Mon - March 13, 2006

Bob's Concert et al 



Wow. I am exhausted. I just got back from driving Bob up to Winnipeg. This drive was less surreal, and more great connectional time with a wonderful guy I got to know better on our Canadian invasion. It's hard to draw lines in my life anymore, who is a friend, who is an acquaintance, who is a coworker, who is a colleague, who is a church member/attender. You get the idea. I'd be proud to call Bob a friend, if that wouldn't be inappropriate...

The concert was absolutely incredible. Almost 200 people showed up to hear Bob make us laugh and cry, to be moved to the heights of heaven and called to take a closer look at the surroundings of our humanity with new eyes. For almost an hour and half Bob plied his craft, and it was amazing.

For someone who makes his living speaking, I am having a tough time finding words to describe what a blessed night it was. Blessed, it was and we were and I guess that is good enough for me.

Thanks Bob!
Mark 

Posted at 01:34 PM    

Sat - March 11, 2006

Bob Bennett; Part Three, the driving 



Bob flew into out region from LAX, landing in Winnipeg. It worked well, since Bob's record company is up there (CLICK ). We knew when we booked the flight, that being from California, Bob would likely need a driver. So earlier today I drove up to Winnipeg. Good thing Bob wasn't behind the wheel, we had a lot of snow on the way up and a little on the way down.

Most of the way down it was blowing snow, yet eerily sunlit. It cast an all-over white sheen to the surrounding countryside, cutting visibly and making ti look like a bad movie's portrayal of heaven.

Just wanted to tell you all how surreal it was to be shooting along at 60-70 MPH, through a blessed heavenly landscape with Bob Bennett sitting by my side. He is as amazing a guy as I thought he might be and I really enjoyed the trip.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow.

Mark 

Posted at 11:34 PM    

Fri - March 3, 2006

Bob who? 



Some people have asked who Bob Bennett is. Well, I'll tell you...(from his website ) 
"Bob was born in Downey, California, in 1955. He picked up his first guitar at age nine and formed a rock 'n' roll band in high school. In the late seventies he converted to Christianity and his songwriting began to reflect his newfound faith. His career was launched with the release of his 1979 folk-style debut recording First Things First. Three years later came Matters of the Heart, a recording Contemporary Christian Music Magazine voted 1982's "Album of the Year," ranking it among the top 20 contemporary Christian albums of all time. Soon after the release of his next recording, Non-Fiction, he served as opening act on Amy Grant's Unguarded tour. Lord of the Past: A Compilation followed, with its title song reaching number one on the Christian radio charts in early 1990, followed by his second number one song, "Yours Alone." Later that year Bob joined Michael Card on his The Way of Wisdom tour, performing in front of sold-out audiences across the country. Songs from Bright Avenue was released in 1991, a collection of songs he wrote while struggling with the dissolution of his marriage. The years that followed were a time of emotional healing, regrouping and moving forward with his life. Recently, Bob has found acceptance in the mainstream folk music scene, while performing in music clubs near his home in Southern California." 
More than any of that, he is amazing and he is coming to our church! The whole thing is nailed down, and he'll be playing after all three of our services and a special concert on Sunday night at 6! I am more than excited.  
More later! 
Mark 

Posted at 09:30 AM    

Tue - February 28, 2006

A Brush With Greatness 



The West Wing's President Bartlett once said (and I am paraphrasing here, but what can a pretend President do, sue me?) that we do not need martyrs, those willing to die for what they believe. He said we need heros, those willing to live for what they believe.

In that sense, Bob Bennett has been a musical hero of mine since I first hear his music in the late 1980's. His amazing voice and guitar skills are equalled by his willingness to live out a life of Grace and truth, not as a perfect man but as a forgiven child of God.

Well, I got to speak with Bob yesterday. I think I am still on cloud nine, or higher right now. Here is how it went...

I was planning worship with our team, and I wanted to use one of Bob's song after my sermon, "You're Welcome Here". My tape had broken years ago, and I could not find a copy of it for sale anywhere. I couldn't even find a decent piece of sheet music so our worship team could learn it.

So, on a whim, I emailed Bob Bennett. I asked him to fly up and play the song for us live. I was kidding of course. I then asked if he could help me get a copy of the song so the team could learn it. I hit SEND and we went back to planning.

20 minutes later, Bob emailed me back and said he was available. Our team watched in amusement as I bounced off the walls for about five minutes. I ended up speaking with Bob several times over the next few hours and we worked out the details. Today at staff meeting we will decide if we are going forward with it. Either way, I have had an amazing brush with greatness!

I'll let you know how it turns out!

In God's Grip,
Mark 

Posted at 09:44 AM    

Tue - February 21, 2006

Jack Johnson, Curious George, and some personal truth... 



Jack Johnson, the ubiquitous balladeer has stuck again. Tasked with the creation of a soundtrack for a movie based on a book that is easily as beloved as anything he has ever created, he rose to the occasion. I have no idea what the movie will be like, but in the chorus of the opening song "Upside Down" he really speaks to me.


I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs
I don't want this feeling to go away

OK, maybe the 'mother natures song' could be a bit weird for some of you, I can live with it. (Let's really push some of us, could God be Mother Nature? Are there female characteristics to God? Another post, I know...)

I really do want to turn the whole thing upside down. My church, my friends, my life. Nothing is off the table. Everything is open to change. Why? Because I want to share a love that I found!

God loves me so much, and God loves you so much. I desperately want to seek new ways of getting that across, so I push and prod and try and change. Some people do NOT like it. Some people are trying to get it. Some people are so far ahead of me I don't get them. But God is at work. Even in the brilliance and musical gifts of Jack Johnson and Curious George.

Upside Down,
Mark 

Posted at 11:33 PM    

Fri - February 17, 2006

Ahh, Youth 



My sister and I have gotten into some horrible arguments in our time.

Possibly the stupidest was the one about who listened to Bob Marley, and therefore Reggae, first. (I did. Really)

We never argued about the Indigo Girls. She found them first.

Anyway, there was something about their music, an intrinsic peace or goodness, that made it a profane argument to have. I just listened in some sort of awestruck wonder as Amy and Emily hit chords on their guitars and my soul.

Their life may have been different then their music, but isn't that the case with all of us? Our art and our passion hit places where our behavior will never follow. We stake our claims in the transcendent arenas of higher thought, better living and a community we want to live in; only to find our baser nature has forfeited our tickets to the very places we have labored so hard to create.

I found them again, waiting on iTunes just like they were on my Sisters music pile. Some of their finest life work, only 99 each. Like some sad sacred bag lady, her treasures firesaled on the corner for the benefit of everyone but them.

Hammer and a Nail still calls me to idealistic world change. Closer to Fine reminds me that life is more complicated and more beautiful than I remember, and my degrees are just vellum and smoke if they do not intersect my life and others. Galileo still makes me weep; for the sins of the church and the brilliance of my sisters and brothers looking for truth. Power of Two makes me smile at the amazing love that my wife and I have harnessed, and the love yet to be tapped into. Least Complicated reminds me of how hard and beautiful life can be.

All of it brings back names and places that are my youth. Bosshardt, Sorenson, Weber. Roosevelt, South, Hiawatha Golf Course. I am what I was. My youthful idealism does need to be a thing of the past. I can change the world!

Thanks Girls!
Mark
 

Posted at 03:07 AM    

Mon - January 2, 2006

Norah Jones & Jack Johnson 



I really love Jack Johnson. He is an amazing musician, surfer and I really like his attitude. Interviewed in Risen Magazine , he said he wants to be remembered for playing "barbecue music". He said he wanted to make music that you wanted to play at a barbecue with your family and friends. I get it, I like him and I like his music.

My female friends seem to dig Jack in a totally different way than I do. The real big fans get a weird look when they talk about him and his lyrics.

I never really got it. I love his lyrics, and there have been times I have sung along to a Jack tune imagining I was singing it to Karla. As I get better on the guitar, I probably will. Don't rush me, I've only been playing for about 20 years. (Wow I should really be better than I am...) Anyway, I just don't get the same wistful feeling singing the songs that my female friends get listening to them.

I get it now. Why? Good question. Because I recently discovered Norah Jones. I know, everyone heard her a million years ago. Except me. I have been living in a lead box where no radio signals can penetrate. Get over it. I did. Anyway, just listen to this little clip from her first album. It's "Come Away With Me".



Guys, admit it. We dream of hearing the woman we love sing words like that, just like that to us. Not that we don't truly love and cherish the women that we are with for who they are and how well they can or cannot sing. We do. It's just that we would really dig hearing someone sing like that.

Apparently that is what has been going on for my female friends all along. Cool lyrics and a dreamy voice. All wrapped up in a nice safe package. And us guys have the same thing. So there.

Mark 

Posted at 10:45 PM    

Sun - January 1, 2006

The dark side of iTunes... 



Yes I am a huge proponent of iTunes. But it has a dark side.

First, some history. Apple's iTunes music store (ITMS) broke new ground on april 29th 2003. For the first time it was cheap and easy to legally download music off the internet. Prior to that, millions of otherwise honest people had been stealing music with programs like Napster, Limewire and countless others.

Today ITMS has only gotten better, and there are very few artists or albums that you cannot find there. For 99 cents anyone can download individual tracks or $9.99 for most albums.

Now we come to the dark side. I have been one of the many that have complained about record companies, Christian and Non alike, putting out garbage albums with one or two good songs on them. you and I would hear a great song, get hooked and buy the album (OK, I know I am a dinosaur, but I grew up buying albums, get over it.) and be greatly disappointed. Now we were free. We could buy songs one at a time, and for less than a buck! Hallelujah, free at last, free at last.

You know what though, I just did not buy that many really bad albums. I was reasonably tuned into the music world and so were my friends. If none of us had heard the album a trip to Northern Lights or Tatters would provide plenty of info as well as lots of new ideas.

So here is the dark side. We buy the one or two hits and many of leave the rest sitting there, waiting to be downloaded like the runts of the digital litter, there notes pressed expectantly to the glass of the cyber window. How many of my favorite albums were bought because of one or two 'known' songs, only to be put into seriously heavy rotation almost immediately.

A perfect example of this is David Wilcox's sophomore project "How Did You Find Me Here ?". A good friend Deb (Johnson at the time, now Meiners) tuned me into David and based on the strength of one great song, Rusty Old American Dream, I bought the CD. To this day it remains one of my favorite albums. If It happened today, I would likely download that song and move on. I know this will sound hyperbolic, but I really believe my life would be poorer without that album. Every track has become filled with meaning for me, and it causes me to wonder what hidden gems I have missed in my listless pursuit of the low hanging fruit. I may go digging, just to see.

Mark 

Posted at 11:17 PM    

Sat - December 31, 2005

New Year Coming, New Category 



Those who know me know that music plays a HUGE role in my life. Those of you that don't know me, why are you reading this? Just curious? I mean you are certainly welcome, but does any of it make sense? Oh well, I digress.

I am going to start writing a new category, mostly about music, from time to time.

As you may guess from the category title, I have a wider repertoire than you might expect (or accept) from a 'pastor'.

Don't get me wrong, there is music that I do not really like or appreciate. There are entire genre's that I would rather leave muted. Even within some of my favorite styles there are some pieces that leave me cold.

There is music that should not have been recorded because it is simply a bad piece of art, and some because it's musically interesting and morally repugnant. A quote often misattributed to Voltaire (read more here ), says " I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." I agree with the quote, even if it is not authentic Voltaire. Good ideas as well as good music will inevitably live on. bad ideas and bad music only flourish when persecuted or banned. If you doubt me, tell junior high kid not to listen to Bing Crosby. Tell him Bing was a scoundrel and his music should be destroyed. That kid will be singin' in the rain in a week. :)

Some of the music I reference may bother you, I hope it all inspires you to think.

Have a happy new year.
Mark 

Posted at 10:55 PM    

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