God decided to show off...

So it is obvious now that I really enjoy talking about Jackie Evancho. This post is no exception. The day before writing this I had the privilege of seeing her perform live, in person. But a few things happened.


This served as a countdown both through her twitpics down to the day before when she flew to Dallas, and as a countdown for my final hours before seeing her perform. I think she has improved in just the few weeks since this was recorded in Atlanta.




Then I got to see her. Here is the "review" that I wrote, hopefully with proper spelling [WARNING MASS READING AHEAD]

The entire day counting down to the performance was unique. First off, I could hardly sleep, and had to take multiple naps throughout the day to make up for that. I am rarely this excited for anything. Spending the entire day waiting was not easy, so I made an entire tribute video and posted it to YouTube in the morning and later that day did a workout and took my naps (one before and one after). Still had to wait several more hours; but… eventually the time came. After getting the best clothes on that I had (ones that were black and red, of course), “Off to Dallas” I was!

When I arrived (which is saying a lot in Dallas), I walked around for awhile. Eventually, I was able to meet up with a few other Jackie Fans (first by meeting Craig Rasmussen, who introduced me to several others) and we talked for awhile. Finally it came time to get to our seats.

After I was seated up front, stage left in the Orchestra section, the wait began once again. Strangely though, I wasn’t excited like I had been earlier. After leaving my house, I grew very calm. Sitting in my seat, I continued to feel very peaceful. As it turned out, this feeling was the calm before the storm. While sitting in my seat, I realized I didn’t know what I was in for. Boy, was I right about that. Seeing the Dallas Symphony Orchestra accompanying Jackie Evancho was quite the experience. Many professionals are beginning to say she could be the world’s best singer, if not history’s (she has some fans in high places it seems). Yeah… I didn’t know what I was in for.

My wait soon came to an end. The lights were dimmed and the conductor came out. The orchestra proceeded to play several pieces. I was trying to use my new found experience (read: three class sessions in music appreciation) to identify all the instruments and pick certain aspects of the songs out. As I found out, I had much to learn. This is what was going through my mind during this part (from what I can remember), “And that’s an oboe, I think. That’s an English horn. That’s a double bass, glad I got that one right. Those are timpani’s, and there’s the bass drum. And those are flutes… I think. And that’s an oboe. No! That looks nothing like an oboe! I just really like that name.” As you can probably tell, I was enjoying myself. I was new to the more classical style music as well, so it was very enjoyable to hear some live.

As the first piece progressed, I became very impressed. There were several parts where I felt like clapping or cheering if it had not been an orchestra. When the first piece was over, I determined I definitely thought it was worth a hearty clap (is there such a thing?), even though I had no clue what the piece actually was. The second piece played was nice as well, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. Always so picky…

When this second piece was done, the conductor announced Jackie coming up, which received a fair amount of applause. After saying this, he turned around and begins directing the orchestra through the beginning of “Lovers”, which is one of my favorite of Jackie’s songs. There was the steady build up in the intro, lasting a total of maybe 45 seconds to a minute. Mid way through this, Jackie walked out, which sent the crowd into uproar and standing ovation, drowning out the sound of the orchestra. Fortunately, the crowd managed to quiet down in time for the orchestra to finish the dramatic intro of the song, then it quieted down and Jackie began to sing.

The events that happened in this song are too blurred. She immediately held the entire audience captive. Even some others who sat by me, who I assumed who regulars at symphonies, seemed dead quiet. Fortunately for me, my seat was right in front of the large speakers, so I heard the song rather loudly. I always played this song louder then any others, so I didn’t complain AT ALL. When Jackie finished the song, there was a momentary silence as the orchestra finished fading out. I was in a daze or something, and it never even occurred to me to stand or clap or anything. But I didn’t have to remember, I was reminded when the entire audience stood up nearly at once and gave a standing ovation like I had never heard before. It put to shame even the standing ovation she received when she walked on stage. Jackie hadn’t seemed to be expecting this (I hadn’t either), and she was jumping around on the stage, curtsying, giving her trademark double wave, clapping with the audience, and I could she that she was laughing and had a bright beaming smile on her face.

Once the crowd died down from this standing ovation, the orchestra began “Ombra Mai Fu”. I recognized this one quickly, even though it was probably the song I enjoyed least on her CD. I never had enjoyed the overall tone of the song before, having this strange skipping/dancing/happy/sad blend to it that didn’t suit me (I liked the darker, deeper feeling songs such as “Lovers” which we had just heard). However, I wasn’t there for the song selection. I was there for the voice singing the songs. And in this particular song, Jackie does some very nice notes. I was always impressed by what she could do with this song, as it is an opera song I believe. It requires great skill to sing, and sing it she did. This song received LEAST applause from the audience out of all the songs, and by that I mean at least 15-20 seconds of shouts, cheers, and of course the standing ovation.

Finally I got to see the harp on stage in action. As soon as I had seen that harp before I knew what song it was for, and now here it was. The harp was for “The Lord’s Prayer”. This hadn’t been one of my favorites either, but hearing the orchestra perform it live made me appreciate it much more. Out of all the songs that night, I enjoyed hearing the orchestra perform this one the most (I think) beyond what I already felt about any song. Naturally though, hearing Jackie sing it was something else. I particularly felt something special when she sang “Thy Kingdom come” and the next several lines after, but that is for another time. Naturally, this received quite the uproar as well from the crowd once it was finished. Not a single song that night would go without a standing ovation and such major enthusiasm from the crowd. She also reacted strongly to the crowd here as well, since the crowd was giving her such applause.

After this, Jackie sang “All I Ask of You” and “To Believe”. By this time, I was so drawn into Jackie’s voice that afterwards I literally forgot that she sang these songs at this point! I remember my eyes being locked on her during these songs, especially “To Believe” to the exclusion of everything else. As a matter of fact, by the time she got to To Believe everything around Jackie was a blur in my eyes and my muscles were beginning to twitch. I can’t remember much else of what happened during these two songs, except that I was very surprised to here “All I Ask of You” (didn’t know she would sing that song) and enjoyed Jackie giving the spoken prayer during “To Believe”.

The next song was “O Mio Babbino Caro”. I recognized this one quickly as well, since it was the song that introduced me to her so long before it seemed. This was the song that made her famous on “America’s Got Talent” after all. As it was during most of the songs, I can’t remember what happened as she sang, I was to drawn in. This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. She received a very animate standing ovation with the completion of this song as well, just as all the others.

When the intermission came after “O Mio Babbino Caro” I wasn’t sure what had happened. I don’t think I had ever been so focused on a song before. I wasn’t even capable of focusing on the orchestra. Once the intermission was over and everyone was seated, the orchestra began playing once again. This time, it took me a couple minutes to even notice there was music playing compared to what I had just experienced. Compared to Jackie’s voice live, very few things qualify as even note worthy music in my, oh so humble opinion.

It was time for Jackie to come back up. She was announced once again, and by this time I can hardly even remember what happened. Either she received another standing ovation as she entered or the orchestra began to play the mellow intro of “When You Wish Upon A Star” so the audience had to refrain. As it should go without saying once more, she received a standing ovation. I can’t even remember what happened because I was so drawn in.

My favorite song, “A Time For Us” was next. When I recognized the beginning of that song, I was pretty dang happy. Of course, I can’t remember much of what happened because my eyes, ears and mind were locked on watching perform to the exclusion of almost everything else. The irony of the situation is the most recent events I have the hardest time remembering. But, that’s Jackie for ya! However, I did remember that this song received some of the loudest, and longest, applause (and naturally all during a standing ovation).

“Angel” “The Impossible Dream” and “Pie Jesu” followed as the final songs. My memory is almost blank here, except for the fact that it was intense for me. However, it seems that “Pie Jesu”, which was supposed to be the encore song, was done without Jackie ever leaving the stage. The audience was giving her such a thundering applause (2,000+ people in a very well built acoustical room like that) that it was decided to do the encore immediately. This was one of the songs I was waiting for, and it was also one of the ones that made her famous on “America’s Got Talent”. She has moved so beyond that now. I’m pretty sure that the only reason there were people sitting during the standing ovations was because they either had knee problems or were in to much shock. I can’t prove this theory, of course, but I’m pretty sure that was the reason.

After she finished the final song, she received a very resounding applause once again. When that died down, she gave a short “thank you” speech and even, for the first time I had heard of, called us her “support”. She repeated that phrase multiple times. She is so mature and quick, but even the excitement got to her a bit as she stumbled with her sentences slightly (I have heard politicians do worse on their well rehearsed speeches, and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t rehearsed). Once she finished this, there was another standing ovation. When she exited the stage there was yet ANOTHER standing ovation, this one lasting nearly two whole minutes if not more. Jackie came up at least three, if not four for additional waves, curtsies, smiles, giggles, etc during this time.

Overall, this performance has locked Jackie even more solidly in as my favorite artist. No other artist or band even comes close now. She has broadened my tastes of music so much, and even given me songs that I may never tire of. I hope one day to witness her live in concert again.

A few other events that happened throughout the night. I can’t remember when these happened, just that they did.

The first was early on. After one of the standing ovations had died down, Jackie bent down to get a drink of water and someone shouted “Jackie say hi!” so she popped up and gave one of her cute little hi’s.

Of course, as I said, I had never witnessed her so excited from a crowd. While she was being cheered, it appeared she didn’t know whether she wanted to jump up and down, curtsy, tug on her dress, give her double wave, clap for the orchestra, or whatever else she was doing. Jackie was just having so much fun up there. Even those who are blind or deaf can enjoy Jackie.

At one point during a standing ovations (during one of the final ones I believe), Jackie was doing her jumps and curtsies and double waves, when she turned around and gave a double wave to the orchestra and those in the Choral Terrace. Nearly everyone up there stood up and gave her a double wave back. It was really something.

Another time was when someone shouted “Thank you” and Jackie said the same back.

My favorite by far was after this. When she had said “Thank you” back to the crowd there were many laughs and giggles in the audience. Jackie giggled at this to, then after a moment, gave a big double wave to the audience. This sent waves of laughter throughout the entire audience, amidst some clapping. I felt that the audience was on the verge of a standing ovation… for simply having Jackie wave at them. What other artists can do that?

A few other memorable moments for me happened outside in the lobby. My second favorite little moment was while I was walking out and heard someone behind me comment to a friend “I felt ambushed… but in a good way!” I am sure many others that night felt “ambushed” as well by Jackie’s charm and talent.

Other moments were when I was walking around and seeing people (especially grown, tough looking men) wearing Jackie shirts or proudly holding her cd in their hand (I even saw a man use it as a fan for his face, he didn’t want to let it get very far from him!)

There were probably many other wonderful moments I forgot, or even complete songs,  but it’s the experience that counts. I was there. I witnessed what may be the world’s, if not history’s, best singer live in her youth. I even learned many things about myself. So this is a review or critique, right? I only wish I could describe that night to you. So since I can’t, I will simply repeat something I have said before,

“God decided to show off, so he made Jackie Evancho”

The Mind of a Miracle

What is one of the best ways to increase the effectiveness of any body? Not just the body of an animal or person, but of a business, or even country. The answer (or at least one of them)? Give it better leadership. Take an ordinary business and give it an incredibly good CEO, and that business can soar. Take an ordinary computer and upgrade it's software, you can do a lot. One of my favorite examples of this is with Hannibal the Great of Carthage. Carthage and Rome were at war, Rome being greater at this point. So Hannibal took an ordinary army from a weak nation and caused havoc in the very homeland of Rome for years; going as far as the gates of Rome itself. Rome was a great empire even then, but when a weaker enemy was given a great leader, they were at risk of being destroyed.


Another one of my favorite examples is giving a person a very good brain. By simply having a brain, the thing that controls and leads the entire body, work differently, all sorts of things could happen. That person could have increased discipline, learning ability, and the capability to do things at a young age that normally takes people decades to learn. Well are there people like this? Yes, they are usually known as prodigies. Do I happen to be talking about a specific prodigy? Yes, I am. Her name is Jackie Evancho.

Here is an example of what she can do:


This is an older example too. At the present time, it has been more than a year since this was recorded. In that amount of time, she has improved as much as normal singers improve after several years. She has even come out with a cd, called "Dream With Me", produced by David Foster. She improved so fast, that after recording the cd's, Foster actually stated that he wanted to go back and rerecord them. She had improved greatly in a matter of months.

People had been speculating for a long time about how she could be so good, on a physical basis. Jackie herself states that it is a gift from God, and I fully agree with her. However, that still left me wondering how He chose to bless her. Then I watched an interview that mentioned a good theory:


The brain. It all made sense. By simply changing the way her brain worked, it would explain how her little body could be decades better than it should be. It has superior leadership. Not just in singing and understanding music, but the fact that she can learn songs very quickly and not forget lyrics (to date, I have not seen of or heard a SINGLE instance where she forgot lyrics), amongst many other things. A superior (at least in many aspects) brain would change the way the whole body works, just as giving a business a far superior CEO. Her mind would also help explain why she acts so mature, but that I attribute mainly to how she was raised (well done Mr. and Mrs. Evancho); however, the fact that even in interviews she is so quick and clever can also be attributed to the way her brain works differently.

Of course, this is all just a theory. But once I heard this theory, everything made sense.

Another aspect of this that was explained was how she responds to music. When she sings in front of a large audience, it seems as if she goes into a trance or something. Her mind is absorbed by the music.

Here is an example:


Notice how at the end of the song, she has so much emotion on her face than seems to come out of a trance or something. She was drawn into it. Her talent and love of singing, along with many other things, all make sense when you consider that it could be her mind that is different.

Of course though, we can't forget who gave her that mind. I hope she never forgets. Many say she is the last messenger, or one of the Almighty's last rays of light into the darkness before the end times. I feel she might have a purpose to that scale. Could her incredible mind be the Creator's choice for directing a few more eyes towards him before His wrath comes crashing down? I will be waiting, watching, and praying.

What do you think?

Adolf Hitler, A Miracle To Mankind

To be honest, I'm hoping this post stirs up a little bit of controversy. I do rather enjoy having debates about my views, as it gives me a great oppurtunity to refine my arguments and hopefully teach someone something.

Anyway, to the actual reason of this post. There are many discussions (some of which I've actually started) about who defines morals without God, and other similar things. What's right and wrong without the Bible? If God doesn't say it's wrong, then who does? We can't trust the Bible and it's morals, it's changed to much. I think you get the point. It comes in many shapes and forms, but it all centers on morals in a world without the Almighty.

So now, let us pretend for a moment that there is no All Powerfull and All Knowing Creator above us all right now. Then the only other commonly accepted solution is evolution. And according to that, Hitler is one of the greatest things that happened to mankind, and someone we should all strive to be like. If there is no God, the Hitler is one of the greatest role models.

Don't believe me? Let's take a closer look.

The theory of Evolution is all about survival of the fittest, right? Well, purging the species of the weak would certainly guarentee less competetion for the strong, therefore keeping the entire species stronger. If you take out all the old, sick, deformed, ect. the species as a whole is "improved". What did Hitler do?

If evolution is the answer, then anyone who furthers the cause of the species should be seen as a hero. So then why do we see Hitler as a villian? Probably... because ever since man breathed his first breath right and wrong was defined by the Creator in his heart. Only later did the pagans think of things like evolution or a pantheon of gods and goddesses to replace the one true God.

As the Creator of everything, the Almighty has the right to declare right and wrong. And all of us, as part of creation, are obligated to obey His laws. However, He did give us the option to choose otherwise, a right we did not and do not deserve. Also, as the Absolute Authority, He is the only one can can declare an absolute moral principle. So if He says murder is wrong, then it's wrong, not matter what we think. If He says (as He told the Jews before Christ) that the punishment for adultery was being stoned to death, then we have no authority to say this is unjust or to extreme a punishment.

However, if you remove this absolute authority, then we decide for ourselves. So if one person says he believes murder is wrong, I can just kill him and move on with my life. I have no reason not to, especially if I am a fitter part of the species. Then I would simply be doing my job as the superior being! This is also what Hitler and many other people thoughout history have done. So if there is no God, who says they were wrong? If you remove God and the Bible, then simple logic dictates that they should be commended.

Think about it. They (being Hitler and the Nazi's) killed thousands of weaker people who were sick, old, deformed, or otherwise "inferior" subjects. They did experiments on these subjects which helped further science. They used weapons and tactics that allowed them beat back their "inferior" enemies. They weeded out the weak to allow for the stonger members of the species to continue without the weak gene pool. All those left wounded, sick and dying all around Europe, or even the world, were all a good thing because with them out of the way the species would be improved.

Now if you look at this same scenerio with the morals cleary defined by the Creator, you can see that what Hitler did was dispicable. When you look at it through the Almighty's high moral standards, I can't even describe how horrible the things Hitler did were. I wouldn't know where to begin! And since America was founded on Chistrian principles, and Christianity (or at least Judiasm) was such a major part in the history of the rest of the world (considering it was the same Creator for the entire world and all of mankind), it is no wonder we see Hitler as such a horrible man!

Oh, but there's more. If we take the Creator and the Bible out of the picture, hospitals should be closed. So should orphanages. And so should so many other things that we consider "good". Because if it's survival of the fittest, then these things are merely allowing the weak to water down the gene pool and drain the resources of the strong! So those people starving in Africa that I hear so many people talk about, if evolution is the answer, we should let them starve. After all, if they can't take care of themselves, why should we do it for them?

But once again, if you look at it through the morals defined in the Bible, we know that things are far different. All these people, no matter how weak or strong, are made in the image of the perfect Creator. Each of these people would be loved to an unimaginable extent, and allowing them to die without care would be a pretty bad thing.

I could go on for awhile with examples from either side, but the final decision is up to in your mind. Who defines moral absolutes? Us or the Creator? Was Adolf Hitler a curse... or a blessing?