SiftPop

I’m back (for like a week now, but whatever), but had a wonderful time hanging out with 7Spin music in the bursting metropolis of Valparaiso Indiana. From Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon Peter and the gang at 7Spin showed us a great time. I owe a big thanks to radio promoter genius MJ for getting me the invite and for just being a great guy. Also mega shout outs to all my fellow radio nerds from around the country who make up the main reason I go to these type of things.

Some other memories to share:

Bowling with Sevenglory – Somehow there is always bowling involved in these things. Not that I mind, it’s a great way to hang with and meet people. The guys from Sevenglory may not be great bowlers, but they were a blast to get to know.

Radio Geek Fashion – About an hour after we left the bowling alley we notice that one of our compadres is actually still sporting his bowling shoes. What kind of guy doesn’t even notice that he is wearing bowling shoes in real life? A radio guy, that’s who.

Justin Time – While waiting for dinner to come to our table, my cell rings. It’s my dad letting me know that Justin Verlander is 3 outs away from a no hitter. I immediately call my wife to have her DVR Sportscenter and Baseball Tonight. When dad calls back and confirms that he got it (and snagged 12 strikeouts AND was throwing 102 mph heat to the last batter of the game, sick) I get emotional. So cool to see such a solid kid (sheesh ,I sound old) accomplish such a feat. Since then I even bought the entire game from Itunes so I can watch it anytime I want (I watched it today and cried, man I have issues)

Rockin‘ the Gators – After an amazing Italian dinner we head to Gator Glades for some arcade/Go Kart/Concert by the Gator Pond action. Sevenglory proceeds to put on a great show, showcasing some stuff from their debut album as well as some stuff they just wrote with Ian Eskelin (who I think has now officially written every song in the history of mankind).

Being too Competitive is Hazardous to My Health – My obsessive compulsive competitive nature leads to two, count ’em, TWO arcade injuries (again, only in radio my friend). The first is on the Go Karts. I finally find myself behind the wheel of a Kart that has some pick up and I am passing people left and right, all of the sudden the car directly in front of me comes to a dead stop. Let’s just say as I slammed into her the steering wheel tried to pass all the way through me. I only later found out that the guy in front of her had motioned her by and then purposefully swerved in front of her with a grin. He thought the Go Karts were the Bumper Cars (that’s not a joke, it was literally the excuse he gave when confronted, despite the plethora of posted signs with really big block fonted letters saying NO BUMPING PLEASE.) Two days later my bruise showed up, and the picture below (disturbing image warning) doesn’t even do it justice.

The second injury was completely on me as I found an arcade game called “Flamin‘ Finger” that absolutely owned me. The simple concept is to draw a line through a maze before the time runs out. Since the tokens weren’t on my dime I figured I’d give it a try and what happened next I’m still trying to figure out. Somehow I ended up with a crowd around me as I came closer and closer to beating this game. The addiction and adrenaline were pumping so furiously that I failed to notice until it was too late that I had literally rubbed the tip of my finger off. Once I realized this, I took the only option left to me, that would be of course to use my knuckle instead of my finger. If you wonder why it took a week to blog this, I am just now able to type without pain. I am a sad, sad man. Below the only fruits of my labor.

Mayor McNeese – The only other artist we saw last week and I am smitten. Heath McNeese is his name and his style is some sort of hip-hop, spoken word, comedy hybrid. I know that sounds too experimental to work, but it’s been a while since I’ve been that entertained. I would highly recommend checking out his stuff.

Stealing From Peter to Give Free Music To Paul – We finished off with a breakfast devotional from 7Spin head cheese Peter. He’s an incredible man with some amazing ideas for the industry. At the beginning his records all included the statement, “support our artists, rip us off” and encouraged people to burn copies for friends. He talked about community and industry ethics and how Christian’s should have been the leaders in offering new paradigms of getting music out. You can Google the name Terry McBride for someone else (a non believer) who is thinking outside the box in this area. Oh, and the pancakes were great.

All in all it was a great time, and a wonderful opportunity to both hang with my radio peeps and meet the great guys at 7Spin and hear their amazing artists. I’ve got both Sevenglory’s and McNeese’s new albums now, just let me know and I’ll burn you a copy…. Uh, as long as Peter is cool with it.