Drummer Boy Flattery – Buckhead Church
Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery.
Trent Austin and the LifeChurch.tv peeps did this last year.
AMAZING arrangement of Little Drummer Boy.
We thought it was amazing enough to do ourselves.
So North Point twisted it with having one drummer live in the east and one live in the west auditoriums.
Buckhead rolled out the second drum riser during “The Who” loop and also had one singular drummer boy garbage can kid playing alone on stage.
GREAT JOB PRODUCTION TEAM FOR MAKING THIS POP!!!
[Flash Embedded Below RSS Readers!!! Meaning you have to leave your safe little rss world and come here]
[flashvideo width="420" height="300" filename="LittleDrummerBoyBC" filepath="rtmp://cp20979.edgefcs.net/ondemand/fcs.northpointcc/worshipSongs/bc/Videos"/]
Want to see it live?
Go to Browns Bridge this Sunday.
The trash can tour will roll north.
And in total opposite direction than most churches, this next Sunday will be a warm, cozy, low fireworks Sunday.
But don’t be late, cause just because it is “low fireworks”, you won’t want to miss the wow factor on the hour.
It will be AMAZING.
I love my job.
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
I am totally going to BBCC Sunday.
I also hope the crowd was bit more pumped than just a few cheers.
-cD
that’s so-ho-ho-ho, awesome!
Ha! Amazing! We are actually doing it to over at the cedarcreek.tv campuses also. Trent has probably had enough of all of us bugging him for the loops…
Great job guys!
We did this version too. Trent rocked it man. If you like this, you should check out his version of “Emmanuel” on youtube.
My mom came home from Church on Sunday and said,
“Oh my….that church rocks and rolls”.
HA.
yea. You just are hearing the board audio. The crowd went nuts.
I was hoping it would have looked a little more like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=186Fdc59tWY
Thanks Los! My 4 year old son is now banging on our kitchen trash can…
That is freakin awesome!
Los,
I stalked you first. I’ve been reading your stuff for a week now. I love it.
By the way, how are the boys?
Jeff
Where to begin….
Found your blog through a link on Steven Russell’s site.
My wife LOVES your site. She’s a college friend of Steven’s
Cool rendition of something Audio Adrenaline did a few years back.
We were driving home last week and I had The Best of the Who in the Jeep and had cranked and Amy said she HATED that song, gonna have to ask her opinion after she sees this video.
Now for the swerve….
I like this kind of production, mixing something old (The Who) with something new (the rock version of LDB), and especially throwing in something like the trashcan drummers, but, and a BIG but, NOT in the church. I know I will bring down the “however you can reach the people” extremists, but at what price, in this case reverence. When you darken the room, crank the amps, and synch the professional concert lighting, you are entertaining and performing, not worshiping and leading the congregation. I belong to a church that uses all of what I just described and I tolerate it though I do not approve of it. I endure it, because it is necessary to reach the part of the service with the teaching. I attend North Metro Church in Kennesaw, GA (www.northmetro.org). I have heard and like Andy Stanley of Northpoint Community Church, and if I am not mistaken, the Buckhead church is one of his franchises. Which leads to a whole additional debate over why does a pastor need multiple franchises playing tapes of his sermons a week in delay from the original. Are there not enough churches in the other parts of town? Or does he simply see an opportunity to bring in revenue from customers who might not want to drive to the original location?
Val tool. This is a phone call or in person discussion not a blog comment discussion. We would be HAPPY to talk with you at length about this stuff. Give me a call at the church office or shoot me an email and I will give you a call.
Thanks for the questions…they are great ones.
Maybe I will do a blog post on it one day, but until then, give me a call. Church number is 4048147000.
But more than anything, it sounds like you need to change churches.
Los
Los, that was awesome. Long-time stalker, first time poster. Your video director rules. I’m the video director at Mariners Church in Irvine, CA, and I wish we could rock a song like that. I have a tech geek question for you….what cameras are you guys shooting with? I thought I saw a smaller camera on the drummer….is that the Panasonic HVX200 HD camera? Great picture quality. Very cool production.
404? I thought you were in Memphis – or at leas that’s what my wife caused me to believe.
Andy Stanley is in Atlanta
The Who, Stomp, it’s all in there. I loved this.
Wait, is this STOMP or Blue Man Group? Or is it Church?
Although I don’t agree with Valtool, Los, I do wonder when we changed from Church Worship to concert? I can worship at a Concert but its different.
Pretty cool though.
I can say that Sandals, okay me, is really missing you.
Yes sir, I understand that Andy/NPCC is in Atlanta, Alpharetta more specifically. I was trying to say I did not know that Carlos was in Atlanta, that’s all. You see, I did not look at the “about” section of your blog until after watching the video and posting comments. I may have wording things a little more tactfully so as not to be coming out and attacking your personal church.
Aside from that, this blog is about you and your church and your life, but you say this is not a blog discussion, kinda makes me curious what is a blog discussion then. Did I miss the FAQ on what can be commented on or discussed?
I got through a minute of it – I’ll assume it got better.
pa-rump-pa-pa-rump!
Love “The Who” bit in the middle!
Loved the guitars and drums were awesome, but for the song, it seemed overdone.
Does this make me boring or does it mean I have taste?
OK…..at first I was like “huh”? Then as it went on, I was like “cool!” We need to be a little more progressive in the Worship arena. They kind of do when they let me get in the Pope Mobile and play, but it’s still kind of standard.
I should move to Atlanta.
W
Oh yeah………
Well we had Jesus at our church on Sunday….Bet your production team can’t beat that…..
Little humor for you….
It was a good show…Shows are fun….Christians should have fun…
It was entertaining….Don’t know if it could pass as worship, but then again, that’s up to the person whether they were worshiping….If it is meant to entertain or please man it is not worship….it could be for God’s glory though, but it is not worship.
Although worship can please man too, but that is not the goal….the goal of worship is to please God. I could maybe worship to it, but the guitarists and lights would have probably distracted me as well as the 110dB…..but then again, I pray that God will help me with my criticality.
I can’t even worship to amazing grace if it isn’t mixed right…..the ears of a producer…….oh well I’m only human…as we all are.
Blessings my friend….
Have an insane Christmas and Rockin’ New Years
I DIG it. However, I am still partial to Chicago’s version of this song…I know, old school….
something about l’il drummer boy brings the very best out of production departments. this looks real good.
i was a part of this production last year, which they’re bringing back again this year. all the while when we were rehearsing, i had a sort of wrestling back and forth with the whole “how far do you push a production in church, you know, with it being church and all.” and when it was over, there was no question about two things. 1) that it was more a performance than it was a ‘traditional worship service.’ and 2) it was an extremely powerful experience for all those who attended, both those who knew Jesus and those who didn’t.
i guess i think the concept that individuals must be able to sing along for it to qualify as God-pleasing is false. maybe i’m making it too simple, but that’s the way i feel. and we’re definitely twisting the term ‘worship’ around if we’re defining it as ‘music we can easily and undistractedly sing along to.’ the idea is that we are continuously worshiping SOMETHING, and i’m just as likely to be worshiping the sound of my voice (or a neighbors) during corporate singing as God, if my attention is any measure.
i think that’s what i think, anyway.
I’m kind of with Jonathan on this, I guess I’m boring, but it seemed like it jumped the shark a little bit.
I have to say though I am a fan of The Who’s “We won’t get fooled again” I just found myself kind of skipping through this video clip. Maybe it would be different if I were there. I don’t know though, if I have to be honest, I think if I were in the building, I would be kind of losing interest about half way through.
Maybe it’s just me…
I will say this, it was very well executed by very talented people.
p.s. The opening riff sounds a lot like “you really got me now.”
Edit/Delete Message
I can think of a dozen people who would have loved this – whether in a church or a concert hall. The upside to this venue is that after being wowed by quality music and talent, my dozen friends and family would have heard about Christ. ’nuff said.
Other comments from the peanut gallery…
Start with the Who, then Stomp and when folks are wondering what the heck is going on, stop everything and start Drummer Boy.
And tell the singer that prompting folks – “c’mon guys, clap” – like three or four times? Kinda hokey in a high school pep rally kind of way.
Los, I thought it was awesome…
It was a great little gift to give everyone as an opener. The band and production crew did a wonderful job on the 3 worship songs after it as well. I can’t say enough about the closer. The fact that Meghan’s story was told before the message and then she was able to sing about how God shows Himself to her was incredibly moving to me. I felt closer to God after it all. Thank you for your passion and the energy you are adding to the staff and volunteers.
Los
Awesome job. You’ve got a great team. Buckhead church is a great church and you’re reaching a ton of people in ATL who otherwise are not being reached. Keep it up.
I’m interested in answers to the questions that Valtool raised, and I’m also wondering why it’s not a blog discussion. What exactly qualifies?
Because every time it has turned into an argument. And blogs are a horrible place to try and convince others of things. Conversation like these are best discussed with actual voices. Believe me. I have tried.
BUT. Look for a blog post explaining the reason why we use secular songs to engage people at the beginning of a service soon!!!
Thanks for your input.
Los
Oh My Gosh!
This morning was insane @ BBCC.
One of the dudes with the trashcans trashcan fell off(that reads weird oh well)… Like the rope came undone or something. He totally improv’d it and went nuts and was like holding it up high and beating on it like a mad man…..
Also, I liked Danny Dukes this morning singing it better than the other dude and buckhead.
And Finally, in my opinion, the vocal mix could have been bumped up a little bit. But thats just me.
Anyway, awesome job production peoples!
-cD
Ooo! One more! I had never seen the ornament chandeliers until this morning. Those are basically like awesome too.
I could care less whether or not you use secular songs in church. the actual comment I would like to hear a response to is:
“when you darken the room, crank the amps, and synch the professional concert lighting, you are entertaining and performing, not worshiping and leading the congregation.”
That is a different blog post entirely.
I also am in the camp of wanting some discussion on how over-the-top production = church. I don’t have an issue with using secular songs, and from their comments, it appears that this is NOT the issue Daniel and Valtool are raising, either, so I’m not sure it makes sense to spend a post talking about it.
I could be wrong, but I think the question is: does high-powered, highly-produced entertainment = church. It seems to me that is what others are asking, and I’m also interested in the question.
I’m also interested in an exploration of the implications of that question, like when does ‘relevance’ and ‘speaking to the culture’ cross the line from what the church is called to do, and what individuals are called to do (i.e. pure religion as defined in james as ministering to widows and orphans) to ‘spiritualized’ entertainment?
Los,
In response to your comment on my site regarding the missing “over the top drummer boy” blog entry, I had to redo the post because the embedded javascript didn’t work w/ Blogger.
My revised post simply links to you.
FWIW, some of the above commentors are correct in saying that Lil’ Drummer Boy doesn’t work as worship, but I don’t think you guys were trying to pass off Lil Drummer Boy as worship. I think you were using it in a presentation/performance manner to engage the audience, and I see nothing wrong with that. An engaged audience is way better than a disconnected one that sleepwalks through service awaiting the final amen that frees them to leave and go do something interesting.
i know i already said this once, and this thread is likely dead, but i really feel strongly the use of the term ‘worship’ is at the root of some of our miscommunication here. the biblical definition of the word is not, in any way, limited to a sunday morning congregational singing sort of experience. rather, every moment of every day, we are worshiping something … saying that something isn’t “worship,” in this context, is a senseless as saying that certain water isn’t wet. it’s water – it’s wet. it may be frozen, or it may be gas, but that doesn’t make it not wet. similarly, it’s life – it’s worship. we may be worshiping God, or we may be worshiping sex, or our kids, but we’re still worshiping something.
a valid argument, then, would be “i feel like all the focus on the awesometude of the production takes away from the God-centered focus i like to have while attending a church service. rather than worshiping God, i find myself worshiping the quality of the production, or even worshiping my own tastes or preconceived notions of how church should be.” that’s where the discussion needs to start; categorizing something simply as “not worship” is not a sensible argument, and is more likely to inflame than inform.
(note: my thoughts on this were basically lifted from the life-changing “unceasing worship” by harold best, which is such a wonderful book by such a godly man that, well, basically, you need to read it.)
Hey, the trash can drums included my cousins – Chris Arias and Grayson Arias. Cool.
They didn’t tell me about it – but glad to catch it here.
Lenee
Atlanta, GA