I’ve been trying to work up a little righteous anger or off-beat humor (or is it righteous humor and off-beat anger?) for a decent post, but I just haven’t quite caught the buzz. Iowa will do that to you.

I just made two 10-hour drives in a span of four days, in the middle of which I played 27 holes of bad golf in hot, humid weather. Both legs of the trip involved an end-to-end traipse of Iowa. Nice folks there, and the gas stations give you a non-ethanol option, but even after a night’s sleep I still can’t get my brain off of cruise control. I’m feeling more than a little road-logged.

There was some extra flavor to the trip, however, because I brought along the Mall Diva and one of her best friends, Casii (sounds like Casey). They’re at an age where if you asked them if they wanted to spend two days in a small car to go see some old people you’re likely to get an eye-rolling you won’t soon forget. If, however, you say “Road trip!” you’re in business. They were good company, especially since the MD can take a shift at the wheel, but it did mean giving up control of the CD player. Well, I didn’t give up control totally of course, but I indulged their music choices for the most part.

Casii had brought along the new Switchfoot CD, which was ok by me. I’d listened to their last CD a few times and found it better than just endurable. The new one sounded pretty good as well, though anymore it usually takes me a couple times through a CD to make out many of the words. The tunes were catchy enough, but on the second time through the disc the guitar choruses all started to sound pretty much the same to me, as did the vocals. I also found myself wishing the lead singer (who was, frankly, starting to sound rather whiny) would step back occasionally and let a distinctly different voice have a go, ala Ringo Starr and “Yellow Submarine.” Overall I like the band, though, and appreciate their approach to contemporary Christian music.

A definite musical highlight, however, was when Casii brought out her Superchick Regeneration CD. I hadn’t heard this feisty Christian girl band with attitude before (and don’t even begin to think there’s no such thing as a feisty Christian girl with an attitude or I’ll put you in a small car with the Mall Diva) and the music was great! It was up tempo with an edge that encouraged a little enthusiastic head-banging – which the MD always saved for when someone was passing us (thank you all for not calling 911). While Superchick isn’t nearly as subtle in their music and lyrics as Switchfoot, they do have an irresistible freshness and energy. As a bonus, one of the songs on the album is called “Barlow Girls”; I understood the lyric but had no idea what a Barlow girl was.

Turns out BarlowGirl is another Christian girl band with an edge. I checked them out on Amazon and iTunes today, and that’s another one I think we’ll be adding to our collection soon.

The new tunes will definitely make Iowa go by a lot faster.

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