Tires and Tacos

I’m deeply grateful for an iTunes gift card that I got in my stocking which paid for this new blogger app for my phone! You should be grateful too because without said app there would be no new blog from me today! That’s because we have a looooong day of driving ahead of us (currently only 3 hours in). We’re going from TX to Atlanta where me and Josiah will break off for Nashville and the other boys will head back to Charlotte.

We’ve clocked an impressive 2400 miles over the last 4 days-and we’ll finish with fingers crossed since we’re fresh out of spare trailer tires!

The shows from the last couple of days were a lot of fun. We rang in the New Year rockin an event with a couple thousand kids in Joplin. Last night we were finally able to swing through TX to make up a show we canceled a few months ago. Dallas (and by Dallas I mean Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and Arlington) has really been a second home to us. The support there is amazing and it’s always worth the trip across the country!

Along with supportive friends and fans Dallas also offered up a top-notch gas station taco stand! Fuel city- thanks for the great tacos and the corn-n-a-cup (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it)!

I pray 2010 is a busy year for us with lots of shows in your area! Hope to see all of your smiling faces soon!
Until next week…
-Scott (@ScottyMcTaube)

Rolling Stone Magazine lists “Crazy” by Gnarles Barkley as the song of the decade

I sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday with friends and family. All was well in our household. However, for yet another year, “It Never Snows in Charlotte” was once again an accurate depiction of Christmas at home. I woke up Christmas morning to heavy rain pounding outside my window and it continued for the remainder of the day. Regardless of the gloomy weather, it didn’t put a damper on my holiday spirit. Christmas for me is always a reminder of how fortunate I am to even be with family (or have a loving family) during the holidays. Also a reminder of why Jesus coming to Earth in human form was the the greatest thing to ever happen to man. Could you even imagine being in the same generation as Jesus and growing up with him and then hearing him preach as he grew older? Better yet, witnessing him being crucified then seeing him risen again in three days!? We have to remember that the life of Jesus Christ, from birth to death, was not a fairy tale or a sunday school story. It actually happened and is a real historical event. That’s amazing. Always remember that the greatest gift of all time was God becoming man, being born into the lowest of environments, so that he could sacrifice himself for all of us, taking all of our sin upon himself, so that we can have full and direct access to God.

On a completely different note, my movie going experience was rocked this past week when I laid my eyes on the three dimensional, increidibly vivid, dreamlike jungles of Pandora. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, then you have not experienced the epicness of Avatar. Going to see this film in 3d is a must. I’d like to go see it again and coming from me that’s a big deal. With going to see a movie at a theatre it’s always one and done. But this movie experience was too incredible to just see once. Plus the 3d shades are oh so stylish. These aren’t your stereotypical cardboard red and blue colored lenses. This is why this movie is so incredible:

So this’ll be my last blog of 2009, better yet of the ’00’s! Man. As most others are doing this time of the year I will make a list to close out the year as well. Thinking back, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for this year and it’s been very exciting. So here’s the “Todd Davis Highlights of ‘09″

1. After much patience, finally releasing our debut album “Attention” internationally
2. Visiting the Netherlands not once but twice this past summer and playing to thousands at the Flevo Festival
3. Our single “The Difference” hitting #3 in the Christian Rock radio charts
4. Becoming sponsored by Genesis Drum Company
5. Adding Burnie – The Road Warrior (our bus) to the Philmont family
6. Our 3 month long string of touring with Capital Lights, Wavorly, A Rotterdam November, Illia, Abandon, This Beautiful Republic, and Wavorly.
7. The season finale of LOST season 5
8. Making the X 2009 Christian Rock hits compilation album
9. American Eagle Outfitters selecting “The Difference” for their in-store video playlist
10. Our hometown christmas show @ Tremont Music Hall. A venue that is special to all of us in the band

I hope you all have enjoyed my viral video postings throughout the year. Rest assured there will be more to come. I will be closing out 2009 with “How to be Bully Smart” an actual tutorial of immense cheesyness. Enjoy and have a happy new year!!!

Your friend, Todd

The Best New Year’s Resolution is Probably 1080p

Today I’m calling in sick. And since I have no job I suppose I’ll be calling in sick to life. I woke up with some sort of crummy cold and decided the best way for me to get better in time for our upcoming shows is to stay in bed today. I’ve got everything I need here; warm blankets, my computer, my dog and a 24 hour Sponge Bob Marathon playing on Nickelodeon– I don’t know that feeling better will be reason enough to leave this cozy, little oasis!

Since this is my last blog of 2009 I figured it’s only appropriate to blog about New Year’s resolutions. I found an article that listed the top ten most common resolutions. This is what they came up with:

1. Spend more time with family and friends
2. Fit in fitness
3. Lose weight
4. Quit smoking
5. Enjoy life more
6. Quit drinking
7. Get out of debt
8. Learn something new
9. Help others
10. Go to more Philmont shows

Okay, so I may have improvised on one of those. So there’s the list folks! Are any of you planning on pursuing any of the above mentioned goals?

I personally have a short list of 3 resolutions.
1. Read more books
2. Keep up with a blog
3. Learn Adobe After Effects

#1 seems to be on my list every year and considering that 09 was the first time I’d actually started and finished a book since college I’d say I’m improving! In 2010 I’d like to read at least one book every month. Considering all the time I spend in the bus it shouldn’t be an issue. Plus I have a couple great books from Christmas that I’m itching to read.

#2 is something that I must have started and faulted on a dozen times in the last couple of years! I don’t know why but I love to set up and start blogs- keeping up with them on the other hand…well that’s a different story. But now that I’ve told all of you about it I’ll feel like a super fool for pooping out on yet another blog. So in 2010 you can find my personal blog here:

http://scottymctaube.blogspot.com

#3 should be fun! I have the new Adobe After Effects software (it’s a type of special effects video editing program) and a “how to” book to teach me the ropes. Maybe I can post some of my first projects on my blog!

What are some of your resolutions for 2010? What are some resolutions that you actually stuck to from 2009?
See you in the next decade!
-Scott (@ScottyMctaube)

I cant stop partying

Merry Christmas friends!!

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas, I know i did. Ive had more chocolate covered pretzels, hot chocolate, this week more than I have ever had in my entire life. Its pretty cool that last week I had a sweet snow/ice storm here where I live, which is about an hour north from the rest of the guys, and theres still a tiny bit of ice everywhere including my back deck which is perfectly positioned out of direct sunlight. So i sorta had ” white Christmas” I got some sweet gifts and great gift cards.

Ive been all over town and half the state visiting family and juggling parties, also seeing the new Robert Downy Jr movie Sherlock Holmes… I am going to go into hibernation until we have our New Years bash in Missouri. Sherlock Holmes was a great flick, I only caught part of it because as I said, the past week has been 100% non-stop… so of course I could not battle the heavy eyelids that were taunted by the warm, dark theatre. I was that guy… in the movie theatre with my head slumped over.

So as the 2009 holidays come to an end a new year is preparing to launch, this year I believe will be better than the last for Philmont. Only God knows where we’ll end up. I hope everyone has a safe New Year… tell someone how much you love them… and tell a friend about Philmont and more importantly tell them about Jesus.. for he is the reason for the season…. yeah I went there.. pulled that card. Its the truth.

Again, Merry Christmas and goodbye 2009!

-Samsy

JP023 – Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth.

Man, the other guys have really been slacking off this week, huh? And here I am on Christmas Day posting a blog! Not gonna lie, right this second that I am typing it is “Christmas Eve EVE” and I am preparing this in advance. So all the great gift stories will come next time!

Christmas music is the bomb. In listening rotationally to the three radio stations in Charlotte that are currently playing only Christmas music, I got to thinking about the different categories of Christmas songs. Basically, you have three divisions: A) traditional Christmas carols, B) mid-1900s Christmas/winter songs, and C) modern, newly written and recorded Christmas love songs. After some research, I learned that the earliest published Christmas carol that is still sung regularly today is “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” (published in 1833, although the author is unknown and it was apparently sung for many decades before it was published).

Anyway, category A is my beverage of choice. “O Holy Night”, “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”, “The First Noel” – these are the real deal right here. Songs about Jesus’ birth and the events thereof; exuberant proclamations of the arrival of the Savior! Yeah!

Don’t get me wrong, I love category B as well. “White Christmas”, “Sleigh Ride”, “Winter Wonderland” – these are warm, feel-good classics that bring pictures of stockings and snow and fireplaces to mind. I especially love the composition of most of these songs – unexpected chords (esp. the major II and minor IV), beautiful harmonies, multiple key changes – wonderful ingredients to make a great song survive for a long period of time.

Category C is where I feel the inconsistencies lie. Songs like “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, “Last Christmas” (*pukes*) and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” aren’t really giving off the Christmas spirit. And even though I do enjoy the Eagles’ “Please Come Home For Christmas”, I still don’t feel very Christmas-y when I’m singing along…

I guess what I’m trying to say is: Christmas is obviously becoming more and more commercialized all the time, and reminders of the real reason of the season are harder to come by each year [uber props to Linus’ monologue in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” though], and I think a very convenient way to get people thinking about Jesus’ birth is by singing those great old songs that everyone pretty much knows already! So it kinda disappoints me that this year I have seen a noticeable change in the ratio of category A songs to category B/C songs on the radio stations this year. Tons of airplay for the tunes about parties and trees and snow, but limited space for the message of peace, rejoicing, heavenly hosts, Christ the King.

Well, enough with the melancholy. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born! I hope you all are able to spend time with loved ones and maybe get/give some cool stuff. Looking at my family’s tree and the gifts underneath, I feel very blessed to be able to celebrate in such capacity. Oh! And a huge thank you to everyone who came out to Tremont in Charlotte on Sunday and made it an awesome time. We had a blast, and were very excited to feature a fun Christmas segment during the show (with some pretty sick décor).

And, not to brag, but I would say I clean up pretty well for the holidays…

iTunes has a free “Holiday Sampler” album that has some pretty great stuff on it. And even if you don’t like it – hey, it’s free! So check that out. HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS! Here are some more Christmas recordings that I love (2x bonus as my gift to you!) Go get ‘em. – Josiah

Three Six Songs to Buy on iTunes This Week:
1. “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by Copeland
2. “I Celebrate The Day” by Relient K
3. “Star to Follow” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
4. “The First Noel” by David Archuleta
5. “O Holy Night” by Celtic Woman
6. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” by House of Heroes

I Wanna Pony For Christmas!

For as long as I’ve lived I’ve never actually celebrated Christmas with my family on December 25th. When I was little we would celebrate the weekend before then drive up to Michigan and spend Christmas with my extended family. Now that I’m older and my brother and I are married, we still celebrate early so we can split Christmas between our parents and our wives parents—- all this to say that the Taube’s celebrated Christmas yesterday. (Hence the day-late blog)

I had an amazing Christmas. It’s nice to spend the day rockin some PJs (though I admit I do take that liberty occasionally throughout the year) and hanging out with the family. I woke up at about 7:45am…correction, Britt shook me awake saying (in a little kid voice) “It’s Christmas, it’s Christmas!” at 7:45am! We opened our gifts to each other in our room before heading downstairs and joining the family. Shopping for Britt was a lot of fun this year (as mentioned in a previous blog). We had a SUPER tiny budget so we both had to get creative. I bought her a YoBo game console, which is a machine that plays original NES and SNES cartridges! I hit up Ebay for the games and was able to find some for as low as $.99! Ah nostalgia! In return, she scratched #1 off my list and got me the new Apple Magic Mouse (AMAZING!) She got a little nostalgic with my stocking by buying me the CD “Homecoming” by an old Christian punk band Craigs Brother. (It’s okay that you don’t know who they are).

My mom has always been great about buying some goofy gift for the entire family. This year it was the Horsey Hoppers. They are these large inflatable rubber balls fit with handles just like the little kid versions except made to withstand the weight of rowdy adults. Each ball is fit with a Horsey costume and each rider gets his own hat! Within minutes we had a course plotted out encircling the entire downstairs!

I get to cap off Philmont’s year tonight with a Christmas show at Tremont. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve rounded up about a thousand Christmas lights to cover our amps with. After that it’s down to Atlanta to be with Britt’s family before heading up to MO to start our string of January shows.

Hope to see some of you tonight and even more of you this January.
Have a very Merry Christmas!
-Scott (@ScottyMcTaube)

Nothing upsets me more than the term “Xmas”

Sorry this is so late but it’s been a very busy day. Today was spent composing our christmas medley for the Tremont show this upcoming sunday. I must say, we’re pretty excited to share our own arrangements of some classic christmas songs. Also, if you’re one of the lucky people selected to receive a personalized christmas card from Philmont then you’ll be receiving that shortly in the mail. If we could send a card to all of our fans we would because we are very thankful for the love and support from you guys. You’re what keeps us going. So a sincere thanks from us to you, the fans.

I don’t know about you guys but I’m a last minute shopper. Always have been, always will be. I’ve just now started to pick up presents for everyone. I’m a last minute shopper because I flat out hate shopping. ESPECIALLY at Christmas time. The malls and department stores are always so chaotic and the panic in people’s faces always stresses me out. Sometimes, It’s like everyone believes everything will be yanked away within the hour or something. RELAX PEOPLE! I’m sure some of you were the ones that went out at 4am the day after thanksgiving and shopped all day. I surprisingly went that route last year and I think it has permanently damaged me. I will never do that again. It was terrifying.

Does everyone realize we’re about to enter a new decade! That’s craziness! I feel like the Y2K scare was just yesterday? What’s funny is that there is no official name for the decade of 2000-2009. I mean, what would you call this current decade? The zero’s? The O’s? And will we call the next decade the 10’s? Hmm.

We hope to see you Charlotte and N.C. piedmont region natives this sunday. Here’s today’s web clip that I couldn’t help but dance to. I present to you…”Techno Jeep”

Later on,
Todd

Over the hills we go…

Hello everyone. All the decorations are finally up, the bushes are covered and the wreaths are lit. Christmas is almost here and another year has flown by. Here at home its been a rainy, cold, mucky week, My entire bottom drive way is a mud pit. I truly love Fall and Winter is okay but cannot wait for warmer weather!

So our New years show has been moved from a Local-ish NC show to Joplin, Missouri!! Im excited to get back out that way but also hope there wont be any bad weather.

This week Philmont is practicing our Christmas song medley. Were going to tie a couple songs into our set, sadly we will only get to play it once. Im excited to see what Josiah the elf has been working on.

Cant wait for shows to pick up, we’ll have more time on the road and more substance to these blogs. I do apologize.

a Merry Christmas is only 10 more days away!!!

-Samsy

Our List Has Officially Been Checked Twice!

So I just spent the last seven (7)- oh yes, that’s right, seven hours sitting at the kitchen table with my wife Britt addressing Philmont Christmas cards and writing lovely notes on the back. My hand hurts so bad and my butt is still numb from sitting! But I dare say it’s worth it. If you’re one of the special recipients you’ve got a lot to look forward to! Our list wound up being 240 people long! We had the 100 lucky Philmont fans and the rest were radio stations, tv stations, important people, organizations and special friends we’ve met over the last year. We sure do make a lot of friends when we’re out and about!
It was crazy looking at the list of names and remembering shows and people that we met all the way back on the west coast tour last Jan-feb. It’s been such a long year and we’re very blessed to have been kept very busy. I was touched to really look at how many people personally support our ministry. It’s amazing that we can be headed across the country far away from home but still look forward to seeing familiar faces. You guys have truly become part of the big, happy Philmont family this year.
Philmont only has one more show before we break for Christmas. As I’m sure you’ve read in the last five blogs, the show is a hometown show, which is very exciting. We’re playing at a club that we used to play about once a month when we were starting out. We have so many good memories there so it should be a rather nostalgic experience. (We even got to open for MxPx there one time!) Pray for a good turn out and a good time to round out the year for us! Also keep us in your prayers as our New Years Eve plans have moved from an NC show to a MO show! It’s cold up there and they get snow—we don’t have much experience driving in it!

-Scott (@ScottyMcTaube)

JP022 – The Most Best Superlative Awards Extroardinaire 2009 Edition

This post is dedicated to the “Favorites of 2009” according to Josiah Prince. I have spent some time going through all the different things that I have witnessed and experienced this year, and have created this list based on what I feel has stood out the most in each category! Granted, I didn’t see every movie that came out this year, and I did not listen to every album that was released, so this is not by any means an official critics’ list, it is just the highlights of the year for me personally. So here we go:

My Favorites From 2009

Favorite Movie: Star Trek [runner-up: Taken]

Favorite Album: No More Stories by Mew

Favorite New Television Series: Community

Favorite Returning Television Series: LOST

Favorite Song: Water Landing by Third Eye Blind

Favorite Concert Attended: Third Eye Blind

Favorite Pop Radio Single: My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson
[runner-up: She-Wolf by Shakira]

Favorite Video Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
[runner-up: Wii Sports Resort]

Favorite Artist Newly Discovered: Shiny Toy Guns
[runner-up: Children 18:3]
[2nd runner-up: House of Heroes]

Favorite Book: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Favorite Philmont Experience: tie between The Netherlands and releasing Attention

Favorite Philmont Festival: SonshineFest in Wilmar, MN

Favorite Philmont Tour: Out of Control Tour with Capital Lights & A Rotterdam November

Favorite Musical Purchase: Keeley Compressor Pedal

Favorite Clothing Purchase: white sleeveless hoodie from H&M

Favorite Website: Twitter [runner-up: FailBlog]

Favorite Restaurant Experience: Giordano’s in Chicago

Favorite Sporting Event: Major League Baseball Post-Season

Favorite Most Improved Skill: Ping-pong

Favorite Spiritual Lesson Learned: Not every season is a harvest season!

Well that’s about all I can think of! I know the year isn’t quite over yet, but this pretty much sums up the past 12 months as a whole.
Now let’s make it interactive! Insert your own answers and post ‘em in the comments! Maybe we can all learn from each other.

This may seem like a cop-out blog to some of you, but it actually took a lot of time and effort! You wanna see a cop-out blog, just wait ‘til Christmas Day (which happens to be a Friday [which happens to be my day of the week to post])! I’m warning you now, I will be way too busy playing with my action figures and comic books in my PJ’s [you think I’m joking] to get on here and post an elaborate shpiel about the Christmas story (the real one, not the movie)…anyway, maybe I will just write up a post ahead of time so I can just copy and paste it on Christmas Day. Yeah, that sounds good.

Being that this post has already had plenty of good suggestions for entertainment, I will bypass my typical Three Songs list this week. Again, we are playing in our own city of Charlotte on December 20th at Tremont Music Hall, and we would love for each and every one of you to be there. Obviously that is not possible, but we hope that those of you who are less than two hours from this location will come hang out with us! Have a great week, get some shopping done!

Josiah