Voldemort Can't Stop The Rock!

How can I even begin describing last night's Harry and the Potters concert? I'm not sure, either, but I have to try.

The concert was definitely the loudest show I've ever seen at Eddie's Attic, which is known primarily as a "listening room" for acoustic guitar-oriented folks like Pierce Pettis, Glen Phillips and Bill Mallonee (the latter two are playing together at the Attic in November -- woo hoo!). However, Harry and the Potters stormed into Decatur in a dark cloud of wizard rock and left a trail of awesomeness in their wake. Team Redd looked a little out-of-place amidst the crowd of teens, pre-teens, pre-pre-teens and pre-schoolers, mainly since we came straight from work and were still dressed in our Muggle clothes. But we managed to rock with the best of them.

From the show-opening dance party stylings of "Voldemort Can't Stop The Rock" to the anthemic closer "The Weapon," Harry (Year Four) and Harry (Year Seven) put on quite an entertaining show. Any lack of vocal talent was more than compensated by their sheer energy and impressive stage presence. And admittedly, it appears that months of live performances have really helped to hone their singing. I can only assume that their drummer failed to receive permission to leave Hogwarts for this tour, since they had to rely on a drum machine -- but I don't think this detracted much from the experience. The crowd was really into the show and sang most enthusiastically, especially on favorites like "Wizard Chess" and "Save Ginny Weasley." They also played a couple of new songs, including a Christmas tune and a love song for Ginny which includes the line "My wizard scar still burns for you." Genius. (Sorry mark, they didn't play "These Days Are Dark.") I guess the only downside about the evening was that, because their songs are so short, the actual concert wasn't very long.

But it did leave an indelible impression on us both, like a scar or magic quill marks on the backs of our hands -- but much more pleasant.

PS Allison wanted to add some photographic documentation of the show. Thankfully, a kind soul sitting behind us sent us her pics. In this picture, Harry (Year Seven) is clambering through the audience and has decided to swipe a beverage from one of our fellow patrons. How brash!

Back in the Saddle

Tech Wrecks Duke 35-10 ...

Sure, Duke is the perennial whipping boy for ACC football, but after back-to-back losses (and a fairly miserable first half against the Blue Devils), it's nice to get another 'W' for the books.

Halloween: A Distinctly Christian Holiday

A Discernment Exercise by James B. Jordan

(Thanks to Mark's vaccination initiative.)

Canticle of the Plains

Joel Garver had a good post on St. Francis the other day. About the same time, I heard a track from Canticle of the Plains while shuffling the old iPod. This convergence of events prompted me to dust off (metaphorically, of course, although the cover on my iPod does tend to attract debris) the album and give it a listen.

Canticle of the Plains is a somewhat hard-to-find album released by Rich Mullins back in 1997, the year of his tragic demise. Described as "a musical based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi by the Kid Brothers of St. Frank," the album is the brainchild of Mullins, who co-wrote all the songs with Mitch McVicker and longtime collaborator Beaker. Incidentally, Mullins is barely present on the recording, limited to sparse background vocals only. The songs were written as part of a larger musical, based roughly on the life of St. Francis (transposed to the post-Civil War Western U.S). As such, the songs are sung by different characters, and the album enlists the aid of several vocalists, including McVicker, Michael Tait and Kevin Smith of dc Talk fame, and Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer. Rich was never able to perform the musical in full, although I understand that it was performed posthumously on a few occasions. Either way, the album is fantastic and comprised of some of Rich's best writing.

The Musical Baton!

(received from richard - better late than never!)

I always have trouble with these type of "rate your favorite music/book/movie" questions, so these are subject to change at a whim. In fact, I was thinking about them a little too much, so I decided to go ahead and post it.

Amount of music on your computer?
Which one? I don't have any on my work computer, but that's a pretty boring answer. My iTunes folder at home is up to ~15.45 MB (though a lot of that isn't exactly "music," since I listen to a lot of lectures, sermons and the like).

Currently listening to?
Sufjan Stevens, Michigan

Five songs that mean a lot to you?
Uh ... this is tough.

"Big Mistake" - David Wilcox
"Time Stand Still" - Rush
"Close of the Day" - Sandra McCracken
"Gather 'Round, Ye Children, Come" - Andrew Peterson
"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

Top five albums?
Again, I always have a problem with questions like these. How to choose? For some of these, I'll list a favorite band and a great album of theirs. But even then, it's so hard to choose ...

(In no particular order)

Rush, Presto: Easily my favorite rock band. Though I've grown to appreciate all kinds of acoustic, singer/songwriter-driven music over the last several years, I still have a deep-rooted love of heavy guitars and vocal wailing. Plus, Neil Peart (though writing from a decidely humanistic perspective) is one of the most intelligent and insightful songwriters around. It's hard to pick a specific album, since they have three decades of material, with notable evolution over the years. I picked Presto because it has some great songs, like the title track, "Chain Lightning" and the cleverly goofy "Anagram (For Mongo)."

Caedmon's Call, 40 Acres: Definitely one of my biggest musical influences. I didn't listen to a lot of "Christian" music before discovering them in college. (I tried to make myself listen to popular CCM, but I just couldn't handle it.) Caedmon's helped me realize that Christians could make quality music, even if the radio didn't give them much coverage. Again, it's hard to pick a specific album. Their indie stuff, like My Calm//Your Storm, makes up for its lack of production quality with an abundance of raw awesomeness. Their latest, Share the Well, is an amazing and ambitious effort in its own right. But 40 Acres is the high water mark, I think. The album is well-produced and sounds great, with songwriters Aaron Tate and Derek Webb shining on every track. (The only low spot is a cover, and even it is fairly decent.) It was also the last album before the band started going through significant lineup changes.

Andrew Peterson, Love and Thunder: Andy is an excellent songwriter and an all-around great guy. I've seen him in concert more times (far more times) than any other artist or band, mainly because his shows always manage to make me think and to make me laugh a lot -- often within the span of a few breaths! Similar to Richard, I had a tough time choosing between this album and Carried Along, but I think the overall cohesion of L&T as an album gives it an edge.

Rich Mullins, A Liturgy, A Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band: The two previous artists list Rich as one of their major influences, and rightfully so. This album is simply beautiful, with Mullins' songwriting complemented by a host of talented musicians. What more can be said?

Joe Satriani, Surfing With the Alien: Remember above, when I professed my love of heavy guitars? Satch may not have the heaviest, but he certainly plays his with the best of them. I realize that not everyone appreciates rock guitar instrumentals, but it's their loss. Although Satriani possesses superhuman technical skills, he also has a great ear for creating songs with memorable melodies (instead of just recording a bunch of guitar speed drills). Surfing With the Alien is Satch at the top of his game. Strange beautiful music, indeed.

And that's five already! If I had more space, I'd probably find a way to sneak in Eric Peters (Land of the Living), derek webb (i see things upside down), Van Halen (either the self-titled debut, or 5150 from the Van Hagar era), Randall Goodgame (Arkadelphia) and Spin Doctors (Pocket Full of Kryptonite).

Last album bought?
Sufjan Stevens, Michigan

Recent discoveries?
Harry and the Potters
Sufjan Stevens

Okay, the baton is now being passed on to:
Amy
Chandra
Lane
TRAVIS

Quarantining A Generation

Good article from Boundless about the dangers of age segregation within churches, misguided attempts at "relevance," and the fracturing effect they have on churches.

(Thanks to the BHT.)

word!

A co-worker told me that I made an appearance in a dream she had this weekend. If that wasn't strange enough, it turns out that I showed up at a dream-land club she was visiting. Apparently, I was a rapper, secretly pursuing my dreams of rapstar-dom by night, while my co-workers and friends were oblivious. Naturally, I asked her the most obvious question: was I any good as I rapper? Yes, I was.

Maybe this is a sign for a change in career paths?

I've Got Nothing To Say

Man, I haven't had much to write about lately. I know there's been plenty of stuff going on, but I guess I haven't had much time to assemble coherent thoughts. (I could post something about the awesome Andrew Peterson show we attended last weekend at New City Cafe, but that would be way too obvious.)

Maybe I'll have more to say after the Georgia Tech - N.C. State game tonight. We're going, and there's an 80% chance of rain tonight. If that's not a recipe for fun, I don't know what is!

Nope, nothing to say. At least the rain was limited to a steady mist/drizzle throughout the evening.

Moving right along

Alastair Roberts has retired his excellent blog 40 Bicycles.

But, rising from its ashes comes alastair.adversaria, which promises to be a worthy successor. Be sure to check it out.

How Rad!

Harry and the Potters will be playing at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA on October 17. And in Athens, GA the next night.

Bill Gates Goes To College

I had heard about Microsoft recruiting Napoleon Dynamite for a video, but I finally got around to viewing it. The video and audio quality aren't the best, but it's kind of funny. Especially Bill Gates' Pedro hair.

LOST and the Periodic Table

Calling all science geeks and fans of LOST. I have a question.

We re-watched the first few minutes of the LOST season premiere last night and I noticed that the bottle of liquid the guy in the opening montage injected himself with had the numbers 4-8-15-16-23-42 on the label.

Here's my thought-- what if they stand for elements on the Periodic Table? What if the solution is made up of those 6 elements? So, my question to all who are much more knowledgable than me about these things is: what would happen if you put all these elements together? Here they are in order:

4 -- Beryllium
8 -- Oxygen
15 -- Phosphorus
16 -- Sulfur
23 -- Vanadium
42 -- Molybdenum

(Molybdenum was always my favorite element name to say. I used to remember to spell it correctly by thinking of "Moly B. Denum")

I know all LOST theories are far-fetched. I thought I'd just throw mine into the mix. Maybe there is some sort of crazy scientific experiment where they test this formula on people and the remaining 45 survivors are going to be new subjects? Or already have been? We know that these numbers have been circulated since at least as far back as WWII, when those army guys first picked up the signal before they went insane. What would these elements create? What would it do to someone if there were large amounts in your bloodstream?

I don't read the messageboards or anything so I haven't seen this idea or theory before, but if it has already been shot down please let me know. Or feel free to shoot it down yourself. It's all in good fun, anyway. I'm not obsessed, I tell you! ;)

"Snow Days" in September?

Well, if your Governor calls for statewide "precautionary" school closings due to rising gas prices after Katrina and the threat of even more damage to the Gulf refineries from Rita...then you might be in my shoes.

I admit, when our principal came over the intercom with the announcement at 4 p.m. on Friday I thought it might be a joke. I attempted to calm down the six screaming freshman girls who were in my room until two fellow teachers arrived in my door jumping up and down like overly-excited Labrador puppies. Then I gave up and gave in. Woo-hoo! Two days off!

If you didn't realize the inefficiency of large, government-run education, this should be your wake-up call. Of course, most or all of the private schools in Metro Atlanta are closed today and tomorrow as well. I bet the homeschoolers have to be just a bit envious. ;)

So that leaves me here at home today. Though it throws my lesson planning schedule off a bit, I'm excited about my "snow days." I plan to use my time (wisely--I hope) to tackle the mounds of grading that has piled up-- mainly essays and projects turned in within the last week or so. I also get to do some much-needed housecleaning-- and I'm looking forward to it!

What Is The Church?

Peter Leithart's brief observations on "What Is The Church?" have resonated with some thoughts I've had lately. Instead of viewing biblical descriptions of the church as metaphors that serve as "raw material for theological reflection," Leithart states that these descriptions are actually the fundamental descriptions of the church. This seems to tie directly into Leithart's view of the church as "an alternate polis," but I'll probably have to mull this over some more.

Tech Talk

Team Redd has deep roots at Auburn University, with innumerable family members (including both sets of parents) being alumni of that fine institution. This has proven interesting in recent years, when Auburn has played football against Georgia Tech, my alma mater. Obviously, my loyalties have remained true to my own school (and my pettier side has enjoyed gloating over Tech's 2-0 record against the Tigers since their long-standing football rivalry was rekindled in 2003, after a 15-year hiatus).

That being said, this news is pretty delightful.

Tech Adds [University of] Alabama to Future Schedules

(If you don't understand why that's delightful, you probably aren't familiar with the rivalry-laden world of SEC football.)

In more pressing news, Tech QB Reggie Ball, recently hospitalized for a few days due to viral menengitis, is still questionable for this weekend's big game against No.4 Virginia Tech. Should be interesting.

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

I've been hearing lots of good things about Sufjan Stevens for a few months now, but initially, I just didn't get into his music. I think I even rated him as "Never Play Again" on my Launchcast station. Thank goodness for second chances for foolish me!

Even though I had previously listened to a few of his songs, nothing really grabbed me. A few weeks ago, I overheard one of his albums playing in the background at a pub (a personal favorite, The Brick Store in Decatur, GA). During another visit to the same pub, I noticed a stack of music/arts newspapers, one which featured Mr. Stevens on the cover. This, combined with more favorable comments from music-lovers, drove me to give Sufjan another try. I downloaded several free tracks, and I moderately enjoyed them at the time. But, the songs really stick with you. I found myself unable to rid my brain of "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" and "Casimir Pulaski Day." At this point, resistance was futile, so I made a trip to Borders.

I decided to start with Illinois, which features the two songs mentioned above. This album is the second in Sufjan Stevens' ambitious plan to write an ALBUM dedicated to each of the 50 States (he started with Michigan). I'm not exactly sure how to describe Steven's sound. He is certainly competent enough to carry a song with just a guitar and his haunting tenor, and maybe a banjo here and there. However, much of his music is considerably more ambitious, featuring piano, horns (of the high-school band variety), strings and a chorus of vocals. Illinois is definitely an album for the active listener, as Sufjan offers a variegated collection of songs inspired by the Prairie State, stringing together a UFO sighting, a serial killer, Carl Sandburg, the Windy City and the Columbian Exposition of 1893, just to name a few. But Illinois is more than just a collection of songs; rather, it is a true album, meant to be appreciated as such, with Sufjan weaving the tracks together with repeated musical and lyrical motifs, as well as instrumental interludes featuring some of the most audacious titles imaginable (e.g, "Riffs And Variations On A Single Note For Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, And The King Of Swing, To Name A Few"). Although it takes a few complete listenings to really "get it", the album certainly sticks with you in a good way.

Highly recommended.

The iMonk is worred about the new Narnia film

And perhaps not without reason.

Theology On Fire

Covenant Seminary has a stockpile of great resources, including a ton of mp3s. I have recently enjoyed listening to the set of recordings from the 2005 Sacrifice of Praise Worship Conference, held at the seminary at the beginning of the year. Each of the posted sessions was very good, covering a variety of topics related to worship and the planning worship services.

"Worship as Gospel Re-Presentation," Bryan Chapell's general session talk, was especially good. Chapell begins by tracing the development of Protestant liturgy, from Luther to Calvin to the Puritans and beyond. Although he notes many of the differences between each, his stated goal is to examine their commonalities. The thrust of his session is that a worship service should be structured as a re-presentation of the Gospel. Many different components can be used, but the overall contour of the service is a corporate-level retelling of the work of the Gospel in an individual's life. Chapell uses Isaiah 6 to flesh out this pattern: the prophet comes before God and apprehends His absolute holiness. This sight immediately overwhelms Isaiah with a sense of his own sinfulness. God then makes provision for Isaiah's cleansing, which results in instruction and equipping for service. Similarly, Chapell argues, our worship services should flow from a proclamation of God's greatness into recognition of our own sin, then into assurance over our pardon which comes through the cross of Christ, and finally into instruction in holy living, both as individuals and as a corporate body. From his survey of liturgical forms, Chapell notes that a wide variety of components can be used while still maintaining this basic Gospel contour.

Kevin Twit's talk on "Theology on Fire: The Transformational Power of Hymns" is exceptionally good, as is Reggie Kidd's discussion of "Bach, Bubba, and the Blues Brothers: The Singing Savior's Many Voices." And, as I mentioned, the other sessions provide a great deal of valuable and insightful reflection on corporate worship. The entire set of conference recordings is a great resource to anyone involved in leading and planning worship services, as well as anyone seeking to more clearly define a theology of corporate worship.

(One minor complaint about the site: navigating through the resource library could be a little easier. To find the Sacrifice of Praise conference recordings, you can go first to the topic index page and then to the "View all titles" option. The Sacrifice of Praise Worship Renewal Conference recordings are towards the bottom of the list. Or just use "sacrifice" as a term for the "by title" search function.)

Jackets Remain Unbeaten

Georgia Tech defeats Connecticut, 28-13.

With QB Reggie Ball in the hospital, Tech had to rely on freshman Taylor Bennett, who turned in a decent performance in his first collegiate football game. Interestingly enough, his very first play in a college game was a touchdown pass. Although the rest of his game was not nearly as stellar, he still did okay. Hopefully, Ball will be back in action for next week's game against Virginia Tech.

The Far Country and the Not-So-Far Concert

It should come as no surprise to regular (or even semi-frequent) readers of this blog that Team Redd highly endorses The Far Country, the latest CD from Andrew Peterson. Andrew is one of our favorite musicians, so it took all of 5 seconds to decide whether we should make the 1.5 hour drive down to Macon, GA to see Andrew play this past Sunday night. Although we had originally planned to see the show with a couple of friends, by Sunday we ended up leaving Atlanta with a mighty contingent of 13 souls (plus the original two rendezvousing with us in Macon) intent on hearing quality acoustic music.

The concert, as expected, was fantastic. In addition to usual musical compadre Ben Shive, Andrew brought along a bass player (who had apparently played with Counting Crows at some point) and a drummer (who had played on the new album) to play with him. Afterwards, both Andy and Ben separately confessed their concerns about how fans would react to the addition of bass and drums, but personally, I thought it really filled out the songs in a good way. I did have one minor gripe about the rhythm section obscuring Andy's vocals on some of the more up-tempo songs, but that was more an issue with the venue's sound system than with the band. But, sonic muddiness aside, the concert was quite excellent. Andy, as is his custom, interspersed the set list with stories about the songs, about his family, and ultimately, about the Gospel. He played a good mix of songs from most of his albums, as well as (by request) his ode to Mexican food. I was especially pleased to hear him perform an upbeat version of "Isn't It Love," of which he had been playing a much slower version in recent years. Not that the slow version is bad, but the poppy, up-tempo rendition sounded great with a band. I also think this is the first Andrew concert (out of the many, many, many I have attended) where he didn't play "Nothing To Say," his big radio single. Which is fine by me. It's a great song, but I like hearing other stuff, too!

Allison and I are really enjoying The Far Country, and Andy played several selections from it. Some fans have seen this album as a marked departure from previous albums, but I'm not so sure that's the case. Yeah, there are distorted electric guitars in places and more drums than in the past, but the songwriting is still just as solid. Andrew has never been afraid to use a variety of instrumentation, so I just consider these additions as more choices on his musical palette.

My only lingering quibble about The Far Country is not actually about the album, but about some tangential discussions stemming from it. The title comes from a quote which tells us that "God is at home. We are in a far country." The title track alludes to Hebrews, especially in comparing our Christian status as pilgrims in this world to Abraham's sojourn to an unknown land of promise. At the outset, I must make it clear that I don't find anything objectionable in Andrew's longings for heaven, either in this song or others. However, it seems like Christian discussions of death and heaven (like those sparked by the album) usually veer into sub-Christian views on the subject. These discussions are correct to focus on sin and death as deviations from God's ultimate design, and the appropriate human response should be a deep longing for a holy God to make things right. However, the sub-Christian view usually sees the "solution" as God removing the Christian from the world of pain and suffering into eternal heavenly bliss. Death is an escape from a fallen world. I believe that the Bible does not present this solution.

Instead, the Christian hope is that God will act to make all things right: sin and death will ultimately be defeated. Although the Bible speaks of an intermediate state where believers go to be with Christ after death, it speaks far more loudly of a final state of new creation, where God completely redeems His universe. Our resurrection to dwell in a new heaven and a new earth is the content of our ultimate hope that God will finally triumph over sin and death. This fact should be our consolation as we achingly make our way through this fallen world. Because God will redeem and restore the current creation, "heaven" is not a location completely removed from our current experience. Rather, the new heaven and earth are the final state of God's plan of redemption, to be consummated at the return of Jesus. I've found that it is far more useful to think of the distance between "the far country" and our ultimate home with God, between the current and final states of things, in terms of time and not of space.

And thankfully, Andrew's latest album does a great job of capturing that honest longing for God to make right all that is currently wrong with the world.