music

Why I am A David Gray Fan

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So far this year, I haven’t reached all my new year’s goals, but I have to say I have far exceeded one. I set a goal to go to more concerts this year and I have already been to more this year than I had in the previous five years. So, yay for me.

I saw David Gray at the Grand Old Opry Thursday with a friend of mine.  It was an amazing concert, almost an out-of-body experience for me. I think what really made me love the concert was seeing how passionate David Gray was about his music. Seeing someone who loves what they do and is very good at it, you can’t help but love it yourself.

I knew about three songs that he played the entire night. I could have been like some of those around me who tuned out the music they didn’t know and had conversations with each other instead. Besides being rude and inconsiderate, I think they missed out.

For me, the beauty of life is expanding your horizons and trying new things. New foods, new places, new people and, in this case, new music. The Bible talks about those who have ears to hear. Everyone hears, but not everyone really listens. That’s where the beauty comes.

I will probably listen to the David Gray CD in my car and the next time he’s in town, I will try to see him in concert again.

But more than that, I want to keep trying new things. I want to keep my eyes and ears open so that I won’t just look, but see, and not just hear, but listen. I won’t just exist, but I will truly live. Because life really is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

And I for one to be one of the few who don’t miss it.

 

Late at Night

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I have a confession. I am a night owl and I don’t give a hoot about who knows. Yep, that was a terrible pun, but it is true.

I love when I am up late at night and the breezes blow through me like the whispers of God telling me good secrets. I love that feeling of quiet calm that comes just after the overwhelming tiredness where I’m too tired to sleep.

I love the way all those cares and pressures fade into the background noise with the cicadas and crickets. I love that I don’t have to be anywhere or do anything or be anybody other than me for those few moments.

To me, that’s heaven. Not so much the dark, but the feeling that comes with the warm night air and ambient sounds that aren’t lost in all the noise of the day. Not a fanfare, but a quiet air.

I guess that’s why I am a night owl. I’m sure those same sensations come in the pre-dawn hours of the morning, but I’d much rather stay up later than get up earlier any day. I’m too lazy for that.

The Soundtrack of My Life

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I was going to call this My Favorite Things III: Music, but I am sick to death of sequels and movies with numbers at the end. This is pretty much a list of the albums that have made up the soundtrack to my life (hence the title of the blog) and have spoken to the quiet places in my soul and put my feelings to words better than I could have at the time. Again, this list is not definitive or set in stone.

Most of these will be albums you probably have not heard of, and a great many of these are no longer in print. These reflect my drift away from top 40 fare to more independent musical tastes. They are (cue the drum roll, please) as follows:

1) Julie Miller – Orphans and Angels

2) The Choir – Chase the Kangaroo

3) Over The Rhine – Drunkard’s Prayer

4) U2 – October

5) Iona – The Book of Kells

6) Miles Davis – A Kind of Blue

7) Joni Mitchell – Blue

8) Tori Amos – Scarlet’s Walk

9) Vince Gill – These Days

10) Elizabethtown Soundtrack

11) Sara Groves – Add to the Beauty

12) Evanescence – Fallen

13) Dar Williams – The Beauty of the Rain

14) The Band – The Last Waltz

15) JJ Heller – Painted Red

16) Michael Boggs – More than Moved

17) Jonny Lang – Turn Around

18) Mark Heard – High Noon

19) Bob Dylan – Slow Train Coming

20) Over The Rhine – Till We Have Faces

21) Joni Mitchell – Clouds

22) Allison Kraus and Union Station – So Long So Wrong

23) Andrew Peterson – Resurrection Letters: Vol. II

24) Coldplay- Viva la Vida

25) Regina Specktor – Far

26) Sandra McCracken – The Builder and the Architect

27) Lori McKenna – Lorraine

28) Sam & Ruby – The Here and the Now

29) Patty Griffin – Children Running Through

30) Eastmountainsouth – Eastmountainsouth

31) Russ Taff – Under Their Influence Vol. I

32) Elvis Presley – Sunrise (The Sun Studio Recordings)

33) Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Porgy & Bess

34) Queen – Flash Gordon

35) Levon Helm – Dirt Farmer

36) Keith & Kristyn Getty – In Christ Alone

37) Emmylou Harris & Mark Knopfler -All the Roadrunning

38) Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby – Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby

39) Alison Kraus & Robert Plant – Raising Sand

40)  The Innocence Mission – Glow

41) The Little Willies – The Little Willies

42) Anna Nalick – Wreck of the Day

43) Sara Watkins – Sara Watkins

44) Radiohead – In Rainbows

45) Sixpence None the Richer – The Fatherless and the Widow

46) Leign Nash – Blue

47) The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

48) Caedmon’s Call – Overdressed

49) Derek Webb – Mockingbird

50) Courtyard Hounds – Courtyard Hounds

I probably left off quite a few that were very impactful in my life and I probably went with a lot of newer releases just because they were fresher in my mind. But this is a sampling of what kind of music is playing in my head most of the time.

Again, I’d like to hear your own favorite albums, especially if they are off the beaten path, non-top 40, independent, obscure, or otherwise just plain weird. Send ’em my way!

And now for something completely different. . . and random . . .

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Greekfest2013

Here are some thoughts I had on the way home from the Greek Festival.

1) As I was watching the Greek dancing, a little voice in my head said, “You don’t learn to dance by watching other people dance. You learn to dance by dancing.” And every dance starts with taking that dreaded first step. You don’t learn to live by watching other people live; you learn to live by living– taking risks, learning from failure, and laughing at yourself. You don’t learn faith by reading about it or studying the meanings of the various words used for faith in the Bible, you learn by trusting (or “faith”-ing”) God. By a moment by moment declaration of surrender and trust in God.

2) As my favorite philosopher, Ferris Beuller, said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop every once in a while and look around, you could miss it.” If you are all about living life and warp speed, you miss all the little things that make life worth living. Take time to smell a rose or watch a mother play with her newborn or marvel at a sunrise or breath in the night air. Wherever you are, just be in the moment. Just be. Find a quiet secluded spot and listen for that Still Small Voice that spoke worlds into existence.

3) I’m borrowing this from a friend. The next time you are tempted to get aggrevated or irritated at something or someone, ask yourself one question (not “Do ya feel lucky, punk?”). Ask, “Is this something that Jesus died for?” Did Jesus die to make traffic move more smoothly, or to make the office copier operate jam-free, or to make all people nicer? Then why do those things make me angry. No, wait. They don’t make me angry. Nothing can make me do anything, but I choose to be angry. And I can choose not to be. Jesus died not for the deserving, but for the very undeserving, of which I am one. If I want to be like Jesus, I need to show grace toward the people that cut me off in traffic, the copiers that won’t copy, and the meanies of the world.

4) Remember that no matter how hard it is to love someone who has hurt you or let you down, God showed that such love is possible. True love will never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never give up on anyone at any time, because God never, never, never, never. . . .etc. . . . gave up on us. True love, or agape love, is impossible, but I have learned that God is really good at making the impossibles into possibilities. So love each other like your life depended on it. Love like you want to be love. Love like God has loved you. Let God love you and love through you.

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief. Make me a vessel through which You can pour out love to a world desperately in need of it. My life, whether I live one more day, or 100 more years, is in Your hands.

Father Abraham, the Hokey Pokey, and Other Randomness

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anonymous1

I have to confess something. When I was growing up, I thought the song “Father Abraham” (as in “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham”) was about Abraham Lincoln. I was confused. And apparently not the brightest bulb in the lamp. Did Abraham Lincoln have many sons? Am I one of them? And what does waving my arms around have to do with anything? Am I supposed to be excited about the Emancipation Proclamation? Or Abe’s gnarly beard? Needless to say, the truth set me free . . . from a lot of confusion.

Also, the Hokey Pokey is a mystery to me. I’ve always wondered. Is the Hokey Pokey REALLY what it’s all about? ‘Cause it seems to be to be a bit indecisive and wishy-washy. Put your right arm in. . .no. . .wait. . .put your right arm out. . .no. . . wait. . .shake it all about. Seriously! Make up your mind! My arm’s gettin’ tired here! And another thing. What exactly is the part where you “do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around?” I never got that part clear. Is the Hokey Pokey turning your self around? Or is it some vague waving your hands around in the air while you’re in the process of turning?

Yes, I do obsess over very trivial and random things. I am odd. I’ll admit that, though I prefer the term “quirky.” Or “eccentric.” Heck, I’m not picky. I am completely normal, or at least that’s what the voices in my head told me.