music
- A fabulous mix CD from Susan as part of the RMFO Mix CD Circle.
- A pretty darn good mix CD from Chris in Houston from the previous RMFO Mix CD Circle. It’s a little bit harder stuff than what I’d usually listen to, but there’s still some quite good stuff there.
- In The Company of Angels: The World Will Sing, the latest offering from Caedmon’s Call. I got the pre-release for worship leaders as I noted in my previous post. I’ve listened through it 3 or 4 times so far.
- The Builder & The Architect, from Sandra McCracken
- Beams of Heaven: Indelible Grace 4
- Indigo Girls - I picked this up for three bucks at the used bookstore.
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.
Chapter 11: In which Chris hears a familiar song in the unlikliest of places.
Last night was a date night for Becky and me. We dropped the girls off with some friends for a couple of hours and headed to Casa Las Glorias for the Mexican food I’d been craving all week. Darn tasty stuff. (What’s this white stuff on my nachos? (Sorry, square peg joke. Carry on.)) Unexpectedly, they had a musician strolling the aisles at the restaurant, singing and playing the guitar. He was singing what I’d consider to be typical Mexican restaurant music, and doing a good job of it.
He finished another song in Spanish, thanked the patron at the table next to ours for a tip, and then started on another guitar strum. This one sounded vaguely familiar. I was trying to place it, and then he started singing, and I was dumbfounded. “Well it looks like five thousand miles broke the camel’s back… but it’s not as though I had a plan to win you back…” At this point Becky looked at me quizzically, because she recognized the song, too. No way. NO. WAY. The strolling guitarist in Casa Las Glorias is playing a Caedmon’s Call song?!? What the heck!
The young man continued strolling and singing while we finished our dinner. He had an assortment of Mexican songs, but he was also verging into pop music territory with some John Mayer, Dave Matthews, and the like. When we finished dinner I gave him a tip and we discussed Caedmon’s for a couple minutes. He was surprised to find another fan in the restaurant. He admitted that the latest album he owns is Back Home, and I encouraged him to get ahold of Share The Well and that they have a new album coming out in August. Then we parted ways; he kept singing, we headed off to continue our evening out.
I have a feeling it’ll be many days before I hear a Caedmon’s Call song sung in a restaurant again.
A Post In Which Chris Elaborates On Two Unrelated Songs
I’ve had two songs running pretty much on repeat today. This happens to me on frequent occasion; I get stuck on some song and I will just loop it over and over. It usually takes a day or two for the compulsion to go away.
The first one is Nothing Left To Lose by Mat Kearney. Why this song? It gives me a feeling of calm; laid-back, content, happy. Not so much that it makes me calm, content and happy, but that it reminds me that it’s possible. I’ll admit right here that it doesn’t have a lot to do with the lyrics - I probably couldn’t sing along with the song if I wanted to - it’s more to do with the music, the melody. Good stuff. Why is it stuck in my head? I think it started back on Sunday while we were eating breakfast at McDonalds while waiting for the rain to stop. This song came on over the McD’s muzak system, and my brother Andrew and I both pretty much simultaneously started singing along. It was pretty cool
The other song is Coldplay’s Swallowed In the Sea. Again, I haven’t taken a lot of time to try to figure out the lyrics. What I love in this song is the way they build it sonically. It starts out pretty sparse, just some keyboards and a little bit of pad. Then they build it in, first with the drums, and finally with the guitars and vocal harmony, until at the end they’ve built up this massive sound… it’s so… there.
Am I the only one that suffers from this compulsion? What songs have been stuck in your head lately?
Entering the Whirlwind
I feel like I’ve been in it for a few days already, but I know there’s still more to come this week.
Friday afternoon I drove four hours to Omaha to see Andy Osenga in concert at a little place called The Foundry. It was a great show, fun to see Andy again and visit. There was a 7:00 Saturday morning elder meeting scheduled at church, so I had to turn around and head back home right after the show. What I did learn from that experience was that the right combination of diet pop, sweet tea, Red Bull, and candy will keep me wide awake on a four-hour drive in the middle of the night. Good to know.
Saturday was the aforementioned meeting and then time at home to catch up a bit - cleaning, spending time with the family, watching some of the Final Four on TV. Also watched a pretty cool SciFi channel miniseries that I’d TiVo’d back in December called The Lost Room. Becky even enjoyed it. Good stuff.
Sunday morning I led music for both services, then we had an afternoon elder meeting, then the church’s annual meeting in the evening. Thank the Lord most of that stuff is done with for now.
Now it’s Monday morning, and I’ll be at work for a few hours before heading home, eating lunch with the family, and then flying out to Salt Lake City for a quick trip for work. I’ll be back home on Wednesday night.
Friday morning I get off work (Good Friday) and so we are taking the girls up to my folks' place for the weekend. The girls will have fun seeing Grandma and Grandpa again. By the time I get back home on Sunday night, well, I’ll be ready to be home for a while. :-)
Welcome to the Whirlwind. It’s a wild ride.
I think I pulled something...
So last night I had the chance to do some practice on the pipe organ at Central Park Presbyterian Church in preparation for the talent show coming up a week from Sunday. I showed up at 6:45 and the kind man had already turned on the lights and turned up the heat so I could practice. I pulled out my copy of Tocatta and Fugue in D-Minor and got right to it.
Two hours later was reminded of a time soon after I started taking piano lessons when I swore I never wanted to play the piano again. The song in question was the Suzuki classic Lightly Row, and the challenge was to make the left hand play something different than the right hand was playing. Fortunately, I got through it, and my hands have been happily individually dexterous for years now. Enter the pipe organ, which includes two manuals of keys, plus two octaves of pedals.
For twenty-some years now, I have trained my brain that the left hand follows the notes on the bottom staff. But not on the organ! Early on in the Bach piece, there is a little pattern where the hands play some separated chords, just stepping down: B-flat, A-minor, G-minor, A. The pedal moves in parallel, playing D C B-flat, A. It must’ve taken me 30 minutes of practice to try to play those two lines. My left hand just kept getting lost. I think I pulled something, somewhere in my brain.
I found I can play the pedals pretty well by themselves; the intervals are pretty easy to figure out, and with a little practice I’ll know where the notes are without having to look. I can play the pedals and the right hand together without too much effort. But the left hand just doesn’t want to cooperate. I’ll try to get over to the church again next week for some more practice and we’ll see how much I can get worked out. Worst case, I’ll creatively omit some of the harder pedal parts for the talent show… I’ll feel bad about doing it, but it’ll be better than not playing it at all.
One other thing took getting used to with that organ: the timing. Since it’s a real pipe organ, driven by real air, there is a perceptible time lag between when you press the key and when you hear the note. When you’re playing long held notes, it’s not that big a deal. But when you’re playing Bach with all the sixteenth-notes, you have to mentally force yourself to make your fingers do the right thing and ignore the timing. It took me a while to get that figured out, but I think it makes sense now.
Random Thoughts on... Classical Music, Second Edition
Classical music has had a big influence in my life. My parents are both lovers of classical music. (Probably my dad more than my mom, but I’m not too sure there.) It was pretty much all we had on at home growing up. Lots of ::wikipedia(“Bach”):: and ::wikipedia(“Beethoven”):: all the way through ::wikipedia(“Rimsky_Korsakov”,“Rimsky-Korsakov”):: and ::wikipedia(“Igor_Stravinsky”,“Stravinsky”)::. I started playing the piano at age 7 and thus entered a bunch more classical music. I played lots of Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy, and Grieg. I really enjoyed it. I was the nerdy kid who at age 12 listened to a NPR program where they compared two new recordings of Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, and enjoyed it. But I digress.
It’s hard to say which composer or era is my favorite. I love the Baroque for Bach (Das Wohltemperierte Klavier) and Handel (The Messiah, Water Music). I dig the classical and romantic periods: the beauty of Mozart, the intensity of Beethoven, the breadth of the piano works of Chopin. I about wore out a tape of Haydn Cello Concertos whilst growing up, and Dennis Brain’s legendary recording of Mozart Horn Concertos is never far from my iPod’s playlist. But then you get to Rachmaninoff. Of all the composers, I adore Rachmaninoff. I fell in love with his second Piano Concerto in my teens, managed to learn enough to hack my way through the easier bits of it, then in college reacquainted myself with Vespers and more of his solo piano works. They’re ridiculously difficult to play, but remain my favorites. And don’t let me forget the French guys like Debussy and Poulenc.
I have to confess that my appreciation for “classical music” written in the later parts of the 20th century wanes quite a bit. I have yet to develop the love for Stravinsky that my father has. Neither am I real fond of Ives, Barber, or Bartok. Aaron Copland is on my “love him” list, though, as is Ralph Vaughan Williams. As for real modern stuff, I’m not really current on it. I’ve heard a bit of Alan Hovhaness that I liked. By the time you get the late 20th century, the orchestral stuff I really enjoy has mostly been written as film scores by guys like John Williams, John Barry, and James Horner.
So, more than you wanted to know about my tastes in classical music, right? Feel free to leave comments below.
An AP Concert Weekend
Last Friday Becky and I headed out to Omaha, NE to see Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God tour. (OK, so it was officially in Elkorn, NE, but that’s just suburban Omaha these days.) My mom graciously agreed to come down and stay with the girls for a couple of days, so we got up Friday morning and headed west. A four-hour drive later we arrived in Omaha, checked into our hotel, ate some lunch, wandered around a mall, etc. Then we headed over to the church for the concert.
This is the second consecutive year that AP and company have played at Bethany Lutheran there in Elkhorn. It’s a beautiful church, a good venue for a concert like this. They were all decorated for Christmas, and their sanctuary, which seats by my estimate around 600 people, was nearly full. So, a good start.
As we were waiting in line for the doors to be opened, one of the organizers came by with little tour fliers and informed us that the artists would be doing a meet-and-greet in the church gym after the doors opened. So, we could go in, stake out a seat, then go “get an autograph”. Since I have 2 autographed posters from last year’s concert stop in Cedar Rapids, once more with a Sharpie didn’t interest me that much; but I was looking forward to greeting some of them who I haven’t seen since last year’s concert. Fortunately for me, there were few attendees for the meet-and-greet, which allowed me some time to talk to Andrew Peterson, Andy & Jill (Phillips) Gullahorn, Cason Cooley, Ben Shive, and to meet Eric Peters for the first time. I found Eric to be a very personable guy and had a good time chatting with him. I had two different fans come up to me and ask which band member I was. :-) As the meet-and-greet was wrapping up, Cason dug a basketball out of a closet and he and Eric and I shot hoops for a few minutes. Those guys have some game, but I could spank ‘em if it came to it - they’re so short! (Props to Andy G for being the token tall guy on the tour, he’s my height; come to think of it, I guess AP is fairly tall as well. But Derek, Sandra, Cason, Eric, Jill? Short. All of em. :-) )
The concert itself was phenomenal as expected. The first half was the usual “rounds” of songs from each individual. Each time one of them finished a song, I was thinking “wow, that’s gonna be hard to top…”. And then the next person would come up and be just as good, if not better. The second half, as usual, was the Behold the Lamb of God album, played straight through. I will confess to missing Andy Osenga, who is back home in Nashville with his due-any-day wife, but Andy G filled in admirably on the electric guitar. Good stuff, all the way through. (If you’re not familiar with this album, you can stream it live from Andy’s website: www.andrew-peterson.com.)
After the concert I spent too much money at the merch table buying Christmas presents and a few albums to fill out my collection. They had a Square Peg Alliance t-shirt, but it came in only one color: Powder Blue. This guy doesn’t look good in Powder Blue. Maybe you can do a more neutral color next time, folks?
I’ve yet to download the pics from the camera to see if any of them turned out; if they did I’ll put them up on Flickr and link them here.
One last time...
This Sunday will be my last Sunday to lead worship at Noelridge for a while. It has been a while since I made the official announcement, and I think in the interim some good strides have been made to get things organized and prepared for my departure. I’m sure there will still be some kinks to work out, some things I’ve forgotten and the like, but they’ll get the figured out, and I’ll be available to answer questions.
I’m looking forward to the break. Suddenly my Monday afternoons are free from staff meetings (though I may still attend from time to time), my Tuesday nights are free from planning services, my Wednesday nights are free from worship team practice, and my Sunday mornings are now flexible so I can attend one service of my choice. There will definitely be some schedule adjustment, I think for the better.
So, this Sunday is the last one. We’re celebrating the church’s 50th anniversary this week. We’ll have a few of the former pastors in attendance, and a bunch of old-timers. Should be a neat time.
Plans Change
Well, that Happy Meal hasn’t materialized in Laura’s future yet. Becky got sick with a nasty fever and such on Thursday, so she had to cancel her trip to Chicago for this weekend. I know she was very disappointed, but what can you do?
She did get to come along, though, to a Randall Goodgame house show last night, and it was excellent. I much prefer to hear Randall’s music live rather than from his CDs - it’s a whole different sound, less production, less extra instruments. He and his wife Amy did most of the songs with just a guitar, and it sounded great. He also did several piano songs, showing off his skill as a jazz pianist, and then left no eye dry with a stunning late-night piano version of Next To You. I found that I have his recorded version of the song on a CD at home, but with the upped tempo, drum track, and production, it sounds nothing like the version we heard last night. So Randall, buddy, think about recording an album that sounds a little more like your live stuff sometime, huh? Just a thought.
It has been a lazy sleep-in morning here this morning, and will continue to be a lazy Saturday. I sense some football games on TV in my future…
Tuesday Riff on CCM
So I don’t listen to Christian radio any more, but Becky had it on in the van over the weekend, and on Sunday morning when I started the van to head to church, this song came on, and it’s driving me crazy. I’ve been frustrated with shallow and trite lyrics before, but I think this song takes the cake. To be fair, I’ll quote the whole song:
Some people tell me that I look kind of funny
My nose is red and the braces didn’t work at all
They say the clothes I wear are all out of fashion
I don’t fit in and should be shopping at a different mall
I studied classical piano when I could’ve been playing guitar
I used to drive an El Camino and I’m not even sure it’s a car
(chorus)
I’m not cool but that’s okay
My God loves me anyway
I’m not cool but that’s alright
I’m still precious in His sight
I’m not cool but I don’t care
How I’m supposed to do my hair
I’m not cool but that’s okay
My God loves me anyway
It doesn’t matter if I know all the lingo
He doesn’t mind if I’m not hanging with a certain crowd
Some people still believe in building image
≥ But I am fine and that’s a worry I can do without
I used to wish I was athletic but football was never my game
I met some friends in mathematics but no one can spell my last name
chorus
He says that I am one of a kind
And I don’t have to try to be somebody else
He believes in me and says I’m free to be myself
I can be myself
(I’m Not Cool - Scott Krippayne)
Becky has warned me that ripping on this song will just make me come across as a music snob. I’m probably guilty as charged… but I’ve gotta say something. In no particular order:
First thought: This could be the theme song for all of Christian Radio these days. The music they play is so out-of-date and repetitive… don’t get me started. It’s the same stuff I was hearing on Christian radio when I listened to it back in high school. And I graduated high school in 1995.
Second thought: There’s a fine line between saying “it’s OK if I’m not cool” and saying “I don’t need to be culturally relevant”. I understand what Krippayne is trying to say with the song. It’s supposed to be an encouragement to that poor socially-inept person who feels “uncool” and rejected by their peers. OK, great. But it’s a very short trip from that to saying “it doesn’t matter whether I’m in touch culturally or not”, which is a much shakier proposition. It seems to me that we do need to be culturally relevant; we’re not doing the Gospel any favors by intimating that only geeks and losers believe. Yeah, there’s a balance to be struck, but this song takes me way out past the edge of where I’m comfortable balancing.
Third thought: If it’s really OK to be uncool, why are the words and music written in a style that is attempting to be contemporary? Why not write it as a Gregorian chant or as Uzbekistani folk music or as hideous 70’s disco? Apparently it’s OK to be uncool unless you’re a CCM musician. Then you’ve gotta try to be, but the odds are you’ll fail miserably.
I can’t deny that the basic message of the song (“God loves me just as I am”) is true; it’s really the insipidity that kills me. Let me share, in closing, a song that does a far better job at eloquently sharing the wonder of God’s love for us. Brother Scott, you might take a lesson or two from Andrew Peterson.
What’s that on the ground?
It’s what’s left of my heart
Somebody named Jesus
Broke it to pieces
And planted the shards
And they’re coming up green
They’re coming in bloom
I can hardly believe
This is all coming true
Just as I am and just as I was
Just as I will be He loves me, He does
He showed me the day that He shed His own blood
He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does
All of my life I’ve held on to this fear
Its thistles and vines
Ensnare and entwine
What flowers appeared
It’s the fear that I’ll fall
One too many times
It’s the fear that His love
Is no better than mine
It’s time now to harvest
What little that grew
This man they call Jesus
Who planted the seeds
Has come for the fruit
And the best that I’ve got
Isn’t nearly enough
He’s glad for the crop
But it’s me that He loves
Just as I am and just as I was
Just as I will be He loves me, He does
The same as the day that He shed His own blood
He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does
(Just As I Am - Andrew Peterson)
Park Concert coming up...
This coming Sunday night my brothers Aaron and Andrew and I will be doing a concert for my church. Noelridge has annually had a church potluck in the park on Labor Day Sunday; for the past several years we’ve had the Faris family (talented bluegrass types from Kansas), but now they’ve moved up in the world and we can’t afford them any more. (Good for them!) So as their amateur replacements, the Hubbs brothers will be providing the musical entertainment this year.
I’m looking forward to this immensely. I have blogged before about the fun of playing music with my family, and this is no different. The music will be stuff that we’ve goofed around with before but never really performed; stuff by Caedmon’s Call, Derek Webb, Andrew Peterson, Andy Osenga, and others.
I only have a couple of more tasks in preparation: I need to try to drum up an electric piano we can use for the night (I know who to call, I just have to make the call) and I need to practice. I need to practice a lot.
What: Noelridge Park Church potluck and concert in the park Where: Noelridge Park Pavilion When: Sunday, September 3rd, 5:30 PM Bring: a dish to share and a lawnchair.
'Cause we're all praying for the ice to break...
This song has been rattling around in my head for the past day or two. It’s beautiful, intense, personal stuff, made all the moreso by the knowledge that Andy was really writing this about himself.
My struggles haven’t been specifically with anger like is dealt with here, but I still understand the feeling of “waiting for the ice to break” - for that cold stasis of the soul to crack up into rushing, vibrant spring - Rich Mullins' streams “all swollen with winter, winter unfrozen, free to run away now…” What a beautiful call to repentance, renewal, and refreshing.
You’re floating like some Lost episode
Now you’re there and I want you but how
How can I get there inside your house of mirrors
Are you looking for a window,
Are you looking for a door?
Cause it’s been too long, too long - It’s been like this too long.
There’s Scripture taped up to the wall now
Are you getting any solace
From the promises, the Word?
Cause you’re angry,
And you can call it what you want to,
But the tree grows from the seeds in your ground
And it’s been too long, too long - It’s been like this too long
Cause you’re lonely
And when Matthew said forgiveness
Your heart leapt and your eyes looked away
You get so busy with the hours and the mortgage
You can turn cold and ignore how you’ve changed
Cause we’re all praying for the ice to break
Waiting for our friend to come back to us again
Cause you’re hurting more than anybody
And they’ve got no power over you now…
-- Andrew Osenga, House of Mirrors
Random Thoughts on Classical Music
For those of you brave enough to read past the title, congratulations! Now instead of me talking about music by people my age, you get to hear me talk about music written by dead people. Well, they weren’t dead when they wrote it… but let’s not confuse the issue.
I grew up listening to lots of classical music. This was pretty much due to the fact that my parents listened to lots of classical music, and I was too young to buy records or run the record player. So classical it was. I remember Bach Cello suites, including a neat recording played by John Williams or Segovia or somebody on the guitar. Dad liked Stravinsky, so we heard some of that, too. And then there was the requisite Beethoven, and then some fun stuff by Prokofiev. (Though the title “Love for Three Oranges” sounds kinda kinky now that I think about it…)
Then I started taking piano lessons, and gained some more personal appreciation for composers. I think I initially got started playing Grieg because my friend Lydia was playing him, and I wanted to out-do her. However, he quickly became a favorite. Then I got my skill up to where I could tackle Chopin’s Ballades. They’re still some of my favorites. (How do I pick between No. 1 in G-Minor and No. 4 in F minor? Too tough to call!) And then there was Rachmaninoff. I hacked through his Second Piano Concerto during my first couple of years of high school. It was only after college that I picked up some of his Preludes, Etudes Tableux, and his wonderful arrangement of Kreisler’s Liebesfreud.
Oh, and any talk about my classical music history wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that tape of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Capriccio Italien that got played over and over and over and over in the van.
I don’t have classical music on that much any more; I’m going to have to make sure that I turn it on more often so Laura and Addison grow up with at least an exposure to it. Laura, though, already watches a Classical Baby DVD that has a bunch of good stuff on it; Mozart, Bach, Schumann, Bartok, and Villa Lobos, to name just a few. I guess that’s a good start. Next I’ll pull out some Mussorgsky…
I love used CDs
Last night, FYE at Coral Ridge Mall. Hem’s Rabbit Songs. Used. Price: $4.99. But wait, there’s 20% off on all used CDs today. Final price $4.00. W00t!
A quick update: this is a terrific album. Beautiful music. Wowza.
Road Trip: Andy O CD Release Show
After hearing the announcement that “much rock will be had”, I decided if I could make it work in my schedule, I’d head on a road trip to Nashville to see Andrew Osenga’s The Morning CD release concert. The schedule worked out, and next thing you know, I was on the road.
It’s not as bad a drive as I’d feared from Cedar Rapids to Nashville. I left at 4:30 am, and with very minimal stoppage I arrived in Nashville by 2:30 pm. I checked into my motel and then left to drive around and aquaint myself with the Nashville area. I drove past one shopping mall that was very dead, and then another one which turned out to be the Green Hills Mall that Andy Gullahorn sings about. After having located Mercy Lounge and how to get there, I went back to my motel to crash.
I apparently gave myself too much time to get down to the Lounge, because I got there about 30 minutes before the published “doors open” time. Deciding to escape the heat and humidity outside, I stuck my head in and managed to hear the end of Andy and the band’s sound check.
There were two openers for Andy; the first was Dave somebody; he sported a Napoleon Dynamite-style afro and a bunch of falsetto vocals with his acoustic guitar. Not bad, but not very memorable. The second act was Matthew Perryman Jones. MPJ is one of the Square Pegs, but I hadn’t heard any of his music until that night. He was very good. He played a few songs solo, then brought Andy O, Cason Cooley, and Eric Weigel up to play with him. Again, very good stuff. I bought his new CD Throwing Punches In The Dark after the show.
Then it was time for Andy. He was playing with a full band: Cason Cooley on keyboards, Eric Chris Weigel on bass, Paul Eckberg on drums, and a guitarist Jason Feller on guitar, and a percussionist whose name escaped me. They played a lot of music from Andy’s new album The Morning, starting out in album order with In Gym Class In High School, After The Garden, and White Dove. He played a few songs from his earlier album Photographs, including Kara and When Will I Run. The highlight of the night was probably his rocking Santa Barbara from the new album. It is a classic roll-the-windows-down rock and roll song, and it was great that night.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and also the chance to meet a bunch of folks, some I had already met, some I had not. This is where I name drop (though is it really name dropping if the people are only “names” to a few people?) : Geof Morris (of rmfo.net fame), Ron Davis (aka Ronzilla) of moreron.com, a couple of other dot.netters, and then in addition to the aforementioned band members, there were Jeremy Casella, Chris Mason, Andy Peterson, Ben Shive, Randall Goodgame, and oh yeah, Andy O’s wife Alison. Very cool.
After helping carry Andy’s gear down to his car, I called it a night and crashed hard at the motel. The following day brought me back on the reverse trip from Nashville to Cedar Rapids; again about a 10 hour drive. It was a great time, well worth the drive. As I told Andy, next time I’ll come back, but I’ll bring my wife along. :-)
Andrew Osenga - The Morning
Only 18 more days until release. If you’re a fan of Andy Osenga’s already, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about; if you’re asking “Andy O-Who?”, let me introduce you to the man who is hands-down my favorite solo artist. Andy Osenga is a wonderful singer, songwriter, and guitar player, formerly of The Normals, currently with Caedmon’s Call, a member of the Square Peg Alliance, and now releasing his second full-length album in what I hope will be a long and brilliant solo career. (By the way - a link to his blog has been sitting over in my sidebar for months now. If you’d paid attention, you would already know what I’m about to tell you. :-))
May 16th will herald the release of The Morning. Andy has released four of the songs on his blog over the past week - if you get over there soon, you may still be able to hear them. After The Garden is a rockin' tune, reminding us that he doesn’t fit neatly into that acoustic singer-songwriter stereotype. Santa Barbara is only slightly more laid back. House of Mirrors gives a smooth, relaxed vibe that will just leave you wanting to hear it again. And New Beginnings? Well, as Andy says, it just about sums up the themes of the whole album.
Go and listen to his songs. Then hit his website and preorder a copy today. Or, buy a couple of copies. Heck, stock up on his older stuff if you haven’t got it already.
OK, so this is a rather shameless promotion on my part, but seriously, folks, this is some good music, and Andy is just the kind of guy you’d want to support by buying his music. I’ve already ordered mine. :-)
Caedmon's Call, Dubuque, IA, 4/23/06
Last night I had the opportunity to see Caedmon’s Call play in concert at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, IA. It was a great time. The night started off nicely when I was able to find the venue just fine, and found free parking on the street only two parking places away from the arena. Amazing.
I walked into the arena and my first thought was that it was the worst setup for a concert that I’d ever seen. This particular arena usually is home to ice hockey and basketball. They had the stage set up against one of the long sides, and then had 40 feet of bare floor between it and the seating. And they hadn’t bothered to pull out the low bleachers, so the lowest seats were still about 12 feet off the ground. It was very weird. But the design redeemed itself when I realized that they were going to allow, nay, welcome people to stand on the floor. You could stand right up at the stage. That was pretty cool.
The opening band was a local band called Ineloquent. I’d never heard of ‘em before, but they weren’t too bad. They have a husband and wife that are lead singers. He looks like one of the old contestants from The Bachelor, and sounds a bit like Dan Haseltine from Jars of Clay. His wife’s vocals reminded me just a bit of the Cardigans. Anyhow, they played a 6-song set, then the lights came back up for a 20 minute break while the stage was reconfigured.
As they got the stage set up, I talked to Andy Osenga for a quick minute as he was testing to make sure his pedal board was ready to go. He said that he was excited that they had the whole band back together for the show. Andy got his blog post written sooner than I did, so you should go read his thoughts about the show and they fun that they had. It was a blast with the whole band together.
They played 13 songs, by my count, and Andy got to do a solo number in the middle. Here’s a quick rundown:
Lead of Love They started with an oldie. The crowd down around the stage, a group of 200 or so college kids, didn’t know it. But they had fun, anyway.
Before There Was Time This got the crowd cranking, clapping and having a good time. Nice upbeat stuff.
Walk With Me It suprised me a little bit that they’d do this one in concert - but it’s a good song that features Danielle’s lead vocals nicely.
The Talk Then it was time (a bit early, but ok) for the talk. This concert was a fund-raiser for a group of students from the University of Dubuque who are going to minister to the Dalits in India this summer. The cause of the Dalits is near and dear to Caedmon’s heart as well, so Cliff took several minutes to describe what they go through. This led into the next portion of the concert with songs off of the recent Share the Well album.
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes OK, so this isn’t a Caedmon’s song, but they sure enjoy doing it. Cliff pulls off a pretty nice interpretation of the Paul Simon vocal (not an easy task!), and it’s just a fun way to head into the Indian theme.
Share The Well For this one, Garrett moves down to the front of the stage to play the tablas (small Indian drums). They weren’t mic’d very well - at least I couldn’t hear them very well, but still the song was fun. The younger crowd knew this song much better.
Bombay Rain This was Andy’s chance to sing lead, and he did a great job as usual. It started off a little bit weak with only his guitar, but it cranked right up as they hit the first chorus, and it was all good from there.
As that song ended, it was obvious that the next song on their set list was Andy’s solo song. But Cliff called the band back to the stage to do one more India song, since the crowd was enjoying it so much. And Cliff starts out by saying “now this is a song that I really like, but I’m not sure I remember all of it.” To which Andy replies “Is it Bon Jovi?” The crowd cracked up at that, and then Josh in the background started playing a little Bon Jovi on the organ, and Andy kicked in with the guitar, and next thing you know the crowd is singing along with the chorus of Wanted Dead or Alive. It was a hoot. But the song that Cliff really wanted to sing was…
Sarala He had to tell the story about this one first, and talked for a while. But he remembered the song, and it sounded good.
The High School Band This was Andy’s turn to do a solo song. The rest of the band cleared the stage, and Andy stole Cliff’s acoustic guitar to play while he sang. I’ve heard Andy sing this song in concert several times now, and I think this was the best I’ve heard him sound singing it. Those high notes are tough, but he just nailed them last night. My only objection was that he always sings that song - I’ll be glad when the new album is out and he can sing something newer.
Step By Step As the band came back out, Cliff had the crowd sing through this classic Rich Mullins tune a couple of times. Josh was playing the organ, and almost got the crowd lost a couple times with his weird harmonies, which earned him a dirty look from Cliff.
I Will Sing - Hope to Carry On The a capella tune I Will Sing gave Andy, Cliff, and Danielle a chance to shine. They were really into it at this point, and the tight three-part harmonies were wonderful. They used that to lead right into Hope to Carry On, which probably qualifies as the oldest Caedmon’s song of all time. (Of course, it’s really a Rich Mullins song, but…) This was where the crowd really reached its emotional peak of the night. The band was cooking. Andy was ripping it on the electric guitar. He jumped off of the drum riser at the end. It was awesome.
God Of Wonders This brought things back down a bit, but the crowd was still singing right along, and it sounded good.
Hands of the Potter This was a fun way to wrap up the set. Todd, Garrett, and Josh all move to the lower stage to play percussion, and the song wraps up with a long drum solo. Good times.
Dalit Hymn They pulled this out for an encore, and again Cliff said they hadn’t done this one in a while and he hoped he remembered the whole thing. He did seem to have a bit more trouble with it - Danielle was looking at him in bewilderment a couple of times as he sang what must’ve been the wrong lyrics. But still, the crowd knew this one pretty well, and it was a good finish.
I got the chance to talk to Cliff and Andy after the show and thank them for a great evening. I suggested to Andy that we need to be able to buy t-shirts with the artwork from his new album on them… I think they’d be awesome. He said that idea, and others, were in the works, if only they could find some funds to get it kicked off.
As we were talking, Todd came out from packing stuff up with a big box of cookies that somebody had made for the band. He said they were gonna get tossed if nobody ate them, so he was out there handing them out to fans in the lobby. The peanut butter cookie I got was huge and very tasty.
My only regret from last night’s concert is that Becky wasn’t able to come. It was just impossible to find a way to take a one-month-old baby along to the concert, or to leave her home for the evening. Becky hasn’t seen Caedmon’s in concert before, and this would’ve been a great way to introduce her. Well, maybe next time.
See the rest of the concert pics on my flickr set.
going to see Caedmon's...
Thanks to Andrew Osenga’s timely posting of more tour dates, I found that Caedmon’s Call will be playing in Dubuque, IA - only an hour from my home! - this Saturday night. My wife has graciously agreed that she could do without me for the night, so I bought my ticket this morning (curses, Ticketmaster, on being the only game in town! one day there will be a reckoning for your extortionary fees!) and will be there tomorrow night. Should be fun. I’ll try to post some pictures and a review this weekend.
New Music
I placed an order today for some music that I’ve dreamed about playing for a long time: Claude Bolling’s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio. (The link is to the audio CD so you can listen to samples. I ordered the sheet music.) This is some phenomenal jazz/classical/whatever-the-heck-it-is fusion. I dunno when I first heard it - sometime in high school, I suppose, and immediately I wished I could get with a trio and play it. But that seemed unlikely and the folio with the instrumental parts cost about 50 bucks.
Flash forward to today. I was looking online for a decent collection of Debussy piano music, and while browsing, came across the Bolling suite again. I decided that I could now manage the 45 bucks, so I ordered it. I also know a couple good flute players and a really good bass player, so I might just be able to get a little trio together to work some of it up. I know I’ll need to get practicing on it - it’s some challenging stuff. But I’m excited to just give it a shot.
too much new music?
I didn’t think it would ever be possible, but at the moment, I feel like I have too much new music to handle.
Within the past week, I have accumulated six new CDs:
My excuse for the last two is that I’m looking for some good hymns to add to our repertoire at church. And the Caedmon’s disk was an unexpected freebie, so that’s not too bad. But I just feel like I don’t have the time to really dig in and give this music the time it deserves. I guess I’ll have to cut down on the CD buying for a while. (Did I say that?)