Amazingly useful applications - free!

Because we know you just can't live without having either Oddwalk's home page or this blog open at any given instant of the day, and because you don't want to use a tab of your browser to do that, and because you're on a Mac, and because we recently discovered a pretty cool Mac app called Fluid, we've created these two applications for Macs, which when run, open the given page in a stand-alone app.  

Maybe it's worth it just to get the nifty Mac OS Oddwalk icon.

Oddwalk Homepage App

Oddwalk Oddblog App

See, we told you they were amazingly useful!  Well, at least they're free.  And they are applications, so we're at least half-right.  :-)

Best Line of the Night

So, Oddwalk played some songs around a campfire tonight, supporting a retreat group from McKendree University, where Orin's wife Erin works as a campus minister.  Following one of the songs, during some "small talk," one of the students said of us, "I wouldn't call this crap."

A more resounding affirmation has never been spoken.

Would you like to waste 10 seconds?

And by that, we mean would you like to waste 10 seconds more than you've already wasted on this visit to the Oddblog?  Then watch this:



Recorded at Young Neighbors in Action, Washington DC, 2008.

Thanks, Breezygirl25!

Hey!  We got our first online review of "Walk Away Different" that we didn't write ourselves!  Click the below review, from iTunes, to see it a little better:

We're happy to make anyone feel like a total idiot!  Just ask around.  And thanks for the great review!

Guest Contributer - The Good "Old" Days

Hell0 All!

This is Erin - Orin's Erin. I thought I would help the boys out by guest blogging for them. They are both busy vacationing, working, and writing music. Also - the summer camps like Youth Sing Praise and Young Neighbors in Action are upon us but I'm sure they will keep you updated.

I was cleaning up my iphoto library and found some great pictures of Orin and Shannon taken from the road... The road in Biloxi, Mississippi to be exact.

I have traveled with them on many a trip (this particular time they were featured speakers for the Diocese of Biloxi CYO Conference). I must say - surprisingly - it is a bit comparable to life on the road with a rock band: (as I've done that, too) lots of driving, lots of truck stop bathrooms, and lots of hotel breakfasts. The major travel difference is that I'm NOT the only girl anymore.

But I digress...



Oddwalk's Five song CD Little Steps was named on this trip. (After an excruciating 15 hour car ride of discarded titles and a John Tesh concert - that is a story for another time...)





We began this day with a healthy breakfast at IHOP (Rooti Tooti Fresh and FRUITY - see fruit is healthy)


Not sure why I was getting the dirty looks because I certainly wasn't the one wearing a sailor hat)













































This was my drink from the Blow Fly Inn - The fly is fake - Orin and Shannon put it in my water glass. The Blow Fly Inn is no longer there, neither is most of the shoreline of Biloxi - The people there still need our prayers and our help!


So that is a glimpse into life on the road with Oddwalk. There is much more craziness but more often than not - really boring car rides and Orin and Shannon overestimating their 'funny-ness factor.'

Nevertheless - I'm honored to meet many wonderful people and see "The Church" as the Universal Body that it is...


I think Journey sums it up quite eloquently...

" 'Cause lovin' a music man ain't always what it supposed to be..."

Have a safe and blessed summer,
erin

Oddwalk & Social Networking Goodness

Hey all!  We have a couple online social networking sorts of announcements --

1) We recently updated our myspace page to be a myspace music page.  We may have lost a few friends in the process.  If you're one of those, or haven't been our friend over there, check us out at: myspace.com/oddwalk

2) While we've had presences on Facebook individually and through Facebook groups, we recently created a new Facebook fan page, which you can find here: www.facebook.com/pages/Oddwalk-Ministries/20767261799

So, if you're in to social networking online or would like to be, check us out!

PS - It was Shannon & Erin's 5th anniversary today!  Congrats!

Festival of Faith Pictures

The Diocese of Orlando, Fl Festival of Faith a couple weeks ago brought in 3,100 8th-12th graders, and 30,000 people overall! They posted a few pictures of us in a slideshow at their site, here they are, as best as we can show them:

Young people streaming into the convention center - even though word had gotten out by then that we were there.

We think that's us on stage.  That appears to be Shannon's large head on the comparatively small jumbotron, anyway.

Orin about to embark on the "squirm around on the ground" portion of his big keytar solo.  No pants were harmed (this time) in the making of the big keytar solo.  Theo looks amused.

The big keytar solo comes to a fitting end - note the video camera which appears to have gotten the perfect shot.  We're not sure if he or the palm trees enjoyed the solo as much as Theo.

Where's Oddwalk?

You've heard of Where's Waldo?  Well, here's a "Where's Oddwalk?"  Susan Fowler has helped with the Shrine's Earth Day celebrations many times, and always draws up a remembrance of the days just like this one.  Earth Man and The Other Guy were there again this year, and are a part of the memories.  Can you find us?

May 9 Pictures, Part the First

While we got some awesome video and many other folks were taking some pictures during our set, those will have to wait for another day.  So, here are a few pictures Orin took with his phone the beginning of a busy May 9.

The view from the back of the hall.  3,100 were in attendance that day.

The hall just beginning to fill, and the stage.

Closer view of the stage area.  We're not used to drums and bass as part of the day!

On the flight home, Orin snapped this picture of a weary father with a sticker on his head.

May 9 - Busy Day

Oddwalk, on May 9, began the day in front of 3,100 8th trough 12th graders from the Diocese of Orlando Florida at their Festival of Faith, celebrating 40 years as a diocese.  Orin immediately following the set got on a plane back to St. Louis so he could graduate from Aquinas Institute of Theology with his Masters!

Photos to follow - today we're just going to enjoy the party in the park (the rain is supposed to avoid us until later - yay!) and the last couple days of Orin's Dad in town.

Oddwalk breaking up

OddFriends,

After nearly four years of a successful ministry together, Shannon and Orin decided earlier this week to break up the act.

We've enjoyed bringing our message of "Community, Participation, Mission" to many folks around the country, but in the end, our personal differences are just irreconcilable.

Shannon likes to eat yellow snow, Orin never showers, Shannon's breath smells like bleu cheese, Orin has fleas... the list goes on and on (but it's mostly Shannon's fault, really, that big head of his.  I mean, just look at it.).

Especially after recent successes like our projects with GIA, this is particularly painful.

We're sorry to announce this to the world in such an impersonal manner, but thought everyone should know as soon as possible: April 1, 2008 - the day the music died.

Oh, and Happy April Fools Day!

Blogging Catch-up

Hi all,

Been a busy couple weeks. Here are a few pics and stories to catch us all up.

Orin's wife Erin, Easter Morning at St. Dionysius, Tyler, MN.  It was snowing that morning, as it was in St. Louis too.  This is the Church Orin went to for 18+ years growing up.

The nice basket of plants and flowers sent up by the Shrine musicians.  It was difficult for Orin to be away from the Shrine for Holy Week and Easter.  Knowing all was in good hands helped a lot.

Orin's mom's gravestone the morning after the funeral.  In an unintentional homage to his dad, Orin slipped a bit of his finger into the picture frame.

After taking that picture, Orin went to Sioux Falls, SD to hop on a plane to help out at the National Catholic Educators National Convention, this year in Indianapolis, IN.  Oddwalk helped at an opening prayer, gave a workshop on catechizing and evangelizing in an entertaining way titled "Scars and Ugly Shoes" and also helped out at the GIA booth in the exhibit hall for a few days.

We had many good conversations with Sue and David, met David Haas and Lori True officially for the first time, and learned a lot about GIA and their artists and products.

Across from us (this is where the usual "Oddwalk Experience" returns) was an interesting exhibitor, marketing mats that young folks could use to take their mid-day naps at school.  They were soft and colorful, and had a built-in pillow -- not much more a 5 or 6 year old could ask for, really.

They were given, though, what we all thought was a rather unfortunate name.  I guess the thought process was something like, "Well, what could we name these products that KIDS would use to take NAPS on... Wait!  I've got something clever!"

That's right, the Kid-Napper.  Sheesh.  Unfortunately, the picture of the guy at the booth most of the time didn't turn out too well.  He looks though,  let us assure you, just like someone you'd expect to see at the Kid-Napper booth at the National Catholic Education Association National Convention.

The end.

More LA Congress Photos

Hey Everyone! Here are some pictures lifted from recongress.org, the official site for the L.A. Religious Ed Congress:

This picture comes from our workshop presentation at Youth Day. Apparently, Shannon is making some soul-stirring point:

These pictues come from the liturgy we helped with on Saturday evening. This liturgy featured the music of Chris De Silva and Paul Melley, two relatively new GIA artists like us.

LA Congress Concert Photos

Here are a couple photos of Oddwalk in concert with Paul Melley Sunday at LA Congress.  Thanks to new Oddwalk friend (and concert backup singer) Katie Mojica!

The whole spread.  That's Paul, left & singing, Chris de Silva at the piano, Gary Daigle behind Shannon, then Orin, next Katie (red skirt), and another backup singer who we think has a first name that begins with K (Katherine?) and we think her last last is Firestone.  Fire-something.  We should be better at this than we are.  I'm sure someone will help us out.  UPDATE - Kristin Firestone.  Got it!  Thanks, Katie.

Paul rocking the house with one of his house-rocking numbers.

Big, Big Day!

So, not only does Oddwalk fly out to LA today to attend and perform and exhibit at the LA Religious Education Congress for the first time (and hopefully make a big impression on the west coast), but it's also the first preseason game for the Cardinals today (so what if it's against St. Louis University?)!

Oh, and it's snowing, at least right now, in St. Louis.  (It's pretty fierce.  Anyone?  Anyone?)

We'll be sure to keep you updated on the latest LA Congress news, and hopefully have some pictures and video to show you later too!  Please pray for safe travels and a successful trip - this is a potentially big occasion for Oddwalk!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Neil Diamond!

Many moons ago, we reported here that Oddwalk and Neil Diamond were friends on MySpace.  We still are in fact.  Why?  Because of Shannon's awesome impression of him, of course.  To see just a glimpse of it, watch this video of Oddwalk performing at Immaculate Conception School in Columbia, IL on January 31 during Catholic Schools Week this year.  We're not sure who the videographer is yet though - we found the video while odd-ego-surfing on an ICS media-sharing website.  Enjoy!  (And bonus points if you name the song shannon quotes from.)

Catholic Schools Week 2008, Immaculate Conception, Columbia, IL

Oddwalk performed a concert Thursday night (as the snowstorm began) in Columbia, IL. Thanks to Oddwalk fan Nick who took these photos (and more) of our appearance!

Here, Shannon surprises everyone with the big solo in the middle of "Just Because You Can" - usually, that's Orin's job.

Orin strikes one of the classic "Wanna Be A Rock Star" Keytar Solo poses.  The pants remained intact – this time.

The concert ended with a usual "Matilda the Gorilla" Oooh-Oooh-Ah-Ah-a-long.

Thanks again to all who braved the weather to come out last night, and for all the folks we saw over Catholic Schools Week: Jefferson City MO, Troy MO, O'Fallon, IL, and Columbia, IL!  O'Fallon MO, sorry we missed you today, but we hope you enjoyed the snow day, and we'll catch up soon!

2008 Composers Forum

John Foley and the SLU Center for Liturgy have, for 10 years, hosted an annual forum for published liturgical music composers.  As Oddwalk now fits that description (Thanks, GIA!), we were invited, and Orin attended today as Oddwalk's representative.  Keeping Shannon in the loop, he got to send him a couple informative text messages, such as:

I just joked about killing chris walker.  With chris walker.

[Christopher Walker is the Celtic Alleluia guy.]

I just called michael joncas 'mike'

[Michael Joncas is the On Eagles' Wings guy.]

To both of these, Shannon sent replies we had better not publish here.

Catholic Schools Week 2008!

Catholic Schools Light the Way is the theme of Catholic Schools week this year.  Oddwalk is pleased to have the chance to visit many area schools in celebration.  This morning we got the week started at St. Peter's in Jefferson City, MO.  There will be more reports as we visit several other places Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Happy Catholic Schools Week everyone!

Here comes MMVIII

Happy New Year!

Lots of exciting things await Oddwalk in 2008: Appearances at the LA Congress, the, NCEA conference, putting together another CD with GIA, and the opportunity to present in many different parishes, schools, and dioceses. 2008 also marks the return of Earth Man and the Other Guy! It should be a lot of fun.

We hope to see you somewhere along the way!

Be safe and healthy in the new year. We'll keep all of you in our prayers.