Upon listening to The Beatles' eponymous 1968 ("white") album recently, it struck me that it contains four songs with a woman's name in the title. Further thought made me realise that there were several others over the years also - perhaps more than I'd noticed from any other band.
I decided to make a mix of these songs with the following two stipulations: the song had to appear on one of The Beatles' original UK studio LP releases and had to be an original composition by (members of) The Beatles. With this in mind I came up with the following compilation mix (which you can download here):
6. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (from 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' - 1967)
7. "Julia" (from 'The Beatles' - 1968)
8. "Eleanor Rigby" (from 'Revolver' - 1966)
9. "Sexy Sadie" (from 'The Beatles' - 1968)
All are great songs with at least half being genuine Beatles classics; in fact, "Dear Prudence" is very possibly my favourite Beatles song of all. Enjoy.
As anyone of my vintage will know, Walkmans were portable cassette players that were the best thing ever in their day. Sony have finally - officially - ceased making them (though I think the name will continue for their new-fangled personal music players). *Sob* A "D90" was (is?) a 90 min blank cassette (45 mins per side) made by TDK - the choice of Walkman packin', mixtape tradin' music lovers everywhere.
Making a mixtape used to take time, care, attention and, yes love as one sat with a pile of LPs (link for the kids) selecting, sequencing and recording songs to tape one by one. The methods are easier (too easy?) these days with iTunes playlists, etc. but the fun can still be had. I have a particular friend with whom I engage musically by getting together and making mixes on the fly, one-upping one another with tracks as we go... the mix here is one that I did in this way a few weeks ago. Usually these mixes get shared with said friend, listened to a couple of times (at best) and deleted, but this one has insisted on repeated listens prompting me to share.
It's got a bit of new, a bit of old, a bit of soft and a bit of loud... it begins with a trio of girls and another finishes it off.
Here's the playlist:
1. Karen Elson - "The Truth Is In The Dirt" 2. The Kills - "Hitched" 3. Boss Hog - "Whiteout" 4. The Stooges - "Real Cool Time" 5. Tom Waits - "Goin' Out West" 6. Justin Townes Earle - "Mama's Eyes" 7. Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son" 8. The Howling Diablos - "Car Wash"
9. The Jim Jones Revue - "Good Golly Miss Molly" 10. Morphine - "Like Swimming"
11. Spindrift - "The New West [Vocal Version]"
12. Jeff Buckley - "Vancouver"
13. Hellsongs - "Welcome To The Jungle"
This mix fits on one side of the aforementioned D90... how about sharing your own for the other side (in the comments)..?
Whilst perusing the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald this week I came across this article on professional footballers in Australia who (together with their English counterparts and representative association(s)) are seeking to have so-called "party drugs" removed from the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) prohibited list.
I have to admit that - as a football fan ("Soccer" and "Gridiron" being my preferred codes) - I was somewhat dismayed to read this, though hardly surprised. Even on the other side of the world one hears about the English Premier League (EPL) stars enjoying their clubbing and all that goes with it and here in Australia if a footballer is not in the news for (allegedly) assaulting some young girl, then they're being caught falling out of some club completely wasted at 3 am.
To clarify, let me say that, in Australia, it is pretty rare for the culprits in these situations to be players of any codes other than Rugby League (NRL) or Australian Rules football (AFL) and I don't point this out to pick on the codes where I don't find much to enjoy about the games themselves, but because it's simply a fact. The games themselves are not the issue - I can appreciate the skill, discipline and commitment of any athlete in any sport and therein lies the real point... discipline.
At some stage these footballers were disciplined enough to develop their skills to a level good enough to take them into the big leagues, then upon their arrival they seem to wish to let that discipline fall away. The argument that is being made in their campaign is that these drugs are not performance enhancing, but I state that this is taking a narrow view... the specific characteristics of any drug are barely a footnote. If WADA is in a position to police the general drug behaviour of athletes I believe they should uphold that position. If anything, the "performance-reducing" qualities of these party drugs should be considered as (breach of contract) failures on the parts of the athletes caught as they are not living up to their end of the deal for which they are being paid handsomely - i.e.: to produce the best on-field perfomances possible every week.
Let's get real: these players undoubtedly have skill - some even have true talent - but the big dollars are being paid for a "job" that's really just a glorified weekend pastime. With the name in lights and the big salary comes big responsibility as a role model to kids (and adults for that matter!) and sports personalities make great role models when they are exhibiting their on-field qualities (strength, commitment, discipline, tenacity and considered decision-making, to name a few) off the field as well. But when they are behaving like the wanna-be rock star reprobates that more and more of them seem to be these days - bringing their game(s) into disrepute along the way - they shouldn't be in a position to influence anyone.
Minimum two-year bans along with community service in drug programs for second-time offenders. Or do you think I'm being too soft..?
It’s been over half my life since I last saw Stryper and admittedly they’ve dropped off my radar a number of times in those intervening years (their ’90’s inactivity notwithstanding). However, they do hold a unique and special place in the development of my musical (and other) interests and leanings so when I found out that they were finally returning, I knew I had to be there.
I was pleased to see a full (if not officially sold out) and energised venue as Stryper took to the plain stage with a minimum of fuss and kicked into “Sing-Along Song” - one of many tracks from their ‘To Hell With The Devil’ magnum opus from 1986. Insisting upon crowd participation from the outset (as if the first track wasn’t a clue!) the band proceeded to impress with lively renditions of both favourites and a few surprises from across their entire studio catalogue, with the exception of 1988’s ‘In God We Trust’ (a minor disappointment, though it is arguably their weakest album). Each band member was on top of their game and they gelled beautifully, exceeding expectation with their tightness. Everything from Michael Sweet’s voice to his and Oz Fox’s harmony leads, to the rhythm section and the backing vocal harmonies of Oz and Tim Gaines were delivered with a relaxed professionalism that provided the performance with a great flow and momentum.
At about the mid-point Sweet took a moment to speak to the crowd on a more serious note than the previous light-hearted banter that had peppered the set, specifically to clarify their message about the salvation to be found in the work of Jesus and point to that as their primary reason for doing what they do. He made this statement clearly, yet concisely so as not to mess too much with the aforementioned momentum and in so doing, displayed great experience and understanding of his craft along with credence and conviction in his message. Aside from this point and a short closing prayer (and the obligatory bible tossing) the focus lay on the music and to illustrate this point, the next track was an enjoyable (if perfunctory) run-through of Judas Priest’s “Breaking The Law” as a nod to their musical influences and a taste of their forthcoming covers album.
With the first half of the performance focussing on older material, it was pleasing to hear some of their newer numbers mixed in for the second half; also pleasing was the syrupy ballad quotient being limited to a stripped-down version of “Honestly”. “The Way” was a fitting end to a terrific main set, with the guitar lead work on fire and Sweet’s ability to hit the high scream also impressive. After a short break the band returned to hit us with the one-two that we’d been waiting for: “To Hell With The Devil” and “Soldiers Under Command”. I must admit though (returning to my earlier point about the missing ‘I.G.W.T.’ material) that I would have liked to see “Soldiers...” slipped in late in the main set and the band being a little more adventurous in ending with something like “Come To The Everlife”, just to mess with us. A small point though and I hope they don’t let another 22 years pass before gracing our shores again!
Set list:
Sing-Along Song
Murder By Pride
Loud 'n' Clear
The Rock That Makes Me Roll
Reach Out
Calling On You
Free
More Than A Man
Breaking The Law
Peace Of Mind
Honestly
4 Leaf Clover*
Open Your Eyes
All For One
The Way.....................................
Abyss / To Hell With The Devil
Soldiers Under Command
* (I may have this in the wrong position, it might have been before “Honestly”... let me know in the comments if you know.)
(I didn't take a camera, but there are some shots here.)
It has concerned me of late that a lot of people are confused about the existence of angels, how they come to be and what their purpose(s) is/are, even whilst believing in their existence. Even though I am not a student of angelology I feel compelled to attempt to clarify at least the basic, most important points as best as I can within the framework of a blog post.
My concern has arisen from frequently hearing people referring to loved ones who have died as now being “angels in heaven” who have been called home by god (small “g” intentional) and as such I feel a need to point out the differences between humans and angels.
Just as humans are beings created by God, angels are too. In itself, this is enough to suggest that the two types of creatures are not aspects of one another based upon their present physical condition. By this I mean that a human’s spirit does not become an angel after physical death (it remains a human, albeit temporarily in a non-corporeal form); in addition, an angel is not an aspect of a human or a human in a particular plane of existence, but a unique, non-material creature that can - on rare occasions - be given the ability to appear in humanoid form.
Angels exist in vast numbers, reside with God in the heavenly realm and are used by God to assist Him in His earthly work. Some angels also spend their “lives” in perpetual worship of God. They are ageless and sexless. They are in some respects “greater” than humans and in some ways “lesser” and in all of this they are quite simply very different from ourselves.
I am aware that I have really only just touched on this subject and I plan to write a more detailed post in future, more specifically dealing with different aspects of angels and providing references to accompany the points made. This post is simply designed to prompt further thinking on a dangerously misunderstood subject. Please know, reader, that we are all immortal beings with two choices as to where to exist in our immortal state. The only way to join the host of angels in God’s presence is to put our faith in His son Jesus who died to provide us that very opportunity.
For the moment, let me leave you with the knowledge that whilst we will never become angels we are better off for this fact because God has imbued them with abilities that we don’t have and employs them to assist us - unseen - all throughout our lives; indeed, I don’t think one needs to be a Christian to recognise that sometimes things transpire in our lives to suggest that we are - sometimes inexplicably - being looked after by a “guardian angel”, not a person previously lost to us, but an agent specifically created by God to help us.
This is an early iTues post due to my "tech-fast" next week. As mentioned in my last post I will be listening only to instrumental music for the week. I created an iTunes playlist and dragged in a large portion of the instrumental stuff in my library and saved that as the only music on my iPhone.
To give you a taste I shuffled the playlist and took the first 10 tracks as a compilation mix for you to download here. I didn't have time to sequence the tracks as I would have liked but figured I'd share anyway. You're welcome. Seek out the artists you like the sound of, buy their stuff, yadda yadda yadda...
Btw, I didn't intentionally include one of my own tracks in there... like I said, I just shuffled the playlist. Whilst I'm happier with the track that came up than I am with some others, it's still probably not what I would have picked if I had included it intentionally!
Here's the playlist:
1. Ennio Morricone - "Sequence 7" 2. Akira Yamaoka - "Alone In The Town" 3. Bass Communion - "Three Pieces For Television: Grammatic Fog" 4. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - "Stairway To Heaven" 5. Dirty Three - "Rain On" 6. Mogwai - "Mogwai Fear Satan" 7. Monolake - "Cubicle" 8. Pennies For The Ferryman - "Escapees" 9. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - "Martha's Dream" 10. Pelican - "Winds With Hands"
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. (Daniel 6:18 ESV)
This coming week I will be undertaking a "tech-fast". This means that I will be abstaining from things such as TV, the internet, etc. for the purpose of sharpening my focus in relation to studying God's word (and other Christian texts) and talking with Him. These are things I do daily, but I have found myself somewhat distracted of late (by everything and nothing in particular) and as such I don't feel like I am efficiently doing all that I could and should.
Here are the guidelines:
1. Computer use for work only. No home computer use, no personal use of work computer. Allowance to check personal email once per day only & respond only in urgent necessity.
2. No television.
3. No movies (cinema or DVD).
4. No video games on any platform.
5. All non-native apps removed from iPhone except for Bible/reading apps and essential utilities.
6. iPhone calling/messaging use only where there is genuine necessity.
7. No music with lyrics.
This last point may seem peculiar, however as I often use my iPhone both for reading and listening to music on my commute and can usually successfully do both, I wish to remove the possibility that I become distracted by an idea conveyed in the lyrics of a song that I hear. Instrumental music (which I love anyway) can play in the background without creating that same type of potential disturbance and enables me to avoid the suffering a music-free week would bring. (I don't want to resent this "tech-fast" idea and thereby cause it to fail.)
I am looking forward to this week and if I feel it is a successful endeavour, may make it a regular, periodic undertaking.
Do you have something that you feel technology is distracting you from? A project left unattended perhaps? Something you "never get around to"? Maybe you would benefit from trying this for yourself. Go on... I dare you.
I have just returned from seeing Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' & other than recommending it to all, I haven't dissected it enough yet to say much more. However, here is a link to a short clip from the Film & Theology series at The Resurgence which I think is worthwhile.
Now, I imagine you have looked at the title & thought, hang on, he's pinched a Trade Mark from Steve Jobs & his merry men at Apple!... And, he's spelled it wrong!! Well, no. You see, I want a regular music post to be a feature of this blog (in addition to the "Now Playing" links at the bottom of each post) as I like music & am willing to bet most of you do too (just doin' my bit to create common ground for us to stand on). At first I thought about a "Music Monday" (simply due to alliteration being such a beautiful thing), but realised that I was being influenced by Twitter. And we can't have that. Then it struck me like a bolt of lightning from the shower head (the shower being where all my best thinking happens, which is handy considering I can't write anything down in there!) that if I bump it to Tuesday I can use the witty, clever device you see before you in the title. (Ah yes... I can hear the pennies dropping - but more on those after the next aside.)
Don't jokes just suck when the teller insists on explaining them like you're an idiot?
The pennies here refer to Pennies For The Ferryman which is a solo music project I was toying around with in '08/'09 (& which was always going to make an appearance on this blog somewhere) but which, after 11 EP "releases" (the way a racehorse which is released by the gate chooses not to run) I have put on indefinite hiatus.
The sound is a mixture of ambient, soundtrack-type atmosphere with post-rock structures & assorted electronic noodlings. All the music is available via this Bandcamp link for free download at the highest quality bitrate (the quality-level of the music you'll have to determine for yourself). It's not music for playing in the car with the windows down, but there's plenty of other music out there for that!
(Cue sound of a dead (race)horse being flogged...)
RELEVANT is a magazine that features the tagline: "God. Life. Progressive Culture." and serves up pretty much what it says on the tin, directed to both Christians and non-. I guess I hope a similar thing could be said about this li'l blog, in time. I provide this introduction simply because I expect there will be more than this post that comments on material found within the pages of RELEVANT. I do not wish to seek to be a portal for their content (they have their web presence under control without me!) but feel that their content is worth pointing out to those unfamiliar with it.
This brings us to an article upon which I seek to make comment here. Have a read of "Finding The Line" (excerpt) then come back and see me (I'll wait)...
There is an ongoing discussion about Christians being "in the world, but not of it" (John 17:14-15) where the "world" is defined as our current physical location which is ruled by Satan. (One need only open a newspaper or turn on the television (NOT just the news programs) to see the evil inclinations of this world.) The Christian, despite having had their heart cleansed from these inclinations still exists in a world defined by them and still has their human nature to deal with when making choices. This is where some Christian sects decide that it is better to detach from the world as much as possible in order to avoid being polluted. The error here is that a problem can't be fixed by turning from it or by observing it from a distance - one has to get one's hands dirty. (At this point I could inject a Gulf oil spill reference, but that would be off-topic, so I won't.)
As stated in the article, the choices one makes over which movies to watch, etc. are inevitably going to be subjective with differing criteria used by different individuals. A point that I return to is whether or not it is worth digging through the trash for a morsel of food when the need is not there to do so. For example: I have not watched 'Avatar' (2- or 3D) because I don't find the negative spiritual aspects of the storyline worth sitting through, just for the pretty CGI pictures. I don't find myself missing out either; I don't find myself wondering if I should just take a peek because after all this time I'm still hearing people raving about it. (See an awesome CGI film below to see why I don't feel like I'm missing out.) Upon my "Return" I found the desire for watching certain movies and TV programs just dissipating, sometimes for no other reason than that they were wasting my time.
If you're not a Christian - thankyou for getting this far - you may be wondering why you should care about content choices, as you don't need to worship any god and can watch what you want... right? Just consider that whenever you spend time following contestants on shows like 'Survivor', 'Big Brother', 'Masterchef', et al, you are worshipping minor gods or "idols"... hell, one program even uses the word in their name! Movie characters are the same. Movies now are not "films" but "franchises" - brands built to string you along for years dollar by dollar. Storylines shot-through with holes, Swiss cheese style, just to they can plug them with endless sequels and prequels which, despite being panned by critics, still make millions on opening weekend. Tell me if any of the (pre-) teen girlies currently screaming to be bitten by 'Twilight's Edward (read: demon) would, if given the chance, do anything other than pee their pants and run screaming...
Anyone who is a responsible parent would be choosing carefully the content they allow their children to view. The thing is, the 'Twilight' fans are not just the teens, but their mothers (the same ones smitten with a bespectacled boy sorcerer previously). We all rue getting older because we still feel so young... in fact, in many ways we're all kinda still children. Perhaps we need a Father to guide us...
This blog has been a long time coming.Well, not for you – you’ve just found out about it, unless you’re one of the few poor souls to whom I’ve been crapping on about starting it without actually doing so.To define: “long time” is as long as it feels; in this instance more than a month & less than a year.
Around the tail end of last year I found my way back to God & fortunately He’d left the door open.I’ve never felt more sane or complete.We have some history (if you’ve seen the t-shirt, I’m the guy who stuck Jesus down behind the couch in the first place… but, no matter how far out of sight, I always knew He was there) & part of this blog will see me sharing my layman’s discoveries & clearing out the muddle in my mind.I don’t profess to have any new ideas, but if I’m knowingly borrowing I’ll let you know.
For those surprised old friends who didn’t get the memo or for anyone who’s stumbled in here after becoming lost amongst the interwebz & isn’t particularly looking for “God stuff”, fret not as I am also into many of the same things as “normal” people are & will be posting various reviews, links & commentary on assorted cultural phenomena along the way.
So welcome… click the button to add me to your reader or, if you’re not ready for such a commitment, just stop in anytime as this door is also always open.
-nick-
ps: the picture up top is mine... it might stay, it might go (I'll be tidying up the look as time goes on)
