Music Video Monday: Peace Signs

Welcome to an all new edition of Music Video Monday. We share the best videos in Christian Contemporary Music and the Fringe here. And we seem to be in a every other week schedule. Hopefully we will get on an every week session soon.

It is the Summer, and it will be a Rocket Summer. The band will be releasing a new album entitled Sweet Shivers on August 2, and he has been dribbling out the singles, and Music Videos. So, in the spirit of laziness, we shall do an all Rocket Summer edition.

We begin with the Music Video for Shatter Us, which came out a month ago, and was the first song released.

The Second Song, which Missed My attention (I Know, Shocking), is Morning Light.

And the final song for the week is Peace Signs. In the every other week pattern we seem to be in I caught the release for this one.

That does it for this week. Let's try to keep it all on track. We will return with other artists next week. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Summer Update #3

We are back with our occasional updates from Night Beat HQ. Things are crazy here, and then there is the weather.

PlatVny6 is almost ready for public consumption. The Video and Album Awards are in the bag, fully judged, and I am over halfway through the Song Section. Then there is just a few general field awards to judge before the results are sealed and certified by the cracked law firm of Youppa, Snoopa and Cow. I will let you know the final results, but right now we are looking at late August/early September for the Awards Ceremony.

The Nominations for the 47th Dove Awards are out (yeah, they've been here a bit longer than the Platinum Vinyl Awards, like 40). Just because they are older doesn't mean they are better. I'll be going through the nominations and then I'll take my pot shots make an informed comparison in a series of blog posts.

I think it is time to declare defeat. Music Video Monday is a mess. Now I am not giving up on the series, just giving it a Summer Vacation. It will return in September. That should give me enough time to get through the Doves and Platinum Vinyl Awards and return to a regular schedule. I will keep you posted on that.

Finally, it came to my attention this weekend about the sudden passing of Nelson Chu, aka DJ Official. He was only 39, and he was the DJ for Lecrae and was also associated with The Cross Movement. A rare form of bone marrow cancer took him out. He will be missed.

Sorry for ending on a downer, folks. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Summer Update #2

It is time for another Summer Update here at The Night Beat. In our first update we laid out six things that we were planning on rolling out in the Summer.

• June Edition of Rewind - DONE
• Third Quarter Wrap - DONE
• We Love Christian Music Awards Wrap - DONE
• Legends of CCM Series Continuation - Still More to Do. Will get to it eventually.
• Platinum Vinyl Awards #PlatVnyl6  - Judging Is complete for the video portion. Work is progressing on the other portions. The verdict is still unsure as to a final award date. We'll Keep You Posted.
• Various News and Reviews - Still to come, though I have got back to Music Video Monday.

We will soon have our July Rewind up, and I think we can eventually get back to the Legends series. Though I am really feeling some reviews coming up, maybe as early as next week. We are getting busy here, and sometimes things interfere with each other. It will all be sorted out, so keep it locked here. Until next time, stay cool. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Summer Update #1

I am giving this update a number because I feel I will have to do a bunch of these before the Summer is over, if for no other reason than #PlatVnyl6 updates. Anyway, we are loaded for bear here at Night Beat HQ. Here is a brief rundown of what you should be seeing from us in the coming days:

• Night Beat Rewind: June 2016 - The Last Rewind of The Third Quarter of #PlatVnyl7
• Third Quarter Wrap
• We Love Christian Music Awards Recap v PlatVnyl6
• Continuation of The Legends of CCM Series
• The Platinum Vinyl Awards (#PlatVnyl6)
• Various News and Reviews

As you can see from the list, there is plenty to keep us occupied for the Summer, so stay with us. Until next time, I am  Awaiting Your Reply.

Summerfest: The 4th and Beyond

Continuing with Summerfest. Our first post clued you in on the "Gatecrasher" opportunities, those Festivals which occur within the month of June, and some of them within a week of the post. We took a slight detour with our second post, as we focused on one series of festivals in particular, The Rock The River/Rock The Lakes Minifestival put on by Franklin Graham and The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  Just a further tidbit about these. They are free, non-ticketed events, though I am sure there is some Capacity rules at Coca Cola Park and Sahlens Stadium, since they are sporting arenas. The other two are literally in parks, so just walk in. Actually there shouldn't be a problem at the two stadiums. Most will be sitting on the field and then there are the bleachers.

We return to our coverage of the Festivals which are occurring throughout the Summer months. Of course these are all in the United States. There are a few International Festivals, however, and I shall cover them in another post.

Great Lakes Region

There's no better place to begin than with Farewell. Cornerstone Festival (C-Stone to music fans) is calling it quits this year. They started way back in 1984, so its kind of bumming that they at least didn't wait until next year, when they could have gone out on the 30th Anniversary. It's more of a bummer that it's ending, because they were one of the few, if not the only festival, to actively recruit the fringe, techno, hard rock, industrial Christian Bands. I hope the other festivals will pick up the slack on that front, but I am not that optimistic on that front. The festival goes from July 2-7. It's best to go to the site for this one as things are still in flux.

There are two other Festivals for those wishing to go to the Great Lakes region this summer. Lifefest is in Oshkosh, WI from July 11-15 and Unity Christian Music Fest is in Muskegon, MI from August 8-11.

Midwest Region

Moving west, there are a number of big festivals in the Midwest and plains. The biggest here is Sonshine Festival from July 11 -14 in Wilmar, Minnesota, West of Minneapolis. They have an HM Stage, which should have a lot of the C-Stone favorites.


After Sonshine, another big festival here is Lifelight on Labor Day Weekend just outside Sioux Falls, SD. One major selling point. It's free. Skillet will be here along with other top bands.

There is one festival in the southern Midwest, and it's Rock The Desert in Midland, TX from August 2-4.  Texans should check this out. They say Tickets are only $25.

Northwest Region

Only one festival of note in this region, and that is Creation Northwest in Eunemclaw, WA outside of Tacoma. Pretty much the same bands that came to the eastern festival will be here as well, so I won't say much. They are celebrating their fifteenth anniversary this year.

Southwest Region

This region has seem some major Festival Contractions. Spirit West Coast in Del Mar has occurred already back around Memorial Day. The Monterey festival was cancelled this year. There are two California festivals still to come, but they test the limits of Summer. Joshua Fest is in Plymouth, California, which is in the vicinity of Sacramento. It takes place from August 31- September 2. The Rock of Ages fest will occur in October, but I will deal with that later.

Northeast Region

Most of the major festivals in the Southeast and Middle Atlantic region occurred in May or June, so we move on to the Northeast region, where the Summer really rocks. The two major festivals in the region finally got their scheduling act together, allowing you to have eight days to rock. New England is celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Soulfest at Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, NH near Laconia from August 1-4. This festival has grown every year since it began in 1998 at Loon Mountain. I think it is arguably the premiere festival in the Northeastern United States now, even though it still trails Kingdom Bound (August 5-8 Darien Lakes, NY outside Buffalo) which is celebrating its 25th Year. If you can't decide, and you've got money to burn, go to both.

That pretty much covers the major festivals this summer, at least in the United States. There are a few upcoming International Festivals for the jet set crowd. I will cover those in a later post. Click on the links for ticket information. Until next time I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Summer Music Preview

It's Summer, at least in popular thinking. It being only in the 50's and 60's for most of this week here in the Northeast you have to forgive us if we think it's still Winter. Still, we have passed Memorial Day.

While you are out enjoying the warm weather (hopefully), you're going to need some fresh tunes to enjoy on your iPod. Though they aren't as fresh as the ones I will mention in the post, may I heartily recommend any of the Winners of the 2nd Platinum Vinyl Awards (look at 2011). If you want something a bit more Current, these albums will be released throughout the Summer months.

During the Rebecca St. James Transform tour, one of the opening acts was brother/sister duo LaRue (Consisting of Natalie and Phillip LaRue). While Phillip has had a career as a solo artist, we haven't heard from Natalie since the band broke up in 2002. That changes this month with an EP entitled Even Now. It's currently scheduled for release on the 19th of this month.

July brings a bunch of new releases, but none more anticipated by The Night Beat than a pair of re-releases for a new generation. Petra is one of the most well known and loved Christian Bands of all time, and to many could even be called the fathers of Christian Rock. Two of Petra's most loved releases (I don't know of one that is hated, though the first couple were definitely works in progress), More Power To Ya (1982) and This Means War (1987) are being released among milestone anniversaries. You read that right 30 and 25 years respectively. Clicking on the title links will bring you to the mp3 page on Amazon, where you can get some of the best Christian Rock ever made right now on your iPod or computer. The special anniversary Cd's will be released on July 3, right in time for your 4th of July cookout. I will say I got these albums when they originally came out. I know that makes me sound old.

Project 86 follows up their Platinum Vinyl Award Winning Live Album 15.Live, itself an anniversary release, with a new studio release to be titled Wait for the Siren. You'll have to wait for August for that one.

Finally, we will close out the Summer releases with a Plum of a release. Actually that's Plumb (aka Tiffany Arbuckle Lee) and the album will be called Faster Than a Speeding Bullet. Actually, the title itself is somewhat ironic since it has been anticipated for about a year now and is setting vaporware records. When it does come out (and the latest date is around Labor Day) it should be awesome. Nobody can do dance like Plumb.

While that is not the entire list, it is all I will go into detail on. Summer is also the time we will get releases from Toby Mac, P.O.D., The Museum, and Kerrie Roberts. Most of the artists will be on tour at the many Music Festivals throughout the country this Summer. Of course, that's another post. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Soulfest Reminder

Just a quick reminder, folks. If you are in New England this week, get thee to Gunstock Mountain. It's soulfest time. I, unfortunately wont be able to attend, but you can. It started yesterday and is going on until Saturday. You wont be disappointed

The Festival Scene

It's Summer, and in the music world that means it's Festival Season.  This is the time when your concert dollar gets the most bang for the buck.  Usually you shell out around $100 for a full pass and in return you get the opportunity to see 50-100+ bands of a fairly wide selection of styles. Sure, not all of these are headline quality, but usually about 20 of them could fit that title.  If you only counted those bands into the cost of the pass, that's still only $5 a concert, and where are you going to get that these days.  Plus it's summer, you may be in the mountains, and it is the great outdoors.  A lot camp for the week, though some, like me, try to get a hotel nearby.  That may up the cost, but it's worth it.

With that in mind hear is a small sampling of some upcoming festivals.

• Jubilee Fest (July 29-August 1, Houston, DE) This is a first year fest trying to be the Christian Woodstock.  Some Good bands, like August Burns Red, Sanctus Real and Trinitee 5:7, but not many, only 35 total.  Check it Out if you're the adventurous type, as a first year festival may have a few glitches A Day Pass is $40/The Event is $90, no Charge for Kids under 10 and Cash Only at the gate.
• Creation Northwest (July 21-24, Enumclaw, WA) An offshoot of Creation Festival in Virginia (over for this year), this festival is in its 13th Year.  Big Names Come Here like Skillet, TobyMac, David Crowder Band, and Thousand Foot Krutch.  Pricing Comes in many tiers but an event pass starts at $115 and a Day Pass is $48.  Free only for kids under 6.
• Soulfest (August 4-7, Gunstock Mountain, Gilford, NH) Also in its 13th Year, it continues to grow each year and may be the largest in the Northeast by now, though still lagging in reputation to Kingdom Bound.  Superchick, Jars of Clay, Kutless, and Hawk Nelson are among the bands playing this year.  $119 for an event pass, Day Passes from $25