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Hi, my name is Drew Francis (I’ve always wanted to start a sentence off like that). I am the Creative Director at Student Life. I made the mistake of saying that I have nothing to do right now and the editor of Realstudentlife.com overheard that. So. Here I am. I’ve been traveling on the Student Life Tour, so I’m in and out of the office every week, which is why I have found myself with some free time. While I have been feeling detached from the people I work with, I have been in the midst of what we do every week, which is Tour. I want to discuss something that I feel needs to be addressed. It is the art of The Saved Seat. Now I know what you are saying, what does this have to do with our faith? Trust me by the end you’ll get it. The Saved Seat is an ancient custom, going back many years. I think the Greeks were the first to do it or something. Within the last 100 years, we had laws here in the South that made it unlawful for certain people to sit in certain seats. Thank you to the civil rights movement. I can now sit anywhere I’d like. That now brings me to the typical worship service. In the days of my grandmother, there were particular seats that families sat in and if you made the mistake of sitting there, you were frowned upon. I find it funny that you looked down on someone who made the effort to come to church, but it was another time.

Now, that brings me to the events we do here at Student Life.

We tried to make Student Life events a “first come, first served” type of event. We give everyone equal chances to sit up front or in the back, whatever your desires may be. Unfortunately, some people have abused this ideal. There is now an epidemic of massive proportions. During Tour, we send people to a lunch break. We have found that people leave their belongings to, yes, save their seat for them to return. What I find hard to believe is that someone would feel that they have the authority to deny the rest of the audience to the very privilege (Nay! Right!) that they themselves were afforded! Why do these same groups not say to themselves that they are going to put others before themselves and give up those seats for others to have that same chance? To save that seat is to deny the very reasons that you come to an event, for that renewing of fire and focus of service. Am I talking out of turn? Or does it not make sense that if you leave a building for two hours, you shouldn’t think that you could come back to the exact same spot that you left? Here is what I say. If you believe what I believe then stand up to those groups that take up entire rows only keep people from the very experiences that they have come to love. I know what you are saying, “Shouldn’t that be your job?” This is something that only the people can handle. Now here is the question I have for you. Do you believe that God can only work in the front row?

Comments? Let us know here!
Posted by Drew @ 11:49am, 03/05/08

Sometimes I get tired of my iTunes. I admit it. I mean, I have a lot of songs that I like and it’s all good music. But I like to expand my musical horizons. As we all should.

The Student Life office is in the midst of renovation at this moment. A lot of the production team is in a tiny room in the warehouse, waiting for new cubicles and new paint to dry so that we can move back into our office. This generates a lot more talk, more conversation, and more sharing. My friend Travis, who works next to me in our makeshift workspace, discovered probably the best thing on the internet for music lovers & shared it with me.

It’s called Pandora. Streaming internet radio from the Music Genome Project. The best way to describe what the Music Genome Project is, is to let Tim Westergren, the founder, express it in his own words:

“Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.”

What comes about from the Music Genome Project is an incredible way to discover new music. Allyou have to do is register and type in the name of a band or song you like. I tried “David Crowder Band” and immediately, David Crowder started playing. They start you off with something that is David Crowder-ish, then move on to other artists who have the same genes in their music as David Crowder. Pandora also saves your “stations” so you can come back to them later. You can make as many stations as you like. Chris Tomlin, Delirious and the Passion Band all popped up in my David Crowder station.

I will say that Pandora is decidedly not a Christian site. There are secular artists who pop up, sometimes with lyrics that may or may not be uplifting. But, this is a rare occasion. The good news is that we can all know what is wrong and Pandora gives you the option to narrow each station with “ThumbsUp” or “Thumbs Down” buttons. If you hear something that is questionable, you can scroll over the cd cover, give it the “Thumbs Down”. Pandora will note it and move on to the next song. Due to licensing agreements, you are only allowed to skip a certain number of songs per hour. If you get stuck in a playlist you are not digging and reach the allotted number, your best bet is to make a new station and start over.

If you don’t ever listen to secular music (and please don’t think I’m saying that’s bad or stupid), Pandora probably isn’t for you. I am currently seven songs into my Vicky Beeching station and two songs have been secular, although they were very good and lacked disgusting themes and profanity. But, if you drive with your local radio station blaring and you clearly understand that maybe Fergie’s “London Bridge” probably isn’t the most Christ-edifying song, then you might like it. There is a whole new world of music to be had!

You should check out Pandora. You never know what you might find.

Visit Pandora here.

Posted by Erin

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