Grand-Prize Winner, 38 Special & Beatles |
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J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
I’m sad to report that my mother-in-law, Linda Thompson, passed away Monday morning at 8:05 a.m. at the age of 76. My wife, Lisa, and her sister Jody were both in the room with her. Mom took a sharp turn for the worse late last week, and Lisa drove to be with her near Louisville KY on Saturday. Jody was already there, as she lived nearby. My father-in-law, Ed, died on March 4.
The past seven weeks had not been easy for Mom. She already had numerous health problems, and with Dad gone, she lost her will to carry on. Until recently, they’d lived in Mayfield KY (230 miles further southwest). Thankfully, they moved to an apartment in the Louisville area early this year to be close to Jody. She took good care of them and had recently upgraded Mom to an assisted-living community where she could get more help.
In 2015, we learned that Mom had an older daughter from before she met Dad. Mom's mother made her put the baby up for adoption, but Lisa and Jody sought out their newfound older sister, Becci, and have been communicating with her via letters, letters, texts, and phone calls over the past 10 years. After the sibling relationship was established, Mom was also able to communicate with her. Unfortunately, Becci lived in Arizona, so getting everyone together was easier said than done.
Early last week, they officially made plans for Becci and her adopted mother, Carolyn, to fly out to meet Mom, Jody, and Lisa and spend several days with them. When Mom’s health went downhill rapidly, the ladies were able to reschedule the flights, and Becci and Carolyn both got to meet Mom in person on Easter Sunday morning. We are all so grateful God enabled that to happen.
Mom and Dad were also foster parents to a young lady named Jeannie when Lisa and Jody were kids. She remained a beloved part of the family after the girls grew up, too, although she's had her own severe health problems in the past year. When Lisa and I got engaged in the spring of 2000, Mom welcomed my three-year-old daughter, Janna, into the family before they ever met and even bought a big Easter basket for me to take back to her in Pennsylvania.
Lisa and I got married in June 2000, a little less than five months after we met online, but that was nothing compared her parents. Mom and Dad got engaged four days after their first date and were married four weeks later! And that marriage was still going strong 52 years later. They were very generous and hospitable to us, and I’m grateful for all the Christmas and summer vacations we and our kids got to spend with them.
Mom was a retired teacher and a great artist. We have her paintings throughout our house. She also liked to crochet, and our home is filled with blankets, scarves, and hats she made for Lisa, the kids, and me. Her favorite TV show was M*A*S*H, and her favorite author was Janet Evanovich. Much to Lisa’s chagrin and my delight, she loved puns. too.
Mom also loved my parents, and they loved her as well. She knew how close I was to my dad and painted a beautiful portrait of him for me while he was still alive. It’s hanging in our parlor. I have a photo of him with that painting, too. Here’a a photo of Lisa and me on our wedding day with both of Lisa’s parents. I’m thankful for the quarter century I got to have them as my in-laws. |
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New Single: 38 Special & Beatles Parodies |
On Sunday night, we released our sixth single of 2025. It spoofs a pair of powerful performances from 1965 and 1980. |
Walkin’ Into the Light - Rockin’ Into the Night - 38 Special Climb Down - I’m Down - The Beatles |
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The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our seventh single of 2025: WALKIN’ INTO THE LIGHT
On February 21, 2025, I received the following text from ApX guitarist Tom Tincha: "Just heard a great song by 38 Special. 'Rockin' Into the Night.' That would be a good one." So, out of respect for him, I put that song on my potential list and started brainstorming.
The initial idea for "Walkin' Into the Light" came to me on March 2. It's funny, though: While writing this journal entry, I did a word search in my old texts to see the exact day when he suggested it, and I found an older text from him I'd totally forgotten about which he'd sent on November 13, 2018 — over six years earlier — that said, "Did you ever consider 'Rockin' Into the Night' by 38 Special?" O.K., Tinch, message received.
Finally. I got a lot of lyrics to this one on April 8, 2025, while on my way to visit my daughter Heather in Bridgeville PA for lunch (and on the way home, too). I spent a lot more time polishing them on April 11-12, while driving to and from my sister Gayle's wedding in Fairfax VA with my wife, Lisa. Don't worry; she was happily reading a book.
"Walkin' Into the Light" is parody title anyone could've thought of, but I was excited to fit in the verse numbers for Psalm 119:105, 1 John 1:7, and Ephesians 5:8-9 into the lyrics.
I first memorized the fact that "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" was in Psalm 119 by putting it into our 2001 parody "Stay in the Light," but I always had trouble recalling which of the 176 verses it was. Now, thanks to this song, I've got it.
"Walkin' Into the Light" features J. Jackson on lead and backing vocals, Tom Tincha on guitars, Keith Haynie on bass, and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion.
CLIMB DOWN
This one is an oldie ... not just the original, which came out in 1965, but the parody, which I wrote in the winter of 1995-96. I've wanted to record it ever since, but ApX had already done "Hey Zacchaeus." Yes, that was an Eagles spoof, but we also had many other Beatles parodies waiting in the queue.
"I'm Down" was originally the flip side of "Help!," another we've covered. Often, both sides of a Beatles single hit the charts, but "Help! / I'm Down" did something unique. Let me explain:
In addition to the Hot 100, Billboard publishes a Bubbling Under chart for songs that haven't yet cracked the Hot 100. The number of positions has fluctuated over the years from as few as 10 to as many as 35, but some songs never make it past Bubbling Under and into the Hot 100.
That's what happened with "I'm Down," although it came as close as could be (#101). So, that can be viewed as just missing the Hot 100 or as hitting #1 on the Bubbling Under. Meanwhile, "Help," reached #1 on the Hot 100. Consequently, this was the only single I know of where one side topped the Hot 100 and the other topped the Bubbling Under ... and stopped there.
Speaking of stopping, The Beatles used to end their concerts with "I'm Down" in '65 and '66. Speaking of endings, I love that we were able to fit the entire biblical passage about Zacchaeus in the final section. I couldn't imagine Jesus screaming there like Paul McCartney did in the original, so I suggested the reading instead.
"Climb Down" features J. Jackson on lead and backing vocals, Wayne Bartley on guitars, Keith Haynie on bass, Rich Mannion on keyboards, and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion.
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MRI Update From Bill "Moose" Rieger |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
For those you who don’t already know, ApX alum drummer Bill “Moose” Rieger is dealing with a brain tumor (glioma) that is currently inoperable. Last month, he started an intense six-week regimen of radiation therapy to be followed by two years of chemotherapy.
We received this text from him on Wednesday morning: |
Worsening side effects and new onset side effects that I won't share at this point have raised concerns about the tumor shifting. Although that’s unlikely, an MRI is currently being scheduled for very soon. When I know the MRI results, I will update. |
He had his MRI on Thursday afternoon and sent us this update on Friday morning: |
MRI results: No changes. Symptoms seem to be from radiation. As before, won’t know which ones could be permanent until after therapy is over. |
On Friday afternoon, he posted the following on Facebook: |
You know what’s hard? Lifting 300 lbs. over your head. You know what’s harder? Holding 5 lbs. over your head for six weeks. Radiation therapy week five concluded. |
Please keep Bill in your prayers. Thank you! |
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Get ApX Complete Library, USBs, Songbook |
To get the complete ApologetiX library, ApX USB thumb drives, and/or the new ApX digital songbook — or to get more info about them — just click on the item(s) you want below. |
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We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3. Note: If you don't have a Bible handy, you can look up these passages for free on Bible Gateway. They have about 60 different English translations/versions there to choose from, plus translations in many other languages, many of which also have multiple translations/versions. |
CLICK HERE to see the reading plan for the whole year. |
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Influential Albums #1808–1814 |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.
Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.
1808. Parodies Lost - Petrafried Since the early days of ApologetiX, I have referred to us parenthetically as "That Christian Parody Band." In response to that, Petrafried refers to themselves as "The 'Other' Christian Parody Band." They released their first LP, Parodies Lost, in 2009. The group was created by two longtime fans of ApX, Arron Daniels and Jay Crook, both of whom became friends of ours many years before they formed Petrafried. Arron produced and played guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, and other instruments (except for banjo) on this album, and he does a very commendable job. Moreover, he sings on six of the 16 songs. Jay wrote all the parody lyrics and designed the artwork. We first met Arron when he was a radio personality in Corpus Christi. He coordinated a number of ApX concerts in Texas and later in Arizona, where he worked at a radio station in Sierra Vista. He also came to visit us in Pittsburgh PA and even went on the road with ApX a little bit, occasionally playing guitar on stage with us in Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. We first met Jay in Corpus Christi, too, although he later moved to Arkansas. Jay designed or helped design a few of our shirts in the 2000s and also helped code parts of the website we used from the early 2000s through 2024. One on of our trips to Texas years ago, I got a chance to see some of Jay's parodies, and I was impressed. Countless Christians who like to try their hand at parodies have approached me over the years, but Jay's really stood out. He understands the need to make a parody rhyme as much as possible with the original, and he incorporates as much scripture as possible. He explained how Petrafried got started in an interview on the group's website, petrafried.com: "I have been a big fan of ApologetiX since their early years. For one of ApologetiX's concerts in Corpus Christi, Arron and his youth band was going to be the opening act. I asked him if his band was going to do parodies as well. He joking replied that I should write some for him. I had never thought of it until then." Of the 16 parodies on Parodies Lost, my favorites are probably "Mansion" ("Imagine" by John Lennon), and "Black Magic Marker" ("Black Magic Woman" by Santana). Here are some others with a lot to offer: "Soggy Prophet Boy" ("Man of Constant Sorrow" by Dan Tyminski & AKUS), "I Got Two Babes" ("I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher), "I'm Too Saintly" (I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred), "Wholesome Prison News" ("Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash), "God Is Love" (Haddaway), "Steppin' Gramps" ("Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf), and "The Hands That Bleed" ("The Hand That Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails). For all of you who asked over the years if we'd ever spoof The Guess Who song "American Woman" as "Samaritan Woman," you can find such a parody here, although Petrafried did the Lenny Kravitz version from 1999. Additional artists spoofed on Parodies Lost include Jimmy Buffett, Gnarls Barkley, Norah Jones (the singer sounds a lot like her), Martina McBride, Eddie Rabbitt, and Joe Walsh. You can learn and hear more at http://www.petrafried.com. 1809. Altared - Petrafried Although it took more than a decade, Petrafried finally released their second LP of parodies, Altared, in January 2022. Once again, Jay Crook wrote all the lyrics, and Arron Daniels played all the instruments and produced the album, although this time, he sang all (not just some) of the male vocals. Of the 15 parodies, my favorites were "Aquila" ("Tequila" by The Champs), "Pokey Faith" ("Poker Face" by Lady Gaga),"Thy Kingdom Come" ("Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd), "Black Birds" ("Blackbird" by The Beatles), and "God's Dragon, Leviathan" ("Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nick and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers), and "Cruel Kids" ("Cool Kids" by EchoSmith). Other artists spoofed included Alice in Chains, Gary Clark Jr. (doing a Beatles remake), Devo, Dropkick Murphys, EchoSmith, Evanescence, Lady A, Toto, Stevie Wonder, and X Ambassadors. As a bonus 16th track, Petrafried actually covered an ApologetiX parody, "Hotel Can't Afford Ya" ("Hotel California" by Eagles), but they replicated the acoustic-oriented flamenco-style version from the 1994 Eagles reunion album, Hell Freezes Over. We were honored, of course. Both Altered and its 2009 predecessor, Parodies Lost, can be ordered on Petrafried's website, which also includes sample audio clips. 1810. Greatest Hits - Will Smith Rapper/actor — or is it actor/rapper — Will Smith has reached the pinnacle of each of his professions, with multiple #1 songs and #1 movies. Released on November 26, 2002, Greatest Hits combined both his solo recordings and stuff he did as part of D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. It allows the listener to hear how far one of Philadelphia's favorite sons has come musically, although you can clearly tell he always had great comedic wit and lyrical brilliance. Greatest Hits included these popular selections he did with DJ Jazzy Jeff: "Summertime" (#4), "Parents Just Don't Understand" (#12), "A Nightmare On My Street" (#15), "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" (#57), and "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air" from his television show of the same name. As for his solo singles, this collection has the big three — "Men In Black" (#1 Airplay), "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" (#1), and "Wild Wild West" (#1) — plus "Miami" (#17), "Just The Two Of Us" (#20), "Will 2K" (#25), and "Freakin' It" (#99). There are 15 tracks in all, but Greatest Hits does not contain two of The Fresh Prince's Top 20 hits with D.J. Jazzy Jeff "Ring My Bell" (#20) "Boom! Shake the Room" (#13) or Smith's 2005 solo hit "Switch" (#7), which came out after this movie. Lisa and I saw D.J Jazzy Jeff in concert with New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul in 2024. We've never seen Will Smith live, but we've seen a number of his movies. My favorites? Probably Men in Black and Independence Day. 1811. New Morning - Bob Dylan Bob Dylan's 11th studio LP doesn't have a lot of songs that force you to put on your thinking cap, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Released on October 21, 1970, New Morning provides a pretty pleasant listening experience. Its most famous composition is "If Not for You," which became the first hit for Olivia Newton-John (#25 U.S., #18 Canada, #7 U.K., #7 Australia, #1 U.S. adult contemporary) in 1971. In between Bob's original and Olivia's remake, George Harrison covered it on his landmark album All Things Must Pass, which came out on November 27, 1970 and topped the album charts in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Australia. Meanwhile, New Morning reached did all right for itself as well (#7 U.S., #5 Canada, #1 U.K., #4 Australia), selling half a million copies in the United States. ONJ's version of "If Not for You" seems to favor George's arrangement. I like all three. The original made it onto Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II, but a different track, "Time Passes Slowly," represented New Morning on the 1988 Dylan box set, Biograph. They're two of my favorites on this album, but I also really like "Day of the Locusts," "Father of Night," "New Morning," "If Dogs Run Free," "Sign on the Window," "Three Angels," and "Winterlude." That last one is another instance where I think Bob sounds uncannily like Elvis Presley. 1812. Planet Waves - Bob Dylan It took 14 LPs (17, if you count compilations) and a new label, but Bob Dylan finally achieved his first chart-topper on the Billboard 200. It also reached #7 on the U.K. album charts. Released on January 17, 1974, Planet Waves featured his former backing group, The Band, returning in that role. It was Dylan's first album for David Geffen's and Elliot Roberts' Asylum Records, although there would only be one more (a live LP with The Band called Before the Flood that came out five months later). By 1975, Bob was back with Columbia Records, where he remained into the 2020s. Dylan would go on to have four more #1 albums: Blood on the Tracks (1975), Desire (1976), Modern Times (2006), and Together Through Life (2009). The most famous song on Planet Waves is "Forever Young," which appears as a slow version (5:00) at the end of side one and a fast version (2:51) to kick off side two. The fast version was later used as the theme song for all six seasons of the TV series Parenthood (2010-15). "Forever Young" has been covered by multiple artists, most notably Joan Baez in 1974 (#13 U.S. adult contemporary) and Louisa Johnson in 2015 (#9 U.K.). It also appeared twice — performed by both The Pretenders and Rebbie Jackson (Michael's older sister) — on the soundtrack for the 1995 film Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home. Furthermore, Rod Stewart admitted that Dylan's original inspired his own 1988 hit "Forever Young" (#12 U.S. pop) ... so much so that Dylan was eventually given credit as one of the song's co-writers. Despite all that, neither of Dylan's recordings of "Forever Young" was released as singles from Planet Waves. That honor went to two other cuts: "On a Night Like This" (#44 Billboard, #30 Cash Box, #43 Record World) and "Something There Is About You" (#107 Billboard, #76 Cash Box, #102 Record World). Of the selections not already mentioned, my favorites are probably the final three tracks, "You Angel You," "Never Say Goodbye," and "Wedding Song." 1813. Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits - Steve Miller As I revealed in the early days of this list, Steve Miller's Book of Dreams was my second cassette ever, and Greatest Hits 1974-78 was the first record I ever bought in Canada. But this was my first Steve Miller CD. Released on September 13, 2003, Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits featured 22 tracks from 1968-93, although not in chronological order. It contained all of Miller's Top 40 hits except for the one that charted lowest, "Heart Like a Wheel" (#24 pop, #17 mainstream rock). Most music fans have probably forgotten that one anyway, but they know these: "The Joker" (#1), "Rock'n Me" (#1), "Abracadabra" (#1), "Fly Like an Eagle" (#2), "Jet Airliner" (#8), "Take the Money and Run" (#11), "Swingtown" (#17), and "Jungle Love" (#23). I've written parody lyrics for all eight, and ApologetiX has recorded seven of them, although one was only available on a limited-run, manually-copied cassette from '92. On Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits, "Fly Like an Eagle" and "Jet Airliner" were accompanied by "Space Intro" and "Threshold," respectively — the famous instrumental pieces that preceded them on their original albums. I think I purchased this collection for the sake of some song we were spoofing, but the three tracks I was most interested in for sheer listening enjoyment were ones I had not owned on my previous Miller albums: "Livin' in the USA" (#49), "Space Cowboy" (#94), and "I Want to Make the World Turn Around" (#97 pop, #1 mainstream rock). Proving how popular Miller continued to be even a decade after his last Hot 100 entry, Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits made it to #37 on the Billboard 200 and sold half a million copies in the United States. It didn't contain all of his chart entries, but it did have the 1993 single "Wide River" (#64 pop, #7 mainstream rock) and the 1969 single "My Dark Hour" (#126), which includes the lick that eventually turned into "Fly Like an Eagle." Paul McCartney, who was still in The Beatles at the time, contributed backing vocals, guitar, bass, and drums on "My Dark Hour," although he was credited as "Paul Ramon." Of the other seven selections, I'd previously owned (and enjoyed) "Wild Mountain Honey," "Dance Dance Dance," "Serenade," and "The Stake," but "Shubada Du Ma Ma," "Cry, Cry, Cry" and "Who Do You Love" were new to me. 1814. Hemispheres - Rush For most artists, a project containing only four songs would be an EP. Not these guys. That's because one song was 18 minutes long and another was nine and a half. Apparently the guys in Rush were not in a rush. The former, "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres," was broken into Parts I through VI and took up an entire side of an album! The latter, an instrumental called ""La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise in Self-Indulgence)" comprised parts Parts I through XI! So were those really just two songs ... or were they actually 17? Any way you slice it, that's not just a project; it's a prog-ject. Released on October 24, 1978, Hemispheres was the Canadian progressive power trio's sixth LP. The other two cuts, "Circumstances" (3:42) and "The Trees" (4:46) were more conventional rock compositions, but only in musical structure. After all, you'd be hard-pressed to find another tune about social unrest in the forest between the oaks and maples. Even so, "The Trees" was the track selected as a single (it didn't chart) and the most popular (ranked #8 in a 2015 Rolling Stone readers poll of the best Rush songs). Hemispheres peaked at #47 on the Billboard 200 but went to #14 in both Canada and the United Kingdom. It sold over a million copies in the United States, although it took 15 years to do so. I contributed to the cause by buying a cassette version on sale for $3.99 in the summer of 1986. Not only that, I purchased the 40th Anniversary two-disc remastered CD as a Christmas present for ApologetiX keyboardist Rich Mannion in 2022. He's a major fan and told me afterward that it's his favorite Rush album, because it was the one where "they reached their peak of prog-ness." Speaking of which, the second disc on that 40th Anniversary edition was a live recording of the group at a '79 festival during which they played 10 songs, including three of the four from Hemispheres ... the three longest, in fact. While writing this entry in 2025, I asked Rich to elaborate further. He got back to me after I was done, so I'll tag what he texted me onto the end: "Hemispheres, in my opinion, is when Rush hit their progressive peak when it comes to writing and performance. From Fly by Night through Hemispheres, they kept growing. A Farewell to Kings is an amazing album and includes one of my favorite songs by them, 'Cygnus X-1.' The song 'Hemispheres' is the second book of that song. I saw them perform 'Cygnus X-1' into 'Hemispheres' at my first Rush show in 1980. There isn’t a bad song on the album. There aren’t many songs on the album so ... But 'The Trees' is an amazing song both in performance and lyrically. 'La Villa Strangiato' is an instrumental prog masterpiece. The fact that they recorded it in separate sections and later edited the actual tape to put it all together and then actually had to learn how to play it as one piece for live performance is great. 'Circumstances' is a little song, in Rush terms, with really great lyrics. It’s another favorite." |
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If you'd like to donate to the ministry of ApologetiX, there are a couple ways you can do it. |
If you prefer to mail a check or money order, please make it out to "ApologetiX" and send it to:
ApologetiX
208 Charlemma Drive
Pittsburgh PA 15214-1414
Although the donations are not tax-deductible, they will be received very gratefully and used immediately. Thank you! |
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On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. John 20:19-20 |
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P.O. Box 101705
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
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