I have recently started creating a band called Beautiful Treason. I have been writing songs for as long as I can remember, however. One of my friends had a conversation with me the other day. It went something like this:

Friend: I like your songs. Where does your inspiration come from?

Me: *Laughing hysterically*

Friend:*Looking at me like I’m wacko* What? Why are you laughing?

Me: I get inspiration from weird places, that’s all

Friend: Like what?

Me: Um…It ranges from other songs, to books, to the things I see on my bathroom sink while I’m fixing my hair.

Friend:…. you’re joking about that last one, right?

Me: no.

Friend: o_O

Is it really that weird? …..never mind. yeah, it really is that weird. Who cares, though? I mean, if a good song gets written, where the idea came from shouldn’t matter.

Okay. mini- rant over

*Love, Sarah*

I am a ThunderHead. BIG TIME!!!!!! A “ThunderHead” is a person- such as myself- who is an ultimate fan of the band CELTIC THUNDER! Celtic Thunder is amazing. They write their own songs and remix classics. They are the FIVE MOST AMAZING SINGERS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think they MIGHT even top Frank Sinatra, they definatly are tied with him).

Damian MacGinty-

He is the youngest member of the group. He will be turning 17 in September.  He sings their remake of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do“…beautifully, I might add……..watch the video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/CA95C3A5A67B886C/0/j5hgEWDiiAo

He also sings “Come by the Hills” (I’m pretty sure its a CT original) : http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/CA95C3A5A67B886C/1/M86bcDZ-tA4

Keith Harkin-

Many consider him the “heart-throb” of the group. His enchanting accent can be heard clearly in any song he sings. My favorites of his are “The Island” and “Lauren and I“.      The Island: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3ZmSZ8yOW8    Lauren and I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2e0nN9Kx0k

Ryan Kelly-

 Definately the “Bad-Boy” of the group- POSSIBLE relation to Celtic Woman’s Lisa Kelly- Ryan’s style is one of my favorites. He sings “Heartbreaker” : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGVD0V8c8U and “Brother’s In Arms” (This version set beautifully to clips from The Lord of The Rings) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsbJXIaMJro

Paul Byrom-

 He is pictured here with dancer Zara. Paul’s style is usually more mellow than Ryan’s, which makes their harmony in “That’s A Woman” the most beautiful thing you will ever hear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnQScdw24yg . Paul also sings a touching love song called “Nights in White Satin” : http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/DF23338D9F668778/5/BHAiaX2kC0A

George Donaldson- 

The father/uncle figure of the group would probably be the best way to describe George.  You can feel his passion in every note he sings. You feel a connection to him, like the strings of your heart are litterally tying to his. Weddings are the theme of “The Voyage” : http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/DF23338D9F668778/6/4CHS5Tj1h_A   and familial tragedies are the focus of “The Old Man” (A personal connection of mine- when I listen I feel closer to my Grandfather) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cw1yorwijY

A few group favorites of mine-

Hallelujah (introduces Neil…the newest member and this is the only place I can find him): http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/8B207A129EB5BBCA/9/GE26oQcFTF0

Raggle Taggle Gypsy: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/CA95C3A5A67B886C/12/qo4gm4Shyeo

Danny Boy: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/CA95C3A5A67B886C/5/nv6xrTh–7o

Ireland’s Call: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube#p/c/DF23338D9F668778/20/YY1_qlTr-rM

Thanks for reading and listening! Hope we have some more ThunderHeads out there now! Leave a comment!

*Love, Sarah*

Sources: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThunderTube/

and google images

Okay , I know that this month’s theme is health ,but I can’t think of anything health related; other then I got two shots and my band aids were flipping sweet! Anyways so instead of doing health I’ve decided to inform you of the future of Aaron Gillespie, undoubtedly the greatest musician ever!

You may be asking ,”who is Aaron Gillespie?” and that my dear readers is a crime, no worries though. Aaron Gillespie was born in Clearwater, Florida. Where he was raised,along with his brother Seth. At age 14 Gillespie was spotted playing drums at church by former Underoath guitarist Luke Morton’s father, and from there joined the band where he played drums and later in 2002 added harmonic vocals.  Gillespie is the only band member to be on every Underoath cd to date.

Along with Underoath Gillespie also does lead vocals for his own band The Almost. The bands record Southern Weather was released April 3rd 2007.  Aaron did all the instruments and vocals with the exception of the choir in Amazing Because It Is and a few bass parts where The Starting Line lead singer Kenny Vasoli aided. Gillespie tours with both bands drumming for Underoath on The Almost’s off season and then doing vocals for The Almost when Underoath is their off season.

Aaron Gillespie manages to have so much sucess with his musical career even though he has faced hardships. When he was 18 his parents got a divorce , in 2004 he suffered from a loss of a four year relationship, and in 2007 Las Vegas under went emergency hand surgery. In every bad there comes a good though. Underoath’s cd They’re Only Chasing Safety mostly written about his emotional break up. Then on November 25, 2006 he married Jami Anne Gillespie and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.

If you keep up with the television show American Idol, you would have already known that Kris Allen won the title as the “American Idol”. Of course I do not agree with this. I started writing a whole entire article saying why Kris Allen did not deserve it and analyzing every little detail. I got finished with him and was going to move onto Adam Lambert until I realized that I may have been a little too critical, and therefore, nobody would like that article anyway.

 But anyways, I thought this was an interesting fact. According to Popeater.com who polled in over 222K people had a poll to the general American public asking them if they were happy with the winner and if they were going to buy Allen’s album. 57% were happy that Kris won, but 53% would not buy his album. I thought that was interesting because according to me, I would think one who got the title of American Idol should fulfill their title and want listeners and viewers to be excited for their album to come out just as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and even David Cook who’s album went platinum after last year’s winning.

I am genuinely happy that Kris won for his own sake. He was really a good guy, and even in the end was making it known that Adam also deserved the title with him. Kris was just a loveable guy, who couldn’t like him? My mother was furious that Kris won, and therefore banned this television show ever played in our household ever again (Just like the Bachelor, Bachelorette etc.) I was okay with it until I looked on the New York Times saying that AT&T may have had an impact on Adam’s loss of the title.

Free texting telephones:

• Given to Kris Allen fans at  2 parties after the final performances to cast voting for the American Idol
• Phones gave “power texts” which allowed 10 or more text messages to be casted with a single push of a button
• There was no similar advantages provided to runner-up Adam Lambert

How AT&T reacted:

• Fox Broadcasting declined to talk about the situation
• A spokesman from the AT&T company said, ““In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community. A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.”

Why this is unfair:

• Providing “power texting” to only Kris Allen fans was unfair and biast
• It gave a HUGE advantage to him
• The fact that AT&T denied and made an excuse is unforgivable.

AT&T could have:

• Admitted their faults and apologized to Fox Broadcasting, Kris Allen, and Adam Lambert
• 2 American Idols could have been casted due to the phones
• Both Adam and Kris fans would have been more open-minded to the television show in the ed

Of course, this is my own opinion. AT&T could have solely been telling the truth and the casted votes would have been true. I am very disappointed in AT&T especially since my family and I were loyal customers for many years before switching to Verizon Wireless, and they also have loyal customers now. I just wonder how their company is or is going to be affected.

~Hope

This year The Nearby Future staff has written a collective 48,747 words! Here are your favorite articles from staff members with the most page views (not counting Jala, because she writes pages, not posts).

• Rika’s best articles: “Corn“, “Stress: Side Effects Include…”, and “The World is Not Coming to an End“
• Calister F. Well’s best articles: “When In Rome, Think Like the Greeks”, and “Humming the Song of the World’s Destruction“
• PLOTG’s best articles: “Personal Rights Conflict With Hollywood’s Big Bucks”, “Teens and Their Sleep“, and “The Pledge“,
• Hope’s best articles: “HPV Vaccine“, “Izze: A Healthy Alternative“, and “Clocky: Crushing the Dreams of Snooze Button People Everywhere“.

And even though she doesn’t write for us anymore, big thanks to contributor ‘Ashley Lampost’ for her wonderful article about cars!
Looking forward to a great new year,

-Rika

Note: Each article that has won this prestigious award will bear the following picture upon it’s page:

Now, as you all know, we usually have one article every two days. Today’s article (from Darkprinceofawesome/Nero) had really nothing to do with the future. So, enjoy this one, too.

We all know that music has an incredible power over the world, and the past few decades have been devoted to music expansion.

From records to tapes, to CD’s and now to files on a computer, music has evolved alongside society. Currently, Apple has a large slice of the music industry, mostly because of the hugely popular ipod.

According to a recent entry on Wired, itunes may account for 28% of all music sold worldwide in five short years. This isn’t surprising, seeing how itunes is already installed in 30% of all computers worldwide, and seeing that Amazon, being one of the few competitors of itunes, isn’t much of a threat also contributes to the reality of the situation.

Is this a bad thing? Will Apple have too much control in the future?

-Rika

Have you noticed that music in the 2000′s hasn’t been nearly as good as music from like the 80′s? Hit’s from the 80′s include Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, I Love Rock N’ Roll, Material Girl, and Jessie’s Girl plus many more. It’s amazing what kind of music is popular among the current teen generation. You’d think that they would regard all old music as worthless, but often times this isn’t the case. Even Grease is still popular!

One thing that is different today is the lack of musicals. You don’t see fantastic musicals like Grease anymore. Who knows, maybe the 70′s and 80′s songs will still be popular far into the future

~Hope