On 9 Apr 2007 20:10:45 EST, cs1@bmgmusicservice.com wrote:

To: Travis Seitler

We received your inquiry regarding the Stelk class action settlement email you received.

We hope you’ll take advantage of placing your settlement order online by clicking on the link in the email. If you have any problems placing your order please contact us via email at cs@bmgms.com.

Thank you.

Your Friends at
BMG Music Service

I looked at the headers, and not only did this e-mail originate from a Random House server (BMG and Random House are both part of the Bertelsmann-Media Worldwide network), but both e-mail address domains (bmgmusicservice.com and bmgms.com) are administered by Random House servers.

So strange as it seems, this one is actually legit. Well, I should say the original e-mail came with the approval of a Bertelsmann company. I can’t shake the feeling that the whole “buy online from CDLounge.com” thing is an effort to transfer your membership from BMG to CDLounge for some shady legal reason (avoiding further settlements?). Call me paranoid, but I’m going to use the PDF Settlement Voucher instead (login required).

BTW, notice how this e-mail reply didn’t address any specific concerns? They just made it sound like I couldn’t figure out how to place an order online. (Their own records would show I do know this, but I suppose that would require this particular group of companies to actually know what they’re doing.) With all the ways that this settlement’s execution is being botched up, the folks at BMG/Columbia House are losing major emotional capital at a time when they desperately needed to raise it.

Now I was suspicious, especially since there’s nothing but a login box at cdlounge.com (Strike #1 in my book). So I started digging around a bit.

BMG Music Service’s FAQ section states:

Q. How do I know an email is from BMG Music Service?
A. BMG Music Service will send you emails about your orders and account as well as special sales and promotions, and these emails will come from bmgmusic@bmgmusicservice.com. Occasionally you may receive a fraudulent email that appears to be from BMG Music Service but is actually an attempt to trick you into providing personal information that can be used for identity theft. These emails are often called spoof or phishing emails.

BMG Music Service will never ask you to confirm account information like passwords or credit card information through email. If you receive suspicious email, please forward it to us immediately at emailspoof@bmgdirect.com and we will investigate it.

The e-mail I received says it came from cs@bmgmusic.com, so that’s Strike #2 (it should be coming from bmgmusic@bmgmusicservice.com, according to the FAQ). I looked at the questionable e-mail’s headers, and its Return-Path is soneill@103637-litigation1.yourmusic.com—Strike #3 (Yourmusic.com looks as if it may be owned by BMG Music Service, but like CDLounge.com, it could just as easily be a competitor).

I tried to forward the e-mail to emailspoof@bmgdirect.com like they said, but it failed in a “this account does not exist” sort of way. So I’ve forwarded the thing to bmgmusic@bmgmusicdirect.com now, and I’m waiting to hear from them. If this isn’t an instance of phishing, the folks at BMG really need to get their act together. You just don’t tell people that you’re one site on the logo (BMGMusicService.com) but link it to another site (CDLounge.com) and have your e-mail originate from yet another site (YourMusic.com). So it’s either really fishy or really tacky.

UPDATE: Looks like it’s legit. See my recent update for more details.

And from the sound of the album (you can stream the whole album at theRingingBell.com) this is Derek’s most energetic album ever. That’s a good thing! My one gripe with the guy’s previous albums is that they’re just too darned slow!

Too bad I don’t have $20 to spend right now.

Heaven is our home where we’ll reign forever
Shining like the sun with our King forever
Every sorrow gone we’ll rejoice forever
Heaven is our home
— Kathryn Scott, Heaven Is Our Home

It’s a catchy tune, but this just ain’t so. Heaven isn’t our home… at least, it’s not “our home where we’ll reign forever.”

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” — Revelation 21:1-4 (ESV)

If we die before Christ returns, we will spend a time in Heaven with him… but our eternal home is on Earth. God will bring the celestial “City of Peace” down to earth, and make his home here with us. Isn’t that amazing?! He will pitch his tent among us, and never again take it down! Never again will ichabod (“the Spirit has departed”) be uttered! God has decreed that he will humble himself to live among us on Earth for eternity.

I hope that mind-blowing thought lets a little bit of Sunday spill into your Monday.

Yup, that’s right: a 30GB iPod G5. It’s great—I’ve loaded all my podcasts onto it, finally consolidated my home and office iTunes libraries, dumped in Address Book contacts and played around with the photo gallery. I can now listen to sermons (or American Radio) while I walk during my lunch break, and with the iTrip add-on I picked up, I now have my own truly conservative talk radio to listen to in the car.

The Downside: This means I’m now one of them.

Yup, I’ve got another Squidoo lens. This was me trying to get ultra-ultra-focused: what all can I find out about an obscure old Christmas jingle?

So what am I talking about? Well, I downloaded Webb’s Mockingbird album for free and gave it a listen… and it’s downright freaky how much the two of us think alike. I mean, really: each and every song tackles some issue I’ve been wrestling with at one point or another over the past five years. It’s crazy! Maybe we’re both prophets.

So anyway… get your own free copy of the album at freederekwebb.com—and don’t worry, the link will stay on the site for a long time, thanks to the “tower” banner over on the sidebar.

(UPDATE: freederekwebb.com is down now, and the free downloads are no more. It was fun while it lasted, but you can still purchase Mockingbird, which I recommend.)

Brother Yun is part of the Chinese “underground church.” The Holy Spirit really moves over there. Inside these shores, however, we’re usually happy if He tickles us a bit. Some churches aren’t as guilty as others in this, but overall I have to agree with Brother Yun’s assessment. Some churches love big buildings, others are just addicted to Starbucks… but the far-too-common thread is a love of the things of this world.

I think the church needs more guys who’ll give us a prophetic knock-upside-the-head when we need it, like Steve Taylor in his song Easy Listening:

We’re King’s Kids, dang it, and we used to know what a housekeeper was for / Tickle my ear and I’ll pay for your show / Sing about stuff that I already know / Whisper sweet nothings, pour a nightcap / Gimme that old-time easy listening