Best Concerts to Date...

1. Ray LaMontagne

2. The Flaming Lips

3. Psalters

4. Ben Folds

5. Anathallo

I don't know why I was thinking of this, but it was on my mind so I thought I'd share it.

P.S. I'm sure by the end of the month, Bob Dylan will have made this list. Hang tight...

Woodstock

My fascination with the Woodstock Music & Art Fair began sometime this summer. I lived with my granny and we watched a lot of television.

There was a documentary commemorating the 40th anniversary of the festival on CBS that we decided to watch one evening. I had of course heard of the festival but never really known much about the background of it. My notion was that it was a big gathering of hippies, drug abuse, and promiscuous sex. Most of these notions stand true. But I saw something much deeper.

Granny was very vocal in comparing Woodstock to the story of Sodom and Gomorra, in which God wiped out a people who were engaging, unrepentantly, in immoral, sinful activities. After much thought and meditation, I decided, against my prior opinion of agreement that I disagreed with this comparison. Let me explain...

The driving force behind the festival was that people had gathered with the hope a better world. A world that was centered around  peace, understanding, and love rather than redemptive violence, ignorance, and hate. Though many of the people there were engaging in immoral lifestyles and while they may have had skewed motives, they had the right idea. What they saw was a system that wasn't working. And they set out to change it.

Modern/Western Christianity has fallen into the same empirialistic patterns that Jesus came to save us from. War and consumerism have become the accepted norms. The Father sent His son Jesus to restore things to the way they should be. Yet the whole world is bent on ruling by the sword and selfishly hoarding what was given to them by God, rather than sharing their blessings with people who have nothing. 

The people of Woodstock, while not necessarily followers of the Way, embodied the way in which Christ taught us to live. Unconditional love. A life spent not judging others by their mistakes, but accepting and loving the people who are the most lost. In this way alone are we able to truly show them the Light of the world and see their hearts turned to the God who fully restores.

I believe there is so much to be learned from the half million people who gathered together 40 years ago. Through the power given to us by God through the Spirit, we are commanded to love God and love our neighbor UNCONDITIONALLY. We are the mode in which Jesus has chosen to continue to bring this Kingdom of God that He talks about to Earth.

Country Music

There's been this ever-changing climate in my opinion of country music. 

When I was young (5-10 years), I loved it. I grew up around it and it was a significant part of my life. I think it's safe to describe my admiration of Garth Brooks as a "man-crush", even at such a young age. 

Shortly thereafter, I was exposed to the wonderful world of rock and roll. This new world I lived in (until I was about 20) was also a world that despised the simple minded antics of country music. It was the antagonist in any true rock and rollers saga of music. Needless to say, I hopped on the train of hatred.

When I came to college, I guess I just got in touch with my roots again. I grew out of my narrow-minded rock and roll phase and started to slowly fall in love with the sounds of my home. 

But I still had a bad taste in my mouth for some country. I had travelled forward in time, and somewhere in the interim, I had missed the evolution of country music. My dear OLD friend had transformed into the same sounds of my NEW friend, rock and roll. There was almost no difference in the two. And so began my discomfort with this new sound of country that was the epidemic in the veins of my old love, simple country music.

Last night, I had the privilege of enjoying the Grand Ole Opry, as well as the city where country music was born, Nashville, TN. Imagine finding out that your oldest, best friend is still alive after thinking that they were dead for so long! I found the roots that I though had been dug up and painted black. What a wonderful, inspiring experience.

Thanks for listening. 

Listen to Jimmy Dickens and Porter Wagoner for just a little taste.

Recording

There is something strangely fascinating about playing music into a computer microphone and playing it back a few seconds later. It sounds completely different for one thing, and it also really solidifies the song.

I've been writing music for most of the summer. About a week after writing a song, I tend to either forget it or look over it again, and hate it. This morning, I got the nerve up to do a rough recording of some of the songs I've written. Magically, I like most of them again. 

At the end of the summer, I will be recording my first set of songs semi-professionally. I hope to find some convenient means of sharing these songs with my friends. CDs are somewhat obsolete these days and iTunes would charge money. Maybe I can just e-mail the songs...

I'm discovering that this blogging business is quite intriguing. I'm not sure who, if anyone, is reading this. It's just nice to write with the hope that somebody, somewhere cares about what is running through my mind. It will definitely take some getting used to, I guess. Thank you, phantom blog reader(s).

Summer

I made this blog at the beginning of the summer with the hopes of sharing a part of my life. Here it is a few weeks before summer ends and this is my first post.

I guess there are a few reasons I began this blog in the first place. 

1.) A lot of my friends have blogs. Seems like a fun community to be a part of.

2.) I feel like there are some things that I have on my mind that may never come up in casual conversations with the people that might be reading this. 

3.) I have been writing a lot. I thought this might be a fun way to get some feedback. 

Hopefully, with a little accountability from other blog-types, I'll become semi-faithful to this new experience. 

Grace and peace to you.