"Hero Advice"

I found this on MSN and it's awesome. It came from Esquire magazine.

Dave Grohl's six rules to a good life. I don't think this is the best advice on earth, but it's unusual to hear stull like this from a guy like him. Some have called him the nicest guy in rock - I've yet to hear anything to make me think different...

1. Dress for the life you want.
It shouldn't be about career and ambitions. It's not rocket science. I manage this organization with no shoes on and a Mr. Bubble T-shirt with chili all over it. There's more to life than work. Your heart has to work to do what we do — to write songs and to jump onstage after you've been on the road for two years. It'll kill you if you don't.

2. Love your family like you love your guitar.
I had a revelation after meeting Neil Young and his family that you can make music forever so long as you have something outside of it to keep you inspired. The time I spend with the band is amazing and so much fun that it makes me want to puke. But the love I get from my family keeps me energized and alive enough to keep up with the music. I'd be [messed up] without one or the other.

3. Moderation in all things.
I'm nearly 40. The last thing I want to do is wake up with a raging hangover and have to listen to Elmo songs with my daughter. I might be able to drink longer now; I just don't drink as often. If I get a night out with some friends and Jägermeister, it's going to be a long night, and somebody's going home with cracked ribs.

4. An audience is an audience.
To me, music was an escape from working in a furniture warehouse. It still feels like that. And at the end of the day, does it matter how many people are standing in front of you when you play a song? You're still going to play music. I'd be just as happy as I am now if I was at the [shack] down the street playing Creedence covers for six people.

5. Try to be in two incredibly successful bands. If not, that's okay.
When I think of Nirvana, I think of Krist, Kurt, and me. I think about us driving through Canadian snowstorms in a van leaking fuel. We reek like guys working in a gas station. I think about us selling equipment for food. I don't think about number-one records. I think of it like any other band I've been in, although that was the one that touched the most people. But I don't wear it like a badge. For starters, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. And beyond that, it starts sitting like a chip on your shoulder. I was in a huge band at one point of my life and I can't believe that happened to me, but I'm not looking back.

6. Man up.
Anybody who has to focus on being real has a problem. It's like having a panic attack over how you're prone to panic attacks. Be a guy. Play music.

I think that last line could be my new motto -

"Be a guy. Play music."

Nice work Dave...thanks for the advice.

Sign of the times

I told my son this weekend that the world must be ending. He said, "How do you know?". I said, "Because, I just bought...of my own free will...my first country CD". Yes, time stood still, the earth stopped rotating...Bryan bought a country CD... Not for someone else, not as gift, not as some strange project, because I wanted to.

What is this world coming to?

In case you are wondering what ended 43 years of chasm for me, the CD is "The Road to Here" by Little Big Town.

It's just one CD, don't expect me to be listening to Keith Urban, that would just be crazy...

6 strings and 4 short fingers

Yesterday my first guitar came by way of UPS. I've been teaching myself and picking up as much as I can since about June of last year using my son's acoustic. The idea of someone buying a guitar doesn't sound crazy or earth shattering, but I've looked forward to this for a few months.

The more I learn on the guitar, the more I want to learn and the better I want to get. I've always loved music...as long as I can remember, it's been a part of my life, but aside from playing the trumpet at school through my sophomore year in high school (that doesn't count) I've never learned to play an instrument. It just wasn't on my radar. It's too bad, because one of my best friends in High School was a practical virtuoso and could have taught me if I had just asked.

I don't remember what made me pick up my son's guitar and start learning in the first place, but it came a little faster than I would have expected. Once I figured that I could do something more than make noises with it I decided that I would try to learn a simple song to sing and play at the talent show during our choir retreat in September. With some help from a couple friends I was able to do that. It was really cool. BTW, the song was "Waiting (Reprise)" by George Michael, it was easy to learn and I really like the song.

So, my thought process was...hey, until I know what I want and if I'm going to really get good I'm going to buy a less expensive one to start off with. I narrowed it down to 3, then 2 then 1. The one I ended up with is an Ibanez AEL20ETBS AEL-20TBS Acoustic-Electric. It's awesome. Playing the guitar is very soothing and relaxing to me and that's exactly what I need right now in my life.

Pretty cool.

The Cops!

I think I may have mentioned well over a year ago that I cried the day I realized that I had purchased the last Police CD that there was. No more new Police material, I had heard everything they had made.

I can honestly still remember the day that I bought "Outlandos d'Amour" at Fairlaine Town Center. I rushed home and just about wore out the grooves in the vinyl (yes is was vinyl), I mean this was 1978...at least 10 years before they started thinking bout CDs (I think I was 14). I can remember being shocked by "Be My Girl - Sally" and otherwise just realizing that I was listening to something completely different that I had never heard before. I was hooked.

Up until a couple weeks ago I just assumed we'd never hear from them as a group again. I mean it's one thing for the Eagles to get back together, but The Police?!? I mean they made if very clear that it wasn't ever going to happen.

Then here comes the 49th Grammys and then the rumors that they may be touring again. I have never "camped out" for concert tickets, but this just might get me there. Of course, the chance of them coming anywhere close to here are 1) SLIM and 2) NONE.

The next thing you know Van Halen will tour again with David Lee Roth...

If I really push my luck, The Talking Heads will have a reunion tour...

**** Tuesday, 2/13

It's worse than I thought. Not only are they not coming anywhere CLOSE to here, it wouldn't matter anyway. The estimated RETAIL price of a ticket is going to be OVER $200!! The most I ever paid for a concert was to see Sting play at Ovens Auditorium (seats about 5,000) and that was $90 (that was a REAL splurge for me). At $225 that's a $1.50 a minute!

I'll just keep listening to my CDs...

Journey

If our life on earth is a journey of thousands of steps toward the final goal of spending eternity with God, I just hopped, skipped and jumped...

Thanks Shaun and Charlie...

Rock On 2006

In May of 2004 I wrote a bit about the current state of Rock (as I see it). I asked the question, "what new groups will we be talking about in 10 or 20 years?". I was looking back at that article and thought I might revisit it:

I wasn't right about much, but I was right about a little. Foo Fighters is still our best chance at a "full-fledged" Rock band with staying power. In fact, I think that they have done some of their best work since that article in May ("One by One" is awesome).

However, the rest of my list seems to have failed us.

First of all, what happened to Hoobastank? They put together two great CDs and then...nothing. OK, so they are finally coming out with a new CD in next month, but 3 years after their sophmore release! They are still breathing, but barely.

Nickelback ends up being just overhyped... Listen to their music and it all sounds the same...it's OK, but I doubt they will be much more than a blip on the radar long term.

So who does that leave us with?

Well, Breaking Benjamin has the ability to take off where Hoobastank left things 3 years ago but they are still a "wait and see". I like their stuff, it's very edgy, but it can sometimes have too much "angst" in it (however, I have come to the conclusion that some of the best artistic work comes from raw emotion).

10 Years is a great new band with an awesome first album, but we'll have to see about their staying power. My concern about them is that they are touring with KORN...what a joke. I would have gone to see them when they came close by, but I didn't want to have to go to a KORN concert just to see them.

IMHO, real Rock is gasping for air and there are fewer and fewer new bands to breath life into it.

Church Music VI - "How do those words taste?"

Excuse me while I eat and type, I find the Veranda font somewhat bitter compared to Tahoma, but meatier...harder to swallow.

Part of the fun of writing a blog is going back and reading what you wrote before. I started this blog as a way to chronicle my journey and it's..interesting (excuse me while I wipe my mouth, the words can sometimes be messy) to look at the journey and be reminded of where it started, where it took me and where I am now.

I wonder where I will be 3 months from now or next year? God is my "tour guide" so the answer is ANYWHERE!

So, I was reading my blog Church Music V - "Corrective Lenses" and the other 4 parts to that "series" and I have to start eating. Eating my words. (excuse me again, while I take a drink of Mt. Dew to wash some more down)

Looking back at what I said then is like looking at myself through a telescope. It's not so much that I disagree with what I said, it's more about the way I said it. However, there is that phrase (gulp) "I believe in ACapella music for corporate worship." (gulp) that came from my fingers and my mind. Since I now weekly participate in corporate worship with every conceivable instrument in them was I wrong then, wrong now, have I had an epiphany, or does it really matter?

I don't have all the answers yet, but I know this. I am truly enjoying where God has led me and I am doing all I can to hang on to his hand as he leads me through the crowded path ahead. My other hand is stuffing my mouth with words and wiping the mess on my sleeve...

"Church Music" - Part II

One of the issues with music in the Churches of Christ has become a DEFINING one, and that's at the root of the problem. In other words, since when did we start defining who we are and what we do by telling others what we DON'T do?!

You wouldn't go to the dictionary and see something like this:

DUCK - An animal that does not look like an elephant, does not have fur and does not hang from trees.

Reading that definition of a duck would tell us NOTHING about what a duck is, nor after reading it would you be able to identify one EVEN IF YOU SAW IT.

I am tired of describing my Church by identifying the differences in it from other Churches. We should have only one identifying mark, that of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have to start from there, BEFORE we worry about the other stuff. The other stuff is important (some, much more than others, like baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sins), but what good does it do to start off by telling someone about all the things that his or her Church DOES NOT do?

There will be a part III...

"Church Music" - Part I

I want to talk about a topic that brings fear and cringing to most Christians that attend Churches of Christ. Music.

Specifically ACappella vs. Instrumental. ACappella, is simply translated as "Church music", but has come to mean music without instrumental accompaniment. But, even that definition is not enough for some. For some, even a human voice (or hand or other body part) that mimics an instrument is no longer ACappella music. For such people, mimicking a bass or creating a beat (for example) defies the spirit of the idea of "Church Music".

On the other side we have something as simple as a Church that might use an organ or a piano along with congregational singing, then there are Choruses, all the way to full bands with electric guitars and drums. There is an organization here in our town that proclaims that they are "The Church That Rocks".

Speaking as someone that has spent his whole life singing ACappella music in worship to God, and in choruses in High School and College, at devotionals and even in a somewhat short-lived group, I feel uncomfortable with the idea of using an instrument (other than that which God gave me) to worship him in an assembly. For me, it's distracting and unnecessary, the human voice is beautiful and simple enough for our corporate praise to God.

The Church of Christ's stance (at least traditionally and generally) on this issue is that instrumental music is not commanded in the Bible, nor is there a New Testament example of any Church using instruments in their corporate worship. It's really that simple, the Bible doesn't mention it, so we don't do it. Actually, the idea of instrumental accompaniment is rather new, only for the last few centuries have Churches used instruments in corporate worship to God, so those that would try to use the Bible to explicitly show that we should use an instrument in corporate worship would be foolish, it's not there. It is truly a man-contrived addition to what God established....

However, so are song books...and, Nurseries....and, Bible Classes...and, V.B.S...and, "pew Bibles".

(I originally called this "Let's Get This Over With...", but I decided to change the name to reflect what it was actually talking about)