Extreme Poverty

Jesus said that "there will always be poor among you", but the extreme poverty in the world is getting out of hand. Go to ONE.org to see what you can do.

Road Shots

Chad and Jason Morant saluting U2 on the WildWeek Summer Tour 05.

Voted Best Blog In Tennessee

*Blogstar just received notice that we (me) have joined some the ranks of some better bloggers....whatever that means. I was just awarded Best Blog In Tennessee by the Tennessee Bloggers.

Thanks for noticing. Much Love and Peace.

Paramore Drops New Record!!!

Paramore's debut album, "All We Know Is Falling" will be out tomorrow July 26 on Fueled By Ramen.

These guys (and girl...Hayley) are amazing young musicians from here in Franklin. Check the stuff out and get the record. Paramore.net

Funny Story From The Road

Alright so yesterday me and the guys are on our way out of town headed for Indianapolis, IN when something kinda' funny happened.

Around 8:30am (rush hour) close to downtown Nashville we heard a loud noise from the back our trailer (you musicians are already forecasting the situation). After almost 8 years of touring without this happening, our trailer door came open and out came.........

....something!!! We pulled over to check it out, locked up the trailer (for all you young bands out there, you should actually shut AND lock the trailer door before moving your vehicle of choice). Anyway, after coming back to the scene, we noticed that the only thing that came out onto the the highway (during morning rush hour) was our very large ramp made out of wood and metal!

Two of the guys tried to play frogger with their lives to retrieve the massive gear loading assistant, and with the help of TDOT and Metro Police we reloaded our casualty and continued our journey to Indy.

For the record no one was hurt...make no mistake, we are very happy about that.

The crowd at Fuel 2005 at Taylor University were great! Thanks for buying lots of our merch and for pledging to help World Vision tend to many children in Africa.

YEC 05 (DFW)

SAT I was a part of the SBTC YEC 05 (lots of letters conference) in Dallas / Fort Worth, TX.

Over 2000 teenagers and such were singing, laughing (probebly at us), smiling, and jumping with us as we headlined this years conference.

It is always good to see that young people everywhere enjoy rocking out during their response to God in musical worship. I have hopes that the church in general would catch the heart and vision that "church time and worship time" doesn't have to just be chill and conservative.

I was really hoping that the gig was going to be amazing, because we had one of the worst flight situations that I have ever experienced. I had 3 hrs sleep and got on stage, but it was great!

Thanks YEC. Muchas Lovas to the new friends and fans!

I Know That It Has Been Hot Here In The States BUT...

And I thought my water bill was bad. Check this out.

The Question

"The Question is not if I die do I go to heaven, BUT if I live will I bring heaven to earth".

-Jon Tyson

The Stars At Night...

As the old songs goes "The Stars At Night Are Big And Bright, Deep In The Heart Of Texas"...FO' Real. Last week I must have been in the same area that inspired that song. I couldn't believe my eyes. We were about 20 miles for the Mexico border in a town with no real red lights. If I had only been listening to the new Coldplay CD I might have lost my mind!!! It felt as though I could have reached out and touched the black twinkling canvas.

In the 105 (F) heat I saw things that could have been mirages, but I wasn't alone. In less than a week's time I saw everything from rattlesnakes, cat size roaches and spiders, to a badger, scorpion, and a tame armadillo. Weird.

After a few days of the "rough" I am always ready to sleep in my bed, drive my car, and see one of my 6 local Starbucks. At this moment I feel more American than I have felt in a while. Not so sure that is a positive thing.

LIVE 8 And G8 Summit

I am finally back home.... for a few days anyways.

A few weeks ago I was invited to be a delegate at one of the Live 8 shows and then fly to NYC to meet the remaining delegation to leave for Scotland where the G8 Summit was held. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend because of my prior commitments on the road. Click here to read more about the G8 Summit.


Today, the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) committed to a comprehensive package of aid to Africa. Go to the ONE Blog.

Hopefully DATA and the peeps at ONE will call on me again to have an opportunity to be a louder voice abroad as well as the US. Most of the fight to be heard is here in these United States. Why do we make it so hard to see past our own little world?

Almost Home

I start my journey home to lush Tennessee this Friday. I have many things to write about on *Blogstar in the coming weeks. I am just having to find the words and structure in which to write them.

I am about 20 mins. from the Mexico border as I write this. Phone service is not fun, and getting online is like finding a good Japanese karioke singer. This week I have been reminded of how fast paced my life is. One cannot eat a quick meal in this town. Everything is a slow chillin' pace, which is not a bad thing. I could actually learn to dig the pace.

We (Among Thorns) have finished recording the Live record. We will hit some overdubs over the coming month after we get home for more than a day or two. Should be fun.