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Blogging Christian Driving Geography God Music Radio Travel

Fort Lauderdale Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last Thursday October 13TH 2022 dual music concerts were occurring simultaneously 17 miles apart in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area (Broward County). At The Parker“Weird Al” Yankovic was LIVE on tour – with comedian Emo Philips opening for him. Over at The CenterNewsboys were headlining – with Cochren & Co. and Adam Agee (Stellar Kart) opening for them. So of course – you know me – you’ve been reading my blog for years now – of course – I saw – the legendary – “Weird Al” Yankovic and Emo Philips !

I actually bought my ticket for the “Weird Al” show 7 months earlier in March 2022. He was doing back-to-back completely different shows on Wednesday and Thursday (October 12TH and 13TH), and I randomly picked the second show since it was closer to the weekend. If I had picked the first show (on Wednesday) then I could have gone to the Newsboys concert (on Thursday). The Newsboys concert wasn’t even announced until a couple of months ago in August 2022.

So I’ve been a “Weird Al” fan (OK – nerd) for almost 40 years now – ever since I first heard of him and his music in 1983 on WJOK-AM (All Comedy Radio in Gaithersburg Maryland). I bought all of his cassettes back in the ’80s. I kind of “outgrew” him into the ’90s, but I still have that place in my heart for his weirdness. I saw him LIVE in concert for the first time in August 2015, and then I saw him again in June 2019. All 3 shows were in Fort Lauderdale. He always puts on a good fun nostalgic show. I kind of wish I had gotten tickets to both of his shows – since they were both completely different (aside from the encores). For his tour this time around – he performed some of his “extremely unpopular songs”, so not the hits, but even so I knew a lot of the songs that he did. For this show that I attended – one of his encores was a note-for-note cover version of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” – one of my favorite songs of all time !

“Weird Al” Yankovic is a born-again Christian who doesn’t cuss, smoke, drink, or use drugs. Privately (off-performance) he’s shy and polite to everyone.

Emo Philips opened for “Weird Al” with a 34-minute stand-up comedy set that had the entire concert hall laughing in hysterics. I was never a fan of his weird comedy, but he definitely delivered for this show. He exceeded my expectations of him. His comedy routine was funny and relevant.

This was my second show at The Parker (former Parker Playhouse) – at least since 2000. It’s been there near downtown Fort Lauderdale (off U.S. 1) since 1966 – with the first show presented in February 1967. It recently completed a 2½-year / $30-million-dollar renovation. It definitely had that “new-car-smell” to it last week. It’s a very nice venue. I think I may have seen a concert or two there in the late-1980s into the 1990s. Back then the Sunrise Musical Theatre was the place for concerts over in the western part of Broward County.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll tell you all about the Miami Military Museum. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 296

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday October 16TH 2022 – the 296TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 10 Good Morning Mercy
[5TH week @ # 1]
Jason Crabb
2 3 17 Thank God For Sunday Morning Cochren & Co.
3 2 9 New Creation Mac Powell
4 5 6 Miracle Power We The Kingdom
5 6 3 Ain’t Nobody Cody Carnes
6 4 8 Build A Boat Colton Dixon
7 8 3 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
8 7 18 Hold You Tight Dan Bremnes
9 9 6 God Is In This Story Katy Nichole Ft. Big Daddy Weave
10 10 6 Perfectly Loved Rachael Lampa Ft. TobyMac

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “What If” – Matthew West
2020 – “Rise Up (Lazarus)” – Cain
2019 – “Fear No More” – Building 429
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “The Gospel” – Ryan Stevenson

COCHREN & CO. – I featured “Thank God For Sunday Morning” as the 3RD and final song of “Praise & Worship” with my church family yesterday morning. It’s a great song to read the lyrics to on the big screens, and take those words in. It’s back up a notch this week to # 2 on my chart, and it could rise to the top next week. I took a look back at the debut smash from Cochren & Co. “Church (Take Me Back)” enjoyed a long chart run in 2019. It actually spent 8 non-consecutive weeks at # 2 before it spent 4 weeks at # 1. This is the 5TH non-consecutive week at # 2 for “Thank God For Sunday Morning”. We’ll see if it can end that streak for the better next week.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday#SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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2000s Blogging Internet Military Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2002

Hello again retro music fans. Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, 25, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 20 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday October 13TH 2002:

And here’s an actual snapshot of my Top 5 exactly the way it appeared on my web site at the time:

That’s from the 370TH online edition of my “Weekly Top 40” at the time. That was right in the middle of the 2ND era of my chart that lasted a little over 14 years from October 1995 to January 2010. For a little over 2 years from 2002 to 2004 I was immersed in the #EDM culture, and my weekly hit music chart was a pure dance chart. It was quite the experience !

DJ Sammy’s cover of Bryan Adams’ “Heaven” was an International mainstream pop smash, and of course a dance smash in the clubs. DJ Sammy is Sam Bouriah from Spain. His take on “Heaven” spent its first 20 (out of 42) weeks on my chart at either # 1 (13 weeks) or # 2 (7 weeks). At the time “Heaven” was the 7TH song to spend at least 10 weeks at # 1 on my chart.

It should be noted that the original “Heaven” from Bryan Adams spent 2 weeks at # 1 in June 1985 while I was in #USAF “boot camp” at Lackland AFB in San Antonio Texas. That was certainly not “Heaven” for me !

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 25 years ago to October 1997. It’s when a # 1 country song became a 134 BPM # 1 pop-dance smash on my chart.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going retro with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 295

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday October 09TH 2022 – the 295TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 9 Good Morning Mercy
[4TH week @ # 1]
Jason Crabb
2 2 8 New Creation Mac Powell
3 3 16 Thank God For Sunday Morning Cochren & Co.
4 4 7 Build A Boat Colton Dixon
5 6 5 Miracle Power We The Kingdom
6 10 2 Ain’t Nobody Cody Carnes
7 5 17 Hold You Tight Dan Bremnes
8 9 2 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
9 7 5 God Is In This Story Katy Nichole Ft. Big Daddy Weave
10 8 5 Perfectly Loved Rachael Lampa Ft. TobyMac

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “What If” – Matthew West
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Only Jesus” – Casting Crowns
2017 – “The Gospel” – Ryan Stevenson

JASON, MAC, & MICHAEL – As in Crabb, Powell, & Cochren. (Sounds like a law firm.) The trio hold firm at # 1, # 2, and # 3 this week for the 4TH week in a row. All 3 tracks sound great on the radio, and they deserve to have their volume cranked-up when they play. A casual observer to my chart may wonder when country music took over. There is definitely a country music influence to my chart nowadays, but then country and gospel music have been influencing each other for almost 70 years – since the modern rock-and-roll era began. See #Elvis.

CHARTBUSTING – Sitting just outside of my Top 10 this week (and getting ready to jump in) is the # 1 smash nationwide at U.S. Christian radio – Ben Fuller’s “Who I Am”. It’s a former # 1 smash at small-market stations, and it’s likely the next # 1 smash at large-market stations. It’s been playing since May, and it’s been available since March. And YES – it sounds like a country song. Ben Fuller actually moved to Nashville to pursue a country music career. But then Christ rescued and saved Him, and he pursued His Lord & Savior instead. He sings about it in “Who I Am”:

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday#SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp