Things I will (still) never do.

At some point I'm fairly certain I will have something significant to say on this blog. But not today. 


I was thinking about the idea of blogging as something I claimed I would never do. There are other things I won't do. Here are two. I'm pretty firm on these.


Quote Bono in a sermon.

I like U2's music. Except for that nearly unlistenable Zooropa and Popmart phase. Bono seems like a good guy who goes out of his way to do good things. But there's something vaguely disconcerting about his public image. I think Chuck Klostermann put it best here. 

By the way, I have no problem quoting Klostermann. I do it all the time (see "poseur" in bio to the right.)

A few years back my wife and I were driving on a day long trip and we started listening to a radio interview with Michael W. Smith.

(Excursus: For those outside of the Evangelical Christian World I live in, Smith is sort of a doyen of the Contemporary Christian Music movement. Like me, he's in his early 50's. Smith had a modicum of "cross over" success in secular music thereby ensuring he's pretty much never going away.)

Smith is being interviewed about his career and a new philanthropy project he's got going. He starts talking about "my friend Bono". A lot. I start playing Bono Bingo to see how many times he will repeat that phrase. I lose count.

So perhaps my aversion is a form of generational paranoia. Michael W. just seemed a bit too eager to bask in the Bono shekinah glory and it rang false and a little pretentious. And when it comes to false and pretentious I just don't need any help.

Wear a headset microphone.

I don't need to be convinced that these provide superior sound to the old school clip on lapel microphones we use at Red Mountain Church. The mic element is closer to and consistently placed from the mouth. And yep, they're getting smaller and even come in a "nude" color (I'm not making that up.)

I just can't shake the Garth Brooks/Brittany Spears/Madonna/goofy youth group leader vibe when it comes to these things. So to be clear I'm not talking about high principle here. 

A few years back I was invited to speak at chapel service at my daughter's high school. Whole school. Big crowd. A few minutes before I begin some kid tries to fit me with a headset microphone. This exchange ensues:

"I don't use these."

"Why not?"

"I don't use these."

"It's the only mic we have!"

"I don't use these."

We end up starting a few minutes late as the kid finally believes me and runs around to find another microphone. He came back with a mic I have to hold in my hand like a lounge singer. It looks a little silly. Just less silly.

I think this may be another reason: