Every year, I find a handful of music releases to look forward to. (Imagine Dragons and Mumford & Sons, for instance, were on the list this year, even if I wasn’t able to include those two bands’ most recent, more-positive-than-not releases here.) And then, there are surprises. Sometimes big ones. Last year, for example, I […]
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In my 2011 book, Plugged-In Parenting, I included a chapter titled, “Ten Things You Can Do to End Fights Over Family Entertainment.” One of those suggestions was to get your pastors involved. Here’s what I said: When your kids hear other people—pastors, parents, teachers—echoing your advice on media, they may be more willing to listen. […]
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For pretty much my entire adult life, it’s been common knowledge that Michael Jackson’s seminal 1982 album Thriller was the best-selling record (remember those?) of all time. Well, now it’s not. According to new sales and streaming tallies by the Recording Industry Association of America, Thriller’s been dethroned by the Eagles. That band’s 1976 album, […]
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As we reported in Culture Clips on Wednesday, singer and actress Demi Lovato was hospitalized after reportedly overdosing this week. It’s another deeply sad moment in the career of a young woman—Lovato is just 25—who has been in similarly desperate places before. Lovato has long been open about her struggles, serving as a role model […]
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I really love music. I have special playlists for long runs and cooking, for cleaning and relaxing. Whatever the occasion, I like to have a soundtrack of sorts playing in the background, like my life is connected with a scene in a movie. Cinematic, Owl City’s latest album, shares my affinity for these movie-like moments. […]
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For years, faith-based films have been largely ignored in the secular entertainment establishment. They never— I’ma let you finish, faith-based film guy. But first, we have to talk a little about Kanye West. Love him or not, the influential rapper sure says some … interesting things. And with his new album, Ye, out, West is […]
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We’ve all heard about Facebook and Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Certain apps and social media platforms are as ubiquitous as, well, the smartphone you’re probably clutching in your hand right now. But kids flock to some apps that we parents are sometimes woefully unaware of. The Musical.ly app may be one of those. On the […]
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So Spotify just did a thing. According to their new public hate content and hateful conduct policy, they’ve chosen to take R. Kelly’s music off of their streaming playlists. His music will still be available on Spotify, but will no longer be promoted. After nearly 20 years of allegations that the artist has had sexual […]
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You don’t have to look further than your news feed to find plenty of disheartening news. And we’ll deal with some of that shortly. But before our weekly deep-dive into the overlapping realms of entertainment, popular culture and what’s happening with kids today, I thought we’d begin with an encouraging reminder from Homeword’s Jim Burns: […]
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My first job was as a high school teacher in inner-city Philadelphia. Fresh out of college, I was eager to teach and dying to make an impact. It was a wonderful time in my career that came with many amazing moments. But it came with some moments that were extraordinarily difficult, as well. It was […]
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American Idol is back. On a new network (ABC), and sporting three new celebrity judges (Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan). That’s a quick summary of what’s changed. What hasn’t changed? Well, almost everything else. After a two-year hiatus, ABC’s reloaded version of Idol is almost exactly the same reality singing competition it was […]
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I bought a CD last night. (Rock guitar instrumentalist Joe Satriani’s latest release, if you must know. But I digress already.) I bought it because even though I listen to tons of music digitally (streaming, and in my 15-year-old iTunes library), I just like having a real, physical copy of my music. It’s tactile. Reliable. […]
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Dear Justin Timberlake (can I still call you JT?), I am writing to inform you that we’re through. I’m breaking up with you. Let me back up. I realize it’s been awhile since we last talked. In fact, I know that this is actually the first time. You don’t know me from Adam, and that’s […]
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The outgoing year is often depicted as an old, tired man with a beard down to his knees. But this year, that depiction felt all too true. With all the natural disasters and political unrest and international crises afoot, 2017 probably made us all feel older than we should. Back in the day, many folks […]
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We sometimes get emails that take us to task for “hating” what we review. To an extent, I get that. There’s lot to critique, and sometimes it can feel as if all we do is categorize varieties of moral dreck. But I have a confession: One of my great joys is when a musical artist […]
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