Last night, a little after 11 p.m. on 07/24/2024, our father, Mark Bodin, passed away peacefully and comfortably and is now with our Lord and Savior. He was surrounded all day by family. He is now with our nana and no longer in pain or suffering. More info to come. 

Our family would like to thank everyone for their kind words, thoughts, love, and prayers for our father and family. He will be missed by so many, and as a family, we did not realize how much he was loved by so many! ♥

To my dear father, thank you for being my dad. Thank you for being a great P-paw to your grandchildren. Looking back and reflecting, you were the coolest, awesome dad, and at times I took that for granted. We had our ups and downs but the past few years our father-daughter relationship grew stronger and closer. 

We are extremely sad to see Mark go, but we take comfort in the fact that he is no longer suffering and has gone to place that is better than any of us can even imagine. We're grateful for the time we got to spend with him and the blessing he was to the band and to each of us personally.  

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the stories behind the songs on our 15th single of 2024:

WILD KING

I think this was the first time ApX recorded parodies of two totally different tunes with the same title. We came close to doing that in 2022, when we spoofed "Valerie" by Steve Winwood and "Valleri" by The Monkees. In 2013, we released "Child King," a parody of "Wild Thing" by Tone Lōc, (#2 in 1989); in 2024, we unleashed "Wild King," a parody of "Wild Thing" by The Troggs (#1 in 1966). 

Thematically, it's the sequel to "Nightmare Waiting." Both are sung from the perspective of the prophet Daniel in the fourth chapter of the book that bears his name. "Nightmare Waiting" focused on the first part of the story, where Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream and warned what would happen if he didn't repent. 

As "Wild King" shows, the proud monarch didn't heed the man of God's counsel, and 12 months later, he literally started acting like an animal: "He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird" (Daniel 4:33). After a predicted period of seven "times" (which could be years, seasons, or months), God restored both his sanity and his kingdom. 

"Zoanthropy," the fancy word we use in the second chorus, is a term for the condition in which a person believes they have been changed into an animal and starts to act like one. If the title of this one reminds you of the old TV show Wild Kingdom, the feeling is Mutual ... of Omaha.

‘80s MEDLEY (OCTAGON BUT NOT FORGOTTEN)

Our 2011 CD Wise Up and Rock was all ‘80s, the perfect place for a medley, since so many of them hit the Top 40 that decade, including the first Stars on 45 Beatles medley, “The Beach Boys Medley” “The Beatles Movie Medley,” “Hooked on Classics,” “Stars on 45 III (A Tribute to Stevie Wonder),” “Hooked on Swing,” “Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby),” and “Swing the Mood." And don’t forget “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life,” by Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley. 

The initial three tunes in "Octagon but Not Forgotten" were the ones that inspired me to do a medley in the first place; I'd written spoof snippets of each but didn’t really want to do the entire songs. For years, Bill Hubauer and I talked about doing a medley based upon them, and we finally went for it, mapping out the final running order on August 13, 2011. 

I already had the sequence in mind for the first four songs. Bill selected the remaining six from a big pile of partial parodies I gave him to choose from and then worked out the sequencing. He also played all the instruments. 

The medley proved so popular that fans eventually persuaded us to do full-length versions of the songs in it. I kept most of the lyrics we'd used in the medley intact but made some changes to the first two songs. Also, we spent a lot of time perfecting the performances (particularly my vocals) on the new recordings, so I asked David Michael to make us a new medley for 2024, and he did a very commendable job. 

In case you missed our announcement in January, ApologetiX is booked to play what will be our first concert in almost seven years. We've gotten a tremendous response from fans all over the United States and Canada who tell us they're planning to attend.

Our most-recent show was on October 24, 2017. We've been comfortable operating as a studio-only band since then and have been saying all along that it would take something really big to get us back up on stage. Well, this is it!

We're honored to be selected as the closing act for the third annual Immortal Fest in Versailles OH on Labor Day Weekend this year. ApologetiX will play Sunday night, September 1, and most of our fans will still have Monday off for the holiday.

Other artists scheduled to play that weekend include: Bride, The Daniel Band, Fear Not, Ironwrath, James Durbin, Les Carlsen of Bloodgood, Neon Cross, Sacred Warrior, Saint, Shout, Trytan, Whitecross, and Worldview. The emcee will be the legendary Pastor Bob Beeman of Sanctuary International.

If we were going to return to the stage, we always felt the ideal spot would be a centralized location in the Midwest that would enable as many of our fans as possible to attend from north, south, east, and west. Versailles OH fits the bill. Here are some nearby cities and how far away they are from Versailles:

Dayton OH (45 miles), Muncie IN (50 miles), Cincinnati OH (95 miles), Columbus OH (100 miles), Indianapolis IN (110 miles), Toledo OH (130 miles), Ann Arbor MI (175 miles), Lexington KY (175 miles), Detroit MI (190 miles), Louisville KY (195 miles), Cleveland OH (225 miles), Chicago IL (250 miles), Pittsburgh PA (285 miles), Saint Louis MO (350 miles), and Nashville TN (365 miles). 

Sunday, September 1, 2024 
Immortal Fest II
BMI Event Center
791 E. Main St
Versailles, OH 45380 

BMI Event Center is Miami Valley's best concert venue. The 1500-seat indoor concert hall includes a 330-seat balcony. 

CLICK HERE for more info on the artists, the schedule, the event itself, and tickets.

We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3.

Here's our Bible-reading plan for the next two weeks for those of you reading along with us:

Sat., July 27 - 1 Chronicles 13-15
Sun., July 28 - 1 Chronicles 16-18
Mon., July 29- 1 Chronicles 19-21
Tue., July 30 - 1 Chronicles 22-24
Wed., July 31 - 1 Chronicles 25-27
Thu., Aug. 1 - 1 Chronic5es 28-29
Fri., Aug. 2 - 2 Chronicles 1-3
Sat., Aug. 3 - 2 Chronicles 4-6
Sun., Aug. 4 - 2 Chronicles 7-9
Mon., Aug. 5 - 2 Chronicles 10-12
Tue., Aug. 6 - 2 Chronicles 13-15
Wed., Aug. 7 - 2 Chronicles 16-18
Thu., Aug. 8 - 2 Chronicles 19-21
Fri., Aug. 9 - 2 Chronicles 22-24

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.

We recently revamped the downloadable version of our complete library. Now it comes in a PDF with pictures of every album and single for easy reference. You just click on the ones you need to download them instantly.

We're giving our complete library on download to everyone who donates $100 this week.

That's 1694 tracks, including various versions (studio, live, rarity, album, single, EP, revised, remastered, etc.), plus side projects ... even our most-recent single, “Got My Mindset From You / Media Circus" and our latest CD, Unchained Medley.

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.

1535. The Very Best of Perry Como - Perry Como
When I covered the 1958 compilation Como's Golden Records earlier on this list, I lamented that it only included half of his #1 hits. Released in 2000, The Very Best of Perry Como had all 14 of them: "Till the End of Time," "Prisoner of Love," "Surrender," "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go To Sleep)," "'A' - You're Adorable," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Hoop-Dee-Doo," "If," "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes," "No Other Love," "Wanted," "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)," "Round And Round," and "Catch A Falling Star." There were 21 tracks in all. Although he also had four #2 hits — "When You Were Sweet Sixteen," "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now," "Forever and Ever," and "Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)" — for some reason none of them made it onto The Very Best of Perry Como. However, two of his three #1 adult contemporary hits did: "It's Impossible" (#10 pop) and "And I Love You So" (#29 pop). Only "Stop! And Think It Over" (#92 pop) is missing among those. The other four tracks on The Very Best of Perry Como were all Top Five pop hits: "(A Hubba-Hubba-Hubba) Dig You Later" (#3), "I'm Gonna Love That Gal (Like She's Never Been Loved Before)" (#4), "Because" (#4), "Papa Loves Mambo" (#4), and "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" (#5). I picked a copy of this album in January 2007. Como arigato, Mr. Relaxation! 
 
1536. Inside Job - Don Henley
Could it be? A kinder, gentler Don Henley? Overall, yes, but his mind was as sharp as ever ... and, occasionally, so was his tongue. Released May 23, 2000, Inside Job was the once-and-future Eagle's long-awaited fourth solo studio LP, arriving almost a full 11 years after his third, The End of the Innocence. In the interim, Henley got married (in 1995) and started a family, and that seemed to have had a major mellowing effect on him. Nevertheless, he still was quite capable of creating some scolding, scalding, and scathing songs, most notably "Workin' It" (#21 mainstream rock), "Goodbye to a River," the title track, and the funky opener, "Nobody Else in the World but You," which I liked best of the four. The album's sweet-spirited single, "Taking You Home," only reached #58 on the Hot 100 but topped the adult contemporary chart for four weeks. A second cut, the beautiful "Everything Is Different Now," made it to #21 on the AC chart. It's a real gem, as is "For My Wedding" (#61 country). Those three tunes seemed to signal the softer-hearted Henley I alluded to earlier, picking up where "Heart of the Matter," the last song on his previous album, left off. I also really, really liked "They're Not Here, They're Not Coming," "Miss Ghost," and "The Genie," which all represented a great marriage (no pun intended) of music and lyrics. But he saved the best for last on this record: The closer, "My Thanksgiving," may be my favorite Henley song ever ... the wise, well-chosen words and work of a mature man who has become introspective while developing a new perspective. Although the lyrics aren't about the holiday, I do like to play it around Thanksgiving every year. Superior stuff! The other two songs, "Damn It, Rose" (a lament) and "Annabel" (a lullaby), are touching as well. Inside Job debuted and peaked at #7 on the  Billboard 200, his highest position up till that point. It sold over a million copies in the United States. I bought my copy in March 2007 after watching the accompanying live DVD of the same title. 
 
1537. Orange Avenue - Paul Zollo
Paul Zollo was the longtime editor of SongTalk magazine, then became senior editor of American Songwriter magazine and managing editor of Performing Songwriter magazine. I own two of his books — the 752-page Songwriters on Songwriting (Fourth Edition, 2003) and the 673-page More Songwriters on Songwriting (2016) — and they are both wonderful collections of interviews the man has conducted with famous songwriters of all sorts. I learn a lot and get so much inspiration from reading what other songwriters have to say about their writing processes. Zollo is a singer-songwriter himself. His 2000 LP Orange Avenue provided a very pleasant 65 minutes of music. I ordered my copy in March 2007 after reading the first of the two aforementioned books. He's a very descriptive, storytelling lyricist with a voice reminiscent of Cat Stevens. Of the 14 tracks, I particularly liked "Discovering Gravity," "Human Sunlight," "Being in This World" (a duet with Art Garfunkel), "Watching Wanda Swim," "Isaac & Daphne," "The Moon Is Blue," "Necessary Rain," and "Thanksgiving." 
 
1538. Pure 80's - Various Artists
This collection came out in 1999, and I think I got a copy when it was fairly new. Since then, ApologetiX has spoofed 14 of the 20 tracks: "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield (#1), "Centerfold" by J. Geils Band (#1), "Come On Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners (#1), "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics (#1), "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club (#1), "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer (#1), "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung (#2), "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran (#3), "One Thing Leads to Another" by The Fixx (#4), "Obsession" by Animotion (#6), "Something About You" by Level 42 (#7), "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell (#8), "Rock This Town" by The Stray Cats (#9), "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (#10). That's six #1 hits, and one each for every chart position from 2-10 with the exception of 5. I wouldn't mind spoofing the remaining songs, either: "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears (#1), "Higher Love" by Steve Winwood (#1), "Hold Me Now" by Thompson Twins (#3), "Our House" by Madness (#7), "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (#40), and "Tempted" by Squeeze (#49). I've probably considered covering every one of those at one time or another. Now that's what I all influential! 
 
1539. More Pure 80's - Various Artists
Released in March 2000, More Pure 80's was an excellent follow-up to Pure 80's, but I didn't follow up by buying it until May 2007. This time around, there were 18 tracks (two fewer than before), but every single one was a Top 20 hit. ApologetiX has done parodies of five of them: "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles (#1), "Maneater" by Daryl Hall and John Oates (#1), "The Power of Love (Single Remix)" by Huey Lewis & The News (#1), "Jeopardy" by Greg Kihn Band (#2), and "Safety Dance (Extended Club Mix)" (#3). As with Pure 80's, there are additional songs on More Pure 80's I'd like to take a crack at. I won't say which ones, but I'll tell you the rest of the roster: "Heaven Is a Place on Earth (Album Version)" (#1), "Rock Me Amadeus (Canadian Version)" (#1), "Shout (U.S. Single Edit)" (#1), "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me (Album Version)" (#2), "Hands to Heaven" by Breathe (#2), "Love Is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar (#5), "Would I Lie to You? (Album Version)" (#5), "I've Done Everything for You (Album Version)" by Rick Springfield (#8), "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves (#9), "I Know There's Something Going On (Single Edit)" by Frida (#13), "Rio (Original UK Album Version)" by Duran Duran (#14), "In a Big Country" by Big Country (#17), and "The Look of Love (Part One)" by ABC (#18 U.S., #1 Canada). 
 
1540. All That Jazz - Breathe
Although formed in London, soul-pop group Breathe actually had more success in the United States than their homeland. From 1988-90, they released five singles that hit the U.S. Top 40 and the U.S. adult contemporary Top 20, but only one of those made the U.K. Top 40 — "Hands to Heaven" (#2 pop, #2 AC, #4 U.K.). The others were: "How Can I Fall?" (#3 pop, #1 AC, #48 U.K.), "Don't Tell Me Lies" (#10 pop, #5 AC, #45 U.K.), "Say a Prayer" (#21 pop, #2 AC, #93 U.K.), and "Does She Love That Man?" (#34 pop, #17 AC, did not chart in the U.K.). Interestingly, their debut LP went all the way to #22 on the U.K. albums chart but stalled at #34 on Billboard 200, despite containing their three biggest U.S. hits. Released August 24, 1987, All That Jazz sold half a million copies here as Breathe became the first group in the history of A&M records to have three Top 10 singles on a debut LP. Another single from All That Jazz, "Jonah," reached #60 on the U.K. chart but was not released in the States. Breathe's second LP, Peace of Mind, came out on August 20, 1990, and yielded their other two U.S. Top 40 hits, but it would prove to be their last. The group disbanded in 1992. I bought All That Jazz in May 2007. At various moments, they reminded me of George Michael, Jack Wagner, Spandau Ballet, and Duran Duran. I would love for Breathe to get back together and do an album of respiratory cover versions, including "Breathe" by Pink Floyd, "Breathe Again," by Tony Braxton, "The Air That I Breathe" by The Hollies, "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Shiek, "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, "Love is Like Oxygen" by The Sweet, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" by Whitney Houston, "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" by Billy Joel ... and "Machine Head" by Bush. And maybe an Air Supply medley. That's 10 tracks. Faith Hill and Fabolous also had Top 10 hits called "Breathe," so we'll throw those on there, too, and make it an even dozen. Let's hurry up and make this happen! Until we do, I'm breathless with anticipation. My suggestion for the title? Sing-a-Lung With Breathe.
 
1541. The Very Best of Christopher Cross - Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross' comet burned brightly but briefly in the early '80s. The Texas singer-songwriter-guitarist had six Top 20 pop hits (two of which reached #1) and eight Top 20 AC this (three of which reached #1). This 19-track compilation from 2002 features all 11 of his adult contemporary hits and nine of his 10 Hot 100 entries: "Sailing" (#1 pop, #10 AC), "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)" (#1 pop, #1 AC), "Ride Like the Wind" (#2 pop, #24 AC), "Think of Laura" (#9 pop, #1 AC), "All Right" (#12 pop, #3 AC), "Never Be the Same" (#15 pop, #1 AC), "Say You'll Be Mine" with Nicolette Larson (#20 pop, #15 AC), "No Time for Talk" (#33 pop, #10 AC), "A Chance for  Heaven" (#76 pop, #16 AC), "Loving Strangers (David's Theme from Nothing in Common)" (#27 AC only), and "I Will (Take You Forever)" (#41 AC only). His only chart entry absent from The Very Best of Christopher Cross was "Charm the Snake" (#68 pop only), but I doubt that was a dealbreaker for many people who considered buying this album. It certainly didn't stop me. Cross is still touring and making music. I found a number of songs on his 2011 LP Dr. Faith especially interesting. 

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!