We live in a very digital world. Or, dig-i-kal, as my grandma would say. Everything is seemingly turning digital. I’m fine with that. I’m so glad we don’t need to haul bulky vinyl records around in order to hear our music. For me, the ease of use and accessibility of music in mp3 format is unbeatable. It gives me access to my entire music library whenever I want it.
I was reading that there is a major rise in the use of vinyl. I think that people just love to go retro. I can almost hear the purists now, “vinyl just sounds so warm…” In fact, CDs are already on the decline, perhaps due in a very small part to the resurgence of vinyl records. And who would have thought? It wasn’t even 10 years ago that people were hauling around dozens of CDs and plopping them into CD players everywhere. However, the new standard is mp3. Everything is becoming iPod accessible and I love it.
But, this is about more than just music. As I said, this is a dig-i-kal world we live in. This includes music, movies, pictures–basically, all our information. I have spent a lot of time making the conversion. I’ve scanned countless photos and converted many CDs.
I have a small stack of old CDs leftover from my college years that I’ve been looking at it for quite some time. Actually, that’s not totally true. They are tucked neatly away in a container in a storage cabinet. But, every time I go into that cabinet I see them. It’s annoying really, I hear them saying, “convert me. converrrrrrrt me.” Ok, already. Geesh. I decided the time had come for me to convert my old Impact Brass and Singers’ CDs.
It’s not that I want to listen to them over and over. I just want them converted for archival purposes. You know, in case I want to listen to them later. Well, I couldn’t help myself. After spending an hour or so converting these gems from my past, I had to listen to some of it. I discovered that the best perspective on your life comes in the form of recordings of you singing in college.
I haven’t listened to this stuff for years, probably close to ten years. My first thought was: wow, this sounds old, like the early 90s. Of course, it was recorded in the early 90s. My second thought was: wow, I have changed…a lot. I look different, I sound different, I think different. In a moment of weakness I decided to play one of my songs for Jeff. I’m not sure that he’s fully recovered just yet. It was like a taking him in a time machine back to 1992.
Poor guy. At least he didn’t leave me. I really did go to Bible College and sing in a group that traveled around performing Christian cover songs and skits, all with a slide show going on in the background. It’s hard to paint a proper picture without actually pulling out the CDs and old videos, which thankfully are not in my possession.
Here’s our group picture. I’m the blond guy in the back wearing the burgundy suspenders, the over-sized glasses, and a sheepish smile…
Stand Strong! (and down.)
—that’s for all my fellow survivors.
tyflyguy 
this is hilarious… just the other night, Lynda and I somehow got into a conversation that brought us to Brass. It then led to seeing if we could remember words to songs/skits…embarrassingly enough, we could! It’s like it’s all burned into our minds!!!
So thanks for the pic! And for all your readers, my wife is the one on the left in the green jacket with her right arm strategically placed in her pants pocket!
oh, and we have one of those videos if you’d like me to make you a copy! 😉
Wow, that is a blast from the past! That pic must be from your first year in Brass? Remember how we did a parody of the 12 days of Christmas song for an interlude or something for the singing Christmas tree? That would have been 1994 I believe. All I can remember from the song is the line “five shopping malls!” And it’s weird that I was just remember that the other day.
Dear Jesus, how I thank thee that I was not a part of that group. Amen and Amen.
Nice pic, but where are the converted tracks?
how fun and funny! I still laugh at my alcatraz cd, I crack up everytime my six year old wants to listen to it… we are hiding for now.
If I had only known when I met you… you would never have made it to first base.
I am kidding. Just don’t start in with that “up… up with people” shit at home.
me
Ryan: Hello, my name is Ryan and I’m a former member of Impact Brass and Singers.
Group response: Hi Ryan.
OK, so I’m the guy in the front row with what looks like a gray shirt. I think it’s important to note that we had no say in the outfits we wore. Although, Tyler did pick out his own glasses…haha.
The picture post is great but I have to say my favorite part of the entire post was “Stand Strong!(and down)” because I can still hear you saying that.
It’s pretty interesting to look at this picture and contemplate the journeys taken by so many of us. This group has since spread out across the country from California, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and New York. We even have some that are on other continents trying to do some pretty amazing stuff–yes I’m being vague for security reasons. There are some that have passed on and some who have endured the tragic passing on of their own children. In this picture you can see future teachers , professors (2), businessman, airplane pilot, flight attendant, stay at home mom, nurse, church-planting partners (2), technical pastors, college administrator, camp director, insurance salesman, and worship pastor. Who had any idea what our worlds would be like today?
I’ve shared some pretty intense and meaningful times with the people in that picture. I had many moments when I irritated all of them because I was selfish and moments when I made them down-right mad at me. But, through it all they loved me and were loved by me. I appreciate each of them (you) to this day.
It’s been cool looking at each of these faces and contemplating how much my life has been influenced by them. Thanks so much for sharing these memories with us again. Sorry I hijacked your blog to get all nostalgic.