a golden opportunity

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: humor, music
• Date: Sep 26,2006

Make sure and come see my band, “The Darbswerdna’s” rock Riverport tonight!

Special guest and math rock innovator, hundiejo, is opening for me. [Wink, wink]

[HT: October '06 Paste Magazine: The Paste's 7]

sabbatical ruminations

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: church, music, pastoring, worship
• Date: Sep 25,2006

Whew! [Brad is wiping his brow...but I don't play the tuba]

Today finds me on a much-needed week long mini-sabbatical. I have been ministering relentlessly for about a year and half and asked for some time away from the grind to refresh, decompress, and reconnect with God’s vision for the future.

Tasks to accomplish:

-Prayer/scripture reading/reflection [not so much tasks but fuel]
-Revisit my original vision for Worship Arts at Grace Church-St. Louis. See how far we’ve come and what needs to happen to get where God is still calling us.
-Reflect on ideas that have popped into my head during the last year and a half that weren’t a part of my original vision; i.e. funeral/wedding volunteer singing pool; more defined creative process [get 6 weeks out]
-Reading and reviewing some books, including revisiting Dan Kimball’s Emerging Worship.
-Reading, absorbing, and responding to some of my favorite blogs
-Mega music research. Both church and personal. [I have 12 pages of personal music I want to sift through]
-Update my librarything.com book catalog
-Starting a blog series on multi-generational worship, which brings me to…

In the September edition of Worship Leader, their feature article is called “Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation,” in which they have conversations about multi-generational worship from persons from all the living generations: The Greatest Generation [1911-1924], Boomers [1946-1964], Generation X [1961-1981], Generation Y [1981-1999]. [No 'New Silent Generation' or 'Generation Z' persons were interviewed. Then again, my son is only four. Not sure he has much to add to the worship conversation other than "My dad sings 'Here I Am to Worship'."]

The idea do a series on this stems primarily from the conversation Worship Leader had with Don Hustad, who is Director of the Sacred Music Department at Moody Bible Institute. Hustad finds himself a part of the oldest living generation, as Tom Brokaw coined, The Greatest Generation. Hustad also find himself at odds with the predominant Evangelical shift toward a rock style in worship. His comments have spawned many ideas, which I hope will be a fresh series on the idea of worship, not just regurgitating the same old arguments and responses.

I look forward to sharing with you…

could he be more obsure?

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: humor, music
• Date: Sep 5,2006

You know you shouldn’t care, but it’s like a car accident; you can’t turn away. Sufjun Stevens, behind the music..

- Relevant Magazine, Issue 22 online edition

You’ve heard his weird naratives and obscure epics on tracks that make up his audio interpretations of historic events in eclectic locales. Here’s some background and historical perspective on some of the strangest songs by Sufjan Stevens.

“Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois”

The first track on Illinois is about the supposed UFO sighted by Melvern Noll, the owner of a miniature golf course in Highland, Ill., in January 2000. Rumor has it that while Noll was manicuring the fine fairways of his course at 4 in the morning, he saw what appeared to be a two-story house hovering silently about 1,000 feet above the ground. “I kept my eyeballs on it; it was all lighted up and so low that someone could have waved at me out the window.”

Noll alerted the authorities not only in Highland but also the neighboring town of Lebanon, because it was headed their way. The unidentified flying object did take its show on the road through Lebanon, and eventually it passed over Shiloh, Dupo and Millstadt and was seen by at least four local policemen. Although Sufjan Stevens does not claim to have seen the UFO himself, it was reported in the days following the first sighting by more than 20 other people.

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truly traditional

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: church, culture, missiology, music, worship
• Date: Jul 26,2006

In light of my recent post on the pope’s recent comments on worship style and the lively debate over at theology for the masses over the same issue [see this and this], I would like to post a comment by Covenant Seminary professor, Anthony Bradley, from his recent blog entry, Culturally Contextualized Ministry Rocks!

If your church has traditional music, for example, then you’re probably singing in from the Psalms primarily in Hebrew or using music from the early church sung in Greek and the preaching’s in Greek. Otherwise, you’re just as non-traditional the “contemporary” church down the street. Churches that only sing from hymnals aren’t really as traditional as they want think, some would say. Adopting a previous era’s contemporary, culturally driven style and calling it “traditional” does not make it so.

THE definitive response to the ‘worship wars’ comes from theologian D.A. Carson, in the book he edited, Worship by the Book. He wrote Chapter 1 entitled: Worship Under the Word.

In this chapter, he tackles the challenge to define worship. He then does go on to define worship, as well as does an exposition on that definition and comes to some practical conclusions. You need to read the whole chapter but I will focus on what our debate over at theology for the masses has centered on:

Historically, some branches of the church have argued that if God has not forbidden something, we are permitted to do it, and the church is permitted to regulate its affairs in these regards in order to establish good order [the Hooker principle]. Others have argued that the only things we should do in public worship are those that find clear example or direct prescription in the New Testament, lest we drift from what is central or impose on our congregations things that their consciences might not be able to support [the Regulative principle].

Some have appealed to Hooker to support changes far beyond the appropriateness of prescribing or forbidding vestments and the like; others have appealed to Hooker in defense of a church-ordered prayer book. Some have appealed to the Regulative principle to ban all instruments from corporate worship and to sanction only the singing of psalms; others see it as a principle of freedom within limits; it recognizes that we are not authorized to worship God “as we please” and that our worship must be acceptable to God himself and therefore in line with his Word. In short, both the Hooker and Regulative principle are plagued by complex debates as to what they mean today as well as historically.

…there is no single passage in the New Testament that establishes a paradigm for corporate worship. Not a few writers appeal to 1 Corinthians 14. Yet the priorities of that chapter are set by Paul’s agenda at the point, dealing with charismata that have gained too prominent a place in public meetings…First Corinthians 14 lays considerable stress on intelligibility…We may debate what is the full range of musical styles to which this expression refers, but psalms are certainly included-whether they are judged intelligible for our biblically illiterate generation or not.

..but so that they [the church] better grasp the dimension of the church that he has redeemed by the death of the Son [and therefore better worship Him]-and that means, surely, [there should be] some sort of exposure to more narrow slice of church that subsits in one particular subculture. The importance of intelligibility must therefore be juxtaposed with the responsibility to expand the limited horizons of one narrow tradition.

the pope’s rift with riffs

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: church, culture, missiology, music, worship
• Date: Jul 7,2006

Get your camo on. The Pope has entered the worship wars.

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your ‘new music’ psa

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: music
• Date: Jun 25,2006

If you read my recent iPod worthy entry, you know that I have come across some music lately that I think rises above the vast wasteland of artists that are clamoring for attention.

I mentioned in that entry that I tend to be pretty hard on new artists [I’m one myself; I’m even harder on myself]. Despite that, for some reason lately, the trend of discovering good music has continued.

As a public service, I would like to pass these artists on to you. Please find a list of ‘must buy’ singles and each artist’s associated RIYL’s [Recommended If You Like]. I think the full albums should be a permanent part of your collection, but get the singles for sure!

Title: Tangerine
Artist: David Mead
Genre: Adult Alternative
Must Buys: Chatterbox; Reminded #1
RIYL: Paul McCartney; Michael Penn

Title: Under the Iron Sea
Artist: Keane
Genre: Adult Alternative
Must Buys: Is It Any Wonder; A Bad Dream
RIYL: David Gray; Aqualung

Title: The Only Thing I Ever Wanted
Artist: Psapp
Genre: Adult Alternative
Must Buys: Hi; Eating Spiders
RIYL: Fiona Apple; Radiohead

Title: Sitting Around Keeping Score
Artist: Spymob
Genre: Rock
Must Buys: 2040; I Still Live at Home
RIYL: Semisonic; Maroon 5

Title: At War With the Mystics
Artist: The Flaming Lips
Genre: Adult Alternative
Must Buys: It Overtakes Me; My Ambulance Driver; The W.A.N.D
RIYL: no earthly idea

Title: What Shall We Say?
Artist: Kyle Matthews
Genre: CCM
Must Buys: Your Love For Me; I Find Myself
RIYL: Ben Folds; Randy Newman

Title: At War With the Mystics
Artist: The Flaming Lips
Genre: Adult Alternative
Must Buys: It Overtakes Me; My Ambulance Driver; The W.A.N.D
RIYL: no earthly idea

Title: Open
Artist: Jason Morant
Genre: Worship
Must Buys: I Will Run; Holy is the Lord
RIYL: Tim Hughes; Travis

iPod worthy

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: music
• Date: Jun 11,2006

I am in a constant state of music research.

In fact, I keep a running list of new artists [over 500] that I want to listen to. In my researching experience, I have found that out of 50 new artists I listen to, I may find one that I would actually buy. That one nugget is what keeps me researching through, frankly, not-so-good music.

This week, I struck gold and disproved my ratio theory [for the time being].

Here are two albums by artists that are worthy of a playlist on your iPod:

ELLERY-Lying Awake

From Paige La Grone Babcock of puremusic.com:

Husband/wife duo Justin and Tasha Golden are Ellery. Their first full-length debut, Lying Awake, finds them lyrically and musically in that dreamy spectrum between fully awake and sweetly drowsing, making for a listen to folk-derived pop music for grownups.

Each well-crafted song is not only performed but written by the pair, evoking an early generation pairing the likes of Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, Tasha’s Golden egg of a voice observes, narrates, and finally unfurls its wings in all its soft feathery sweetness.

Not unlike Ohio’s better known Over The Rhine, Ellery comes across as endearingly earnest, from the looped vocals on the infectiously confessional chorus “Be Like This” to the unpretentious musical build of “The Simple Things.”

GOMEZ-How We Operate
From Matt Cigula of popmatters.com:

I don�t know if How We Operate is Gomez�s best album, but I don�t really keep score like that. I know that it features 12 tricky metamorphic songs, many of which I haven�t figured out fully yet after two or three weeks of listening, and I know that a couple of them have made me do my dorky white-guy dance, and a couple more have made me laugh, and that one particular song has touched my heart like nothing else this year.

This is probably the rootsiest record they�ve made, which is not going to win them many adherents in the �music must be shiny, new, and squelchy� club. Folky guitars and something that sounds like a banjo touch the deceptively simple �See the World�, bringing the sky-high lyrics (“You seem like a soldier / Who�s lost his composure�, not their best couplet) back down to earth. The slide guitar that dominates the first half of �Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol� turns muscular in its metallic second half, when they repeat (for whatever reason), �I don�t know why I�m glowing�.

The reason for this Americana kick can be seen in �Charley Patton Songs�. Singer Ian Ball uses his devotion to an obscure American blues legend as a metaphor for everything he�s ever wanted: �I�ve spent a lifetime / Tryin� to decipher / Charley Patton songs / I don�t know why I bother / Even if I think it�s right / It always comes out wrong�. As the song continues, and Ball sings longingly of all the American places he�s been searching for insight about these songs (read: life itself), it all becomes clear: Gomez is in love with the weird idea of America, the strange impossibly spacious place where most of their favorite music came from. (Dag, no wonder all the British magazines gave up on them.)

why taylor?

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: music
• Date: Jun 4,2006

From the Associated Press on 05.31.06:

NEW YORK – Taylor Hicks has taken step two on his “American Idol”-fueled career, signing the record contract that comes with winning the hit show.

The gray-haired crooner inked a pact with music mogul Clive Davis in conjunction with 19 Recordings Unlimited, the label managed by “AI” creator Simon Fuller, it was announced Wednesday.

The 29-year-old Alabama native’s recording of two songs � “Do I Make You Proud,” which he performed in the show’s finale, and a soulful cover of the Doobie Brothers classic “Takin’ It to the Streets” � will be released in stores and through digital outlets on June 13.

With Davis’ guidance, Hicks is expected to release a full-length album later this year.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Davis, who has molded the careers of previous “Idol” winners, said he thinks Hicks has charisma and a unique singing style that will help him establish his pop audience.

“He definitely has his own sound,” Davis told the AP. “He does have that gift, you know who it is when you hear him.”

So the question remains: Why Taylor? Why did he win American Idol?

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