Will You Be Courageous this Weekend?

"Protecting the streets is second nature to these men. Raising their children in a God-honoring way? That's courageous." Are you going to see the latest by Sherwood Pictures this weekend?

Michael Sweet Announces New CD and Departure from Boston

Michael Sweet tweeted yesterday that he "Booked studio time today for the solo record! Will begin recording in December. It'll be a follow up to "Truth" w/lots of guitars." Last month he announced that he was departing legendary rock band Boston to devote full attention to his longstanding role as frontman of re-emerging legendary metal band Stryper. Sweet joined BOSTON in 2008, sharing lead vocals and playing guitar on a headlining tour of North America, performing the band's classic hits like "More than a Feeling," “Peace of Mind,” “Amanda” and “Don't Look Back.” Following the BOSTON tour, Stryper released the 2009 studio album Murder by Pride (featuring a cover of BOSTON’s "Peace of Mind"), which led to a yearlong world tour with all of the original members. In 2010, Stryper released The Covering, and another world tour recently concluded. Stryper is currently in the studio working on an untitled release for 2011. Stryper has sold more than 8 million albums worldwide. The group’s unprecedented 1986 album To Hell with the Devil went double-platinum and was named one of the “100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music” by CCM Magazine.

Switfchfoot Takes Verses to the Top

Switchfoot's newest release is currently in the Top 5 in both Amazon and iTunes charts.

Needtobreathe's Top 10 Reckoning

NeedToBreathe's "The Reckoning" debuted at No. 6 with 49,000 -- the band's first top 10, highest charting set and best sales week ever. Its last release, 2009's "The Outsiders," debuted and peaked at No. 20 with 21,000. NeedToBreathe are 1 of six new arrivals in the top 10 this week. They are joined by Tony Bennett, Demi Lovato, Mindless Behavior, Gavin DeGraw and Pearl Jam. The CD remains at #16 in iTunes and #22 on Amazon.

What's Hot Chelle Rae's Connection to Guitar Legend Phil Keaggy?

Hot Chelle Rae's platinum selling song “Tonight, Tonight” has been burning up the charts this summer, but did you know that two of its members have famous Christian musicians? Nash Overstreet (lead guitar, backing vocals) is the son of country music singer Paul Overstreet and the brother of actor Chord Overstreet. Ian Keaggy (bass guitar, backing vocals) is the son of Phil Keaggy.

Downhere is Somebody to Love

Legendary rock band Queen is celebrating 40 years of music by launching a North American tour and hosting a Youtube contest to pick musicians for it. Marc Martel of Downhere uploaded his rendition of “Somebody To Love” and quickly gathered more than 2 million views in its first three days online. Shaun Groves notes in a great blog entry that fans are raving as are outlets such as The Wallstreet Journal and Entertainment Weekly. Of more significance, he makes an interesting observation:

The Christian music industry and fans have a history of jumping on the bandwagon of veteran Christian artists only after the general market confirms their talents first. Mercy Me couldn’t get played on Christian radio until a mainstream station spun I Can Only Imagine and the song was added at general market stations nationwide. POD? Played side stages at Christian music festivals until they broke through to the mainstream via MTV. Switchfoot was never a staple on Christian radio until, again, the mainstream vaulted them up the charts first. Sixpence None The Richer sang about kissing at twilight on every movie and television soundtrack out there and, well, only then did the Christian music gatekeepers pull out their keys.

Read the entire blog here.

ESPN Again Features Switchfoot

ESPN debuted five songs from Switchfoot’s new album, Vice Verses during this past Saturday’s Oklahoma (#1) at Florida State (#5) game on ABC. The telecast also featured Switchfoot’s new video of the first single “Dark Horses.” They were also featured in this past year's BCS Championship game. In conjunction with the CD release, ESPN will host an exclusive stream for fans to be the first to hear the entire Vice Verses album on ESPN.com, which includes a link to a contest for winners to attend the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena to watch the game with Switchfoot on January 2, 2012. Check out the stream here. Switchfoot will be performing "Dark Horses" on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight on ABC. Vice Verses will be in stores on September 27.

Tony Dungy: 'Courageous' Movie Will Impact Men

Former NFL coach Tony Dungy has watched the upcoming film "Courageous," and he wants other men to do so as well. "It's a great movie. I think men, especially, are going to look at this and really connect and identify," Dungy said recently. "Every guy who looks at this [movie]," Dungy said, "is going to see themselves in some way and say, 'How can I be better with the hole in my parenting?' I think it's going to be special."

Courageous, which opens Sept. 30, is the latest film from Sherwood Pictures which also made "Fireproof" and "Facing the Giants." With a police force as the film's backdrop, the story follows five men as they seek to become better fathers. Most reviewers who have seen Courageous are calling it the best film yet from Sherwood.

The Auburn Tigers football team took a break from practice and team meetings this summer for a screening and it was received quite well by the team. Head coach Gene Chizik called Courageous a "tremendous movie with a great message." "I want this to hit you because it's got nothing to do with football," Chizik told the team. "It's about you being a man. That, long after all this is over, is the most important thing, and it's not even close." Ken Bevel, who plays officer Nathan Hayes in Courageous, said he was honored to watch the screening with the defending national champions.

Needtobreathe's performance on Jay Leno

In case you missed Needtobreathe's performance on Jay Leno last night, you can watch it here.

Seven Days in Utopia Remains in Top 20

Independent film "Seven Days in Utopia," opened in 18th place despite being in only 561 theaters. The film's average puts it in the top 7. In its second week, the film remained in 19th place. Its screen average dropped, but would have still been in the top 10. Its box office total is approaching $3 million.

Needtobreathe on Jay Leno tonight

In support of their new album The Reckoning out September 20th on Atlantic Records, rock band NEEDTOBREATHE will make their late night television debut on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Known for their exhilarating live performances and non-stop touring work ethic, the band will spend the rest of the year and all of 2012 on the road. Entertainment Weekly raves NEEDTOBREATHE "are as informed by Kings of Leon's arena muscle as they are by porch-pickin' country" and new song "[Drive All Night] is sharp enough to inspire both lighter waving and moonshine chugging."

Rachael Lampa Joins NBC's "The Sing-Off"

Rachael Lampa will celebrate the upcoming release of her album "All We Need" with a free concert event at Nashville’s famed 12th & Porter concert venue on Monday, September 26th. The event will kick-off at 5:30pm with a live performance by Lampa, followed by a live viewing of Lampa’s debut on NBC’s The Sing-Off at 7:00pm. Lampa will appear on Season 3 of the hit series as part of The Collective, a group of Nashville vocalists that was formed specifically to compete in the upcoming season. In recent weeks, Lampa has been in Los Angeles taping the series, while simultaneously promoting her upcoming album, which hits stores on September 27th. In 2000, at just 15 years old, Lampa entered the pop scene amassing an unprecedented nine Top 10 singles (four at #1) while touring heavily (with Destiny’s Child, Boyz II Men, Nickel Creek, Stacie Orrico, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, among others) and making high profile appearances on The Tonight Show, The View, Entertainment Tonight, E! and Extra, as well as gracing the pages of Teen People, CCM Magazine and many more. She explored acting with a supporting role in the 2006 film Hidden Secrets, opposite John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville) and joined American Idol winner Jordin Sparks on tour in 2010 as a background vocalist on her tours with the Jonas Brothers and Britney Spears

Mel Gibson And Joe Eszterhas To Collaborate On Film About Jewish Hero Judah Maccabee

It’s a project that will have everybody in Hollywood talking. Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros has set up an untitled drama that teams Gibson and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas on the telling of the heroic story of Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee. Eszterhas will write the script, and Gibson will collaborate with him.

Maccabee teamed with his father and four brothers to lead the Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that had conquered Judea in the second century B.C. Gibson has the first option to direct but will definitely produce the film through his Icon Productions banner.

Having put some painful personal issues behind him, Gibson is determined to get back to making movies. He has long wanted to make this film about heroic Jews, and it was discussed even when he was under fire after his drunken anti-Semitic rant during a 2006 Malibu arrest. Maccabee’s triumph and struggle against tyranny and oppression where people gave their lives so that others would be free to worship is celebrated by Jews all over the world through Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.

This subject matter seems be in Gibson's wheelhouse: Maccabee is a close cousin to William Wallace, leader of the Scottish rebellion against the English in Braveheart, the film that brought Gibson two Oscars: for Best Picture and Best Director.

This new deal also marks a major return to filmmaking for Joe Eszterhas, once Hollywood’s highest paid screenwriter for pics like Basic Instinct and Flashdance. His credits also include two films that focused on Jewish themes: the 1987 Betrayed, which starred Debra Winger, and 1989’s Music Box, which starred Jessica Lange whose Hungarian immigrant father is accused of engaging in atrocities during World War II. Music Box resulted in Eszterhas being condemned by the Hungarian Parliament for “betraying his heritage” by revealing the massacre of Jewish Hungarians by other Hungarians at the end of World War II. However, in 1995, Eszterhas was awarded the Emanuel Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his writings about the Holocaust in Hungary.

In recent years, Eszterhas stepped away from Hollywood, moved to Cleveland, overcame cancer, and focused on writing books instead of films. Both he and Gibson have had their share of travails, and make an unexpected and intriguing pairing on an unexpected and intriguing subject.

New Film Starring Oscar Winners Concludes Online!

Seven Days in Utopia must be given credit for coming up with something new in movies: To learn what happens at the end, you've got to go online! After carefully building up to a climactic scene in which the underdog hero must sink a long putt to win a sudden-death playoff, the camera looks away, narration intones to the effect that it doesn't matter much in the big picture whether he won or not and, if you actually want to know who came out on top, you must go to didhemaketheputt.com. Based on David Cook's best-selling 2009 novel “Golf's Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia,” which has been particularly popular among struggling athletes, this independent production boasts a very fine cast including two Oscar winners Robert Duvall & Melissa Leo as well as Lucas Black and Deborah Ann Woll.

Santana Chronicles His Spiritual Journey

Carlos Santana  became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American music. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.

An article in The Plain Truth chronicles the metamorphosis of Santana including following the teachings of the Indian guru and charlatan Sri Chinmoy.

Finally realizing the oppression they'd entered into, Carlos and Deborah stopped following Chinmoy.

Carlos gave in to the constant temptation of the road during touring, however, and his marriage did not survive infidelity. He sank into despair and, as he shared in a Rolling Stone interview, he admitted to "seven times when suicide came knocking."

He described going to light a candle (at church) and hearing the accusing voices inside tearing him down, but in the end hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus break through the others reminding him that He was with him, and it brought him renewed "joy."

Durek writes that it was through God's grace that Santana was able to finally forgive his molester and find freedom.

"My God is a God of kindness and compassion, but we as people have free will, including the man who molested me," Carlos said in the Rolling Stone interview. "I was able to remove the anger by forgiving that man…. Forgiveness, man, forgiveness is extremely liberating. And I'm here to tell you, with all my heart and spirit, that it can be done. You can be freed."

According to Durek, Santana is considering retiring from a music profession in the future to become a minister, as he desires to see others set free.

Says Santana, "Duke Ellington, before he died, had the Bible on one hand and sheet music on another, and he was doing sacred concerts. I'm just following the script that is given to me, and after a while you can only do what you do. Then, God calls you to do something else…."




"Forgiveness, man, forgiveness is extremely liberating. And I'm here to tell you, with all my heart and spirit, that it can be done. You can be freed." –Carlos Santana

Read the full article.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson In Talks For GOLIATH, Taylor Lautner Offered David

Is the world ready for the return of the Biblical epic?  Darren Aronofsky has been in the news plenty in recent days with his ambitious Noah project while on a much more mainstream Hollywood front director Scott Derrickson (The Day The Earth Stood Still) was attached earlier this year to direct Goliath for Relativity Media and Temple Hill Entertainment.

If you're going to tell the story of the giant versus the shepherd boy you'd best find yourself an impressive giant and it would appear that Relativity have done just that with sources telling Twitch that they are now in talks with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to fill the role. As for the other side of the standoff things are not as advanced but word is that an offer has been made to Taylor Lautner to fill the part of David, which comes as no surprise given that Twilight producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey are also involved in this project.

For the record, Johnson stands 6'5" while Lautner is 5'10".