More saints per second than... Well, we're not sure actually...

In Honor of All Saints Day coming up Saturday, here's a little Gilbert and Sullivan spoof that Orin's friend David brought to our attention:

A BLT Story

Shannon, when not Oddwalking, is also a parish youth minister.  One of his successful programs with the teens there is "Prayer, Praise, and _______" -- this is a program where they all gather for (you guessed it) prayer, singing praise, and some food item, a different one each time.

One of the teens, Kitty, shot this quick video about the making of the last meeting's food item, a BLT sandwich.  Enjoy!

Fredbird!

Fredbird dropped by the Sts. Joachim and Anne Care Services Fundraiser, this past Saturday, October 27, 2008.  Oddwalk played at the event for a little over an hour, and in the middle of the set, Fredbird showed up to entertain the crowd and sign autographs.  In the video below, we introduce him and sing the old favorite "The Cubs Song."

NCCYM 2008 Promo Video

The NFCYM has also just posted a promotional video for the NCCYM (adult conference) this December in Cleveland.  Both members of Oddwalk (along with many of our friends of course) make brief appearances.  View the whole video at this page.

The music underscoring most of the video is a live performance at the last NCCYM by Matt Maher of "Your Grace is Enough."  In the middle of verse 1, just after "... keep us apart" we get an extreme closeup of Shannon's already slightly-larger-than-normal head.

Ironically, at "... all God's people sing along" one is able to view a brief action clip of a wigged-out Orin "Jammin' with Jesus."

Lots of other photos, clips, friends, music and such are featured in the quick video.  Check it out!

Yogi Bear is also a friend of mine

While we're on the topic of who are friends of ours, here's Mike Patin at the Shrine Youth Day leading folks in singing about his friend Yogi Bear:

The answer is: "They're both soon to be overtaken."

The question: What do this video and the Chicago Cubs have in common?

While the Cubs did indeed have the best record in the National League this year, we're all accustomed to their dramatic failings, breaking the hearts of Cubs fans around the world.  We predict this year will be no exception, even if it takes all seven games of the World Series.

This video of Shannon singing "The Cubs Song" (and Orin singing "Old Irish Blessing") has been our most viewed video on YouTube for quite some time (3,890 views as of this posting), about a year-and-a-half.  That run should come to an end sometime later today as our cover of "Jesus is My Friend" continues its startling pace of one view every six minues - and it's only been up for two weeks!

To celebrate the accomplishments of "Jesus is My Friend," visit here again tomorrow for a special Oddblog Event!

And, in honor of the playoffs beginning and such and things, here one more time is "The Cubs Song" (with "Old Irish Blessing" for dessert):

Mad Keytar Skills

Somehow this TV ad for Monday Night Football slipped past Orin's Keytar-Radar. Thanks to Mike Patin for the heads up!

Jesus Is Here

Following the end of Orin's set-up talk, Oddwalk and the band sing and pray "Jesus Is Here" at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows Junior High Youth Day Celebration this past Saturday:

One View Every Six Minutes

That's how frequently our "Jesus is My Friend" video (or find it below) is being seen over the last 9 or so days, by Orin's math.  Over 2,200 views as of this morning.

Insane.

Should you happen to have a YouTube account, could you head over there and rate our video as highly as you honestly can?  It's languishing at 2.5 stars right now, but we think we can do better...

PS - Here's Orin's favorite viewer comment so far (posted over at YouTube):

The moment you've all been waiting for

Here it is!  Oddwalk's recent cover of "Jesus is a Friend of Mine" (or, alternatively, "Jesus is My Friend") made popular, if one can say that, by Sonseed:



Recorded at the Diocese of Jefferson City, MO Senior High Youth Rally, September 14, 2008 by Marianne Cline - woot!  Unfortunately, costumes and outdated eyeglasses and hairstyles (unless you count Orin's) were not yet ready for this performance...

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UPDATE - 9/17, 1:30pm - for what it's worth, I think Oddwalk can claim the first cover of the song uploaded to YouTube. It is the little victories that count, isn't it?

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.

Jesus is Our Friend Too

So, we've had a couple requests (via facebook, thanks Erin B and Marianne) to cover this little gem:

Do a google search for "sonseed" to learn a little more about the song, the group, whether it's all real or not, etc.  And we'll keep you posted...

In the meantime, enjoy Orin's favorite lyric:

Once I tried to run, I tried to run and hide.
But Jesus came and found me and He touched me down inside.
He is like mountie, He always gets His man, and He'll zap you any way he can.
Zap.

Movie Trailers Will Never Be The Same

CNN - Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose "In a world ..." phrase on movie trailers was much copied -- and much parodied -- has died, according to media reports. He was 68.

Don LaFontaine was featured as "that voiceover guy" [see below] on a recent Geico commercial.

LaFontaine, who was born in Duluth, Minnesota, began as a voice actor in the mid-1960s while working as a recording engineer, according to his Web site. His strong, slightly gravelly voice was featured on trailers for thousands of films, including "The Godfather," "Fatal Attraction" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." For a time in the late '70s, LaFontaine was the official voice of Paramount Pictures.

Noah and the Doggy Door

There will be more later, but for now, here's one way a 2 year old celebrates his brthday:

Perhaps one of the cutest things ever

I don't think this would work with Penny or Gracie:

"My Name is I AM" Video

So, Oddwalk has this youth minister friend in Sydney, Australia we've never met - Paul Skippen is his name.  He bought our CD "Walk Away Different" when he saw it online at GIA's site (not having heard of us nor a note of our music before then).  He's been using some of the music, and recently (like, yesterday) used "My Name is I AM" at mass.  He prepared a PowerPoint slideshow to go with it - not just the lyrics, but some evocative, prayerful images.  He emailed that to us, and we promptly turned it into a YouTube video.  You can watch it below, but it might also be worth clicking through to the main YouTube site and watching it in "High Quality" - there'll be a link right below the video over there.  Enjoy - we certainly did!  And, thanks Paul!

McKendree Campus Ministries Video

Orin's wife is the Catholic campus minister at McKendree University in Lebanon, IL.  She works in the Methodist campus ministry office (MU is a Methodist School) with Tim Harrison.  Here's a youtube video they put together highlighting how the office serves the student community.

They use a "WePhone" (I assume it's not a WiiPhone) as their image, with various buttons which guide the video and their ministries.  I wonder if I can get those buttons on my iPhone too?

One More Beaker Video

From our friend Ricky.  That's a hint there, our friend "Ricky."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hczaiM3LH0M

Dancing Cernekas

Recorded by Erin C at "Power Up" -- July 19, 2008 at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows:

Yellow

Brilliant reediting of a Muppet Show video to show Beaker singing Coldplay's "Yellow."  (not sure yet how I [Orin] feel about beaker making any other noise than "Meep meep".)



To see to original video of Beaker singing "Feelings?" -- almost as funny -- click here.