"My Secrets Have Secrets Too" by Search the City, Sunday, August 1, 2021
YOU HAVE A PLACE TO CALL YOUR OWN THAT NO ONE CAN EVERY TAKE FROM YOU. The opening track of Flight, "My Secrets Have Secrets Too," is a short accapella track that shows off Bobier's vocal abilities, while at the same time, reminding listeners of the '90s harmonies of the likes of The Backstreet Boys and *NSync. But the new formation of Search the City couldn't last. Two years after Flight's release, the band went on an indefinite hiatus, with members going on to other projects both in and out of music. Bobier went on to sing with the band Shapes & Colors until that band broke up in 2018 and then started another band with three of S&C members called CXMPASS. The details surrounding Search the City's breakup, though, are shrouded in rumors and angry social media posts, starting with a comment on Twitter in 2015, when the band replied to a user asking why Flight was no longer available on Spotify. The band replied "It's [be]cause our old manager took every cent we made from Flight [italics added], so we filed for copyright infringement." As an independent album without the support of Tooth & Nail Records, the record could have been lost from the streaming services; however, it is back on Apple and Spotify. The future for this record seems uncertain, though. Flight is certainly worth a listen for nostalgia of a musical genre.
IT SEEMS MY SECRETS HAVE SECRETS TOO. Bible class, first period with local Baptist minister, Pastor Manley, a clean-shaven, pro-God, pro-gun, pro-life 6 ft 2 tall man. His Southern Baptist gut was only starting to protrude from his dress shirt, as his height had probably kept him thin, despite the years of Southern cooking. "Bring a King James version to class. We're going to dive deep into the book of Acts this semester, and all other English translations try to omit truths contained in these sacred pages." As the weeks passed, Allan noticed how much his classmates admired the young teacher. Whether it was sports or Smallville or old '90s Saturday Night Live references, Pastor Manley tried to relate with classmates on any level he could. While every student belonged to different churches of varying degrees of conservatism, Pastor Manley took a genuine interest in all of the classmates. But Allan felt like he was a black sheep in Pastor Manley's flock. Transferring to Mern Christian Academy as a sophomore, most of the students had had Pastor Manley the year before. "So where do you go to church?" Was the typical question at the new school. "Mern Seventh-day Adventist." There were several responses to that, which usually came after an awkward silence. Pastor Manely's response was "We had a Seventh-day Adventist start coming to our church a few years ago. Started dating one of our young men, but they had to break up. He said she didn't eat anything with milk. I just wondered where in the Bible they could come up with people not drinking milk?" Without giving Allan a chance to respond, Pastor Manely launched into Acts 1:1. Throughout Allan's time at Mern Christian Academy, Pastor Manley would launch subtle attacks at Allan's faith. But seeing the rapport he had with the other students made Allan envious. The girls got giggly when they talked with Pastor Manley. The boys joked with Pastor Manley. He used his students as examples, illustrating the Biblical concepts. He could pick on the right students in class. "Imagine that Blake said that he was going to give a concert," the students laughed, "and he said that all the money that he raised for the concert was going to go to the school basketball team. Now, the concert was very successful" (more laughter) "and he starts to think, 'What if I pocketed the money? Maybe took some of it for expenses. There's no problem with that.' Well, if you do that for the church, it's despicable. That's what happened in the story of Ananias and Sapphira." Pastor Manley was a like a father to that 10th grade class. He offered a warm love for those who deserved it.
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