music
- Airline travel can be a pain in the backside. After two canceled flights on Monday, flew to Seattle early Tuesday morning. Got to my committee meeting a couple of hours late.
- Kudos to the hotel (the Hilton Garden Inn in Renton) for being nicely setup for wi-fi access; seamless transitions between the meeting room, lobby, and bedroom.
- Got to see my college roommate Matt and his wife Abbie one evening. Had a good time catching up.
- Got to meet my partner-in-crime TK for some breakfast and Starbucks on Thursday morning. Also took a couple of cheesy pictures and some even cheesier video.
- Managed to leave a library book in my hotel room in Seattle. :-( They said they didn’t find anything, but I’m sure I left it there. I’ll call again today and see if it turned up.
- Finished the Harry Potter series while on the trip. The ending to Book 7 was almost perfect. The most I’ve enjoyed a series of books in a long, long time.
- Got home and had to mow the grass since it had been raining all week. It took twice a long as usual to mow. Ugh.
- Preached on Sunday morning. Audio available if you’re curious.
- Talked to my brother Ryan last night for a little while. He’s really having a tough time at the moment, wrestling with some tough decisions. Pray for him.
- Caedmon’s Call did their first show to release their new album, Overdressed, last night. There has been some seriously great liveblogging going on. (Go, Bryan!) What I wouldn’t give to have been there. At least it sounds like we’ll get a bootleg from the concert sometime soon.
Now Playing: Brian Eno <em>Ambient 1: Music for Airports</em>
Time to start something new around here - from time to time I’ll highlight a record that I’ve been playing. I’ll start with a rather obscure one this afternoon: Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports.
Brian Eno is pretty much the king of ambient music, and Ambient 1 is one of his earlier works, dating back to 1978. This isn’t something that you’re going to want to sit down and just focus on for the entire 45 minute playtime, but it makes a beautiful backdrop to an hour, almost fading out here and there but never quite leaving the edges of your consciousness. Even if you’re not typically a listener of ambient music, it’s worth a try.
No promises about the video content on this one, but the music is worth a listen.
News to make my day cheerier
It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks, but this does make the day cheerier: I just firmed up plans to road trip to Nashville on April 27 (less than two weeks from now!) to meet up with some friends (Geof Morris, Mike Terry among others) and see Andy Osenga play a show with full band at 12th and Porter.
Yeah, who care if it’s a 10-hour drive each way. I can’t wait.
[Oh, and also: I completely have the best wife in the world. Thanks, Becky, for being supportive of this.]
My current songwriting struggle
Songwriting, you ask? Yeah, if you missed it, I was invited to attend the Iowa Songwriter’s Guild meeting last month and they planted the bug again. So I’ve been keeping the songwriting idea in mind, looking for and writing down ideas, phrases, and so on. I have at least one idea that I really like as a concept; now I have to find a way to put actual words to it.
As a worship leader and accompanist for many years, one of my greatest gifts has been that I have an immense capacity for remembering music and lyrics and then playing them back. I could sit down with nothing more than a list of song titles and play and sing you songs for hours and hours. That skill, though, seems to become a curse when it comes to songwriting. Because I have trained my brain for so many years to remember and replay other people’s melodies and lyrics, now when I try to create my own phrase, I write down two words and it makes some other song lyric pop into my head. Play a couple of chords and it pops a song into my head. And once it’s in my head, it’s hard to banish.
I’m going to keep at it, though, and hope to attend January’s Guild meeting with at least something to show for my efforts. I may not ever turn out a great song, but it’s at least worth the effort to try.
A fun evening, a late night, and musical kinship
I’ll work through that title backwards. How do you know when you have some musical kinship with someone else? How about when they pull out that obscure song that they really like and want you to hear… and it’s a song you’ve been playing on repeat on your iPod for weeks?
That very thing happened last night at Nick and Allie’s house. After the Iowa Songwriter’s Guild house show I hung out for a while to hear some of Allie’s new hymntunes and to generally talk music with Nick, and he pulled out The Khrusty Brothers' Sympathy for Jesus. What a great song. That provoked a discussion on Don Chaffer and Waterdeep, and ended up with Nick lending me all of his Waterdeep CDs so I can take a listen. So far, so good.
Earlier in the evening Nick & Allie hosted the Iowa Songwriters' Guild monthly meeting, which this month was a special house show. Each of the writers played a couple of songs, and I quite enjoyed hearing folks share their talent. I was motivated to try to dust off my long-neglected songwriting chops; what remains to be seen is if that motivation will last long enough to actually write anything. Nick did send a book on songwriting home with me, though, so I’ll have to take a look at it. We’ll just have to see how it goes.
Sometimes Things Don't Turn Out Like You Expect
When Andy Osenga’s The Morning came out two and a half years ago (to much fanfare on this blog) I would not have predicted that New Beginning would become the signature track off the record. Early In The Morning would’ve been my bet, with then either House of Mirrors or Marilyn next on my list.
Thirty months later, though, New Beginning has become the most durable track, evidenced by, if nothing else, the fact that Andy is performing it almost every night this year on the Behold the Lamb Christmas tour.
The bridge of the song still gets me every time:
I can feel a prayer rising And I don’t even know the words Still the groaning is the postage And it will not be returned Though we’re living in this rubble Of our reckless plans and games We are reaching for the promise That we will not stay the same…
Thanks, Andy, for a great song.
Road trip time!
Tomorrow morning I will get in the car and, rather than heading to work, I will embark on one of my signature crazy-man concert road trips. Previous editions of the road trips have taken me to Chicago and Nashville… this time I’m heading west, to Omaha. The goal this time: the kickoff concert of the 2008 Behold the Lamb of God Christmas tour, featuring Andrew Peterson and friends.
My current plans are to leave Cedar Rapids first thing in the morning, meet Curt McLey for lunch in Elkhorn (suburban Omaha) around 11:30, and then head over to the church where the concert will take place. It will be good to catch up a bit with the gang of musicians who make up this tour - Andy Osenga, Andy Gullahorn, Jill Phillips, Ben Shive… talented songwriters and musicians, all… and when you put them all on the same stage… amazing things happen. The concert is at 7 pm and then it’s just 4 short hours on I-80 back home. Good times.
If you haven’t heard Behold the Lamb before, you should go buy yourself a copy from the Rabbit Room store. Best Christmas album I own, hands down. I’ll be bleary-eyed and saddle sore come Wednesday morning, but it will definitely have been worth it. Hopefully I’ll have some good pictures to post when I get back. Only 18 more hours to wait…
Gilbert & Sullivan & an embarassing admission
During an online conversation with Lydia this morning I was chiding for her unfamiliarity with Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Three Little Maids from School Are We”. Just to get everyone on the same page, here it is:
But then I got to thinking about my familiarity with Gilbert & Sullivan, which leads me to an embarrassing admission: most of my familiarity with the music of Gilbert & Sullivan comes from two sources: the movie Chariots of Fire, and the “Cape Feare” episode of The Simpsons.
In Chariots of Fire, as I recall, one of the main characters is interested in an actress who is playing one of the three little maids in The Mikado. There’s also a scene when the olympic team is traveling on the ship and they’re singing Gilbert & Sullivan songs around the piano. (The scene always sticks in my mind because the audio is just off - the piano chord sounds a split-second before the actor’s hand hits the keys.)
In The Simpsons, the villain Sideshow Bob tracks down the Simpson family (who were living on a houseboat in a witness relocation program), ties up the parents, and is just about to kill Bart. Bart stalls Sideshow Bob by challenging him to sing the entire score of The Pirates of Penzance H.M.S. Pinafore (thanks for the correction, Jamie!). Bob can’t resist the challenge and so sings and sings and sings while the boat floats down the river, into town, and to the authorities.
I really should take some time to become more familiar with these guys.
Time for some piano music
I switched over from my usual podcasts and indie rock this morning to give some iPod love to a genre I’ve ignored far too much as of late: classical piano. To be more specific: Bach and Chopin. What a fantastic way to start the morning.
Now, I’ve spent innumerable hours over the past 20+ years with my backside on a piano bench and my fingers hacking away at some composer or another. And ever since I was a kid, let’s face it, I did a lot of hacking. Sure, I had assigned pieces that I was supposed to practice every day. But more often than not what I’d do is just play through those pieces once or twice, then put them down and move on to something far too hard for me, say, a Rachmaninoff piano concerto or a Chopin Ballade or something by Debussy. The weeks when I actually did practice my lesson, my teacher was always blown away by my progress. I wonder at times how well I would’ve progressed if I’d practice like he expected.
When you have small children, though, the amount of time available for you to practice the piano goes down quite a bit. First, they take up your time directly. Second, they go to sleep early and playing the piano would wake them up. So I haven’t done a lot of practicing in the past few years. Occasionally I’d pull out a book and hack through a little bit of Rachmaninoff, but that has been about it. If I get a chance to sit down at a piano somewhere else, I usually just improvise for a while, though it has been frightening just how much I remember of Beethoven Sonatas and Bach Fugues that I learned back in high school.
The other night I sat down at the piano after dinner and actually practiced a new piece. Rachmaninoff’s Polichinelle Op. 3 No. 4, if you really care. (You can hear Rachmaninoff himself perform it on YouTube.) It’s difficult enough that I can’t just sight read through it at full speed, but not so difficult that I get disheartened trying to practice. I am hoping that I can actually put a little time into it, commit it to memory, and eventually have something new to play on occasion, rather than just murdering a section from Chopin’s Ballade #1 like I usually do.
How I do love my piano music.
Random question for the morning
Is it egotistical to drink coffee from a mug that says “I (heart) my Music Minister” when, up until last week or so, I was the music minister?
Another adventure in new music
So I’m rather a new-music junkie. Granted, it’s gotta be in a genre I’m interested in, but hook me up with a new artist and I’ll go whole hog. This week, on the recommendation of Daniel, I’ve been exploring the music of composer Philip Glass. I didn’t know much about Philip Glass before this week; if you’d asked me I would have remembered that he was very into minimalism and possibly 12-tone music, but that’s about it. I would’ve guessed that he’s not my cup of tea whatsoever. But, having been promised that his newer works were more accessible, I decided to give it a shot.
My first stop: Glass’s personal website. It has a nice overview of his stuff and also… an audio player! The player gives a pretty nice sampling of his stuff. It includes cuts from his music for the movie The Hours, which is beautiful stuff. It also has a sampling of his Etudes for Piano which I found to be very nice. Then there’s some weird stuff - for instance, the soundtrack for a very weird independent art film called Koyaanisqatsi. Definitely enough good stuff to get me interested, though.
My next stop: the local library. I currently have checked out to me nearly every Philip Glass CD that’s in their system. While it’s not an extensive collection, it’s enough to get a sampling. There’s the recording of his String Quartets - fairly nice. Then there’s Einstein on the Beach, which is a whopping four (four!) CDs of “opera”, though it’s not like any opera you’ve ever heard or thought of. It’s either brilliant or totally bizarre… maybe a bit of both. Following that I’ve been listening to his Symphony #4, Heroes. It, too, is pretty good. I still have Dance Nos. 1 - 5 and music in twelve parts to sample, though I doubt I’m going to find them as enjoyable; I know from some online reading that twelve parts is his serious work in the twelve-tone motif, which is too far down the esoteric path for me.
I still want to get my hands on Symphony #1, which Daniel highly recommended; the little samples on Amazonmp3.com sound good. Other than that, I feel like I’ve at least given Glass a good shot this week.
My conclusions: The soundtrack from The Hours is a keeper and will get regular play time. The piano etudes probably will as well. Symphonies 1 and 4 are probably worth having and will get played semi-regularly. The older, more esoteric stuff is somewhat interesting, but probably not something that I’d listen to much. But hey, it’s a new musical discovery, and one that found me some good new music, at that. Thanks, Daniel!
Happy Birthday to me... a little early/late
Yeah, so my birthday isn’t until Friday, but finalized plans yesterday to be able to not just attend the Andrew Peterson concert here in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, but also to be the runner for the day, which basically means just hanging out there at the church as they set up and then driving AP and company around anyplace they need to go. I was runner a couple years ago when AP and gang came for the Behold the Lamb of God tour, and it was a blast.
I was afraid it wasn’t going to work out, mainly because I have been unable to find a replacement worship leader, so I still have to setup and then lead music for the 5:30 service at Imago. In stepped Becky, who awesomely volunteered to be the runner for me for a couple hours while I do the church service, then I can make it back just in time for the concert. Too much fun.
Andrew Peterson will be touring with Andy Gullahorn, Jill Phillips, Ben Shive, and maybe some others, and will be doing music from his upcoming album Resurrection Letters, Vol. 2. I’m listening to a few songs from it right now on a Michael Card podcast and there’s some amazing new stuff. Saturday is going to be fun.
An equation of insanity
So back in my Caedmon’s concert post, Daniel commented that he found the length of that road trip to see a concert “insane”. Being the nerd that I am, I decided an “equation of insanity” would be appropriate. (Geof’s equation of motivation was an additional piece of inspiration.)
So, without further ado, the equation:
I = (d+t)/qL
Where
I = relative insanity of the trip d = distance traveled to the concert t = time that trip took q = quality of the artist you are going to see L = length of the concert.
Of course the tricky thing here is that the q value will vary between persons, so just because you think my trip is insane doesn’t mean that I will agree with you. Also, by including not only the distance of the trip but also its' duration, trips like Geof’s planned flight to Philly aren’t as insane as if he were to, say, drive to Philly.
There’s also the issue of theoretical insanity versus actual insanity. For instance, my trip to see Andy O’s The Morning release show theoretically should be much more insane because of the distance to Nashville, but in actuality the concert was so awesome that the real insanity level was much lower.
Note to Becky, my Mom, etc: Yes, this really just means that I am a huge nerd. Not exactly a revelation. :-)
Putting on the miles
The lengths I will go to hear a concert? Well, this weekend the length was 300 miles, each way. Lincoln, Nebraska ends up being, with short stops, about a five-hour drive. Well worth it to see Caedmon’s Call in concert again. First I should extend thanks to my mom for coming down to watch the girls for a couple of days. They had lots and lots of fun with Grandma, and it was sure a blessing for Becky and I to be able to get away.
Three hundred miles to Lincoln on Friday morning was broken up with P. F. Chang’s for lunch in Des Moines. It ended up being a good thing we ate a big lunch, because we never did get supper eaten, unless you count the McDonalds cheeseburgers we picked up from the drive thru around 11 pm while on our way to see Andy Osenga’s post-show set. After checking into our motel (very decent for the price), we headed down to the church where they were playing to hang out, take pictures, and watch the sound check. Everything was running late enough that once sound check was over it was almost time for the doors to open… so we ended up just staying there the whole night. Between Derek Webb, Caedmon’s, and Andy Osenga, the concert went a full three hours. Lots of fun. I’ve written up a full review with pictures over on caedmonscall.net.
After the Caedmon’s show, we trekked over a couple miles to Grace Chapel (a little PCA church in a neat old church building) where Andy Osenga did another half-dozen solo songs. It was fully midnight by the time that was over, and then we were headed back to the other side of Lincoln to our hotel. What a day.
The drive back home was rather uneventful, unless you count seeing multiple cars sliding off the road (not already in the ditch, but actually actively sliding into the ditch) as eventful. Made it home in one piece. Took most of Sunday to catch up on rest. In the end we drove about 750 miles for the weekend. Now, I’ve driven further to see concerts, and have seen better concerts, but overall it was great to hear Caedmon’s again, to be able to take Becky along (her first Caedmon’s show!) and to have a weekend out.
Rich Mullins' A Liturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band
If there was ever a “perfect” album to come out of the (largely mediocre) world of CCM, Rich Mullins' A Liturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band was it. (Are the ‘A’s supposed to be capitalized? It looks funny either way.) This album is fifteen (fifteen!) years old this year, and yet still sounds as fresh and vital as when it was released. If you’re not familiar with the album, let me give you an overview. (If you are familiar with the album, you won’t mind the refresher at all.)
Split into two halves, the first half is the splendid Liturgy. Here In America is the Introit, or entrance. It is followed by the stunning text of (Isaiah) 52:10, the hymn of praise recognizing the beauty of creation called The Color Green, the supplicant’s prayer Hold Me Jesus, the bold restatement of the (Apostle’s) Creed, and Peace, helpfully subtitled A Communion Blessing from St. Joseph’s Square. Each song in itself is excellent, and as a set they reach the level of masterpiece. When, in Peace, Rich starts the first two verses with this juxtaposition
Though we’re strangers, still I love you
I love you more than your mask
And you know you have to trust this to be true
And I know that’s much to ask…
…
And though I love you, still we’re strangers
Prisoners in these lonely hearts
And though our blindness separates us
Still a light shines in the dark…
We understand immediately the tension of the Christian fellowship - bound by the love of Christ, and yet so frustratingly driven apart by our sinful humanity. It’s beautiful stuff from beginning to end.
The second half is the Legacy: a reflection on life. It starts with the upbeat instrumental 78 Eatonwood Green, then moves into the challenge of being like Jesus (Hard), the challenge of living life away from family (I’ll Carry On), a child’s wonder at Christmas (You Gotta Get Up), the challenge and frustration of the world we live in (Mark Heard’s How To Grow Up Big and Strong), and finally the most beautiful picture you’ll ever hear painted of the tension of living in a country you love while simultaneously looking forward to the heavenly home (Land of my Sojurn).
Nobody tells you when you get born here
How much you’re going to love it and how you’ll never belong here
So I’ll call you my country, but I’ll be longing for my home
And I wish that I could take you there with me…
And the Ragamuffin Band? Well, they sound fantastic. From Rich’s clear piano and the cymbals mirroring the ocean’s crashing in Here In America, to the mellow electric guitar and fantastic drum fills in Peace, to the dulcimer driving Land of my Sojurn, the album has an organic acoustic sound that rightfully has become the inspiration for a younger generation of musicians. My first inclination is to say that it is lightning in a bottle, that it’ll never be captured that way again. But then I listen to the guitars of Andrew Peterson and Andy Osenga, the piano of Ben Shive, and the percussion of Todd Bragg and Garrett Buell, and I will instead be thankful that the musical and songwriting heritage of Rich Mullins has indeed carried on.
If for some reason you don’t already own this album, you can buy it at Amazon.
Songs for the Inaugural Service
Imago Christi’s inaugural service is just over a week away - January 5, 2008. As I noted previously, it’s a bit of a challenge to pick the music - something appropriate for the first service of a new church, setting the tone for services to come, and having something accessible for those who are coming who may not be familiar with the songs.
I’ve settled on these four:
Blessed Be The Name of the Lord (Clinton Utterbach)
Praise to the Lord, The Almighty
My All In All (Dennis Jernigan)
Jesus, I Come (with new tune from RUF Hymnal)
I think this keeps things relatively simple, yet incorporates some new and old lyrics of praise of the Father, praise of the Son as the Lamb of God, and a beautiful expression of the Gospel in the final hymn. I pray it will be a blessing to those who attend.
Selecting music for an inaugural service
We’re going to have our first worship team practice for Imago tonight, which means I need to have music selected for our first service. Selecting church music is normally a bit of a challenge, but selecting music to kick off a whole new church? Intimidating. I’ll need to pick a mix of old hymns and some more modern stuff; I’m thinking of some Chris Tomlin and maybe Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. Any ideas? Feel free to leave them in the comments. I’ll post the list when I get it finalized.
David Wilcox at CSPS
Last night Becky and I experienced a couple of firsts: 1) going to a concert at CSPS in downtown Cedar Rapids, and 2) hearing David Wilcox perform. I’ll take them in that order, but the first will be brief.
CSPS is a pretty cool music venue; an arts gallery and concert stage built into the upper stories of an old warehouse building. The performance area is an intimate setting - no more than 8 or 9 rows of chairs on hand-built risers, right up near the little stage. It’s designed to seat about 150, and wow, it works well. I was thinking how much fun it’d be to get any one of several Square Pegs in there… hmmm… I’ll have to keep that in mind. Anyhow, pretty sweet venue.
Then we got to hear David Wilcox. This was my first experience hearing David, though I did find myself familiar with a few of his songs that have been covered by Billy Heller singing down at Brewed Awakenings. David’s first set was broadcast live on KUNI radio as part of their regular “Live from Studio One” show, which I think rearranged his setlist a bit from what he’d normally do in a concert, shifting most all of his more popular songs up front. Still, he played two great sets of songs, just him and his guitar. And quite a guitar player he is, using lots of open tunings and capos to marvelous effect. His songwriting, though, is what really shines; the phrasing and ideas of songs like Three Brothers and Show the Way just rise above the lyrical skill you usually hear from, well, about anyone. I was very, very impressed.
As I sat through the show I kept trying to decide who Wilcox reminded me of. Vocally he sounds a bit like James Taylor, but without the annoying nasal tone that Taylor has. Heck, Wilcox can really sing. And then when I was just about done being impressed with his voice, breaks out some falsetto on the last song that was just amazing. Visually, put a scruffy beard on him and give him a cane and I’d be reminded of Dr. Greg House. There were times I was reminded of CCM artist Chris Rice, except that Wilcox reaches a level with his songwriting that Rice has never hit. I guess I don’t quite have enough words to say, or, as his one song said, I really can’t tell of the places I’ve been. Sometimes you just have to have been there. Thanks to Nick and Allie for inviting us along for a great night.
Caedmon's Call - Overdressed
Well at least half of you who read this blog are already listening to this album, but I should still note that Caedmon’s Call released their 15th album yesterday, entitled Overdressed. It marks the return of Derek Webb as a contributor to Caedmon’s, though whether he’s actually considered a “member” of the band is fuzzy to me at the moment… the word “contributor” has been used more, I think.
Christianity Today gave this album 5 out of 5 stars yesterday, and it deserves them. Good solid music and songwriting all the way around. My man Andy Osenga had a lot of influence on this album, and it’s better off for it.
If you’re interested in Overdressed, you can check out the info over on the cc.net Song Vault. Also, Bryan Allain has been doing some amazing liveblogging from the past few days and there are multiple videos, pictures, and inside info on songs available on CaedmonsCall.net. Go check it out. You can buy the album from their online store, too. I don’t think it’s available on iTunes yet, but it should be shortly.
Bullet Points for a Monday
How can it have been a week since I last posted? Well, it has been busy. So in the spirit of “short updates are better than none”, here we go.
I’m now back in the office for six weeks before my next trip. It will be nice to settle into some sort of schedule.
New Orleans: Music and all that Jazz
One of the things that was high on my list of things to do while in New Orleans a few weeks ago was to find someplace with live music. New Orleans is all about jazz and blues, after all. It was pretty wild to walk through the French Quarter and think that guys who are jazz heroes of mine like Harry Connick, Jr. and the Marsalis family spent time playing in the clubs on those streets. So very cool.
I headed around the Quarter rather early in the evening, which unfortunately cut down my number of opportunities to hear the live music. Most of it started later - 8 or 9 PM. However, I did hear a very good older band at a little bar that I am thinking was called something about the Society for the Preservation of Jazz; I can’t find a link on a quick Google search to back me up. They played pretty good standard New Orleans jazz, but they were old-timers; nary a dark hair in the bunch - all grey.
As I headed back to my hotel, I ran into a group of about a dozen teenagers playing on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets. They were mostly brass instruments with a couple saxophones thrown in for good measure and a rockin' percussion section. And they were smokin' hot. My little video clip here really doesn’t do them justice, and I’m bummed that I didn’t think to start recording them until just near the end of their set.
It’s fun to think that one of these kids may be a jazz star of some upcoming year. While New Orleans took a massive hit from Hurricane Katrina, it sounded to me like she still couldn’t kill the music.