- Times are tough for everyone, even Southern California-based megachurches that are the birthplace of shows and seem to be walking on financial water at times. But bankruptcy knows no limits and if you outspend your means, you will end up making this unwanted new friend. Such is life for Crystal Cathedral, the megachurch where "Hour of Power" televangelism program originated. The church filed for bankruptcy Monday as it struggles under the weight of debt that exceeds $43 million. How does a church, supposedly doing the work of God and being good stewards of that with which He has entrusted them, end up with a debt larger than most NFL, NBA and MLB contracts? Well, for starters the church is saddled with a $36 million mortgage. Then there’s the $7.5 million owed to hundreds of vendors for services ranging from advertising to the use of live animals in Easter and Christmas services. The church had been feverishly working on a repayment plan to satisfy its creditors, but several of them ran out of patience and filed lawsuits seeking quicker payment. That led to the collapse of a coalition formed by creditors. "Tough times never last, every storm comes to an end. Right now, people need to hear that message more than ever," explained Sheila Schuller Coleman, the Cathedral's senior pastor and daughter of the founder. "Everybody is hurting today. We are no exception.” You’re no exception, but I’m guessing that your excess and opulence had a little something to do with the debt. Maybe all of those soaring timbers forming your vaulted ceiling, the massive panes of glass all around the church and other luxuries that were as far from necessary as possible had something to do with it as well. Methinks that the current version of Crystal Cathedral isn’t what founder Rev. Robert H. Schuller Sr. had in mind when he founded the church in the mid-1950s at a drive-in theater. The church has already ordered major layoffs, cut the number of stations airing the "Hour of Power" and sold property to stay afloat. It even went so far as to cancel this year's "Glory of Easter" pageant, which attracts thousands of visitors and is an Orange County holiday tradition. Filing for bankruptcy will allow the church’s Sunday services and weekly-telecast "Hour of Power" to continue…..for now. In truth, the bankruptcy simply shows the level of excess to which Crystal Cathedral and other megachurches went to and their lack of foresight when the country went into the economic crapper. Giving dropped precipitously once people saw their own personal financial situations deteriorate and churches that didn’t stay ahead of the game by trimming financial fat and streamlining operations paid the price. Crystal Cathedral saw revenue drop roughly 30 percent in 2009 and by that time, it was too late to cut expenses and avoid disaster. In April, debtors came together to form a consortium that would then negotiate a repayment plan with the Crystal Cathedral. Only now is the church operating smartly be spending only the roughly $2 million it receives each month in donations and revenue. Church leaders hope to pay all creditors back in full, but $43 million is a lot of debt………
- Who could have guessed that the NBA would have a problem with its players wearing shoes that have springs in them to help improve their vert? Who’s against adding extra (and artificial) elevation to the game? Commissioner David Stern, that’s who. The league announced in a statement Tuesday that it is prohibiting its players from wearing a new line of sneakers that claims to increase vertical leap. The NBA said in its statement that "under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game that creates an undue competitive advantage." The company behind the shoes is Athletic Propulsion Labs, founded by twins Adam and Ryan Goldston, both former USC basketball walk-ons. The offending shoe is the Concept 1, which employs a spring-based system designed to increase lift. So it appears that players are just going to have to cheat the old-fashioned ways - ‘roids, HGH, etc. - if they want to boost their ups without doing actual work and training. Not that professional athletes would ever look for shortcuts to improve their performance, boost their stats and earn more money as a result, but I’m just throwing that out their, you know, theoretically………
- Rarely do I find myself in the position of agreeing with Elton John. Feather boas, purple sequined suits and oversized, comedically large plastic glasses just aren’t my thing, so Sir Elton and I don’t see eye to eye on most topics. However, he and I are squarely on the same side of the issue when it comes to the sorry state of the music business overall as it stands today. In an interview published Tuesday, Sir Elton described today's songwriters as "pretty awful," pop music as uninspiring and talent shows like American Karaoke as boring. Now, I would have preferred some harsher descriptions for the American Karaoke-ers, something along the lines of talentless hacks who are a reproach not only to the music business but to the world in general, but I’ll take what I can get. I’m not a huge Elton John fan and “Rocket Man” is the only one of his tunes I ever have any hankering to listen to, but his take that ass-hatted talent shows like AK and the notoriety they can bring is not the way to become a genuine star. "It's important they (pop stars) write their own songs, so they're not at the mercy of anyone," said John, whose real name is Reginald Dwight. "Songwriters today are pretty awful, which is why everything sounds the same. Contemporary pop isn't very inspiring." Exactly. Pop music is easily one of the worst genres in existence, right alongside country, techno, dance and death metal. So I wholeheartedly concur with the flamboyant Englishman when he says,
"I'm not a fan of talent shows. I probably wouldn't have lasted if I'd gone on one. I was asked to judge 'American Idol'. I couldn't do it because I won't slag anyone off. Also I don't want to be on television. It's become boring, arse-paralysingly brain crippling." Continuing the eerily symbiotic line of thought between E.J. and myself, he went on to demean talent shows because “the only way to sustain a career is to pay your dues in small clubs.” He rightly pointed out that talent show winners like Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke are “at the mercy of the next song they can get.” And thus, they’re not true music artists but just some studio/professional songwriter’s creation, not worthy of anyone’s attention or admiration. Thank you for making me look that much smarter, E.J., maybe I was wrong about you………
- Conan O’Brien may still be nothing more than a warm-up act for C-list late-night talker George Lopez on a basic cable network, but never let it be said that O’Brien and his crew aren’t doing everything in their power to promote his new talk show on TBS. Much of their campaign has focused on involving fans via social media and those efforts continue with a new poll allowing fans to vote for the show’s first guest using Twitter. The first episode of O’Brien’s eponymous new show will air on TBS on November 8 and fans can select from one of 12 choices, ranging from Lady Gaga to Pope Benedict to Tom from MySpace (and isn’t the last of those three a blast from the distant past). Once fans vote, the votes are then pushed to people’s Twitter accounts with the #ConansFirstGuest hashtag, with a leaderboard keeping track of who has received the most votes along with detailing which Twitter users voted for them. But be advised that your votes may mean absolutely nothing when the first episode of the show hits the air. On the official Team Coco blog, staffer Andrew Bleyaert admits, “None of these people have actually been booked on our show … We’re kind of hoping that, if someone on this poll starts getting a lot of votes, these folks will actually feel a bit guilty and will agree to be our first guest.” Typical self-deprecating Conan humor, and I’m guessing that as long as the winner of the poll isn’t the Pope, that person will agree to appear on the show. Heck, you know poll options like Gaga and Justin Bieber will show up if they win; both of them are attention whores whose 15 minutes are ticking away quickly. The Twitter poll is merely the latest example of O’Brien utilizing social media to drum up attention for his new show, coming in the wake of a Foursquare promotion and an accompanying blimp. None of it will be enough to elevate him past the limits of being a warm-up show on an also-ran basic cable network………
- Dammit, how many times have I told everyone who would listen that seizing massive quantities of pot before they can make it to the United States is going to hurt and not help the nation? Yes, I’m talking directly to you right now, Baja California authorities who seized 105 tons of marijuana Monday morning in what is believed to be one of the largest drug busts in recent Mexican history. These buzz-killers snagged more than 10,000 packages of the hippie lettuce that were hidden in six cargo containers stored in a warehouse in an industrial part of Tijuana. Yes, Tijuana has an industrial section. It’s not all donkey shows, dive bars and shady dudes in back alleys selling homemade Ecstasy. Police snagged the massive load of the chronic as a convoy of vehicles escorted the tractor-trailer carrying the stash as it left the warehouse. Not willing to give up their valuable cargo without a fight, the cartel lackeys transporting the ganja engaged officers in a firefight before being arrested. These narcs then gave up some of their co-conspirators and led police and soldiers to the warehouse and two homes near the coast, where smaller amounts of marijuana were found. That led to the seizure of neatly packaged tree and capture of masked, heavily armed soldiers guarding the stash. The entire lot of seized pot was later trotted out as part of a sick, twisted dog-and-pony show at Morelos Army Base in Tijuana. My new least-favorite military official in the world, Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica, the military's top commander in Baja California, estimated the street value of the drugs at about $340 million. That’s more than a quarter of a billion - BILLION WITH A “B” - that won't make it to the hands of quality, homegrown American stoners. These potheads have withstood a lot of indignities and setbacks (a lack of Funjuns on the shelves of their nearest grocery store, for example)m but I have no idea how these brave souls will bounce back from one of the largest blows against organized crime groups operating in Baja California. Fact is, Baja is a key link in the supply chain for smuggling drugs into California. This latest seizure dwarfs the 19 tons of pot seized from another Tijuana warehouse back in April by the military. I hate to me the bearer of bad news to all of my stoner friends out there, but I love you guys too much to not tell you the truth………
No comments:
Post a Comment