The Radio Disney Top 30 Countdown is in today, and Switchfoot's "This Is Home" has moved up one spot from last week, this time parking at No. 24 on the countdown. Vote for it even more this week! Let's try to crack the Top 15 this week! I know it's possible!
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Now, for a series of random and not-so-random things...
First, * * matt * * from the official Switchfoot message boards was reading "The Last Battle," the final book in "The Chronicles of Narnia" series last night, and found what could very well be the inspiration for Jon Foreman, as he was writing "This Is Home":
BOARD POST
It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right forehoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried:
"I have come home at last! This is my real country. I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though i never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!"
Unbelievable find, Matt!
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Next, a few people were watching ESPN's Sportscenter, and guess what they heard? That's right! A Switchfoot song! In fact, it was "This Is Home!" Brilliant! Gives us all one more reason to love ESPN (despite all the East Coast b/Yankees/Red Sox/Patriots bias... but that's another story!)
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A Michigan paper covered Switchfoot, as the band is set to play a show tonight in Muskegan, MI.
Today, the group is simply honored to have people spend their hard-earned money to watch them play, Shirley said. Band members are happy to perform whenever and wherever they can -- and hopefully touch people with their lyrics.
"We really want to be able to play anywhere," Shirley said in a telephone interview. "Some people connect the music to something from their past and some people say, 'Hey, I really like your guitar riffs.'
"We kind of release it and see where it goes. Our purpose is the same ... we want to put on the best concert we can."
Lead songwriter Jon Foreman has been acclaimed by fans and critics alike for his heartfelt honesty, his appraisal of the human condition and his willingness to not only embrace his faith, but to express doubt and pain as well. As a result, the band's fan base transcends different beliefs and lifestyles.
"We're music for thinking people because we put a lot of heart and thought into what we write," Shirley said. "Some songs have a heavy message, some are more philosophical. They all sort of have their own personality."
Read the rest here
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Kentucky.com posted a review of Jon's Spring and Summer EP's and gave it 5 of 5 stars!
Music
Jon Foreman
Spring and Summer EPs
5 stars out of 5
The Fourth of July week is an appropriate time to to praise a great American songwriter. With his Spring and Summer EPs, Jon Foreman has cemented himself as just that. We should add that the Switchfoot frontman is a brave songwriter (as some of these songs will land him in Dutch with portions of the Christian music community that made him a star) and an exquisite craftsman.
As on the previous EPs Fall and Winter, Foreman is freed from the constraints of the band format, and he uses that space to perfectly augment songs with what they need. I do not know whether Foreman recorded these six-song sets sequentially, but the last two — which have just been released on one CD, the same as the first pair — show growth.
Foreman is a much more blunt songwriter on his own. The rap on Switchfoot's songs has often been that they are so couched in metaphor and cleverness that the listener could easily miss the point. There is no missing the point here, though some faith-community listeners might wish Foreman was murkier when they hear Instead of a Show. In the song, Foreman lambastes the church for putting on shows while ignoring the hurting world around it.
Some will be angry with Foreman for saying it. Some will say it needed to be said. Either way, Foreman grows as a challenging songwriter on the discs. These EPs also have some of his most spiritual writing to date, such as Spring's Your Love Is Strong and Summer's House of God, Forever, an interpretation of Psalm 23 that ranks with 24 as one of the loveliest things he's written.
As far as we know, things are good in the Switchfoot camp. But the solo voice that Foreman has started using is quite compelling.
Awesome!
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Now for some CHARTS:
"This Is Home"
Billboard Hot Christian Adult Contemporary: 21 (+4 from last week)
Billboard Hot Christian Songs: 18 (+1 from last week)
Christian CHR: 9 (+5 from last week)
"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Soundtrack"
Billboard Top Soundtracks: 19 (-4 from last week)
"Jon Foreman - Summer EP"
Billboard Top Christian & Gospel Albums: 49 (-19 from last week)
Billboard Top Christian Albums: 39 (-16 from last week)
"Jon Foreman - Spring and Summer"
Billboard Top Christian & Gospel Albums: 41 (debut)
Billboard Top Christian Albums: 31 (debut)
Comments: Sure are a lot of Christian charts on there. "This Is Home" still has yet to make a major impact on the mainstream charts, Prince Caspian is bound to completely fall of the charts in a few more weeks (unless there's a major resurrection and "This Is Home" becomes MASSIVE).
Jon Foreman's "Spring and Summer" could have hit the Billboard 200, in my opinion, if not for the weird shipping issue that's been going on. Target, Walmart, and Best Buy all carried/still carry "Fall and Winter", but have yet to even HEAR about "Spring and Summer." Hopefully that sorts out next week.
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That's it for this weekend edition! Enjoy the post-BBQ/fireworks recovery, friends!
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