I got to work with this dude tonight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwC8EYbDg0Q
(0:46-49)
Way cool.
AND I got to see Big Mike again. We worked together last Saturday.
THANK YOU, JESUS!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Uganda // Keith
Several nights ago, I had a dream that I was in Uganda. I was in the suburban section with two guys about my age and an older guy. Of the younger guys, one had short brown hair, he was something like a long-time resident; the other had reddish hair, a beard and glasses. He was something like a photographer and was supposed to be leaving. The old guy was possibly the brown haired guy's dad.
More than anything else, I remember a sense of ominous urgency. Like war was happening, and it was closing in. It may not have been war yet, but perhaps a thick atmospheric unrest that was mounting. Red beard began packing his things to leave in the morning, and it was suggested that I do the same. It was uncertain if I would get a flight out; something was about to happen.
At one point I found myself outside, creeping toward the house like a theif. Then as I got to the door the mood changed, and I saw Ugandans walking around the street at night, passing by. They were somewhat scared to do anything to whites.
The greatest memory of this dream was the sense of ominous urgency. Something was about to happen.
/////
Last night (sleep?) I had a dream that Keith was praying before a sermon (I was on the side) and saying things like, "Lord, I've tried to preach about the good side of being only half in love with You... but I can't help it anymore..." And then I knew he was going to go all out and preach for real...
More than anything else, I remember a sense of ominous urgency. Like war was happening, and it was closing in. It may not have been war yet, but perhaps a thick atmospheric unrest that was mounting. Red beard began packing his things to leave in the morning, and it was suggested that I do the same. It was uncertain if I would get a flight out; something was about to happen.
At one point I found myself outside, creeping toward the house like a theif. Then as I got to the door the mood changed, and I saw Ugandans walking around the street at night, passing by. They were somewhat scared to do anything to whites.
The greatest memory of this dream was the sense of ominous urgency. Something was about to happen.
/////
Last night (sleep?) I had a dream that Keith was praying before a sermon (I was on the side) and saying things like, "Lord, I've tried to preach about the good side of being only half in love with You... but I can't help it anymore..." And then I knew he was going to go all out and preach for real...
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Awake the Sleeper
Some christians are so dead, they never even felt it when they were cut from the Vine of Life. It was years of resisting, refusing to grow fruit that caused it. Even when the manure piled up around them to push it out of them, they shut themselves up.
What can God do with that?
He is looking for the one who is willing. The one who is destitute, but commits to becoming an overcomer. The one who begins as a child and never forgets. The one who becomes a man and never quits.
He understands the bruised reed and the smoldering wick. But he intends to strengthen, to rekindle into a roaring blaze.
God is into fruit. And there are two places to be: in healing and preparation for production, or producing.
God's intention is always good. He never leaves us alone with the bad, unless we make it happen. Even then, He megaphones our senses.
Wake up. Live life. Nothing on earth is bigger than Me in you.
What can God do with that?
He is looking for the one who is willing. The one who is destitute, but commits to becoming an overcomer. The one who begins as a child and never forgets. The one who becomes a man and never quits.
He understands the bruised reed and the smoldering wick. But he intends to strengthen, to rekindle into a roaring blaze.
God is into fruit. And there are two places to be: in healing and preparation for production, or producing.
God's intention is always good. He never leaves us alone with the bad, unless we make it happen. Even then, He megaphones our senses.
Wake up. Live life. Nothing on earth is bigger than Me in you.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Man Vs. Machine...
Exact mirroring.
Precision.
Cut and Flow (as seen: left and right).
Three CD.
Third? Conflation in the middle? Perhaps.
Four CD?
Fantastic.
Excellent.
Precision.
Cut and Flow (as seen: left and right).
Three CD.
Third? Conflation in the middle? Perhaps.
Four CD?
Fantastic.
Excellent.
Cage, Creativity's Key
"IN THE PAST, THE POINT OF DISAGREEMENT HAS BEEN BETWEEN DISSONANCE AND CONSONANCE, IT WILL BE, IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, BETWEEN NOISE AND SO-CALLED MUSICAL SOUNDS..."
- John Cage, "The Future of Music: Creedo"
Isn't this what happens in all of life? Sound is sound, and only we categorize dissonance and consonance.
It's brilliant how he correlates the two comparisons; obviously he is of the ilk that sees no distinction.
Distinctions in musical quality...are they totally subjective and preferential? Obviously there are those who have honed their skills that communicate better than those who are not as good.
...Consider Velvet Underground: they were musicians (or non-musicians) who were stuck on an unfamiliar instrument. And yet they created some sublime moments. What was it that allowed them to do that? Was it the clear direction, purpose and intention of Warhol and the musicians, perhaps?
Why is "Voodoo" such an amazing album? Or "What's Going On?" Both were made overflowing with intention.
But that intention must be executed in a manner that lines up closely with the intention...or does it have to? Bobby and I have had certain objectives with songs, and the result is totally different - yet better and more powerful than we could have ever imagined!
Still, we began with intention...and the creative process guided that (God is really guiding it, but you know what I mean) into something amazing. And it encapsulates every element of communication that we had desired.
- John Cage, "The Future of Music: Creedo"
Isn't this what happens in all of life? Sound is sound, and only we categorize dissonance and consonance.
It's brilliant how he correlates the two comparisons; obviously he is of the ilk that sees no distinction.
Distinctions in musical quality...are they totally subjective and preferential? Obviously there are those who have honed their skills that communicate better than those who are not as good.
...Consider Velvet Underground: they were musicians (or non-musicians) who were stuck on an unfamiliar instrument. And yet they created some sublime moments. What was it that allowed them to do that? Was it the clear direction, purpose and intention of Warhol and the musicians, perhaps?
Why is "Voodoo" such an amazing album? Or "What's Going On?" Both were made overflowing with intention.
But that intention must be executed in a manner that lines up closely with the intention...or does it have to? Bobby and I have had certain objectives with songs, and the result is totally different - yet better and more powerful than we could have ever imagined!
Still, we began with intention...and the creative process guided that (God is really guiding it, but you know what I mean) into something amazing. And it encapsulates every element of communication that we had desired.
(Clarification)
When I said, "I'm leaving them both," in my last post, what I meant was...
I'm departing from the state where anyone does the thinking for me, decides my beliefs or makes up my mind instead of me. I will be held more accountable than they - although, if they teach me into stumbling, they will be sorry. And if I do the same, so will I.
Nor does this mean that I'm not open. If I was closed to hearing, I'd be the biggest fool on earth. "There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors."
God, give me wisdom!
I'm departing from the state where anyone does the thinking for me, decides my beliefs or makes up my mind instead of me. I will be held more accountable than they - although, if they teach me into stumbling, they will be sorry. And if I do the same, so will I.
Nor does this mean that I'm not open. If I was closed to hearing, I'd be the biggest fool on earth. "There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors."
God, give me wisdom!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Argh!
Here's the problem I've been encountering lately...
People get hung up on words.
What do I mean? Well... I mean that people take what others have experienced through revelation and systematize and dogmatize the crap out of it.
I was referenced by a friend to a website of a man who has some pretty strong statements on what he believes is true christianity - and that the current church in general is very wrong (he calls it the Whore of Babylon).
His bold claims of calling others to his side threw me for a loop for a minute. It totally contradicts other things I've heard all of my life about God and christianity. What I have decided to do instead of choosing between them is to leave them both, in a sense.
Instead of following either one, I have decided to trust God. What?! Novel concept!
Yes.
This I hold to be prime: Knowing God.
If I truly believe He is the Shepherd of my soul, and that He lives in me and I know Him... Why don't I ask Him about these things?
There is ample scripture to back up what I'm saying, but I won't go into it.
Because what I have discovered is that you can use scripture to back up just about anything you want. You can say Jesus is wild. You can say He's gentle.
You know what? He's a person, with a whole range of character and emotion (not inconsistent, but multi-faceted).
And He loves me. And I love Him. And I know Him, and He knows me. If I ask Him something, He said that He'll give me a fish and not a stone.
Now, back to words...
I'm weary now of producing an aesthetic manifesto. Why? Because people will take the words and make them into universal rules that must not be transgressed, or else you will sit outside of our aesthetic circle and not ever be welcomed in! Hmph!
You've got people who make beautiful music that make no money, and I respect them.
You've got people who make great music and lots of money, and I respect them.
You've got people who make ugly music and pave the way for great music, and I respect them (sometimes).
And then you've got people who make not-so-great music. Whether they make tons of money or not, I don't have much love for that mode-de-vie.
I am still planning on writing about my discoveries in the Scriptures, life, and other sources about music.
Shoot, I feel like just copying "The Mysticism of Sound and Music" and releasing it under my name! Ha ha, but I won't.
Anyway, I do believe in the primacy of the individual-to-God relation. And He is the Source of ALL, so I will go to Him for ALL.
I am still going to church, because you know what? God shows up. I love that place, even though I'm not always on the same bandwagon. He has spoken to me many-a-time at this place. But even that place is very limited in what it can show me about God. Everyone is.
But God.
:)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
A Holy-ing Trinity
Ecclesiastes 3:12 -
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
I was thinking about something today on my walk. Wherever we go, we encounter other's spirits, and others encounter ours, and by this we make what we call an "intuitive judgment" about someone.
In first Corinthians, Paul says that whomever unites himself with God is one spirit with Him. And in Genesis we find that a man and a woman become one spirit, one flesh.
Now, after a person is married, they carry with them not one, not two, but three spirits with them, all in one. Does this sound familiar?
Wherever you go you carry your spouse and your God. This is yet another reflection of our God imaging.
And yet a contrast enters when we realize that neither we nor our spouse is perfect, like God.
However, we are connected to God, who makes us holy...so, as God's representation on earth, we are a holy-ing trinity...one that is continually moving towards a state of true, clean God-likeness.
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
I was thinking about something today on my walk. Wherever we go, we encounter other's spirits, and others encounter ours, and by this we make what we call an "intuitive judgment" about someone.
In first Corinthians, Paul says that whomever unites himself with God is one spirit with Him. And in Genesis we find that a man and a woman become one spirit, one flesh.
Now, after a person is married, they carry with them not one, not two, but three spirits with them, all in one. Does this sound familiar?
Wherever you go you carry your spouse and your God. This is yet another reflection of our God imaging.
And yet a contrast enters when we realize that neither we nor our spouse is perfect, like God.
However, we are connected to God, who makes us holy...so, as God's representation on earth, we are a holy-ing trinity...one that is continually moving towards a state of true, clean God-likeness.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Who Has the Time?
I've been doing some research on the cross-pollination of the musical cultures of Euro-electronic and Traditional African genera for a paper that I'm writing this semester. One of the most striking differences between these groups is the polarity in their concepts of rhythm and time. In Euro-Western music, there is a very measured, structured, more static adherence to the breaking up of time; the African mindset has more of a flow, an improvisational aspect...much like a conversation.
The trigger to the following happened simply when I was driving. I was rushing to pick someone up between church services (you know who you are :) and I said, "I'll be there in three minutes..." It got me thinking: this whole idea of hours, seconds and minutes is a western convention, isn't it? The breaking up of time in order to master it; a mindset of control. We can see how it permeates into so many other areas of our culture, the systemization and breakdown of life so that we might grasp contain it.
In contrast is the African mindset. Instead of chopping up the grand flow of time into minutes and milliseconds, there is an idea of, "It'll happen when it happens," or, "We'll be there on this day...at some point." Although it may sound frustrating to the strict punctual types, there seems to be a freedom in this way of thinking. There is an allowance for the small things, an allowance and preparation for spontaneity and improvisation in life.
Many musicological scholars are looking into new ways of representing and explaining the African approach to time and rhythm because the traditional western music-writing methods simply can't comprehend it. New language, new structures, new thinking (for the westerner) must be adopted in order to step into the flow of ancient time and rhythmic practices. And this, for me, is exciting. This is where freshness begins.
I still use (and will continue using) notation to write out rhythmic ideas for rememberance and communication...but learning a new method, a new way of thinking, a new schema for rhythm simply offers, as our animated friend Aladdin would say, a whole new world.
There is a continual de-centralization of thought happening in our world today, which allows for newness to thrive; which morally can go either way, depending on how you look at it.
The question is, after centuries of thinking we had the corner on the market of musical understanding, and being confronted with a foreign outlook that challenges our perspective on life, Who has the time?
The trigger to the following happened simply when I was driving. I was rushing to pick someone up between church services (you know who you are :) and I said, "I'll be there in three minutes..." It got me thinking: this whole idea of hours, seconds and minutes is a western convention, isn't it? The breaking up of time in order to master it; a mindset of control. We can see how it permeates into so many other areas of our culture, the systemization and breakdown of life so that we might grasp contain it.
In contrast is the African mindset. Instead of chopping up the grand flow of time into minutes and milliseconds, there is an idea of, "It'll happen when it happens," or, "We'll be there on this day...at some point." Although it may sound frustrating to the strict punctual types, there seems to be a freedom in this way of thinking. There is an allowance for the small things, an allowance and preparation for spontaneity and improvisation in life.
Many musicological scholars are looking into new ways of representing and explaining the African approach to time and rhythm because the traditional western music-writing methods simply can't comprehend it. New language, new structures, new thinking (for the westerner) must be adopted in order to step into the flow of ancient time and rhythmic practices. And this, for me, is exciting. This is where freshness begins.
I still use (and will continue using) notation to write out rhythmic ideas for rememberance and communication...but learning a new method, a new way of thinking, a new schema for rhythm simply offers, as our animated friend Aladdin would say, a whole new world.
There is a continual de-centralization of thought happening in our world today, which allows for newness to thrive; which morally can go either way, depending on how you look at it.
The question is, after centuries of thinking we had the corner on the market of musical understanding, and being confronted with a foreign outlook that challenges our perspective on life, Who has the time?
Monday, January 21, 2008
Word Becomes Flesh
Over the past few months I've been really considering the supernatural power of the concept "Word". It is a fork in the family tree of rhythm; progression from end to beginning: Word: Breath: Vibration: Rhythm. But that's only a side note.
Several times in Proverbs we're given hints and insights into the power of WORD. Here are two (among many) in particular:
"From the fruit of a his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied"
And
"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."
(Proverbs 18:20 and 21 respectively)
But this morning I fell privy to a new insight: God's progression of Word. What do I mean by that? I mean, how does Word move, what path does is follow, when it's in the mouth of God?
Let's open our Bibles to page 1.
When we go through the first chapter, we find that God created the world through Word. That is elementary and vital, but that's not what struck me as much as this. Let's zoom in on what it says:
Vs. 3 "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. 4 God SAW...
Vs. 9 "And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place...' 10 And God SAW...
Do you catch my drift? First, God says. Then God sees. This GOD we're talking about! And, as we read later, if we are created in His image, being 'gods' on the earth (Genesis 1:28; Psalm 82:6; John 10:34) we, likewise, have been created with the same creative power: to speak, and then to see.
See also how God projects salvation with WORD (The WORD is our Salvation): Genesis 3:15 and all throughout the Old T. Then Christ finally comes as the Word in flesh; Emmanuel. God with us.
Watch and pray, Jesus said. Choose your words carefully...
More soon.
Several times in Proverbs we're given hints and insights into the power of WORD. Here are two (among many) in particular:
"From the fruit of a his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied"
And
"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."
(Proverbs 18:20 and 21 respectively)
But this morning I fell privy to a new insight: God's progression of Word. What do I mean by that? I mean, how does Word move, what path does is follow, when it's in the mouth of God?
Let's open our Bibles to page 1.
When we go through the first chapter, we find that God created the world through Word. That is elementary and vital, but that's not what struck me as much as this. Let's zoom in on what it says:
Vs. 3 "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. 4 God SAW...
Vs. 9 "And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place...' 10 And God SAW...
Do you catch my drift? First, God says. Then God sees. This GOD we're talking about! And, as we read later, if we are created in His image, being 'gods' on the earth (Genesis 1:28; Psalm 82:6; John 10:34) we, likewise, have been created with the same creative power: to speak, and then to see.
See also how God projects salvation with WORD (The WORD is our Salvation): Genesis 3:15 and all throughout the Old T. Then Christ finally comes as the Word in flesh; Emmanuel. God with us.
Watch and pray, Jesus said. Choose your words carefully...
More soon.
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