Revisit: The Bad Plus

A few months ago I raved about picking up a CD by "The Bad Plus." I just found one of their vids on YouTube... One of the most killer songs by one of the most kick-ass groups I've ever heard:



By the way, their new release "prog" (available May 8) features covers of Rush, Tears for Fears, Bowie, and more. This album is going to rock.

BONUS: Here's a really fun (and funny) video behind-the-scenes of the new album:

Great Chorus

Last week this song popped up on my Digital Cable's Classic Rock station. Really diggin' the chorus lyrics...

Don't be so hard on yourself
'cause you didn't change the world,
you can't change the world, oh no.
Just be.

"Just Be" by Styx and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra

The Warrior's Approach

"If we hope to open our heart to all of the world, we must leave nothing out. Freedom and awakening are only found exactly where we are. If we wish to love God we must also learn to love each of His creations - including ourselves, in all our complexity and imperfection. " (Jack Kornfield in "After the Ecstacy, the Laundry")

"I am large, I contain multitudes." (Walt Whitman)

Lately, I've wanted things to go my way. I get frustrated - significantly and ridiculously frustrated - when this should be that, and this thing should go that way. In fact I've been pretty down for a while because I've had this image in my head of the way things should be (ie, "I really need more free time," "Why can't I keep on top of the things I need to do," etc.).

But it's starting to dawn on me (thanks in part to the Kornfield book mentioned above) - I've compartmentalized and segmented "what is." I'm playing favorites with all of "God's creations" when I choose a clean car over a messy car, a simple schedule over a busy schedule, happiness over sadness - actually anything over anything else. It is all part of, as Zorba the Greek put it, "the whole catastrophe." Failures, stresses, messes, and negativity are no less part of the whole that makes up LIFE.

Peace is seeing perfection in what is rather than what you/I think it should be. Peace is acceptance of messy emotions and unforeseen circumstances. Peace is seeing the divine in an unmowed yard or half-finished project. Peace is surfing on top of life's wave of up and downs, rather than drowning in it.

This isn't fatalism or an excuse to cease trying to do or change anything. But it is a mature response when your attempts are futile or when things don't go as planned. It is a surrender to let life unfold as it will.

"The warrior's approach is to say "yes"to life: "yea" to it all.” (Joseph Campbell)

"Unstuck in time" - but stuck in our hearts

My favorite fictional writer, Kurt Vonnegut, has died. Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle in particular are two of my favorite books that I still enjoy each time I read.

Time magazine did a very nice write-up on Mr. Vonnegut.

Thanks for the imaginative stories, Kurt!

"I"

Who / what exactly do you mean when you say the word I? Where is your ego? Who is the one behind your eyes?

Alan Watts suggests that when you say "I", what you are referring to is a muscular contraction... that tightness in the body, that "pulling yourself together," that certain, always-on unsatisfactoriness or baseline anxiety.

Release. Then release further. That tight "I" will unfold. The line between "I" and environment will blur. Exhale, there is peace and all is right with the world.

God, I Love Good Music

My new favorite musical obsession is the band MUTE MATH. Muth Math is formed from the ashes of Earthsuit - a Christian band from about 6-8 years ago that I was totally into. Now they've gone mainstream, have a new album and are about the freshest, most entertaining band I've been enjoying lately.

Watch this live performance from the Craig Ferguson Show. Make sure you watch it all the way through and see all that plays out (yes, he rocks a Key-tar). This is one of my favorite songs of theirs... what a great Chorus.



If that wasn't enough for you, watch their music video for "Typical." Not my favorite song, but the video concept is great (it was filmed completely in reverse).

Failing and Falling

I heard this poem read on the Writers Almanac on NPR this week and, though its themes are pretty standard, the phrasing, pacing and word choices are beautiful. This is great poetry.

Failing and Falling by Jack Gilbert

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.

Updates

Well, it's been some time since I've been here regularly, so here's a quick update. I hope to get back into the swing of blogging starting... today!

1.) It seems like all my free time is spent performing/practicing with Waltz for Venus or Pink Noise - though both bands are a lot of fun and I'm really enjoying myself.

2.) I got a new computer at work and it's pimptastic - including a 24" flatscreen from Dell.

3.) I picked up one mother-of-a synthesizer/keyboard - the 88-weighted-key Korg Triton Extreme.

4.) My wife likes update lists as well.

5.) Kalli, Amy and I went to the park on Monday. Click here for some cute pictures of the kid.

6.) I'm sorry for not visiting ya'lls pages recently. But I'm going to... right now.

Clarification

Just to clarify, the little girl in the last post is NOT my child. I think a few people were confused. It is just an internet "viral video" that's being passed around right now.

...although our Kalli has said her fair share of interesting things...

Kassie's take on Monsters

I know I've not blogged much lately, and every time I do it's rather shallow and pointless, but you've really got to see this. Every time I watch it it gets funnier (especially the sentence she says at the :15 second mark).

You know you're a parent if...

Only the father of a toddler would find this interesting enough to post to his blog. I present to you... the voice of and the man behind (up-under?) Elmo:

Meatless Eatin'

I've been slowly moving in the vegetarian direction for some time now and have really enjoyed getting to eat some new things. Saturday night I made this. Wow, that sauce is pungent! It was really good, and I'll probably make it again...

Dumplings
2-3 cakes Med. firm tofu pressed and mashed
2 Tablespoons (peanut butter)
3 Tablespoons tamari soy sauce
4 scallions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms (6 ounces)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup diced water chestnuts

Sauce
1 1/2 cups pineapple, orange, and/or apple juice
1/4 cup maple syrup, honey, or brown sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce
2 Tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water

In large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the tofu dumplings. Shape into approximately 2 dozen 2 inch balls and place on an oiled baking sheet. Bake at 375* for 45 minutes, until golden and firm.

Combine all the sauce ingredients except the cornstarch in a stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch and simmer, stirring continuously, until the sauce is clear and thickened.

Pour the sauce over the dumplings and serve immediately. Serve with rice and steamed vegetables.

Rockin with the Big Boys

Less than a few weeks since I posted about how I much I enjoy my friends' band Waltz for Venus, I've been invited to join the band... on piano/keys, guitar, and bg vocals. Big rock show in less than 2 weeks.

_____________________
//Sent via T-Mobile Sidekick 3//

Reflections in a MegaChurch Coffeehouse

Here I am, sitting at my 3-day church conference in Alabama.

One of the many realizations that I've made this trip is that I have a love/hate relationship with the church.

On one hand... to be quite honest, there can be such a hokeyness to it all. Take the conferences: the idea swapping with overly nice 40-something dudes in polo shirts and khakis. The strategic planning that won't make it any further than the car ride home. The incessant head nodders taking notes to help make their church too into a golf-cart shuttling, TV-station hosting, bookstore-sporting MegaChurch. Top this off with the look-at-me presenters who, while probably meaning well, have a look-at-what-I've-done air about them.

Then there's the contemporary worship, with its dramas and stage lights and bad music. Its silly pop culture rip-offs and poorly produced videos.

There's also doctrine and theology, which opens such a bag of worms that I won't even begin to go into.

And on the other hand? It's beautiful. It meets the needs - real or imagined - for many people. It invites me to be less judgemental, seeing everything and every seemingly un-hip person and procedure as exactly what it is and should be. It kicks me in the ass when I realize that everything that drives me nuts about it is less a reflection of the church than it is of myself.

It's a place that opens people to service and giving and community and God. It gives ordinary people like me the opportunity to use their gifts and creativity to work in a Mini-Hollywood with sets and props and rockstars and production. It downplays separation by connecting people together and then inspiring them to just be better people when they're interacting in their workplace. When it's done correctly it shuts out no one and is the great equalizer - giving love and meaning to the ones the world pisses on. It is what it is - and it doesn't deserve my negative criticism; it reminds me that all things are positively perfect.

So, now, as my eyes roll up in my head at the guy with the FBI Jesus ("Firmly Believe In...") who just walked into the church's in-house Bookstore to purchase a book that I would probably consider spiritually and theologically premodern/barberic, I'm gently reminded of the love and order that undercurrents all that is and my own need to be more accepting. And while most of the world - and myself, much of the time - sees the church as either silly, outdated or misguided, I'm enamored with it and I freakin' love it.
_____________________
//Sent via T-Mobile Sidekick 3//

I'm goin' to Alabamy with a Banjo on my knee

Sorry I've been an absentee blogger friend this week...

The staff at work are going to a Conference in Alabama from Friday to Sunday and I'm losing 2 days of work because of it... so I've been "cramming" (see also: busy).

At any rate, I shall return on Monday with unlimited new knowledge of... uhm... Well, I'll see you on Monday.