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Grace Notes
By Victoria Moon

CCM In the News

As CCM sneaks more and more into the mainstream, many of our favorite artists are showing up in movies, TV shows—basically a bunch of places no one was expecting to see it. For instance, the new Warner Brothers movie "Jack Frost" starring Michael Keaton also features Jars of Clay singing "Five Candles" on the soundtrack. The soundtrack will also feature a cut by the ubiquitous Bob Carlisle. Newsboys members Phil Joel and Jeff Frankenstein anchored a segment of "Channel One", the national school information channel. The band also had their single "Woo Hoo" featured in an episode of teen melodrama "Dawson's Creek." And finally, new CCM modern-rock band Polarboy will have their tour poster featured in an upcoming episode of "Party of Five" (on a web hunt I went on to discover some tasty tidbits about Polarboy, I found out they were Kentucky boys with a sound described as "Caedmon's Call and Smalltown Poets colliding." Pretty cool!)

CCM Classifieds

Fans of ska (you know who you are!) will want to check this out: Crosswalk (formerly gofishnet.com) is putting together a major bio on Christian ska music and they're looking for any data that might be relevant to the project. If you've got the history of ska down to a science, or know all the bands coming out 6 weeks before anyone else, give Dan MacIntosh a buzz at mailto:dcmacinto@elite.com.

Also, if you've been dying to work for heavy-rock mag HM ever since high school, now's your chance. They're looking for an advertising professional to handle all their ad sales. If you're interested, fax a resume over to HM at (512) 929-1950.

The Louisville Scene

In December, check out Newsong coming to The Church at Lexington at 6000 Tates Creek Road. The concert date is December 13, and tickets are $10 in advance, $14 day of the show. For more information, call (606) 273-4000.

Also in December, be sure to see Anointed make a Louisville appearance on December 31. No information yet on the venue, so be sure to keep an eye out in local Christian bookstores for details on that.

Band of the Month

This month, I'm featuring local band Grey Side Out because they wrote me a nice letter telling me all the juicy details of their band. (Remember, folks, I love mail! You send me the details of your band, and I'll be sure to give you a plug in the column!) Grey Side Out, according to the nice letter they sent to me is an "eclectic/alternative/rock/folk" band featuring Rick Mathley on guitars and vocals, Dean Purvis on bass and backing vocals, and Scott Brawner on guitar and backing vocals. They are hoping to add a drummer to their lineup, and recently won a battle of the bands at Fern Creek United Methodist Church. For more information, check out the band's website at http://members.tripod.com/~Stargazer_1/index.html, which includes some very nice background information on the band members. Since Mathley mentioned in his letter that he faithfully read "Grace Notes" every month, I can vouch for the band having some seriously good taste in music! With a long history of CCM and a strong background in the music business, these guys sound like seasoned pros available for church and youth group gigs. Interested pastors and youth group leaders give them a call at (502) 231-9727.

Interesting New Stuff

Michael Card has just released Starkindler: A Celtic Conversation Through Time. The album features a uniquely Card-ian mix of Celtic poetry, astronomy and hymns. According to Chris Crain's column on the WJIE-FM website, Card taught at a planetarium for six years, so keep that piece of information for Trivial Pursuit: The CCM Version. (Hey, it's bound to happen sometime!)

Surprisingly enough (and boy, does this age me!) Out of the Grey has been around long enough to have just released a Greatest Hits project titled Remember This: The Out of the Grey Collection. Haven't heard it yet, but this band is one of the best in CCM-land so its bound to be good.

Well, that's it for December. Hope your holiday is a very happy one!