And even if you don’t repost it, it’s quite a catchy little song.

Here’s his story (from YouTube):

In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise. Follow me at http://twitter.com/DaveCarroll . Video Produced by Curve Productions of Halifax, http://www.curveproductionsinc.com.

And here is the full, detailed story from his blog: United Breaks Guitars.

In a blog post dated May 7, 2007 I mentioned that my current iTunes Library was holding at the following levels:

3728 Songs (12-days 13-hours 37-mins 30-sec | 7.69Gb)
33 Movies (03-hours 13-mins 24-sec | 2.01Gb)
44 TV Shows (01-day 07-hours 50-mins 32-sec | 20.32Gb)
447 Podcasts (12-days 16-hours 59-mins 45-sec | 15.03Gb
10 Audiobooks (21-hours 03-mins 25-sec | 289.5Mb)

Noticing the date was exactly 2 years ago, and being the curious mind that I am, I went to iTunes to see what has happened in the past 2 years. The results are as follows.

6002 Songs (19-days 18-hours 29-mins 51-sec | 34.47Gb)
76 Movies (02-days 17-hours 32-mins 45-sec | 33.78Gb)
131 TV Shows (03-days 16-hours 05-mins 10-sec | 63.36Gb)
839 Podcasts (24-days 03-hours 21-mins 14-sec | 34.77Gb
71 Audiobooks (14-days 09-hours 08-mins 31-sec | 4.64Gb)

It’s astonishing how large my library has grown in only 730 days. If my math is correct, and there is a somewhat likely possibility that it is not:

Music has increased 61%
Movies have increased 133%
TV Shows have increased 197%
Podcasts have increased 87% (not taking into account the fact that I regularly delete all old, outdated podcasts to free space)
Audiobooks have increased 610%

Where did all that media come from? I suppose one good thing to see is that my audiobook content has had the most drastic increase, and therefore I am obviously reading more. It’s just amazing, though, when you see the actual numbers in front of you.

Street Music from William Hartz on Vimeo.

One thing I love about living so close to New York is all the interesting people you meet on the street when going into the City. I remember seeing homeless men dressed up like Big Bird laying on the side of the road, people selling pick-up lines for a dollar, so many different people who want to tell you their stories, and street artists. I particularly enjoy these street musicians who share their talent on the corners and alleyways for all to hear. I usually stop and give these artist a dollar or two, as is customary, in their open instrument cases on the ground next to them.

Recently, a friendly man named Kevin has been hanging out in front of or near the Liberty Theater on Elizabeth Ave in Elizabeth, playing his sax throughout the evening. He comes and goes as he pleases, but I’ve noticed that you can most regularly hear him on Wednesday nights starting around 9 or 10 pm. He shows up and the Avenue, whose concrete and brick-lined buildings act like a sort of a channel for the sound of his horn to reverberate down, is filled with a variety of songs ranging from R&B tunes of old to hymns to patriotic themes.

I recently found out that, at one point, he used to go to our church and, one thing leading to another, he now finds himself doing this. He seems to enjoy himself, though. He stands on the corners and sidewalks, playing his saxophone for anyone who is interested in stopping and hearing and perhaps chatting a bit.

Some people see it just as noise, but I really enjoy his presence in our city and think his music really adds some nice ambiance to our home. We need more street artists like him.

Today I’m heading out to buy some things I need to continue the projects I am working on, doing some more video work and design work, and then setting up and running Fusion tonight at the Liberty Center. It’s going to be a late night. I’ve already told the people at church that I’m not coming in Sunday morning since I’m going to be out so late Saturday night doing stuff. Dave, the guy who helps with sound, seems a bit nervous that I won’t be there with him tomorrow, but I have full faith that he can handle it.

The Rules:
(1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating.

01. After the Fire – Der Kommissar *****
02. Youth Alive – Jump to the Jam *
03. Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard – Like a Dog Chasing Cars (Dark Knight Soundtrack) ****
04. Crosby, Stills, & Nash – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes ****
05. Alice Cooper – School’s Out (For the Summer) ***
06. Amy Seeley – Gravel Lines (EP Version) *****
07. Amy Seeley – These Walls ***
08. Kirk Franklin – Blessing in the Storm ***
09. Hillsong – All for Love *****
10. Michael Regalado & William Hartz – The Room, vol 5: Embrace God’s Way [No rating]

I can’t really see any theme that iTunes was trying to share today. I guess it was just being random.

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

Anyway. Today was a good day. I woke up and finished editing down a video that I’ve been working on. I’m going to let it render while I sleep tonight and upload it tomorrow. Carlos came over to give me some stuff for his teaching tomorrow at church. It’s “youth Sunday” and The Bridge is taking over the adult service. There were some things to scan and he game me some pictures, but he also gave me his completed outline. Then I got inspired…. inspiration is a dangerous thing. I made slides for a bunch of his points, including raiding iStock Photo for images, and put together, what I think is, quite a nice presentation. Not to brag, but I really pulled out all the stops with the designs. My brother helped a great deal too. We tried a lot to make them the nicest we can while not getting too crazy. I’ll post a video of the slides tomorrow.

Later in the day Janelle and Ali came over and we went with them for Ali to get a new dachshund puppy. After the adventures in canine retrieval, I went to the Liberty to finish all the last details for tomorrow and to setup the Retreat9 registration table in the lobby. Now, finally, I am home and my work is done. And so, here is my Saturday iTunes for February 14, 2009.

The Rules:
(1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating.

01. Moby – Honey ****
02. MuteMath – Chaos *****
03. The Rolling Stones – She Was Hot (Live) ****
04. Nima Gorji – Logical Mind ****
05. Newsboys – Adoration ****
06. Audio Adrenaline – Goodbye ***
07. The OC Supertones – Escape from Reason *****
08. WWE – Break the Walls Down (Chris Jericho’s Theme) ***
09. RUN-DMC – Bounce *****
10. Coldplay – Lovers in Japan *****

Seems iTunes was in a very good mood today, playing really, really good songs overall. There was a good mix of style and variety as well. Very nice.

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

The Rules:
(1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating.

01. BT – The Internal Locus ***
02. The Apples in Stereo – Can You Feel It? **
03. Newsboys – Lord (I Don’t Know) ***
04. Starsound Orchestra – Cotton Eyed Joe **
05. Norah Jones – Feelin’ the Same Way ***
06. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Scar Tissue ****
07. Ron Kenoly – Oh the Glory of Your Presence ***
08. Ron Kenoly – Let Everything that has Breath *
09. Sozo – Global Culture Sega Child **
10. Scott Blackwell – Love Came Down ****

Wow, iTunes seems to have been in a strange mood today. A whole lot of mediocrity with only one or two decent selects, into a Ron Kenoly worship block (that’s kind of embarrassing) and then straight forward to a 1990′s techno groove.

In order to recoup some dignity, I will just suggest that the songs thereafter the initial 10 were slightly more respectable, including Red, U2, The Postal Service, and Dave Matthews Band.

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

The Rules:
(1) You put your main music library in iTunes on “shuffle” and hit play. (2) You then list the subsequent songs that play at random. And so, here’s the next 10 random songs in my iTunes library. Ratings are included, and, of course, no cheating.

01. David Crowder*Band – Deliver Me (Antidromic Mix) *****
02. Moby – Bodyrock *****
03. The Pointer Sisters – Automatic ****
04. Rocky I – Gonna Fly Now *****
05. Nine Inch Nails – Echoplex ***
06. TV Themes – The Andy Griffith Show No rating
07. WWE – The Wind Beneath Our Ring *
08. Falling Up – Jackson Five ****
09. Jars of Clay – Five Candles (You Were There) ****
10. U2 – Desire **

What are your next 10 songs? Leave a comment.

So here’s this week’s YS Podcast (episode #12), recapping NYWC Pittsburgh. There’s some concert footage, of which I had the honor of recording some. Make sure you check out the MercyMe shots to see the work of my shaky hand.

Also, there’s a lot of interviews mixed into the show from people in our group. Keep an eye out for Armando, Janelle, Elliott, Romulo, and Jesus. Also making an appearance, new Twitter friend, Sara. I have some pictures (to be posted soon to Flickr) from the interview time atop the Pittsburgh Convention Center roof and from our hanging out with Adam after the convention ended.

I’ve been helping Youth Specialties to live blog their 2008 National Youth Worker’s Convention in Pittsburgh, and they set up a table for us to be stationed at inside the tech booth. While there, I propped my camera up and recorded some of Starfield leading the people in a time of worship.

This is Starfield covering the song “Hosanna” originally by Hillsong.

NYWC officially began today. But before that, we still had to finish up our Critical Concern Course. I begrudgingly woke up early and made my way to the 8:30 start time for part 2 of The Present Future of Youth Ministry. Let me just say that this class was amazing. If this is the only thing I take this weekend, it was worth the price of admission.

There was a lot of discussion in the class on where youth ministry has been – stretching as far back as the mid 1800′s. We looked at traditional models for YM and “how we got to where we are.” Something I didn’t realize is that the “normal model” we use as a general for youth ministry today is the same as was used in the 1940′s. We looked at cultural changes since then and what it looks like to be a teenager in that time and what it looks like to be a teenager now. The basic idea is that culture has changed so much that we cannot pursue the same models of yesterday and expect them to relate the same to youth in 2008. We went over ideologies on where we need to move from and to. Some examples are that we need to move from program-focus to people-focus – meaning that our program is irrelevant and we need to focus on the kids. Brock, our speaker, even suggested such extreme moves as to cancel your regular program and just go to where the kids are, as his group has done. Really revolutionary ideas. Other concepts, and most are tied together, are that we need need move from being attraction-based to missional based ministries, we need to stop teaching only salvation but focus on the way of Jesus instead. We need to move away from a centralized structure to a decentralized structure. Really, the concept is that we need to stop worrying so much about our traditional programs and focus on the kids themselves. Meet kids where they are. Reach out to them in their real lives. Don’t try to get them to come to us… go to them. It reminds me of something I heard on a podcast recently where the said that we need to stop treating the church as a business and let it be the Body. In the podcast they aslo posed the frightening question that “The Church is supposed to be the Body of Christ, but if a body becomes a business, doesn’t that make it a prostitute?” Anyway, the CCC really inspired me to pursue new, more relational, agenda-free ministry with the kids back home.

And then the conference began. I’ve been live blogging the General Sessions with @pattigibbons, @mattmcnutt, and @mclanea. You can read the full transcripts at nywc.com/live so I won’t go into much detail on what that’s like other than it’s really fun. I’ve been doing a lot of picture and video posts. I <3 media.

The sessions themselves are going really well. Starfield has led worship thus far and they are incredible. I learned they just released a new CD. I was going to buy it here, but I’d rather just get it on Amazon.

The speakers were great too. Mike Pilavachi spoke in the first session. I love his teachings. The only down-side is that he gave the EXACT same message this year as he did 2 years ago. It was a good message, and I as glad to hear it again, but I still would have liked to hear something new. In Session #2 they tried something different. There were 3 speakers who each spoke for 18 minutes. After each teaching there was 8 minutes of discussion and then 8 minutes of Q&A via text with the speaker. I really liked the format and would like to see more. Two of the speakers, Andrew Marin and Shoon-Chen Rah, spoke on really touchy subjects – homosexuality and racism. There was a bit of tension in the room at the start of their talks, but by the ends, great discussion was inspired. So cool.

I have to admit, I skipped the seminars for the day. Well, I went to a half hour of one with Jenn – Duff Robbins’ talk on teaching technique. We left, not because it wasn’t good… Duffy is an amazing speaker. We left to bow at the alter of the coffeeshop. We had a hankerin’ for some chai that needed remedy. And so we made our way to Crazy Mocha. They had a special drink available – the apple cider chai. It was sooo good. Tasted like warm, liquified, apple pie. We’re gonna go back in a day or two.

And it was Sarah’s 28th birthday on Friday as well. We went to eat at Mahoney’s restaurant on Liberty Ave. It was a really nice place. There was live music and entertainment the entire time we were there, and the pianist serenaded Sarah with one of her favorite songs, Piano Man by Billy Joel. The food took a bit of time to get out to us, and since I had to be back at the convention center for liveblog coverage of Session #2, and so I had to inhale my steak in about 5 minutes. I wish I could have stayed with the group, but alas.

This is getting long, so I’ll leave it at that. I will say that the convention has been incredibly fun and I’m loving every minute of it.

More to come soon.