beyond levels of music. He tells stories without torment or really ever putting people down. Instead, he shares an enlightenment and understanding that few of his contemporaries share. He is truly an exceptional musician and lyricist.

This album will take long time fans, as well as new ones, on quite a ride. Fans of Live will instantly recognize the power of the voice we have all grown to love. This album walks the line of power ballad and alternative music with, well, Grace. It’s ferocious yet passionate, while retaining the spiritual songwriting side he’s always been known for. Ed also did a songwriting collaboration with Chris Daughtry on Drink (Everlasting Love). These songs show that he has entered a new chapter in his life, reigniting the spark in his affiliation with music. Sometimes artists need to move on from groups to take on fresh musical challenges. I am sure that being the front man for multi-platinum selling Live for 15 years has lead to the need for change, while using his experience as inspiration for the solo release.

Ed stated in a recent interview: “You can’t fake inspiration as an artist, you know where you get it.”

Do yourself a favor and check out Ed’s solo release. The songs are like a peek inside specific moments of your life and carry very profound meaning to many. It will truly make you feel Alive.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

“I can’t live without it. As kids we were so on fire for God. And then you grow up, travel and experience things and stop reading the Bible every day. You don’t realize that you’re taking important things away from yourself. If all this were taken away from me right now I would still have my faith. If you don’t have faith the world will eat you alive.”

–Kelly Rowland / The Scotsman

I’ve always been rooting for Kelly Rowland. The girl seems like a total sweetheart if ya ask me. The former Destiny’s Child starlet recently revealed her new single from her forthcoming third studio album (which is currently untitled), and I’m really diggin’ it (which I’m excited about because I wasn’t too crazy about Commander)!

Rose Colored Glasses was produced by Dr. Luke and written by Ester Dean. Rowland spews love torn lyrics on the track, laced over an infectious beat.

Rowland has yet to set a release date for the new project, but is expecting a September release.

Listen to Rose Colored Glasses below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

“I drank when I was younger, but then I had that 10 Things I Hate About You moment when I realized I was doing this for other people and not for myself. It made me mad, and I haven’t really drank since.”

-Hayley Williams / Spin

Paramore’s the cover story for the July 2010 issue of Spin (on newsstands now).

Writer Josh Eells, who followed Paramore for the feature, wrote that Hayley and her bandmates are not living the typical rock star lifestyle. Instead of partying, he states that the group spent their time to “watch Spaceballs and play Yahtzee.”

“They sing Hanson songs, and not even ‘MMMBop’ — we’re talking deep cuts,” Eells continued to say in the piece. “Their bus smells like popcorn and Twizzlers, and their chief entertainment is a book of hypothetical questions they take turns shouting out answers to.”

And after reading the article, Hayley responded, not very pleased with the overall vibe of the feature:

“It seems that in most cases writers simply enjoy looking at us and exclaiming – like they’ve discovered something huge – ‘THEY’RE YOUNG!’ or of course there’s always, ‘THEY’RE CHRISTIANS,’ or ‘THEY DON’T SHOOT UP IN THE BACK OF THE BUS!’ What is this, the ’80s? Is it really that sensational that we aren’t the second coming of Motley Crue?”

Hayley later wrote: “It’s my opinion that anyone who is coming onto our band looking for controversy is completely missing the point. The point isn’t in the intent of controversy, the point is that there is no way around it. As people, aren’t we all bursting at the seams with conflict and controversy? The point of our music is that there are human hearts in it.”

You can check out a behind-the-scenes look at the shoot in the clip below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Dude, what’s up with the White House? Concerts galore in that place!

No matter what your political affiliation, no one can deny the fact that the White House has become an interesting stage for music lately. Seriously, it’s like TRL up in there these days!

Esperanza Spalding, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, and the cast of Glee have all been on hand at the White House for a performance or two, and recently the Obamas requested Regina Spektor to perform at the first ever White House reception in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.

In the first ever reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month at the White House, Spektor performed a solo piano set for President Obama and First Lady Michelle, Vice President Biden, and others in DC. Luckily for those of us who didn’t make the VIP guest list, Spektor’s performance was captured on video to give us regular folks a glimpse into the event.

Spektor, who is currently on an international tour promoting her latest album expressed her gratitude by saying: “Having lived here for over twenty years, it is an unimaginable honor to be invited to the White House by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, to an event celebrating Jewish Americans, and to be counted among them. Nothing in the world could make us feel more accepted and at home!”

Watch a super cute animation set to Regina’s beautiful Laughing With, below.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

“It never occurred to me that I was in something that should be labeled as a “struggle.” The struggle I’ve had has been with the church, acknowledging me as a human being, trying to live the spiritual life that I’ve been called to, in whatever ramshackled, broken, frustrated way that I’ve always approached my faith. I still consider my hope to be a whole human being, to be a person of love and grace.”
-Jennifer Knapp via Christianity Today

After 20 years in the industry, in 2008, Christian singer/songwriter Ray Boltz came out as a homosexual man. In 2009, gospel star Tonex followed suit. And now, in 2010, Grammy nominated Christian folk-rock singer Jennifer Knapp has decided to come clean, breaking the chains and walking out of the closet.

After taking a break from music nearly 7 years ago, fans along with the Christian music scene took note and rumors began to run rampant. One rumor that surfaced that many didn’t want to digest was a gasping moment of revelation: OMG she’s gay!

Now at 36, Knapp has finally walked onto the stage without any concealer to hide her “struggle”, owning up to the truth behind that rumor.

Recently when Ricky Martin decided to come out, I jokingly thought “yeah, so?” — but as a gay person who has constantly wrestled with my sexuality and my faith, when I found out the news of Knapp’s coming out, I personally felt incredibly unthawed. It may sound absurd, but when it happened (although I know other gay individuals who are Christian), I didn’t feel so alone.

To the thousands and thousands of individuals wrestling: God loves you, God cherishes you, and God will always stand by you. The world’s hatred may break you into shards, the world’s hatred may make you want to kill yourself, but know that God’s love will always pick up the pieces and will never pull the trigger.

Click here for a free (2 tracks!) digital download from Knapp’s upcoming album, Letting Go.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Faith is not a four letter word.

Forgiveness is something that we hold onto thinking that it will somehow safeguard us from pain. But the truth is, the more we hold onto forgiving those who have hurt us, the more the pain sinks its teeth into our skin. Yet the forgiveness that truly matters comes from a space of love bigger than we could ever imagine and for that, I am truly grateful.

I wanted to share a song with you that has really touched my life. If you don’t already, you really should know SANCTUS REAL. I discovered their music when I was going through a very emotional time in my life and it really lifted me to a place where I could feel hope again. The vocals spill with a purity that cannot be mimicked easily because it’s clear that it’s coming from a genuine space wiped clean of the clutter of typical rock star antics.

Take a listen to FORGIVEN by Sanctus Real, below.

“It’s so hard to see past our weakness and failures sometimes, or rather the things WE think are weakness and failures. They can corner us…trick us into believing we can’t be used effectively by God. But God’s strength is perfected in our weakness (2nd Corinthians 12:9)…it’s when he can use us most!”

-Sanctus Real

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

The Rocket Summer is NOT A BAND. I repeat — The Rocket Summer is NOT A BAND. Bryce Avary writes, produces, and plays every instrument featured on his alt rock/pop solo project known as The Rocket Summer. His music is drenched in soul, stained by faith, broken yet healed, and fully alive.

Check out the beautiful ballad, Walls, below. You can pre-order the new album here.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

“I celebrate this award with all the Preciouses, with all the Marys — I celebrate this award with every person that’s ever been touched — it’s now time to tell. And it’s okay.”

-Mo’Nique

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

Yo yo yo, who dat be? It’s R-O-B on the M-I-C. Ok, I’m done. So basically, it’s almost Christmas, and I don’t know about y’all but I’m pretty stoked! Yes, among the challenges of the holiday, comes the ever-changing flight chaos, or train/traffic chaos, or the chaos of punching your way through tweens at the local mall (ok, so punching wasn’t the best word, but you get the point). Either way, I am sure you are feeling the excitement of the holiday season.

But I’ve got to ask–are you feeling the love? I remember being a kid (ok, I still do this, I admit) and loving Christmas because it meant:

A. I was getting new CDs
B. I was getting books/toys
C. I could watch Home Alone and pig out on homemade fudge & peanut butter balls (Welcome to the South!) all damn day

Yes, these are all wonderful things but as I’ve gotten older/grown up, I’ve come to realize that the beauty of giving, really has nothing to do with the gift but more to do with the push behind why we choose to give in the first place.

Christmas, to me, first and foremost, is a time of God, not gifts. Yes, gifts are a part of this, but more than anything, I’ve come to take Christmas as a time to truly cherish the blessings God weaves into the tracks of our head (yes, weaves/tracks/head was a bad description also, unless you’re Britney Spears, but you know what I’m sayin’). Basically, I guess, in my own silly way, I want to say to each and every one of you: Cherish what you do have and DO NOT WASTE ANOTHER SECOND of your time worrying about what you don’t have. Things are things. Diamonds & flat-screen TVs are meaningless compared to the love that I know is floating around you. Take a good look and drench yourself in that. Oh, and while you’re at it, cock your hat!

Merry Christmas everyone! Y’all have fun now, ya hear?!

“Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.”

–Frank Sinatra

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

When I first discovered THE ROCKET SUMMER, I felt completely moved. Not only did the powerpop leave me feeling alive, the words were stinging also. The message dripped with a social conscious and beauty that was empowering and infectious.

[Photo: Sean O'Kane Photography]

According to Alt Press, The tentative title of The Rocket Summer’s new album, “Of Men and Angels,” comes from a Bible verse that Bryce Avary says is “basically talking about how nothing matters but love. That’s something I really feel hits home with me in this past year of my life.” “I stripped away any worldly goals when I started writing this record, whereas on ‘Do You Feel?,’ I was surrounded by a lot of, ‘You’re gonna be a star, kid!’ vibes,” he says, laughing. ” I just got to the point where I was like, ‘I don’t want to chase after anything anymore; I just want to realize what’s going on right now.’ I’m a Christian [which is] by far the most important thing in my life.”

It’s this mentality and molds Bryce’s music into mosaics.

Check out HILLS & VALLEYS, off The Rocket Summer’s You Gotta Believe EP, below.

Update: Check out the official music video for Hills & Valleys below.

OF MEN & ANGELS, the new full length album from The Rocket Summer, will be released in 2010.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND, CLICKING ON MY SITE EVERY NOW & THEN…YOUR HEART IS TRUE, YOU’RE A PAL AND A BALLER. AND IF YOU THREW A PARTY, INVITED T-PAIN & LIL WAYNE & EVERY HIP HOP STAR UNDER THE MOON, YOU WOULD SEE THE BIGGEST BLING WOULD BE FROM ME, AND THE CARD ATTACHED WOULD SAY, THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND.

If you’re having a bad day–be thankful that you didn’t make the mistake of having four senior citizens permanenty inked near your babymaker!

The Golden Girls is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite television shows, but DAMN, I am speechless. Who does this? Eh, I guess it’s better than this for a tattoo.

Thank you for supporting BTB. Cheesecake on the lanai? It’s on me!

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

About a week ago, I mingled my way into McDonalds. I generally do not eat much fast food but I was starving and it was convenient. I decided to splurge and to splurge big. So I ordered a Big Mac.

After squirting ketchup into papercups, I went to sit down noticing an elderly woman sitting alone eating an ice cream cone. Something told me to say hello, so I did. And what happened beyond that first introduction was, well, awesome.

Denise (think Jessica Tandy but French) was 76 years old and bubbling over with life. In a thick foreign accent, wearing pearl earrings & a knit beret, she spoke with her teeth showing, the smile accentuating her wrinkle filled face as I sat mesmerized. Filled with contentment and a zest that I felt I was missing in that moment, I wondered what she possessed, wondered if I possessed the same thing, if it somehow swam inside me the way it swam inside her.

Denise was born in Paris (her family still resides there) but has lived in New York City for 30 years. She told me that New York was the “greatest city on earth”. She told me that I needed to learn to cook, that what I was eating was unhealthy and that I needed to start watching these things while young. She asked me if I exercised. She asked what gave me a spark, what it is I loved to do. She called the French snobs. She mentioned how she bikes all day, every day (except for at nights because her vision isn’t what it used to be). She laughed out loud & I, I fell in love.

And in what seemed like a split second our half hour long conversation had come to an end. She wished me luck in finding what it was I was searching for with a kaleidoscopic glow and as she walked away, I realized what she had, was what I’ve always been searching for–FEARLESSNESS.

Heartbreak had left me tangled in fear, rattled my spurs. Filled with jaded doubts I had accepted the disconnection I felt in trusting another human being with my heart. But through the eyes of a 76-year-old firecracker, I realized that I am ready again. I’m ready to jump.

Check out FOREVER & ALWAYS (the new piano rendition) from Taylor Swift’s Fearless re-release above. See how it ties together? Get it?! Get it?! Sweet.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

He loves God & makes beautiful music because of it. And he’s just like the rest of us! He, too, can’t do the Moonwalk.

His debut album was like medicine to me when I was going through a hard time spiritually. Mat knows what’s important in life and what isn’t and he spills it perfectly through his music.

[Photo: CableCarCouture.Com]

One of my favorite tracks by Kearney is GIRL AMERICA:

Boys with hungry eyes have been beating her door
Telling her that’s what she’s for, trying to rob at her core
Then leave calling her a whore, but still she knows there’s more
I know she knows there’s more because there is a voice she can’t ignore
‘Cause it was founded in the foundations, from the day of her creation
In God we trust engraved on the treasures of her nation
And the void that the boys can’t fill
With the tipping of the bottle or the popping of the pill
But still most of her friends don’t care as they glare
Ready to drown down the funnel as they frown down the tunnel
They stumble and they tumble breaking down into rubble
My girl America, stop can’t you see
It’s not the circumstances that determine who you’re gonna be
But how you deal with these problems and pains that come your way
It’s for you that I pray with hope for a brighter day
And so I say, your deliverance is coming

I LOVE THIS DUDE! Kearney + backstage + moonwalk. Click play.

By: Rob Brayl
For BiggerThanBeyonce.Com

I’m currently reading BLUE LIKE JAZZ (Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality) by Donald Miller. It was a gift from my friend Becca, who thought I could take something from the book. And she was right. One of my favorite parts is when Miller discusses fear. We fear death. We fear being alone. We fear life. We fear the unknown. We fear God. But why? It’s because we do not have the answers. There’s no formula proven by science to explain life to us. But that’s the beauty of faith. One thing that resonated with me personally was how he states that he believes we have two ways to approach this fear: terror or AWE. We can choose to be terrified by our thoughts and by our fears or we can choose to be in AWE of God, and to learn to trust Him with our lives completely. I hope we all learn to choose awe.

Yesterday, as I was walking down the streets of Manhattan, on a wall usually covered with sexually suggestive ads promoting products or albums or films, there were several large pink and purple posters that said: LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE.

The posters were promoting Christ. In a city where sometimes God and serving others seems to be the last thing on everyone’s minds, I thought this was a beautiful thing to see.

Check out Shawn McDonald and a song I recently discovered through a friend on Facebook. Shawn’s music is empowering with a skin all its own. Listen to TAKE MY HAND, below.