ApX Needs Help but Cool Stuff Coming |
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J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
Thanks to all of you prayed about the situation with my left ear. Last Friday, the folks at the ear-nose-throat center were able to get it all cleaned out without any complications, and I can now hear clearly in both ears. Praise the Lord!
Because of that ear blockage and a little writer’s block I experienced while working on a very wordy song, we decided to postpone my recording session last week. However, God enabled me to get all the lyrics done over the weekend, and I sang all my parts in the studio two days ago.
Unfortunately, that means we won’t have a new single this weekend, but we’re really pleased with the way the parody and its production turned out. It’ll be worth the wait. Meanwhile, God has since provided the lyrics for the other song on that single, which I’m slated to sing next Tuesday. I think you’re going to like both songs a lot!
From a creative standpoint, things are going gangbusters here. From a financial standpoint, we could use some serious help. It’s been two and a half months, since I sent out our last appeal letter. From a historical perspective, that’s not too bad, but I've been holding off on sending this one until we absolutely needed to.
ApologetiX has big bills (and some medium-size and smaller ones) to take care of, and is still way behind in paying me. God continues to provide mysteriously and unexpectedly for the band and my family, but it’s now time for me to put something in the newsletter.
I am reminded periodically that some of my old friends from high school and college read these newsletters. It’s embarrassing enough admitting to our fans when we need help, let alone people from my past. Some of them understand where I’m coming from and some don’t, but such is life. I wish I didn’t care, but I’m human. Very.
However, I still remain convinced that I’m doing what God called me to do. And I'm reminded of David’s reply to his wife Michal after she rebuked him when he danced “half-naked" before the Lord with all his might in public: "I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes” (2 Samuel 6:22a).
In the meantime, the activity at ApologetiX central never stops. Today, we’re sending the master for our next CD, X-Tract, to the duplicator. We hope to have it back in time to ship out before Christmas.
Believe it or not, we’ve already finished half of the songs for our first CD of 2025, too! And my lovely wife, Lisa, has been continuing work on the next edition of The ApologetiX Songbook (1992–2024), which we plan to release in January, Lord willing.
Ed Koch, who served as mayor of New York City, from 1978-89, used to ride the subway and stand on street corners and greet his constituents by saying, “How’m I doin’?” I’d be afraid to do something like that, but I will share this excerpt from a great email we received last month from a longtime fan in Canada named Steve Cook: |
"I recently picked up the new Stryper album ... I was listening to it and thinking that there aren't too many bands, who have had extended careers, that have released six albums of new material in the past 11 years. Let alone the fact that those albums may be their six best albums overall … Then I got the new ApologetiX album download and realized that there's a band that has released over 40 albums of new material in the same time frame. Plus the last six albums are perhaps your six best overall ... Thanks so much for all the wonderful music and many blessings for the future." |
That’s our current state of the union. If you'd like to help, here are some options: (Safari users may need to manually scroll down the pages or use the navigation menu at the top of the page.) |
Pray (first and foremost) Give by mail: ApologetiX, 208 Charlemma Dr., Pittsburgh PA 15214
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Donations are not tax deductible. Please only give if you feel led and can afford it. We do not want to create hardships for anybody else. Any financial support we receive ultimately comes from God. We’ll let Him choose whom to use. Thanks for reading this! |
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Rich Mannion: Happy Birthday & Successful Surgery |
Belated birthday blessings to ApologetiX keyboardist Rich Mannion, who's celebrated his big day on Tuesday, November 12.
The man's age isn’t important. All you need to know is that he’s the second-youngest of the seven active members this band. And from the perspective of being part of ApologetiX, he joined us in mid-2018, so he’s really only six years old. ;)
Rich had major surgery on his nose on October 9. No, he did not get a “nose job”; the procedure he underwent is called septoplasty. The Mayo Clinic website describes it as follows: |
Septoplasty (SEP-toe-plas-tee) is a type of nose surgery. It straightens the wall of bone and cartilage that divides the space between the two nostrils. That wall is called the septum. When the septum is crooked, it's known as a deviated septum. A deviated septum can make it harder to breathe through the nose.
During septoplasty, the septum is moved back to the middle of the nose. To do this, the surgeon may need to cut and remove parts of the septum first. Then, these parts might be placed back into the nose in a corrected position.
Once you've healed from a septoplasty, you'll likely find it's easier to breathe. |
Rich can attest to that. One week after that surgery, he posted the following on Facebook: |
The splints have been removed from my nose one week post-op. I can breathe through my nose like I never have before!"
My surgeon, Dr. Erik Interval, said he’ll always remember my septoplasty due to how tough it was to chisel out my septum. I’m to expect overall facial and teeth pain for a couple more weeks due to that difficulty. But the good news is, I’ll be back at normal life starting next week.
Thank you for your prayers. God is so good. |
Praise the Lord! We thank God for a successful surgery and for bringing Rich into this band and into our lives. |
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Bible-Reading for the Next Two Weeks |
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:
Fri., Nov. 15 - Jeremiah 43-45
Sat., Nov. 16 - Jeremiah 46-48
Sun., Nov. 17 - Jeremiah 49-52
Mon., Nov. 18 - Lamentations 1-3
Tue., Nov. 19- Lamentations 4-5
Wed., Nov. 20 - Ezekiel 1-3
Thu., Nov. 21 - Ezekiel 4-6
Fri., Nov. 22 - Ezekiel 7-9
Sat., Nov. 23 - Ezekiel 10-12
Sun., Nov. 24 - Ezekiel 13-15
Mon., Nov. 25 - Ezekiel 16-18
Tue., Nov. 26 - Ezekiel 19-21
Wed., Nov. 27 - Ezekiel 22-24
Thu., Nov. 28 - Ezekiel 25-27 Fri., Nov. 29 - Ezekiel 28-30 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. |
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Get Our Complete Library for $100 |
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 1720 tracks, including various versions (studio, live, rarity, album, single, EP, revised, remastered, etc.), plus side projects ... even our most-recent single and our latest CD. |
Standard CDs 1993–2024 (943 tracks) Remastered Classics CDs (219 tracks) Singles, EPs, Rarities, Side Projects (558 tracks)
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New USBs Include Latest CD & Single |
Our new ApologetiX USB thumb drives are now in stock!
They contain the digital versions of all 75 of our CDs, plus any singles, EPs, or rarities that aren't on CD ... including our latest single.
Emblazoned with the band's logo, they have a storage capacity of 16 GB, and they’re write-enabled, so you can add more music to them if and when you get future ApX downloads.
They’re available for a donation of $150 or more. If you've donated for our complete library before, they're available for a donation of $50 or more. |
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Influential Albums #1647–1653 |
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.
1647. The Best of Missing Persons - Missing Persons Los Angeles new-wave band Missing Persons featured four members of Frank Zappa's band — lead singer Dale Bozzio, drummer Terry Bozzio, guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, and bassist Patrick O'Hearn, who also played synthesizer. They were joined by keyboardist Chuck Wild. Dale and Terry were married from 1979-86, and both appeared on a Frank Zappa single I bought in 1980 that bubbled under the Hot 100, "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted" (#103). Missing Persons never had a Top 40 hit, but they came very close twice: "Words" (#42 pop, #60 mainstream rock) and "Destination Unknown" (#42 pop, #24 mainstream). Their other Hot 100 hits were "Windows" (#63 pop, #22 mainstream), "Give" (#67 pop, #29 mainstream), and "Walking in L.A. ("#70 pop, #12 mainstream). While in college, I made a series of homemade tapes of new-wave faves I called Rock for the 80s (how hip was that?), and four of those singles — "Words," "Destination Unknown," "Windows," and "Walking in L.A." — made the cut. Released in 1987, The Best of Missing Persons contained all five of their charting singles, plus 10 others, including a cover of fellow L.A. band The Doors' "Hello, I Love You." I ordered this CD in June 2017, and ApologetiX released a spoof of "Words" a month later. 1648. A Boy Named Goo - Goo Goo Dolls Goo Goo Dolls had a couple alternative hits in the early '90s — "There You Are" (#24) in '91 and "We Are the Normal" (#5) in '93 — but they to wait until their fifth studio LP before finally hitting the Billboard 200. Released March 14, 1995, A Boy Named Goo reached #27 and sold two million copies in the United States, largely because of the shimmering, soft-sounding single "Name," which dominated multiple charts (#5 pop, #2 adult Top 40, #4 adult contemporary, #1 mainstream rock, #1 alternative). It was the only Top 40 pop hit on this album, although four other cuts made the mainstream and/or alternative rock charts: "Naked" (#47 pop airplay, #8 mainstream, #9 alternative), "Long Way Down" (#7 mainstream, #25 alternative), "Only One" (#21 mainstream, #36 alternative), and "Flat Top" (#38 mainstream). Buyers who liked "Name" and were looking for more of the same got a loud surprise; the rest of the tracks really rock. It's funny that Goo Goo Dolls burst into the public consciousness about the same time as The Foo Fighters, because the majority of the tracks on A Boy Named Goo sound a lot like the Foos, including "Only One," "So Long," "Eyes Wide Open," "Disconnected," and "Slave Girl" ... and to a lesser extent, "Long Way Down," "Burnin' Up," and "Flat Top." I think it's mainly the instrumentation that does it, especially the guitars. Of course, Goo Goo Dolls lead singer/guitarist John Rzeznik's voice has a distinctly different voice than Foo Fighters lead singer/guitarist Dave Grohl, as does Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac, who sang lead on five of the 12 tracks. Believe it or not, though, A Boy Named Goo actually came out over three and a half months before the new Foo debut, not vice versa. I finally bought this CD in the late spring of 2017. ApologetiX had recorded a live spoof of "Name" back in 1996, and we wanted to record a polished studio version, which we wound up releasing soon after. I thought we did a good job ... or should I say ... a Goo Goo g'joob! 1649. Voices Carry - 'Til Tuesday Boston-based new-wave act 'Til Tuesday brought something unusual to the table — a female lead singer who also played bass in a rock band otherwise populated by men. And her name was Aimee Mann. Holy ironic nomenclature, Batman! The four-piece group formed in 1982 and released their debut LP, Voices Carry, on April 20, 1985. It reached #19 on the Billboard 200 and sold half a million copies, generating two charting singles, the haunting "Voices Carry" (#26 pop, #9 mainstream) and the wistful "Looking Over My Shoulder" (#61 pop). They're both great tunes and were, in my opinion, the best choices for potential commercial appeal. Other songs that stood out to me were "Love in a Vacuum," "No More Crying," "Maybe Monday," and "Sleep." Mann's bass-playing wasn't buried in the mix, either; it was a prominent as her vocals. After this album, the group managed three more charting singles: "What About Love" (#26 pop, #9 mainstream), "Coming Up Close" (#59 pop, #37 mainstream), and "(Believed You Were) Lucky" (#95 pop, #30 alternative, #32 adult contemporary). Mann later embarked on a critically acclaimed solo career with two songs that charted, "That's Just What You Are" (#93 pop, #24 alternative) and "I Should've Known" (#16 alternative). She also provided guest vocals on the Rush song "Time Stand Still" (#3 mainstream). I ordered the Voices Carry CD on May 25, 2017, and ApologetiX released a parody of the title track less than a month later. 1650. Mothership - Led Zeppelin This 24-track career-spanning Led Zeppelin compilation came out in mid-November 2007. The contents were supposedly chosen by the Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones, but I don't know how in the world they thought it was a good idea to include "Heartbreaker" without "Living Loving Maid ("She's Just a Woman)." Those songs have been joined at the hip on rock radio since 1969, when they initially appeared as the first two tracks on the second side of Led Zeppelin II. Moreover, "Living Loving Maid" actually charted (#65), whereas "Heartbreaker" did not. Nevertheless, the same thing had happened with the band's four-disc boxed set in 1990, so it must have been deliberate. Getting back to Mothership, the only other glaring omission was "Fool in the Rain" (#21). All eight of Led Zeppelin's remaining Hot 100 hits are there: "Whole Lotta Love" (#4), "Black Dog" (#15), "Immigrant Song" (#16), "D'yer Maker" (#20), "Trampled Under Foot" (#38), "Rock and Roll" (#47), "Over the Hills and Far Away" (#51), and "Good Times Bad Times" (#80). Of course, Led Zeppelin was never about pop singles. The group released their original eight studio albums from 1969-79, and Billboard didn't introduce its mainstream rock chart until 1981, although "All My Love" did reach #10 on the pop chart of rival publication Radio & Records (which made rare exceptions for album cuts that received overwhelming airplay) in 1979. Epic classics "Stairway to Heaven" (8:02), "Kashmir" (8:33), and "Achilles Last Stand" (10:25) all made it onto Mothership in full-length form, as did seven other songs that last longer than six minutes: "Dazed and Confused" (6:28), "Nobody's Fault but Mine" (6:30), "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (6:42), "In the Evening" (6:51), "No Quarter" (7:00), "When the Levee Breaks" (7:10), and "Since I've Been Loving You" (7:24). In fact, there are only four tracks on this album that clock in under four minutes: "Immigrant Song" (2:27), "Communication Breakdown" (2:30), "Good Times Bad Times" (2:48), and "Rock and Roll" (3:41). Mothership reached #7 on the Billboard 200 sold a million copies in the United States. I picked up a copy in the June 2017 for parody purposes. 1651. The Very Best - INXS Formed in 1977, Australian rock band INXS took a while to gain traction in the States, but they ended up with seven U.S. Top 10 singles: "Need You Tonight" (#1 pop, #12 mainstream rock), "Devil Inside" (#2 pop, #2 mainstream, "New Sensation" (#3 pop, #8 mainstream), "What You Need" (#5 pop, #3 mainstream), "Never Tear Us Apart" (#7 pop, #5 mainstream), "Disappear" (#8 pop, #6 mainstream, and #10 alternative), and "Suicide Blonde" (#9 pop, #1 mainstream, #1 alternative). All of those were on this 20-track collection. Released on October 21, 2011, The Very Best also included nine additional songs that charted on the U.S. pop and/or rock charts: "Elegantly Wasted" (#27 pop airplay, #37 mainstream, #13 alternative), "Bitter Tears" (#46 pop, #4 mainstream, #6 alternative), "Beautiful Girl" (#46 pop, #10 alternative), "Listen Like Thieves" (#54 pop, #12 mainstream), "Original Sin" (#58 pop, #43 mainstream), "Taste It" (#101 pop, #5 alternative), "Heaven Sent" (#4 mainstream, #2 alternative), "The Gift" (#6 alternative), and "Mystify" (#17 mainstream). Seven of the group's Hot 100 hits were missing, including three Top 40 singles: "Not Enough Time" (#28 pop, #13 mainstream, #2 alternative), "The One Thing" (#30 pop, #2 mainstream), "Pretty Vegas" (#37 pop), "Good Times" with Jimmy Barnes (#47 pop, #3 mainstream), "I Send a Message" (#77 pop, #41 mainstream), "Don't Change" (#80 pop, #17 mainstream), and "This Time" (#81 pop, #11 mainstream). I enjoyed all 20 selections on The Very Best — some of them very much so — but I missed "The One Thing," Good Times," and "I Sent a Message." However, they were all on the deluxe edition, which included a second disc with 20 more tracks. Tragically, INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence committed suicide in 1997 at age 37. The band reformed in 2005 with Canadian Jason Dean "J.D. Fortune" Bennison on vocals after he won the reality TV series Rock Star: INXS. They had one hit with him, the aforementioned "Pretty Vegas," which also went to #9 in Australia and #2 in Canada. Although INXS achieved 10 Top 10 hits in their native country, only one, "Original Sin," went to #1. They did have four chart toppers in Canada, though. The Very Best didn't chart on the Billboard 200, but I bought it used in 2017, and ApologetiX went on to spoof "Devil Inside" in 2022. 1652. The Very Best of Robert Palmer - Robert Palmer British rock-and-soul singer Robert Palmer was born in England, but his family moved out of the country a few months later, so he spent the first 12 years of his life on the Southern European island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea — the same place where the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked in Acts 28. Although best remembered for his '80s output, he also had hits in the late '70s and early '90s. Released in '97 and purchased by yours truly 20 years later, The Very Best of Robert Palmer, contained his eight biggest U.S. hits: "Addicted To Love" (#1 pop, #1 rock), "Simply Irresistible" (#2 pop, #1 mainstream), "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" (#2 pop, #41 mainstream), "Get It On" (with The Power Station) (#6 pop, #19 mainstream), "Some Like It Hot" with The Power Station (#9 pop, #34 mainstream), "Bad Case Of Loving You" (Doctor, Doctor)" (#14 U.S. pop, #1 Canada), "Every Kinda People" (#16 pop), and "Mercy Mercy Me / I Want You" (#16 pop). The rest of the record included "You Are in My System" (#78 pop, #33 mainstream), "Looking For Clues" (#105 pop, #33 U.K.), "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" featuring UB40 (#6 U.K., #24 alternative), "She Makes My Day" (#6 U.K.), "Some Guys Have All The Luck (#16 U.K., #59 mainstream), "Know By Now" (#25 U.K.), "Johnny & Mary" (#44 U.K.), "Respect Yourself"(#45 U.K.) and a remix called "Addicted To Love '97." That last one didn't do much for me, but his remake of The Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself" is really well done. Believe it or not, Palmer had nine other U.S. Hot 100 singles (including four Top 40 hits): "Early in the Morning" (#19 pop, #40 mainstream), "You're Amazing" (#28 pop, #5 mainstream), "Hyperactive" (#33 pop, #21 mainstream), "Communication" with The Power Station (#34 pop), "Can We Still Be Friends" (#52 pop), "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming" (#60 pop), "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" (#63 pop), "Discipline of Love (Why Did You Do It)" (#82 pop), and "Sweet Lies" (#94 pop). ApologetiX has spoofed "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)," "Addicted to Love," and "Simply Irresistible" (twice). Sadly, Palmer died from a heart attack in 2003 at age 54, after an all-too-brief lifetime of heavy smoking. 1653. So Long, Bannatyne – The Guess Who Released in July 1971, So Long, Bannatyne was The Guess Who's eighth studio LP, reaching #52 on the Billboard 200 and #10 in Canada. It spun off two singles, "Rain Dance" (#19 U.S., #3 Canada) and "Sour Suite" (#50 U.S., #12 Canada). The flip side of "Sour Suite" was "Life in the Bloodstream," which also hit the Canadian Top 40 (#39). I was familiar with those three from previous collections of the group's material. They're terrific tunes, especially "Rain Dance," which is probably in my Top Five all-time Guess Who songs. But So Long, Bannatyne had much more to offer. As I've said before, I'm a sucker for titles, and that's why I sought out this album, and the song "So Long, Bannatyne" turned out to be a delight. It was written about Guess Who guitarist Kurt Winter (who, along with Greg Leskiw, had replaced Randy Bachman in the band the previous year) movin' out from city life in Winnipeg to a more posh place in the suburbs. My sleeper pick is "Pain Train," though. "Grey Day" is up there, too. I also like "She Might Have Been a Nice Girl," "Goin' a Little Crazy," and "One Divided." For comic relief there's "Fiddlin'" and "One Man Army." As legendary rock critic Lester Bangs, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, in the movie Almost Famous: "Give me The Guess Who. They got the courage to be drunken buffoons, which makes them poetic." |
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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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Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. Psalm 19:13 |
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P.O. Box 101705
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
USA
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