Karen Spears Zacharias has a thing for trailers.  She grew up, found Jesus, fell in love, and even delivered her first child in a trailer.  She recently published her fourth book, Will Jesus Buy Me A Double Wide?, and took time out of her busy book tour schedule to answer that question and share her...

Chicago is my favorite place in the world. I feel so lucky to be able to wake up in this city every day. Of course, I don’t mean to discriminate against the Northwest, because I’ve only heard the kindest words about Seattle and Portland. It’s just that I’ve never been there before...

Nneka Concrete Jungle (Decon) It’s strange–whenever I think I don’t like Nneka’s new Concrete Jungle very much, I go back and listen again, and something changes my mind. I guess it’s a good sign that I keep going back. For instance, the song “Kangpe” boasts...

In between sharing pics of his Jersey Shore makeover and playing Taboo while promoting his latest film Youth in Revolt on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last month (January 25, 2010, episode), Michael Cera talked about his reputation as a photobomber.  Nothing at all as terrorizing as the underwear bomber,...

Patty Griffin Downtown Church (Credential Recordings) I’ll start by damning this album with not-so-faint praise. Patty Griffin’s new one, Downtown Church, makes for uniformly pleasant listening. It’s made up mostly of gospel covers, with a couple originals and Big Mama Thornton’s...

America is a Christian nation. I’m finally coming to grips with that fact. For a while, I wanted to believe this country was built on democracy, not faith, but I just can’t deny it anymore. Christians keep these 50 states running. I’m convinced. Let’s start by looking at the driving...

You don’t need me to tell you to read Anne Lamott’s new novel, Imperfect Birds, because you probably will, regardless. And I’ll do my best not to ruin anything for you. Out in April from Riverhead Books (a member of the Penguin Group), Imperfect Birds is the third installment in the story of Rosie...

From the beginning, Vampire Weekend have seemed to live a charmed existence. They were shot for the cover of Spin magazine before their debut album even came out (the only time in Spin’s history this has happened); they appeared on Saturday Night Live just six weeks after the eponymous record was released;...

Yes, last night I watched the television show The Bachelor. A friend of my brother-in-law is one of the girls on the show, so we tuned in to see the mess. Last week I watched the first three episodes from season one of Mad Men, the hit show on A&E about the advertising world in the 1950s. The show’s...

The lights dimmed, the entire place went dark. Massive screens across the back of the stage burst with colors. A video began telling the story of the Passion conferences.  After a few minutes, the video piece transitioned and powerful words scrolled onto the screens as violins and cellos filled the...