the Wikkid podcast

Episode 23: Promises (God's Country)

July 21st, 2021  |  Season 2  |  58 mins 10 secs

bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, michael sweet, music, music production, oz fox, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, stryper, therapeutic

I get some help to attempt an country song, sung by the Almighty. Neon pink, bubblegum-flavoured church icing on your steak and mashed potatoes. Why doesn't Michael Sweet age? How much of Stryper is, as he claims, mainly just him? The Christian answer to everything (besides "go to church") is "surrender all to God." (Let go and let God.) Let God make all your life's decisions, essentially. Well, two problems: 1) if you grew up with your life entirely bound to church expectations, you have no say over your "all" to begin with. You can't surrender something you're not in possession of. 2) What if God refuses to make your life decisions for you? Bill tells us what Christians do. Teenagers wandering the street at night, drunk and looking for trouble, benefit from more rules, expectations and structure. Teenagers raised with no freedom are all full up. The Almighty covers Cheap Trick.

Episode 22: Who Are You, Anyway?

July 14th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  29 mins 7 secs

bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, george turcotte, guitar, hell, home recording, michael sweet, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, stryper, therapeutic

What if your church took everything, leaving you nothing to "surrender all" to God? If God's real, are we cool with Him being a person with a personality? If so, what kind of personality? What does He want? Some lions are "Born Free" (by Andy Williams) and others aren't. Slipping restraining bolts, dwarf-following and joining Starfleet through the wardrobe. People can make texts appear to have only one possible interpretation, but that's simple-minded. Attempting a wikkid groove.

Episode 19: The End

June 30th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  58 mins 8 secs

bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, john gorka, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, stryper, therapeutic

What happens when people are "raised on rails," like locomotives on tracks that take them to church and nowhere else, and they jump out of the groove and start heading up the road at speed? How bad can things get? Was the Lord speaking? (If trigger warnings worked, this ep would surely have one.)

Episode 9: Solitary

April 14th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  56 mins 51 secs

bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, king's x, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, stryper, therapeutic

This Wikkid Wednesday, it might get loud. Why were loud music, loud clothing and other intense experiences, somehow threatening to our fundamentalist upbringing? Why did exuberance make the other folks uncomfortable? How did I find my way from Neil Diamond to White Zombie? A sad tracing of the attempts of a man with a smooth baritone voice to shred or otherwise do metal. Is it possible to do all of exactly the right things to end up single and alone? Singleness and solitude as a sentence handed down by church and mainstream society alike?

Additional Musicians:
Original Drums: Tim Searles
Drums: Chris Metcalfe
Bass guitar: Adam Fogo
Guitar soloing: Troy Tuttle
Backing harmonies: Debbie Moore-Michelin

Stryper is back, and still doing metal, albeit of a less on-the-nose evangelical bent.
King’s X still puts out albums from time to time. Ty Tabor does online mastering here: http://alienbeansstudio.com/
If you would be interested in two guys looking at the bible with an attempt to view it as the Jewish people of its time might have viewed it, taking a step back from how we normally do, check out Brett and Marty at The BEMA Podcast https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/episodes
If you would be interested in a Generation Xer who is an expert in collecting and repairing 70s and 80s toys and action figures, with a special interest in 80s movies and TV as well, but who isn’t simply wanting a firehose of fun from Disney nowadays, with whatever they choose to give us, check out Michael at Retroblasting on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/retroblasting