7.20.2007

Student Can't Hack It As A Rock Star, Releases Worship Album


TRASK WORSHIP CENTER, NORTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY, MINNEAPOLIS, MN - In a surprise move no one expected, another North Central Music Performance major will release a worship music album. After several unsuccessful attempts at creating legitimate music, Senior Michael Salvinski plans on recording what he is calling, "an acoustic cross between U2 and Steven Curtis Chapman."

Salvinski, who started writing music for music's sake in high school while teaching himself guitar, first tasted worship music recognition at his high school youth group back home in Madison, WI where he gained popularity for being able to "play that guitar solo just like the Sonicflood version." However, it wasn't until Salvinski burned all of his non-Christian music at a youth group bonfire his junior year of high school, that he recognized the potential for Christian music stardom. "After I destroyed everything from my collection not produced by Sparrow Records, I discovered all sorts of Christian bands that copied the artists I'd liked before. There was a Christian version of Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, and The Counting Crows."

Salvinski's unprecedented landmark decision, which is all the rage these days, came after an especially uplifting Sunday morning church service when Salvinski led the congregation in a rousing Hillsong ballad. "That's when I realized it was much easier to play music for church audiences, since little things win them over. All you have to do is play with your eyes closed and improvise lyrics like 'you are everything' and 'all I want is you.'

Salvinski's new album, "God Is Higher" featuring hit single, "You Are Everything" is set to release next fall. - Woodward

7.19.2007

Love Lost, Coping With a Cheater

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: "I thought things were finally looking up for me," cries first year Cross-Cultural Studies Major Brandon Desalvo. "We stayed up all night talking about God and Chapel and foreign countries." After approximately one week of seemingly exclusive 'deep conversation' rights, Desalvo thought he had laid a strong enough foundation to ask fellow freshman Sarah Larson out to coffee. But all his hopes and dreams came crashing down when he saw her in a semi-intense conversation with Matt Schmidt outside their Block B Spiritual Formations Class.

"I really thought we had an unspoken connection when she told me how much she wanted to help land-mine survivors in Cambodia." Desalvo believed God had called him to that extact same region of the world for that exact same reason at a Snow Camp in 2002 at Lake Geneva Christian Center in Alexandria, MN. But just as fate was weaving their lives together, that one chance encounter ripped it all away.

"Emotional Cheating is not as physical or outright noticable as the actual act of Sexual Cheating, but it's effects can be just as devestating to a blossoming relationship." Professor and Youth Expert Brian Pingel of North Central University explains. "Especially at this age, a situaton like Brandon's could adversely affect his school work and his social life for at least a few weeks, maybe even until midterms."

Is there a solution? Pingel says that the only way to move on from a hardship like this is to just 'keep on, keeping on'. "The plus side of college life is that there are so many other people to meet and interact with." Though Desalvo is in the depths of his pained loss now, he is hopeful towards the future of being a 'free man' for awhile. He has changed his major from Cross-Cultural to Music and has written "a bunch of songs" directly dealing with his situation with Larson. He currently is looking for a drummer, bassist, and two guitarist's to finalize the line-up of his post-acoustic ensemble The Clarity Project. -Bernstein