Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts

Stunning

O come, O come, Emmanuel, / And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here / Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, / Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show, / And teach us in her ways to go.  (Refrain)

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free / Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save, / And give them victory over the grave. (Refrain)

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer / Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, / And death’s dark shadows put to flight. (Refrain)


O come, Thou Key of David, come, / And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, / And close the path to misery. (Refrain)

O come, O come, great Lord of might, / Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law / In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree, / An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall; / All peoples on Thy mercy call.
O come, Desire of nations, bind / In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, / And be Thyself our King of Peace.

This is from a post by Jeff Dunn:

Waits’ voice was described by music critic Daniel Durchholz as “sounding like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.” I’ve described him as sounding like he swallowed an angry cat that is now clawing its way out of Waits’ throat. Tony Bennent he ain’t. But that’s what makes him so real. He records songs exactly the way he wants to. He makes instruments from things he finds in junkyards and records on old tape recorders that really should be in junkyards. On his latest album he sings a duet with Keith Richards. Waits’ voice is so raw he actually makes Keef sound good.

Oh, but he is real.

And here's a couple of videos just to show how true this is.

The "If God Can Love Turkeys" song is one of my favorites.  So it is with great joy that I found David Hayward's comic for the day.

holy as a day is spent

holy is the dish and drain
the soap and sink, and the cup and plate
and the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile
showerheads and good dry towels
and frying eggs sound like psalms
with bits of salt measured in my palm
it’s all a part of a sacrament
as holy as a day is spent

holy is the busy street
and cars that boom with passion’s beat
and the check out girl, counting change
and the hands that shook my hands today
and hymns of geese fly overhead
and spread their wings like their parents did
blessed be the dog, that runs in her sleep
to chase some wild and elusive thing

holy is the familiar room
and quiet moments in the afternoon
and folding sheets like folding hands
to pray as only laundry can
i’m letting go of all my fear
like autumn leaves made of earth and air
for the summer came and the summer went
as holy as a day is spent

holy is the place i stand
to give whatever small good i can
and the empty page, and the open book
redemption everywhere i look
unknowingly we slow our pace
in the shade of unexpected grace
and with grateful smiles and sad lament
as holy as a day is spent

and morning light sings “providence”
as holy as a day is spent

Words by Carrie Newcomer

I'm a sucker for stop motion videos.

And, hey, it's made with jelly beans.

Cool.

In Sunday School today I got to talk about Steve Jobs a bit. The conversation was about clothing and consumerism and an experiment where a small group had, among other things, limited their clothing choices to two outfits plus some workout clothes for forty days.  The point of this part of their experiment was to move beyond our obsessive concern for clothing and how we look and having many options.  Someone in the group talked about Steve Jobs and is iconic turtleneck which then got me a in roll about the man and his vision.

Today is "Steve Jobs Day" in California.  The following video is one composed using only Mac sounds and some of the text of Steve's commencement address at Stanford in 2005.  We may disagree on some of the theology about life and death but it's a very powerful speech.  What I found most interesting are some images of Steve, from his younger days, that I'd not seen before.

Enjoy.

And R.I.P. Steve.

Rough week for the Doepken family.

Today I was thinking of those things that bring me joy...simple joy.  One of them, is good ol' rock 'n' roll.

I've long been a fan of the band Boston. I just about wore out an 8-Track -- yes, that's right, an 8-track -- copy of their first album, "Boston." What a great album. That side one (or tracks 1 & 2) was some of the best 17 or 18 minutes in rock music. It started with "More than a Feeling" and moved on to "Peace of Mind" and then to "Foreplay/Long Time." I always loved that beginning of Foreplay. Great music.

So, it was with great joy that I saw this video over at Mark Altrogge's website, The Blazing Center. What's cool about the video is, not just the talent of the kid doing all of the instruments, but being able to see all the instruments making the music made famous by Tom Schulz and the other members of the original band.

If you like Boston...enjoy...

R.E.M. a band that has performed for almost all of my music-listening years, 30 of them, has called it quits this week.  They leave with neither a bang nor a whimper but released the following to their fans:

To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening. R.E.M.

Simple.

To the point.

R.E.M. never made it into a list of my favorite bands, but I could sing along with a whole lot of their songs, having watched the videos on MTV and heard "Radio Free Europe" and "What's the Frequency Kenneth" and "It's the End of the World and We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" over and over again on radio.  Moreover, I was in college from 1987 to 1991 when the band was in a heyday and adapting their post-punk sound to a world that listened to Nirvana at night.

Their retirement just seems to make me feel a bit older today.

Here's one of my favorites, from back in my high school days.  It's a video of them performing "The One I Love."  It's a great song and they clearly put on a good show.

We continue our sermon series this week, looking at Jacob's parenting and "Playing Favorites."

This was one of the best, most moving tributes to 9/11.  I was at the Superbowl in 2002 just four months after the attacks.  It was a call to remember.  It was a call to love in response.

This is an acoustic version by Obadiah Parker.

Great song.

Great cause.

Great concept.

www.PlayingforChange.com

I have a "Tween Group" in an hour. 

I have a bulletin all done. 

I have phone calls made. 

It's still raining.

Time for some mellow music.  Dawes.