music

Desert Island Christmas Music Addendum

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sufjan stevens christmas

 

Since I last posted on my favorite Christmas, I’ve come across some additional Christmas albums worthy to take their place in the illustrious Christmas Island Christmas Music Hall of Fame. If you get stranded on that odd island with unlimited batteries but no electricity, you may find these picks useful.

1) Silver & Gold- Sufjan Stevens. It’s gloriously weird and wonderful. I never know what to expect from one track to the next, but I can definitely tell you it’s not the same ol’ renditions of the same ol’ holiday fare. This one is only for the musically adventurous folks who like to venture outside of top-4o-land from time to time.

2) Andy Williams Christmas Album- This one’s a classic from 1963 that deserves a place in any holiday music collection. Andy Williams’ passing earlier this year makes this one a poignant choice for the season.

3) Straight No Chaser- Holiday Spirits. This one’s a fantastic acapella album that I like to call traditional-with-a-twist. It’s worth the investment if only for the fantastic live version of 12 Days of Christmas. I don’t remember who recommended this one to me, but thanks to you, whoever you are and wherever you are.

As always, these lists are subject to change, especially if I run into an especially good Christmas album. I welcome your recommendations and suggestions. The more off-the-wall and eclectic, the better.

 

Desert Island Christmas Music Part One

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I love it when someone asks, “If you were stranded on a desert island, what kind of music would you have with you?” Which assumes that you’re either 1) stuck on the only desert island in existance to have electricity and outlets and an unlimited supply of batteries or 2) a very cool solar-powered CD player (or MP3 player if you please). And wouldn’t you be too tied up with small details like finding water and food to be concerned about what’s on your playlist?

Still, I think when it comes to the Christmas season, a few albums come to mind that are essential listening to get into the festive spirit. I’m giving you this list early so you have time to rush out to Best Buy or Barnes & Noble (or one of those “hipper than thou” music stores). Or you  could rush over to your laptop with high-speed internet to amazon.com.

Here’s my list.

1) A Charlie Brown Christmas- Vince Guaraldi Trio. It’s not Christmas without Snoopy and Charlie Brown.

2) Elvis Presley- If Every Day Were Like Christmas. This one has all of Elvis’ Christmas recordings on one fantastic CD.

3) Harry Connick Jr- When My Heart Finds Christmas. This one goes well at any Christmas party.

4) Sarah Maclachlan- Wintersomg. Breathtakingly beautiful.

5) A Christmas Gift for You- from Phil Spector. Vintage 60’s holiday fare.

6) The Christmas Album- David Foster. Lushly produced album with my favorite rendition of “O Holy Night” by Michael Crawford.

7) Croon and Swoon: A Classic Christmas (Volume One and Two). Some of the best voices of yesteryear sing holiday standards.

8) The Christmas Song- Nat King Cole. Perfect Christmas Eve music.

9) Merry Christmas- Mariah Carey. One of my favorites of the contemporary Christmas albums that has a real throwback feel.

10) A Merry Christmas with Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters. Again, this is required holiday music.

11) To Drive the Cold Winter Away- Loreena McKennitt. Haunting.

12) Behold the Lamb of God- Andrew Peterson. I think “Labor of Love” would move even the Grinch to tears.

13) A Christmas Cornucopia- Annie Lennox. Very reverent and sacred take on Christmas Carols both popular and obscure.

14) My Holiday- Mindy Smith. A good mix of standards and originals.

15) Christmas- The Big 80’s. Christmas done 80’s style.

Part two coming soon. . .

PS I would love to hear some of your favorite Christmas albums that you listen to every year. I’m always looking to add to my ever-growing, awesome collection of Christmas music.

 

Rainy Thursday Night Reminders

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uncle billy

Side note: I thought about titling this “The You-niqueness of You,” but decided against it, because I actually want people to read it.

I think sometimes we have a “one size fits all” theology when it comes to how God operates in people’s lives. Testimonies have to be bloody and dramatic and have a pivotal moment when the main character hits absolute rock bottom and has no where to go but up.

But not all testimonies are like that. Some people grow up around church and get saved at an early age, but it took just as much of a miracle to save them as it did the drugged-up alcoholic who comes to Christ after a near-death experience. Both are equally valid testimonies and both can reach people.

Jesus never healed people the same way twice. Every call for people to follow him was as different as the individuals he called. God’s plan for your life is as unique as you are.

Don’t ever let people force God’s call on their lives on you. Don’t let other people define your life by their (or some other arbitrary) standard. Your life and your ministry are your own.

I love a story I read in Johnny Cash’s autobiography. He relates a story about how a music executive was looking for the next Randy Travis. Johnny Cash basically told him straight up, “What’s wrong with the Randy Travis you have?”

You are not called to be the next Billy Graham and save millions of souls. You are not called to be the next Mother Teresa. You are called to be you, just as I am called to be me.

Honestly, sometimes I get discouraged because my life doesn’t look like someone else’s. But God’s plan for me is my own. It may not look like your’s or anybody else’s, but it’s still mine.

The only question is this. Will you be faithful to God’s call on your life? Will you obey what you know God is calling you to do right now at this very moment? Will you accept where God has you as a gift and an opportunity to reach out to the people he’s put in front of you?

Vintage Music Picks

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As I’ve probably mentioned before, I have extremely eclectic musical tastes, with everything from Glenn Miller to Metallica in my collection. Lately, my music has taken an indie/alternative turn, but I still like my sappy 80’s power ballads from time to time (and I am not ashamed of that, either).

That said, I have some recommendations if you’re into vintage, i.e. pre-1950’s music.

http://www.amazon.com/Popular-Recordings-Glenn-Miller/dp/B000002WDC/ref=sr_1_12?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348971870&sr=1-12&keywords=glenn+miller

If you love circa-World War II big band music, this is the holy grail. I wish they had a more recent and remastered version of this music, but the songs are fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Blanton-Webster-Band-Duke-Ellington/dp/B000003EO4/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348971992&sr=1-1&keywords=duke+ellington+blanton+webster

Another fantastic collection of big band music from one of the all-time legends of jazz music in Duke Ellington. You really can’t go wrong here.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Columbia-Years-1943-52-4-CD/dp/B000007QCN/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348972098&sr=1-2&keywords=frank+sinatra+box+set+columbia

This represents one of the greatest crooners of all time, Frank Sinatra, in what I consider to be his best period, musically speaking. His voice is velvety-smooth and the songs really stand the test of time.

http://www.amazon.com/Very-Best-Andrews-Sisters-Greatest/dp/B00005UL6B/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348972172&sr=1-4&keywords=the+andrews+sisters

This is an import collection of The Andrews Sisters, and in my humble opinion, sounds amazing for songs that were recorded primarily in the 40’s.

http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Johnson-Complete-Recordings/dp/B000002757/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1348972246&sr=1-1&keywords=robert+johnson+the+complete+recordings

This collection of bluesman Robert Johnson’s recordings is essential if you are even remotely interested in blues music at all. Just incredible musicianship and very soulful and moving songs.

That’s all I have for now, but there will probably be more recommendations to come in the future. I welcome your picks, as I am always looking to add to the variety of my vast musical collection.

 

 

Music & Memories

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“She wears denim wherever she goes
Says she’s gonna get some records by the Status Quo
Oh yeah…Oh yeah…” (Teenage Fanclub)

If you’re as much of a music nerd as I am, maybe you occasionally hear the opening line of a particular song and it transports you to a very specific place and time.

Maybe you go back to being in the car with friends at night on a weekend. You remember where you were, where you were going, the conversation, even the sights and smells.

For me, I hear the song “Silent Lucidity” by Queensryche and I go back to the Subway next to the Kroger’s where I used to work and the girl I used to have a crush on. I can’t remember what we talked about or what sub I ate, but I remember that song.

When I hear some songs, I’m 12 years old again, feeling the same feelings I felt back then. Or maybe I’m back to being 21 with a whole world of possibilities still opened up before me.

That’s why I love music so much. Nothing else has the power to bring back memories so vividly. All it takes is the intro and opening lines to a certain song and you’re back in the moment. It’s as good as a time machine.

Nothing takes me back to junior high better than a Chicago song. Bon Jovi takes me back to high school days. For college, nothing brings back good memories better than a Spin Doctors song.

What songs take you back? It may not be a song that went massive. It may be an obscure song that just happened to hit you at the right moment in such a way that it is ingrained in your memory, tied to a particular place and time.

But if you’re anything like me, you have at least one of those songs stored in the ol’ noggin. So let me know. What are the songs that make up the soundtrack of your life?

Worship Lived Out

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“If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.” (Richard Foster)

I got convicted today that maybe I am worshiping worship music. Maybe I’m too caught up in the style of worship music and how current the songs are. Maybe I’ve reduced the art of worship to a once a week exercise in singing trendy songs.

I truly believe that if I’m really worshiping, it won’t matter if it’s a top-notch worship band cranking out the latest Hillsong or Chris Tomlin songs or a piano and organ playing a 500-year old hymn. In fact, it won’t even matter if there’s no music at all.

Worship is so much bigger than singing songs with hands raised or hands in my pockets. It’s so much bigger than the style of music. Worship is so much bigger than music. Worship is making God look great in EVERYTHING I do, whether I’m in a church building or at work or at home by myself.

Regardless of where it takes place, worship that leaves me the same after as I was before isn’t really worship. If I’m not spurred to greater acts of love and obedience, that I haven’t really worshiped. I’ve just sang songs or read words out of a Bible or done religious things.

If people are looking at me and how much my love for Jesus shows, I’ve missed the point. People shouldn’t be looking at me at all, but drawn to and transformed by God. That’s what real and true worship does.

Above all, worship is not an event or an activity. It’s a 24/7 lifestyle that never really ends.

 

 

An Awesome Definition for Worship

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worship111ma

“Worship is extravagant love and extreme submission.”

I love that definition.

Too often, worship is all about singing songs. It’s all too easy to sit back and critique the song choices and musical styles and whether or not those around me are worshiping the “right” way.

In Nashville, it’s easy to let worship become all about the level of musicianship and charasmatic personality. It’s easy to manipulate a crowd into a frenzy if you’re talented enough, but that’s not worship.

Worship is extravagant love. I can’t help but thinking about the woman who poured the expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and then wiped those feet with her hair. That was more than inconvenient. That was extremely costly and humiliating. That’s worship.

It’s also extreme submission. It’s surrendering my own illusion of self-control and admitting that I have a desperate need for God. And it starts long before you enter the sanctuary and the church service and doesn’t end when you pass the exit doors on your way out into the parking lot.

Worship is not an event, but a lifestyle of saying, “Not my will, but Thine.”

I don’t normally do this, but I posted a link to a fantastic blog about the nature of worship that I ran across today.

http://allsonsanddaughters.com/2012/03/26/art-in-worship-join-the-conversation/

I challenge to you read it and let it soak into your very being.

If I’m truly worshipping in Romans 12:1-2 fashion and being transformed by the renewing of my mind and offering my body as a living sacrifice, then it won’t matter whether I’m singing the most current and trendy modern worship songs or the old, old hymns.

It won’t matter if there’s a rockin’ worship band, or a guy with a guitar, or an orchestra and choir, or just a piano and organ.

It will be worship. It will declare the great worth of God to the world.

After all, like the song says, it’s not about me. It’s all about You, Jesus.

Strange Songs to Get Stuck in Your Head

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I have songs running through my head all the time. It’s better than listening to the radio. I never know what song will be next or where it will come from or what will inspire it. Like the one that’s in there now. It goes like

“My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do for you.”

That’s the whole song. It’s deceptively simple and easy enough for toddlers to sing, but profound enough to blow the minds of the most seasoned believers.

There’s so much truth here if you let it sink in. If you dismiss it as a simple children’s song, you miss out on some very deep truths.

God is so big. He’s bigger than you, bigger than your dreams, bigger than what you’re afraid of, bigger than what you’re facing. He’s bigger than what the world says you can’t do or be or overcome. He is so big.

God is so strong. He’s strong enough to reach down to wherever you are, no matter how low, and pull you out. He’s strong enough to break through any barrier or stronghold or even the hell you’re in to find you and rescue you. He is so strong.

God is so mighty. He’s mighty enough to keep you safe and secure from all alarms. He’s mighty enough to finish what He started in you and make you into the person He created you to be. He is so mighty.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that God cannot do for you. What’s impossible for you is not even remotely difficult for God (yes, I stole that from a good sermon I heard, but I don’t think he’ll mind).

If you had these words running through your mind all day, imagine how much more confidence and courage you would have. If you believed it enough to step out off the ledge in a leap of faith. If you went to the dangerous and messy places that Jesus went to in order to bring a cup of cold water and a message of hope to the lonely, the broken, the hurting, the outcast, and the thrown-aside.

My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. He’s stronger than cancer. Stronger than divorce. Stronger than unemployment. Stronger than moral failure. Stronger than addiction. Stronger than the death of a child. Stronger than depression. Stronger than chronic pain. Strong enough to get you through anything and make you stronger on the other side.

There’s nothing my God cannot do. For you.

Musical Memories

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For me, picking out the right music for any trip in the car is a big deal. I can’t just pick up any old CD willy-nilly and be satisfied. Sometimes, I’ve been known to hunt down a particular album for hours just because I feel it would make the best possible soundtrack for the places I’m about to go in my car.

Tonight, I went with David Crowder Band’s Sunsets and Sushi. It seems like everytime I hear that CD, I’m immediately taken back to 2004 and to very vivid images of friends I knew back then and a Bible study/worship experience I went to back in the day called Ecclesia.

I can hear certain 80’s songs that take me back to my 8th grade dance. I get pictures of me with my yellow square tie and my bad hair dancing with a girl I’d had a crush on but never had the nerve to talk to. A girl I’ve never seen since, whose name was Lucy (and that’s the extent of what I remember about her).

I hear Silent Lucidity by Queensryche and I am immediately back to the Subway on Exeter Road in Germantown next to the Kroger’s I worked in. I was with yet another girl I had a crush on. This time, it was Carly, who just so happened to live a few streets down from me. I think I may have walked by her street a few (hundred) times, hoping to “accidentally” run into her. It never happened. And no, I don’t remember at all what sub I got that day.

I hear All I Want is You by U2 and my mind immediately goes to the movie Reality Bites and the scene where Winona Ryder is desparately trying to find Ethan Hawke and tell him she loves him. And yes, I still have a crush on her even 18 years later.

For me, music conjurs up images in my mind like nothing else, except maybe the smell of rolls fresh out of the oven or burning candles at Christmas.

For those of you who are music nerds like me, what albums or songs bring back the most vivid memories? Where do those songs take you?

Enquiring minds, i.e. me, want to know.

My Obligatory Charlie Sheen Blog

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image

Honestly, this is not another blog about how crazy Charlie Sheen is these days or how he needs help or any of that. If I were in his shoes, I might be acting twice as crazy. Plus, I’d probably be walking funny ’cause His feet are probably at least 2 sizes bigger than mine.

Actually, this is about a dream I had that starred Charlie Sheen. In my dream, I was about to cut the front yard when ol’ Charlie pulled up and asked if he could do it, because he’d never used a lawnmower before. His dream words, not mine. And that was it. I don’t know if it’s weird that I dreamed this or that I still remember the dream. And yes, I totally pulled a bait-and-switch blog on you.

Dreams always seem normal when you’re dreaming them. You never notice anything bizarre when you’re in the dream. You could be flying naked and be thinking in the dream, “Hey, I always fly on Tuesdays. And where did my clothes go? I’m pretty sure I was dressed when I left the house this morning.” Only when you wake up do you realize that what you dreamed about wasn’t normal. And I mean both the flying and the being naked part.

I think we do that in life, especially as believers. We tend live the same way, thinking that the way we think and act is normal, but only when God’s Spriit moves in and wakes us up, do we realize how abnormal we’ve been. So many live under the belief that it’s normal to feel defeated and discouraged and numb to your faith. It’s normal to not feel anything in worship. It’s normal to think that God must be upset with you and that your fellow believers don’t really want you around.

Only when God opens your eyes do you see that victory is the norm. You see that God sees Jesus when He sees you and He is very pleased with you. And those fellow believers you thought were ready to throw you under the bus? They may need to hear your struggle so they can encourage you or at the least empathize with what you’re going through. And once you start making worship about declaring the great worth of God because He deserves it, whether you feel it or not, the feelings eventually come back. I promise. But at that point, it doesn’t matter whether you’re super-hyped or barely able to sing the words. It’s still worship because it’s centered on a God who is able.

So yeah. I pretty much fooled you into thinking you were going to read a scathing blog about another Hollywood star gone wrong. All I have for Charlie Sheen is prayer and support. But for the grace of God, that could have been me or you. Or much worse. You and I need God’s grace just as much as any of the Charlie Sheens of the world. We needed just as much of the blood of Christ. And God is able to save all the Charlie Sheens. . . and us. . . to the uttermost!

Amen and amen.